in this issue
Ea College football 26
PUBlisher: ea sports Writer: scott younker
Afterover a decade of silence, EA finally brought a college football game back last year in the form of College Football 25. With that return, the franchise reentered the realm of iterative yearly sports titles.
CFB 25 was a welcome and excellent revival, but it wasn’t without its flaws, including a lackluster Road to Glory mode and a lack of a tutorial mode.
With College Football 26, EA Orlando brings a number of welcome changes including the inclusion of real life coaches, a revamped Road to Glory mode and somehow even deeper recruiting in Dynasty.
I said last year that EA delivered by “producing one of the best pigskin games in years,” and CFB 26 just adds more on top of what was already an excellent football game.
There are some flaws including seemingly long loading times in Ultimate, a strange insistence on not including a dedicated tutorial to teach both new and returning players about changes in gameplay, and some age-old CPU AI frustrations that just won’t go away (looking at you no-look interceptions).
Despite those imbroglios, CFB 26 is worth a punt. Read my full College Football 26 review to find if you should step back on the field.
Comparedto other sports in the United States one of the things that separates college football is the pageantry. While there was some good presentation and fidelity in CFB 25, this year’s iteration loaded up with 88 new marching band songs, nearly 40 new mascots and various “trueto-life” stadium setups and gameday traditions.
An example would be the inclusion of Virginia Tech’s entrance to Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ which is always awesome both in real life and now digitally.
That being said, one flaw in CFB 25 was that you couldn’t skip those introductions especially if you’re running through a number of games in quick succession. CFB 26 actually lets you get right to the game if you don’t want to watch the umpteenth run on the field, especially for teams that don’t really have an interesting one. Still, I’ve found that schools with bigger introductions (VTech, for instance) remain unskipable.
As for gameplay, on one level, if you’ve played a football game, or CFB 25, this year’s edition should feel similar. There are a number of changes but the biggest ones you’ll notice right away are formation subs and dynamic subs.
Previously, to sub out players you needed to pause the game and go into your depth chart. Now you can use the D-pad to make individual substitutions without hitting the pause button. Doing so pops up a little screen with status and ratings for your players at different positions. There’s also an auto-sub slider in the menus to swap players when certain wear-and-tear levels are hit.
It makes playing more fluid and responsive to what’s happening on the field. Overall, games feels smoother with tackling and catching seeing the biggest improvements. Yes, there are still weird blocking fails or random no-look interceptions but that’s par for the course at this point.
You can get more granular with additions like getting only your linebackers to show blitz over the entire secondary. There’s a lot and EA has broken it down in their thesis-length blogs but they’re worth a read to see all of the minute changes.
My favorite quality of life is the return of a Trophy Room where you can easily see all of the awards you’ve won across the various modes. I didn’t know I missed it until it came back, but I’m happy to have it all the same.
Death stranding 2: On the beach
publisher: sony interactive entertainment, Kojima productions
Writer: Mike west
Death
Stranding 2: On the Beach is a 2025 action-adventure game written, produced, designed and directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is the sequel to Death Stranding, and is the second game from Kojima Productions as an independent entity, as well as the studio’s second collaboration with Sony. On the Beach features the previous game’s central characters, including Sam Porter Bridges, Fragile, and Higgs, reprised by Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, and Troy Baker, respectively. They are joined by a cast consisting of Elle Fanning, Shioli Kutsuna, Luca Marinelli, Alastair Duncan, Alissa Jung, Debra Wilson and Tommie Earl Jenkins, as well as special appearances from George Miller, Fatih Akin, Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn, the latter two reprising their roles from the first game.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set primarily in Australia, eleven months after the events of the first game, in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by otherworldly creatures. The player controls Sam Porter Bridges, a freelance porter, as he and his companions set out on an expedition across the Australian continent to connect isolated survivors and colonies to the wireless communications “chiral” network in order to save humanity from extinction.
Death
Stranding 2: On the Beach is a third-person action-adventure video game. It takes place primarily in Mexico and Australia, both of which are large open worlds that can be freely explored by the player. The core gameplay loop revolves around delivering packages to scattered preppers and survivors. Players need to navigate difficult terrain, while balancing the weight of the cargo on Sam’s backpack. Players will unlock vehicles early into the game, which allows them to travel through the world quickly. Vehicles can be customized extensively. For instance, additional batteries can be installed to extend its use, while gun turrets can be added for defense. The world is frequently ravaged by natural disasters such as earthquakes and sandstorms, which will affect the landscape and force players to pick alternate delivery routes. Players are involved in rebuilding destroyed infrastructure and reconstructing roads and bridges. Eventually, players can construct a monorail system connecting isolated colonies, allowing them to transport a large quantity of goods quickly
On the Beach has a greater focus on combat. Players can choose to engage in direct combat against enemies, use stealth tactics, or avoid enemy encounters altogether by choosing to navigate rougher terrain.[5] Sam has a large arsenal of tools and gadgets that allow him to attract or divert an enemy’s attention. The game features a dynamic day-night cycle which affects enemy behaviours. As players progress, they will be able to unlock enhancements from the Automated Porter Assistant System, which serves as the game’s skill tree. The skill tree is divided into three categories: combat, stealth, and serviceship, which focuses on Sam’s ability to deliver packages. Sam’s attributes will gradually increase as players complete ordinary actions. For instance, the more packages Sam delivers, the better his delivery skills will become
Tony Hawk’s pro skater 3+4 Interview with director
Following the positive reception to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, one of the questions lingering on fans’ minds was if and when they could expect a similar title for the third and fourth games. Those same fans would have to wait a little over 4 years for an answer, with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 announced in March and set for a July 11 release date.
Following a recent hands-on event where we played Tony Hawk’s ProW Skater 3 + 4, Game Rant sat down with game director Kurt Tillmanns at Iron Galaxy. During our conversation, we touched on what it was like for Iron Galaxy to get the opportunity to update two of the most critically acclaimed and fan-loved games in the now-legendary
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise. Much like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 aims to carefully balance what players remember with the modern flourishes they might expect from a new release, bridging two distinct eras of gaming and skateboarding culture.
Q: What were the initial conversations like about coming to this game? Were you approached, or did Iron Galaxy reach out? How did that work out?
A: I mean, Iron Galaxy is one of the largest independent game developers, so we have a lot of irons in the fire, a lot of projects going on. It is almost kind of tough to keep track of exactly who starts the conversation. At some point, our phone rings, and it’s like, “Hey, we’re thinking about doing something. How do you guys think you would do with that?” We go, “We would do great at that. We were born for that, let’s do it.” And then, you know, it takes a long time for these things to develop, even after the conversation starts.
Q: Was it always the plan to do 3 and 4 together, or was there ever a consideration to do just one?
A: It was always considered 3 and 4 together. It was always considered as one package.
Q: In terms of combining features or bringing them from 4 back to 3, what excited the team about doing that and being able to take improvements that have been made later and include them in a previous title?
A: For us, the most exciting thing is that the games now feel better than they have ever felt. The controls are tighter and more responsive, it’s faster. The physics, to me, feel great. And Vicarious Visions on 1 + 2 did such a great job of not only incorporating a bunch of moves that were in both 1 and 2, but they added stuff that was not introduced until way later in the series, right? Now players really have an opportunity to play through both of these tours in a brand new way. The exciting thing for us is that no one has ever played these parks with this feature set before, and we also get to put our own stamp on it, which is really exciting.
Q: What do you feel is the stamp you’ve got to put on 3 + 4?
A: For us, one of the big things is we’ve added a lot to gameplay, right? We’ve got skitching. Skitching is something that wasn’t originally introduced until Tony Hawk 4. You can now skitch in Tony Hawk 3 parks. Not only that, but skitching initially was something that really kind of ended your combo. It was a very isolated feature from the rest of the system. One of the things that we’ve done is we’ve made it so that you can more easily skitch, and you can combo into skitching. It can reset or rebuild your momentum so that you can keep combos going in and out of skitching, and it also has that high skill threshold. Skitching a lot, skitching multiple times in a combo is still something that’s going to be very difficult to master. So for us, that’s certainly one of the things.
Iron Galaxy is really at its heart, when it comes to game development, a multiplayer house. We’ve made a lot of awesome multiplayer stuff in the past, and we take a lot of pride in our multiplayer implementation. Another big thing for us is making this game crossplay across 7 platforms and really bringing it to the widest audience of gamers that has ever been able to experience it online before.
Q: Can you talk about the challenges of implementing that crossplay element, especially with accounting for different inputs and different latencies? What were the challenges involved with doing that? Was it a massive undertaking, or was it something that the groundwork had been laid for in your previous work?
A: Thankfully, we have a lot of experience doing this kind of multiplayer implementation. I think it’s one of the reasons that when I said, “Hey, we were born to do this, ”you know, it’s something that we really hang our hat on. Of course, doing crossplay across 7 platforms is certainly not the easiest thing in the world. Every platform has its own standards and its own ways that it likes crossplay to work, so you have to make sure that all functions and that everybody can talk to each other, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it’s something that we definitely have experience with, so it wasn’t something that frightened us.
Q: Can you talk about the potential improvements that people might see from Switch to Switch 2 or maybe in a PS5 Pro version? Are there things that you’ve done that are within the same family but with a more upgraded console?
A: Sure, yeah. So on most recent generation consoles like PlayStation, you’ll be able to experience it in 120 Hz at 1080p and also in 60 Hz at 4K, so that’s really exciting. Switch 2 is going to be able to hit 60 frames per second, which is amazing. 60 FPS at 1080, which, yeah, we are very excited about. Being able to utilize the new technology is very important for us and very important for maintaining that really great Tony Hawk feel.
Q: I imagine when you make a game like this, there’s this idea of giving fans what they imagine the game feels like versus what it actually felt like back then. How do you give an experience that allows players to say, “This feels like how I remember it” versus “This is how it actually was back then,” even though it wasn’t the same?
A: I think one of the ways that this game is almost uniquely set up to accomplish that is that the park layouts are pretty much exactly the same as you remember them. If you had a favorite combo that you would rip off in the Foundry or College, you’ll still be able to do that, but obviously, it looks amazing now. The visuals have been upgraded. Because we’ve added a lot of these different gameplay elements to it, and a lot of that we inherited from 1 + 2, it now feels kind of like a fresh and new way of experiencing that, right? I think that is, for us, where 3 + 4 is uniquely set up to give people that feeling.
Q: When you look at a park or a specific area, are there conversations about things you’d like to change or tweak, or do you want to stay true to the purity of the original games?
A: We always want to stay true, especially layout-wise, to the original games. And then from there, we do a lot of research, right? Like, let’s actually look up feedback from these original games; were there complaints? People have been playing in these parks for 20 years now, so there’s a huge library of feedback that we have. There’s a modding community that has come in on the PC side and made changes here and there. We have actually made some quality-of-life updates or changes to things. You’ll notice that there are grind lines potentially in places that weren’t there before, you know. Some of those things were added after the original release from the modding community, and these were things that maybe became more standard in later versions of Tony Hawk games that, it turns out, really resonated with players. Our approach to that was really trying to only make changes that were additive, right? We didn’t want to take anything away; we just wanted to give you more options.
Q: When you look at 3 and 4, are there specific elements that you felt were the most essential pieces of the experience that you wanted to preserve for the player? Or were there things you might have set up to try and make them better?
A: Mostly, we tried to stay true to the original. Some additive changes were made. The big thing for us is that, you know, the 2-minute timer is that quintessential Tony Hawk gameplay loop. Especially from this era of games, Tony Hawk 3 is still, I believe, the 7th highest-rated game on Metacritic of all time, right? So if we’re going to have a North Star for this thing, it’s like that is our North Star, and we are going to try and make sure that that 2-minute timer feels as good as it did in the original. We’re also going to introduce that 2-minute timer to the Tony Hawk 4 parks. Early on in development, we added the goals and the 2-minute timer to the Tony Hawk 4 parks, and it just worked! It was fun. It turns out the 2-minute timer is just fun, it’s a great gameplay loop. We also gave players the option to extend that timer so if they want more time, if they want to do things at their own leisure, they absolutely can. So again, it’s more of that additive approach to things, right? Just giving players more ways to experience it.
Q: Do you feel like the extended timer is a sort of accessibility thing? Do you feel that there are other elements that you’ve added to increase the accessibility of the experience for somebody who might be coming back to the games after a long break, or help onboard those new to the Tony Hawk series?
A: Yeah, absolutely. We are really, really proud of the tutorial. Tony Hawk narrates the whole tutorial and, you know, it works. It’s a very good tutorial, it teaches you how to play. The skill ceiling for these games is still really high. Getting good takes a long time. You’re going to fail. You’re going to fall off your board. That’s how skateboarding works. That’s how the Tony Hawk games work. We definitely have added more, I think, accessibility options. Our mantra is that, whether it’s about the timer or accessibility options, there’s no wrong way to experience the game or play the game. Some of the other things that we have are gameplay mods that will give you perfect balance, perfect skitching, and things like that. We even added something that allows you to run the game at half speed. If you’re really learning and you want to execute that special trick or you want to execute a certain trick line or something like that — or if something just isn’t working for you and you’re not sure if it’s the inputs or if it’s the layout, something like that — slow down the game, try it in slow motion, give yourself a little extra time. Those types of things, yeah, absolutely. If it increases your enjoyment of the game, who are we to tell you’re doing it wrong?
Q: When you are playing, who’s your go-to skater, what’s your go-to park, and what is your go-to trick combo or signature trick?
A: For skater, I’ll give you a returning and a new one. For returning skater, Tony Hawk. I often joke that he’s the main character of the game, so you play as Tony Hawk. [Laughs]
For new skaters, it’s really hard to pick. It’s like picking your favorite kid. I like Nora [Vasconcellos]. Nora’s trick, her blunt side finger flip blunt side, she sent us a video of her doing something kind of like it as the inspiration for that trick, and I was like, “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” So now being able to do that in the game, that’s awesome. My favorite park has to be Waterpark. Yeah, it’s got to be Waterpark. We’re just so proud of it.
Q: What’s the process like in terms of adding new skaters? You’re able to tell these people, who I would assume are fans of Tony Hawk, that they get to join the roster. What is that experience like?
A: Yeah, we get to meet the skaters and spend time with them, and like you said, kind of let them know that they’ve made the list. These are people who many of them learned how to skate from playing Tony Hawk games. They learned about the culture from playing Tony Hawk games or maybe just got interested in skating in the first place from them. So it is definitely like a stamp of approval. It feels like it’s the ultimate sign of “coolness” being in a Tony Hawk game for a pro skater. We don’t make all the calls, it’s a very collaborative thing on who gets to be there. But man, just seeing the look on people’s faces when they know that they’re going to be a pro skater in the game is priceless.
Q: How important is it to create this roster that feels diverse, one that’s broader in terms of different skaters, different eras, different age groups? How important is that in terms of giving people who are going to come to 3 + 4 as their first Tony Hawk game and having them see some representation of themselves in the game?
A: It’s incredibly important, and it’s where it’s a representation of where skate culture really is today. Rayssa [Leal] is one of the most popular skaters on social media, maybe the most popular skater on social media. In terms of popularity, she is right up there. This isn’t necessarily just about going and finding skaters from all over the world; skaters from all over the world just happen to also be the best and most popular skaters. Again, it is like a reflection of just kind of where the game is, where the culture is, and where the skill set is around the world today. I will say it is interesting because it is instantly fun in a way that I don’t think I’ve experienced in developing any other game. Spawning on your board and just moving right away, almost like an infinite runner, always having that momentum going, it just instantly engages you. You just immediately want to try to turn, grind, or do something. It just makes these games so easy to play and jump into. There wasn’t a ton of challenge around it, honestly. I won’t say it made itself, but like, the game’s fun!
ELder scrolls 4: oblivian remastered
PUBlisher: Bethesda Game Studios
Writer: Mike crewe
Releasedjust over 19 years ago, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was nothing short of a masterpiece. Rumours of a remake had been seen around the internet for the past few months, but the recent announcement, followed by my favourite gaming tradition of “it’s available right now!” was a very happy surprise indeed.
With The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered out now for all current-gen platforms, it was time for me to revisit Cyrodiil and once again close shut the jaws of Oblivion. But is this remaster worth all the gold in Tamriel? Or are you better off sticking with the classic version (with a few mods, of course)?
Oblivion needs almost no introduction. Gamers worldwide have at the very least heard of it, if not spent hundreds of hours in its rich, enthralling world. Back in 2006, you couldn’t get away from talk of the game (not that I wanted to), and it’s left a lasting impression on the industry to this day. But I’m not here to gush about how impactful the original title is, so let’s get on with the review.
Oblivion Remastered is still the same in terms of its story. You are a prisoner in the Imperial City who ends up embroiled in a quest to save the continent of Tamriel from destruction at the hands of a Daedric Prince. Of course, you are still free to ignore all of that and set out on your own journey, maybe join a guild or try your luck in the arena… Its open-ended nature allows players to pick and choose what to do and where to go next, something Bethesda games have always excelled at.
Not only that, but having all the downloadable content included means there’s a huge amount of extra quests and treasures on offer. Shivering Isles in particular is a truly great expansion, with some memorable quests and a new area to explore. All DLC included is more naturally integrated into the world now; instead of having dozens of quest pop-ups as soon as you leave the sewers, you’ll hear rumours from villagers and discover clues that lead you to the various quests tied to all the content.
The most obvious improvements come in the form of the updated visuals and some audio enhancements. Simply put, Oblivion Remastered looks stunning! From the realtime lighting system to a much wider colour palette, it’s really taking advantage of Unreal Engine 5. Character models are also seen significant upgrades, at least when strictly speaking about the visuals. That is, until they start talking. Facial animations can look dated and, at times, a little creepy. Decent lip-synching is great to have at last, but when talking with NPCs face-to-face, I found myself laughing at how ridiculous some of them looked. Despite that, it still undeniably has the goofy charm of Oblivion, and I’m quite glad it wasn’t drastically changed.
Asfor the audio, well, the incredible soundtrack remains in all its orchestral glory. For the most part, the game doesn’t sound too different, although the new voice actors were a welcome addition. Though you’ll still hear the same performances for several different characters, it’s great to have individual voices for each race and really adds to the immersion. Overall, it was a pleasant surprise to hear all the old musical scores returning without any unnecessary remixes and, of course, the cheesy lines from Cyrodiil’s citizens. Everything about the audio brought me right back to sitting up late on a school night playing the game on my Xbox 360.
Despite all of these improvements, this is still a Bethesda game at its core. Oblivion Remastered’s developer, Virtuous Games, hasn’t quite managed to rid it of the original’s jank. Again, this is all part of the charm, and there are certainly far fewer issues than the usual Bethesda title launch, but the occasional frame rate drops were noticeable and rather irritating. Aside from that, the other bugs were relatively minor, such as equipped weapons becoming invisible and flickering light effects, which aren’t huge problems in the grand scheme of things.
The aesthetics aren’t the only thing Oblivion Remastered has improved upon, as there’ve also been some tweaks to how it plays, too. First, let’s look at the combat, which was always a bit wonky in the original but by no means terrible. Now, it hasn’t received a complete overhaul and doesn’t feel too far removed from how I remembered it being, but some additions have certainly made it a more satisfying experience. For instance, enemies will now physically react to getting a blade to the face (or, dare I say it, an arrow to the knee?) and sparks will fly when weapons clash.
Overall, I was incredibly happy to return to Cyrodiil and see familiar sights like never before. This wasn’t simply a nostalgia trip, though, as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is an absolute joy to play. Sure, it doesn’t feel like a modern game, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing; in fact, the charm of a mid-2000s videogame makes this remaster much more endearing.
If you’ve never played Oblivion before, then this is a definite must-play, with hundreds of hours worth of content and an incredibly in-depth world to get lost in. If you’re a veteran player, though? Then I’d still absolutely recommend giving this a go. Playing this brought back so many happy memories for me, but aside from the jaunt down memory lane, it’s just a genuinely great game that deserves all the love and respect in the world.
“Gaming Boost”?
