Game Rant

I tend to almost always play melee characters such as Rogues, Fighters, and Paladins, as those are my favorites. Or, if I incorporate magic into my build it's usually through a subclass that can still operate at melee such as an Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, or Hexblade. For this reason, Mobile is often always the first Feat I try to work in, as it just makes melee characters feel so much more efficient in being able to attack, move without triggering an Opportunity Attack, and then use their other attacks or Bonus Action off-hand to hit different targets. Plus, if I'm playing a Rogue, this saves my valuable Bonus Action either for an off-hand attack or Dash. Or if I'm playing a slightly bulkier Fighter or Paladin, it also pairs very well with Sentinel to reposition yourself after each attack and potentially trigger interceptions with Opportunity Attack on every turn or every other turn, use it carefully to protect your allies in some situations, or focus a specific target and tak

For me, it would have to be both of the Celebi ex cards. While I prefer the more detailed artworks of some of the other cards, Celebi ex holds a particular nostalgia for me, as this Pokemon was one of the very first ex cards I pulled and treasured as a kid - way back from the Hidden Legends set, I believe.

Anthony has been a core member of the Game Rant team for over 15 years, and has conducted countless game and tech reviews, as well as flexing his expertise as a member of the Game of the Year Award jury. He's owned every console since Atari, so you could say he knows his stuff! Submit your questions in the Thread below, and we'll get them answered for you in an upcoming video!?

In my opinion, there's really nothing wrong with re-using assets as long as the end result game is still something unique and different. Games take absolutely forever to develop nowadays, but studios like Ryu Ga Gotoku and From Software are able to put out titles at a relatively rapid pace because these studios aren't averse to re-using their old assets to save development time. I hardly ever notice it, and sometimes re-using assets can be a huge benefit for a game – like how the?Like a Dragon?series reuses previous locations (Hawaii, Kamurocho, etc) but it feels like returning to a familiar, lived-in place rather than a lazily slapped-together asset flip. And it lets devs take more risks and be more creative with other facets of the game, like how?Elden Ring: Nightreign?will be a major departure from traditional Souls?gameplay, but the studio can put out this wildly different game quickly because it doesn't require an entire game's worth of assets to be created.

I didn't think I would like?Civilization 6?when it originally came out but over time grew to really like a lot of its systems. It was criticised for being a simpler version of?Civilization 5, but to be honest, with all of the DLCs and other options enabled, it's?significantly?more complex than any?Civ?game before it. I love?Civ 5?a lot for how micromanagey it can be – something I actually like quite a lot in these 4x strategy games – but?Civ 6?did a good job streamlining what made?Civ 5?so great without losing that same sense of depth.?

Next month is looking absolutely?stacked, in my opinion. Even with?Assassin's Creed: Shadows?being moved a month forward, there's still something coming out just about every week of Feb 2025 that I want to play. I don't know how I'm going to keep up with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Avowed, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Monster Hunter Wilds –?especially because the seventh installment in one of gaming's most infamous time sinks,?Civilization 7,?comes out early in the month and is all but sure to suck up all of my free time. If all of these games live up to the hype, people will remember Feb 2025 as a landmark month in gaming for years to come.

I still need five stickers, three of which are Golds, to complete my Jingle Joy album for the first time. Considering there are only a few days left, it's a bit of a challenge. But I'm going to stay positive and keep playing! I'm determined to complete it and add the Saxy Santa token to my Monopoly GO shelves.

I honestly think, if we don't take power-ups into account, most people could fight Mario. He's just a kind of portly Italian man who can jump higher than normal, and in some games he can punch (apparently hard enough to knock back enemies or kill them outright). But in the end, Mario is just a guy –?without mushrooms or other power ups, he can usually only take a single hit, so all you would have to do is dodge out of the way of his jumps and punch him right in the mustache for a quick K.O.

From what I can tell from the RGG direct stream a few days ago,?Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii's naval combat system looks like it could be really fun in an arcadey, video gamey kind of way. It's not trying to be realistic, in typical?Like a Dragon/Yakuza?style it's going for style and plain ol' fun points over any sense of realism, and I think it's going to benefit from it. I'm kinda over the first-person ship management pirate games, like?Sea of Thieves, and I'm ready for a more wacked-out Yakuza-style naval system.

Overall, most of them look great, in my opinion. The one for Moon Knight feels a little too simple, and Peni's feels like she missed the memo about the whole spooky/occult theme going on in Marvel Rivals Season 1. The rest are great.

The 2005 Game of the Year is almost old enough to hit the bars in the US. We got to see the iconic horror title reborn not too long ago, so it's pretty fresh in our memories (I'd like to think!). What's your favorite moment from the game?

Honestly, it would have to be Junko's Trial / the final investigation. I genuinely had never expected Junko to have been undercover all along, and that the original Junko was a Mukuro playing an imposter clone of her. I really, really enjoyed this twist and even if it may have been obvious to some, it totally took me by surprise, making the trial super intense and satisfying to watch unfold. And besides, Junko's execution to follow was not only jaw-dropping, but also hilarious as she had planned it out so meticulously to worship despair, but then died in confusion when the execution device was slower to activate than expected.

I tend to have 3 favorite characters, but my top pick would be An Rizuna. Her calm and collected demeanor while throwing sarcastic shade at Arisu as they stand waist-deep in water about to be electrocuted, will never not make me laugh as a character introduction. Throughout the series, she had a really intriguing aspect to her character, as well as the same type of 'cool' swagger Chishiya tends to carry. I also enjoyed that she investigated mysteries of the Borderlands, such as attempting to travel to the edge of the purgatory. Other than that, I really enjoyed both Chishiya and Kuina's characters and their friendship with one another.

Definitely Asami Sato. I really enjoyed her story progression throughout the series and her character growth from internal conflicts about her father's criminal activity to later being able to find confidence in using inventions for good rather than for crime such as he did. Plus, she fills the role of a skilled non-bender who can still roll with the gang, much like Sokka, Suki, Jet, and Ty Lee in ATLA - who I all found to be really interesting and enjoyable characters.

Voice lines and interactions between heroes are great for the most part, but some are just awkward. Peni is weirdly mean to Luna, and Luna is weirdly mean to Iron Man. Meanwhile, Hawkeye will wonder what Jeff is in one round, and completely forget about what he is in the other. Possibilities of multiverse variants and simple friendly banter aside, such dialogue between characters just feels off to me without context.

I can feel Monster Hunter Wilds breathing down my neck, and I'm already afraid of all the hours that game is going to take from my life. Don't get me wrong, I love Monster Hunter, but there are so many other great games coming out this year, and I don't think I'll have enough time or the will to commit to playing just one or two.

I'm not foolish enough to believe I'd see past a second round, and even then that's wishful thinking. With the stakes as high as they are and the prospect of literally dying if I made a mistake would definitely cause me to make a crucial, and fatal, error.??

Honestly, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Alex's power of extreme empathy and the ability to see emotions visually, and I almost preferred it in comparison to more extraordinary powers such as Max's time manipulation and Daniel's telekinesis. I think in the future I would really love to see a protagonist who has some sort of paranormal-influenced powers, such as a medium/clairvoyant. Perhaps they can see and/or communicate with the spirits of those who have passed on, and they use their power to gain insight and information to assist others in overcoming grief, or to unlock secrets about darker entities around town. There could be a lot of classic Life is Strange heavy emotional impact in a power such as this, and there could be a lot of interesting background regarding a character with this power and how it is first unlocked - perhaps through the past loss of their own loved one - a friend or family member who sticks around in spirit form to bicker and banter with the protagonis

I'm off the games this weekend, unless I can sneak in some Sunday evening?Palia?or?Hogwarts Legacy. While I might not be gaming much, what've you got on the agenda for your break?

I personally haven't left a movie theater early before - generally I don't have a?lot?of opportunities to go to the cinemas, and when I do it's for something I'm really, really looking forward to. Even if I didn't like a movie, though, I'd still see it to the end to find out if it got any better. While I haven't done it myself, the last time I remember hearing of people doing that was for?Joker: Folie a Deux, which I was really surprised about. I'm yet to see it, but man, the first one was a real masterpiece. Have you ever left a movie early? What was it?