 A teaser trailer for Gears 5's campaign premiered during Opening Night Live, giving us a brief look at the terrifying creatures we'll be taking on come September. This left us pondering the big set pieces in some of our favourite games.
 This may look like someone used photos of Psycho Mantis to make a collage of Psycho Mantis, but in 1998 he was frightening. Sam | Soul of Cinder - Dark Souls 3 In a series famed for its boss encounters - many of which see you face off against unspeakable, towering horrors - Dark Souls 3’s concluding encounter with the distinctly humanoid Soul of Cinder might seem like an underwhelming choice. Soul of Cinder is the game’s cover star, with everything from the moment you first set eyes on the game building towards the final battle; not just of Dark Souls 3, but the entire Dark Souls trilogy. A trilogy that’s one of my all-time favourites, beautifully brought full circle by an ending that mirrors and also furthers that of the first game. I could mention the amazing original track that accompanies the fight, but then that’s nothing unique - the same applies to pretty much every Souls series boss fight. Without spoiling too much, the encounter is a sentimental one years in the making. Anyone that finished the original Dark Souls knows this character well, in both of their forms, thanks to the significant mid-fight phase changes introduced in this third entry. You’re given a very literal taste of your own medicine by a character skilled in all distinctions, plus you can’t parry them, avoiding the encounter being trivialised as with the first game’s conclusion. You could summon a co-op buddy to help, but that’d just be wrong for such a personal duel.  You'll get no spoilers from us. Liam | Moldorm - A Link to the Past Boss fights are usually all about learning patterns and memorising attacks, a deadly ballet where even the slightest misstep means failure. And then there’s Moldorm. Moldorm, if you’re unfamiliar, is the worm-like creature with the disturbing eyes that can be found guarding the top of the Tower of Hera in A Link to the Past. Its attack - if you can call it that – is extremely simple; all it does is charge around its small arena bouncing off walls and edges, wiping out anything standing in its path. I’m not 100% convinced it’s even aware of what it’s doing, or that you’re even there, which raises several moral questions when it comes to ending it. Despite only needing six hits to the tail for a victory, Moldorm was one of the more challenging bosses in ALTTP because it could knock you down to the floor below, forcing you to start the fight again from scratch. I always enjoyed the chaotic mess that were these battles. Trying to avoid the wriggly bastard as it careened around like a headless chicken was a frantic and often hilarious experience, especially when you factor in the limited range of movement afforded by a SNES controller.  Again, the graphics don't really do Moldorm justice. James | Saren - Mass Effect The Mass Effect series made a splash on the Xbox 360 and it all began with the first game in 2007, ushering in a new era of story-driven RPG/action games. One of the shining stars of the game was the antagonist and fallen Spectre, Saren Arterius, who sided with the original trilogy's big bad, the Reapers, to act as the Darth Vader of this sci-fi tale. Like many compelling villains, he feels as though he's working for the greater good, enabling the Reapers to "reset" the galaxy by destroying the Mass Relays used to travel between star systems, a fate you must work through the entire trilogy to prevent. Saren's fight goes through multiple stages, forcing you to call on the powers of your class to take him down, and in fact you can even avoid the first stage of the final fight altogether by convincing him he's possessed and so must take his own life. The sort of depth to his character is atypical and your numerous interactions with him through the game, constantly trying to get him to see your perspective, only build the impact of the final showdown. Without it, there's no doubt the series as a whole wouldn't have had as much impact as it did.  Saren was far more charismatic than anyone we encountered in Mass Effect: Andromeda. Share your favourite boss battle with us in the comments below.
 E3 has disappeared from the rear view mirror and the next stop in the 2019 gaming road map is Gamescom. With new content and announcements promised right from the get go during Opening Night Live (hosted by The Game Awards creator, Geoff Keighley), here's what we're looking forward to.
 Will the Avengers be bolstering their ranks? Sam | Death Stranding It’s been confirmed that Hideo Kojima will be taking a break from crunching on Death Stranding with the team at Kojima Productions, what with its 8 November release fast approaching, to join best buddy Geoff Keighley at Gamescom 2019’s Opening Night Live event. Making the trip to the show, which takes place in Cologne, Germany, for the first time since 2014, it’s reasonable to assume that the former Metal Gear Solid director has big news regarding his latest project to share. It’d be about time, as Death Stranding remains shrouded in an air of mystery less than two months ahead of its PS4 release. Long-term Team Talk readers may already know how devastating Silent Hills’ cancellation was for me, largely due to a collaboration between some of my favourite talents from multiple mediums - namely Kojima himself, film director Guillermo del Toro, and actor Norman Reedus - being wrestled from almost within my grasp. Now, albeit in a different form, that majorly mouth-watering meeting of masterminds is back on. As such, I already know that you can count me in wherever Death Stranding is concerned, but I’d rather like to find out if the game really is about an incredibly devoted package delivery service assigning babies in jars as co-drivers...  Every image seems to reinforce that theory. Liam | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s absence from the E3 public meant that my predication - along with pretty much every other guess I made - failed to come true. So, it’s up to Gamescom to get the hype train back on track after the summer’s minor derailment. I was initially excited about the reboot following an announcement trailer in which we get our first glimpse of the grounded, modern day setting and a fresh-faced Captain Price (complete with his iconic boonie hat) but since then my enthusiasm has waned somewhat. So far, I’ve seen nothing of the campaign and very little of the multiplayer, save for a brief round of Gun Game and a trailer that dropped earlier in the month. Whilst the latter started off well, highlighting new tactical abilities like being able to peak through doors before entering a room, it quickly descended into some trademark Call of Duty silliness. I'm not totally against some over-the-top action, but I’m hoping that next week's show will present something similar in style and tone to the announcement trailer, especially if it includes a look at the campaign. Even if the final product is only half as good as the original Modern Warfare, I’ll still be satisfied.  War never changes, but it does look better each year. James | Astral Chain There are still quite a few games due to come out this year which we'll hear all about at Gamescom, but I feel fairly confident that none of them are quite like Astral Chain. Platinum Games' latest jumped to the top of my Switch list after the Nintendo Direct at E3. The game comes from Takahisa Taura, who was previously lead game designer for Nier: Automata, and sees you fighting alien-like monsters from another dimension with help from your Legion, a powerful weapon who fights independently in combat. Platinum is known for its slightly off-beat approach to action games, with Bayonetta, Vanquish and Neir under its belt, which has me thinking this could be one of the most original releases due out this year. Better still, it's a Switch exclusive, so it has the best possible chance to be well-optimised and the gameplay shown off so far looks really impressive. Plus, with potentially all of what we'll see about Pokémon ahead of its release out of the bag, this is the Nintendo game that really tops the excitement-o-meter. While it's not likely to make the biggest smash of the show (especially when some have the Hulk in their corner), it's an experience which is sure to be unlike anything else.  Platinum Games' portfolio has us eager to see more. Lets us know what you're most excited to see at Gamescom 2019 in the comments below.
Team Talk | Games nobody asked for11/8/2019  Last week an email popped into the PTC inbox informing us that Garfield Kart Furious Racing was coming to Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC this November. For some reason, James saw this as an opportunity to pitch a Team Talk on games that nobody ever asked for… Not one to pass up a freebie, Sam ran with it and here we are.
Things have been quiet since the game’s debut, which is understandable, given the trailer has 326K downvotes vs. 24K upvotes... Chris | Needless yearly updates I'd like to make it clear that I'm not cheating and picking every single sequel. There's a certain type of game that doesn't need a new release each year but gets one anyway. FIFA, NBA, NFL and the rest of EA's '19 series are probably the most advanced digital recreations of ball touching that have existed to date, yet there's not a great deal that separates them from their predecessors. It isn't just sport sims or EA, Infinity Ward are obviously not looking to break the mould with Call of Duty '19: Modern Warfare, Again. An argument could be made that any big changes in the franchise are often met with resistance, potentially hurting sales, though this feels too much like blaming ourselves. We don't always know what we want until it's right in front of us, so developers shouldn't be afraid of thinking outside the box every now and then. Ubisoft's reboot of Assassin's Creed was a resounding success which breathed new life into a series that, for many, had grown stale. Whilst there's not much chance of FIFA being rebooted in the same manner, there's very little on offer that we haven't already seen.  Can you tell which iteration of FIFA this is? James | Garfield Kart Furious Racing When the news that Garfield already has his own kart racing game reached me this week, and not only that but we're getting a sequel in November, I was perplexed. I'm partial to a kart racer (as I've mentioned in a previous Team Talk) and on the surface I don't think it's fair that Mario gets a monopoly on them, but I mean...come on now, Garfield?! The lasagne-loving feline jumped back into pop culture in 2004 with the almost certainly dreadful movie (which I did not see), and 9 years and a number of cash-ins later, the game to truly capitalise on/sell out the character - Garfield Kart - was released on iOS, Android, Steam and 3DS. With the remake of Crash Team Racing out and performing well, an alternative to Mario Kart is there for you already, and even Sonic Team Racing feels like it earns its place with a few unique mechanics. Most importantly of all, a kart racer needs characters, and, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes the kick on this a bit, Garfield alone does not a compelling roster of players make.  Here we see Garfield, surrounded by all of the memorable characters from the franchise. Liam | Angry Birds Star Wars It’s fair to say that most game concepts are so bizarre it would be a bit of stretch to expect people to even think them up, let alone ask for them. Take Super Mario, for example. Before it came into existence, I'd wager that no-one was going about their day thinking, “You know what I need in my life? A game about an Italian plumber stamping giant turtles to death in a land inhabited by mushroom people." Angry Birds falls under the same category. In any other industry, pitching the idea of slinging kamikaze birds at pigs with giant catapults is more likely to get you a very awkward meeting with the HR department instead of a multi-million selling, movie-spawning game series. Even if the original concept of murdering pigs with birds was already lurking in the deep, dark recesses of someone’s mind, I highly doubt they had the foresight to blend it with George Lucas’ iconic space opera. Yet, that’s exactly what Rovio did when they came up with Angry Birds Star Wars, which, to this day, remains the strangest franchise crossover I’ve ever played.  The Force is not very strong with this one. Which game's simple existence most baffles you? Let us know below!
 If you came in search of an in-depth guide, unfortunately you’re in the wrong place, but feel free to stay for a good-humoured debate.
Chris | Black Eagles I'm just as unfamiliar with Fire Emblem as I am with Pokémon, so I figured the best way to choose a house is by process of elimination. I started by eliminating the Blue Lions and Golden Deer, because they’re terrible houses for garbage people, which leaves me with the Black Eagles. Proud, majestic and one of nature's most elegant creatures, I will make a fine addition to the noble house. Lions are adorable and probably make great pets for people who love cats but wish they were bigger. They aren't fighters, though - I hate to break it to you, but The Lion King is a work of fiction. Do you know anyone who’s been attacked by a lion? No, you don’t. The Cyan Cats manage a respectable second place. At the bottom of the food chain, much like in real life, are the Yellow Venison. These second-rate antelope are prey. They get eaten by lions and, as we all know, lions are soft, timid animals. My colleagues will try to win you over with facts and logic but this is about the law of the jungle; lions eat deer and eagles definitely eat lions. Liam | Golden Deer These are dark times indeed when I find myself allying with Sobble-loving Sam and turning on a proud Team Grookey member in Chris, but I cannot let old loyalties influence my decision - it just wouldn’t be right. As has been noted, we take these choices very seriously here at PTC towers! It’s with a heavy heart, then, that I say boo to the emo wizards that are the Black Eagles, instead affixing my colours to the Golden Deer. The name might sound like an old lady’s description of a darling grandchild, but their democratic leanings, archery-based combat and likeable leader won out over the other houses’ given ‘attributes’. Not that the Black Eagles have many of those. Again, I’m sorry Chris. My second choice was the Blue Lions. They have the best name, and their in-your-face tactics when it comes to combat certainly appeal (they’d probably be a good fit for my combat-focused dream team), but their devout leanings and snobbish cast cooled my interest in them. If we’re being honest, all of the houses seem to have their fair share of knobs, but at least they’ve all got feet this time, which is an upgrade on the last Fire Emblem game I played. James | Black Eagles Magic is cool, and if that isn't a good enough reason from the outset then I might have an uphill struggle on my hands. Since young Harry Potter exploded onto the scene 20 years ago, the hype hasn't fully died down, and, if anything, magic is more mainstream now than it ever was in the past. Image isn't everything of course, and so what about the practical benefits? One word - versatility. Your elemental attacks will work at various ranges, giving you the flexibility to build a character suited to your play style rather than being pushed into a corner. We're also told the Eagles "challenge the status quo" (according to a very handy primer from Game Informer) and who doesn't enjoy a bit of rebellion? Plus, you can take care of yourself with support spells and healing, rather than relying on flaky teammates. The Eagles' inspirational leader Edelgard, the Adrestrian Empire’s future emperor, values those who excel, and as a result has attracted a colourful range of students, including the sarcastic Hubert, the carefree Lindheart and the ambitious Ferdinand. Who wouldn't want to hang out with such a colourful array of characters? What's your Fire Emblem house of choice? Any love for the Blue Lions, or have Team PTC managed to sway you to their ways of thinking? Let us know with a comment below.
Team Talk | Best licensed games24/7/2019  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 just came out and, true to its name, the series continues to be the ultimate form of Marvel fan service. Sam’s loved Hulk-smashing his way through MUA3 on Switch these past few days, which got him and the rest of the team pondering which (if any) licensed games managed to do it better.
 Being able to play as the X-Men, and even some of the Brotherhood of Mutants, was a dream come true. Chris | Batman Arkham I never rated Batman in my younger days. I considered the superhero designation to be a misnomer because, as heroic as he may be, Batman does not possess superpowers. I soon came to realise that's not just part of his allure, but it's exactly what makes him a superhero! Rocksteady managed to capture that feeling of being a proficient crime-fighter and balance it against the very real vulnerabilities Bruce Wayne has as a "regular" man in their Arkham series. In each game, the first few combat sections set you up as an all-powerful guardian. When the guys with guns arrive, it becomes clear that Batman isn't as bulletproof as he appears and must retreat to the shadows. There's a sense of peril that’d be absent if we were playing as one of DC Comics' other heroes, like Superman, because Bats only has his wits and a utility belt full of Bat-nouns to rely on. Excellent gameplay aside, the characters are fantastically written and acted as well. Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker is so good that it’s now the benchmark against which I measure all iterations of the character. Indeed, many of the friends and foes Batman meets in the Arkham games have became the default in my head and any variations - such as those in the Telltale episodics - merely feel like cheap cover versions.  Bats stalks his prey from the shadows. Liam | Spider-Man (2002) 2002’s Spider-Man isn’t the best superhero game out there. Heck, it’s not even the best Spider-Man game, but it gets my vote mainly for nostalgia’s sake. Along with Super Smash Bros. Melee, it was one of two games that came bundled with our (read: my older brother’s) brand-new Nintendo GameCube. Loosely based on the film of the same name – which I also enjoyed – and made by Call of Duty stalwarts Treyarch, it was the first game I’d played that captured the feeling of being a superhero in a metropolis. Up until that point, everything I’d encountered starring caped crusaders had been a pixelated, 2D side-scrolling affair. Granted, you weren’t exactly given complete freedom to explore the city (the streets would swallow you up if you dared descend towards them) and there were some questionable physics (Spidey would swing from webs afixed to nothing), but it did the core stuff like scaling skyscrapers and beating up bad guys solidly enough. I also liked that it added in new bosses to compliment Green Goblin and expand on the film’s story. If memory serves, there was even a cool challenge mode where you could take on waves of enemies for added replay value.  Sam's parents bought him this game when he couldn't see the film (rated 12) at the cinema. He liked it, too. Rob | Waterworld An excellent topic this week, folks, as I'm sure you'll all agree. As usual, yours truly had many options: the childhood-defining GoldenEye 007, grand sports classics such as Brian Lara Cricket, or even something altogether unexpected... I've gone for the latter option, unsurprisingly! Cast your minds back to the glorious mid-nineties: a time of fantastic chart music, Opal Fruits and Kevin Costner - oh yes. Lord Costner (as he should always be referred to) was the star of many of my favourite films as a kid, not least sea-based sci-fi movie Waterworld. To go alongside this masterpiece of celluloid, legendary developer Ocean set about creating a game that would live up to the genius of the film, and by Jove they did it! I owned the Game Boy version, thoroughly enjoying the swimming and isometric sailing of earlier levels, alongside the platforming and shooting of later stages. With no save states I never actually managed to complete it, so here's hoping it reaches a virtual console at some point in the future! Until then, you'll just have to enjoy the pixelated majesty of Lord Costner.  PERFECTION. James | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed While I have fond memories of the likes of Yoda Stories, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Empire at War and Rogue Squadron (a close second place), it was The Force Unleashed which really captured my imagination as a game which takes one of my favourite properties and does something interesting with it. Its sequel might have failed to meet the standards set by the first, but for a franchise not short of adaptations it found its niche by creating an original story which, though a bit cheesy, is quintessentially Star Wars. Jedi: Fallen Order is Force-dashing its way over the hill for the end of the year, but to date TFU remains the most fun representation of lightsaber flailing in gaming. Plus, once you've powered up young Starkiller's skills, the joy of throwing multiple enemies into one another and then off a cliff never gets old. To top it off, you have one of the greatest villains in entertainment history not only featured but playable for the door-busting first level, which is the perfect introduction to all of the Force toys you could strangle a sarlacc with. Let's hope there's more exciting light sword play still to come in November.  For all the game's faults, tormenting enemies with the Force was brilliant. What's the best licensed game you've played? Feel free to let us know with a comment below.
Taken for a Quickie | Telefrag VR19/7/2019  Telefrag VR is a bold new arena shooter from developer Anshar Studios (who we recently interviewed), hoping to bring the intense competition of Unreal Tournament and Quake to virtual reality. We’ve spent some time with the finished article on PlayStation VR, minus online play due to it being pre-release, so let’s throw down the lowdown.
Those firearms are all on different cooldowns (no manual reloads), have two alternative fire modes, plus feature a unique form of weaponisable teleportation. More passively, you can also warp onto designated surfaces to bring a new dimension to fights, perhaps launching an ambush from upside down on the ceiling.
Mix these things together and the result is an experience that is, more often than not, frantic fun. Sounds great, but just 1v1 deathmatch? Really? It might sound sparse, but with the game being built around head-to-head play it’s one seriously action-packed tango! Telefrag is also set in an alternate future where the Roman Empire never fell and Gladiators now compete for glory in sci-fi coliseums, which helps to contextualise things. Moreover, considering VR’s relatively small install base, only requiring one opponent for online matchmaking is much easier to accommodate - especially with cross-play between all major headsets also enabled. Thumbs up then? If you’re a fan of 90s FPS games, complete with gravelly announcers, Telefrag does an admirable job of distilling that familiar feel down to fit the VR landscape. It can certainly be enjoyed solo against bots, as in our case, but online balance is a potential issue due to cross-play. PlayStation players have to choose between analogue movement and independent control of both arms, whereas Oculus and Vive users don’t, most likely placing them at an inherent advantage. If you can, opt for the PC version as a result. Etherborn interview with Altered Matter17/7/2019  We found ourselves quite taken with puzzle-platformer Etherborn after our hands-on preview back in March, so naturally jumped at the chance to interview Creative Director and Altered Matter Co-Founder, Samuel Cohen, about the project on the eve of its launch.
"I’d even build my ideas in Lego first so I could easily see and manipulate the structures before we spent time and effort putting them in-game." Early on I realized that when creating a game, you have to think about where you put the limits. In a platforming game, the first limit can even be the direction of gravity. But if you multiply that by six (one per axis), you’re probably going to have a couple of headaches. You can solve that limitation by creating others, like making linear levels, or basing your movements on a stamina bar, or even not making a platformer at all. But with Etherborn, the point was precisely to create ambiguous and explorable stages that would act as navigational puzzles, which means the stages could very easily fall apart due to the tiniest of things. One wall a bit too high, and you may be able to reach it jumping horizontally from the other side of the world. One too short, and you might be able to fall into an unintended platform. So yeah, in the end, many, many hours were spent on each corner of the game because in our case they’d make a vast difference on the end result. We find the game to be a very meditative experience; did you build it with specific intent towards encouraging mindfulness? I wouldn’t say there was an intention of going towards the specific concept of mindfulness, but I get where this question comes from, because in a way, it intersects with our objectives. We did build the game with the intention of stimulating the players' sensibility, with a kind of design and art that would encourage a less focused play style. If you try to be too stubborn finding the correct paths and the solutions, the game can actually become harder. Since we’ve been watching literally hundreds of players since we started showing the first prototypes at events, we’ve seen an entire spectrum of behaviour and reactions at this point. And what seems to always get the best results is when players just try to flow with the levels, explore a bit here and there, visualize the landscape in their mind, and try alternatives if their first ideas were not getting a result. Then it’s going to feel far more comfortable and the game should click in terms of “what do I have to do now”. But as humans, we usually don’t operate like this, myself included. We are very stubborn creatures and need answers right away. For this reason, we wanted to use all of the artistic elements of the game to express that you can just take your time, experiment, and figure out everything at a slower pace. The story also talks about the necessity of putting yourself and your world into question, although told in a relatively abstract way, so I think that helps add to the meditative tone.  Meet the Altered Matter team, who you can learn more about here. How did you come to work with FoxNext? Have they been involved in the game’s development at all, or only its promotion? FoxNext were planning on starting their Indie Fund and at the onset were looking around for potential games that they believed matched their vision - games that are innovative and a little different, but already have a bit of a track record. We’d been successful on FIG, won a few awards at events and even had a decent announcement so we had some traction already. But we were constantly in fear of not being able to deliver the finished game to all major consoles and PC at the same time. Their help ensured us more breathing room to finalize the game across all platforms and also time to polish and launch at a better time. They have also helped us with the production and planning for the final steps of development and the release, but full creative control of the game and it’s promotion was with us. With your first project now in the bag, what’s next for Altered Matter? It’s still a little hard to believe the game is actually out so we’re still stuck in a bit of haze and looking at what the world thinks of our first creation. Depending on how the game does in the next few months will pretty much determine our own future. We have ideas of what we could try next of course, but these are just tiny sparks of light in the back of our minds. A huge thank you to Samuel for taking the time to extensively answer our questions during what we're sure is an incredibly busy launch period!
We called Etherborn "outstandingly clever and effortlessly spellbinding" in our review.  After months of persistent rumours, last week Nintendo finally revealed the purported Switch Mini to be the Switch Lite, scheduled for release 20 September. Strictly a portable console, Switch Lite is of a smaller stature and lighter weight, while boasting greater battery life to keep you gaming on the go for longer. At a cheaper RRP to boot, you’d think everything was gravy, but that’d be to overlook the lack of TV support, detachable Joy-Cons, motion controls, HD rumble, and an IR camera. Keeping that upstairs, do the pros outweigh the cons?
 Switch Lite: The Switch that doesn't switch. Liam Do I need a Switch Lite? Absolutely not. My original Switch is still serving its purpose well, both at home and on the road, but that hasn’t stopped me coveting one since the redesign was announced. The sleek new addition to the Switch family is, in my opinion, a much better-looking console than its bigger brother. The lack of removable Joy-Cons and the addition of a proper d-pad give it a solid, more premium look and perhaps make it a bit more robust, too. I have no problem with Nintendo muddying the waters by making a Switch that doesn’t switch. I use mine as a handheld most of the time, and had the Lite been available at launch, the lower price, longer battery life and appealing design probably would’ve swayed me to go that way from the start. The only part I don’t like is the smaller screen. Some of the more visually demanding games already feel a little cramped on a regular Switch’s 6.2-inch display, so to reduce it even further to 5.5-inches could be pushing it. But, as I said, my original Switch is still serving me well, so I won’t be getting one. I’ll wait for the inevitable release of a ‘New’ Nintendo Switch instead.  Sticking with this guy is probably for the best. Chris I've never been into the portable side of gaming so, from a purely personal standpoint, the best outcome for me would be the Switch Lite bombing catastrophically, reaching the unenviable status of Atari E.T. cartridges and (fingers crossed) Google Stadia. It's not that I actively want Nintendo to fail, I'd simply prefer them to concentrate on the things that I might care about. It seems Nintendo have "fixed" one glaring issue with the Switch (the poorly designed dock which Sam alluded to) at the cost of functionality. This is absolutely fine if you just want to play Skyrim on a train, but I suspect no-one has done that more than once, and even then only to say they've done it. If you're a fan of gaming on the go, you might get a lot more out of Switch Lite. Sure, it lacks some of the features of the Switch and may be a little more cumbersome than a DS, but we can't expect too much from a company who willingly hired and promoted a guy named after the antagonist of their biggest franchise.  Pictured: Bowser Bowser wins Doug Bowser's heart by sharing his best princess abduction tips. James First things first, the Switch Lite is not aimed at me, and that's OK. In the past I've never opted for one of Nintendo's snazzy, reworked consoles, missing out on the Game Boy Advance SP and even the DS Lite back in the day. As recently as the 2DS Nintendo has proven there’s a market for something like this though, and it's encouraging that the company is still pushing more options for consumers (and making a spot of money at the same time). The company has struggled to meet its massive yearly projections and it feels as if Nintendo is the underdog, despite it making over $11billion a year, and this move is one which keeps them on parents' minds for Christmas time. A "pro" version could come next Christmas, but in the meantime this gives developers confidence there are no plans whatsoever to leave the Switch console family languishing like Ninty did the Wii U, hopefully meaning there are more long-term third-party projects on the way. In terms of the console itself, not having detachable Joy-Cons is a bit of a shame, but otherwise the tighter size and canny cost-saving measures seem smart and should bring plenty of joy (despite the cons, ba-dum-tss), to young'uns this Christmas.  2006 brought us Nintendo's original Lite handheld in the DS Lite. Rob So much speculation, so many supposed leaks, and finally, here we are: the Nintendo Switch Lite! As you may be aware, I've been on the fence with the Switch since its release some two-odd years ago. Is the Lite the answer to my prayers? In short: I think it just might be. I was one of the ~17 people to own a Wii U in the UK - I still have it by the way, along with a healthy backlog of games to start/finish. Do I feel burnt by it? No, not at all. Did I feel let down by Nintendo's lack of long-term support? Oh, yes indeedy. But the Lite offers new hope to this cynical old bastard. I really don't get much time to play games at home these days, so a dedicated portable device seems the way to go - and the Xbox, 3DS and Wii U are all ready for a trade-in, too! The only thing left holding me back are the games on offer (I need at least five big hitters before I’ll drop coins on a console), but with the impending release of both Fire Emblem and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, I think we might finally be there. Gimme a good Zelda bundle on day one and I'm ready to come back home, Nintendo.  Considering the Switch Lite launches on the same day as Link's Awakening, it's baffling that there doesn't appear to be a bundle for Rob. What are your thoughts on Nintendo's Switch redesign? Let us know with a comment below.
 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time inspired a hatred of water-based levels within many members of the N64 generation; its Water Temple was, and still is, an incredibly divisive dungeon which to some sours an otherwise near-perfect game. We’re (mostly) cool with water levels, but not so much the other design staples to follow.
 Using Peachette to avoid all contact with the ground is the correct way to play winter levels in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Chris I have no issue with stories that take place in the ocean, like BioShock, but I always feel a certain degree of unease when I'm faced with an underwater journey in an otherwise dry game. Whilst sub-aquatic sections aren't as ubiquitous in real life as I'd been conditioned to believe by the plumbers and hedgehogs I grew up with, not being able to swim has likely compounded my anxiety. Mario's ability to breathe underwater - a fitting trait for someone in his line of work - makes those levels the most palatable, whereas Sonic sits at the other end of the spectrum with that pant-shitting music that kicks in as he horrifyingly starts to drown. Games about swimming are far fewer in number than games about war, and with good reason. As a community we've decided that being shot is more entertaining than taking a dip, yet developers often force us to stop having fun at predetermined moments anyway. Tomb Raider is perhaps the biggest offender, forcing us to dive underwater in each and every instalment. Lara Croft is a terrible human being who gets her kicks from shooting live ammunition at the kindly old man who raised her, by the way - that’s the kind of person that likes to go swimming. Listen at your own (and your pants') risk. James No one likes to be shushed. Whether at the library (if indeed they’re still a thing?) or perhaps a family gathering, people want the freedom to do as they please. The same can be true with games, and nothing irks me more than a mandatory stealth section, especially when it flies in the face of the all-guns-blazing approach you were perfectly happy with up to now, thank you very much. Stealth can be forced in, even to some success, as seen with the likes of Mass Effect 3 and Marvel’s Spider-Man, but when it's optional, and especially if you don't know it's optional, that's when things get really interesting. In games like Deus Ex or the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, which admittedly emphasise player choice as an ideal, the option is there to go sneaky if you want to take it, or you can just run in and shoot the place up. In the end there's a satisfaction to finding out you can squirrel out if a situation, if that's what you want to do, but to mandate player behaviour more often than not feels unnatural and just reminds you that you're playing a game.  Deus Ex and other immersive sims do stealth right - they make it entirely optional. Liam Character creators have always been my least favourite part of any game they’re in. I can tolerate a dodgy level or mission-type because they’re usually a temporary grievance, but with character creators the pain is instant and often permanent. When I start a game, I want to start the game, not spend half an hour worrying about eyebrow alignment and my avatar’s body mass index. Because I usually rush through these things in order to get to the good stuff, like in Mass Effect, I often end up creating a face that only a Systems Alliance can love, which I then have to stare at for the rest of the game, thus souring the experience. For my first Skyrim playthrough I made a very generic-looking Nord character, which I rather creatively named Liam. It didn’t suit him, and instead of immersing me further it had the opposite effect whenever I saw it crop up in letters and messages. By the time I realised how silly it was, I was dozens of hours deep and unwilling to either continue or start all over again. I have since tried restarting, at a much later point in time, with an Argonian named Bask, but there are only so many times one can clear Bleak Falls Barrow...  Liam the nondescript Nord probably looked something like this. What typical gameplay sections can't you stand? Whether it's wonky driving stints in non-driving games, or maybe tedious escort missions, be sure to let us know with a comment below.
 Somehow we’re already into the second half of 2019. After getting over the disturbing realisation that the unrelenting passage of time is all too quickly sending us towards an inevitable death, we took a minute to discuss our favourite games released so far this year. Check ‘em out!
 Chris | Guacamelee 2 I dismissed the original Guacamelee as nothing more than one of the countless gimmicky indies that litter digital storefronts, but I rushed to download the sequel - not even six months after it's eventual Xbox One release this January - for reasons completely unrelated to needing a game to discuss in this here Team Talk… Ahem. Whilst the developers clearly had a lot of fun writing the story, I'm happy to report that the gameplay is all business. Complex systems are disguised as simple mechanics, thanks to intuitive controls, and challenging sections never feel daunting, as muscle memory builds quickly once you get into a rhythm. The fusion of Mexican wrestling culture and old school platformer is an odd one, for sure. I mean, I like both morphine and ice cream, but you don’t see me blending the two together to create some brain-ruining horror-shake. I hold myself to higher standards than that. Thanks to DrinkBox Studios’ superior ingenuity though, it works! Guacamelee 2 is refreshingly lighthearted, unashamedly immature, and charmingly addictive. Kinda like morphine. That last part, anyway.  James | Metro Exodus While a newcomer to the Metro series when I sat down at a preview event earlier in the year, the legacy of the series was long-established as one filled with claustrophobia, survival-horror-tinged action beats and a rich lore to draw from, being based, as it is, on a series of books. Little did I know how accessible the game would turn out to be and how much fun I'd have with it, despite the frequently underwritten female characters and the odd technical hitch here and there. It certainly did enough to earn a well-deserved 10/10 in my review, anyway. Its success shows the power of single-player narrative experiences today, even when they aren't exclusively on PlayStation, and the people at 4A Games seem to have the balance right between storytelling and actually providing an engaging gameplay loop. Of course, the move by publisher Deep Silver to release the PC version exclusively on the Epic Games Store soured the experience for many of the master race, but at least they honoured existing Steam pre-orders. That’s good, right? Will we see another Metro adventure in the future? While there are no more books to draw on, there are certainly more stories to tell, so here’s hoping!  Liam | Chippy I’ll be honest and say I’d never heard of Chippy until a Steam code popped into my inbox whilst I was sunning myself in Spain, but after watching some footage and reading about its main concept - which sees you dismantling hulking bosses piece by piece until you’ve exposed their vulnerable core - I was eager to get cracking. The problem was, like some sort of fool, I’d left my laptop at home - I just knew a Switch, a 2DS XL, a small library of books, and a family wouldn’t be enough to keep me busy by the poolside! Fortunately, the wait was worth it, as Chippy really is quite something. A twin-stick shooter of the bullet-hell variety, it’s one of those addictive games that has you coming back for more despite repeatedly kicking your arse, which is a strange phenomenon for me, given that I normally avoid those like the plague. Game of the mid-year might be a bit of a hollow victory seeing as my pickings were incredibly slim (shout out to Swords and Soldiers 2, Crackdown 3 and the fun-yet-frustrating Band of Bastards), but Chippy definitely deserves the nod, if only for forcing me to roll up my sleeves and finally ‘git gud’.  Rob | Heaven’s Vault How quickly is this year disappearing, folks? As summer's sticky heat reaches me up on Ditchling Mountain, Brighton, I ponder Sam's latest topic: what has been my game of the first six months of 2019? I had a great time at Rezzed once more, thoroughly enjoying Codemasters' latest DiRT and F1 games - review for the latter on the way - but my personal highlight has to be Inkle Studio's Heaven's Vault. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been so spellbound by an adventure outside of the Zelda series. Inkle's recipe is thus: one part branching narrative; one part third-person adventure; one part point-and-click; a large dollop of beautiful art/animation; a heaped teaspoon of ethereal soundtrack. I think we can all agree that makes for a most delicious gaming soup, no? Put it this way - it's going to take one helluva game to knock Heaven's Vault off its perch when it comes time to decide my overall game of the year. Bon appetit!  What's your favourite game of 2019's first six months? Let us know with a comment.
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