Trust someone as stubborn and narrow minded as Marcus Fenix to change barely an inch over the course of eleven years.
Marcus Fenix - Gears of War 2 (2008)/Gears 5 (2019) It’s worth pointing out that the image on the right is from a gif Naughty Dog created to celebrate the new year in 2018, but damn, I’d say Drake is a more charismatic Gatsby than Leonardo DiCaprio himself.
Check out the results for yourself, and see if these video game characters have aged like a fine wine or a raw chicken in a Turkish sauna… Nathan Drake - Uncharted 2 (2009)/Uncharted 4 (2016)Ĭan you believe Nathan Drake has been with us for almost 12 years already? His first appearance was in 2007’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, but Naughty Dog’s quipping treasure hunter has done some serious growing since then, as seen in this shot comparing his character model from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves against his upscaled, PS4 variant from 2016’s Uncharted 4. For SCIENCE, I’ve compared images from a character’s most recent game against a title of theirs that released as close to ten years before as possible and, I have to say, some of our most beloved heroes and icons didn’t look too good in the noughties. Naturally, like normal people, we wondered whether classic video game characters could be given the same treatment and, again, like any normal person would, we took the 10 Year Challenge for them. The #10YearChallenge has people posting their profile pictures from 2009 against their most recent ones, to boast/moan about how much they’ve changed in the last decade, and generally laugh at their own expense. This new, standalone expansion to the awesome fantasy RTS introduces the Chaos Space Marines to the mix.Less than three weeks into 2019, and social media has already spawned another viral internet challenge to rival the likes of planking, Harlem Shakes, and eating unhealthy amounts of cinnamon.
PC Gamer scores games on a percentage scale, which is rounded to the closest whole number to determine the GamesRadar score. It’s also easy to remain pure via redeeming mission goals - you really have to want to be corrupt - which ends up downplaying the very clever and otherwise well-executed importance of corruption at the end of the campaign.īut if it takes a second playthrough to get the most out of it, so be it - I’m thinking about my super-chaotic round two already. Another issue is that the game so often conflates “corrupt” actions with failure, such as letting too many allies die or friendly buildings be destroyed, that I often felt like I was earning incompetence points. Mix in a few skirmishes from the three previously visited locations - jungle, urban and desert - and CR has scenic variety to spare.Ĭharacter progression is muddled a little by the new Corruption system, which adds some interesting choices (do you want to trade your goodie-two-shoes healing ability for some increasingly wicked offensive powers?) but doesn’t explain any consequences of corruption beyond the kind of vague warning you get about masturbating too much. Two missions take you inside an ancient abandoned spacecraft infested with Tyranids, where support abilities that drop from orbit are disabled, making you shuffle your equipment to compensate. Most missions are set on the bleak-but-gorgeous ice planet Aurelia, where glaciers crumble around you and white snow contrasts the blood from gory kills. Nearly all of the campaign missions are this exciting. The second is just as good: a fight through a winding corridor of ice to reach a battle with the new Eldar Wraithguard heavy infrantry, followed by a timed mad dash back to the starting point to rescue a squad member left to guard the remains of a fallen Marine.
CR’s opening battle sets the tone for the next 14consistently complex and excellently-paced missions: multiple kill-and-capture objectives climax in a defensive holdout against huge waves of Imperial Guard turncoats and artillery barrages.
Rooting out a demonic Chaos uprising and unmasking a traitor among your ranks is the goal for your team of elite Space Marines (import your crew from DoWII save files if you’ve got’em).