Mario and the Rabbids save the universe, the Long Dark gets bigger, the Crysis expands, and the PS5 DualSense Edge controller gets a price tag.

Mario and the Rabbids, together again in Sparks of Hope

Kingdom Battle was the first game to partner Nintendo’s Mario with Ubisoft’s Rabbid characters. It was a hilarious success, leveraging the goofy humour of the Rabbids and the popularity of the plumber and putting them into a turn-based tactical game in which players and enemies take turn moving around a battleground and trying to take each other out.

Sparks of Hope is a return to the concept and it does not disappoint.

The turn-based aspect of the game is even better, with battlegrounds that are more open and opponents that are much more challenging. The tactical aspects here are supplemented by more strategic elements that come from the ability to upgrade the skills of your heroes, as well as the “sparks” which are power-ups of a sort, granting powers to the characters.

There’s also a light real-time element to the game which is enabled by the more open environments and brings more fluidity to the battles.

Mario, Luigi, Peach. Bowser, Rabbid Rosalina, and Edge (another Rabbid) are your protagonists, and in each battle you can choose which of them is going to be involved. Because each character is so distinct, there’s additional fun in trying to come up with the best matchups for the challenge ahead.

You’ll travel to five worlds in the course of the game, and while there’s a narrative here, it’s not necessarily coherent. Not that it needs to be. The fun is in the ridiculousness of the Rabbids and the sophistication of the turn-based gameplay.

A more frustrating aspect of the game is the long tutorial that teaches the game to new players, and the long loading screens. Both of these have players sitting around waiting to play for longer than they may have patience for. This was certainly true for the 12-year-old in my house.

But patience pays off, and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is worth the wait.

The Long Dark expansion is Tales From the Far Territory

The Long Dark, a first-person survival game set in the wilds of Canada, is getting a substantial expansion in the form of Tales From the Far Territory.

This expansion promises a year of additional narrative, environments to explore, and objectives to complete and will cost US$20. It will be available first from Epic Games Store and Steam, but will also be added to the game’s console releases.

Developed in B.C. by Hinterland Games, The Long Dark is more than just a survival game. It’s a simulation of survival, requiring players to monitor things like temperature, hunger, and thirst, all while at the mercy of the landcape and the creatures that live in it.

Crysis trilogy to Steam

The three games in the Crysis trilogy, which feature super-soldiers trying to resist an alien invasion of Earth, were remastered for consoles in 2020 and 2021 (the games themselves were first released between 2007 and 2013) and released as a trilogy.

On November 17, the trilogy will be released on Steam.

The first-person shooter games have players wearing nanosuits that give them superhuman strength and speed, and the ability to go nearly invisible with a cloaking mode.

A fourth game in the franchise was announced earlier this year, but no publication date has been set.

PlayStation DualSense Edge controller price announced

PlayStation’s customizable DualSense Edge controller will cost $270 in Canada when it releases on January 26.

Replaceable thumbsticks are priced at $25.

You can preorder the new controller now at the usual retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop.

The game conroller for Sony’s PS5 console has buttons that are mappable, triggers with adjustable lengths, and thumbsticks with adjustable sensitivity.