Every once in a long while, a game arrives that genuinely shifts the landscape of its medium, one that forces the rest of the industry to sit up, take notes, and quietly reconsider what they thought they knew. Elden Ring, released in February 2022 by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco, is emphatically one of those games. The collaboration between director Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the Dark Souls series, and George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, sounds on paper like the sort of pitch a marketing department dreams up at 2am. And yet the resulting game is so assured, so vast and so wickedly crafted that it earned a near-perfect critical reception and became one of the best-selling games of its generation. Tarnished, the Lands Between awaits.

The premise drops you into a sprawling, broken fantasy realm called the Lands Between, tasked with tracking down the shards of the shattered Elden Ring and claiming the title of Elden Lord. If that sounds vague, that is entirely by design. FromSoftware’s lore has always been dispensed in dribs and drabs through item descriptions, cryptic NPC conversations and environmental storytelling, and Elden Ring continues this proud tradition of making you feel profoundly confused in the most compelling way imaginable. What it offers in return is a world of staggering scope and artistry, from the golden fields of Limgrave in the early game to the nightmarish rot-blasted wastes of Caelid, all of it presided over by the colossal, luminous Erdtree. It is, without question, one of the most beautifully realised open worlds in the history of the medium.

What sets Elden Ring apart from its Soulsborne predecessors is the transition to a fully open world, and FromSoftware handles this with a confidence that puts many long-established open-world franchises to shame. There are no quest markers cluttering your map, no hand-holding waypoints steering you towards the next objective. Instead, the game trusts you to explore, to get lost, to stumble upon a legacy dungeon you weren’t expecting or a boss encounter that sends you sprinting back the other direction at considerable speed. The combat, meanwhile, is the lock-on-focused, stamina-managed brawling that FromSoftware popularised, refined and expanded with an enormous range of build options spanning sorceries, incantations, bladed weapons, bows, great shields and everything in between. Death will come often, and it will occasionally feel unfair. It rarely actually is.

The game is not without its rough edges. The back third leans heavily on reusing boss encounters, and some players will find the late-game difficulty curve a touch punishing, particularly if they have been neglecting to level up their Vigor stat. NPC questlines, a franchise highlight, can be fiendishly difficult to progress naturally given the sheer scale of the world. On the PS5 specifically, the game launched with some frame rate inconsistencies in performance mode, though subsequent patches improved stability considerably. None of this meaningfully diminishes the achievement on display. Push Square called it the definitive FromSoftware game, setting a new benchmark for open-world design, and it is very difficult to argue otherwise. The orchestral soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission.

Elden Ring is a game that rewards patience, curiosity and a willingness to be humbled repeatedly before triumphing spectacularly. It is enormous, secrets-dense, and endlessly surprising even dozens of hours into a playthrough. For those who have never ventured into a FromSoftware title before, it is arguably the best entry point the studio has ever produced, offering more freedom and flexibility than its predecessors. For veterans, it is a masterclass in everything they already love, expanded to a scale that still feels remarkable. A substantial range of hints, tips, secrets and essential strategies to help you survive and thrive in the Lands Between can be found below.

Elden Ring: Hints, Tips & Secrets

Essential Beginner Tips

• Meet Melina before you do anything else. Resist the urge to charge off into the open world immediately. Follow the guiding light between Sites of Grace until you have rested at three of them, at which point Melina will appear. She grants you the ability to level up using runes and hands you the Spectral Steed Whistle to summon your mount, Torrent. Without her, any runes you collect cannot be spent, meaning every death is pure loss.
• Collect the Spirit Calling Bell from Renna. After meeting Melina and obtaining Torrent, fast travel back to the Church of Elleh at night. A witch named Renna will be perched on the ruins nearby. Speak to her honestly and she will gift you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes, allowing you to summon spirit allies to assist in boss fights. This is one of the most useful items in the game and is entirely missable if you don’t return at night.
• Invest heavily in Vigor. New players frequently pour their rune upgrades into damage-dealing stats and find themselves dying in a single hit come the mid-game. Aim to bring Vigor to at least 40 before investing heavily elsewhere. The survivability increase is substantial and will save you considerable frustration.
• Spend your runes before risky encounters. Runes dropped upon death can only be recovered if you reach the spot where you died without dying again. If you are carrying a large amount and are about to tackle a boss or a dangerous new area, fast travel to a Site of Grace and spend them on levels or items first.
• Smash glowing skulls with Torrent. Scattered throughout the Lands Between are skulls with lit-up eyes. Ride over them with your horse to shatter them, and they will always drop a small sum of runes. It is a quick, combat-free way to top up your rune count as you explore.
• Upgrade your Flask of Crimson Tears. Your healing flask can be improved in two ways: increasing how many charges it holds (via Golden Seeds found near glowing Erdtree saplings) and increasing how much each charge restores (via Sacred Tears found in churches across the world). Both upgrades are invaluable and should be prioritised throughout the game.
• You can skip Margit the Fell Omen. The first major boss guarding Stormveil Castle does not have to be fought head-on. A cliffside path to the right of the castle gate allows you to bypass Margit entirely and reach Stormveil’s interior. If you do want to fight him, buy Margit’s Shackle from the merchant Patches for 5,000 runes. Using it during the fight temporarily pins him to the ground, giving you free hits.
• Map Fragments are not automatic. The overworld map begins greyed out. To reveal each region, you need to find its Map Fragment, indicated by small orange icons on the hidden map. In the world itself, look for upright stone pillars with glowing inscriptions. Collecting them fills in that area of your map.

Secrets & Hidden Areas

• The teleporter chest in Dragon-Burnt Ruins is a trap. In early-game Limgrave, the Dragon-Burnt Ruins contain a chest in an underground cellar. Opening it teleports you directly to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid, a mid-to-late-game area where enemies can kill you in a single strike. If you find yourself there unexpectedly, do not fight anything. Sprint to the nearest Site of Grace to unlock fast travel and escape.
• Nokron, Eternal City is a hidden underground region. This entire area does not exist on your map until you defeat Starscourge Radahn at Redmane Castle in Caelid. Upon his defeat, a meteor crashes near Fort Haight in Mistwood, creating a crater with a path down into the city. Nokron contains some of the game’s finest rewards, including the Mimic Tear Spirit Ash.
• The Mimic Tear boss has a notorious exploit. Before entering the fog gate to fight the Mimic Tear boss in Nokron, unequip all of your weapons, armour and spells. The boss copies your loadout at the moment of summoning, meaning it will spawn completely unarmed. Quickly re-equip your gear once inside and defeat your bewildered, defenceless double with ease.
• The Mimic Tear Spirit Ash is the most powerful summon in the game. Found in a chest behind a fog gate in Nokron’s Night’s Sacred Ground area (requiring one Stonesword Key to enter), this Spirit Ash summons a copy of your own character, complete with your weapons, armour and abilities. Upgrade it using Ghost Gloveworts at Roderika in Roundtable Hold. A fully upgraded Mimic Tear can solo many of the game’s bosses.
• Illusory walls can be struck to reveal hidden passages. Throughout the game’s dungeons and legacy areas, certain walls appear solid but dissolve when attacked. Some of the game’s best-hidden secrets, including entire additional rooms and shortcuts, are concealed behind these invisible barriers. If an area feels like it should continue but doesn’t, try hitting the walls.
• The Flask of Wondrous Physick can be customised. Found at the Third Church of Marika in Limgrave, this special flask is separate from your standard healing flasks and can hold two Crystal Tear effects, mixed at any Site of Grace. Minor Erdtrees around the world drop these tears when their bosses are defeated. Combining effects such as the Cerulean Hidden Tear (removes FP costs for fifteen seconds) with a damage-boosting tear can enable devastating combinations before major boss encounters.
• Rune Arcs amplify your equipped Great Rune. After defeating a major boss such as Godrick the Grafted, you can activate their Great Rune at the corresponding Divine Tower. Equipping the rune does nothing on its own, but consuming a Rune Arc activates it, providing significant stat boosts that last until your next death. Godrick’s Great Rune, one of the first available, adds five points to all stats and is particularly valuable early on.
• Patches is hiding in Murkwater Cave. The fan-favourite FromSoftware NPC Patches can be found in Murkwater Cave, located along a narrow gorge in Agheel Lake in Limgrave. He invades you partway through the cave, but if you defeat him and then spare his life when prompted, he becomes a merchant selling useful items throughout your playthrough. Do not kill him.

Build & Progression Tips

• You can respec your character after defeating Rennala. Once you beat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in the Academy of Raya Lucaria, you can speak to her to reassign all your stat points using a Larval Tear. These are limited per playthrough, so do not discard them. This means early build decisions are not permanent, so experiment freely.
• The Samurai class starts with one of the best weapons in the game. The Uchigatana has innate bleed buildup and excellent damage scaling for Dexterity builds. If you are unsure which class to pick and want an edge in the early game, the Samurai is an outstanding choice.
• Ashes of War let you customise weapon skills. These can be applied to most weapons at any Site of Grace using a Whetstone Knife (found at Gatefront Ruins). They change the weapon’s special attack, activated with L2, and can also alter the stat scaling of the weapon itself. Experimenting with different Ashes of War is one of the most rewarding parts of build-crafting in Elden Ring.

Video Walkthroughs

For players new to the Souls genre, this comprehensive beginner-focused tips and tricks video is an excellent starting point before diving into the Lands Between:

ULTIMATE Elden Ring Beginner Guide — Tips and Tricks

For a full step-by-step walkthrough of the entire game, the IGN Elden Ring Walkthrough playlist is one of the most thorough available:

Elden Ring Full Walkthrough Playlist — IGN

Good luck!

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There is a particular kind of magic that only the very best platform games possess — the sort that makes you forget you’re holding a controller and convinces you that you’re genuinely along for the ride. Team Asobi’s Astro Bot, released exclusively on PS5 in September 2024, belongs firmly in that rarefied company. PlayStation’s diminutive mascot has quietly been building up to this moment through a VR outing and the console’s pack-in tech demo, Astro’s Playroom, but this is the game that truly announces him as an all-timer. If Nintendo has Mario, PlayStation now has Astro, and on the evidence here, they needn’t feel the slightest bit embarrassed about that comparison.

The premise is cheerfully daft and all the better for it. Astro and 300 of his fellow robots are cruising through the cosmos aboard a spaceship that bears a remarkable resemblance to a PS5 console (subtle, Team Asobi, very subtle), when a googly-eyed alien swoops in, strips the ship for parts, and scatters the crew across five galaxies. Off you trot, then, to rescue your pals and piece the mothership back together. The story is wafer-thin by design, but the moment-to-moment joy of actually playing the thing more than fills the gap. Each of the game’s 80-odd levels is a self-contained burst of invention, rarely lasting more than ten minutes but crammed with ideas that most developers would be delighted to build an entire game around.

What makes Astro Bot so consistently thrilling is how it refuses to coast. At the start of almost every level, Astro dons a new suit or backpack that grants a fresh ability, and the game’s designers wring every last drop of potential from each one before quietly retiring it. Spring-powered boxing gloves, a rocket-boosting robo-dog, a time-freezing gadget, an armoured ball suit — the ideas arrive at a pace that would feel exhausting if they weren’t executed so brilliantly. The DualSense controller is also put to exceptional use throughout, with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and gyro controls woven into the gameplay in ways that feel genuinely purposeful rather than gimmicky. It is, without question, the finest showcase the PS5’s controller has ever received.

The game is also a lavish love letter to PlayStation’s history, and this is where it earns a special place in the hearts of long-time fans. Across the Crash Site hub world and the game’s many levels, you’ll encounter robots styled after iconic characters spanning thirty years of PlayStation heritage, from Crash Bandicoot and Ratchet to Solid Snake and Kratos. One gloriously daft level, Bot of War, has Astro tooling around as a chibi Kratos, Leviathan Axe and all, while another, Dude Raiding, casts him as Nathan Drake. These are not cynical cameos bolted on for applause; they are lovingly crafted, interactive and funny, and they speak to a development team that clearly has enormous affection for the library they’re celebrating. At its best, it feels like Nintendo’s “look at all our wonderful toys” approach, translated into PlayStation terms with considerable charm.

Visually and aurally, the game is a treat from start to finish. It runs at a smooth 60 frames per second without so much as a stutter, renders its colourful worlds with a vibrancy that puts many supposedly more “serious” titles to shame, and boasts a soundtrack so infectiously catchy that you will very likely find yourself humming it at inopportune moments for weeks afterwards. The runtime of around 10 to 15 hours might leave some players wanting more, but it is paced to near perfection, and there is ample reason to return for completionists chasing down every hidden bot, puzzle piece and secret level exit. Astro Bot is a masterpiece of the platforming genre and arguably the best game currently available on PS5. A range of hints, tips, Easter eggs and secrets to help you on your way can be found below.

Astro Bot: Hints, Tips & Easter Eggs

General Tips

• Check your collectible totals before entering a level. Press the Square button when hovering over a world on the map to see exactly how many bots, puzzle pieces and secret exits it contains. This helps you spot gaps early and plan revisits accordingly.
• You don’t need to finish a level to keep a collectible. If you revisit a level to grab a missed bot or puzzle piece, you can quit back to the galaxy map as soon as you’ve collected it. You won’t lose your find, and you won’t have to replay boss encounters.
• Save your coins for the Gacha Lab, not the bird guide. After beating a level, you can pay 200 coins at the start to summon a bird that marks all missed collectibles. This is handy in a pinch, but if you’re aiming for Platinum you’ll need around 15,000 coins for the Gacha Lab. Prioritise the Gacha, and use the bird only when you’re genuinely stuck.
• Explore the galaxy overworld maps thoroughly. Each galaxy’s map is not just a menu screen. Fly your DualSense spaceship around and you’ll find comets to ram, roaming ships with puzzle pieces in their tractor beams, and other hidden events. Each galaxy also has one puzzle piece floating freely on its overworld map that isn’t tied to any level.
• Secret level exits unlock the Lost Galaxy. There are ten hidden exits scattered across the five main nebulas. Finding each one opens a special level in the Lost Galaxy, and completing all ten unlocks an eleventh bonus level. These exits can be tricky to spot, so explore off the beaten path.
• Slow down and interact with everything. Many of the game’s funniest and most rewarding moments come from experimenting with the environment. Punch walls, pull on dangling cables, blow into the DualSense microphone when prompted, and generally be curious. The game rewards players who poke at the world.

Easter Eggs & Secrets

• The PS5 parts sing at the Crash Site. As you rescue the various components of the mothership and bots build scaffolding around the PS5 wreckage, head to the shorter scaffold and climb to the top. The repaired parts of the console will open up and sing along with the Crash Site’s music, using vocal tracks pulled directly from Astro’s Playroom.
• Whack the VIP bots for hidden interactions. Many of the rescued PlayStation character bots at the Crash Site have secret animations when you punch them. Hitting Ratchet sends Bolts flying everywhere. Hitting Rivet shoots her through a rift before dropping her back. Hitting Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza causes all manner of random objects to spill out of him, including RC cars and improvised weapons — a lovely nod to his series’ signature brawling chaos.
• Bot of War hides eight ravens. The God of War tribute level contains eight green ravens — Odin’s Eyes of the All-Father — to track down and destroy. One is visible as you fly into the level on the Dual Speeder, destroyed using gyro controls. The rest are hidden throughout the stage. Finding and destroying all eight earns you a PSN trophy. There is also a mural elsewhere in the level that tracks how many you’ve found.
• Summon Jormungandr in Bot of War. In the Bot of War level, find the pool of icy water and break the block of ice to reveal cables. Pull them to uncover a horn, then blow into the DualSense microphone to summon Jormungandr the World Serpent. Climb onto its back to reach a hidden Thor bot.
• Unlock Crash Bandicoot’s special interaction via the Gacha Lab. Crash is one of the first VIP bots you rescue, but his secret interaction only becomes available once you’ve obtained his companion item, Aku Aku, from the Gacha Lab. Once you have it, head back to Crash’s spot at the Crash Site to trigger the surprise.
• Dude Raider’s hidden egg artefacts. The Nathan Drake tribute level, Dude Raiding, contains three hidden egg artefacts to find and collect by hitting them. Locating all three is required for a specific PSN trophy, so keep your eyes peeled as you play through the level.

Platinum Trophy Tips

• For the Platinum, you will need all 300 bots, all 120 puzzle pieces, all 10 Lost Galaxy secret exits, and 150 items from the Gacha Lab (at 100 coins each, that’s a minimum of 15,000 coins). Playing through the full game while collecting everything as you go should yield close to the required coin total naturally.
• Once you have all 120 puzzle pieces, the Golden Statue is unlocked at the Crash Site. With all 300 bots in hand, you can run up the wall of bots to access the Great Master Challenge — a final platforming gauntlet that rewards you with the Special Master Bot upon completion.
• After completing the main game, the Stellar Speedway DLC galaxy becomes available. This contains speedrun levels with their own Special Bots to collect.

Video Walkthrough

For a comprehensive video guide covering the full game with all bots, puzzle pieces, secret exits and Platinum trophy requirements, check out the following 100% walkthrough on YouTube:

ASTRO BOT — Full Game 100% Walkthrough (PS5)

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The Last Story arrives on the Nintendo Wii with the sort of confidence you usually see in RPGs that already know they are going to be adored. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and backed by a lush soundtrack from Nobuo Uematsu, this adventure sets its tone early with a blend of emotional storytelling, clever combat mechanics, and a cast of characters who feel like they have stepped right out of a high quality fantasy novel. It is a game that understands the power of charm and then uses it in almost every scene.

You play as Zael, a mercenary with big dreams and an even bigger talent for finding trouble. The story mixes political drama, personal stakes, and warm character banter in a way that gives the whole experience a unique rhythm. Mistwalker’s approach to world building keeps the action anchored to Lazulis Island, which results in a surprisingly intimate RPG that values character moments as much as battlefield heroics. It feels refreshingly focused compared to sprawling genre peers.

Combat is where the game really shows off its personality. You get a mix of real time action, tactical elements, cover based positioning, and special skills that reward creative thinking. The Gathering mechanic, which lets Zael attract enemy attention, adds a neat strategic layer. It lets you set up teammates for big hits or rescue them from tricky situations. It is not just flashy, it is clever, and it makes every battle feel like it belongs in a team based fantasy movie.

There is also a strong sense of camaraderie as your party grows. Characters talk mid battle, joke during quests, and build relationships that feel natural instead of forced. The quieter moments on Lazulis Island help the story breathe, while boss fights bring enough spectacle to remind you that this is still a high stakes adventure. The balance between humor, drama, and action is one of the game’s greatest strengths.

If you are looking to sharpen your skills in this beautifully crafted RPG, you are in the right place. Below, you will find a variety of hints, tips, and cheats for The Last Story that can help you tackle tougher encounters, build stronger strategies, and gain an edge as you explore Lazulis Island. Whether you are a first time player or revisiting an old favorite, there is plenty here to help elevate your playthrough.

Gameplay Walkthrough

The Last Story Hints & Tips

Crossbow hint:

To raise your crossbow damage, go to the “windy alley” and wait for the wind to blow. Five arrow bonus items will blow by the first, second, and third and will all give you 0.1 The fourth will give you 0.2 and the fifth will give you 0.5 for a total of 1. Wait for the wind to blow again and further increase your crossbow damage.

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Think ahead

While it’s most certainly assured that you need to supply your people with the essentials – heat, shelter and food, you should also be wary of how you accomplish this.  While it might not make much difference how you sustain the first group, you simply cannot afford to mow down an entire forest or plant your settlers too far away from a river.  Just like the burgeoning towns of old (IRL), rivers were seen as the lifeblood of a city, offering transportation, water as well as trading potential.  In short, you must be able to strategically position your settlement so that you both have room to grow and access to a river (not just a lake) while also avoiding to aforementioned clear-cut scenario.  Not only do forests provide lumber, but they’re also sources for things like herbs and uncommon foodstuffs.

On Commuting

Assuming that you’ve thought out the beginnings of your little civilization and are starting to erect structures, the next thing to begin thinking about is worker commutes.  It’s just illogical to force your citizens to have to make long treks to complete their daily duties, just like in real life; you want pathways to be as clean and direct as possible.  This helps in terms of boosting productivity.  So, when you have a lodge, cabin and hut, make sure to erect at least two houses to support this infrastructure (the residents should sort everything out on their own).

…speaking of critical infrastructure

When you’re starting out, you need to make sure to construct a forester’s lodge as it allows you to harvest lumbers as well as plant new trees.  Ideally, you want it located directly adjacent to both the hunting cabin and gatherer’s hut.  Most players seem to recommend waiting to build the lodge until after the other two structures have been erected as the forest density directly affects the flora collected from the gatherers, etc.

Jumpstart your economy

As soon as you can, initiate trading and stockpiling and try to jumpstart your village’s economy.  In particular, trading is extremely important and might be considered absolutely critical to your settlement’s long-term viability, so try to focus all your goals on establishing commerce.

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Try to think like Spiderman, or maybe a Ninja…

For starters, aside from simply playing the crap out of the game (to learn where everything is in each separate map) you really need to adopt a more geographic / geometric approach to combat to really succeed in Titanfall.  It’s not enough to simply jump into a Titan and try to physically overpower enemies with weapons fire like a mech-clad Rambo of sorts – do this and you’ll likely be quickly dispatched by any well-organized team.  To really give ‘em hell you’ll need to learn to let the environment do the work FOR you.

In order to accomplish this you really need to pay close attention to your ability to navigate the map as a pilot.  Before entering into any encounter you need to have already plotted a way out.  For example, quickly scaling a building on an opposite side, turned away from the action, should do the trick.  At the same time, you should try to behave like a sniper; long distance attacks are always preferable to directly confrontation.  Moreover, if you’re more of a stealthy gamer, always look for a quick and easy way to swoop down, open the hatch on a titan and shoot the pilot inside.  Of course, you’ll also need an escape route as well.

Thwart attacks on your Titan with the Vortex Shield

As you are no doubt already aware after playing around with Titanfall, it’s not incredibly difficult to dispatch a mech.  While this might be seen as a rather positive thing for those who prefer to remain free-running in pilot form, it’s quite distressing if you would rather suit up in a Titan.  In order to mitigate such losses, you can opt to take a Titan with a vortex shield in its loadout.  This will allow you to essentially capture bullets in a gravity well of sorts, hold everything there and then release it in a haze of fury upon the enemy.  Needless to say, it’s incredibly useful as you basically have a defensive capability with a weapon tacked on.  Combine this with regular attacks and you are talking about some serious firepower.

The “Smart Pistol”

Even if you’re a veteran badass who’s no stranger to pulling off headshots from the other side of the map, it always helps to have some kind of weapon that will increase your overall accuracy and effectiveness on the battlefield.  In Titanfall, this great equalizer (of sorts) is the smart pistol.  Since it can auto-lock onto targets, you can think of it as a very useful tool which can deliver results.  Combined with some careful maneuvering and a stealthy approach, it can become an instrument of punishment.

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Fist off, in case you don’t already know, in order to actually unlock the cheats you need to be able to complete certain missions on specific difficulties within certain time limits.  While this might sound easy enough, you simply can’t run from the starting point to the extraction – you must also complete the objectives.  Here is a brief guide to help you breeze through this particularly daunting challenge.

The Facility – Cheat to unlock: Invincibility – Time to beat:  2:05

Needless to say, upon first attempting this one many will say outright that “it’s bloody impossible!”, and while it might seem that way at first, it’s actually not that hard once you know what to do.

Start off by getting out of the vented area as quickly as possible, quickly opening the two doors leading downstairs toward the room directly facing the room with the guard holding the key.  While going downstairs sideways, hurl a remote mine toward the wall above the door (and detonate it by pressing the A and B buttons at the same time).  At the same time, open and enter the door below the stairs and kill the guard there with a shot to the face, grabbing his key.

Turning around, take a right down the hallway and make an immediate left to enter the security area, which is filled with guards.  Instead of trying to dispatch them, dodge and run around everyone while pulling up a machine gun to kill the three guards down the long hallway (while still moving).  There is a door on your left to enter, to more easily beat the level in time Dr. Doak should be located here.  After he introduces himself, make your way back out and head off to the bottling area (with the tanks).

Pausing the game to get the door decoder equipped, open the door and meet with Trevalyan, but don’t stand around to chat, stick the remaining mines in locations which will blow up multiple tanks.  Moving toward the back of this room on the lower floor, shoot any guards entering and then detonate the tanks once Alec is out of the way (again, with A and B at the same time).  If you did everything right, the cheat should now be available.

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Transportation

When any military moves into a region with intent to incite violence and dominate they don’t roll into town on tricycles and mopeds, do they?  Needless to say, the same reasoning definitely applies to the war zone that is (frequently) GTA V Online.  What you want is access to (at the very least) a helicopter or (preferably) a fighter jet.  There are a number of places where you can find a chopper, including Trevor’s airstrip (duh), Vespucci Beach, the roof of the Los Santos Medical Centre and of course, the airport.  Of course getting into the airport isn’t as easy as one might like.  No matter, simply move up the flight school’s stairs and craftily jump over the wall and you should be free to peruse available transports at your leisure.

The more adventurous and crazy gamers will of course want to head on over to the “secret” military facility to hijack a tank or better yet, jet.  Don’t even try to go in on foot as waves of delta force-like soldiers will descend upon you very quickly.  Instead, chopper in, remembering to stay low and then dart out and run into a hangar, grabbing a plane.  If all goes well, you should be ready to dominate the board and rain hell fire down upon your enemies.

Car insurance?! ..What the?!

Assuming that you’re content to roll around in a conventional vehicle, the last thing you want to do is lose that expensive ride (and let’s be honest here, in a game called “Grand Theft Auto” it’s sure to happen, right?)  Well, in GTA V you can actually purchase insurance which will allow you to effectively replace a destroyed or stolen vehicle (by phoning them up).  Yes, you’ll have to install a tracker and pay some fees, but it’s a small price to pay when you’re riding high.

Going in alone

Let’s face it; the world of GTA V can be absolutely brutal as it’s filled with many other miscreants such as yourself, each one with criminal aims.  In order to build up your abilities and gain a greater grasp on key areas and items it’s highly recommended that you start your very own solo session.  Naturally, this won’t net you the massive profits you seek, but it will allow you to freely roam around and prepare for the mayhem you’ll encounter when connected with other players.

Use the action command for a quick health boost

Unbeknownst to most, there’s a handy little trick you can use which turns your interactive menu into a quick health boost (for when you’re engaged in a firefight, for example).  Simply set it to “eat snack” and all you have to do is push your analog sticks inward to regain health in a pinch.

As always, good luck and watch out for zombies, aliens and Bigfoot.

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What makes Titanfall such a great exclusive game however, is its aim to blur the line between what constitutes a single player campaign and multiplayer action. Armed with a rather loose and somewhat standard story, Titanfall isn’t really trying to “hard-sell” you on dramatics or loads of options. No, this title was designed for one thing – providing an impressive platform for great team-based action and gunplay. Within its confines you get to explore a wonderful sci-fi-ish world which is satisfying both in terms of its design as well as context.

In game, you have two options to choose from: 1.) Move about as a nimble “pilot”; basically a single human character with some crazy nimbleness and rocket boots. Or number 2.) Climb inside your giant mech fighter, aptly called a “Titan” and unleash a barrage of heavy weapon fire on enemies. Of course you’re not invincible when inside of a Titan either, in fact, if you’re not careful you can be rather easily dispatched with a few carefully placed attacks. In other words, while you might be inclined to think that it’s always a great idea to be hulking around in your giant robot armor, the truth is that there are also some great perks to be gained as a pilot. More creative players will probably find the athleticism, explorative capabilities and smaller stature of a free-runner to be all they need to get the job done.

As far as visuals are concerned, Titanfall is truly a beautiful game to behold, even in light of all the hype that’s been surrounding it. Every facet of the title seems to be oozing detail and graphical prowess; from trashed tunnels to shaky, crumpling buildings, there’s plenty of ground to cover as well. Titanfall’s rather unique approach to delivering a horizontally expansive map, as well as plenty of additional areas both high and low, make it a dedicated multiplayer gamer’s best friend. In other words, there’s a very intriguing sort of strategy element buried within the level design itself, where there are multiple ways to undermine an opponent’s position or get where you’re going. In short, it’s very easy to get lost in the beauty of the scenery – you might find yourself wandering around in a daydream when you’re supposed to be providing support for your teammates.

With 5 multiplayer modes in tow, Titanfall certainly won’t disappoint. For instance, there are more traditional offerings such as “capture the flag” and “hardpoint domination”, as well as more specific modes like “pilot hunter”, where you receive points for wiping out human-controlled “pilots”. The game’s scaling is carried out courtesy of cloud computing services, which allows for greater optimization in terms of graphics as well as server performance.

To make a long story short, if you own an Xbox One (or an Xbox 360 / capable Windows PC) and you love multiplayer-centric FPS games, “Titanfall” won’t disappoint. This is a game which melds together a rather simplistic and fun gameplay core with amazing visuals and environments. All in all, a wonderful title which really should be on everyone’s “need to play” list.

The post Titanfall Review appeared first on Cheat Index.

To this end, there’s a huge variety of drivable vehicles to choose from, from sports cars to big rigs to police SUVs, motorcycles, even an ice cream truck.  All of them, of course, are significantly more lethal than their real-world counterparts, being equipped with a primary rechargeable weapon and the capability to carry secondary sidearms.  There’s even a helicopter, whose obvious advantage the designers have balanced by making it one of the game’s most fragile vehicles.  Nevertheless, seeing an opponent hovering over you in the aptly-named Talon gives you good cause for panic, because you’ll likely be snatched up, lifted into the air, and unceremoniously dropped, sustaining a back-breaking amount of damage.  The controls are responsive and easy to use, almost to a fault, as any of the cars available to drive (even the big ones) can corner on a dime – though that’s little disappointment as this is definitely a game where reality gets put on the chopping block in the service of fun.

One big difference between this Twisted Metal and previous editions is that choosing a driver character doesn’t stick you with their signature ride; you can mix and match maniacs and motorcars to your heart’s content.  Moreover, you can customize each car’s accessories and paint job.  Of course, the most enjoyable (and useful) way to personalize your car is to equip it with ridiculous weaponry, which you actually can’t do in the menus, but can accomplish by snatching up any one of the various firearms which litter each level like delicious, death-spewing candy.  Machine guns, shoguns, smart and dumb missiles, even napalm are all available for the sole purpose of blowing up as much shit as possible.

Which is a big task, to say the least.  All of the maps are enormous, and feature just staggering amounts of destructible buildings; since you need to tear-ass around the level searching for guns and ammo, the focus is almost as much on demolishing your surroundings as it is on destroying your opponents  There are several single- and multi-player game types, most of which revolve around the sheer joy of messy, violent vehicular combat.  The story mode is fairly engaging, and contains some pretty outlandish levels that will have you hopping off roofs, dodging juggernaut cars that zoom around repopulating levels with enemies, and battling monster bosses and flying robots that are heart-stoppingly huge.  The boss fights are broken into multiple stages, and none of them are easy; fortunately, after death you can restart from the end of a stage rather than having to replay the entire sequence.

Two players can play split-screen story mode, which is a hell of a lot of fun as nothing adds more zest to the onscreen mayhem as another human brain throwing its powers of creative demolition into the mix.  Sadly, there is no co-op online mode, which would have been almost preferable – as fun as it is sitting next to the person you’re busting heads with, the split-screen gets to feeling little cramped.  There is online deathmatch, however, supporting up to 16 players, as well as AI (which are always your de facto enemies; you learn real quick that these computer players hate nothing so much as slimy meatbags, and will routinely give preference to searching you out for a kill).  There are also a few other simple but enjoyable and suitably ruthless game types, such as “last man standing” which pits everyone against a single unfortunate player in a high-octane, high-explosive game of death-tag.  Online play currently suffers from some glitches, like connection dropouts trying to join games or just plain dropping you in the wrong game type altogether.  On the whole, though, for a couple hours of intense, unabashedly and willfully violent vehicular manslaughter of everything in sight, it’s hard to imagine how the concept could be done any better.

8 / 10

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Visuals

From a visual standpoint, Punch Time Explosion XL has a very pronounced and cartoon-like art style.  Well, it’s essentially visually identical to the manner and style in which its (television) characters are portrayed on their home network.  The visuals are enjoyable, there’s no question about it.  The problem of course is in how they are used to reinforce gameplay.

Gameplay

Uninteresting combat, level design and a general lack of fun, those are just some of the problems with this title.  You would expect a bright, colorful, and animated brawler / fighting game to be somewhat entertaining, yet it isn’t.

The only redeeming feature of this game is its roster of familiar characters, and the aforementioned visual stylings that go along with them.   This version of the game, which is really an update from a previously released version, features several new content additions as well as an entirely new set of playable characters.  While these additions are still not enough to entice devoted gamers to take up the game, die-hard fans of the shows (from which the characters are pulled) like the Power-Puff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, or Samurai Jack, might find something redeemable about the game.  Good luck with that.

Verdict

This is the type of game that you really want to like, but simply can’t because it won’t do anything interesting for you.  Nevertheless, serious fans of Cartoon Network programming will probably still be interested in this game simply because of the affiliation with their favorite characters and so forth.  As far as the casual gamer is concerned, you would do best to stay away from Cartoon Network’s Punch Time Explosion XL.

Rating – 6 / 10

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To get a burst of speed, you’ll need to fill up your boost meter – and the way to do that is by pulling off tricks.  Tricks are the heart and soul of SSX, and the latest edition in the franchise makes the necessary maneuvers seamless, and the results (pass or fail) thrilling to experience.  You know you’ve reached the so-called “tricky state”– allowing unlimited boost and the performance of your super-awesome finishing-move-style ultra-tricks – when the background music warps into a remix of Run-DMC’s “It’s Tricky” (apropos, no?) , allowing you to keep your eyes on the road and your hands firmly on the controls.

Actually, the controls are, one of the best parts of the new SSX; the control scheme  has been revamped and feels much more intuitive.  You can use the thumb-stick or buttons as per your preference, and pulling tricks is accomplished by indicating a body part, followed by a direction to go in or part of the board to be utilized.  It’s incredibly simple – almost more trouble to explain in words than it will be for you to grasp after playing for five minutes – but powerful, and lets you get right down into the business of working up ridiculous combos in no time flat.  Those who prefer the old control style can switch back to it at will, but it’s hard to imagine how the new setup wouldn’t be viewed as an improvement.

Since the only way to win is to use every second of airtime to pull off insanely long combos, much of SSX’s gameplay carries a heavy element of push-your-luck danger calculation.  The AI opponents are no slouches, and getting supreme air and being able to nail that one extra trick before sticking your landing can mean the difference between a win and that other thing we don’t like to talk about (starts with “L”).  Misjudge the amount of time you have on descent by just one second, though, and you’ll plant yourself like a tree in the side of a mountain.  Big jumps can eat up speed as well, so while dodging and weaving through the terrain, you’ll have to be constantly measuring the benefits of doing long tricks and racking up points/boost ability against your desire to maintain the best time on course.

Level design in SSX also deserves some serious accolades.  Supposedly based on actual satellite reconnoitering of the real locations they represent, the routes you take have obviously seen a fair amount of tweaking and world-building by the hand of designers.  Each feels organic and singularly dangerous, being positively fraught with obstacles that require constant attention to avoid smashing into or flipping over.  A helpful helicopter pilot provides you with ongoing directional advice, but once you get used to the courses you can turn off his chatter.  As you’re racing down steep mountain slopes, the danger of falling into a chasm is ever-present; when this happens, the game forces you to “rewind” your progress to an earlier point, costing you time (as the race doesn’t rewind for other players) or to lose points, depending on the game type.  Speaking of game-types, there are two main single-player modes: a story-mode World Tour, and one-off race events that let you jump quickly into a competition.  Each level of the World Tour mode features one of the so-called Deadly Descents, and they are indeed aptly named; you’ll need to maneuver quickly and accurately in order to make it down in one piece, often as not assisted by some special equipment unique to the level, such as a wingsuit to bridge otherwise unjumpable gaps.

Of course, multiplayer modes are no longer really options in console games like this, and happily an above-average amount of thought and consideration has gone into the ones included in SSX.

There are basically two kinds of events: Explore, which lets you compete for time and points finding the best path through a level, and Global events that set a time limit (measured in days or weeks) in which thousands of players on the net can compete for the best score or time on a course.  The game is wired from the ground-up for online play, and assiduously keeps you informed from the very first screen about the status of your achievements on multiplayer events, so you can jump in and try to regain your footing if you drop in the rankings.  Both kids of events let you plant geotags, little markers which generate credits as long as they remain uncollected by other players.  These credits can be used to upgrade equipment, or to purchase bonus abilities or score multiplyers (you can also buy credits outright, which is a bit of a cop-out).  Additionally, when you play with friends, their progress through the levels leaves a glowing, illuminated outline, so you’ll know if you inadvertently stumble upon a path down the mountains that another player has already charted.  Sadly, there’s no built-in mode for simple local split-screen multiplayer, although you can create global events that are limited to just a few of your friends.

The very short version of this review, which I probably should have put at the beginning in order to save everyone time, goes something like this: the new SSX is not to be missed.  Bam.

8 / 10

The post SSX (2012) Review appeared first on Cheat Index.

Country club memberships aren’t cheap.  Golf is probably the single most exclusive sport in the world, where the time and money required to even practice is miles above any sport played by throwing a thing into a thing, or hitting a thing with another thing.  The patina of elitism that surrounds the game is one publicly poo-pooed by its fans but not-so-secretly relished by the entire institution of golf.  And now, Tiger Woods PGA tour brings that same sentiment of exclusivity to your living room.  I hope your wallet is within reach.

Before I tear into what an obnoxious travesty this game turned out to be, I want to come clean about two things.  One, I don’t like golf, real or virtual, and I don’t actually care that much about any game of said sport whether it takes place on my TV screen or outside on somebody’s oversized lawn.  You might think that makes me a poor choice to review a golf game – and that opinion is granted without contest, although I think my arguments against what EA has done here stand regardless  – but it should also cast my unqualified praise for certain parts of the game in a more trustworthy light.  I’d hate the shit out of this game completely if I could do so honestly.  The second thing is that in one important way, PGA Tour 13 revolutionizes the way video-game golf is played, and EA deserves high marks for having the guts to throw everyone who’s ever fantasized about being a computer-golf prodigy in with the sharks and letting them sink or swim.  Schadenfreude?  Maybe a little, but this is the way sports games are supposed to be.

PGA Tour 13 introduces “Total Swing Control,” which is exactly what it sounds like.  You, with your controller, have complete domain over every shot you make, and the game will not help you.  At all.  The game is Tiger Woods’s angry, demanding father, expecting more out of his little golf prodigy that even ten-year old Tiger can produce, wearing a stern and unforgiving expression the entire time.  The left stick controls every aspect of your golf swing, speed, arc, time, the works.  There are no shot types, no pre-sets, no meters, no meters to help you out.  A simple white arc guides you towards the perfect shot, and is all that separates you from total failure on the green.  If you can’t hack that, prepare to dig a lot of dirt and chase a whole hell of a lot of balls.

That is, as I think, it should be.  Games shouldn’t be easy.  Fun, yes, but being good at anything is its own reward, and to not succeed on your first try, all things being equal, is only a discouragement to the kind of people that video games shouldn’t be made for.  That said, this is where I part ways with PGA Tour 13.  I hope their system is mimicked – stolen, even – by a lot of other games, because it’s great, although one of the huge problems with this game is that they never teach you how to use it.

There is absolutely no guide system to walk you through making the perfect swing, or even just a relatively good swing.  You either get it right, or stand befuddled at your total failure.  The game is almost entirely an exercise in autodidacticism.  While I take a certain amount of pleasure at golf weenies suddenly sucking at their own favorite stupid sport, this is a video game, and video games are (again) supposed to be fun.  Sucking at a hard game is one thing; hitting your head against a wall for three hours because the designers didn’t have the foresight to at least include a short tutorial is a whole frustrating other thing.  This isn’t actual golf, I’m not a pro, and most importantly, I’m not getting any money from getting better at this – quite the other way around, in fact.  The Tiger Legacy Challenger provides some hint of a walkthrough, in that it presents you with increasingly difficult shots to master (beginning as a 2-year-old Tiger Woods and working your way up to the majors), but there still isn’t any kind of guide, and learning how to play is the worst kind of tedious trial-and-error.  You get better (or you don’t) as a result of repeating the same mundane tasks hundreds of times of over, often as not retrying the same level until you feel like taking a golf club to your game system in a very not-virtual way.    Don’t get me wrong – you feel like a god when you actually pull off a win.  But I don’t need to play 50 hours of computer golf feeling like I want to kill someone because the game doesn’t have the courtesy to show me what I’m supposed to do to master its artificial abstraction of the world’s stuck-uppiest sport.  Tiger Woods got to have millions of dollars and a sex scandal; I just get to be late for work.

That brings me to the single worst part of PGA Tour 13.  As with most sports games, standard career mode is probably the best and most polished area of play.  There’s an experience system that lets you unlock clothes, clubs, equipment, yadda yadda, and a “pin” system that gives you temporary advantages and enhancements to make some of the trickier levels more bearable.  You have to use them right away or discard them, which keeps it from seeming unfair, although you can use “Coins” to purchase or refill pins in a tight spot.  Coins actually let you buy a variety of things, so you really have to conserve and spend them wisely, as good coin-earning performance is not easy to come by in this game.  Here’s the problem with coins.

Out of the 36 courses available in PGA Tour 13, 20 of them are actually playable once you pay for the game and bring it home.  The other 16 are DLC, and can be rented – yes, rented – per play using coins.  What if you don’t have enough coins?  I bet you know the answer already.   You can buy them.  When you pay for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, you pay for the right to play just over half the game.  The rest of it comes at a premium.  Ain’t that some shit?

Of course, you can unlock these courses without cash, after completing a mind-numbing series of event challenges on each level individually, the so-called “Gold Mastery Tasks.”  These are so difficult, tedious, and time consuming you can’t help but be disgusted.  By the way, PS3 owners, you can’t use your PSN wallet to unlock the levels; you have to buy coins first, and the number of coins needed to open a level compared to the amounts of coins available to purchase doesn’t even match up.  Prepare to buy extra coins, just because!  What a fun game this turned out to be.

Of course, the especially hardcore pretend-golf-gentle-man-or-woman can join or form an “Online Country Club,” so you can pool your achievements and open up new levels more quickly than just sitting alone in your living room, crying.  Clearly, though, PGA Tour 13 is an attempt to bring realism in golf games up to a new standard – the standard where you have to spend enormous amounts of time, or alternatively just be rich and spend money like water, for the privilege of hitting a small ball with a variety of sticks.  I’ll bet PGA Tour 14 will break the mold again by forcing you to undergo a rigorous disclosure of your income, social life, and political affiliations before allowing you past the main menu.  They might even be generous and let those of us who don’t pass muster play on a single level that uses Google Earth to recreate the experience of hitting a putter into a cup in your backyard, or the nearest local park.  Co-op play will be possible, but you risk losing all your gameplay privileges if your friends drive their golf carts over the posted speed limits.  Welcome to America!

8 / 10

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Despite the incredible amount of things you can do in the game, the striking beauty of the environments and the sheer size of the various open world maps, Dead Island was given a lukewarm reception by most gaming critics.  This is a little unsettling because Dead Island performs extremely well in a number of categories and manages to pull this off while offering gamers a completely new gaming setup and experience.  This is truly one of the first open world quest oriented RPG’s to also feature addictive multiplayer action.   Sure, the characters and story aren’t really anything to brag about but the gameplay is absolutely amazing, which more than makes up for any shortcomings in the story.  One of the most rewarding features of the game (aside from the exploration) is the weapons customization.  While the game features the use of both (an extremely wide variety of) melee weapons in addition to conventional firearms, the sheer number of weapons present in the game is mind boggling.

While Dead Island isn’t a true open world game like Oblivion, it still retains the same level of openness and does this while simultaneously giving you the ability to chop the undead hordes to bits with your friends.  Most people in the gaming industry were expecting Dead Island to be either a complete failure or the future of gaming. In reality, the game is much closer to being the future of zombie-oriented gaming. Dead Island is definitely a title that should not be missed.

8 / 10

The post Dead Island Review appeared first on Cheat Index.

At first glance, you can be forgiven for thinking Fifa 12 is simply an update of Fifa 11. Once you start to navigate through the menus, you can see the difference.
The Menus are snappier, faster to navigate. There are the usual game modes such as career mode, player mode, and player-manager mode, but there is now the inclusion of manager mode. While this is not as technical as say, Football Manager, it is still fun and gives you an insight into how this mode works. There is also a Support Your Team Mechanic. Before you play, it asks you to choose your favourite team. As you progress in the game, it will then upload points for your club to a virtual league.

While playing I noticed a few interesting updates. The camera angle is now set lower to get you further into the action, and your attacking sprints are a little slower. The biggest feature in Fifa 12 is the new tackling system. While in the past we all enjoyed being able to sprint to the opponent with the ball and then slide tackle to regain the ball. Unless you are extremely skilled, DO NOT do this. With the new collision system, EA has included realistic results for certain types of tackles. This can be a nightmare initially, albeit challenging one. Then you settle in and start using the new tackles included, such as the shoulder-to-shoulder collision, pulling and pushing. When running to defend, you can now actually run into and disturb your team mates, giving the attacker an opening to shoot. You can also mark an attacker and stay within five feet of him without touching, then make your tackle at the best moment. Overall, this is a very attractive addition to the game, making it fun and even more realistic.

Attacking play is basically the same, and it still gives you the best feeling when after a series of well-timed passes, you see the ball strike the back of the net. Remember though, a well-timed opponents foot can clip your heel and throw your run right off.

There are still a few canned cut scenes, and the commentary is still predictably dull, but don’t let these minor flaws put you off, FIFA 12 is the best soccer game ever.

9 / 10

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