Few video game characters are as iconic as Sonic the Hedgehog. The speedy little blue blur has been around for over three decades, touching every corner of pop culture along the way, from games, to comics, to TV, to blockbuster movies. But we’re here specifically to celebrate the mainline Sonic game series and pick the best of them. Before we start, let’s quickly touch upon our criteria. We tried to rank these games based on a combination of historical significance, innovation, and how well these games stand the test of time. Some games, like Sonic Adventure 1 and the original Sonic the Hedgehog, for instance, are obviously super important to the Sonic series and set the foundation for both 2D and 3D Sonic games to follow, but we felt like they both didn’t quite hold up as well as their sequels when judged by a modern standard, which was why they just missed this list. The 10 games on this list are the ones we feel are the best examples of both classic and modern Sonic style. So w...
Baldur's Gate 3 is a game full of intricate detail. With so many dialogue options, characters, classes, and quests, everyone's experience is a little bit different. Discoveries are around every corner, and the only thing seemingly separating you from success or tragedy is a dice roll. That being said, it's a lot easier to somewhat plot your destiny when you know where you're going. IGN's Baldur's Gate 3 interactive map can help guide you on your quest through Act 1, 2 and 3. See the full Baldur's Gate 3 Map for all locations We have the most updated Baldur's Gate 3 map with the location of every item, chest, enemies, NPC, and more throughout the prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. You can also check out our Baldur's Gate 3 walktrough for quests guides and details. Baldur's Gate 3 Interactive Map Currently, our Baldur's Gate 3 map features locations for the Prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. This include a Nautiloid map, a map of t...
Nintendo has promised to fix a game-breaking issue in Paper Mario: The Origami King that can keep players from progressing through the story. Light location spoilers for Paper Mario: The Origami King follow. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/paper-mario-the-origami-king-announcement-trailer"] On Mario and Olivia's journey to the last streamer in The Origami King, players have to collect four stamps for their Spring of Rainbows VIP card in the Shangri-Spa area. After you collect all four stamps from four different hot springs, you gain access to a secret fifth hot spring. However, once you enter the fifth hot spring, the Spring of Rainbows, you lose your VIP pass. And, the other four hot springs will not give Mario a second stamp, meaning it's impossible to regain the VIP pass after you've already used it. If you try to re-enter the Spring of Rainbows, Mario will once again be asked to show his VIP pass. So, if you leave the Spring of Rainbows b...
While on previous Forza Horizon games the wild, toy-themed expansions have come after a more grounded one, for Forza Horizon 5 developer Playground Games led with its terrific Hot Wheels add-on last year. However, after seven months of pounding the orange plastic high above the clouds, the team has taken us right back down to the desert and dust for some new rally-themed racing across a fresh slab of Mexican countryside. It admittedly isn’t quite as eye-catching – and it’s regressed from some key tweaks to the progression system introduced in Hot Wheels – but competing against the clock with a co-driver is a great new way to race in Horizon, and the excellent map is packed with far more technical routes than found in the main game.
This map, which Playground has dubbed Sierra Nueva, is really the highlight of Rally Adventure – and perhaps deceptively so, considering it’s not as immediately distinct from the main game itself as, say, the snowy Blizzard Mountain DLC was from the core Forza Horizon 3 map. There are six different environments blended together in Sierra Nueva, and on closer inspection it does effectively look and feel like a separate part of Mexico than what we’ve been driving around since late 2021. There’s new vegetation, and zones like the quarry are unlike anything already in Horizon 5.
Sierra Nueva’s real strength, however, is its road network.
Sierra Nueva’s real strength, however, is its road network. Don’t be fooled by the early pop-up that indicates you’ve only got 32 roads to drive down before you’ve seen them all – many of these roads are long and technical, like the guitar solo in Free Bird. The best among them are characterised by tighter corners and more hairpins than you’ll find on a typical Forza Horizon 5 road, plus more bumps and jumps, as well as longer stretches between junctions. Sierra Nueva’s new dust effects are also a standout, and it hangs in the air above the dirt and gravel for far longer than before.
After a strong opening drive, where the route into the festival is clogged with campers on the way into the main hub, Rally Adventure breaks the racing up into three threads – each with a slightly different take on rallying. In a somewhat unfortunate step back, things have reverted to a bit of a free-for-all rather than the gated class system that gave the Hot Wheels expansion a nicer sense of progression. Of course, you can still use any car you want to enter events and the AI will adjust class accordingly. This is how I played, changing cars for each of the nearly 30 events to keep things varied. I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by blazing through everything in your fastest hypercar, unless you’re only here for a short time rather than a good time.
Each event can be played two ways – either as a single car rallying against the clock or a standard race against a pack of opponents – but the proper rallying is the highlight. It’s not a particularly demanding simulation (and its straightforward pace notes crib plenty from the pick-up-and-play pleasure of genre granddaddy Sega Rally) but it’s absorbing, arcade-inspired fun. Having your co-driver soaring over the stage above you in a helicopter is a cool touch, too. It doesn’t just look slick, either – it’s also a smart solution to explain why you’re still receiving co-driver audio in single-seater vehicles.
Dust ’Til Dawn
As with Hot Wheels, Rally Adventure adds 10 new vehicles to the garage – and it’s worth noting the selection here is a way more natural fit in this rally-themed expansion than it was last time around. Now don’t get me wrong, because there are some wicked cars that come with Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels – especially if you’re into… supercars named after Australian 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, which peculiarly accounts for 20 percent of them. However, it’s hard to say there’s much inherently “Hot Wheels” about cars Mattel has never made diecast versions of.
I’m an enormous fan of the iconic 2001 WRC Ford Focus RS of Colin McRae and Nicky Grist, and it’s a perfect fit as essentially the hero car of this expansion.
In Rally Adventure, the curation leans entirely into rallying and off-roading. I’m an enormous fan of the iconic 2001 WRC Ford Focus RS of Colin McRae and Nicky Grist, and it’s a perfect fit as essentially the hero car of this expansion. I also love the Hoonigan Beetle, affectionately nicknamed the Scumbug. It’s not quick, but lower-powered cars are regularly a lot of fun to use as it’s all about pushing them up to their absolute limit and keeping them there on the brink of losing control in order to maintain your momentum. It’s especially serendipitous here considering the Scumbug was literally built by the Hoonigan team to rally in Mexico.
There’s an argument that the 10 new cars are too heavy with trophy trucks and buggies over traditional rally cars, but keep in mind the latest update to the main game just added a host of new rally parts for pretty much every traditional rally car already in the existing garage. On top of that, the incredibly talented community has whipped up excellent replica liveries for all of them over the past few years. The lack of a license for Lancia in Forza Horizon 5 hurts, and it definitely leaves a hole in an experience so overtly inspired by the likes of Sega Rally, but there are plenty of other rally legends that can be built to tackle this new map.
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