Category: IGN

There are generally two types of Kirby games: the standard platformers where Kirby copies enemy abilities across easy-to-complete stages, and the more unique adventures that break wildly from that formula. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land has been solidly in the former camp since its original release on Wii in 2011, making its Deluxe rerelease on Switch recognizable in more ways than one. Strong platforming fundamentals, creative late-game level design, and some worthwhile new content still make it worth revisiting, but it’s a more appealing package for newcomers than those who have already gone on the original adventure.

Like those aforementioned traditional Kirby platformers, the first few worlds in Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe are so remarkably unchallenging that they strip away any sense of resistance and, frankly, fun to be had. Flashy Super Abilities, which allow Kirby to do things like roll enemies up into a giant snowball or slash a massive sword across the screen, often start as almost automated sections that require very little player input. It’s important to have games that welcome newcomers, but it takes at least a couple of hours before this adventure begins to feel even remotely interesting, regardless of if you’re playing solo or with friends.

However, once you reach that latter half of the campaign, Return to Dream Land begins to reveal what it’s really about. The platforming stages start relying upon Kirby’s copy abilities more heavily, like using the Water ability to skim across fiery blocks, or the Jump ability to soar to new heights by letting him leap vertically and knock enemies out of his way. And it does all of this while throwing increasingly difficult challenges in your path, whether those are (often repetitive) mini bosses fighting you on screens with pitfalls and other dangers in the way, or platforming challenges that have you escaping a wall of death with creative obstacles to scurry around.

The final stretch of Return to Dream Land, in particular, feels like the original developers were able to let loose with a relatively challenging (but never frustrating) conclusion that’s filled with creative levels and enemies alike. The finale in particular is a wild ride, standing tall with surprising twists and genuine challenge. In all, it took me about six hours to float through the main story of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and over half of that runtime felt well worth the journey.

Then there’s the multiplayer of it all. Up to three friends can hop in and out locally at any point. They’ll play as either Meta Knight, King Dedede, or Bandana Waddle Dee, who essentially take on one distinct copy ability apiece (Sword, Hammer, and Spear, respectively) and can stack on top of each other or be carried across stages. Playing with this many players blunts some of the finer details of the level design, as it quickly becomes a chaotic game of trying to quickly clear enemies and get to the goal first – a section where you are supposed to time your movements to avoid boulders can quickly just become… run through the boulders and hope someone gets to the other side. Boss patterns can also essentially be ignored as each character pummels the enemy to oblivion. Stages in general feel designed specifically around single-player, but still work with a bigger group if that’s how you choose to play.

However, like similar multiplayer platformers, there’s plenty of fun to be had just goofing around levels with a few friends. The multiplayer is probably best served as a sort of “guardian mode” where you can have a less experienced player tag along and play with you, giving Return to Dream Land yet another way to welcome newcomers.

A Welcome Return

So that’s the original Return to Dream Land, but what the heck is new to this Deluxe version? The most obvious improvement is the graphical overhaul – outside of 2022’s Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this is easily the best Kirby has ever looked, with character models, environments, cutscenes, and everything else looking remarkably improved over the 2011 Wii original. It’s also filled to the brim with charm and small details, like cowboy Kirby walking with a bit of a strut when he’s using the Whip ability.

Then there are a few additions to the adventure itself. Three new abilities have been added for Kirby to wreak havoc with: Sand, Mecha, and Festival. Sand allows Kirby to form flurries into objects like sand castles and fists to smack opponents around with. The Mecha ability lets Kirby fly around the screen quickly, shoot off lasers, drop deadly mines, and fire rockets at foes above – it’s probably the most powerful copy ability in Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and my personal favorite. They’ve also brought the Festival ability over from Star Allies, which turns enemies on screen into point stars and health-recovering food items. They fit in so well that had I not known any better, I would have just assumed they were always in the original release as well.

In line with Return to Dream Land being an entry-level platformer, Deluxe also adds an easy mode called Helper Magolor. This character from another planet tosses Kirby helpful items (including health-doubling potions) and saves him when he falls into bottomless pits. While most people probably won’t need this mode turned on, it’s a great option for new or young gamers to help get their feet wet.

Magalor Magic

Speaking of Magolor, he’s the star of Deluxe’s single biggest addition – Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler. In this roughly two-hour mini adventure, you control an interplanetary character, who begins by being stripped of all of his powers, á la Metroid. But through collecting magic points across brand-new stages, you can purchase increasingly powerful abilities, like bombs you can gleefully rain down upon your enemies.

This mode starts a bit slow, with Magolor being intentionally sluggish and relatively weak, but by the end of the journey he can become a downright powerhouse. The stages themselves are about the same quality as what’s seen in the main game, with challenge levels available to unlock if you’ve already purchased their corresponding abilities. Kirby’s signature ability to copy powers is missed in this mode, but it’s fun to get a taste of what a Kirby-style platformer that unfolds with more progression would play like.

True to its name, the Magolor Epilogue can only be played after the main story is finished. Narratively this makes sense, though let’s be honest: nothing in a Kirby game’s story is particularly groundbreaking, and not letting returning players jump right into it feels a little unnecessary. Along those lines, Deluxe includes the original’s Extra Mode, which is a much more difficult version of the main story that gives Kirby less health, adds more enemies to deal with, gives bosses more challenging forms, and more. However, it also cannot be accessed until after the main mode is finished, which seems silly for a Deluxe version that plays almost identically to the original.

There’s also Arena Mode, which similarly unlocks following the main story as a boss rush of sorts to further test your skills. While those certainly pad out the overall play time, I would have preferred access to them right off the bat. New to the package is Merry Magoland, a theme park filled with “sub-games” that put you against other players. In the original Wii version, Magolor’s ship (the Lor Starcutter) housed several of these minigames, but now they also exist in this colorful area, and there are two new minigames to play around with in addition to the original eight.

The minigames themselves are well-made but relatively shallow, reminding me of the time I spent playing Pokemon Stadium’s minigames with my friends as a kid. They range from the star-throwing Ninja Dojo, where you try to hit moving targets either using button presses or motion-controlled throws with their Joy-Con, to the classic Samurai Kirby, a dueling minigame where each player attempts to slice as quickly as possible when prompted. They can all be played through in about half an hour and don’t add a huge amount of value to the package, but earning cosmetic masks through Magoland and playing with them in the main game can be a fun diversion.

As a fan of Star Wars, Soulslikes, and big-budget single-player action games, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a game that spoke to me on multiple levels. It successfully merged the risk/reward elements of From Software’s Souls series with the power fantasy that inherently comes with being a Jedi. That said, it wasn’t a perfect combination. Backtracking without any means of fast travel was annoying, exploration was rewarded primarily with underwhelming cosmetics, and I couldn’t help but wish I could do more with my powers than just push, pull, and slow.

I say all of this because my main takeaway from roughly five hours with the upcoming sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, is that it felt like I was systematically crossing off the issues I had with Fallen Order. Survivor feels grander without ever letting the burgeoning scope compromise the exploration and sense of discovery that serves as its heart.

My preview time was broken up with me spending about four hours on the planet Koboh, a gigantic and wide open planet that largely serves as Cal’s home away from home throughout the course of Jedi Survivor’s story, and then about an hour on a moon planet to showcase some more traditional combat and platforming encounters that fans have come to expect. Let’s start off with Koboh, because it represents the biggest change in Jedi Survivor versus Fallen Order: A vast open world that sprawls out in every direction, with interesting encounters and rewards everywhere you turn.

Koboh Let’s Go

We’ve already shown you 9 minutes of Koboh gameplay as part of our IGN First coverage, but what we haven’t really gotten to point out is the fact that most of that footage covers only the introduction to the planet, which is a fairly traditional linear portion that guides you through caves, valleys, and mountain trails, but then opens wide up once you get to the Southern Reach – in a moment that brought to my mind the very first time you step out onto the Great Plateau in Breath of the Wild.

My main goal throughout this entire section was to reach the Cantina to find someone to repair my crashed Mantis ship, and I could’ve just booked it over there to get on with the story, but if I did I would’ve missed out on so much meaningful exploration. Off in one direction there was a hidden cave that housed an incredibly tough (and incredibly cool) boss battle that I’d be remiss to spoil for you here, off in another direction there was a Bedlam Raider camp with Stormtrooper armor on spikes and a nasty surprise waiting for me in a trap door that led underground, and if I took another path I’d eventually find a Jedi Chamber that housed a gigantic puzzle room. Other paths still were closed off to me until I found a particular upgrade.

Even better, all of these excursions felt appropriately rewarding. Most offered me skill points for my trouble – which are much more valuable in Survivor due to the fact that there are now individual skill trees for each lightsaber stance, your force powers, and for flat health and force upgrades – and even the treasure chests that offer cosmetic items have vastly improved rewards due to the fact that you can find entirely different outfits for Cal to wear (as opposed to just different designs of ponchos). In addition to that, you can even find new hairstyles to equip Cal with. My personal favorite so far was a bandana that made him look a little bit like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.

Koboh is massive, but thankfully, I never felt lost thanks to some truly excellent map features, like automatic markers that highlight passageways that lead to unexplored areas, symbols that let you know what areas you can’t access yet with your current abilities, a trail that marks the way you just came, and of course, fast travel. Thank Yoda for fast travel. Even better, Cal eventually also gains the ability to tame beasts so he can use them as mounts or as ways to traverse large gaps. All of these additions, on top of just stellar art design, all add up to make the act of exploring Koboh a joy.

Another thing that struck me as I was playing through was how good both the level and enemy design was at setting up opportunities for you to use your force powers in fun ways. Miniboss arenas are full of objects that could be force pulled and thrown to deal big damage, rolling mines are both a constant threat and a constant blessing when you can send them back at pursuing foes, and there were plenty of opportunities to end a battle before it even began by force pushing foes off a ledge. My favorite interaction is when I tried to force pull a staff wielding enemy towards me. He would try to plant his staff into the ground to stop himself, and when that failed, he’d let himself go and attempt to slash while he was pulled towards me. The first time I tried this, he got me, but then I found out that I could parry his desperation attack, which allowed me to still turn the tide in my favor.

Koboh is also not a one-stop shop. It’s a planet that you’re meant to return to many times over the course of Cal’s adventure. Aside from the aforementioned locked passageways that Cal won’t be able to progress through until he gets a specific upgrade, the Cantina and the town it resides in, Rambler’s Ranch, doubles as a sort of home base for Cal. There are vendors to purchase new customization options, colorful NPCs to talk to, and everytime you come back, you can be certain there will be something new to check out.

Fly Me to the Moon (Planet)

The second area I got to play was on an unnamed moon planet that Cal and his companion Bode visit sometime later in the game. In comparison to Koboh, this felt like a much more traditional style of level that would’ve been right at home in Jedi: Fallen Order. That isn’t to take anything away from it though, because it was a ton of fun – with a healthy balance of both death defying platforming challenges and challenging combat encounters.

The thing that most stood out about this level was there was almost a horror theme to it. Turns out that the enemies were expecting Cal, and thus most of them were lying in ambush. The beginning was very tense as it seemed like enemies were hiding around every corner waiting to get the jump on me. Respawn even played to this expectation a few times and would have a harmless droid suddenly come out through the fog, which I totally bit on and sliced the poor innocent bot in half.

Even in a level that was much more linear, there still were plenty of goodies hidden off the beaten path, including Jedi: Survivor’s take on a DMC-like challenge room. In it, I had to face off against wave after wave of what seemed like hundreds upon hundreds of B1 droids that would all go down in one or two hits, but could very easily swarm and overwhelm me. It was an absolute blast – and surprisingly tough as well – once they started mixing in some droids that would self-destruct if I didn’t force push them or otherwise get the heck out of the way in time.

I loved this encounter because it’s something that wouldn’t have made sense within the context of the actual level, but in a sealed-off space where anything goes, it was the perfect kind of combat test. I hope there are a ton more of these and I’d happily search every nook and cranny to find them.

I could go on talking about the Jedi Chamber puzzle rooms, the fun new force powers, the exciting story beats that took place after I stepped foot into the Cantina, or some of the awesome boss battles that I had to overcome, but it’s all stuff that’s probably better experienced for yourself once the game comes out on April 28.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

Bungie has achieved a legal victory in its attempt to stop Destiny 2 cheat sellers, as a judge ruled that cheat maker AimJunkies violated Bungie’s copyright through the creation of its aimbots. Reported by Eurogamer, Bungie has won $4,396,222 in damages and legal fees.

The anti-cheating legal battle has been going on for nearly two years. Bungie first filed the lawsuit against AimJunkies in April 2021, saying that AimJunkies violated its copyright laws by producing cheats.

The case was originally dismissed in May 2021 when a U.S. District Court Judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove copyright infrigements. Bungie filed a new complaint just a few weeks later.

Last August, AimJunkies’ parent company Phoenix Digital Group LLC released an aggressive statement against Bungie that read in part, “Bungie and their counsel apparently believe the more s**t you throw at the wall, the greater the possibility of something sticking with the court, no matter how ridiculous or absurd it is in the real world.”

At the time, the company said its features should be officially implemented into Destiny 2. As of November, it seemed the legal battle was starting to lean in Bungie’s favor.

Following this legal victory, Bungie has filed a similar suit against LaviCheats for $6.7 million. It’s the latest step in Bungie’s war on cheating, which has seen the company win $13.5 million in damages from another cheats company.

Elsewhere, Destiny 2 fans are looking forward to Lightfall’s release next week, as Bungie is laying out some big goals for the future of Destiny 2.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Sony has announced that a PlayStation State of Play event will take place on February 23 and share new details on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and more.

Announced in a tweet (below), the event will take place at 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern / 9pm UK (so 7am AEST on February 24) and can be viewed on PlayStation’s YouTube and Twitch channels.

Though it didn’t say exactly what it would be showing, Sony has confirmed that five brand new PlayStation VR 2 games will be shown off at the State of Play alongside indie and third party reveals.

State of Play is back! Tune in Thursday at 1pm PT for:
☑️ Five new PS VR2 titles from partners
☑️ Hot indie and third-party reveals
☑️ An extended look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguehttps://t.co/kMPyPpMhSk pic.twitter.com/mu8RX0ZJFk

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 21, 2023

The main attraction will perhaps be a 15 minute gameplay showcase from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League though, which will share new game mechanics and updates on Rocksteady Studios’ latest.

Having stepped away somewhat from the likes of E3 and some other big gaming conferences, Sony has reserved a lot of its big announcements for State of Play events like this one.

The last one took place in September and saw Tekken 8 officially revealed, a new trailer shared for God of War: Ragnarok, Like a Dragon: Ishin revealed for the west, and much more.

State of Play events have also been used to showcase other PlayStation blockbusters including Final Fantasy 7 Remake, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and more. IGN has even put together a list of the biggest and best announcements since the State of Play’s inception in 2019.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo has announced that a special Pokémon Presents event will share franchise updates next week on February 27.

Announced in a tweet (below), the roughly 20 minute event will be available to watch on the Pokémon YouTube channel at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK (so midnight in AEST).

The announcement doesn’t come as too much of a surprise given that February 27 is also Pokémon Day, which Nintendo usually celebrates with significant updates on the various Pokémon games.

The next #PokemonPresents is on the way, Trainers! ?

Tune in to our official YouTube channel at 6:00 a.m. PST on February 27 for about 20 minutes of exciting Pokémon news in celebration of #PokemonDay 2023! ?

? https://t.co/Xo6KYjvSdj pic.twitter.com/FFrmk8a5z8

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 21, 2023

Last year’s event even saw the announcement of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, though its perhaps unlikely we’ll see the next mainline games announced seeing as these two were only released a few months ago.

We could see the games mentioned, however, as Nintendo is yet to announce the release date for Scarlet and Violet’s long-awaited patch. Speaking of updates, however, we could see some DLC announcements akin to the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra expansions for Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Nintendo also announced at its Direct earlier this month that Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games were finally making their way to Switch via its Online membership. Despite the likes of Pokémon Red, Blue, Ruby, Leaf Green and more being amongst the most popular and famous of Nintendo’s handheld offerings, these games were notably absent from the list of Game Boy titles announced for the service.

It’s also likely we’ll get updates on various other Pokémon games including Pokémon GO, Masters EX, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

When I first started playing Re:Call, I was wearing green overalls and I had a cup of tea on the table next to me.

Or, wait. Maybe I was wearing blue overalls and I was drinking cocoa.

Or could they have been pink overalls, with a cup of coffee?

That’s the kind of twisty, recollection labyrinth you’re playing with in Re:Call, a game about rewriting memories to become true history. You play not as any of the game’s protagonists, but as a ghostly entity who, when partnered with a person, gives them the ability to change how things previously happened simply by relating them in different ways to listeners. This premise blossoms immediately in Re:Call’s early hours into a delightful puzzle game, where a man named Javier writes and rewrites his account of breaking into the lair of a criminal mastermind, the Toymaker, in hopes that by adjusting the past sequence of events enough he can create a present-day situation that allows him to escape the Toymaker’s clutches.

If that’s a bit confusing, here’s a very early example: the Toymaker asks Javier to relate how he broke into the facility in the first place, and is interrogating him in a room accompanied by a guard wearing a green uniform. In Javier’s recollection, he can recall that the door to the facility was watched by no one, or by a blue or green guard. He can also find either a gun on the ground, or a rock. Choosing the gun, and then choosing to shoot the guard causes the green guard in the room with them in the present to suddenly drop dead – he was shot, after all. Problem solved, right? Maybe not. Even though Javier’s account rewrites everyone else’s memories with it, too much mucking with reality will confuse and alarm them, so overly-dramatic reality shifts may not always be advisable if you’re trying to get out of a sticky situation. Fortunately, if you fail the scenario (Toymaker gets wise to your behavior and decides to put an end to it…and you), you just try again, with the game conveniently skipping over dialogue you’ve seen before so you can try out new variations on reality even faster.

That’s the opening of Re:Call for you, but the plot is a heck of a twisty one. It’s part crime drama, part spy thriller, and part internal journey of a young man named Bruno Gallagher who struggles with fitting into a world that doesn’t see him as worth the time of day. The music and visual design make for a bombastic visual experience too, with snappy cuts from scene to scene giving it almost a reality show feel throughout the recall puzzles. Though it’s a fairly short game – about six hours max – Re:Call manages to pack a lot in. It unfortunately frontloads its best recollection puzzles a bit, but Bruno’s story had a surprisingly personal payoff in the midst of all the thermal lasers and murder plots that made his adventure worth seeing all the way through.

Bruno aside though, I was hooked on Re:Call from the premise alone. I’ve never played a game before that dealt with puzzling over memory in quite this way, and according to creator Matias ‘Matian69’ Schmied, the standout mechanic was at the heart of his desire to make the game. Re:Call is Schmied’s second game as an independent creator – he was previously working at Argentinian studio Avix games, but left to go indie and released his first solo game, Evan’s Remains, in 2020. The idea for Re:Call was actually born out of Schmied’s struggles with Evan’s Remains, and his difficulty getting audience attention on the game without “some crazy, unique mechanic or way to play.”

“Re:Call started out, the concept came from one of several prototypes that I have made. I remember I set myself the goal to make several, very small prototypes with very unique ways to play. And Re:Call came out from a prototype that you were in a police interrogation and depending on how you told the police what you saw, the murder would change and stuff. And a lot of those ideas were translated to Re:Call chapter 2. When I tested the prototypes, that one, that was the one that people liked the most.”

Making something unique might attract attention, but it has its drawbacks too. Schmied tells me that he struggled with Re:Call’s design and mechanics because there weren’t really any templates of similar successful games to draw from. He could have people playtest Re:Call, and he did get positive feedback, but he tells me he had a “cloud of insecurity” throughout development because he couldn’t tell if his project would work out in the end.

For Schmied, gameplay is king. I ask him about his inspirations, and he points to Half-Life 2 – not because of any thematic similarities necessarily, but because of the ways in which it guides the player on what to do without massive sign posts or hefty tutorials. Schmied wanted to do something similar in Re:Call, and certainly in the ways in which its early chapters encourage blind experimentation as you recollect your way through different events to find a “way out,” he’s succeeded.

Re:Call was largely a solo project for Schmied, with some light freelance help. Yet Schmied finished it in just two years. Impressive, certainly, but Schmied said the “cost” that he paid “was very high.” He tells me he didn’t allow himself much time to enjoy the creative process, and ended up burning out several times – something he doesn’t intend to repeat on future projects. “I think if there’s one thing I learned is, the bigger the project, the more patience you have to embody,” he says.

Speaking to Schmied, he’s quite humble and even self-effacing about the game he made, even when I tell him how much I enjoyed it. When I ask him what he’s most proud of, he tells me it’s Chapter 4 – easily the most complex recollection puzzle in the game – because of the way he managed to nail the “dance” between story and gameplay unfolding. But then he tells me one of the reasons he loves it so much is because he wasn’t able to replicate it as well in later chapters, saying he felt the ending was “lacking.”

“I don’t know why,” he says. “I don’t know, I wasn’t as creative when doing that part. I was very burned out. So I don’t know. But it’s interesting how, I don’t know, how creativity works. It’s very mysterious.”

I counter a bit – sure, the back half of Re:Call is weaker than the front, but the overall experience is quite good, and the emotional payoff of Bruno’s ending made the journey worth it for me personally, anyway. And though he’s still quite humble about it all, Schmied falls back on finding success in people’s enjoyment of the thing he made.

“One of the flaws I think the game has, which I agree with some of the feedback from the players, is that the game started out with a promise. This game is about shaping memories. And then at the end, the game forgets about that a little bit. And I agree with that…Maybe the experience is unique, but I kind of feel like I failed a bit. So I don’t know. But what does give me joy is when people like you say, ‘Hey, I really connected with Bruno.’ That to me is a bigger success than the mechanic, or how unique the game was, or whatever. So I’m still happy.”

It ultimately feels a bit strange for me to share this creator’s less-than-positive reflections on his own work in this space, which is generally purely celebratory. But Schmied’s honesty about his craft was compelling, especially in an industry where marketing often compels creators to fake hype around a project they might not feel enthusiastic about, regardless of whether its failings were theirs or someone else’s. No game is perfect – in fact, the vast majority are just “okay”. Re:Call, though, I think is pretty good, and probably deserves more praise than Schmied is willing to admit. He made something I found to be truly unique and enjoyable from start to finish. And if you give it a shot, you might too.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Marvel’s Avengers’ previous creative director, Virtosu Cezar, has apologized for how the game turned out and cited a “challenging production” for it not becoming what it could have been.

Speaking to Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar), Cezar didn’t go into much detail about the problems that led to the decision to end development on Marvel’s Avengers just a little over two years after it launched, but he apologized for it nonetheless.

“It was a challenging production, let’s say,” Virtosu told Edge. “I apologize for that.”

Virtosu left Crystal Dynamics in 2020 for Hexworks and is now the creative director on The Lords of the Fallen, the reboot of 2014’s Lords of the Fallen that got its first gameplay trailer at The Game Awards 2022. The game will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but no release date or window has been given as of yet.

As for Marvel’s Avengers, active development has ended for the live-service game, and support will be discontinued on September 30, the same day digital purchases of the title will no longer be available.

The final content update for Marvel’s Avengers was Update 2.7, which added the Winter Soldier and the Cloning Lab Omega-Level Threat. It also confirmed Spider-Man will remain a PlayStation exclusive.

March 31 will see the arrival of Update 2.8, but that will just be a balance update. Following March 31, the cosmetics marketplace will be turned off and credits will no longer be purchasable. Leftover credits will be converted to in-game resources and all cosmetics will be made free for all players.

We called Marvel’s Avengers one of E3 2019’s biggest disappointments and it didn’t get much better from there for the much-anticipated game. There was plenty to love in the game however, especially the campaign, but the whole package just never came together.

In our Marvel’s Avengers review, we said it “has a fun and endearing superhero campaign, but it’s tied to a loot-based post-game that’s so repetitive and unrewarding that it gave me little reason to want to keep playing.”

Hopefully, Marvel’s upcoming games, including Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine and Amy Hennig and Skydance New Media’s upcoming game set in a World War 2-era Paris starring Captain America and Black Panther, fare better.

For more, check out why, despite Marvel’s Avengers and other failed projects, we don’t think live-service games are dying.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Pokémon GO developer Niantic recently implored its players to stay away from a public park in Las Vegas unless they purchased a $30 in-game content pass.

Sunset Park was the location of the Pokémon GO Tour: Hoenn event which took place from February 18 to 19 and, for those who paid $25 before the New Year or $30 after it, let players engage in all sorts of extra in-game activities focused on Pokémon from Ruby and Sapphire.

Players descended on the park in the hope of raiding, catching, trading, and battling pocket monsters, but 17,000 regular players showing up allegedly disrupted the local network and rendered the game unusable for those who had paid.

Players (and the public) did not have to pay to enter the park, but just to access the extra content available in Pokémon GO itself.

As reported by Eurogamer, the first day of the in-person event ended in frustration, with many players complaining that network issues were causing them to disconnect from raids, or entirely preventing them from logging into to the game.

Niantic later acknowledged the issue in a tweet from the official Pokémon GO account, stating that “an additional 17,000 trainers without tickets joined us at the park, causing spotty connectivity throughout the day”.

In a subsequent tweet, the developer asked non-ticketed trainers to stay away from the public park altogether, in order “to ensure a smooth event for Sunday ticket holders”.

We ask that Trainers who do not have a ticket for Pokémon GO Tour: Hoenn – Las Vegas refrain from joining us at the park tomorrow, to ensure a smooth event for Sunday ticket holders and Trainers who have the Sunday Extra Day Add-On.

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 19, 2023

The company also sought to placate disgruntled paying customers by extending the duration of select events taking place across the city, and offering a free bundle for affected players containing three premium and remote raid passes.

However, connection issues reportedly persisted throughout the weekend, despite the calls for non-ticketed players to stay away.

Despite Niantic claiming it was the fault of the additional players, it’s not the first time this has happened with Pokémon GO. The original Pokémon GO Fest in 2017 infamously ended in frustration for many players who, similar to the latest in Las Vegas, struggled to connect to the game, and connectivity issues have plagued other events too.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Battlefield 2042’s fourth season. called Eleventh Hour, will bring a wave of fresh content to the shooter including a new map, hardware, and a recon specialist when it launches on February 28.

The new map, Flashpoint, will have a South African setting and features a variety of interior spaces that encourage frenetic close quarters combat, while the surrounding rocky terrain is likely better suited to sniper and tank-based warfare. The sprawling Discarded map, which is set in an abandoned Indian shipyard, is also set to get a rework.

Season 4 also adds a new recon specialist to 2042’s roster in the form of the “ambush expert” Camila Blasco, whose deployable X6-infiltration device prevents enemies from locking on to nearby friendlies, while highlighting enemy tech.

Blasco’s training also renders her movements invisible to motion sensors — a perk which will compliment the insertion beacon and constant steady sniper scope that comes as standard for all recon specialists.

The upcoming season will also see the addition of the stockless Super 500 Shotgun sidearm and the fast firing AC9 SMG, which could prove useful in the cramped interior sections of the new map. Meanwhile the heavier hitting RM68 Assault Rifle and the RPT-31 LMG, aided by the sticky SPH Explosive Launcher gadget, will aide in aggressive negotiations with medium range hostiles.

Season 4 also introduces the CAV-Brawler, which is designed to act as a nimble armoured personnel carrier and a mobile spawn point, even when full of crew. A new Battle Pass will also be dropping on February 28, bringing 100 tiers of content as normal. Whilst many of the tier rewards will be available for all, some cosmetics will be gated behind the premium Battle Pass subscription.

DICE recently replaced Battlefield 2042’s poorly received specialist builds with the franchise’s classic class-based system. The move sorted all existing characters into one of four classes: assault, engineer, medic and recon. Check out IGN’s explainer video for a full breakdown of how this change fundamentally affects and rebalances the gameplay of 2042.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer