Posthumous work can be tricky to assess, but Clean Slate, executive produced by the late great television icon Norman Lear, radiates his signature warmth and intelligence. The creator of American TV comedies that came to define the 70s, including All in the Family, Good Times and The Jeffersons, had in the past decade returned to our living rooms. He executive produced the feisty feminist remake of his sitcom One Day at a Time, which brought the legendary Rita Moreno back to our screens, and had signed on to Clean Slate at the time of his death. Lear’s signatures of complicated family relationships, progressive politics and endless empathy is all over his final project, which is a testimony to his ability to make TV that was fun, funny and radical.
Unlike many of his previous shows, Clean Slate is a multicamera sitcom without a laugh track; it follows Desiree Slate (Orange Is the New Black’s break-out star Laverne Cox), a glamorous art gallerist who finds herself single, broke and forced to leave New York to return to her childhood home in Alabama. She moves in with her cantankerous father Harry Slate (standup legend George Wallace), who is surprised to learn that his estranged son has transitioned, although, as she points out: “I’ve always been Desiree.”
The reunited pair set out to mend their relationship, and Harry is surprised but immediately open to this new dynamic. Though he frequently slips up when it comes to pronouns and comprehending Desiree’s passion for art, he is never hateful. Harry willingly puts five bucks in a jar every time he accidentally misgenders his offspring, and is defiant in the face of anyone who questions her transition. The pair have a charming chemistry, with Cox landing pithy zingers about Beyoncé, while Wallace strikes a perfect balance between joviality and cutting people down to size with acerbic one-liners. Frequently on the receiving end of his sharp tongue is his car-wash colleague, reformed con Mack (Jay Wilkison); Harry reminds him that his recent incarceration is the only interesting thing about him. Mack, in turn, is regularly accompanied by the sitcom staple of a precocious teenage daughter, who quickly bonds with Desiree after considerately asking what pronouns she prefers. Also true to classic sitcom form, there is a simmering will-they-won’t-they between Desiree and Mack.
As sweet and cosy as this show frequently is, it stops short of Hallmark-level schmaltz. Alabama is not always “trying to roll with” its queer inhabitants as Harry does: the bigoted Pastor Hughes (Keith Arthur Bolden) meets Desiree’s and her queer friend Louis’s (DK Uzoukwu) identities with hostility. But Cox is such an enchanting presence, it’s wholly convincing that almost everyone else she encounters is charmed by her. The show doesn’t treat Desiree or her transness as a curiosity or a punchline, instead poking gentle fun at her art world pretentiousness and reliance on therapy speak and astrology.
Cox and Wallace, alongside Dan Ewen, are credited as creators of the show, and the sitcom plays to their specific strengths; their characters are very much in line with their public personae of sassy glamazon and funny truth teller, respectively. But true to Lear’s previous work, these are comedy antics grounded in a social conscience, and at times its delivery is heavy-handed. In its weakest moments this includes clunky dialogue such as:“The best thing you can do is go where you are wanted and get what you want.”
Still, even when it lacks subtlety, the show’s characters and story are just so darn lovable it’s impossible to resist its cosy delights. The combination of low-stakes comfort and little seen representation feels simultaneously like an old-school delight and a refreshing piece of progress. In a time where queer identity is increasingly politicised and under threat, Clean Slate is a welcome antidote: a charming story that allows Cox to show off her innate magnetism. Her work as an activist and as an actor has been at the forefront of trans representation, and her leading a sitcom on Prime Video executive produced by one of the greats is a testament to the cultural cachet she has built over the past two decades. Although Norman Lear passed away at the end of 2023 at the grand old age of 101, before Desiree and Harry’s antics were filmed, watching these eight episodes you can’t help feel that he would be proud of the Slate clan and his continuing legacy.
Clean Slate review – Laverne Cox’s comedy is so darn lovable it’s impossible to resist
Laverne Cox has done it again with her latest comedy series, Clean Slate. The show follows the hilarious misadventures of a woman trying to start fresh after a messy breakup, and Cox’s performance is nothing short of delightful.
From the moment she graces the screen, Cox’s charisma and charm shine through, making it nearly impossible to resist her lovable character. Her quick wit and impeccable comedic timing keep viewers entertained from start to finish, while also delivering some heartfelt moments that tug at the heartstrings.
The supporting cast is equally impressive, with each member bringing their own unique flair to the show. The writing is sharp and clever, blending humor with genuine emotion in a way that feels authentic and relatable.
Overall, Clean Slate is a refreshing and enjoyable comedy that will leave you smiling from ear to ear. Laverne Cox’s star power is undeniable, and her performance in this series is a true testament to her talent. Don’t miss out on this gem of a show – it’s a must-watch for anyone in need of a good laugh.
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Some days I’ve moped about how I’ll never get back the feeling I had the first time I played Skyrim. And then Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 arrived on a mighty steed to sweep me off my feet at full gallop. Armed with excellent, skill-focused melee combat and a rousing, action-packed medieval saga fit for a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s one part sequel and one part coronation, bringing a lot of the original’s ideas to fruition in the same way The Witcher 3 did for CD Projekt Red or Greedfall did for Spiders. No game of this scope and scale is without some technical scuff, of course, and its competing design goals are occasionally at war with themselves just as much as our hero Henry is internally. But even still, its majesty is hard to deny.
This tragic tale picks up almost immediately where Kingdom Come: Deliverance left off back in 2018, though I don’t necessarily think you need to have played the first one to get up to speed thanks to the main plot being relatively easy to follow and most of the callbacks being well explained as they happen. Henry, a blacksmith’s son turned unlikely warrior, is thrown into the middle of dynastic politicking and bloodshed played out by a diverse and complex cast, including your boisterous failson of a liege lord and some truly memorable entrances from real historical figures I don’t want to spoil.
The star that shines brightest across this expanse of countryside, though, is the city of Kuttenberg. I can’t speak about this place in any terms less flattering than to say it might be one of the wonders of the modern RPG world. I don’t think I’ve ever walked the streets of a virtual medieval city that feels this huge, detailed, and most importantly, alive.
The layout is based largely on the actual town that still stands today, with parts of it following the modern street grid almost exactly. It’s a wonderful place to simply wander around and discover all kinds of urban adventures – from resolving a dispute between two rival sword schools to hunting down a grisly serial killer. Yes, some of the NPCs obviously share the same voice actor and others share the same face – even important side characters, which can be particularly jarring. But it’s hard to get too hung up on that in a place like this. When I first arrived here I was already more than 40 hours into my 120-hour journey, and I spent multiple in-game days gleefully shopping for the sickest duds and best armor I could afford. And that’s what arriving in a huge regional capital should make me want to do!
There are around 100 quests, and practically every one was memorable.
The quest variety is what impressed me most of all, and that extends beyond just Kuttenburg. Very rarely are you simply sent to kill some bandits or carry a package to the next town – at least without some kind of interesting twist, moment of emotional turmoil, or decision built in. There are around 100 quests in total and, having done nearly all of them, practically every single one was memorable enough that it would stand out as a highlight in a lesser RPG.
Admittedly, some were slightly better in concept than execution. There was one I stumbled onto completely by accident that took me deep underground and turned my sword-swinging adventure into a horror movie, but ended up being far too short for the dread to really set in. All the same, I never felt like doing side quests ever became a chore, because I knew each one would be its own little complete episode of The Adventures of Henry, stuffed with quality writing and unique objectives. It’s a testament to how consistently strong they were that 120 hours did not feel way too long to me.
Along the way are expansive, breathtakingly beautiful landscapes spread over two open-world maps, both of which are chock full of meticulously researched details of late medieval Bohemian life. There isn’t a ton of variety in terms of geography – it’s all wooded hills and meadows, for the most part. But that’s what the region looks like in real life. It’s big enough to get lost in, and the contrast between villages and open wilderness varies things up nicely enough. I did find it odd that you can’t go into most of the churches, though, since those would be near the top of my list if I were planning a tourist trip through 1400s Europe.
If the side quests are like episodes of a TV show, the main quest is a big-screen war movie that pulls out all the stops in its ambition, dialogue, and emotional range. Parts of it made me cheer. Parts of it actually brought me to tears. And Henry’s ultimate nemesis got under my skin in a way video game bad guys rarely do, making me rethink everything I’d done up to that point in what might be one of the most memorable final encounters I’ve ever played through. It’s mature without being edgy, it drips with historical authenticity, and it has interesting questions to ask you about what it means to be a hero or a villain.
The main quest is like a big-screen war movie that pulls out all the stops.
It’s somewhat unfortunate, then, that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is both a mostly linear medieval action-drama and an open-world sandbox, and those two concepts don’t always play well together. I’m going to skirt around spoilers the best I can, but I need to give a specific example of the worst experience I had. I need to tell you about the Hungarian Camp.
In one of the late-game areas, there is a military camp set up by King Sigismund, the evil conquering bastard you’ve been opposing since the first hour of the first game. I, of course, tried to assault it by myself the second I got there, and was immediately put down like a dog. Fair enough. But for the next 40 hours of adventuring, I was plotting my revenge. A fire was lit in me – motivation to become as much of a badass as possible. I studied with all of the best blademasters. I learned the way of the bow. I saved up for the best armor. I forged, by hand, the very best sword in Bohemia. Next time I showed up at that camp, things were going to be different.
So, near the end, I went back to the Hungarian Camp Rambo-style and I killed everyone there. Okay, not the cook or the tailor. And not Musa – Musa’s cool. But probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 armed men. This was an empowering and gleeful rush, with difficult combat that tested all of my skills like never before. A real highlight of the entire journey. And these are enemy soldiers, let me remind you! I don’t feel like this was an unpredictable or degenerate thing to do.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Gameplay Screenshots
So it was a downer when, shortly after, I was asked to infiltrate this same camp as a spy, and Henry didn’t even so much as mention that he had completely desolated the place and had a bounty on his head so large that the authorities would skip fines and prison and straight-up execute you if you’re caught. This is a required story quest with no alternate path, so the ridiculous, frustrating solution was to sneak up on the unkillable quest NPCs several times to talk to them and start the next cutscene before that same NPC spotted me and went running to call the guards.
It also ruined my near-perfect reputation because I guess killing invading enemy soldiers was a crime the peasants Sigismund is actively oppressing couldn’t forgive, and everyone in every town ended up hating me. But this was a major outlier in what was otherwise a hugely engrossing, marathon-length playthrough.
Other than that one total debacle though, I truly adored almost every minute I spent with Henry and company. The tactical, skill-based sword combat is a sharp refinement of the already great system from the first game, though I felt like at higher levels, the balance of pure stats to player skill skewed too much in favor of the former. You could probably reach the credits without actually getting particularly good at the swordplay, which was certainly not the case in the first one. But it is cleaner, more varied, and smoother to play. Archery, in particular, has improved a lot.
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There’s a blacksmithing minigame now, which I found a little bit clunky and unsatisfying, but it’s still great to be able to use a sword I made myself in combat. And alchemy has been made way more intuitive.
I also really like the new perk system, where every level up feels like it gives you multiple choices between meaningful bonuses. In the first one, a lot of perks honestly felt more like side-grades than upgrades. There was a perk that made it so sleeping outside was more restful, but sleeping in a bed, less so. The sequel’s version only has the upside, and not the drawback, which is important if I’m going to spend my hard-earned skill points on something rather than picking it as a character background at the beginning. And while there wasn’t a single quest as interesting or different as the monk arc from the original, getting to level up my scholarship and unlock new quest resolutions by destroying my enemies with facts and logic was also great.
Did I mention that it runs really well on my 4070 Ti, even at 4K and very high settings? I still can’t even run the first Kingdom Come: Deliverance at max settings on this same machine, and that game is seven years old at this point. So the optimization work that was done here deserves a shout. There are also plenty of bugs, but most of them are of the silly sort you screenshot to show your friends that you’d expect in an RPG with this much ambition. Only rarely did something actually disrupt my gameplay.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Review
After years of anticipation, the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Kingdom Come: Deliverance has finally arrived. Developed by Warhorse Studios, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 takes players back to the medieval world of Bohemia, where they must navigate political intrigue, engage in thrilling battles, and make difficult choices that will shape the fate of the kingdom.
One of the standout features of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is its stunning visuals and attention to detail. The game world is beautifully crafted, with lush forests, bustling towns, and imposing castles that truly bring the medieval setting to life. The attention to historical accuracy is also commendable, with authentic architecture, clothing, and weapons that help immerse players in the time period.
In terms of gameplay, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 offers a mix of exploration, combat, and decision-making that will keep players engaged for hours on end. The combat system has been refined from the first game, offering more fluid and responsive controls that make swordplay feel more realistic and satisfying. Players can also engage in large-scale battles, siege warfare, and duels with other characters, adding variety to the gameplay experience.
The story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is another strong point, with a compelling narrative that weaves together political intrigue, personal drama, and epic battles. Players will have to make difficult choices that will have a lasting impact on the world around them, and the branching storyline ensures that each playthrough can offer a unique experience.
Overall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a worthy successor to the original game, offering a rich and immersive medieval world to explore, engaging gameplay mechanics, and a compelling story that will keep players hooked from start to finish. Whether you’re a fan of historical games, open-world RPGs, or simply enjoy a good story, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is definitely worth checking out.
War. Colonization. Atomic bombs. I know these things are bad. But if there’s one thing I hate more than nuclear hellfire, it’s losing in games – so when Firaxis’ latest turn-based strategy Civilization 7 dangles these options in front of me as a means of beating slimy Ben Franklin and his diplomacy-loving ways, I gobble up its sinful platter like the greedy little war criminal I am.
Civilization 7 brings a lot to the table, and not all of it requires abandoning your morality to play with. Fans of the series will find a map that’s livelier than ever, city management that won’t overload your brain, and one of the most engaging endgames ever devised. While predecessor Civilization 6 crammed in similar depth without quite managing to convey all of it clearly, Civilization 7 feels like a cohesive next step for the franchise – and when a few quirks are ironed out, this will be the series’ best modern iteration to date.
Next turn
(Image credit: Firaxis)
Fast facts
Release date: February 11, 2025 Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Developer: Firaxis Publisher: 2K
Whether you’re a returning fan or stepping into Firaxis’ iconic 4X (exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination) strategy series for the first time, Civilization’s core premise remains largely the same. Starting with one settlement, you’ll grow your empire across a randomly-generated world with the goal of seizing victory through scientific, cultural, militaristic, or economic means. It’s a tried-and-true formula, but Civilization 7 takes a couple of big risks that shake it up creatively.
The first thing you’ll notice is that you no longer pick a Civilization and get to work. Instead you choose a leader – who remains with you through an entire campaign – while your Civilization choice changes at several points based on your playstyle and leader’s historical background. Rolling with Confucius, for example, opens up Ming China as an option, due to his real-world background, but with multiple iron mines in the bag, I could also go Norman.
I was worried this feature would dilute the identity of factions, but that’s not the case. Rather than picking a civilization with a unique unit that’s obsolete 50 turns in (or one that doesn’t turn up for another 200) you now get to pick a total of three civs that are relevant for their entire duration, all with the nifty perks and special units you would expect from past Civ games.
Likewise, I’ve been dreading how Ages would work since Civilization 7’s reveal. Since the ’90s, Civilization’s whole deal has been unleashing players in a sandbox and letting them do their thing (see: war crimes) uninterrupted. Now, each match is divided into three segments – the opening Antiquity Age, followed by Exploration, and finally Modern.
It’s not always a smooth transition, as each Age has a hard stop that resets the board a little. This is particularly frustrating if you’re in the middle of something important. In one match, I was closing in on the end of a particularly bloody war and within reach of my mortal enemy Amina’s capital when the Age shifted from Exploration to Modern, ending our war and warping my soldiers back to my own distant territories. The rancid cherry on top? Some of the no-name civs who were trailing on the leaderboard got a major science boost through the interim, meaning my empire was promptly invaded by landships while its citizens were still marveling at the wonders of the wooden wheel.
(Image credit: Firaxis)
That’s not an indictment, though. Since then, I’ve realized that it takes time to learn how Ages work. In previous entries you’d slowly build strength through the course of each game – conquering capital cities, hurtling towards space flight, or hoarding cultural wonders like a well-read toddler – until it all came to a head. In Civilization 7 victory is more measured, and to carry your momentum through to the next Age you need to complete Legacy Paths: a series of win conditions for each individual age, rewarding permanent bonuses. If you want to win through science, for instance, you’ll start by rushing to build libraries and academies in Antiquity, prioritize housing specialists in your cities through Exploration, and finally try to be the first civ in space during Modern. Doing so lets you carry powerful perks across Ages, whilst neglecting them is a surefire way to fall behind.
I’ve got mixed feelings. Legacy Paths and Ages make the early and mid-game feel a lot more dynamic, and freshen up a campaign’s later stages. But at times it feels like you’re being railroaded into one path – a little jarring, given the freedom of Civ’s sandbox approach up to this point. Although I’d like to see more objective varieties or pathways through these Legacy Paths, I do think that Ages (even if they’re a little heavy-handed) are an improvement to the formula, if only because the endgame is no longer ticking boxes until you reach a surefire win.
I’ll stay right here
(Image credit: Firaxis)
When all of that clicks, Civilization 7 is a thrill. Outside of the big gambles, the core Civilization experience is lightyears ahead of anything we’ve seen from the series before. Moving from one turn to the next is near-instantaneous, and besides the world looking sublime with its visual glow-up and warmer palette, it feels livelier than ever. Volcanic eruptions change surrounding tiles, rivers flood, and powerful storms can wreak havoc. I nearly missed out on colonizing a new continent (boo-hoo, I know) because a huge hurricane kicked up as my army was crossing the ocean, gaining on their ships as I furiously fear-hammered movement commands to reach the coast.
That liveliness extends to combat’s impressive fluidity. Army commanders allow you to stack units and transport them around in-sync, and can order simultaneous attacks that are worth utilizing – having every archer in range fire at once gives each unit involved more combat strength, for example, but you can also command mass pillaging or have everyone construct makeshift fortifications on their tiles.
During my first campaign as Xerxes, a three-way war with my continental neighbors Machiavelli and Himiko drew the attention of meddling outsiders Ben Franklin and Ashoka, World Renouncer. The latter two factions had no settlements in the continent, but decided to wade in anyway, landing masses of tanks and gun-toting infantry on our shores and transforming the countryside into a fiery wreck until I turned the sea into a killing field of my own with a blockade of battleships. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into Civilization, but that single conflict is the most fun I’ve ever had with combat.
All’s fair
(Image credit: Firaxis)
Strong Influence
(Image credit: Firaxis Games)
Independent powers – a new cross of barbarians and city states – can churn out hostile soldiers early on. You’ll have to stock up troops of your own, or burn through Influence (Civ 7’s new take on diplomacy) to deal with them.
Commodifying diplomacy is an interesting choice (see Strong Influence). Firaxis has long tried to play around the fact that AI motivations can be inscrutable, and reducing it to a resource is an inelegant but mostly effective solution. Besides using it to push trade, scientific, and commercial agreements with other civs, Influence can boost your support for a war back home – whichever side of the battle has lower support takes some pretty harsh penalties in combat, so it’s important to keep the troops happy. But it’s also a step back in some ways, as gold can no longer be used to tantalize other civs into settling wars, and you can’t buy or sell settlements.
This is particularly frustrating because razing settlements in war permanently penalizes your war support for every future conflict, which means that since you also can’t milk your rival for gold during peace negotiations, you sometimes have to absorb rubbish settlements rather than burn them to the ground. That in itself is another can of worms, as Civilization 7 goes big on expansion. Settlements are now divided into towns and cities, with the former acting as lower-maintenance support hubs for your cities.
All of that, paired simpler iteration of Civilization 6’s district system, means juggling your empire is far less of a headache. Because there are fewer penalties to expanding, you (and AI factions) tend to manage significantly more settlements. Finding unclaimed land is now genuinely scrappy, and racing to plant my flag in undeveloped continents has been the highlight of my time in Civilization 7. I’ve admittedly found myself engaging with the cultural side of Civ less because of it, though, and AI has an irritating habit of squeezing a town right outside of your established borders.
I had no idea what to expect from Civilization 7. Firaxis has a habit of scaring fans by announcing wild choices (hello, Marvel’s Midnight Suns) then pulling them off so slickly you forget there was ever any doubt. Civilization 7 isn’t quite so slick – with its heavy-handed Ages diplomacy rework – but it’s certainly a huge stride forward for the legendary strategy series, joining the clarity of Civilization 5 with the added depth of Civilization 6.
Ages will be more divisive – I personally think the system does wonders for the usual tedium of late-stage campaigns – while other features, like pairing Leaders with evolving civs, should be a staple going forward. Civilization 7 already feels like the best entry point yet, and with Firaxis’ habit of saving the real polish for expansions, I think this is going to become a grand strategy titan. Just keep an eye on that Ben Franklin fella – and don’t believe a word he says about any “war crimes”.
Civilization 7 was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.
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Civilization 7 Review: A revolutionary strategy game that cements the series’ legendary status
As a long-time fan of the Civilization series, I was eagerly anticipating the release of Civilization 7. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. This latest installment in the beloved franchise is a true masterpiece, offering a level of depth and complexity that is unmatched by any other strategy game on the market.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Civilization 7 is the stunning visuals. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, with detailed landscapes, vibrant colors, and realistic animations that bring the world to life. The attention to detail is truly impressive, and it’s clear that a lot of care and effort went into creating this game.
But visuals aside, what really sets Civilization 7 apart is its gameplay. The core mechanics of the series are still present – you’ll still be building cities, researching technologies, and engaging in diplomacy with other civilizations. But Civilization 7 takes things to a whole new level with the introduction of new features and mechanics that add depth and complexity to the gameplay.
One of the most notable additions is the new cultural system, which allows you to influence the culture of your civilization and shape its identity. This adds a whole new layer of strategy to the game, as you’ll need to carefully balance your cultural output with your military and economic goals.
Another standout feature is the revamped diplomacy system, which offers more options for interacting with other civilizations than ever before. You can now form alliances, trade resources, and even engage in espionage to gain an advantage over your rivals. The AI has also been improved, making for more challenging and engaging gameplay.
Overall, Civilization 7 is a true masterpiece that cements the series’ legendary status. It’s a must-play for fans of strategy games, and a worthy addition to the Civilization franchise. If you’re looking for a game that will challenge your mind and keep you coming back for more, look no further than Civilization 7.
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Many years ago, when Civilization II was on its way, I’d just started as a writer on the video game magazine Edge. As a fan of the original Civilization, a complex turn-based strategy sim about building vast kingdoms through thousands of years of human history, I was keen to review the sequel and my editor let me. Reader, I became completely addicted. I played the game for two weeks non-stop, leaving many pages of the magazine unwritten. This earned me a very severe written warning. In short, Sid Meier’s series almost ended my career in games writing – which is perhaps why I didn’t review the following four instalments. Now it is back, and I can no longer avoid it. I must face my seductive nemesis.
In many ways, this is the game that I, and many thousands of other fans, have always known and obsessively loved: a complex, far-reaching and fascinating simulation tracking the rise of empires from ancient tribal groups to modern-day superpowers. As a player, you found towns and cities, gather resources and research new technologies, from literacy to nuclear fission, while sending out settlers, merchants and armies to expand your reach and either placate or destroy other nations. Victory can come from military might, cultural cachet or economic domination, depending on how you play and what you’re interested in. No two campaigns are ever the same.
Extra nuance … Civilization VII. Photograph: 2K Games
For this new instalment, coming almost a decade after its predecessor, Firaxis has made some radical alterations. The biggest by far is that you no longer guide a single civilisation throughout the entire campaign. Instead, you select a leader with attributes you admire – the sneaky Machiavelli, perhaps, or how about the wise Confucius – then guide that figure through a series of three distinct historical ages picking a different nation for each section. Each nation has its own unique units and buildings, adding extra nuance to your game. In my first playthrough I started the Antiquity Age with Greece because I really fancied building the Acropolis. Then I flipped to the flighty Normans for the Exploration Age, then finished as the US for the Modern Age. You don’t lose everything in this switching process – all your discoveries and progress points from the previous age remain, and you can opt to keep all your towns. You’re also able to select specific legacies of your past to bring forward.
This gives the game a very definite structure, combatting the malaise that can often occur hours into a Civ campaign when you realise you don’t stand a chance against some brutally powerful neighbour who’s somehow developed an army five times the size of yours. If you’re struggling during one age, you just need to hold out until the next one arrives, giving you the chance to reset your objectives and relationships with nearby nations. It also ensures a technological makeover for all your units, so you can’t enter the modern era with a civilisation that can build nuclear power stations but still fights with spears and gets about the place on horseback. In a sense, it’s like your leader is on a journey through successive domains – which makes it feel more like an adventure than a straightforward sim.
More approachable … Civilization VII. Photograph: 2K Games
There are other changes to make the game more approachable for modern players. Leaders attain attribute points based on achievements in six categories such as culture, science and combat, which can be spent on related skill trees – just like a role-playing game. There are also legacy targets that act as quests, such as building a certain number of Wonders of the World or making key scientific discoveries, moving you towards an outright victory.
Beneath all this, lots of systems have been tweaked and re-thought. Maintaining diplomatic relations with other nations is a multifaceted dance involving the use of a new currency – influence – to organise shared cultural events and economic pacts, or when things go badly, many different types of subterfuge and sabotage. Throughout the years, narrative events crop up like Chance cards in a game of Monopoly, providing moments of humorous challenge. How do you react when a famous poet writes a highly critical epic about you? What do you do when a mysterious stranger demands that you copy and pass on a dusty old scroll to at least three other civilisations or face a terrible curse?
Does it still resemble a sort of digitised board game? No. The landscapes may be divided into hexagonal tiles in the traditions of table-top wargaming, but they are now crammed with colour and authentic detail, from craggy mountains to swirling seas, to lively cities crowded with ornate buildings reflecting both the time period and the civilisation they belong to. Battles play out as animated tussles between intricate miniaturised troops and thundering armoured vehicles. Occasional natural disasters send floods, tornadoes and fires across the map with devastating drama.
One of the key concerns in the run-up to release was the quality of the opponent AI, but to me, it seems like business as usual. You get the nations that hide in a corner and quietly invent space travel before you’ve got a reliable train service, and then there are the warmongers – and I’m looking at you Gilbert du Motier – who start little fights to probe your defences then turn vicious and unrelenting, surrounding your cities and crushing isolated units. Alternatively, there’s always the cross-platform multiplayer mode if you want to pit yourself against human competitors; I wasn’t unable to test this on public servers before release, but it has performed well in previews.
So here we are, more than 30 years after the original game, still hungry to rule the world – and devouring every morsel of maniacal power. Some veterans may balk at the structural changes: Civilization VII is very much the Civilization for now – deep and complex, but with an emphasis on human drama and achievement rather than the sweep of faceless units across a mathematical matrix. There are still few moments in video games as pleasing as building the Hanging Gardens, or discovering a bountiful new location for a town, or marching a phalanx of troops into a battered enemy capital. This game, which once almost cost me my job, will gracefully sneak away with hours, days and possibly months of your life. But then, nobody ever conquered the world in an afternoon.
Civilization VII Review – Your Empire Strikes Back in Glorious New Detail
After years of anticipation, the latest installment in the popular Civilization series has finally arrived. Civilization VII takes everything that made its predecessors great and elevates it to new heights, offering players a truly immersive and engaging experience.
One of the first things you’ll notice when booting up Civilization VII is the stunning graphics. The game features incredibly detailed landscapes, vibrant cities, and intricately designed units that bring the world to life like never before. From the bustling streets of your capital city to the vast expanses of uncharted territory waiting to be explored, every corner of the map is a visual feast.
But it’s not just the visuals that have been improved in Civilization VII. The gameplay has also seen significant enhancements, with new features and mechanics that add depth and complexity to the experience. From the revamped diplomacy system that allows for more nuanced interactions with other civilizations to the expanded tech tree that offers even more ways to shape your empire’s future, there is no shortage of ways to strategize and plan your path to victory.
One of the most exciting additions in Civilization VII is the introduction of dynamic events that can alter the course of your civilization’s history. From natural disasters like earthquakes and floods to political upheavals and cultural movements, these events add a layer of unpredictability and challenge that keeps players on their toes.
Overall, Civilization VII is a triumph that exceeds expectations in every way. With its stunning visuals, deep gameplay mechanics, and engaging new features, it’s a must-play for fans of the series and strategy game enthusiasts alike. So gather your advisors, rally your troops, and prepare to lead your empire to victory in Civilization VII.
There’s one historical movie scene that comes to mind for me when I think about Sid Meier’s Civilization 7, and it’s not a flashy arena fight in Gladiator or mission control cheering as we safely bring Apollo 13 back home. It’s Leo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator, running his hand along an airplane fuselage and insisting that he doesn’t want to see any rivets. There’s some method to the madness of smoothing out the texture in its design, and at times I can see why Firaxis went in this direction. But while its takes some good swings with combat and diplomacy and it is still overall a good time to build a civilization from the ground up, I find that this obsessive streamlining is more often than not to the long-awaited 4X successor’s detriment.
Let me just restate for emphasis right from the jump that I don’t hate playing Civ 7. It retains a lot of the series’ signature charm and polish. There’s an almost indefinable quality of craftsmanship to it that none in the barrage of recent Civ competitors has been able to replicate. It’s more that it’s like this iteration was designed by Apple, trying to be “user-friendly” by taking away the ability to dig into the guts of its systems or fine-tune your experience. And I’m an Android person.
Civilization 7 Gameplay Screenshots
The biggest culprit here is the interface, which simply doesn’t provide enough of the information I would hope to find in a strategy game of this complexity. Learning to play Civ 7 is downright frustrating, and while I eventually figured out how to live with its woefully inadequate tooltips and barren Civilopedia entries, I never liked it. I constantly found myself hovering over things and left-clicking, right-clicking, holding down Shift, Alt, Ctrl, screw it, ScrollLock – anything in the hope that I could bring up more information. But it’s just not there.
In one of my first campaigns, I saw a little guy called a Kahuna wandering around my territory. Now, I could open up the Civilopedia and type in “Kahuna” and find out that he’s a unique missionary available to the Hawaiian civ. But bar that, I don’t have any information available here on the map about what he is. Is he a military unit? Is he dangerous? What is he doing here? Can I eat him? Likewise, clicking on a city center will bring up a basic info view, and you can click a button to show more information. But not a lot more information. Rarely enough.
The interface simply doesn’t provide enough of the information I would hope to find.
It’s cool that every building is represented on the map, but hovering over them doesn’t remind me what they do. Again, I have to go into the Civilopedia and type out the name. There’s not even a shortcut to click on a unit or building to bring up the Civilopedia entry that I could find. I can’t even see where my specialists are placed unless I’m prompted to place a new specialist. That’s kind of bewildering.
I know Civ 7 is the first one to launch simultaneously on consoles, but information-dense games like Stellaris and Caves of Qud have done absolutely admirably at making all of their vital details available at the touch of a controller. The absolute worst solution to the problem is just to go, “Eh, you don’t really need detailed tooltips, do you?” That’s exactly what Civ 7 has done, and while not catastrophic, it gets on my nerves constantly.
This minimalist philosophy even extends to the set-up screen, which has a paltry number of options compared to any previous Civ game in the past couple of decades. There are three world sizes and six different map types, but if you want to know what the difference between “Continents” and “Continents Plus” is, again, you’re out of luck, buddy. Go Google it maybe. There’s no explanation of the different difficulty levels, either. And while “Standard” does feel fairly large, even on “Archipelago” it generated maps where more than half of the world is land, so I was really missing Civ 6 options like world age, rainfall, sea level, or any of the neat tweaks I’ve come to expect.
And even if there were more map types, I don’t know if it’d make a difference with the way things are balanced right now. A farm on flat desert is just as productive as one on flat grassland, so trying to switch things up by making a desert world would be a mostly visual change. It really feels like Firaxis wanted to give us a very specific, narrow experience with almost no room for customization.
But as I said, that narrow experience is not by any means a terrible one. There is something to be said for a lean, mean, streamlined Civilization game a la Civ Revolution. And once I settled into its awkward, one-size-fits-all throne, I was having a pretty good time for most of it.
The music and sound design deserve a prominent mention.
The music and sound design deserve a prominent mention. Christopher Tin only puts out bangers, and “Live Gloriously,” which features lyrics in Ancient Greek taken straight from The Iliad, is no exception. I also enjoyed Gwendoline Christie’s narration, and the sound effects for everything from plopping a new district to opening fire with a rifle company are punchy and satisfying.
Also, in a first for this series, well-written narrative events pop up to bring a touch of human character to the broad sweep of history, and I particularly liked that there are some impactful ones for specific Civs. Playing as the Shawnee, upon unlocking factories, I got the option to keep true to our people’s old ways, which reduced the production output of my industries but gave me a bonus to culture. For Persia, I got a miniature quest chain that rewarded me for sending one of my Immortals on his own little hero’s journey. And the crises that happen at the Age transitions – which can be anything from barbarians at the gates to a super plague that wrecks tiles – are varied and exciting. I’m pretty sure I haven’t even seen all of them yet.
The re-imagining of smaller eras as three larger, more distinct Ages with their own mechanics and victory conditions feels a bit too broad, though – particularly the middle one, Exploration. This period stretches from basically the end of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and it feels like it’s trying to cover too much to have a coherent identity.
And, peculiarly, Civ 7 only really covers history up to about 1950. You get planes and tanks, but there are no home computers or helicopters in this tech tree at launch. The final science victory condition is launching the first manned spaceflight – quite a step back from setting up an exoplanet colony. Again, it feels like the conceptual space Civilization exists in has been sliced down to the bone for the sake of simplicity. And it leaves us with some awkward edge cases, like the Mughal Empire, which was politically irrelevant by the mid-1700s and completely dead by 1857, being a Modern Age pick. Even just having four ages instead of three, I think, would have made this much less awkward.
Overall, though, I like the idea of changing which historical culture your civ adopts with each age, an idea that Amplitude introduced in Humankind a few years ago and Firaxis has improved upon by putting semi-realistic restrictions on who you can pick next. I never liked the idea of American tribesmen founding Washington D.C. in the Stone Age, and civ switching shakes up the gameplay and allows you to pivot from military to culture to science without ruining your whole run. But it has its drawbacks, too. Given that Civ 7’s otherwise slick-looking animated leaders don’t change at all visually through the Ages, you end up with some confusing situations like having Ben Franklin declare war on you and then having to look up what civ he’s actually controlling right now. Persia? Ooookay.
As is tradition, warfare is the most fun way to play.
As is tradition, warfare is the most fun way to play, and I love the clever solution of army commanders letting several units ride on their backs to move around the map, then deploying to actually fight. That’s a good compromise between stacks of doom and one unit per tile, and having the commanders be the only ones to earn XP cuts down on micromanaging per-unit upgrades. The AI still can’t present much of a challenge to an experienced player who knows how to exploit the terrain and focus fire on priority targets unless they outnumber you three- or four-to-one, but hey, it’s Civ. What else is new?
Well, for one thing, when you end your turn all enemy units move at once, and your view will never be taken to the site of a battle when your units are being attacked. So if you’re fighting on multiple fronts, or you just happen to be looking somewhere else, the start of each turn becomes a crime scene investigation to figure out what happened. You’ll get notifications if a unit dies, but not if it’s reduced to its last few hitpoints. If the idea here was to make the end turn time faster, the cure is definitely worse than the disease.
Back in the plus column, the centering of Influence as a base game currency is probably my favorite change from Civ 6 to Civ 7. The highlight is that it can be spent to engage in a tug-of-war for War Support, which penalizes your opponent’s happiness and combat ability when you swing it in your favor. It feels way less annoying to get declared on by surprise when the systems recognize that there are diplomatic and tactical consequences for such naked aggression, and I can press a button to make them worse by denouncing that jerk Isabella. It also effectively forces would-be conquerors to supplement their bloodlust with a good PR team that swings public opinion to your side even when you’re clearly the aggressor, which makes the military path more interesting.
Rank every Civilization Game
Rank every Civilization Game
If conquest isn’t your ambition there is still another “instant” victory condition for winning the space race, but otherwise, the overall winner is determined by these “Legacy Paths” for Military, Economic, Scientific, and Cultural achievements, which have different objectives each Age and don’t penalize you for changing up your strategy in each one. I found that they do, however, encourage generalization over specialization, since being declared the winner by total legacy score at the end often comes down to simply completing as many objectives in as many different categories as possible. Conquering a couple cities as a science player or making a few treasure fleets as a culture player is typically the tie-breaker in a close match. And I wasn’t crazy about having to dabble in everything to avoid falling behind.
Some paths are better designed than others – I’m looking at you, Culture. Flatly, it’s bad. There’s no tourism anymore, so it’s mostly just about collecting artifacts by racing for a very limited number of dig sites with your explorers or vomiting out so many wonders that your starting cities end up looking ridiculous and the wonders themselves don’t feel so singular or special. Then, the religion-flavored Exploration Age culture objectives suck even more. I hope you like missionary spam and endless whack-a-mole conversions that you can’t guard against. There’s a little bit of strategy to it, like the fact that each settlement can now have a rural and an urban faith that need to be converted separately, but otherwise it’s just spending production to churn out as many Bible-thumpers as you can. I know we all like to make fun of Civ 6’s “theological combat,” but at least it was something, right? It was gameplay. This is a chore.
It’s not a great game right now, but it could be with time.
Sure, this whole one step forward, two steps back thing is par for the course when it comes to comparing a brand-new Civ to previous ones with years of patches and DLC to refine them. It’s not lost on me that people said the same things about the launch of Civ 5, my all-time favorite of the series. So I have an optimistic outlook on Civ 7, despite all my kvetching – and believe me, there’s a lot more minor grievances I could list. I do think a lot of what bugs me about it could be fixed without redesigning the entire thing. They could add better tooltips and game set-up options in a patch. Civ 6 didn’t let you rename cities at launch either, but that was soon added. And naturally, history teaches us a lot of lacking systems can and probably will be fleshed out in expansions. It’s not a great game right now, but I believe it could be with time.
At least it comes out of the gate looking slick. One of the only hills – er, mountains – I will die on is that I really don’t like the way mountains look. They kind of remind me of a big pile of rocks, or like a kid’s papier mache volcano project they made for science class. They don’t have the appearance of a nice, realistic range of snow capped peaks like the ones I can see out my window here in Colorado. I’m also really not a fan of the new board-gamey look for undiscovered territory, even though the reveal effect is nice. Give me clouds or an old-timey map over this shiny nonsense any day.
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But the units and cities look incredible, if sometimes a bit cluttered. City-states got a big glow-up, both visually and mechanically. They all have unique 3D dioramas with culturally-specific clothing and props for dozens of miniature “civs” that didn’t make the cut, which is kind of incredible considering how many there are, and each can grant you a unique tile improvement. The way you compete for them, though, has again been streamlined. It’s just a race to fill up the suzerain bar first, and you can no longer “steal” them away from another leader once they’re committed. Not that it mattered that much in single-player, since it seemed like the AI was simply not interested in competing for them the vast majority of the time.
There’s also some meta progression where you can unlock equippable items for specific leaders or cosmetics like new profile backgrounds for playing the same leader multiple times and completing specific challenges. It’s… whatever. I’m not annoyed by its existence, but it could completely disappear and I probably wouldn’t notice or care.
But before we wrap up here, where the heck is Gandhi? How are you going to release a Civilization game without Gandhi? To be fair, the quirky leader choices are neat. I like that we’re branching out from exclusively executive-level political figures. But come on. That’s like Halo without Master Chief, or Mario without… well, Mario. The lack of recognizable faves just comes across to me as, “We’re going to sell them to you individually later,” even if the intention was simply to vary things up. If that’s the case, why are there two different Napoleons?
Civilization 7 Review – IGN
The highly anticipated release of Civilization 7 has finally arrived, and fans of the long-running strategy game series are in for a treat. IGN recently got their hands on the game and has put it through its paces to see if it lives up to the hype.
One of the standout features of Civilization 7 is the revamped graphics and animations. The game looks stunning, with detailed environments and character models that bring the world to life. The new art style gives the game a fresh and modern feel while still retaining the classic Civilization charm.
In terms of gameplay, Civilization 7 offers the depth and complexity that fans have come to expect from the series. The game introduces new mechanics and features that add layers of strategy and decision-making to the experience. From managing resources and diplomacy to waging war and exploring the world, there is always something to do in Civilization 7.
One of the most exciting additions to Civilization 7 is the expanded multiplayer mode. Players can now compete against each other in large-scale battles and cooperative missions, adding a new level of strategic depth to the game. The multiplayer experience is smooth and seamless, with no lag or performance issues to speak of.
Overall, Civilization 7 is a worthy addition to the series and a must-play for fans of strategy games. With its stunning graphics, deep gameplay mechanics, and engaging multiplayer mode, it is sure to keep players entertained for hours on end. IGN gives Civilization 7 a solid 9 out of 10, praising its innovation and polish.
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Teddy Swims’s Lose Control has become a generational, unavoidable hit. Billboard declared it the top single of 2024; it refuses to leave the UK charts after 14 months. Impressively, his 2023 album I’ve Tried Everything ButTherapy (Part 1) backed up its promise, testament to the 32-year-old Atlantan’s skill at crafting sympathetic settings for his stunning, gale-force voice. Hozier sings Adele is his default setting, which will never lose anyone money. And Teddy gives it everything. If he’s trapped in a glass case of emotion, it’s the size and weight of the Shard. Although, as soulfully weathered as his crooning gets, it has little of that genuine, binman-in-a-bear-trap pain of singers such as Jelly Roll.
That was fine on Part 1, which detailed Swims’s entanglement in an unhealthy relationship. The sunshine in his voice seasoned his professed unhappiness with a pleasantly odd bathos. Sadly, Teddy has since fallen in love. Part 2 feels more corporate, with its genre-hopping, playlist-pleasing songs and much gusty whimpering about how great his girlfriend is. Still, Funeral, Bad Dreams, Hammer to the Heart and Not Your Man are as good as this brand of pop gets. Swims will be inescapable for a time yet.
Teddy Swims: I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) review – extra-size emotion | Pop and rock
Teddy Swims is back with the highly anticipated continuation of his emotional journey in “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)”. This new release is a raw and vulnerable exploration of the singer’s struggles and triumphs, set against a backdrop of catchy pop and rock melodies.
The EP kicks off with the anthemic track “Love Me Now”, a powerful ballad that showcases Teddy Swims’ soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics. The song is a plea for acceptance and understanding, with Swims baring his soul in a way that is both heartbreaking and empowering.
“Bed on Fire” follows with a more upbeat and infectious sound, blending elements of pop and rock to create a dynamic and captivating track. Swims’ vocals soar over the driving guitar riffs, creating a sense of urgency and passion that is impossible to ignore.
The EP closes with the poignant “Feelings”, a hauntingly beautiful ballad that showcases Swims’ vulnerability and introspection. The song is a reflection on the complexities of emotions and the struggles of navigating the highs and lows of life, set against a backdrop of lush instrumentation and emotive vocals.
Overall, “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)” is a stunning showcase of Teddy Swims’ talent and artistry. The EP is a testament to the power of music to heal and inspire, and a reminder that it’s okay to be vulnerable and seek help when needed. Teddy Swims has once again proven himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the pop and rock music scene, and this latest release is sure to resonate with fans old and new.
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Teddy Swims, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy review, part 2, extra-size emotion, Pop and rock, music review, soulful vocals, emotional depth, music analysis, Teddy Swims music, therapy journey, artist review
The director Guillermo del Toro once said Idris Elba has “a supernatural gravitational force” and compared him to a “Rodin sculpture … [with] all the turmoil of humanity in his eyes”. It is those qualities – being a magnetic TV and movie star and an activist seemingly carrying the burden of the world on his shoulders – that makes him so compelling in Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis.
The BBC documentary follows Elba throughout 2024, as he mounts a campaign to try to stop knife crime in the UK. The headlines have long been filled with tragic stories of young lives ended by blades, but in the past decade the numbers have almost doubled, with four people in the UK dying from stab wounds every week. Elba first got involved in 2019, posting videos online about how more had to be done to stop it. Since then, he has become more informed and more involved. We watch him meet politicians, law enforcement officers, victims, prisoners, youth workers and trauma specialists to figure out a proactive – rather than reactive – approach, and carry out interventions in the lives of those who might one day become perpetrators.
What takes this from being a good documentary to a great one is just how much complexity and nuance Elba and director Ben Steele are able to contain within its one-hour running time. It covers everything from the economic toll of recidivism to domestic violence in the home as early indicators, the lack of funding for youth programmes, the importance of mentorship and even how images of knife fights on social media can act as an incentive to carry weapons. The film immediately tackles common misconceptions around knife crime as a problem within black and brown urban communities, when in fact 69% of perpetrators are white and it is spreading fastest in Somerset, Bedfordshire and Sussex. Elba puts this gently to Tayla Pitman, the sister of 16-year-old Harold Pitman, who was stabbed to death while watching New Year’s Eve fireworks, and she responds: “Exactly, that’s the first thing that came out when Harry was killed was ‘I bet it was a black person’ and it wasn’t – it was another white boy.” But rather than just using her to vocalise a salient point, Elba extends warm empathy to the young woman, hugging her and commending her strength.
Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis – trailer
With so many lives ruined, it would be easy to get caught up in the overwhelming statistics of these crimes, but Elba manages to convey just how seismic each loss is. Tayla is not the only person he meets who has been traumatised by knife crime; the charming youth worker Jhemar Jonas’s brother was stabbed to death at 15. Faz Ahmed, who runs a knife amnesty programme, was stabbed nine times on two occasions as a young man. And most harrowingly, Pooja Kanda’s teenage son Ronan had a sword plunged into his heart in a case of mistaken identity. The programme shows us disturbing footage of the event, with Ronan unaware of what is about to happen right up until the sword enters his rib cage from behind. Pooja sits in her son’s untouched bedroom two years on and recalls how each morning she’d rush straight in to his room for a cuddle. She can only say that: “Everyone failed. The police, education systems, the families. All those failures are why my son is not on this side of the bed. Why I’m not able to hug him.”
The film is filled with heartbreak but is still ultimately an optimistic piece of work. It is packed with tangible solutions and examples of effective ways these crimes could be prevented if only those holding the purse strings would invest in solutions such as hospital interventions, knife amnesties and the scheme in Coventry (the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, or CIRV) that takes 16-year-old Jayden – who was previously excluded from school and “felt naked” without a knife – and puts him on a path to becoming a football coach. It is made all the more maddening when the legislation Elba backed to make it illegal to purchase “zombie knives”, machetes and ninja swords was rejected in May 2024 by the Conservatives. In the aftermath of that news, he seems crushed under the weight of political indifference and can only lament to the camera: “It felt like there was an attachment to swords which may have some traditional, heritage … thing. I just couldn’t understand it.”
Still, Elba reminds us this is “a marathon not a sprint” and he will continue to do all he can to stop so many lives being destroyed by knife crime. By the time the programme ends, he has presented compelling arguments and practical solutions, met with King Charles, the prime minister and the home secretary. Despite making huge strides in his activism, he stays humble and says he considers himself simply “an amplification device”. But whether he’s a supernatural force, a Hackney boy done good or an amplifier for a noble cause, Elba is at the forefront of a vital documentary.
Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis review – vital viewing from Hackney’s A-list crusader | Television
In the powerful and poignant documentary “Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis,” the acclaimed actor and Hackney native delves deep into the heart of London’s knife crime epidemic. Airing on BBC One, this eye-opening film sheds light on the devastating impact of violence on young people in the city and explores the root causes of this urgent crisis.
Elba, known for his roles in “The Wire” and “Luther,” brings a personal perspective to the issue as a former resident of Hackney, a borough disproportionately affected by knife crime. Through interviews with victims, families, police, and community leaders, he paints a vivid picture of the challenges faced by those caught in the crossfire of this senseless violence.
The documentary doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the situation, highlighting the systemic issues that contribute to the cycle of violence. From lack of opportunities for young people to the influence of gang culture, Elba exposes the complex web of factors driving the crisis and calls for urgent action to address it.
What sets “Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis” apart is its emphasis on solutions. Elba meets with grassroots organizations and individuals working tirelessly to support at-risk youth and prevent further tragedies. By showcasing these inspiring stories of resilience and hope, the film offers a ray of light in the midst of darkness.
Overall, “Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis” is a must-watch for anyone concerned about the state of our communities and the future of our young people. It’s a powerful call to action from a passionate advocate for change, and a reminder that we all have a role to play in creating a safer, more just society.
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In today’s fast-paced and complex business landscape, companies are turning to managed service providers (MSPs) to handle their IT needs and help them stay ahead of the competition. With the increasing reliance on technology, it’s crucial for businesses to have a reliable and efficient IT infrastructure in place to support their operations.
In this article, we will take a comprehensive look at the top managed service providers of 2021. These companies have been recognized for their exceptional services, expertise, and commitment to helping businesses achieve their IT goals.
1. Accenture
Accenture is a global leader in technology consulting and managed services. With a team of experienced professionals and a wide range of services, Accenture helps businesses optimize their IT infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and drive innovation. Their services include cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and digital transformation.
2. IBM
IBM is a well-known name in the IT industry, and for good reason. The company offers a comprehensive suite of managed services, including infrastructure management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data analytics. IBM’s team of experts works closely with clients to develop customized solutions that meet their specific needs and help them achieve their business objectives.
3. Deloitte
Deloitte is another top managed service provider that offers a range of services to help businesses navigate the complexities of the digital world. From IT consulting and strategy to cybersecurity and cloud computing, Deloitte has the expertise and experience to help businesses stay ahead of the competition. Their team of professionals works closely with clients to understand their unique challenges and develop tailored solutions to address them.
4. HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies is a global IT services company that offers a wide range of managed services to help businesses streamline their operations and drive growth. With expertise in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and digital transformation, HCL Technologies helps businesses leverage technology to achieve their business goals. Their team of experts works closely with clients to develop customized solutions that meet their specific needs and deliver tangible results.
5. Cognizant
Cognizant is a leading managed service provider that helps businesses harness the power of technology to drive innovation and growth. With a focus on digital transformation, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, Cognizant offers a range of services to help businesses stay ahead of the competition. Their team of experts works closely with clients to develop customized solutions that address their unique challenges and help them achieve their business objectives.
In conclusion, the top managed service providers of 2021 are leading the way in helping businesses navigate the complexities of the digital world and achieve their IT goals. From technology consulting and strategy to cybersecurity and cloud computing, these companies offer a wide range of services to help businesses stay ahead of the competition and drive growth. If you are looking for a reliable and efficient managed service provider to support your business, consider one of the providers mentioned above.
I found a lot of joy in Hello Kitty Island Adventure when I first started playing its closed beta for IGN’s guide, way back before it hit Apple Arcade in 2023. Getting to create my own little Sanrio character and run around a tropical island collecting bits and bobs to gift to my new animal friends was pretty relaxing and fun. But day by day, that motivation to complete all my quests, find missing friends, and unlock new regions started to wear off. At a certain point it felt like a chore to log in, spam friends with gifts until I hit obnoxious daily limits, and hope I’d be allowed to progress my friendship levels a little further. Sadly, it’s the same situation on Switch and PC a year and change later: this island is still just as large, colorful, and geographically diverse as it was on my iPad, but it’s as frustratingly gated, repetitive, and stale too.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to like about Hello Kitty. The crafting, for instance, feels simple and intuitive. There are many different things you can make, from a variety of food items to cute plush pals. But at the end of the day, the main purpose of crafting is to get better gifts for your island friends. The better your gifts, the quicker you’ll advance friendship. That means there is very little incentive to craft things outside of gift giving or unlocking the next step of the very light “story.”
Hello Kitty Island Adventure – First Nintendo Switch Screenshots
Gifting is what makes the world go ‘round in Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Everything revolves around giving your island residents presents and receiving resources (which you’ll use to make better gifts) in exchange. Progression in the story is largely locked behind different Friendship levels, which can be a slog to get through unless you’re gifting your residents two- or three-heart items – but the catch is that you won’t even be able to craft those higher level items until you’ve hit certain Friendship levels. It feels like a carefully curated maze of roadblocks to keep you from progressing too far too fast.
Although discovering the best order to level your residents while trying to figure out each of their favorite three-star gifts can be a fun challenge, gifting eventually starts to feel more like a tedious chore. You can’t even deliver multiple of the same gift at once to hurry up the process. And since gifting whatever earns you the most Friendship points is the only correct option, there’s nothing creative or rewarding about it – it’s a thinly veiled spreadsheet color-coded in bright, bubblegum pink. Even the dialogue triggered by gifting remains largely the same from friend to friend, only varying depending on the “tier” of the item you give.
The characters are super cute, but talking to them each day feels fruitless.
The characters themselves are super cute, and are sure to spark some nostalgia for longtime Sanrio fans. They have a bit of spunk to them, with the odd moment of humor which livens up otherwise-dull dialogue interactions. Other than that, though, talking to the island residents each day feels fruitless. You don’t really get any new interactions with them as time goes on. You just have to keep plugging along giving gift after gift to unlock their quests if you hope to see anything new or different.
So if Friendship and gifting are simply the keys, surely the questing door they open is where more interesting or engaging experiences must be hidden… right? Unfortunately, all that awaits you is even more flavors of busy work. From quests unlocked by reaching new levels of Friendship, to the story quests which reveal the “mystery” of the island, these objectives are another never-ending list of to-dos, with very little variety in the simple puzzles, object fetching, crafting, and more they ask of you.
That means quest tasks get repetitive fast, and I had very little motivation to complete them outside of unlocking more of the story (which itself is full of dialogue that often falls flat) because rewards felt either minimal or inconsequential. We’re talking about a crafting material here, a “spooky” furniture item there – nothing that changed anything about the way the next task would unfold.
That’s because furniture and decorating are just as underwhelming as the crafting and collecting that precede them. You can decorate your own island home, plus the other homes you unlock to attract new Visitors, using the friendship and quest rewards. If you’re lucky, you might find something in a random chest hidden around the island. It’s a while, though, before you’re able to craft your own furniture.
Once you’ve unlocked some variety, the options are… okay. While you could mix and match, the decor isn’t very versatile, leaving little room to get creative and design your own style outside of the “themes” each furniture set comes in because they just don’t play well together. What am I supposed to do with a Hello Kitty bookcase, a Spooky Candelabra, and a Pirate chair? I can’t make my house look like a bookstore, or a cafe, or even redecorate for an upcoming holiday with such limited options. Heck, you can’t even rotate furniture at quarter turns or place objects on tables! Overall, unless you like decorating your houses in full-on Kawaii styles, you’re out of luck.
One of the areas where Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s customization is more successful is its character creator. I love that you get to build your own little Sanrio character, rather than the Animal Crossing approach of you being the only human on an island full of sentient, talking creatures. There’s a nice variety of different animals to choose from, including birds, bunnies, and even sheep (though I am bewildered that it doesn’t have frogs as an option). As you play more and level up your Friendship, you unlock even more “avatar” color options to choose from.
A lack of interesting hooks is why my motivation started to wane.
Tuxedosam has some cute clothes available to purchase at his island shop, and you’ll get the odd outfit from a chest or quest. However, much like the decor, there isn’t enough variety to inspire my creativity or make me want to dress up every day (or even very often) like I usually enjoy doing in games like this. I found one outfit I kind of liked and it became my “uniform.”
This lack of interesting hooks is a big reason why my motivation to continue playing started to wane once I reached a certain point. Sure, there are lots of things to collect in Hello Kitty Island Adventure, including furniture, clothes, critters, fish, and more, but there is very little incentive to do so other than simply for the sake of keeping you busy.
There is at least the Nature Preserve to fill up with critters, as well as the Fwishing Well to give fish to, both of which would normally satisfy someone like me who enjoys “catching ‘em all” and hitting collection goals. But, once again, the rewards for adding these places are so minimal they might as well be nonexistent. You’re telling me that for donating all the critters that can be found in the bog area of the island I get… 10 mushrooms? I could gather those myself in a single day!
It does help that the designs for the critters themselves are unbearably adorable, branching off beyond bugs to also include frogs, chickens, and even turtles. But that’s not enough to change the fact that bug catching itself is overly simplistic, and doesn’t offer much to make certain bugs more of a challenge than others besides having them vanish quicker. Of course, you can enlist Kerropi’s help to get a buff that makes the bugs stick around longer – but, as you might have guessed, this too is locked behind their Friendship level.
In comparison, I really like the fishing minigame, which puts a small spin on the typical “keep the fish in the colored bar” mechanic by turning the bar on its side and testing your reaction time to keep an arrow balanced in the center. However, there isn’t much more to fishing beyond this. There are no upgrades to get and no fishing collection challenges that I could find, other than hitting certain milestones by giving gifts… sorry, I mean making donations to the Fwishing Well. That’s a shame, because the designs of the fish are really cute, colorful, and match the unique vibe of the regions they are found in perfectly.
At this point, you’ll probably be making comparisons to another cozy tropical island game. Allow me to be the bearer of bad news: No, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is not really comparable to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While these two games might seem very similar on the surface (you are stuck on an island with some cute animal companions, tasked with sprucing the place up), they couldn’t be more different once you actually jump in.
Shailyn’s Favorite Cozy Games
My go-to games for some satisfying brain-off, no-think time
Animal Crossing is all about collecting and crafting as you shape your own personal dream island, essentially a sandbox decorating game full of fun little guys who live alongside you. Hello Kitty, on the other hand, is all about transforming an abandoned island amusement park into the best (read, predetermined) version of itself along a linear path. The lack of customization for not only the island itself, but also your own house and visitor’s houses, means it feels less like your dream island, and more like a dream of Hello Kitty’s that you’re just visiting.
That makes it feel like Hello Kitty Island Adventure is asking nothing of me except for my time. While a game coming to more platforms is never a bad thing on its own, I fear this one was better off played on a phone – something to open up and fill the dull moments on long commutes or in waiting rooms. Despite the disdain mobile games often unjustly draw, there is no shame in wanting something that serves as a casual distraction for short spurts at a time. (That isn’t even to touch on the fact that many mobile games are so much more than that.) But even in that context, this isn’t one I want to spend my spare time on, and it makes me sad to think it could be what some people now think all cozy mobile games are: colorful, cutesy, and totally mindless.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review
I recently had the opportunity to visit Hello Kitty Island Adventure, a themed attraction dedicated to the beloved character, Hello Kitty. As a longtime fan of Hello Kitty, I was excited to see what this island had to offer.
Upon arriving at the island, I was immediately greeted by a giant Hello Kitty statue and vibrant pink decor. The attention to detail was impeccable, with everything from the buildings to the merchandise meticulously designed to fit the Hello Kitty theme.
One of the highlights of my visit was the Hello Kitty themed rides, which were both fun and adorable. From the Hello Kitty Ferris wheel to the Sanrio carousel, each ride was a delight for fans of all ages. I particularly enjoyed the Hello Kitty roller coaster, which provided a thrilling experience while still staying true to the character’s cute aesthetic.
In addition to the rides, there were also various shops and restaurants on the island selling Hello Kitty merchandise and snacks. I couldn’t resist picking up a few souvenirs to remember my visit by.
Overall, Hello Kitty Island Adventure exceeded my expectations and provided a fun-filled experience for fans of the iconic character. I would highly recommend this attraction to anyone looking for a whimsical and charming day out.
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Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review, Hello Kitty game review, Sanrio game review, cute games review, family-friendly games, popular games for kids, Hello Kitty gameplay, Hello Kitty Island Adventure gameplay, Hello Kitty game features, Hello Kitty Island Adventure graphics, Hello Kitty Island Adventure characters
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A new business could be coming to the Portland neighborhood.
On December 3, 2024, RA Foodmart submitted an application for the business that would be located at the corner of 25th and West Market Streets.
Martha Jackson grew up in the Portland neighborhood. She’s excited to see life brought back into the gray, vacant building across from her TARC bus stop.
“It lifts the whole neighborhood,” Martha Jackson said. “Everything is coming together.”
That application is still under review, according to the Louisville Metro Business Portal. The application states the owner, Rozina Weldegebriel, plans to “launch this business as a retail store to sell groceries, packaged alcohol beverages such as beer, and other essential products and services.”
Weldegebriel is a former chef for Kroger. She said she hopes to have the corner store open in the next few weeks.
“I am in the process of getting a license to open a food mart from the City and in the meantime, I am renovating this building,” she said. “My plan is to make this building ready by the first week of March. So to highlight what kind of services and products, I will start the business with limited essential products due to resource constraints. Once I have necessary equipment and with experience as a chef at Kroger for several years, I will be providing not only selling products but also fresh foods such as Pizza, sandwiches and other cooked products with affordable prices to surrounding communities.
“We’ve got the store coming up, and we’ve got a brand new daycare in the neighborhood,” Jackson said. “It’s all in the same block. It’s great!”
We’ve reached out to Councilwoman Donna Purvis, who represents the Portland neighborhood in District 5, for comment.
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We are excited to announce that a new business application is currently under review for a retail store in Louisville’s vibrant Portland neighborhood!
This new business is set to bring a fresh and unique shopping experience to the community, offering a variety of products and services tailored to the needs and interests of the local residents.
We are looking forward to the potential positive impact this new retail store will have on the neighborhood, providing jobs, economic growth, and a new gathering place for the community to enjoy.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to monitor the progress of this exciting new business application. Let’s support local businesses and help our neighborhoods thrive! #PortlandNeighborhood #LocalBusiness #RetailStore #LouisvilleCommunity
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application, retail store, Louisville, Portland neighborhood, business review, business application, business news, Louisville business, Portland neighborhood business, retail store application
