Category: IGN

After eight years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is just three weeks away, and honestly, writing that still doesn’t feel real. Maybe that’s partly because Nintendo has kept a pretty tight lid on specifics surrounding Samus Aran’s next adventure – we’ve only seen a small handful of trailers, and much of Prime 4 has remained a total mystery. That’s caused a lot of fans to think that they must be preserving some special surprise, right? Well, while playing over an hour of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch 2, I discovered a seemingly major component that’s been completely absent from any footage we’ve seen so far: an extraordinarily talkative companion who’s constantly spewing unwanted hints, quippy jokes, and cries for help, breaking the isolated, atmospheric themes Metroid is known for.

His name is Myles MacKenzie, a specialist from the Galactic Federation stranded with Samus on the planet Viewros. Myles tagged along for a significant chunk of my play session, and the way Retro Studios has implemented this NPC companion is far and away my biggest concern about Prime 4 after my time with it. But we’ll get to him a bit later.

The story campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has numerous restrictions tied to its always-online nature, with no method of pausing levels. You’ll also be booted from your game if you’re idle for too long.

As detailed in IGN’s just-published Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign review (which rates the offering as a 6/10), the story experience — traditionally offered as a solo affair — is really more geared to being played via online co-op, which it supports for up to four people.

The downsides of that, however, are that the game offers no AI companions to fill in if you have missing spots on your four-person squad, no checkpoints, no difficulty options, and the need to repeat tasks clearly designed for completion by multiple players if you are playing solo.

“Playing solo is borderline tedious due to having to repeat multiple objectives, such as placing C4 on a building yourself four times rather than splitting them up as is intended,” our review notes as one example of this.

Set in 2035, Black Ops 7’s campaign features a starry cast that includes Gilmore Girls and This is Us star Milo Ventimiglia as the returning David Mason, alongside Guardians of the Galaxy hero Michael Rooker and Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress Kiernan Shipka.

Long-term Call of Duty fans may raise their eyebrows at some of the more fantastical sequences presented in the mode, with trippy visuals and towering bosses more often seen in something like Activision’s former stablemate Destiny. But it’s here that the offering also provides some variety.

“Dodging giant falling machetes like you’ve stumbled into a Looney Tunes cartoon is a one-off joy, as is taking control of a lavish luxury boat and ramming into the side of a building,” our review continues. “Moments like this feel pinched right out of Christopher Nolan’s back pocket and sit perfectly in the Call of Duty mold.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives just 12 months on from last year’s Black Ops 6 — the first time that the veteran shooter franchise has gone back to the same well of one of its sub-brands for a second year running. The tight turnaround comes just as EA’s rival Battlefield franchise makes its own big return, amping up the pressure on Activision’s new shooter installment.

IGN’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer review so far is still in-progress though, initially at least, sounds more positive.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Plants Vs Brainrots is a Roblox experience that combines elements of Tower Defence with mechanics from Roblox’s two most visited and played games – Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot. You’ll buy seeds, place them in your garden, and then wait for your plants to attack brainrots as they make their way down the catwalk.

As well as combining gameplay elements from both experiences, Plants Vs Brainrots also has codes. So, if you’re getting ready to plant crops, earn brainrots, and fuse them, here are some codes to give you a little boost.

Working Plants Vs Brainrots Codes (November 2025)

These are the currently working codes for Plants Vs Brainrots:

• STACKS – 1x Lucky Potion
• frozen – 1x Frost Grenade
• based – $5,000

Expired Plants Vs Brainrots Codes (November 2025)

There are currently no expired Plants Vs Brainrots codes.

How to Redeem Plants Vs Brainrots Codes

When you launch into the Plants Vs Brainrots experience, these are the steps you need to follow to redeem codes:

1. Complete the tutorial of buying a seed and placing a brainrot
2. This will unlock the Shop icon on the left of the screen. It’s red and looks like a shopping basket.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the shop and click “Codes” under rewards
4. Enter the code and press Claim!

Why Isn’t My Plants Vs Brainrots Code Working?

Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you’ve got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they’re working. Just double check that you haven’t copied over an extra space!

When is the Next Plants Vs Brainrots Update?

The next update scheduled for Plants Vs Brainrots is on Saturday November 15, which is an unknown update. The previous update was Merge Madness, which introduced a new fusion machine alongside other content like new weather, brainrots, story missions, an dmore.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed again, this time to November 19, 2026, and while the fan community is reeling in its own way, the impacts are not limited to just GTA’s eager audience. Grand Theft Auto is a juggernaut, with GTA V having sold 220 million copies to date, GTA Online still a wildly popular space month after month, and anticipation for the sequel breaking trailer viewership records. With a game’s release as hot as this one, what does moving it to a year away mean for everyone else? How will GTA VI’s delay impact the wider games industry?

As usual, we consulted our favorite panel of industry analysts to get their takes.

Delay-shaped ripples

It probably goes without saying, but GTA VI’s delay into November of 2026 also means that behind the scenes, dozens of publishers are now reevaluating their own planned release dates.

At the moment, analysts point out, there aren’t that many games with public release dates specifically set for the final three months of 2026. But companies of course have their own internal plans, and those plans have been actively shifting around both GTA VI delays, out of sight, this entire time. That could mean a much, much thinner slate of game releases at a time that’s normally bursting with games, says Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics.

“Publishers historically avoid launching anything major within several weeks of a Rockstar title. Sadly, GTA now again lands squarely in what is usually a packed holiday window. I can see the typical Q4 blockbuster season looking considerably thinner in 2026, especially when it comes to the single-player titles.”

Manu Rosier, director of market intelligence at Newzoo agrees,pointing out that major publishers have probably already modeled multiple scenarios that include a GTA VI delay, and have plans for where to move their own games instead – plans that may benefit them in the long run.

“Newzoo’s title-level data shows that nearly 45% of major single-player launches since 2021 have landed between August and November, and those late-year releases underperform by roughly 25–35% compared to February–May launches in their first three months of playtime,” Rosier says. “That means a shift out of that congested window could benefit GTA VI and other game launches nearby.”

Even without release dates set already, there are some games we can genuinely count on coming out late in the year, such as a Call of Duty game, EA Sports FC, and Madden. Analysts told me that it’s possible this GTA VI delay causes at least some of them to move out of their usual corner late in the year to another date either earlier or later than usual.

“GTA will also steal engagement and revenues from the current live-service juggernauts like Fortnite and Roblox, which are always having an engagement tug of war, anyway,” Elliott continues. “All these games – and indeed the entertainment industry at large – will be competing with GTA VI for time and attention. Both money and time are finite, so GTA is going to eat up revenue and engagement across the market.”

Rosier disagrees, saying live-service games will be largely unaffected by GTA VI regardless of where it lands.

“Newzoo’s engagement data shows that average monthly playtime across the top 20 console titles has remained up year-over-year, with live-service games accounting for more than half of total console playtime. Those ecosystems will keep momentum regardless of whether GTA VI arrives in spring or later in 2026.”

It’s not just AAA games that will be impacted, too. George Jijiashvili, senior principal analyst at Omdia suggests that major publishers will be cautious about making big changes to their own dates after two GTA VI delays and with a whole year to go. “The real impact will fall on indies and AA games, which are most sensitive to major launches and likely to feel a much bigger ripple effect.”

Upgrades for the Holidays

But while there may be fewer brand new games coming out around the 2026 holiday season, analysts are optimistic for sales of hardware.

“This is the big question that I’ve been talking with retailers and publishers about for, well, years now,” says Mat Piscatella, senior director at Circana. “When GTA V launched, there was a positive impact to sales of console hardware and accessories in the launch month, but that incremental boost was short lived before sales returned more or less to previous baseline. But that did not happen in a holiday window, so I’d expect the positive impact here to potentially be more profound. Let’s call it somewhere between 250k-800k incremental units of console hardware sold in the holiday quarter worldwide above what would otherwise be expected because of Grand Theft Auto VI (yes, that’s a big range). It’s very difficult to say with any confidence.

Piscatella adds that if a PC version were released around the same time, that would boost PC hardware and accessory sales in the same way. But, he caveats everything by noting that he’s making future predictions based on what happened over ten years ago at the launch of GTA V. Things could always be different now.

But Elliott does agree with him, pointing to College Football 25’s launch last year boosting PS5 and Xbox Series sales in the US last year. GTA VI is much bigger.

“While most are on PS5, a huge share of PlayStation’s monthly active users are still on PS4, and GTA VI will not ship on last-gen consoles,” he says. “Many of the holdout players have been waiting specifically for GTA to justify purchasing a PS5 (or Series X/S). That wave of new console owners – and their spending – has now been pushed deeper into 2027.”

Piers Harding-Rolls, research director at Ampere analysis, also noted that “console sales will be even more back loaded in 2026 than is normal,” and told me he thinks this move was one the hardware manufacturers would celebrate: “Generally, in terms of launch timing to generate the most console sales, I think a Q4 release is better than Q2.”

Will this delay impact GTA VI’s sales?

No.

Literally every analyst I asked said no, GTA VI’s delay won’t impact its sales. Interest and anticipation for GTA VI are off the charts, historically unprecedented, according to Piscatella and Rosier. Piscatella added that GTA VI’s November release would likely make Q4 2026 the biggest in video game history in terms of U.S. game spending.

“Grand Theft Auto is such an outlier franchise when it comes to this stuff that the sky really is the limit, and because it is an outlier in so many ways there aren’t benchmarks from which a reliable forecast can really be generated.”

Other Impacts

The analysts I spoke to also mentioned other possible impacts of the delay that I hadn’t considered. One big one, which turned out to be controversial, was whether or not GTA VI’s delay could also end up delaying the release of next-gen consoles.

Other impacts were a bit more…psychological. Elliott pointed out that GTA VI was likely to be a cultural moment where entertainment, internet, and social identity all collided in a very public way. While it would be impossible to ever say exactly how the delay impacted that, the timing of GTA VI’s release will inevitably fall into a very specific cultural time and moment in politics and online culture, and will both influence and be influenced by what’s going on around it.

“Each major GTA release has shaped how people joke, what music goes viral, how cities are portrayed in art and media, and even how players relate to the idea of rebellion in their daily lives,” he said. “A launch in holiday 2025 or early to mid-2026 would have placed that cultural shift inside a very specific online environment, one defined by the competition between TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and livestreaming for social dominance. That timing would have made GTA the loudest voice in a conversation driven by rapid content remixing and constant viral cycles. In other words, the memes that could have defined 2026 will instead take shape in 2027!”

Rosier also posed the question of psychological impact, but from a different angle. His view is that the delay itself, regardless of when the game releases, signals something much bigger going on in the AAA gaming industry that other major publishers are watching close:

“A GTA VI delay reinforces the growing tension between creative ambition and production realities in AAA development. It’s another signal that even the most established studios are struggling to balance scale, technology, and timelines.

“Newzoo’s historical engagement data shows that single-player titles typically retain 40% of their active players by week 5 and stabilize between weeks 6–12, declining only ~1% per week thereafter. That means publishers can fill gaps between major launches with live-service content, updates, or early-access beats to sustain engagement.

“From a market view, the broader PC & console segment is forecast to reach $85.8 billion in 2025 and continue growing through 2028, supported by rising engagement rather than an expanding release slate. Publishers are learning that the industry’s biggest risk isn’t fewer releases, it’s announcing too early.”

Joost van Dreunen, NYU Stern professor and author of the SuperJoost Playlist newsletter, was thinking along similar lines. As he points out, the industry has been going through a rough patch the last few years, with mass layoffs, game cancelations, studio closures, price increases, and general economic uncertainty. While there’s a sense from a number of sectors that GTA VI could swoop in and be the industry savior, van Dreunen cautions against putting too many hopes on one game – even one as big as GTA VI:

“After the high comes the hangover,” he said. “I realize that many in the industry are looking forward to this undoubtedly pivotal moment. There’s even a somewhat naive expectation that this one release will reverse the industry’s current direction. It won’t. Once Take-Two releases the game, and both players and investors each enjoy their respective highs, I expect a period of sobriety to follow. In the absence of any similar releases in the near future especially investors are likely to redeploy their capital elsewhere, thereby lowering the industry’s overall valuation.”

It’s clear that GTA VI’s delay to November 19, 2026 has already made massive waves industry-wide, and will continue to do so over the next year as the impacts of both its absence in the spring, and its presence in the fall, are more keenly felt. Elsewhere, we’ve covered who wins and who loses from the delay, the internet’s reaction to the news, and what Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had to say about it.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Note: This review specifically covers the multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our campaign review, and our Zombies mode review is still on its way.

After a very promising multiplayer beta at the start of October, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is here and I’m already back on my bullshit. After a brief hiatus, I’ve been playing every year since the multiplayer-only Black Ops IIII (yes, that was the title), and I always have a good time. I mean, functionally and mechanically, it’s consistently solid – but it’s the stuff in and around that core which makes or breaks Call of Duty’s multiplayer. For Black Ops 7, they’ve refined last year’s already razor sharp Black Ops 6 with the addition of wall running and jumping mechanics, as well as smoothed off some of the rough edges in the user interface and weapons tracking. I’ve only played around four hours so far, so I have a lot more to see on the live servers before my final review, but this might end up being my favorite CoD multiplayer since Black Ops Cold War.

Probably the biggest change to BLOPS7 is also its most subtle: skill-based matchmaking (or SBMM) is no longer the default in multiplayer, and the vocal online community that has been crying for this couldn’t be happier. Is the wider, more casual Call of Duty audience going to be just as excited? I’m guessing no once they feel the effects of this decision for themselves. This might be a controversial take, but I really think SBMM is what keeps the vast majority of people playing, even if they don’t realize it or actually know what that is in the first place.

The default playlists in BLOPS7 now only minimally consider the skill of the people it puts into a match together while filling a lobby. That means you’re getting thrown in with players who run the gamut, from complete newbs to the most hardcore of the hardcore. If you’re used to the old SBMM system, the result here is that you’re probably going to think you really suck at Call of Duty all of a sudden.

I never held any sort of delusions about my own skills, and I didn’t need to be a pro to have fun, but stripping away the veneer of only facing players at a similar level as myself has been pretty humbling – almost shockingly so. I’m seeing replays from players who are unlike anything I’ve faced in the past. “Is this guy cheating– oh, nope, he’s just insanely good, hell yeah.”

The obvious upside to this (other than satisfying the frequent cries for it in recent years) is it’s going to force a lot of people to get better. But the downside is that it can be very frustrating until you do, especially if you’ve only ever been used to a level playing field. That’s why I think it’s awesome BLOPS7 does still have SBMM matches available if you want them. It’s not obvious, but there is a classic matchmaking lobby that pairs you with people near your current skill level. My personal prediction is that they’ll shift the default back to SBMM once the Christmas CoD crowd starts logging on for the first time, but it’s still nice that both camps can be satisfied.

(Protip: use the SBMM lobbies to grind out your levels and weapons, and then dive into the default matchmaking when you feel confident. It’s the best of both worlds. You can do all the level and camo grinding against people near your own skill level, and then jump back into the Wild West to hone your actual skills. Have some cake. Eat it, too.)

Smoothing the Already Smooth Edges

None of this takes away from the fact BLOPS7 multiplayer is super fun, and it’s done away with a lot of the things I found annoying in previous years. As I mention nearly every time I review CoD multiplayer, I love going hard trying to unlock all the skins for all the weapons for the first three or four months at least. This year, there’s a new, wonderful tracker you can instantly access from the lobby between matches. It’s right there with your Dailies, showing you stuff like how many more headshots you need with the AK-27 to unlock the next camo.

This is so awesome for collectors like me. Previously, the move was to jump into the weapon menu and check your customizations, then open up the camo menu and check your progress. It was cumbersome and annoying and ate up time between matches you could otherwise be using to make adjustments to your loadout, if you wanted. Now, with the press of a button, boom!

Another feature I’m loving is the ability to reroll your daily challenges. Let’s say one of them requires you to get three kills with a melee weapon, but you’d rather not. Give it a reroll, my friend, and now you can try out something new. Of course, you run the risk of getting something crappier, but that’s gambling for you. You can reroll one challenge once a day, and if you end up with something worse, well, it’s no different than the old system.

One very small gripe I do have with the interface is the weapons menu will tell me I have new unlocks but not which ones, so then I have to go through and manually hunt them down. I’m the kind of person who’ll do “select all – mark as read” on my personal emails rather than have that notification number above the icon, so not being able to easily clear this gives my brain some mild discomfort. I’d love an option to immediately show you only the unlocks you haven’t checked out yet.

20v20 Skirmish

New this year is the 20v20 Skirmish mode. Set on very large maps, it feels quite Battlefield-y so far. I much preferred the Ground War 100-player mode from 2019’s Modern Warfare and still want that to come back, as Skirmish just doesn’t hit the same notes.

You spawn with your team and move in to capture and control various points across the map. It’s basically a giant version of Hardpoint, but with vehicles and certain high-value designations that help you accumulate points. When you die, you have a 10-second respawn and then you wingsuit back onto the map. I’ve only played Skirmish for a couple rounds so far, and I dunno, man – it just hasn’t felt like it comes together in a cohesive way yet. The maps are giant, but not Warzone huge, and I’m having a hard time feeling out a playstyle that works for me.

Sniping fools from the rooftops while they try and hold the point is fun, but you’re also completely wide open to getting blasted since everyone respawns from the air. And those reentries are not like the slow parachutes in Warzone, either. The wingsuit lets you travel fast and gives you a lot of mobility. You can land basically anywhere on the map, so if a pesky sniper has you pinned down, well, just respawn, land near their sniper nest, and let them have it. You’re almost incentivized to die just to get a better position on the field.

When a point spawns inside a structure, it’s not really fun to protect from the outside for the aforementioned reasons, but it’s also not really that fun to try and hold from the inside. It’s very chaotic, but not in an exciting way. I’m going to see if I can figure out a playstyle that satisfies my particular tastes, but right now I don’t see myself playing Skirmish much after I finish up this review.

Moving, Grooving

As I mentioned in my beta impressions (which you can read in full down below), the addition of wall jumps has made movement around the map that much more fun. That said, the tactical sprint is no longer available as a default option, but instead is a Perk now. I still find myself double-tapping the Shift key to try and get that extra boost of speed, but it’s not a huge loss when sprinting off walls and flying through the air is way more fun, anyway.

I really love bouncing off walls to get the literal drop on opponents, and when someone gets me by jumping from around a corner, guns blazing, all I can do is nod and give them a mental thumbs up. Somehow being able to run and jump off walls makes the overall gameplay feel faster, even without Tac Sprint. Definitely my favorite update to the Omnimove system. Last year it really felt like Omnimove was designed with controller-players in mind, and while that’s still the case, the wall jump mechanic works just like any regular movement and is great for mouse and keyboard purists like myself.

I’m very excited to jump back into the multiplayer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. I haven’t played it enough to declare a favorite map, although I will say Den and Retrieval are already my favorites in terms of looks. I still have to figure out my strategies for all the launch maps, and I still have to get good enough to get that sweet Play of the Game I’ve been chasing since the servers went live. But I’m having a lot of fun so far, and should have a final, scored review in the next week or so.

Original beta impressions – October 3, 2025

I look forward to the Call of Duty multiplayer beta each fall in the same way I look forward to the return of pumpkin spice lattes: I know exactly what I’m in for, and I always savor that first warm, familiar sip. This year’s closed beta is the blast of violent, nutmeg-infused flavor I’ve been looking for since that first northerly chill swept across the land, and while it definitely feels like the CoD I’ve come to expect, there are a few new features I’m already really enjoying and a few more I’m really looking forward to unlocking.

I installed the beta Thursday afternoon and had planned to play it well into the night, rallying my dedicated group of Call of Duty friends (the Beef Lords) to join in on the fun. In fact, playing with the boys is absolutely my favorite thing about CoD, and even a given year’s iteration is only so-so, we still have a good time together.

Sadly, and I can’t really fault it since this is a closed beta, every time I tried to squad up with my friends, I had a hard crash. In fact, it felt like I spent more time waiting for BLOPS7 to restart than I did in matches. That’s a huge bummer, because I just want to run around shooting strangers in the face with my bros. Eventually I was able to get into a few matches with one friends, and good old Call of Duty fun was had by all. It still crashed, but only after a few matches this time. I had initially planned to hit the level 20 cap last night, but with all the time I wasted rebooting not only the BLOPS7 beta but also my PC, I was only able to make it to level 14. I know. I’m not proud.

Crashing aside, and no surprise here, but I’ve had a blast with what I’ve been able to play so far. I mean, it’s Call of Duty, where the whole point is either to rack up as many kills as possible, or hold an objective… while also racking up as many kills as possible. I truly believe no one does it better than CoD, at least when it comes to gunplay. It’s razor-sharp every damn year. It works exactly how I want it to work, it feels exactly how I want it to feel. It’s as dependable as the sun rising in the east each morning.

Omnimovement, Omnimprovement

The biggest and most immediate changes this year are updates to the Omnimove system first introduced in last year’s Black Ops 6. If you’re not familiar, Omnimovement is a control mechanic that lets you perform John Woo-esque flights of gun-firing fancy, while also allowing you to move around more naturally when you’re on the ground. Previously, dropping prone would reduce your target size but would render your movement slow and cumbersome. Omnimovement lets you slide to prone and do sick dolphin dives, mantle walls, and look like an action movie star in everyone else’s clips, firing your weapon with 360-degrees of aiming movement while on your back.

This year’s Omnimovement system adds wall running and wall jumping to your arsenal. It basically lets you hop around the map like Jiminy Cricket, as you can chain up to three wall jumps together. It’s really fun, though I haven’t really used it tactically so far. Mostly I’m flying off walls just because it feels awesome, and if I happen to get the literal drop on an enemy, all the better.

It also makes moving around the map faster and gives you an advantage over mantling. When you mantle a ledge, your arms can’t be used to shooting, on account of them being used to pull you up and onto that ledge. On top of that, it’s kind of slow, and an opponent can use this to their advantage. You’re basically a sitting duck until you get your feet all the way up, and those few moments can be the difference between life and death… well, usually death and a different kind of death.

Wall jumps change that, because rather than mantle over a ledge in the traditional way, you can just bounce off the wall and make your way to the top without using your arms. You never have to put away your weapon – heck, you don’t even need to stop firing your weapon. It takes away that moment of complete vulnerability, and as long as there’s a wall nearby and the next level up is reachable within three jumps, you can parkour your way to victory.

It’s easier said than done, mind you, and I’m not yet skilled enough to consistently hit shots when I’m going up or down from a wall jump. But it’s still fun as hell, and might be my favorite addition to BLOPS7 so far.

BLOPS7 Beta Maps

There are three maps in the closed beta: Cortex, The Forge, and Exposure. They’re fine. They’re not bad maps by any means, and I do like playing on them, but nothing about them really stands out to me in the way some of the maps from BLOPS6 did, either. Last year’s Rewind map, with its super long corridors and building interiors, was one of my favorites, as was Skyline, with its secret passageway, various hiding spots, and multiple levels.

Then again, the maps in last year’s beta were even worse (I’m looking at you, Babylon), so the middling nature of these is probably not an indication of overall quality.

Cortex is probably my favorite of the three this year just because it has everything I like in a map: outside lanes with the possibility of falling to your death, tight interiors to come face-to-face with opps, as well as medium-length interiors and exteriors that work well with LMGs, SMGs, and assault rifles. It lends itself really well to deathmatch and objective-based modes. Plus it has some sweet sci-fi incubator tanks where I presume the super soldiers of tomorrow are being grown from the cells of past heroes.

Exposure is a larger map, and has a lot of cool opportunities to really feel out the wall jumping and running. There’s a dangling shipping container on the map that might as well have a Wile E. Coyote-esque sign on it saying “WALL JUMP HERE.” Meanwhile, The Forge is pretty big, but it doesn’t really have any super long, open lanes for snipers to trade lead back and forth. That’s not to say there aren’t some great opportunities to do just that, but it doesn’t have the same feel as last year’s Rewind, with its back alley and strip mall-front.

The Forge might not be my favorite map of the three, but it does have one of my favorite environmental features so far: a spinning, four-piece circular wall in the center of the map. During modes like hardpoint, the hardpoint will spawn in that area and people take turns either hiding behind or popping out from those spinning walls. It adds an extra layer of unpredictability when you’re trying to hold an objective that I really like. You can’t just lay prone with a sniper and peek around a corner, because the corner moves. That being said, there are a pair of lookouts on either side, so you can keep watch of the objective or just pick people off as they try to bumrush it. It’s great. Even in deathmatch or Kill Confirmed it’s fun, but it’s really cool for Hardpoint and Domination.

According to the official BLOPS7 blog, there’s a fourth map, Imprint. Either I’ve just had terrible RNG luck or they haven’t actually turned that one on yet, because I haven’t seen it so far. I’m going to play the hell out of BLOPS7 over the weekend, so that could change.

Guns and Guns

Once you unlock all the level requirements, there are a total of 16 available guns. Right now, and I hope Treyarch is reading this, the M10 Breacher, the default shotgun, is stupidly overpowered. You can nail enemies from way farther away than the laws of physics should allow right out of the gate, and they’ll fall down dead when you do so. You barely need to aim it to get a kill across a large room. That sort of shotgun behavior is fine, even expected, at close range, or when you’ve leveled up and thrown a bunch of attachments on it. But as a default gun, it’s just too powerful.

On the flip side, and this is something I never expected I’d say, but the XR-3 ION sniper rifle is exactly where it should be, power wise. Usually I feel like sniper rifles lean toward being way too OP. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate snipers, and I still think people who use snipers on small maps are weak and their bloodlines are weak. But when you get a kill with the XR-3 it feels earned. There’s a level of finesse here I’m not accustomed to with previous sniper rifle iterations, and I’ve actually used it without feeling like a dirty sniperboy.

I’ve always loved SMGs in Call of Duty, but none of the three available this year are doing it for me as of yet. They feel a tad too weak, which is usually the case, but it’s generally made up for by a high rate of fire and lighting-fast speed of handling. I’m going to have to wait and see on the SMGs until progress is fully unlocked, but for right now, they don’t feel quite like they should, as if it takes one or two bullets more than I’d expect to down an opponent. I also don’t love the LMG, the Mk. 78. Similarly to the SMGs, it feels like it takes a millisecond or two too long to effectively down an enemy. I’m going to need more time with that one as well to see how it ends up running when it’s fully kitted out, but for right now I’m not feeling it at all.

The Assault Rifles this year are, much like last year, where it’s at. While in previous years I ran with SMGs or LMGs, in BLOPS6 I fell madly in love with my XM4 assault rifle. This year I’ve been grinding on the M15 MOD 0, but I’m a level away from unlocking the Peacekeeper Mk.1 in the beta, which might be the best weapon in multiplayer, hands down. At Call of Duty Next, it felt like everyone was using it, so I’m excited to try it out again from the comfort of my own desk.

I’ve got an entire weekend with the closed beta, and I plan to hit that level cap and unlock as much as it will let me. The open beta next week will let you grind to level 30, and the best part is all your progress will carry over to the final game. I’m hoping CoD keeps to its promises, because the new features sound pretty sick: trading loadouts with friends and even copying them from enemies who killed you, XP carrying across all modes instead of on a per-mode basis, and the ability to re-roll the daily challenges, which I love. Also, the final game promises some of the sweetest gun camos yet, and I’m really excited to spend hours and hours of time I’ll never get back just so I can have a gun that’s all shiny. Until then, I’m really enjoying BLOPS7, and I’ll be back with a full review around launch.

Attention trainers! Maxroll and IGN have teamed up to launch Planet Pokemon, a new strategy guide site and competitive Planner for your Pokemon team with a bunch of other cool features you won’t find anywhere else.

You can currently plan your Pokémon team using Planet Pokémon one-of-a-kind tools for four games: Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Pokémon Sword and Shield – and we are working on more Pokémon games now!

All of our Planner stats are powered by a deep Pokédex and curated by our team of Pokémon experts that brought you Maxroll, IGN, Eurogamer, and Map Genie’s decades of the very best Pokémon strategy guides out there. So how does this all work? We will have Eurogamer’s Pokémon lead Lottie Lynn walk you through it…

How to Use the Pokémon Planner

Whether you’re new to the Pokémon universe or a longtime player getting ready for your next nuzlocke challenge, our Pokémon Planner is here to help you organize your next team!

Since our Planner is divided up by game, you don’t have to worry about accidentally including Pokémon you can’t actually catch. Alongside this, we’ve also included the complete moveset for each Pokémon and every item they can hold. You can even play around with the EVs and IVs for a Pokémon. Combining all of these features together in one place means you can easily curate a team to suit your purposes.

Want to make a strong start in the online competitive world? Then use the Planner to ensure you have a balanced team! Want to see how changing one Pokémon could affect your team on the whole? Then our Planner will show you any weakness gaps that might appear! Want to build a team of six Magikarps for some reason? Well our Planner can help you do that too.

So let’s take a look at how it works!

Getting Started

The first step in using the Pokémon Planner is to select the game you wish to make a team for. You can easily do this by selecting the drop-down menu next to ‘Change Game’ at the top of the planner.

Before we go any further, however, it’s important to point out that you will need to be logged into Pokémon Planet if you want to save your planned team. It’s a good idea to do this before going any further! You can find the ‘Login’ button in the top right-hand corner of the page and there will also be an option to make an account too. We go over the exact details for saving your team further along in this guide.

Adding Pokémon

Once you’ve selected the game you’re playing, it’s time to add the Pokémon you want in your team. To do this, click on one of the six ‘Choose Pokémon’ boxes to open a menu containing all of the Pokémon in your chosen game.

Don’t worry, we’ve ensured that only the Pokémon present in each game’s Pokédex will appear. This means that, as long as you’ve selected the correct game, you won’t run into any unavailable Pokémon. Just remember that if you’re building a team for a version title, such as Pokémon Scarlet, you will need to keep an eye out for any version exclusive Pokémon.

There are three main ways you can search for Pokémon – simply scrolling down the list, searching by name or filtering by type. It’s possible to select multiple types too, which is handy if you’re looking for a dual type Pokémon. Selecting the ‘Mega Pokémon’ option will also allow you to just see the Mega Pokémon present in your chosen game. Though, keep in mind that Mega Pokémon are only available in select Pokémon games.

Since all of the Pokémon in your chosen game are available – including pre-evolved Mons, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon – you’re free to input whichever Pokémon you like. This could be your current team, your endgame goal or Pokémon you’re considering adding. No matter what you choose, I recommend adding six Pokémon so you’ve got a whole team to play with.

After selecting all of the Pokémon you either have or want in your team, it’s time to start filling in the details for each one. This includes adding their moves, stats and any item they might be holding. Let’s start with stats.

Adding Stats

The Stats section for each Pokémon can be found on the left-hand side of the Planner and will always display the Base Stats for each Pokémon. You’re also able to add its current Stats, including EVs and IVs.

The first step in adding your Pokémon’s Stats is to choose its Level. The Pokémon Planner selects each Pokémon’s Level to 100 by default, which is handy for organizing an endgame team.

If, however, you want to enter a Pokémon’s current level, you can do so by either selecting the number ‘100’ and changing it or by moving the blue slider beneath said number. Changing a Pokémon’s Level from 100 will automatically change all of its current Stats – found at the bottom of this section – to make the Level you’ve chosen.

Now it’s time to sort out the EVs and IVs, which is where things get a little complicated. This is because both are considered Hidden Stats, meaning you can’t see their exact values in-game. There’s a quick Hidden Stats explainer further along in this guide if you want to learn more about how exactly EVs and IVs work.

You’ve got two options when it comes to entering both into the Pokémon Planner – either put in the EVs / IVs you’re aiming for or do your best to figure out what they are in-game. If you’re going for the last option, keep in mind that the IV Judge Function typically doesn’t unlock until you’ve reached the postgame.

Once you’ve decided which option you’re going with, EVs can be entered either using the blue slider in the middle or by typing them directly into the left-hand column. Since you can only have 510 EVs for every Pokémon, the Pokémon Planner will helpfully prevent you from going over that number.

For IVs, you’ll need to change the number in the right-hand column. (Remember – it’s highly unlikely you’re going to have a Pokémon which has 31 perfect IVs for every stat.)

The changes you make to see values will be reflected in the Stat layout at the bottom of the screen.

Adding Moves

Adding Pokémon’s Moves is quite easy. Simply select the ‘Add Move’ button beneath the ‘Move’ subheading on the right-hand side of the page. This will open up a menu of all the moves this Pokémon can use in your chosen game. Here you can either search for a specific move or simply scroll down the menu. The moves a Pokémon can learn from TMs will also be available!

Remember – each Pokémon can only know four moves at a time and we’ve kept to this rule in the Pokémon Planner. If you want to remove a move, hover your cursor over it and select the ‘Change’ option.

Adding Items

To add an item, select ‘Add Item’. This will bring up a list of every item available in the game you’re building a team for. You can either scroll through the list or search for the one you’re looking for.

Once you’ve found the correct item, simply click on it and it shall be added to your Pokémon!

Now you just need to repeat this process for all of the other Pokémon in your team.

Team Defense and Team Coverage Explained

After filling in all of the information for your team, take a look at the ‘Team Defense’ and ‘Team Coverage’ sections.

Team Defense will give you an idea of what types your team currently includes (based on both Pokémon and moves) and the weaknesses you need to keep an eye out for. A blue line means that you’ve included these Pokémon types, while a red line means one of your included Pokémon is weak to this type.

Team Coverage, meanwhile, informs you which Pokémon types your team has an advantage over. The more little blue bashes beneath a type, the more Pokémon you have in your team that can counter it. If a type doesn’t have a dash at all, then you might want to consider changing your team!

How to Save Your Team

To save your planned team, you first need to log into Planet Pokémon. You can do this by using the ‘Login’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. After this, either login or make an account if you’re new!

Next, click the ‘Manage Teams’ button which can be found above the Pokémon you’ve entered for your team. Here you’ll be able to name your current team, save it, create folders to organize your various teams in and be able to create new teams too.

To save a team, first give it a name by entering something into the box containing the words ‘Name your Team’. Once you’re happy, select ‘Save Current Team’. This will automatically save your team into the folder you’ve currently got selected.

After saving a team, you’ll be able to change its name, make a copy or delete it by using the options found on the right hand side. You can also move a team to a new folder by dragging and dropping it.

A Note on Hidden Stats

The EV and IV for every individual Pokémon are considered Hidden Stats. This is because, while you’re able to get an idea of what they are, you’ll never be able to see the exact number for each one.

It’s also worth noting that Gen 3 changed how EVs and IVs worked. The following explanation follows those rules, so will not be applicable for the Gen 1 and Gen 2 games.

EVs – Effort Value – corresponds to each of the six main stats. Each Pokémon has a total amount of 510 EVs divided across these stats, with the maximum one stat can have being 252 EVs. Depending on the game, various items, such as Vitamins, Berries or Feathers, can be used to train or deplete an EV. Depending on the game, you should be able to view a Pokémon’s EVs on the Stat page of their Summary. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to use the exact value.

Each main stat also has an IV – Individual Value – which is calculated based on the Pokémon’s Base Stats, Nature and EVs. Typically an IV can not be changed unless you use Hyper Training to maximise it. IVs range from 0 to 31 – with 0 being the worst and 31 being perfect. Each Pokémon game has a Judge Function which can be unlocked, usually by reaching the postgame, that will give you an idea of what a Pokémon’s IVs are.

But Wait… There’s More

Beyond the the Builder, Planet Pokémon offers these helpful services for Pokémon Legends: Z-A:

• A complete, sortable, in-depth Pokédex for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and Pokemon Sword and Shield.
• An interactive map for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, powered by Map Genie, with the locations of all Wild Zone Pokemon, Colorful Screws, Mega Stones and more.
• A complete, sortable item database from Antidote to Zinc for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Pokeémon Sword and Shield.

For more on Pokeémon Legends: Z-A check out our latest coverage like How get Diancite and Baxcalibrite, and all the rare stone locations, a full list of all TMs, and a bunch of news on the upcoming updates here.

Magic: The Gathering is fully into its crossover era, and while the Avatar: The Last Airbender set isn’t far away, Secret Lair has seen Wizards of the Coast truly cut loose.

That means we’re getting some truly bizarre synergies, including one for Thieving Varmint. A ‘mana dork’ for cards that aren’t yours, we’re not sure anyone fits the idea of pilfering better than Nathan Drake from the PlayStation Secret Lair drop.

Here’s one for fans of the massively popular RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The IGN Store has just launched exclusive new Clair Obscur artwork by legendary artist Yoshitaka Amano. Even if you don’t recognize the name, you’ll recognize his work – Amano is the artist behind the iconic artwork for the Final Fantasy series. This is no coincidence, as the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and most notably the Studio Co-Founder, François Meurisse, confirmed in an interview with GamesRadar that they were heavily inspired by the Final Fantasy franchise when creating Expedition 33. This art truly showcases the game’s beauty and depth.

Amano has joined with IGN Store and Sandfall to lend his talents for this new series of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 art. Check out the exclusive drop below and order right now on IGN Store.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 x Yoshitaka Amano Collaboration

The art is available in four limited editions:

1 – Esquie Edition – Hand Signed by Yoshitaka Amano

• Edition Size: 33
• Print Size: 30 x 38 in. (Art: 24 x 32 in.)
• Printed on 305 gsm Cold Press Fine Art Paper with Waterbased Giclée Ink
• Hand Numbered
• Esquie Face UV Spot Clear Print
• Hand Signed by Yoshitaka Amano!

2 – Esquie Edition

• Edition Size: 333
• Print Size: 30 x 38 in. (Art: 24 x 32 in.)
• Printed on 305 gsm Cold Press Fine Art Paper with Waterbased Giclée Ink
• Hand Numbered
• Esquie Face UV Spot Clear Print
• Single Color Hand Highlights
• Auto-Pen Signature

3 – Lumiere Edition

• Edition Size: 1000
• Art Size: 24 x 32 in. (Full Bleed)
• Printed on 305 gsm Cold Press Fine Art Paper with Waterbased Giclée Ink
• Single Color Hand Highlight
• Hand Numbered
• Auto-Pen Signature

4 – Expeditioner Edition

• Edition Size: 3333
• Art Size: 18 x 24 in.
• Printed on 240 gsm Poster Paper with UV Ink
• Hand Numbered

Heads up, Pokémon TCG collectors, as another hot limited-time drop is hitting Walmart as part of its early Black Friday sales (that are starting today!)

Whilst it’s going to be hell catching these deals, paid Walmart+ members will get five hours of early access; music to the ears of any fellow Pokémon trainers, I’m sure.

So what’s up for grabs? From Nov. 13, 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET, Walmart will open the floodgates for three Pokémon TCG Special Collection boxes for Walmart+ members.

Outside of preordering new sets, it’s next to impossible to find Pokémon TCG products like these at market value, never mind MSRP, so this deal isn’t to be missed and is well worth getting a Walmart+ membership for.

Selling for $24.99, at MSRP, each box contains eight booster packs and features three foil promo cards that differ depending on the set you pick up: Snorlax ex + Blissey ex, Greninja ex + Kinggra ex, or Incineroar ex + Torterra ex.

If you’re not already a member, it’s admittedly a slight drag that you’ll essentially have to add the membership cost onto the price to pick this up and avoid the eye-waterlingly high resale prices, but needs must.

It’s $12.95 per month, or you can opt for an annual membership which is half off right now, and down to $49, previously $98. That’s not a bad deal at all, and includes a whole lot more than just early access to Pokémon cards. So make sure to get that boxed off and logged in ASAP to avoid missing out on this top Black Friday deal.

Best Pokémon Cards To Chase From These Sets

Whilst I wish you all the luck in the world, the chances of pulling top chase cards from these boosters is ridiculously difficult.

If you’re like me and don’t have the money to spend on endless sealed product, you’ll likely savew money in the long run just buying your chase cards instead.

Here’s the top five you could pull from these boxes, complete with where to buy links and up-to-date market value information.

• Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex – 231/182
  Near Mint: $547.47
  Market Price: $514.75
  Most Recent Sale: $440
• Greninja ex – 214/167
  Near Mint: $349.99
  Market Price: $357.30
  Most Recent Sale: $310
• Pikachu ex – 238/191
  Near Mint: $320
  Market Price: $321.65
  Most Recent Sale: $295.99
• Cynthia’s Garchomp ex – 232/182
  Near Mint: $260.50
  Market Price: $265.11
  Most Recent Sale: $349.10
• Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex – 230/182
  Near Mint: $212.42
  Market Price: $220.38
  Most Recent Sale: $222.70

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN.

Rockstar’s cowboy classic Red Dead Redemption is now cleared for launch on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

A new ESRB rating has popped up for Red Dead Redemption on modern consoles (where it will come rated M for Mature, due to blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs).

The rating also mentions “zombies”, likely referring to the games’ beloved Undead Nightmare expansion — so fans should probably expect this to come too.

Rockstar is yet to make this new version of Red Dead Redemption official, but it does now have 12 months to fill since the most recent delay to Grand Theft Auto 6 — which is now slated for launch November 19, 2026.

Originally released back in 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Red Dead Redemption is now also officially available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. Of course, you can play the PS4 version on PS5 (and the Xbox 360 version on Xbox Series X/S) but no native version for modern consoles exists, yet.

(Of course, no modern console version of Red Dead Redemption 2 exists yet either, but one thing at a time.)

Earlier this month, Rockstar was criticized by fans and employees alike after it fired more than 30 staff it said had leaked confidential company details. Workers organized a physical protest outside Rockstar offices in response, and more than 200 employees signed an open letter that alleged the job losses were an attempt at union busting.

All fired staff are believed to have been members of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) union members, organized via an external Discord channel. This week, the IWGB confirmed it had filed a legal claim against Rockstar — to which the company is yet to respond.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social