IGN Video Games

IGN Video Games

Hitman 3 Year 2 Promises Ray Tracing And a 'Major Update' For 2022

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:59 PM PST

IO Interactive announced a new roadmap for Hitman 3 Year 2 with new content coming in January 2022, including ray tracing, PC VR, and an Elusive Target Arcade.

The game is already optimized and enhanced on PC with support for 8+ core CPUs and variable rate shading. Working together with Intel, IO Interactive will also bring ray tracing to Hitman 3 sometime in 2022. PlayStation owners can already play Hitman 3 with PSVR support, but now it's also coming to VR PC in January 2022.

IO Interactive will reveal full technical details, including the platforms that it is supporting before Year 2 starts on January 20, which coincidentally is exactly one year after the game originally launched. Hitman 3 has a timed Epic Games Store exclusivity deal on PC, so it's possible that the PC VR version could come to SteamVR as one of the supported platforms.

Elusive Target Arcade is a new take on the franchise's Elusive Targets. It's the ultimate Elusive Target challenge and will be a permanent add-on to the game, rather than one-time-only events like previous entries.

IO Interactive will reveal another major update to Hitman 3 in Spring 2022, and new maps, storylines, and modes are lined up for the next 12 months. The World of Assassination trilogy has also reached 50 million players so far, with Hitman 3 being the most successful entry in the series of all time.

Hitman 3 has received plenty of updates so far, such as its Seven Deadly Sins expansion of which the final one, Wrath, launched on October 29.

In IGN's Hitman 3 review, Luke Reilly said, "Rich, rewarding, and highly replayable, Hitman 3 is a superb installment of IO's idiosyncratic but much-loved stealth series."

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

A Battlefield 2042 Sniper Rifle Is Proving a Much Better Tank Killer Than the Rocket Launcher

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:53 PM PST

One thing that has always set Battlefield apart from its competitors like Call of Duty is the over-the-top tank, airplane, and helicopter-related shenanigans you can get up to.

But in Battlefield 2042, players are finding said shenanigans difficult to counter when on foot due to the limited toolkit of anti-vehicle weaponry available. In fact, a reddit user going by SheroxXx found that the NWT-50 sniper rifle can kill a tank significantly faster than the M5 recoilless, which was purpose-built by the developers to be an anti-armor weapon.

One of the main factors seems to be the rate of fire, with the NWT able to fire far faster than the M5. In fact, it can take out a tank almost twice as fast. It's also more forgiving, as missing a shot or two still leaves you with a pretty decent amount of damage left in the magazine. As user DovahBornKing points out in the comments, tanks in 2042 take at least four rockets to kill, even from behind, and you can only carry three without having to resupply. This serves to make tanks feel really scary, but it doesn't feel especially balanced if you're the one on foot

The NWT takes a long time to unlock, but typically late-game sniper rifles aren't straight-up twice as good as a rocket launcher. Ideally, unlocks should give you more options and new ways to play. This situation makes the M5 feel like a wet noodle launcher you're forced to use until you can unlock a real anti-armor gun, and ensures that there really is no playstyle niche for our poor, recoilless friend once you have access to the NWT.

This situation tracks with the fact that Battlefield 2042 is both one of the most played and lowest-rated games on Steam right now. Missing features from earlier games in the series, such as tanks no longer taking extra damage from the rear and sides as noted above, are among the most common complaints. Everyone wants to play the new Battlefield enough that the many launch issues haven't stopped them from jumping in, but they're such a constant distraction that over 30,000 people took the time to post their own cautionary tales for potential buyers.

How do you deal with tanks in Battlefield 2042? We have some tips that might help over on our Battlefield 2042 wiki guide.

Thanks to VG247 for the tip.

Leana Hafer is a freelance contributor at IGN

New World Endgame Changes Spur Controversy, Devs Respond

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:05 PM PST

New World recently released its Into the Void update, bringing with it a host of new features and fixes. One thing players didn't reckon with, however, was that it also made the endgame harder — much harder.

Over the weekend, endgame players began noting on Reddit and elsewhere that certain high-level enemies had received a major buff. The net effect of this buff is that certain enemies are next to impossible to take down while playing solo, further elongating an already savage endgame grind.

"This is so dumb, solo people just cannot do anything even close to endgame now," one player wrote. "I get how [Amazon Game Studio] wants people to party up as it is an MMO but soloing should still be an option, especially if youre [sic] running the normal missions. I get if you want to go clear places like myrkgard or sirens or malevolence, you should group up but relatively normal elite zones should be hard, but also soloable."

Word of the changes soon spread throughout the rest of the community, spurring further controversy in a game racked by duplication exploits, a currency crisis, and other issues. It was followed by a fresh wave of negative reviews on Steam, dropping it to a "Mixed" rating despite remaining "Mostly Positive" overall.

In response, New World designer Mike "Berserker Mike" Willette said that the "proper context" wasn't delivered on the reasoning behind the update. Willette wrote that the team's goal is to have a "variety of areas" that players can go to for crafting materials and gear. However, Amazon Game Studios also wants players to feel challenged in return.

"Our vision for end game is multifaceted, and includes Outpost Rush and Wars, Invasions and Arenas, 60+ Corrupted breaches, 60+ Elite POIs and named creatures, and Expeditions, with more to come in the future. There will not be one single source for best in slot and our desire is to encourage players to engage with various activities," Willette wrote.

He added that New World's developers are "actively looking into the activities and reward balance."

The controversy is yet another example of how New World can be a rewarding and yet frustrating experience for players. Our review notes that it saves the "best moments for the endgame," but that you have to "grind like hell" to get them. While New World's growth has leveled off since its explosively popular launch, it retains a large and very active fanbase who seem willing to roll with its more frustrating elements in exchange for its rich and rewarding PvP.

This Perfect PS5 SSD is On Sale for Black Friday in the UK

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 10:07 AM PST

If you were lucky enough to get your hands on a PS5 in the last year, you might be starting to run out of storage space on your console. Don't worry, it's not a reason to panic, you just need to grab yourself an SSD so that you never have to worry about storage issues again.

We've been running a lot of information over the last week about deals on the best SSDs that you can grab this Black Friday, but now, we've found the mother of all deals on PS5 SSDs.

Top Deal: XPG S70 BLADE PS5 SSD w/ Heatsink

There are few better deals on PS5 SSDs this Black Friday than the 35% off Amazon are offering from the XPG S70. Down to just £114.58, including a Heatsink built-in, this SSD is the perfect upgrade for your PS5 storage (see here). And if you want to go even further, you can also get the 2TB drive for just £204.16 (see here) for a limited time only at Amazon (was £340).

These drives boasts incredibly impressive read speeds of up to 7,400 mb/s, you'll also get write speeds of up to 6,400 mb/s when using the drive with your PS5. Not only does this SSD provide you with the fastest speeds and the best graphics processing going, you'll also save yourself some money on buying a heatsink.

The ADATA S70 comes with a built-in heatsink making it the most affordable SSD going this Black Friday. You do not want to miss this once in a blue moon deal on some incredible hardware.

Editor's Note: These are UK only deals, check out PS5 SSD Deals in the US here.

Black Friday: More SSDs on Sale

Black Friday: Best Deals on Heatsinks

Halo Infinite: How Hidden Audio Logs Help Tell the Larger Story of Zeta Halo – IGN First

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 09:00 AM PST

Using audio logs to help convey a game's story is nothing new. In fact, audio logs aren't even new to Halo, with Halo 3: ODST's Sadie's Story being one of the most memorable parts of an incredibly memorable game, and Halo 4's Terminals delivering key details about the Didact. Halo 5 utilized them too. But Halo Infinite – thanks to its campaign's open-ring structure – is putting them to use in a contextually fascinating way: to tell multiple sides of the larger story about the fight on Zeta Halo between the UNSC and The Banished that takes place prior to the start of when you as Master Chief enter the fray.

You'll find data pads scattered all over Zeta Halo, and they house audio logs that fall into three categories: UNSC, Banished, and Spartan. There are also Forerunner Archives. But there are multiple stories within those groups. "The great thing that the audio logs gave us is the opportunity to fill in some of the blanks that players can experience at their own pace," said Halo Infinite associate creative director Paul Crocker. "Each one of those then leads to another connecting kind of piece of the game, whether it's the Marines you're finding, the Spartans and what happened to some of them, [etc.]."

Crocker characterized them as "really polished kind of radio plays," and thankfully, you don't have to worry about trying to piece the story of these audio logs together yourself. Some audio logs will tell one-off stories relevant to the location you find them, but for the bulk of them that spin a larger yarn, you can discover the data pads in any order and they'll play out in linear order so that you hear the story as it was meant to be experienced. But 343 was keen to make sure that finding one won't stop the action. "We made conscious decisions with the audio logs in the game," Crocker began. "Like when you find one, you can just hit X and you will collect it or you can hold [X] and you will get to play it [right then]. And then we've very purposefully said, well, if you hold that button and you choose to play it, it will take priority over everything else. So if you just want to be walking through the game, just listening to the data pads and having effectively your kind of library of story, moving around the game with you, apart from a cutscene, they will take priority. Everything else just gets kind of muted down."

343 characterized the audio logs as "really polished kind of radio plays."

Halo 4's Terminals were criticized for burying too much key story information in them, and Halo franchise narrative writer Jeff Easterling acknowledged that the 343 team is trying to strike a better balance for Halo Infinite. "I think [the audio logs are] a neat way to balance that element of, 'What are our stories that we can tell that enrich?', but that you don't feel are a requirement," he said. "They're there for the players who want to scrape a little bit below the surface."

Easterling hopes having several perspectives in the audio logs will give players multiple ways into this larger optional part of Infinite's story. "One of the ways that we had specifically kind of designed is that there are threads that you can also kind of choose from too," he said. "So there will be people, of course, who want to see all, but there might be some people who may happen upon like a specific story arc or a specific thread that they're like, 'Oh, I, I kind of actually want to follow this one.'"

"They feel like these great ways to look out into the wider story," Crocker added. "And at the same time they can be more human because like, let's be honest, you put a bunch of Marines in the back of your Warthog and drive off the side of a cliff – you're not really thinking about what's going to happen to those Marines at that moment as a player. But as Chief, you want to have that kind of reason why you're protecting humanity. And that's what they give us."

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Nerf Announces a New Minecraft Line

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 09:00 AM PST

Nerf has announced a collaboration with Minecraft, turning items from both Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons into real-life blasters.

Two blasters – the Nerf Minecraft Pillager's Crossbow and the Nerf Minecraft Stormlander – are available to buy today. The Pillager's Crossbow takes inspiration from the original Minecraft and is fired by pulling back a priming lever and pulling the trigger – allowing you to fire three Nerf Elite darts at once. It comes in at $26.49.

The Stormlander is inspired by Minecraft Dungeons, and is based on that game's hammer weapon. Loaded with three darts in the top of the hammer, you fire by pulling a trigger on the handle. It comes in at $20.99. You can check out all the entire Nerf Minecraft line in the gallery below:

Also available for pre-order today are three Nerf Microshots blasters. The single-shot blasters each take inspiration from a Minecraft mob – the Dragon, Guardian, and Ghast – and each one will cost $10.99.

The can buy or pre-order the entire Nerf Minecraft line from Walmart now.

Horizon Forbidden West Has a Whole Team of Developers Just to Make the Open World Feel Alive

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 08:24 AM PST

Horizon Forbidden West has a whole team of developers solely dedicated to making its open-world experience feel alive for players in the game, called the Living World Team.

In a new insight into Horizon Forbidden West on the PlayStation Blog, Lead Living World Designer at Guerrilla, Espen Sogn explains how his team is working on different aspects of world design to bring the PlayStation exclusive to life.

"When you walk through the Forbidden West, everything should feel like it belongs there," says Sogn. "The Living World team at Guerrilla works on aspects of the game that make the world feel authentic and alive: the tribes, the settlements, and the people within them. There's an intention behind everything we place within the world."

It's seemingly that intention that will help players to understand and fully experience Forbidden West's storyline and characters when it launches next year. As part of the post, the studio explains that the Living World team has been working closely alongside the game's narrative designers to ensure players are greeted with a visual experience that makes sense from a storytelling perspective throughout the game.

"Our main challenge is translating this narrative framework into visuals that are integral to the world itself," says Sogn. "For example, the Tenakth [one of the human tribes within the game] are known to be competitive and combat-focused, but so are other tribes. So how do we distinguish them, and how do we communicate that visually?"

"It then becomes all about the details, the animations, and the behaviors. Within their settlements, you'll see the Tenakth working out, readying themselves for battle. They're often younger because they need to be capable warriors. Their base is an ancient ruin, from which they've picked up certain Old World gestures that they may not fully understand – like using a military salute to say hello."

"Ultimately, our goal is to make sure NPCs feel connected to where they live, and we work closely with other internal teams, such as Narrative, Quest, and Environment, to make sure that every location feels authentic," concludes Sogn.

All in all, it sounds like another potential avenue that Guerrilla is looking to improve on within the Horizon sequel. Earlier this month, the team confirmed that Forbidden West's robot animal population will be able to make use of ideas and mechanics that couldn't be achieved in the first game of the series. Meanwhile, the studio has also offered insights into changes that Aloy will experience this time around, with the character set to gain a number of additional tools at her disposal as well as added combat techniques and increased climbing capabilities.

Horizon Forbidden West is set to launch on February 18, 2022. For the latest from the game, make sure to check out our dedicated IGN page.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Sony Has Patented the PS5's Faceplates After Threatening Others for Making Them

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 06:33 AM PST

Sony has finally patented the PlayStation 5's faceplates after threatening a number of other companies with legal action over making them – sparking speculation that it may begin selling its own variant editions.

A patent filed by the publisher can be found on the US States Patent and Trademark Office website, which states that the patent was officially recognized on November 16.

While it's released several official controller colorways for PS5, Sony has yet to offer differently colors of the PS5 itself. The patent has caused speculation that Sony may now be planning to sell individual faceplate replacements, perhaps to match the Midnight Black and Cosmic Red DualSense controllers.

As Sony hasn't officially commented on its reasons for filing the patent (we've contacted the company for comment), it isn't yet clear whether the company has done so for the purpose of producing its own variant faceplates, granting licenses to third-party manufacturers to do the same, or to avoid future legal encounters with companies acting to create their own faceplates without consent from the publisher.

On at least two different occasions since the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony has threatened companies with legal action over their plans to sell unofficial faceplates to consumers. Last year the company Customize My Plates announced that it was canceling all pre-sales of its custom-ready PS5 faceplates following legal pressure from Sony.

In a statement to IGN, the company explained that its decision had come following discussions with Sony's legal team, where it became apparent that trademarks over the console's removable side panels were too complex an issue for the company to navigate without risking legal infringement.

In a separate dispute, Sony sent out a cease-and-desist letter to Canadian peripherals company Dbrand following its plans to release custom faceplates for the console. Dbrand announced that it was pulling its custom faceplates from sale before stating in a separate statement on the company's subreddit that it would be creating its own range of new PS5 faceplates that were far enough detached from Sony's original design to risk further infringement.

When considering at the time whether or not Sony would still pursue the company over the new faceplates, a statement from Dbrand read: "Probably. The difference this time is that we've created an original design for which they have no basis to allege infringement. If they want to try, they'd better be ready to pay our legal fees."

For more on the PlayStation 5, make sure to check out this article posted surrounding the console's first birthday and the lengthy list of first-party exclusive games coming to Sony fans in the future.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

GTA Trilogy Seems to Include an Unfinished VR Mode

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 06:27 AM PST

Rockstar's recent release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy appears to contain an unfinished VR mode for the game.

As spotted by Eurogamer, Rockstar Intel reporter Ben Turpin recently tweeted a video (below) showing what seems to be a semi-working first-person mode in GTA: San Andreas, but which is marked as a VR option in back-end menus. "There is a debug Unreal command for GTA VR but it looks a little bit unfinished," says Walker in the tweet.

"Maybe it would be cool if they implemented this as a first-person option? It plays pretty well. Gunfights and punching will need tweaking, would be super cool for screenshots!"

Footage of the VR mode appears to display in a similar way to the first-person perspective granted in GTA V. As part of a thread on the mode, Walker notes that the mode plays well despite elements such as player collisions needing work.

As the mode is currently hidden inside the game's code, accessing it is a little trickier than pressing a button or enabling an option in the game's menus. For starters, as noted by Walker in the tweet below, you'll need access to additional in-game mods and a debug menu.

While a first-person (or VR) mode would certainly offer an exciting addition to the game, it isn't likely to have been top of Rockstar's priority list since launch. With users across a number of platforms criticizing the wide array of bugs across the trilogy, the publisher recently launched its first major patch for the games. According to Rockstar, this should fix a number of notable problems with the titles such as issues causing holes in the map, to character models in cutscenes and more.

For more on GTA: The Trilogy, make sure to check out our review of the game where we gave it a 5/10 calling it "defective, disappointing, and surprisingly disrespectful to three classic games and their many legions of fans." Alternatively, if you're currently playing through the trilogy and need a refresher on the best cheat codes available in the series, then you can use our handy wiki guide to catch up on any you might have missed.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Nintendo Switch Black Friday Deals: Save on Switch, Ring Fit and Tons More

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST

The Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals kicked off Sunday, November 21 and there are some truly excellent opportunities to save big this year. GameStop has the best prices we've ever seen on a slew of first-party Nintendo games, and other retailers are offering great deals like Ring Fit for just $54.99 or Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit for $59.99.

Here are the latest and greatest Nintendo Switch Black Friday Deals.

Black Friday Nintendo Switch Mario Kart Bundle

The Black Friday Nintendo Switch bundle includes the Switch V2 console, a code for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a code for 3-months of Nintendo Switch Online, all for $299.

Walmart customers can access the Nintendo Switch Black Friday bundle as part of their Walmart+ membership. Non-members will have to wait until 7 PM ET/3PM PT.

Black Friday eShop Deals

Best Black Friday Nintendo Switch Game Deals

This is one of the best deals of Black Friday so far, with GameStop dropping The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild to just $26.99 (was $59.99). If you haven't played BOTW yet, this is absolutely a sign to pick it up. Not only is this all-time great on sale for $26.99, a bunch of other great first-party Nintendo games are discounted for Black Friday at GameStop. These are the best Nintendo Switch deals of Black Friday so far, and it's not even close.

GameStop Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Black Friday Ring Fit Adventure Deal

If GameStop hadn't hit those $27 prices on Nintendo games, this could very well have been the best video game deal of Black Friday. It's still fantastic: I can't think of a time when Ring Fit has ever been discounted. For a while there, you couldn't even find it. But right now, Ring Fit is marked down to $54.99.

Black Friday Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Deal

This is one of the coolest toys Nintendo has every built, you can save 40% off Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit's MSRP. You can also now play two-player split-screen, so you don't need two switches to race against your family and friends.

Best Nintendo Black Friday Game Deals

Here are the confirmed Black Friday Nintendo Switch game deals, listed by retailer.

Amazon Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Walmart Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Best Buy Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Nintendo Switch OLED Black Friday Deals

It's very unlikely we'll see any deals on the newest Nintendo Switch OLED model. In fact, it will be surprising if we even see the OLED pop up at any retailers online during the Black Friday season. I happened to be at my local Walmart on the day they got a shipment and they haven't had any since. If you're hoping to find a Nintendo Switch OLED for the holidays, your best bet is to follow IGNDeals on Twitter, since we provide up-to-the-minute stock updates.

All the Best Black Friday Deals and Sales

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Battlefield 2042 Becomes One of Steam's Worst-Reviewed Games, While It's One of Its Most Played

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 04:33 AM PST

A rough launch for Battlefield 2042 has seen it become one of the worst-reviewed games on Steam in a little over a week. News of the game's poorly-received start to life comes despite it also being one of the platform's most-played titles since its launch.

According to data published by Steam 250's Hall of Shame, which ranks the worst-reviewed games of all time on the platform, the EA shooter is currently experiencing a pretty dismal launch as far as user reviews are concerned.

Currently ranked as the ninth worst-reviewed game of all time on the platform, Battlefield 2042 has seen over 30,000 of its 42,000 reviews on the platform come back negative. Despite the poor reviews, however, there are still plenty of people playing the game.

According to SteamDB, Battlefield 2042 is currently ranked second only to Halo Infinite for trending games across the last seven days and for peak player counts across the last 24 hours. The EA shooter also ranks 89th in the platform's rankings for highest peak concurrent players of all time, while its beta ranks 54th.

Users posting negative reviews for the game cite a number of reasons, spanning both gameplay aspects and a lack of overall features in the game. While many fans have vented their frustrations on Steam, one member of the community recently went to Reddit in order to show how many of Battlefield's normal features seemed to be missing in 2042. The full list was pretty long though some noteworthy inclusions mentioned the likes of technical issues, a lack of content where guns and vehicles are concerned, and changes to the game's class system.

Amid the bad reviews and negative feedback, Dice has continued to make a number of changes to the game in order to improve player experiences. As per the tweet below, last week, the developer launched an update to the game that it says will help to "improve the smoothness of the experience on servers" moving forward.

Despite Battlefield 2042's turbulent start to life, at least it hasn't seen a launch quite as bad as the of Konami's eFootball. The free-to-play soccer simulator launched with a range of issues earlier this year, leading it straight to the top of the Hall of Shame's worst-reviewed games of all time.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Ex-Bungie Composer Marty O'Donnell Tells Fans to 'Destroy' Music He Shouldn't Have Released

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:48 AM PST

Former Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell has told fans to stop sharing, remove and 'destroy' any non-commercially available material that they may have in their possession related to Destiny or Music of the Spheres (the music that acted as a foundation for Destiny's soundtrack).

In a court-ordered message posted to the composer's YouTube channel, O'Donnell made a statement to fans explaining that they should dispose of any assets in their possession that they have acquired from the composer when he previously uploaded them to YouTube as well as a number of other websites.

In the video, O'Donnell states:

"To whom it may concern, I do not have and have not had since at least April 2014, the legal authority to possess or distribute non-commercially available material related to Destiny or Music of the Spheres - including material I composed or created while working for Bungie.

This material is owned by Bungie. If you posted any of these assets on a website or other publicly available platform, you should remove the content immediately. If you have copies of these assets, you should refrain from sharing and destroy any copies of them. This request does not apply to any Destiny or Music of the Spheres material that you lawfully obtained from commercially available sources."

The message itself was just one of a number of requirements made by the court earlier this year after the composer was found to be in contempt of court over his use of Destiny music assets that broke the terms of a 2015 lawsuit between him and Bungie.

O'Donnell was found to have broken the terms of the previous lawsuit after he posted a number of Destiny assets to social media platforms without the consent of the studio. As well as being ordered to post the above message to fans in an attempt to limit the damage of his uploads, O'Donnell was also ordered to pay Bungie any money that he had received from the sale of the assets and the studio's legal fees - a figure that was reported at the time as being close to $100,000.

While O'Donnell has now posted the message to his social media platforms, it is understood that he won't be allowed to comment on inquiries made surrounding the post. This was agreed as part of the composer's court order, which stated that O'Donnell should instead, "let the message speak for itself."

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Marvel’s Avengers’ Spider-Man DLC Has No Story Missions

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 02:49 AM PST

Marvel's Avengers' upcoming Spider-Man DLC will not feature story missions like those seen in the Kate Bishop, Hawkeye, and Black Panther updates.

Rather than a short campaign with bespoke missions, Avengers' Spider-Man: With Great Power story is told through audio logs and illustrated cutscenes that are unlocked by completing challenges that have been added to the regular Avengers Initiative multiplayer missions. Working through these challenges gradually unfolds a storyline in which Spider-Man uncovers AIM's new plan to upgrade their Synthoid army.

Talking to IGN, Avengers' Gameplay Director, Philippe Therien, explained why Crystal Dynamics chose this direction. "We want to spend our efforts on content that everyone can enjoy, so we chose to spend a lot of our energy on the Klaw raid that's coming up at the same time," he said.

"Really that's a simple decision for us. Spider-Man can play all the content, but then we release a piece of content that's good on all platforms. Really that was a decision that's been that way since the beginning," he concluded.

Since the Spider-Man DLC doesn't come with its own story missions, it is not being branded in the same way as previous character DLC; Crystal Dynamics call it a Hero Event. Kate Bishop and Hawkeye's DLC, which came with in-engine animated cutscenes and story missions, were known as Operations. Black Panther's more substantial additions in War for Wakanda came branded as an expansion.

A Hero Event, then, feels more akin to how games like Rainbow Six Siege or League of Legends will add a new character. There's a certain amount of lore and cosmetics content around them, but the new playable content is essentially just the character themself. For more on that, take a look at our Avengers Spider-Man DLC preview, which goes into detail on how Peter Parker feels to play.

For other Avengers news, check out the cool suits Spider-Man has access to in the DLC, our story on Square Enix's president's feelings on Avengers, and our report on the removal of paid XP boosters from the game.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Marvel's Avengers: Spider-Man Exclusive Hands-On Preview

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 01:00 AM PST

Finally, on November 30, Spider-Man is swinging his way into Marvel's Avengers. If you're playing on PlayStation, that is. I recently got the chance to spend two hours hands-on with Crystal Dynamics' latest platform-exclusive addition to the roster and see everything the web-slinger has to offer, and came away looking forward to using his abilities, but a little worried about what it is I'll actually be doing with them.

Peter Parker's introduction to Avengers is slightly different to previous DLC characters Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, and Black Panther. Called a "Hero Event" instead of an "Operation", Spidey doesn't have his own story missions, but instead feels more akin to a character joining a hero-shooter roster. He's an ability-stacked friend who's good company coming to the dinner party, albeit one who didn't want to bring a dish of his own or even a bottle of wine for everyone else to enjoy.

As with every other Avenger, Spider-Man comes complete with his own unique moveset and slots right into the frantic action. With a combat style largely centred on quick evades, perfect dodges, and quickfire melee attacks, he plays somewhat similar to a more nimble Black Panther. While a lot of his strikes are your standard punches and kicks, every now and then a more "Spidey-like" contextual animation will trigger, such as a swift swing into an AIM grunt's chest with both feet that feels entirely in-keeping with the character.

As with any of the Avengers he also has three heroic abilities. Web-Bomb causes area of effect damage and is naturally useful for crowd control, but also inflicts the new webbed status effect onto enemies. Once that status effect bar is full, a webbed enemy becomes incapacitated and much easier to take down.

He plays somewhat similar to a more nimble Black Panther.

The Spider-Drone is a patrolling AI companion that fires webs at any foe that wanders into its radius. You can choose whether to instruct it to roam a specific area of the fight, or set it to follow mode, offering some welcome flexibility on the battlefield.

Lastly is Spider-Man's ultimate ability, the Wrecking Ball. Effectively a giant ball of webs that smashes down onto the ground to damage anyone near it, it works in a similar fashion to Thor's Bifrost ability but a lot less reliably. I found it to be particularly devastating when it hit, but frustratingly it does miss the target fairly often due to often being quite hard to aim. Of course, you can modify all of these abilities to fit your playstyle, my favourite being a tweak to the Wrecking Ball that covers Spidey's hands and feet in boxing glove-like webs to inflict extra status damage with each successive hit.

Spider-Man feels great in combat, which is not entirely surprising; hero design has never been Marvel's Avengers problem. The same, sadly, can't quite be said for how it feels to play as Spider-Man outside of a fight. In this preview build I got to swing around the Eastern Seaboard region, which is the closest we're going to get to Peter's native Queens, as well as the Future Wasteland biome. A very high bar has been set by Insomniac when it comes to the fluid motion of Spidey, but even allowing some headroom, Avengers falls quite some distance short of it.

Opting for the 'swing off of anything' method, Spider-Man effectively swings from a glass ceiling in the air. In fairness to Crystal Dynamics this is the only real option, with the majority of Avengers' locations being rural. Having Peter bunny hop across snow and desert isn't anyone's idea of fun. The developer also doesn't have the luxury of being able to design a whole city around the Spider-Man mechanics like Insomniac has. Despite this, some of the magic is there, especially for the first swing or two after each launch into the air. But that magic often swiftly and unceremoniously evaporates as Parker smacks his face into that aforementioned glass ceiling and all sense of momentum is lost.

All illusions are broken once you attempt to swing moderately high into the air and hit that invisible barrier.

The lack of true swinging freedom is noticeable, and while maybe it's unfair to compare it with the Insomniac version, it's honestly questionable whether the swinging feels any better than Spider-Man 2 on the PlayStation 2 did. All illusions are broken once you attempt to swing moderately high into the air and hit that invisible barrier, something that also affects the wall-running, which just stops you from ascending past the 15th storey like an out of service elevator. Stay low and you can build up some decent momentum, but show much ambition and you'll be met with some pretty restrictive forces.

Describing Spidey's arrival as a "Hero Event" instead of an "Operation" is basically code for "don't expect any story missions", and that's exactly what you're getting. Apart from a short cutscene introducing Spider-Man to the rest of the team, the rest of what I saw of Peter's plotline about a suspicious chemical company was told through audio files (mainly emails and text messages read aloud) obtained once certain objectives were completed. These are all standard Avengers fare that long-term players will be familiar with, such as perform 25 power attacks or play any two missions. Apart from a HARM Room tutorial there's no new mission content here, although the long-awaited Klaw Raid will be dropping the same day. That will, of course, require you to spend dozens of hours levelling up Spider-Man first if you want to use him in that.

The lack of content is definitely frustrating, and those expecting a new set of Spider-Man story missions to play will be left disappointed. He's voiced proficiently by Sean Chiplock (Revali from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild), but he's not really given that much to do outside of the minimal cutscenes and infrequent incidental voice lines while in combat. It doesn't bode well for future heroes to come (if indeed there are any) if this is the sort of treatment they're getting. If new characters from this point are only here to play through the same robot-filled hallways I've already played through more than enough times, that isn't going to be enough to get me excited for their arrival.

One thing that Spider-Man doesn't lack, however, is outfits. Crystal Dynamics' latest addition to their Marvel Skinematic Universe comes with around 40 suits available to purchase with premium currency and earned through his Hero Challenge Card. There's every colour under the sun imaginable as well as some fan-favourites from the comics such as the Spider-Noir suit. It's clear that a great deal of care has been taken in curating and designing these outfits, so it's a shame that the same attention doesn't seem to have been paid elsewhere regarding new missions or Spidey's traversal, two quite key factors if you ask me.

Spider-Man has been a long time coming to Marvel's Avengers, and it remains to be seen whether the wait has been worth it. For the moment, though, his addition feels more like a promise fulfilled through gritted teeth rather than one delivered with a smile.

Simon Cardy thinks that Spider-Ham would have been a bolder direction to take. Come talk to him about all things ham on Twitter at @CardySimon.
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