Following the lacklustre release of Hellboy (2019), it would seem like the next film adaptation of Dark Horse comics’ iconic horned devil Hellboy: The Crooked Man would appeal to fans better, especially when its creator Mike Mignola is also co-writing the script. Unfortunately, Anung Un Rama will not be seen on the silver screen and, instead, be dragged down to streaming – at least that’s the case for US moviegoers.

The film will instead be released on streaming platforms, and although Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be foregoing a US theatrical release, those in the UK will still be able to catch the film in theatres. Apparently, Video-on-Demand (VOD) services are offering pre-orders for the film, which will be released on their platforms on 8 October.

Despite the limited release, it would seem like Hellboy fans may still enjoy the film as even its creator advocated for how faithful the cinematic iteration of Hellboy: The Crooked Man is to the comics. Mignola cited how the film showed “all of [his] favourite moments from the comic” and that some shots are similar to the comic panels.

The movie, distributed by Ketchup Entertainment, is directed by Brian Taylor (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), and stars Jack Kesy (12 Strong, Death Wish) as our titular hero facing an evil soul-collecting entity known as the Crooked Man in the Appalachian forests. 

It’s a shame that moviegoers in the US will not get to enjoy the film in cinemas, but they can still look out for those preorders on streaming platforms and still catch Big Red next month.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Skips US Theatrical Release For Streaming appeared first on Geek Culture.

The Warhammer 40, 000 IP is getting much mainstream attention with Hollywood star Henry Cavill’s involvement in a TV series and especially the success of Warhammer 40, 000: Space Marine 2 at the fore. A recent interview with the game’s Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits of developer Saber Interactive revealed its success has positively affected the development of future projects and raised the possibility of a sequel.

While the developer did not divulge the figures for Space Marine 2’s profits, Willits remarked the game to be the “fastest selling game he’s ever worked on”, with the cost of developing the game being half as compared to Doom Eternal (2021). For context, Willits was heavily involved in developing games in household franchises like Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, of which, Doom Eternal had amassed at least US$450 million in profits since launch.

The success of Space Marine 2 means Saber Interactive can now “dream bigger”, steering the team to strive for “better products in the future”, as communicated in his 30-second speech addressing the company. This also means Space Marine 2 may have an expanded story DLC and that Space Marine 3 is in the pipeline. Willits confirmed that the team is exploring further story ideas with Space Marine 2’s director Dmitry Grigorenko, of which, the discussed content may serve as a DLC or a sequel. 

Saber Interactive has a lot going on in its horizons, with bigger shoes to fill and higher expectations to meet. While fulfilling the promises made for Space Marine 2’s original post-launch plan – which includes new missions, maps, enemies, classes, and weapons, the developer is also working on multiple titles like A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, a game on John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, a single-player action-adventure Jurassic Park: Survival, the remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and an unannounced co-op focused shooter utilising Saber Interactive’s swarm tech.

It is clear Warhammer 40, 000: Space Marine 2 took the gaming industry by storm, providing those new to the franchise with a glimpse of what it means to be an Adeptus Astartes, specifically, an Ultramarine. One thing’s for sure: This is only just the beginning of Saber Interactive’s journey of producing great games for players to enjoy.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Space Marine 2 Success Shifts Developer Focus, Spawns Sequel Talk appeared first on Geek Culture.

The announcement of a live-action Matchbox movie featuring Mattel’s die-cast toy cars and stunt-action movie director Sam Hargrave (Extraction) at the helm would warrant a die-hard cast. Thus, it would be no surprise WWE wrestler-turned-Hollywood actor John Cena (Peacemaker, The Suicide Squad) would star in the film.

The casting decision seems obvious — the Matchbox brand of toy cars appeals to the family (mostly focused on children); Hargrave is known for his daredevil stunts in his Extraction movies and thus appeals to action-seekers (who are mostly adults), and Cena? He sits comfortably in the Venn diagram of both sides as a veteran of car action films centred around the theme of ‘family’ (who would also appeal to the child in our hearts.).

While little is known about the plot, it’s safe to say the movie will keep audiences on the edge of their seats while keeping things as wholesome as possible. Matchbox is being produced by Skydance’s David Ellison (Top Gun: Maverick), comedian Dana Goldberg, Don Granger (Reacher), and Mattel Film’s President Robbie Brenner. Meanwhile, David Coggeshall (The Family Plan) and Jonathan Trooper (The Adam Project) are working on the script.

With the cast and production team for Matchbox growing, so do the stakes and expectations of viewers following the phenomenal box office success that is Barbie. Moreover, Apple Original Films has acquired the rights to Matchbox, which means it will be screened theatrically before it lands exclusively on Apple TV+.

No one knows when Matchbox will hit the silver screen, but it probably won’t be too soon, as Mattel has its hands full with other films like a Hot Wheels movie and another one featuring the iconic card game UNO.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post John Cena Rides Shotgun As Star In Mattel Film’s ‘Matchbox’ Movie appeared first on Geek Culture.

The Xenomorph is one of the most iconic movie monsters ever to grace the silver screen, and about a year from today, it will invade the TV screens of eager viewers looking to catch FX Network’s Alien: Earth at their own homes.

In an interview with Deadline, Alien: Earth director Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) has confirmed the Xenomorph will make its TV debut in the series.

Hawley guaranteed that viewers would “lock [their] door that night” once they lay their eyes on the beast. He added that he is contributing his personal spin to the design of the alien, playing around with ideas as to what its final form should be, and striving to make it “as scary as it could be”. Fans of the series can rest assured that although the Xenomorph would have a different design, the “sacrosanct” silhouette of the creature will be retained. He further teased that although he could not reveal the specific circumstances the Xenomorph will be encountered, viewers will see it. 

While there is no further information on the anticipated appearance of the Xenomorph, what we do know is that Hawley will not be adopting the backstory of the creature as a bioweapon previously explored in Prometheus (2012), and instead will appeal to the “retro-futuristic” technology of the original films. 

Recently, FX Networks revealed the series’ synopsis, which was accompanied by a 15-second teaser, bringing viewers face-to-face with the iconic monster. The series will serve as a prequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) movie, taking place a few decades before the events surrounding the Nostromo. In Alien: Earth, watchers of the series will follow a young woman played by Sydney Chandler (Don’t Worry Darling) and a group of soldiers pitting themselves against “the planet’s greatest threat” when a space vessel crash-lands on Earth.

One can be skeptical about whether Alien: Earth may win the hearts of both long-time fans and a newer, younger audience, but with the recent Alien: Romulus amassing a whopping US$108 million at the global box office, the future of the IP seems promising. 

The Xenomorph will rear its iconic and ugly head sometime in 2025 on Hulu and Disney+ outside of the US.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post FX’s ‘Alien: Earth’ Director Says TV Series Will Have Xenomorph Debut, Hopes Appearance Is Scarier appeared first on Geek Culture.

There have been five PlayStation consoles, but fans will be hard-pressed to name a brand mascot that has grown with the hardware, until the debut of Astro’s Playroom (2020), a free 3D platformer full game that came pre-installed with the PlayStation 5, to showcase the capabilities of the next-generation console. The game touted fast and seamless gaming experiences through the console’s SSD, as the franchise’s protagonist Astro moves from one realm to another without the mire of loading screens. It even showcased a more immersive use of the new DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers and its in-built microphone and speakers coherently integrated into its gameplay. 

Unsurprisingly, there were calls for a sequel and Team Asobi did not disappoint, bringing to the table a full-fledged paid version that reminds players of what made Astro’s Playroom great, and building on the premise with Astro Bot.

While the main goal of Astro’s Playroom (2020) was to assemble the mothership (a spaceship shaped like a PS5.), Astro’s new objective in Astro Bot is to unite the mini robot versions of every character created under PlayStation’s belt, to defeat the green giant alien, Space Bully Nebulax. Nebulax holds the mothership’s CPU hostage, leaving the main components of the ship alongside all 300 of ASTRO’s robot family scattered across over 50 planets, which gives players an indicator of the size of the game and what’s needed to restore the status quo.

The game informs you of every collectable and robot discoverable per planet from the beginning and at each stage, you jump, roll, fly, grind, and fight to reach the end, sometimes defeating the occasional mini-boss before the next planet is unlocked. Rinse and repeat the process until you have collected everything the game has to offer and that’s about all you have to do in Astro Bot, all while you hang around the central hub and mingle with the robots you have rescued. It would seem like the game would be repetitive but Astro Bot keeps things fresh by encouraging players to explore every corner of every planet.

For PlayStation fans, the additional thrill is in rescuing the familiar, unknown robots as you’ll never know which cute and cuddly robot you’ll meet, even when the game says you can find several on a specific level. There’s a joy in rescuing the next robot, to discover that its  Nathan Drake from Uncharted (2007) or God of War’s (2018) Kratos and Atreus, or even more obscure characters like the Pomeranian from the PS3’s Tokyo Jungle (2012).

What’s even more impressive is how the game integrates multiple game mechanics into the narrative after you’ve found key robots. You know you’re in for a great time when the bot equivalent of Spike from Ape Escape (1999) hands you his net, so you can chase and catch monkeys like you’re in the 90s playing the PS1 again. Another stage will have you tilt your controller around as a LocoRoco (2006) just like when you’re playing the PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation fans who enjoy contemporary titles like Horizon: Zero Dawn (2017) or God of War (2018) will also get to play as Aloy or Kratos in simpler versions of their respective games. Aside from playing characters tied to novel game mechanics, Astro can also dress up as many other PlayStation fan favourites like The Hunter in Bloodborne (2015).

Additionally, the game also encourages players to find their own innovative solutions to tackle platforming challenges without the need for hand-holding. Most stages will come with its own special gadget, a power-up that accompanies Astro till he completes the level, like a robotic octopus that inflates Astro into a balloon or another that transforms Astro into a sponge that makes him bigger when he absorbs water. The game hardly instructs you on how you can reach a certain height or land on a seemingly obscure part of the stage, and should prompts come in, they do so at just the right time before you feel frustrated or stuck. 

When players are successful in reaching any obscure parts of a stage, they are always rewarded with coins that help unlock cosmetics for the rescued bots or for Astro. As such, it seems like Team Asobi has exhibited a deep understanding of helping gamers feel like they are always moving forward in their platforming one way or another, which is a commendable feat.

Yet, the more impressionable gadgets and mechanics are unfortunately short-lived, leaving players wanting more. The generic gadgets, like the robotic chicken that acts as a rocket which propels Astro up into the air, are featured more compared to others like the sponge and the special bot-specific game mechanics akin to other PlayStation titles. These limited gadgets are usually used once out of the over 50 stages, which is a shame and one can only hope Team Asobi would add additional stages for the underutilised gadgets in the future.

That said, each stage can be completed relatively quickly and usually in one sitting. If you’re thorough enough, you’ll be able to find all of the missing collectables in 15 to 20 minutes per planet. If you did not manage to do so, you can revisit the planet one more time, pay 200 coins, and detect the nearest missing collectable with ease before ducking out of the planet for good. Once all is said and done for each planet, it is highly unlikely you will visit the same stage again – unless you are a speedrunner, then revisiting stages and completing them in record time will be all you do.

The more challenging stages are also relatively easy to complete – and the hardest that required the most retries for us was a rhythm-based level that took a half-hour to conquer. It would be nice if a reason is given for players who are not speedrunners to revisit the stages aside from enjoying the vibes for each planet and plainly replaying the same platforming level again – A New Game+ for future patches would do the trick.

Another characteristic that makes Astro Bot amazing is in how it leverages on the PS5’s processing power to effortlessly pack countless elements on the screen. The game is so well optimised that commanding 300 robots to accomplish tasks, or having millions of coloured diamonds on screen, does not seem to be a problem for the console. Not once in our entire playthrough did the game dip in framerate nor lag because the screen was too busy. The DualSense controller is also always alive as there will always be something in the world that makes a sound and is reflected in the DualSense’s speakers. This constant flow of information, sights, and sounds keeps you going as a player, making completing a level a breeze while time flies.

The only downside to Astro Bot is in its enemy variety and while you’ll encounter every common goon possible by the time you reach the game’s midpoint, the enemies are just reskins of those you have already encountered, even if they may look different across the various biomes you’ve explored. 

Team Asobi has done a great job in elevating a mascot, with a robot this cute and a game that enjoyable, with a game that reminds players the legacy of the PlayStation brand.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Astro Bot – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

The realm of samurai and ninjas set in the fictional chronicles of Japan is one that will never grow old. Ask any gamer about the premise and they will likely laud developers Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja, two studios who have built an empire of games involving masked assassins prowling terraced roofs, and wandering swordsmen wielding cool katanas against bandits and Japanese demons. This time, instead of getting players to fight yokai like in Nioh 2 (2020), gamers will have to deal with the English in their latest outing, Rise of the Ronin.

But while the experience tells a near timeless and interesting tale, its potential is marred by choppy game performance and a repetitive gameplay loop that quickly runs its course.

Rise of the Ronin is set in the late 1850s and early 1860s, in an era known as the “Bakumatsu” of Japan’s Edo period, as the black ships of England moor on Japanese shores and bring along with them cultural revolution. You play as a Ronin (Also known as a “Veiled Edge”), a masterless samurai, on a quest to find your sworn partner, as you are thrown into the thick of political strife between the Tokugawa Shogunate and anti-shogun resistance fighters, currently battling against the unwavering winds of change brought on by Western powers.

The premise sets the game on a compelling course through the missions you take on: Do you build relationships with those in power and maintain public order through mass brutality and an iron fist, or do you side with those against gentrification by adopting methods of assassination and stirring up social unrest? Regardless of the path you choose, the game’s writing is commendable, and your friendships are filled with a cast of eccentric and memorable characters, with the protagonist actively questioning the morality and ethics of both sides, and whether violence is a sensible means to an end to achieve peace.

To build on the suspense, the game also offers players a chance to shape their own role in the annals of history, by giving them the agency to defect to either side. Consequently, your comrades will question your loyalty to their cause and order you to prove your allegiance by carrying out missions that may or may not involve the murdering of key characters in the narrative. Gain enough trust for a particular faction and you will be rewarded with more items and exclusive discounts in pro or anti-shogunate shops, and this premise and freedom to exercise your political agency provides more than enough fuel to see the story through. 

Most of the time, though, the missions you undertake are inconsequential to Japan’s political landscape, excluding the key choices you make in the story. In Rise of the Ronin, there will always be nameless expulsionist leaders to kill, objects of intrigue to transport across the map, or corrupt officials to plot against. Alas, the game lays all of its cards on the table too early on, as the signature gameplay loop under publisher PlayStation Studios rears its head, with players embarking in an open world filled with points of interest that gradually reveal themselves on the map. Soon, the entire world becomes a to-do list, and all you are left with is a mental plan to fast-travel to the nearest, most sensible point, just to look for a chest, take photographs, pet a cat, or free a village from bandits. With so many of PlayStation’s first-party games possessing the same – if not similar – gameplay loop, games like Rise of the Ronin suffer as things quickly become formulaic and repetitive.

The gameplay for Rise of the Ronin will benefit if players are given a more meaningful reason for open-world exploration. Less is more in this case – let us know there are 40 cats to pat across Yokohama without revealing their locations and trust we will scour the streets and countryside to find them. In the game’s defence, there are instances where players encounter random distressed individuals and aiding them increases your bond within the districts, leading to more skill and experience points, but these encounters slowly become predictable as players become familiar with the mini-events tied to specific NPCs. 

Yet, the game keeps things interesting through character customisation and the freedom to control the tides of combat. There are a million ways to dress up your Veiled Edge and tweak how they look. When it comes to weapon use, players can switch between the katana (Single or Dual), polearm, spear, odachi, English greatsword, and even use their fists. Prolonged use of these weapons during combat and beating certain enemies throughout your journey allows you to learn new stances and moves. Enhancing this experience is a simple level progression and upgrade tree with four aspects (Strength, Dexterity, Charm, and Intelligence) that players can focus on to further express the way they wish to play. Players, then, will find themselves sinking hours into finding different combo combinations after they have built their library of moves with their weapon of choice.

Meanwhile, it’s hard not to compare this combat system with Rise of the Ronin’s counterpart Nioh, which has deeper levels of battle customisation and a wider array of weapons. There is a notable difference in how the combat feels between the two, and although both games focus on getting players to familiarise themselves with enemy attack patterns and perfect parries, Nioh’s combat feels weightier and more dynamic, in contrast to the “floatier” sounding fights in Rise of the Ronin – it wouldn’t hurt to have heavier-sounding blows. 

It’s also apparent that Rise of the Ronin needed more time for polish and performance optimisation, with the lack of intelligence in its AI in tow. Some enemies will get stuck behind game objects and are incapable of running around them. There was also an instance where an NPC was stuck rotating on the spot, breaking the game and forcing an entire restart to that moment. Stealth sequences can sometimes be harder too, as some stealth animations become choppy when characters collide with walls or when players stand too close to the ledge executing stealth takedowns, thus forcing their Veiled Edge into battle as they drop in the middle of a crowd post-throw.

The game’s frame rate also requires further refinement because while the options to prioritise graphics, ray-tracing, or frame rate are offered to players, the “Prioritise Graphics” and “Prioritise Ray-Tracing” options cause such a significant dip in frames that the flow of combat and parrying becomes hard to follow. When a game like Rise of Ronin requires players to time parries and read enemy movements fluently, the “Prioritise Frame Rate” option becomes the default way to ensure playability. Thankfully, smoother frame rates and smarter AI are just a few update patches away.

It’s apparent that Rise of the Ronin takes graphical inspiration from another PlayStation Studio title, Ghost of Tsushima (2021), with cutscenes introducing cinematic black bars, its camera capturing as much of the grandiosity of Japan’s landscape while attempting to adopt Kurosawa-like rule-of-thirds cinematography. But while Rise of the Ronin looks beautiful in how it captures the allure of dusk and dawn around the Japanese countryside, it trails Ghost of Tsushima in many ways. 

Perceived as a whole, the mountainous Yokohama is serenely beautiful, but when the sum of its parts is viewed individually, the rocks, flowers, and banners hanging by the streets make Rise of the Ronin look like an early PlayStation 4 title. Even the general NPCs in Rise of the Ronin are not as animated as those in Ghost of Tsushima, with lifeless eyes staring through the protagonist as they desperately beg you to save them from imminent shogunate oppression. 

The beauty of its landscape is also not consistent throughout the maps. Indeed, the countryside of Japan is filled with serene temples and fields of flowers and reeds, but many parts of the city, on the other hand, lack life. There will be areas where roadside traffic gets noticeably bustling like in Yokohama’s city hall or the brothel district, but most secondary areas feel like they have fallen short of any labour of love given. The grounds of the streets feel flat, with buildings too spaced apart, looking similar, or feeling empty. Once in a while, pedestrians and textures suffer from longer-than-usual pop-ins. Very rarely will the streets of Yokohama be filled with NPC pedestrians that make the district you’re walking through feel lived-in. It almost seems like the game is hesitant to trust in the processing power of the PlayStation 5 by limiting the amount of traffic in the streets. Then again, you may be too busy to notice as you would be spending most of your time running over rooftops, riding on your horse, or gliding over the districts.

Rise of the Ronin has all of the ingredients for a strong Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja title. The game would have left a stronger positive impression if more time had been given to polish its gameplay and performance. If only its greatness was not robbed by PlayStation Studios’ all-to-familiar gameplay loop, Rise of the Ronin would have been a game that stood the test of time. Alas, the winds of change demand games like these to break away from a cookie-cutter formula that appeals to a cookie-cutter audience. Still, it’s worth playing if you like samurais, ninjas, and political shogunate intrigue.

Rise of the Ronin is available on the PlayStation 5.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Rise of the Ronin – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Regardless of the times, being a teenager is tough. For most, individuals entering their teens face life transitions that surface a myriad of emotions they would not have experienced when they were younger, and Pixar’s Inside Out perfectly illustrates such a human condition. This time, its sequel, Inside Out 2, debuts new emotions that embody the woes of being a teenager, and it looks so relatable.

In the official trailer for Inside Out 2, we are introduced to a slew of more complex characters (or emotions) that define the average teenager. On top of returning emotions like Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness, we are introduced to emotions like Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui (the feeling of being bored and dissatisfied with life.).

The story follows Riley once again as she enters high school striving to cope with her “awkward teenage phase” entering age 13, and as these new emotions attempt to take centre stage and shake up the order of “the headquarters”, they must attempt to live in harmony. The trailer heralds a message of facing new experiences with courage despite feeling overwhelmed, facilitating growth as a teenager.

The new emotions of Inside Out 2 will also feature new voice actors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Ayo Edibiri (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Paul Walter Hauser (Black Bird), and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) will voice Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui respectively. Returning as Joy, Sadness and Anger respectively are Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation), Phyllis Smith (The Office), and Lewis Black (Rock Dog). Meanwhile, Bill Hader’s Fear will be replaced by Tony Hale (Toy Story 4), and Mindy Kaling’s Disgust will be voice acted by Liza Lapira (Marmaduke) instead.

It’s comforting to see IPs like Inside Out mature along with their audience, telling a story to those who were once children on the normalcy of experiencing common emotions that can define who they are. It is titles like Inside Out which will stick to the hearts of viewers of all ages, and everyone is looking forward to catching Inside Out 2 in theatres on 14 June this year. Bring tissues.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Inside Out 2’ Debuts New Emotions That Capture Teenage Woes appeared first on Geek Culture.

The arcade controller has been a staple for fighting games since the early 90s, starting with the humble joystick and its iconic Sanwa 24mm or 30mm arcade buttons. That reigned supreme until roughly 20 years later, when the new kid on the block the Hitbox made its debut as a leverless controller marketed to help players execute moves faster by using movement-centric arcade buttons.

The Hitbox was met with extreme criticism and controversy, with the Fighting Games Community (FGC) believing that players using leverless controllers are cheating, as the buttons offer direct input and greatly reduce the travel time between directions compared to the joystick. Nevertheless, the FGC has, over time, come to accept the competitive use of leverless controllers even if some still look at them with raised eyebrows. The Hitbox, although sensational, comes with its own set of problems and Razer’s answer to those problems is the Razer Kitsune, and while the Kitsune is a premium work of art that solves the Hitbox’s deficiencies, it introduces some pet peeves of its own.

The Razer Kitsune is an all-button arcade controller designed specifically for the PlayStation 5 and PC. At the premium price of S$459.90, expanding the compatibility to Xbox consoles  should have been a requirement., The Kitsune features 12 high-quality buttons (Four directional and eight action), as well as the associated secondary ones on the PlayStation Dualsense controllers on its surface. As with most Razer products, its build sports an elegant, sturdy, and sleek black aluminum frame. 

What the Kitsune successfully solves when it comes to arcade controllers is its portability as controllers like the Hitbox are thick, bulky, and cumbersome to bring around. Considering how troublesome it is to lug a Hitbox in a dedicated backpack, the iPad-sized Razer Kitsune is a technological marvel, measuring 296mm x 210mm x 19.2mm. It is astonishingly lightweight as well, at just 800g, it’s amazing how anyone can manufacture an arcade controller so flat that it can slide into all types of backpacks, laptop cases, or sling bags. You might think that something so slim can have its exteriors bend, scratch, or break easily, but it is evident that Razer spares no expense in ensuring the Razer Kitsune is resilient to drops and dents.

Just like most conventional arcade controllers, the Hitbox is no stranger to frustrated players complaining about accidental disconnections or struggling to keep their bulky boxes on their laps during prolonged play times. Addressing these problems requires money to install locking mechanisms and kitbashing rubber mats together. Meanwhile, the Razer Kitsune beats the lights out of those issues as it comes with its rubber mat at its base, which keeps the Kitsune in place regardless of the surface the controller is resting on, and even when players are mashing on buttons in the heat of the battle. It also comes with a locking mechanism for its accompanying braided USB-C to type A cable, which keeps the controller connected even when players tug their controllers too hard or if someone trips on the cables.

Additionally, the controller comes with a Tournament Lock switch which disables the activation of the secondary buttons above the 12 primary direction and action buttons. Flipping the switch to Tournament Lock mode disables the PS home button, Create, Start, and L3/R3. It is also worth noting that these secondary buttons are tactfully separated, which forces the player to consciously reach out to them should they wish to press them. It’s frustrating when you are climbing the ranks for any fighting game and unexpectedly find yourself staring at the PlayStation home screen just because you accidentally hit the PS home button. When buttons are positioned out-of-sight and out-of-mind, and with the Tournament Lock switched on, players can keep their head in the game without breaking their focus or flow states. 

But while the secondary buttons are well separated, the positioning of the Start and Create buttons requires some getting used to. Emulating the PlayStation Dualsense controller, the Create button is positioned at the top-left corner while the Start button is positioned between the Create button and the touchpad. It feels a little odd at first, as the start button is generally used more, and it feels more natural for any player to reach for the top corners of a game controller for a Start button without having to look. If you wish to press the Start button, you will need to consciously look and feel for it within the first few hours of using the Kitsune before getting used to its placement. 

From the get-go, the Razer Kitsune is a fairly comfortable device to use for any type of fighting game, including Tekken 8 and Guilty Gear: Strive. The 12 primary buttons are built on Razer’s proprietary low-profile optical switches, which are marketed to have shorter actuation and offer greater response. Unfortunately, the differences in response time between these switches and other low-profile switches like the Kailh Choc V2 or even the conventional Sanwa arcade buttons feel negligible. Now Razer says that the low-profile optical switches for the Razer Kitsune are hot-swappable, and they are but the problem is that the Kitsune only uses low-profile optical switches, and while the stock switches alone will suffice to accommodate most fighting gamers, the market for low profile optical switches is still in its infancy, with only a limited inventory offered by Keychron, Kailh, and Nuphy for players to explore further customization. 

On the other hand, leverless arcade controllers focusing on arcade buttons like the Hitbox have a wider, more established array of brands that offer different arcade button experiences by Sanwa, Qanba, and even GamerFinger switches. Should the user like to explore low-profile switch options, they can only wait for Razer or the keyboard community to offer a wider variety of products. 

On top of that, users may find the hot-swapping process to require copious amounts of patience and skill, even with the proper tools used to swap keyboard switches. Popping off both the button caps and optical switches is a fairly tedious process. In comparison, these switches are found in many low-profile mechanical keyboards which usually can be easily changed. You will be attempting to remove the stock switches hoping it doesn’t break as you see the plastic top housing fasteners of the switch bend while firmly staying rooted on the PCB. It would go a long way if instructions or tools that intuitively guide players through the hot-swapping process were included – show a gamer how to correctly remove the button caps without having to wedge two keycap pullers on the side while praying nothing breaks. No one likes to brick a $500 controller just because they are not familiar with how they can change the buttons to their liking.

Another hot-swappable component for the Razer Kitsune is its aluminum faceplate. Having removable faceplates is an excellent idea but the Kitsune’s faceplate customizations are currently only limited to surface-applied skins, with current designs for Street Fighter 6’s Cammy and Chun-Li, and other generic skins available off the shelves. The part of the FGC community with an eye for custom arcade controllers love collecting and displaying printed faceplates or cutouts wedged between acrylics on shelves and while skins may be an economic solution for collectors, they will probably not appeal to the demographic looking to place custom faceplates on display. A deeper level of customization for the faceplates in Razer Customs would be a welcome feature, where consumers can get their own designs printed onto the plates instead (Think printed Xbox controllers by the Xbox Design Lab). 

Although Razer provides specifications and services for gamers to design their own skins, these skins are only topologically applied. If top shells for Razer mice can be printed and personalized through a “Design Your Own” function, it is strange that the same level of customization is not present for the Kitsune’s aluminum faceplates. The best ways for consumers to get printed plates now are, unfortunately, from third-party printing companies, which may not be approved nor licensed by Razer.

Nevertheless, should players use the Kitsune as their controller of choice for official tourneys like EVO, they can rest assured it will be permitted without prejudice. Tournaments by the FGC require controllers used by players to be “Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions” (SOCD) cleaned. SOCD-cleaned controllers help fighting games read opposing directional inputs of fighters to result in Neutral (no input) when opposing directions like the Up and Down or Left and Right are pressed at the same time. As part of their partnership with Capcom and Street Fighter 6, Razer has made it mandatory for all Kitsunes to be SOCD cleaned, and there is no way players without in-depth software development knowledge can change that. 

Like most Razer products, the Razer Kitsune also comes with Razer Chroma RGB LEDs which help create an ethereal-looking fill around the surface wherever the Razer Kitsune is placed. The LEDs can be toggled to different modes or switched on or off to the players’ liking. Gamers playing in the dark with the Razer Kitsune will need to depend on their familiarity with the controller as the button symbols are not illuminated with the same LEDs. If Razer is looking to create a second iteration of the Razer Kitsune, utilizing the Razer Chroma for button indications would be a great step forward.

Priced at S$459.90, the Razer Kitsune is great for its excellent build quality and cool LED features. Fighting game enthusiasts of all levels may find other arcade controllers that suit their needs, but for what it is worth, the Razer Kitsune is a tournament-ready leverless controller that effectively solves the problems posed by traditional arcade controllers – that is if gamers can afford it. 

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Razer Kitsune All-Button Arcade Controller – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

The fighting games community has come a long way, as tournaments and the glory of victory have evolved from humble arcades of the early 90s to giant stages and live streams attended by thousands today. The Evolution Championship Series (EVO) is one such organisation that provides the platform for professionals to make fighting game history as the genre careens its way toward the attention of the mainstream media.

This year, EVO has announced its official games lineup for EVO 2024 — their official global fighting games tournament — and some of these titles will be making their first appearance.

The announcement was presented in a video, detailing the touurnament to take place on 19 to 21 July 2024 at a new venue: The West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre. The tournaments were moved to the Las Vegas Convention Centre to accommodate a growing fighting game tournament audience, with the previous EVO 2023 having hosted over 11,000 spectators and much more will be expected this year.

The featured game lineup shows that fans of eight different titles will gather and witness the next bout of fighting game glory, with half of the titles making their debut. It will be the first time contenders vie for first place and prize monies in Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes. Returning titles include Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear: Strive, and The King of Fighters XV. Finally, for nostalgia’s sake, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will grace the arena for the 7th time as EVO 2024’s Throwback Tournament series. 

To entice players to get in the fight, the esports organisation promised an increased minimum guaranteed prize pool of US$30,000 (about S$40,000) per title. Attendees are not left behind as they are also promised upgrades to the attendee experience like a new dedicated stage for panels and interviews, and the largest free-play arcade for the community to engage in couch battles.

Priming up to EVO 2024, the tournament giant has also organised EVO Japan from 27 to 29 April 2024, where fans can spectate their favourite fighting game pros contend for a collective prize pool of ¥14 million (about S$127,000) for all 8 titles.

As the fighting games community prepares for the world’s largest global fighting game event, EVO has already opened registration for players to get their foot in their battle of choice. Players from around the world and from all walks of life can purchase tickets for EVO 2024 or join in as contenders via EVO’s official website. Should gamers be unable to attend the tourneys physically, they can spectate the fights through EVO’s new YouTube or TikTok channels. 

Regardless of how you choose to enjoy this season of EVO, everyone can agree that so much love is invested in fighting games today. It’s hard to imagine that a genre like fighting games had to face a bad rep for their depiction of ultra-violence in the past, and yet, they still stand the test of time. With EVO, everyone’s a winner.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ & ‘Tekken 8’ To Debut In EVO 2024 Global Fighting Game Tournament appeared first on Geek Culture.

When it comes to fighting games, Tekken has been an undefeated powerhouse for gamers to enjoy the age-old virtual mano-a-mano. But sometimes, you have to pick new battles to maintain supremacy. Prior to Tekken 8, Tekken 7  kept gamers on their toes for a long-running seven years, expanding its roster from 20 characters to a whopping 51, and providing a platform for players around the world to make 3D fighting game history.

Now that the sequel is upon us, it has a high bar to follow, along with extremely high expectations from its fanbase. Thankfully, Bandai Namco has picked its battles carefully, with a successor that meets, and even surpasses its predecessor.

From its very first strike, Tekken 8 takes the franchise to greater heights, bringing players both old and new to the arena with a fresh fighting system that constantly pulls them back in for another round. Its story leaves players in awe and wanting more despite its short runtime, yet the new chapter telling the tale of the next King of the Iron Fist is one that boldly exhibits its sizable roster despite some odd choices – all of which are packed together with a new coat of paint.

With a stacked roster of 32 fighters (four of whom are a mix of new and returning ones from earlier games in the series), fans were concerned that absent favourites, including Heihachi, Eddy, or Anna, may dull the overall fighting experience and while it feels strange that a notable number of them were excluded, the expansion of move lists for recurring characters, on top of returning and completely new additions to the roster allows all players to view the franchise with fresh eyes. The existing battle system is also tactfully built upon the last with an all-new Heat System. This tri-fold combination of new faces, Heat, and new moves gives fans something to look forward to, especially for the many different possible future DLC characters entering the fray, or if and when absent classics make their return.

The new Heat System ushers in an added layer of strategy to fights, replacing Tekken 7’s Rage Drive. While Tekken 7 extends an olive branch to players low on health with staggering signature attacks à la Rage Drives, the new Heat System is like a single-use pistol that can be drawn at any point in a round. At the press of a button, fighters can enter a Heat State, represented by a blue bar that depletes upon activation, allowing them to extend combos and execute Heat Smashes, powerful moves transiting to devastating throws. Players in Heat will also deal chip damage, temporary minor depletions of the health bar recoverable with successful hits, to blocking opponents.

This new Heat State allows players to strategise on the fly, by aggressively maintaining pressure through short and powerful bursts; maximise damage with extended combos when the opportunity arises; or turn the tides when cornered. If players reach a low threshold on their health, the Rage state still kicks in, giving them a slight boost in damage and access to finisher-like Rage Arts. You can imagine the possibilities of how entire health bars are ravaged when the Heat and Rage states are used concurrently. It’s a fun and harmonious system, encouraging a dance of mind games or of quick and decisive battles and regardless of strategy, every KO will leave players roaring in excitement.

And it’s the new roster of characters who perfectly demonstrate the nuances of the extended fighting system. Remember Jun Kazama from Tekken 2? Well, she is now vastly different in Tekken 8, mirroring the Kazama fighting style of her former self while carefully utilising new mystical moves that temporarily deplete her own health. Jun can then restore her once “borrowed” health as she enters Heat, transiting to a more aggressive play style.

Aside from Jun, three other characters make their first debut, with the most prominent addition being Reina, a character shrouded in mystery and functioning as the de facto replacement for the popular Heihachi. Replacing Heihachi does not mean she will play exactly the same way as him, though as Reina is a more agile fighter, focusing on nimble manoeuvres and adding vigour to some of Heihachi’s core power moves like the Electric Wind God Fist. Meanwhile, Victor and Acuzena are fun to pick from the get-go, with Victor emphasising quick and deadly super-spy close-quarters combat using knives and a katana, and Acuzena straddling between fancy dance moves, feints, and mixed martial arts.

The Heat System does not stop at building on the abilities of new characters, as it also introduces fresh takes to returning ones such as Raven and Nina. The Ninjisu-trained Raven now overwhelms his opponents with shadow clones of himself in Heat while Nina goes guns akimbo, pelting bullets at her enemies in her Heat state. This expansion of move sets for every recurring character in the roster, some only accessible when Heat is activated, prompts players to revisit characters they have been used to for years. It’s like getting to know a spouse all over again where players have to invest more hours into learning new combos and relearning existing ones before getting the hang of things again.

Regardless of changes or updates, the new roster is boldly flashed out in Tekken 8’s new chapter of the Mishima saga, The Dark Awakens. The story clocks in about four hours and is playable in the span of an afternoon. But even with the short run time and a more intimate focus into the headspace of the series’ protagonist Jin Kazama’s struggle with the devil gene, a power that transforms individuals into devil versions of themselves and greatly enhances battle prowess, the story’s events take on a larger, more epic scale.

Players new to the franchise can watch a series of primer videos, catching up to Jin’s side of the story in his mission to stop his father Kazuya Mishima from dominating the world using the devil gene. Those new to the series will quickly come to realise that the bulk of the story generally involves two to three individuals butting heads with each other, while its supporting characters take respective sides. This time, though, The Dark Awakens paces up to a war that can rival the climactic battle in Avengers: Endgame, ultimately ending in a jaw-dropping crescendo akin to the scale of any late-game sequences in modern Final Fantasy games. The story in its entirety feels like the result of Tekken titles culminating in a satisfying ending while leaving loose ends attached for another exciting sequel. 

There’s a lot to experience within the story’s four hours too, from offering different character perspectives through character selection in a new King of the Iron Fist tournament to playing through special sequences that pay homage to Tekken 3’s Tekken Force Mode. It’s also the first time Bandai Namco introduces Quick Time Events (QTEs) to cutscenes for this new entry. When the game allows you to choose between dodging or punishing its villain mid-punch through a QTE, you know you’re in for a great time. Alas, the QTEs seem underutilised, leaving fans wishing that Bandai Namco would introduce more of them to a more varied degree. Still, the use of QTEs has clearly established a new standard for future Tekken cutscenes to come. 

Moreover, the story’s special sequences also show that beloved modes found in previous games like Tekken Force are built into the game’s programming, but aside from the returning (and lighthearted) Tekken Ball mode (think dodgeball by the beach with combat.), it’s a shame that a new and much-anticipated Tekken Force is not fully realised. One can only hope a mode like Tekken Force will surface in future DLCs. 

Visually, it’s clear that Tekken 8 was made for modern-day consoles and the PC. With the game built on Unreal Engine 5, every stage and character is beautifully rendered and gone are the days of the uncanny-like smooth-skinned character models in Tekken 7. Instead, fighters in Tekken 8 have visible pores on their faces and meticulously textured clothing. 

Players will bring the fight to 16 different stages including the crowded Urban Square of New York, the Peruvian Ortiz Farm with llamas roaming the platform, and an arena surrounded by spectators cheering you on. These stages come alive as compared to more barren and lifeless places in Tekken 7 veterans are so familiar with, even Infinite Azure and Precipice of Fate. With so much going on in the background, you cannot help but marvel at how beautiful things are as you focus on the fighting in front of you. Comparing the visuals in Tekken 8 with the visuals in seven-year-old Tekken 7, the franchise has come a long way.

With the sheer amount of new and shiny content, the fundamental rules of Tekken 8 still remain. Understanding frame data, learning basic movements, and knowing which moves to string together to set up cool air combos have become ever stronger core concepts of the game. Should players wish to go far and really enjoy Tekken 8 with ranked mode and global online play, they will still have to sink their teeth into Practice mode and learn the ropes.

The road to Tekken mastery may rest heavily on the shoulders of new players. Perhaps, then, the greatest gifts that Tekken 8 offers to newer players to help strap them in are the Arcade Quest and Super Ghost Battle modes. The Arcade Quest mode serves to reduce the steep learning curve for new players, giving them a scaffolded way of familiarising themselves with the game’s basics. It also allows them to catch a glimpse of the bygone era of arcade culture that once established the franchise.

Through Arcade Quest, players will learn to string basic air combos and maximise their use of the Heat System as they role-play and duel their way through a fictional community of arcade-goers. They will contend in fictional tournaments and fufil missions that improve the way they play, earn outfits, and experience a story leading to challenging a fictional Tekken World Tournament champion. It’s a great springboard for players to get used to the basics before they jump into Practice mode and learn 10-Hit Combos.

Those who have sunk hours in Practice mode to build muscle memory for input commands will find that a handful of them were simplified, with the added option to execute the original inputs for greater damage. The simpler input commands allow newbies to have a feel of characters they would like to try out in Practice mode, without the stress of remembering long button chains. We used the Razer Kitsune for this review and it certainly adds a layer of comfort when focusing on establishing muscle memory in Practice mode. Using the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller places a greater emphasis on using your thumb to press buttons, straining them over time and making subsequent matches less pleasant and precise in execution. 

When hooked up to the Samsung Neo QLED QN90C TV, the PS5 experience proved to be pleasant. Colours take on a brighter, livelier glow, with the various TV settings allowing users to choose and switch between the picture profiles that best suit their viewing preferences. This visual indulgence also carried over to the on-screen fighting effects, animated cutscenes, and stage design, which were as crisp and detailed as they can get.

In comparison, the Razer Kitsune is a leverless, button-only controller that allows you to rest your palms naturally on the chassis, and thus, allows every finger to dexterously execute input commands. There are 12 main buttons, with four main movement ones on the left, and eight – four main thumb buttons and four for the shoulder buttons – for executing your moves and combos. This way, no individual digit is strained, giving you the extra stamina to play the game for longer.

Remember when you had the old arcade stick controllers and had to form half or quarter circles? A leverless controller grants you easier access to execute moves like King’s Giant Swing, where you are required to do a quarter circle after pushing forward within the span of about two frames. It might take some getting used to, and unless you’re a veteran, the Razer Kitsune does not necessarily give you an edge in battle. Any type of controller would be perfect for new players, as long as they find their preferred configuration and way to play and master the basics.

The Super Ghost Battle mode is another noteworthy tool for players to improve themselves. In this mode, you are your worst enemy as it leverages the power of AI, recording the way you play and profiling your play style. After three recorded battles, you’ll find yourself fighting against your own ghost before pitting against the ghost of other better players who have also had their play styles profiled. It’s an easier way to practice the characters you want to get your hands dirty with, without pre-recording moves in Practice Mode or finding a sparring partner in real life for couch battles.

Once everything is said and done, players will spend most of their time battling other Tekken contenders online, and a lot has changed in this arena. Just like its counterparts Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 8 adopts a matchmaking lobby known as the Fight Lounge, where players can gather and have a sense of who their potential opponents can be. Here, they can be matched against players of the same skill level in Ranked Play, match players of any rank for casual Quick Play, or be randomly matched with players of varying ranks by sitting together in the same cluster of virtual arcade machines.

The Fight Lounge is definitely a step up from Tekken 7 where you are thrown into Practice mode, and blindly wait for an opponent to get into a match with you. Sure, you still end up practicing while waiting for a match in Tekken 8, but the lounge opens a more social aspect for players to communicate ideas about their recent games. You can even customise how your avatar looks in the lounge. 

The Fight Lounge also opens as a similar gateway to Super Ghost Battles in online play. Players in the same lobby can choose to battle your ghost and vice versa. Fans will be familiar with how troublesome it is to recreate similar fight styles they just encountered in Tekken 7. Instead of heading into Practice mode, figuring out moves used against you and pre-recording them before learning of a suitable counter, a collection of fight styles you encountered in the same lobby as you is automatically made available for you from different player profiles. Getting better is easier now as you can efficiently use everyones’ ghosts to train against specific play styles without having them be present for a fight.

Fights in Tekken 8 have never been more accessible and exhilarating. With entries in the Tekken franchise now known to keep things fresh throughout an entire console generation’s worth of content, Tekken 8 is off to an extremely solid start. The battle system, visuals, virtual tools for play, and current characters lay fertile groundwork for future DLCs to flourish. Even now, the game is primed to easily spawn new tournaments and battles for fans to remember. There’s much to do in Tekken 8, and you will love every moment of it. If Tekken 7 can keep the fan base engaged for 7 years, this initial release of Tekken 8 shows it can surpass its predecessor with more than 8. 

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Tekken 8 – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

21 years after rebooting the Prince of Persia (POP) action-adventure series with The Sands of Time (2003), Ubisoft is taking another swing at the iconic franchise, this time with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown as a new title with a new protagonist set within the rebooted POP universe.

But instead of following the same genre, The Lost Crown is going the Metroidvania route, which is in a way coming full circle, putting a legacy series in a sub-genre that has been offering players the joy of non-linear 2D exploration since the 90s. The genre demands players to jump from one segment/platform to another, all linked in a majestic interconnected world map, with great precision, and have them manually note down and revisit early segments that can only be accessed in later parts of a game.

But while the Prince of Persia franchise has been at the forefront of platforming and non-linear exploration, with an enjoyable (and surprisingly accessible) Metroidvania component built in, the game’s story and combat leave much to be desired.

If you’re familiar with the reboot, you’ll quickly realise that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown adds a new chapter to the Sands of Time continuity. The premise is simple: You play as Sargon, the youngest of the Immortals, a group of crème de la crème Persian warriors, tasked to rescue the kidnapped Prince Ghassan. The majority of your mission revolves around Mount Qaf, a sprawling landscape where time operates in mysterious ways, basically due to the special Sands of Time that the first reboot game centered around.

The intrigue of Mount Qaf rears its head the moment you set foot through its gates. The denizens there are subject to the cruelty of time: A soldier claims to have resided 30 years in its depths overnight while its recent visitors claim to be navigating a maze for days even though it’s been mere minutes for the protagonist.

This compelling journey unravels itself through perilous 2D dungeon platforming, fighting vastly different types of enemies, and a view. The player will traverse through Mount Qaf’s beautiful and distinct 13 biomes, from the grand upper levels of the city with houses spanning past mountains as far as the eye can see, to sprawling catacombs and lush forests – all to scour for readable collectibles to know what is going on in the grand scheme of things. You will never feel bored moving from one section of the map to the next – in fact, it’s quite exciting to revisit a place once inaccessible for more sightseeing.

The protagonist, on the other hand, is not as attractive as the game’s setting. The player will experience every hallmark of the Hero’s Journey with Sargon as he departs on this gritty and life-threatening mission to rescue the prince, facing betrayal and overcoming almost impossible odds. The premise seems like the perfect formula for both player and protagonist to mature together as the story progresses, but alas, the player will mature faster than its main character in this case.

Sargon’s character development is never fully realised, as he stays stiff, self-righteous, and two-dimensional even after the credits roll. It is sad to see that despite such an interesting setting like Mount Qaf, the main character that is supposed to keep things going is so humourless and flat. The story focuses too much on the history of its villain such that you may find it hard to justify Sargon’s journey altogether. The writing would have greatly benefitted from verbal motifs of wisdom (Think “Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.” from Assassin’s Creed (2007).) or from its main character being more vocal about his moral stance. When the scale of power dictating the history of a kingdom rests in the balance, confronting a villain with only, “This is not the way!”, will not win hearts over. 

Even the many supporting characters have their fair share of struggles. Many of their lines are noticeably poorly executed. Find a character with dishevelled grey hair and beard. And you’ll think, “Oh, he’s old, wise, and should sound like Yoda”, but the moment he starts laughing, he sounds like a teenage boy. Some lines would also have pauses so long in between that you would think the game is buggy. The voice acting is more tolerable and less awkward if you change the language dubbing to the exclusive Farsi in the options menu, which somehow changes the entire mood of the game to something more exotic and mystical.

What really shines for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is in its symbiotic relationship between platforming and its special abilities. You’ll be bestowed the familiar and reverent skill of the air dash and teleportation in the early parts of the game. These abilities, dubbed ‘Rush of the Simurgh’ and ‘Shadow of the Simurgh’ respectively, come from the feathers of a missing giant bird (known as the ‘Simurgh’) that is the Persian God of Time and Knowledge. 

Although the air dash or teleportation skills do not reinvent the wheel of Metroidvania traversal, jumping between platforms and solving brain-wrecking puzzles with them makes for a fresh and fun experience. One puzzle will have you create ghosts of yourself as you coordinate your past air dashes and teleportations to unlock a door while another warrants quick thinking as you reveal ethereal platforms by switching dimensions on the fly. These puzzles may sound intense, but the abilities that enable you to succeed make it extremely inviting for new players.

What if you’re just interested in the story and do not want to spend your time jumping over traps and finding out where to go next in the dark? The Lost Crown’s accessibility options also help new Metroidvania players enjoy the game without the stress of precision navigation.

If players find a platforming level too difficult, they can switch the “Platform Assist” option on and skip these sections altogether. The game also has a “Guided Mode” which reveals the location of your next objective on the map. And if players fear they will forget about areas they want to revisit, the game encourages the use of Memory Shards, a limited resource that takes in-game screenshots to easily keep track of these segments. 

It may seem counterintuitive to eliminate the fundamental building blocks of Metroidvania games – giving the freedom to skip challenging platforming and relieving its players from keeping tabs on locked doors with pen and paper, but together, these options and features make for great hand-holding for those new to games like POP. The fact that you can turn them off at any time or not use them at all is like practice wheels on a bike. If they feel confident to embark on their personal journey as a hardcore Metroidvania fan, switch these options off by all means and enjoy the game. 

There’s a line in The Lost Crown where Sargon says his two swords “will never fail him”, and that line really encompasses the combat experience of the game as the twin blades will be the main weapons you’ll use. The game has an entire system where you can execute intricate combo chains in numerous ways. Sargon’s attacks feel flowy and perpetual, allowing you to move between targets, toss them up in the air, and slam them back to the ground. The game also comes with a high-risk, high-reward parry that conjures different enemy-specific, finisher-like cutscenes when executed successfully. These two base mechanics try to encourage you to express your playstyle in numerous ways, but its tragedy lies in the fact that you are never really incentivised to execute them anyway.

Early-game fights can simply be boiled down to finding openings where you aggressively slide or jump behind enemies and whittle them down with simple three-button presses. Many of the game’s 50-plus enemy variants are so huge and heavy that air-to-ground combos are just not optimal. Moreover, the game’s combat transits to an identity crisis mid-to-late-game as it suddenly places a huge focus on perfectly timed parries and dodges. The difficulty curve ramps up so much the moment you finish chapter five that it feels unforgiving for the uninitiated. If you play the game on the normal (second out of five) “Warrior” difficulty, you’ll find yourself dying quite frequently throughout. No doubt, Metroidvania and souls-like veterans will feel right at home with how difficult late-game fights can be, but if you’re going to introduce accessibility options and puzzles that make this game equal parts engaging and inviting, the game’s combat just feels like bullying. 

Regardless of difficulty or skill level, you’ll be spending most of your time getting used to the flow of the boss fights and recognising their patterns, instead of thinking of how you can apply the more elaborate combos against them. The boss fights are pretty formulaic and you’ll fumble around and die the first time in every new encounter. Stay alive long enough to get used to their different attacks, parry when needed, mash basic attack buttons, and you will eventually win. 

You will also gain access to a bow that doubles as a chakram (like a boomerang) later on, which might sound like a way out of monotonous button mashing. However, even though additional equipment can be used in combat, there isn’t a need to integrate them in any combat encounters.

There is no deep character progression system either. You’ll constantly return to the game’s central hub, ‘The Haven’, to purchase or upgrade your weapons or equipable amulets, but that’s all. Amulets that can be purchased only increase your attacks, number of slashes, health, defence, or resistances. Almost everything – save for your special abilities – can be upgraded in threes but they do not really encourage different ways of playing. The furthest you can go with executing intricate combos comes from The Lost Crown’s training mode, doubling as a gateway to learning these chains available to you, but you’ll find no joy in actually applying these chains. It would have been nice if more crystals (in-game currency for upgrades) were given when more intricate combos were executed or if enemies required a very specific combo to defeat – anything to encourage different combat styles would improve the combat experience. It feels like a wasted opportunity that combat can feel that shallow when so much is available for you. 

While a new entry, it’s a relatively short one as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will take you about 14 hours to reach the credits, with an additional 10 hours if you want to finish the side quests and find all of the collectables. Priced slightly lower than new blockbuster titles, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown makes for a simple and moderately enjoyable Metroidvania weekend experience. You just have to take the story with a pinch of salt and get used to pressing the same button for combat over and over again while staying on your toes with the occasional parries. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

The release of Tekken 8 is around the corner and if you’re looking to become the next king of the iron fist, you’re probably looking for the perfect way to play the game. Using arcade controllers is one of the many ways to enjoy Tekken 8.

Different arcade controllers cater to different playstyles – some players prefer fight sticks while others prefer pressing buttons on leverless controllers.

Regardless of your preferences, here are 10 recommendations to prepare for your next battle. Be mindful of the platform the arcade controller is compatible with as Tekken 8 will only be released on PC and current-gen consoles.

1) HORI Fighting Stick Mini (S$59)

Compatibility: PC

The HORI Fighting Stick Mini is the cheapest PC-compatible stick you can use for Tekken 8. It is also extremely portable and much smaller than conventional arcade controllers at approximately 21cm by 16cm. For such a small form factor, it is quite impressive that the machine can accommodate the standard 8-button arcade layout and a lever.

The stick sets you back about S$59, which is perfect if you’re new and are looking to get a feel of using a fight stick. The downside, though, is the small form factor has no room for your palm to rest comfortably on the body, which limits specific playstyles.

2) PXN X8 (S$101)

Compatibility: Xbox Series X|S & PC

Some players prefer having arcade and directional buttons easily accessible for games like Tekken 8. The PXN X8 offers such an experience for around S$101. At its price point,  this arcade controller makes for a great entry piece for players looking to jump into Tekken 8 with leverless controls.

The PXN X8 is fitted with tactile blue mechanical switches – that are non-hot-swappable – like a gaming keyboard, leaving PC players feeling right at home.  Those playing Tekken 8 on the Xbox Series X|S can also use this arcade controller.

3) 8BitDo Retro Arcade Stick (S$120)

Compatibility: PC

If you’re looking to go full retro, the 8BitDo Arcade Stick is an appropriate option. There are many commendable characteristics of the 8BitDo Arcade Stick, one of which is that it is moddable. This arcade controller has a universal mounting plate that supports Sanwa sticks. It can also be used wireless through Bluetooth and the provided 2.4G receiver. If using a wired connection is your thing, the USB-C cable is also available.

Buttons on the 8BitDo Arcade Stick can be mapped while macros can also be created. For about S$120 and its functionality, the stick is a steal.

4) MAYFLASH F300 Elite (S$190)

Compatibility: Xbox Series X & PC. (PlayStation 5 with Adaptor)

May Flash is known for creating arcade sticks that occupy the sweet spot between value and quality. If you are playing Tekken 8 on the PC or Xbox Series X, their F300 Elite Arcade Stick will suffice. The controller has a precision 4-way joystick and nine highly responsive buttons from Sanwa – industry standard components for fighting sticks. At around S$190, the stick provides a solid build quality even though it is not moddable.

The brand also provides avenues to widen the compatibility of its arcade sticks for other platforms. PlayStation 5 users can purchase the additional Magic-S Ultimate adaptor for around S$56 to play Tekken 8 using the F300 Elite. They can also go for the F700 if they would prefer native PlayStation 5 compatibility.

5) Qanba N3 Drone 2 (S$228)

Compatibility: PlayStation 5 & PC

Qanba is another brand that provides reliable arcade sticks for those looking to go pro in games like Tekken 8. Although most of their sticks come at a premium, their N3 Drone 2 Wired Joystick is fairly affordable in the realm of fighting sticks at around S$228. 

The Qanba N3 Drone 2 is an officially licensed PlayStation peripheral compatible with PC. It comes with their authentic and top-quality 30mm B-30 Qanba buttons and Qanba OV7 OMRON lever along with a full control panel and touchpad. 

These parts are easily moddable. All users have to do is remove the six screws at the bottom of the controller and pop out the buttons they would like replaced.

6) Hori Fighting Stick Alpha (S$230)

Compatibility: PlayStation 5, PC, & Xbox Series X|S

The HORI Fighting Stick Alpha is the most common contemporary arcade stick for fighting games. The stick accommodates every platform Tekken 8 is being released with their respective variants for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC – bonus fact: PC users can use either controller. HORI has even collaborated with Bandai Namco for an official tournament-grade Tekken 8 fighting stick, officially licensed by Sony.

Both HORI Fighting Stick Alpha variants come with stock HAYABUSA buttons and lever, with the possibility of easy and accessible modding just by lifting the top half of the arcade controller’s casing. The top clear plastic panel of the arcade controller can also be easily lifted for players to incorporate their custom arcade controller designs.

The HORI Fighting Stick Alpha is priced at S$230.

7) Snackbox MICRO (S$352)

Compatibility: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, & PC

Leverless controllers have been rising in trend for fighting games like Tekken 8. The hitBOX was one of the first few leverless arcade controllers to grace the market. The Snackbox MICRO, meanwhile, is just a more compact version of the hitBOX. 

Unlike the hitBOX, the Snackbox MICRO is compatible with the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It also comes in a clean and cool-looking transparent case where players can integrate their favourite artwork.

The Snackbox MICRO comes with Kailh Red Low Profile mechanical switches. The switches are hot-swappable, which means players can find their own collection of low-profile switches to meet their gaming needs. The controller also comes with a 6ft right-angle USB-C cable that neatly runs to the console of their choice.

If players are keen on purchasing the Snackbox MICRO, they’ll need to act fast. The arcade controller is only purchasable as a limited pre-order through the Junk Food Arcades website at US$265 (around S$352). These controllers come in batches, so who knows when the next release window will be?

8) hitBOX (S$360)

Compatibility: PC

The hitBOX is the household name for leverless arcade controllers. Ever since its introduction into the realm of fighting games, the hitBOX has been generating heated discussion on whether it gives players lever-age (pun intended) in their playstyles. Arcade controllers with levers require players to overcome a difficulty curve for character movement. The hitBOX, a leverless controller, eliminates this curve. Regardless, the hitBOX has been a favourite arcade stick for many Tekken players both casual and professional.

Priced at around S$360, the hitBOX uses Sanwa arcade buttons and comes with a durable metal case and plexiglass. So far, the hitBOX is only compatible with PCs.

9) Razer Kitsune All-Button Arcade Controller (S$478)

Compatibility: PlayStation 5 & PC

If you like LEDs that go with your PC or PlayStation 5 while virtually punching other players in the face leverless style, then the Razer Kitsune would be your go-to arcade controller.   

This premium leverless arcade controller comes with hot-swappable low-profile linear optical switches that minimise input actuation. It also comes with a touchpad, an aluminum top plate for custom Razer vinyl wraps, and a built-in lock to fasten the USB-C cable, preventing unintended or unwanted disconnections.

Be ready to burn a hole in your wallet if you would like to buy this premium arcade controller though: it costs approximately S$478.

10) Qanba Obsidian 2 (S$480)

Compatibility: PlayStation 5 & PC

Qanba takes pride in the Obsidian 2 for its premium quality that is “tested by e-athletes”. The Qanba Obsidian 2 boasts tournament-grade parts like the Sanwa Denki 30mm OBSF-30 buttons and Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK joystick lever. The levers, lever ball, and buttons can also be easily changed and customised. To help players prevent whiffs and slip-ups in Tekken 8, the Qanba Obsidian 2 has a palm rest and anti-slip bottom so that the controller would sit securely on the surface you are using, even on your lap.. 

The premium Qanba Obsidian 2 comes with a touchpad, accommodating for PlayStation 5 and PC users. The arcade controller has a USB cable that neatly runs through the left side of the controller, allowing for easy tabletop cable management.

The Qanba Obsidian is considered to be one of the most expensive levered arcade controllers in the industry, setting you back at nearly S$480.

Arcade controllers have been around for a long time, and are generally moddable if you know what you’re doing. It may seem daunting to consider modding an arcade stick to “maximise” your skills in Tekken 8, but you don’t need a fully customised arcade controller to enjoy the game.

Although it may look like every Tekken player on YouTube and Twitch is using an arcade controller to play the game, it takes a while to get used to one. Ultimately, the right controller for you is what you are comfortable with and what you can afford.

Tekken 8 is set for a 26 January 2024 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post 10 Best Arcade Controllers To Play Tekken 8 appeared first on Geek Culture.

If you’re a fan of old-school Disney animations like Steamboat Willie and shooters like Call of Duty, you’re in luck. A small independent studio from Warsaw, Fumi Games, is developing a shooter titled Mouse with visuals inspired by cartoons in the 1930s.

According to Fumi Games, Mouse is a “gritty, jazz-fueled shooter”, where you gun down “a corrupt city full of crooks and danger” in the style of retro, rubber hose, monochromatic animation. Most of the characters – even you – are mice. Fumi Games recently released an official gameplay trailer for the game. 

The trailer features various Peaky Blinders-like anthropomorphic mice being shot with cartoon shotguns, six-shooter revolvers, and Tommy guns. In Mouse, headshots cause goons to lose their heads, leaving their neck spurting out blood in black and white. Explosions leave your enemies charred as they stare at you in shock before being disintegrated to dust like from an episode of Tom and Jerry. You’ll also be able to melee enemies using a 30’s cartoon iconic wind-up punch just like Popeye.

The game also promises in-game collectibles and some form of character progression like weapon upgrades. All of this looney mayhem seems to take place in a toon-like pre-World War II era America, filled with vintage posters and blue-collar shipyard locations.

This is not the first time the gaming industry has released a retro cartoon-inspired game. The release of Cuphead by Studio MDHR garnered well-received reviews and love from gamers, with its characters and frames meticulously hand-painted, further spawning a Netflix series. Mouse seems to have a similar type of charm – and if anything – will very likely experience the same kind of success.

It will take a while for Mouse’s development to be complete. The game is set for a 2025 release date and can be wishlisted on Steam. Patience, like rubber hose animation cartoons, is a virtue that will stand the test of time.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post 1930s-Inspired Cartoon Shooter ‘Mouse’ Reveals Early Gameplay Trailer appeared first on Geek Culture.

Since its official reveal in 2022, the highly-anticipated Tekken 8 has been giving players intermittent tastes of its chunky, satisfying combat through network tests and closed betas. To give players the early opportunity to get back into the fight, Bandai Namco has announced an official demo for the game as it approaches its official release.

According to an X post by Tekken, the demo offers players the chance to experience the first chapter of Tekken 8’s story mode, throwing them back into the fray of the Mishima family feud. It will also feature a local versus fighting mode for some couch combat competition.

The Tekken 8 demo will be made available for the PlayStation 5 console tomorrow on 14 December 2023. PC and Xbox Series X|S users will be able to access the demo a week later on 21 December 2023.

Aside from the Mishimas, other beloved familiar fighters will be making their return alongside new and interesting ones. Notably, the recent introduction of Reina has fans speculating who she is, as she boasts the Mishima fighting style with renewed vigor and a condescending Heihachi-like facade.

The next upcoming Tekken installment will feature a base roster of 32 characters. We recently sunk our teeth into experiencing 30 minutes of Tekken 8’s Story Mode, VS Mode, Arcade Quest, and online lobby interactions. Suffice it to say, it was a delight beating other players and getting beat along the way.

Players will get to officially enter the ring in Tekken 8 on 26 January 2024. It will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Bandai Namco Drops Tekken 8 Demo Before Release appeared first on Geek Culture.

The release of God of War: Ragnarok rocked the world of gaming in 2022, winning multiple awards in last year’s The Game Awards including titles like Best Narrative, Best Performance, and Best Action/Adventure Game. Almost a year in, and Kratos is returning, this time in the free DLC Valhalla for God of War: Ragnarok, which is coming free on 13 December 1AM Singapore time.

The DLC, revealed during The Game Awards 2023, features Kratos battling various enemies familiar to fans of the game – Draugrs, Einherjars, and more – as Mimir questions the purpose of their existence in Valhalla. It seems like enemies from Greek mythology like the Cyclops will also make an appearance.

Set after the decisive battle against Odin and Atreus’ departure, Kratos has seen a path for himself that he never thought possible before. Brought to the mysterious shores of Valhalla accompanied only by Mimir, Kratos will enter its unknown depths to overcome trials within himself and face echoes of his past. God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla will be an epilogue to the events of the base game, following Kratos on a deeply personal and reflective journey.

As the trailer demonstrates, this will be the combat you know and love from God of War Ragnarok and blends it with fresh, experimental elements inspired by the roguelite genre in Valhalla. Each attempt will encourage players to master different aspects of Kratos’ arsenal as they face new combinations of enemies and some surprises along the way.

Should Kratos fall, he will reawaken outside the doors ready for the next try. During each attempt, you will learn and adapt to the challenges Valhalla has to offer. The more you overcome, the more resources you’ll gain that can be put towards permanent upgrades that affect both Kratos and even Valhalla itself. Accumulating rewards and knowledge will help players get ever closer to discovering the mysteries that await Kratos within.   

God of War: Ragnarok Valhalla will be released on 13 Dec 2023 for free.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post The Game Awards 2023: ‘God of War: Ragnarok’ Returns With Free DLC ‘Valhalla’ On 12 Dec appeared first on Geek Culture.