Sonic Mania is set to hit on Tuesday, and while we can't quite give our impressions on the game, we received a collector's edition ahead of the game's launch. We busted it open to take a look at the items held within.

In addition to a code for the game, the Sonic Mania collector's edition also features a massive statue of Sonic standing on a full-size Genesis replica, as well as a card with some key art and a replica of a Sonic Mania Genesis cartridge.

You can see the statue and the other goodies included in the package below. Sonic Mania launches on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on August 15. Earlier today, the PC version was delayed until August 29.

Size comparison: Funko Pop! Figure vs. Sonic Mania Collector's Edition Statue

*Photos by Margaret Andrews

Following Sonic the Hedgehog's meteoric rise to prominence in the early '90s, Sega tarnished the franchise's once sterling reputation with a long string of mostly disappointing entries. With Sonic Mania, Sega wants to wipe away the last couple of decades and give fans a true successor to the beloved Genesis titles. The effort largely succeeds. Sonic Mania is a beautifully made love letter to the classic days of the franchise, and it's also the best entry in more than two decades.

Sonic Mania preserves the pleasure and thrill of speeding through a stage, grabbing every ring you can while bashing enemies along the way and discovering new routes. The team of independent developers behind the game paid attention to so many facets that fans of the original games remember. Critical elements like the way Sonic builds momentum and smaller details like how the camera lags slightly behind when he reaches full-speed are handled with care and precision.

The moves accessible to Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails feel true to the early games. Sonic has a new drop dash ability that lets him stop on a dime and transition from a jump straight into a spin dash. Though it took me a while to stop using this ability accidentally, once I retrained my muscle memory, I used it regularly to escape tight spaces in boss battles.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Sonic Mania is a Genesis game at first glance; the sprites, stage elements, and backdrops all look authentic to those early titles. The developers remade numerous classic levels. However, though you may recognize Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1 or Hydrocity Zone from Sonic 3, myriad changes breathe new life into these familiar settings. For example, in Chemical Plant Zone, the second act introduces new gels that let you bounce higher and stick to walls, as well as ways to transform hazardous gels to helpful ones. Changes like these are exciting intersections of nostalgia and discovery as you witness these stages in new ways.

Though it's a blast to see which classic stage Sonic Mania resurrects and reworks next, I wish Sega placed a heavier emphasis on all-new zones. The new zones each successfully capture the spirit of what made the early Sonic stages so great during the franchise's glory days, and they seamlessly join the collection of retro zones.

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With so many fun branching paths to speed through as three distinct characters, each with their own special abilities, it's possible to approach the stages differently each time over the course of multiple playthroughs. For example, in Chemical Plant Zone, I stuck to the simplest route as Sonic, following the helix-shaped paths that lead straight into the infamous rising purple liquid from Sonic 2. When I played through as Knuckles, I wanted to minimize the amount of time spent underwater, so I glided to a wall Sonic had difficulty reaching, then used Knuckles' climb ability to ascend to a separate path that kept Knuckles dry for longer.

At the end of each act, you face off against a boss character. Whether you're taking on Sonic's mustachioed nemesis, one of the themed Hard-Boiled Heavy robots, or a modified version of a classic boss-robot battle, these encounters are creative, challenging, and often intense. I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but many of them feature cameos you don't expect, as well as fun nods to both Sonic and Sega's past.

Bonus stages were a major part of the early Sonic games, and Sonic Mania includes two distinct versions. The first bonus stage is a faithful recreation of the blue-sphere stages from Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Though the concept and gameplay for these stages have aged over the past 20 years, it's nice to be able to play through 32 new blue-sphere stages.

Though I have great affection and fond memories of the blue-sphere stages, I prefer the UFO chase bonus stages where you race for a Chaos Emerald in a polygonal 3D environment. Rather than the sharp 90-degree turns of the blue-sphere stages, your character controls more like a vehicle in a cart-racing game as you avoid obstacles, collect rings, and rack up as many spheres as you can to prolong the timer and increase your velocity enough to catch the UFO.

A return to the series' roots in every sense, Sonic Mania is a joyful reminder why the franchise became such a hit in the first place. Though it's content with reliving past glories, it does so exceptionally well. Exciting level design, a stellar soundtrack, and cool expansions on the original formula work in one accord to deliver the Sonic game fans have been waiting for.

The premiere episode of Minecraft: Story Mode's new season faced pacing issues, but it effectively set up the rest of the season with an interesting antagonist that rivaled the Wither Storm from the first season. With that in mind, I looked ahead with curiosity on where the next entry would take Jesse and friends, and this episode delivers on the promise of a threatening big bad, and the improved pacing makes Minecraft: Story Mode's aging formula as enjoyable as it's ever been.

By now, veteran players of Telltale's episodic adventures know what to expect; each episode presents you with a series of scenes that have you complete quick-time events, choose dialogue, and solve exploration-based puzzles. Along the way, your choices loosely influence the way the story plays out. Minecraft: Story Mode is no different. Giant Consequences is light on combat, but it makes up for it with lots of quick-time events to capitalize on big set-pieces and a fun shooting-gallery mini-game.

Early on, you face off against a massive creature controlled by the Admin, a seemingly omnipotent creature who is said to have built the world that Jesse inhabits. The scale of this encounter is reminiscent of the climax of season one, and the banter between Jesse and the Admin is entertaining. Hearing the Admin recite parts of Jesse's adventures from the first season is a sobering reminder of just how powerful he is.

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Though I was unsure of Jesse's new party of adventurers for season two, I warmed up to most of them throughout this episode. The delusional wannabe-rival character Stella still irks me, but she's supposed to. Characters like the gruff Jack and the underdog Radar grew on me as their arcs matured and their charm shined through. I liked watching the constantly doubted Radar overcome his fears to try and prove the naysayers wrong. And while I don't want to spoil anything, I enjoyed a couple of the characters deliver some fun reveals near the end of this episode.

The first episode of this season introduced improved combat that added new elements like dodge-rolls and a stamina bar, as well as a new way to craft entire structures using the resources in your inventory on a grid-based platform. I was delighted not only to see the structure I built in the first episode reappear in Giant Consequences, but also the opportunity to build a new structure that I hope will make an appearance in a future episode. By allowing players to flex their creativity in new ways, Telltale is giving its Minecraft series more of what made the masses fall in love with that property in the first place, and helping to further differentiate it from its plethora of other licensed series.

With a breakneck pace and action-packed events, the sophomore episode of season two has me hoping that the series can carry this momentum forward. Though I'm anticipating the typical Telltale pattern where all your choices end up not making much of a difference at the season's conclusion, I'm at least enjoying the ride to that point.

This week is Gamescom, meaning industry professionals from all over the world are in Cologne, Germany to cover the latest news from the biggest developers and publishers. Electronic Arts is set to host its Gamescom media briefing at 12:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 a.m. Pacific.

While we don't know exactly what EA is showing off on-stage, its Gamescom schedule leans heavily on content from Star Wars: Battlefront II, FIFA 18, Battlefield 1: In the name of the Tsar, and Need for Speed Payback, so it's likely those games will see significant stage time. We're unsure of what other announcements or surprises will be brought on stage, but we don't have long to wait.

To tune into the livestream, head to EA's Twitch page. If you can't watch, you can be sure to catch all the biggest news here on GameInformer.com.

Guerilla Games has announced that as a part of its 1.32 update for Horizon Zero Dawn, it is introducing an easier difficulty for players who want to just experience the story. The mode comes on the heels of the 1.30 update, which added the "Ultra Hard" setting.

The new difficulty setting, appropriately called "Story," is meant to let players experience Aloy's tale and explore the open world without fear of difficult battles. Selecting "Story" difficulty buffs the player damage while reducing the damage Aloy takes, making encounters much easier.

For our review of Horizon Zero Dawn, head here. If you're looking for more Horizon Zero Dawn story content that goes beyond new difficulty settings, you'll have to wait until November 7 when The Frozen Wilds expansion launches.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]

Our Take
Horizon Zero Dawn is an awesome game that features a compelling science-fiction story and a fun open world to explore. While some hardcore fans will inevitably bemoan this addition, it's a 100-percent optional mode that will do nothing besides allow more players to enjoy those aforementioned elements.

Netflix's The Defenders team up series may have just debuted this past Friday, but that isn't stopping the streaming service from hyping its next Marvel season. After making his first appearance in Daredevil season 2, The Punisher is branching off to his own series later this year.

The "Demolition" trailer that Netflix released doesn't give us a ton of hints about where this first season might be heading, but it shows Frank Castle doing what he does best: fighting, shooting, and brooding. You can check out the teaser trailer below.

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The Punisher's first season is set to launch on Netflix sometime before the end of 2017.

Destiny 2 is two weeks from launch, and Bungie has released a launch trailer to the anticipated follow up.

The trailer not only gives us more insight into the big bad of this entry, Dominus Ghaul, but also a look at humanity's response to the problem. You can watch the trailer below.

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Destiny 2 hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, and PC on October 24 via Battle.net.

Just over a month ago, Oculus announced a temporary $200 price cut for its Rift VR headset and an accompanying bundle of accessories. Today, HTC responded by slashing the price on its Vive headset by $200.

The price for the Vive is now set at $599, which includes the VR headset, the two motion-controlled wands, the motion trackers, and a trial subscription to Viveport, a service that curates VR titles and allows you to select and download five VR titles per month.

This news comes as major titles like Fallout 4 VR and Doom VR gear up to release on the platform. For more on HTC Vive, check out our review.

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Our Take
One of the biggest barriers of entry for virtual reality since this current wave of technology launched has been the price. The cost of entry, when you combine the hardware with a machine powerful enough to support the headsets and associated software, is still steep, but a couple hundred dollars knocked off certainly helps ease that pain.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm will give us some insight into the events leading up to Dontnod's 2015 episodic adventure series. The new trailer not only gives us a better idea of the story that will unfold during developer Deck Nine's prequel series, but also some of the characters Chloe meets and the environments she explores.

You can watch the Life is Strange: Before the Storm Gamescom trailer below.

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The first three episodes of Life is Strange: Before the Storm launch on August 31 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

One of the two teenage girls charged with the 2014 stabbing of a classmate in Wisconsin has pleaded guilty. The girls charged with the attempted murder say they were told to go through with the stabbing of classmate Payton Leutner by Slenderman, a fictional horror character that has been depicted in everything from internet art to video games. The attempted murder was the subject of a 2017 documentary on HBO titled Beware the Slenderman.

Anissa Weier, 15, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide as a party to a crime, with use of a deadly weapon. This is a lesser charge when compared to the initial charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. However, the case doesn't end with this plea. Next month, when the trial begins, the discussion will be centered on whether or not Weier is legally responsible for her actions, or if she is mentally unfit. If she is found guilty, she could serve up to 10 years in prison. If she is found not guilty due to mental illness, she could instead be sentenced to three years in a mental hospital.

In her statement, Weier said that she felt that if she didn't go through with the killing of Leutner, that Slenderman would kill her and her family. Weier and co-defendant Morgan Geyser were 12 years old when the attack took place. Geyser has previously pleaded not guilty due to mental disease – a plea Weier also initially entered prior to this new plea.

Weier's trial is set to begin on September 11.

[Source: Associated Press]

Age of Empires, the historical real-time strategy series, has announced a fourth entry in the long-running series. Relic Entertainment, the developer behind several Warhammer 40,000 games, as well as Company of Heroes, is the developer at the helm for the upcoming title.

While no further details were announced, Microsoft did debut a trailer. You can watch that video below.

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Microsoft also announced that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is releasing on October 19, and that Age of Empires II and III will also receive the Definitive Edition treatment in the future.

[Source: Age of Empires]

Today on the Overwatch forums on Battle.net, Blizzard principal designer Geoff Goodman discussed some of the changes that Blizzard has been tinkering with for its popular tank character, D.Va. Goodman appeared in a thread titled "D.Va Rework ideas thread" where several community members were discussing how they'd propose Blizzard shuffle things up with the mech-based character.

Goodman began by saying that the team has been working on changes internally for a while now, before outlining what some of the proposed alterations are. You can see the changes in his words below:

• Defense Matrix: Energy drain increased by 2x. This means her effective uptime for this ability has been reduced by 50%.
• Boosters: D.Va can now use her Fusion Cannons while flying.
• New ability – Micro Missiles: D.Va launches a long salvo of small missiles that explode on impact, dealing damage in a small radius around them. This ability can be used while using her other abilities or firing her Fusion Cannons.

Goodman continued, saying that D.Va's damage-dealing capability comes at the cost of her Defense Matrix, which blocks all incoming projectiles and bullets. However, Goodman indicates that the Defense Matrix ability is still incredibly powerful, but that players need to be more judicious with its use, as the up-time of the ability is so significantly decreased. He also explains that the Micro Missiles combined with her ability to fire while boosting gives her more options against more heroes. Goodman specifically names Pharah as a hero that this new ability suite is effective against.

These are just proposed changes, and that when these changes make it to players, they could be different. No ETA was given on when any such changes could be implemented, but Goodman says he hopes that Blizzard can get a new PTR up soon for PC players to check out these changes for themselves.

[Source: Geoff Goodman on Battle.net]

Our Take
As a big D.Va player, I think I'm on-board with these changes. On the one hand, the nerfing of her Defense Matrix means it's less spam-able, which I think is a good thing, while the ability to fire when boosting, and new missiles could make her an even more aggressive character to play. Regardless of my thoughts on the proposed changes, I'm still blown away by how open Blizzard is about any changes made to the game. It shows how in-tune with the community the developer is.

One of the biggest surprises of E3 2015 was Shenmue III. The game was announced on PlayStation's press conference stage and launched a massively successful Kickstarter campaign. In the time since the campaign ended, developer Ys Net has remained fairly quiet on the project. However, with recent news that Deep Silver is the game's publishing partner, things have picked up a little. Today, the developer released the first teaser trailer for the long-awaited sequel.

According to the video description, this trailer is taken from "a small slice of an in-development build of the game." While this tells us little about the story, it does offer a glimpse of the characters and settings of this third entry in the series that first came to North America in 2000 on Dreamcast.

You can see the teaser below.

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The previous game in the series was released in North America in 2002 on the original Xbox. Shenmue III is expected to release during the second half of 2018 on PlayStation 4 and PC.

For more on Shenmue III, read our interview with series creator Yu Suzuki from when the game was first announced.

[Source: PlayStation on YouTube]

The promising action shooter Ruiner finally has a release date. Those who have been monitoring the cyberpunk title will finally get their hands on the game on September 26.

In addition to the release date, Reikon Games has released a new trailer for the brutally difficult game.

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Ruiner is set to test the reflexes of PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players on September 26. For more on the title, check out our Test Chamber devoted to it.

Far Cry 5 changes things up for the series by bringing the setting to the United States in the fictional Hope County, Montana. Rather than battling a ruthless dictator, you take on an extreme and hostile group of cultists who have been causing trouble for the area. Today, Ubisoft released an extended gameplay demo with a walkthrough from the development team.

The video starts innocently enough with the protagonist hopping into a tractor with his loyal dog Boomer running alongside. However, things get violent quick as the tractor rams a group of cultists, sending blood flying and starting a gunfight. The rest of the video has fishing, stealth, bobbleheads, and much more.

You can see the full walkthrough video below.

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Far Cry 5 hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 27.

Rebellion's Rogue Trooper Redux is set to update the 2006 third-person shooter in multiple ways. The independent developer wants you to know several reasons you should consider visiting (or revisiting) the science-fiction setting of Nu-Earth.

In the trailer below, Rebellion gives you seven reasons why Rogue Trooper Redux is the best way to experience the shooter.

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Rogue Trooper Redux releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 17, and Switch shortly thereafter, and costs $24.99.

Our Take
While the game has obviously aged in the 11 years since it originally launched, the case is made that this is the best way to play the title if you've never experienced Rogue Trooper.

Telltale today announced that the second episode of its sophomore season of Batman introduces the ever-popular character Harley Quinn. In addition, Telltale gave a late September release date for the episode.

The character comes just as the storyline surrounding Joker, aka "John Doe," is kicking into gear. Telltale says it worked hard to craft an interpretation of the character that introduces new elements while keeping the core, essential parts of her intact. Telltale also teases "intriguing" power dynamics between Harley and Joker.

Batman: The Enemy Within – The Pact launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, iOS, and Android on September 26. You can see additional images from the upcoming episode below.

In the beginning of the year, Pokémon Center began a line of Pokémon performing signature moves called Gallery figures. The first wave featured Pikachu, Mew, Eevee, and Magikarp, while the second wave had Cubone, Vulpix, Psyduck, and Jigglypuff. This third wave is decidedly smaller, containing only two figures: Espeon, who is performing light screen, and Umbreon, who is performing dark pulse.

The company sent us both of the figures to check out for ourselves. Each character features a high level of detail and cool move effects surrounding them. You can see all of them and their packaging below. The figures are currently available on PokémonCenter.com and retail for $16.99.

For a photo gallery of the first wave of figures starring Pikachu, Mew, Eevee, and Magikarp, head here. For our look at Cubone, Vulpix, Psyduck, and Jigglypuff, head here.

Sega today revealed a new gameplay mechanic for Sonic Forces, Sonic Team's upcoming core entry in the franchise. The game, which is scheduled to release later this year, is adding a tag mechanic for select stages.

Tag stages feature Modern Sonic and the custom character that's introduced in Sonic Forces combining their powers to defeat enemies and reach the stage goal. Modern Sonic's speed and homing attack are at your disposal, as well as the custom hero's Wispon abilities (customizable powers that range from a flamethrower to a powerful hammer) and grappling hook.

You can catch a brief look at the tag gameplay below.

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In addition, Sega released an appropriately electronic remix for Metal Sonic that will appear in Sonic Forces. You can give that a listen right here as well.

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Sonic Forces releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC later this year. Sonic Mania, a nostalgia-fueled love letter to the series' classic Genesis entries, released earlier this month. You can read our review on that game here.

When have you ever seen a protagonist in a game eat with manners or in a realistically? Yeah, that is an unheard of concept. Almost every character in a game eats strangely, either shoving a pizza in their face or be willing to pause time to restore health with food. Yes, that sword wound will close as soon as you eat that steak. Hello and welcome to this Community Writing Challenge

Booker is a man, so men like him should do his own thing, right? Well, when it comes to manners and sanitary convenience, it should be a rule to eat like a gentlemen in this utopia known as Columbia. I mean, this man must be very hungry all the time when you eat a hotdog in the trashcan. And why hasn't he gotten sick? He should be dying of something by now. Unless, somehow, the Tears are making the body process halt, reason why he doesn't go to the bathroom. 

As you play the game, you can see him eating a lot. Search a trashcan and you eat everything you see. Surprised he hasn't eaten ammo yet... Probably has... What makes you disgust him even more is how he eats food off of corpses. Now, let me ask you something: a luscious piece of pie on top of a corpse and that's the only food you get, would you eat it? If you were Booker Dewitt, you would not hesitate to eat it. I bet he won't even ask how old the corpse is to see how fresh the food is, he will just say it's food. Why hasn't he gained weight anyway? I guess he burns it off when he fights or maybe the Tear theory has taken effect in his weight as well? Who knows, he might just have high metabolism. 

And to go to less disgusting and polite, we have Frank West. Yes he can be considered a hero in every right, I mean he covered wars you know! But would you see that in him while he eats? If a waiter gave him a pie, he would eat face first. No slice, just slam that hole he calls a mouth in the center of the pie. After seeing that, would you see a hero? I don't think so after seeing him devour something like a monster. I mean, everything you give him will be devoured face first no matter what it is! What about a drink you ask? Well, he just eats the cup with the drink. I guess he's that hungry. It is strange to see him eat something, he's a protagonist and all, so seeing him eat so strangely is... Strange! 

That includes the others, like Chuck and Nick eat in the same manner as West and it's strange to see the same type of animation for each character. I mean, Nick is a serious and relatable character and yet he eats like a monster. I guess it's the adrenaline going to their head, they're trying to eat fast. A bit too slow if you ask me, these damn zombies are catching up to you! And those things can eat fast than you, Nick!

At least some people that have the manners to stop the action just so the hero can get a meal for once. The Dovahkiin and, well, any other character from the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series has been able to convince his enemies to stop in place just so he can eat. Wow, they are just so kind! I mean, he's going to kill you after he eats, but good thing you're being a gentleman, Draugr! And it's kind of surprising to see that the hero has packed a lunch just incase he needs it. Where is he putting it? Oh god, I hope he isn't doing it prison style... And I wonder how he eats it so fast? I mean, you can have a mod to make it more realistic, but who wants that? Your enemy thinks it's rude to eat in front of them and enjoying it too much. 

And speaking of polite eaters, there is a special guy in the PC gaming universe that just loves to share his food. What's his name you ask? Well, he is called Heavy, but most call him Hoovy. Strange name, but he is a friendly guy! He walks around in a friendly huddle, waiting for someone to call medic. He'll heal you with his food and love. Either it be a Dalokohs Bar, a Steak or a plain sandvich. It might not heal your wounds, but it will destroy your hunger! Sometimes when the little Hoovy is on the Offensive, he would use it himself or a medic pocketing him. I know I went off topic with this one, but god, I love a Hoovy in a match. Just make sure that hoovy isn't a spy. They have been doing that for the past year now. 

Now, that's it with this Community Challenge. I know there is more that I could have put in here, I mean, I left out the moldy wall chicken for a reason! And don't forget how Corvo likes his food levitated in his mouth. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and 'til next time...

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