Looks like Super Mario Maker 2 is gonna be pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnNYHnljSWM

https://bethesda.net/en/article/1fkuLV9gUHp1IEZC3OMNH4/rage-2-E3-2019

I got the new pilotable mech, it's fun but REALLY SLOW and takes $1000 to call in. I saved to see if it was outside the place I found it but yeah, after you get it the first time you really need to stick with it or it will cost a heft 1k to bring back. Not a huge deal I guess but the choice between a mod or using the mech.

I'm also about five hours in and my experience has been mixed. This is not the fault of the game, though. Some games give me motion sickness and this is one of them, unfortunately. I can usually eliminate it with some settings changes but I haven't gotten there yet with Rage 2. So I'm not playing nearly as much as I want to. I've read that bright colors can cause stronger symptoms and that may be at play here because there is a TON of fuchsia. I love the look of it but maybe my eyes/stomach/head/etc do not.

But more to the point:

I love the campy plot, it feels like a throwback to late 90s/early 2000s FPS sensibilities in terms of plot and I love that. But it's much prettier than those games. The id engine always shines and it's definitely great here. The cheesy as hell intro kinda says "hey this isn't a serious shooter, have fun and turn off your brain" and I respect that.

Jon you're spot on with it feeling more like Rage than any other game. You can feel influences from elsewhere, and the powers you unlock even give me a Mass Effect vibe, but this has its own identity. If you liked the shooting mechanics from Doom or any other recent id game you'll feel right at home, but you can't play it the same way. To really get the best out of this game you have to play it tactically-- and it helps that the tactics involve some pretty badass powers and a lot of pew pew.

It's just pure fun.

It's not perfect though. Driving was my least favorite part about the first game, and that holds true for the sequel. It's a little dull. I had hoped that they would learn a few things from Borderlands (and I'm not even really a fan of driving in Borderlands).

Sometimes the various upgrade paths are vague until you understand it. I recommend reading guides like the one Jon posted. You aren't really going to spoil much plot because the plot is fairly thin (to the game's credit, honestly).

From what I have read, it seems like the average gamer will probably get 25-30 hours out of this and that feels perfect. They could have tightened it up and made it feel a little more active by shrinking the map a bit so travel time wasn't as much of a factor but that's a minor complaint.

Overall I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 20-25 hours have to offer.

I've stumbled upon the Wasteland Wizard a couple times but decided to ignore him because I never felt the need to cheat actually.

FLASHLIGHT. Oh my god that's amazing news.

Yeah I’ve found that the service style they’re doing isn’t working for me because I’m just waiting for that big expansion. And even then I may not be interested by then.

Oh snap, I totally missed this announcement. That's one fewer box connected to the TV!

I just played shovel knight on my phone and I’m not feeling as kind as you with regard to touch controls but I’m amazed at the performance. They really have tweaked the hell out of their streaming performance.

Ok that’s entirely fair yeah. I agree with your more detailed take on it. The fact that I could make it through half a level in Shovel Knight is noteworthy even if it did make me want to throw my phone. 😂

This was already a day-one buy for me. Now it’s a reason to get Nintendo Online too.

Awesome review, thanks Greg!

> Civ 6 is (in my opinion) one of the best games in recent years and this expansion adds more to it, making it more playable.

That's great to hear as Civ VI is one of the top games I want to buy on the Switch. I've heard the port is really good and playing it in handheld mode is surprisingly intuitive.

> This pretty much make all achievements possible for me. I also learned how to use the command console. You need to edit a config file to enable it, but then you can hit a key to activate it. One of the commands you can use is “reveal all” which will show you everything on the map.

Cool. It's fun to play games this way and I'm glad developers still add these modes in.

This is better done than I imagined it would be. By far honestly.

Ok. I just watched this.

A couple things.

1. I don't consider this scene from a New Hope to be bad. Perhaps that's nostalgia blinders? I've heard people say it's hokey and even George Lucas seems to dog it when he talks about it. That said I've always considered it to be fine, if not a bit bland which this fixes but with a few downsides and not a lot of upside.

2. I always viewed the old New Hope fight as Obi Wan not really trying to kill Vader and it seemed like Vader was holding back too. Like Vader and Obi Wan were just talking and not really trying to kill each other. At the point in the story, Obi Wan wanted to stall Vader and let Leia, Luke and Han escape. The fight was on his terms and at no point did Vader ever "get Obi Wan" or hurt him because he couldn't. I'd argue because Obi Wan was so powerful, Vader couldn't have but winning in that way wasn't Obi Wan's goal. Frankly I think this makes Luke's last stand in the Last Jedi even more powerful it's a direct mirror of this fight in a New Hope. Luke exiting the scene just like his teacher. And this video doesn't seem to revel in that, it's just Vader being a badass and Obi Wan getting knocked around and seems to imply he's Vaders lesser, which I think isn't how I look at it.

3. When Obi Wan loses in this version it has less weight because he's simply a less talented Jedi, not because he chooses to save anyone. I think this is a repeat of 2 but it's important.

Fun fight though, thanks for sharing.

One more thing.

I also think something else is going on in this scene. As Obi Wan is trying to stall Vader two things are happening. Firstly Vader is thinking he's toying with Obi Wan and chides him as being weak. Obi Wan stays on message and calls Vader evil, and that he failed as a teacher. I think what Obi Wan is doing is playing weak or not trying to get Vader to focus on toying with him to get him to lose interest in Leia, Luke and Han who are escaping (I didn't forget Chewie, R2 or C3PO). When he realizes they are going to be ok Obi Wan lets go. I don't read this scene as Vader is more powerful, but Obi Wan has a different goal and he's not trying to "out lightsaber Vader" and Vader actually thinks Obi Wan is weak, which I think is a trick Obi Wan is playing on Vader.

After Revenge of the Sith, Vader would have an axe to grind in this way too BUT I imagine that wasn't as well formed when this scene was written and I still think if it wasn't my read makes sense.

Oh and I misspelled Obi-Wan a lot so apologies to everyone reading that dying a little inside. My son has been acting up a bit today and I had to type fast to get this out.

That's always been my read on the scene, and I think Revenge of the Sith strengthens that interpretation. But the fight has always been janky, even if their intentions were stalling/toying with each other. The first time I saw it I interpreted the fight the same as you but chuckled at the choreography a bit. As I have said before I don't have any childhood nostalgia for Star Wars so that may be a factor. The first time I saw it was the special edition in the theater and I actually fell asleep for about 30 minutes in the middle. I've come a long way :D

But I don't think anyone involved said they were trying to fix the scene at any rate, just reimagining it.

I am still all in with the MCU