If you picked up Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes and are looking to give those bugs a sound thrashing, we’ve got some tips to get you on the right track. It’s not the most complex game, but it’s easy to get stuck in a rut and forget the variety of options at your disposal to approach each encounter. As well as general pointers (hint: dodge a lot), we’ve included an overview of every boss you’ll face. Beware though – the real strength of Travis Strikes Again come from the little surprises it throws up, and naturally there are spoilers below. You’ve been warned!

General tips

• Keep an eye on that beam sword charge. It becomes more powerful the longer you go without taking a hit, but every swing depletes the energy bar. Recharging is simple; click in the left stick and waggle the right Joy-Con.
• Remember that using the toilets not only saves your game but also magically replenishes your health (magic indeed, judging from Travis’ wiping regimen).
• Remember to level up from the pause menu to increase your attack damage – you earn XP with every enemy you defeat. Experiment with different skills, too. We found the Wing Chip’s electric shock and quick dash of the 00 Chip invaluable, but there are loads to choose from. Find something that suits your playstyle.
• Think carefully about the enemies attacking you. Prioritise anything that fires projectiles, then concentrate on melee. It’s usually best to clear the crowd before taking on the tanks.
• Try to line up charge attacks (hitting ‘R’ when charged and waggling the right Joy-Con) to take down as many enemies as possible. They’re powerful and it’s a shame to waste them on one lowly grub while the opposite side of the screen is teeming with baddies.
• Ramen Shops are hard to miss, so be sure to visit Bugjirou the ramen guy for a health and energy top-up.

Boss Guide

1. Electric Thunder Tiger II

Mid Boss – Sheepman Red

Immediately after the third toilet you’ll run into an open space and meet the first midboss. Sheepman Red charges at you and charges himself with electricity, but isn’t hugely challenging (none of the Sheepmen are). If you’ve ignored the dodge button until now, this is an opportunity to get acquainted with it. Keep swinging and dodging and remember to use the skills you’ve picked up (the Shining Chip and the Psycho Chip).

Boss – Electro Triple Star

Travis’ video game hero, Electro Triple Star charges an easily avoidable laser beam, summons bolts of electricity that glow as circles on the ground before striking and fires balls of electricity that radiate out from his position. In phase two he activates four lights around the arena which must be destroyed as enemies spawn. A glowing strip on the floor signals an incoming attack – jump away to avoid a shock. Once the four lights are gone, just pummel him as much as possible, avoiding the occasional pulse wave he emits. Defeating Electro Triple Star will net you the Wing Chip. Equip it immediately – it’s powerful lightning attack will come in handy.

2. Life Is Destroy

Mid Boss – Sheepman Green

Sheepman Green throws three green projectiles that are relatively easy to avoid and engages in some teleportation shenanigans. Simply watch his patterns and learn to dodge – you’ll soon have him licked.

Boss – Doppelganger Patrick Granada Jr

Murderous tendencies aside, Doppelganger is a bit of a pushover. As long as you’ve mastered the dodge, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.

• Phase 1. Simply dodge the occasional projectile and watch out for his teleport.
• Phase 2. He then duplicates himself around the street – hit the fakes to reveal the true Doppelganger(!) before the timer reaches zero. He’ll spawn giant spinning playing cards and floating purple guns that fire at you.
• Phase 3. Similar to phase 2, though with more projectiles.

That’s it. Finish him and you’ll pick be gifted a new skill chip.

3. Coffee & Doughnuts

Mid Boss – Sheepman Purple

In room 305. Similar to his fellow Sheepmen, he’s not fantastically challenging. This one launches homing missiles and spinning blades which hang mid-air for a while, but again, as long as you’ve got your dodging skills down, he shouldn’t prove too much trouble.

Boss – Brian Buster Jr.

Brian’s got some decent punches and fires green energy balls at you, but liberal dodging should keep you clear of the worst of it (we found the 00 Chip very useful for getting out of the way). Once he’s down to his last quarter of health some laser eyes activate on the statue behind him and rain down explosive pain on half of the stage, so be sure to scarper when the red circles appear on the ground. Once Brian is out of his wooden mechsuit, a few generous strikes from the beamsword should sort him out and bag you the Strike Freedom Chip.

4. Golden Dragon GP

Mid Boss – Sheepman Yellow

This one throws fire and releases a shockwave you must jump to avoid. Otherwise he’s the same fodder as normal.

Boss – Smoking King

After beating him in the drag race, you’ll face Smoking King in an arena. He’s got an earthquake-like move that radiates out in bursts, so make sure you jump clear beforehand. He also shoots out powerful fireballs. Get his health bar down to the red and he’ll start releasing projectiles that fan out and doing flaming butt-slams that quake the entire arena – time your jumps to avoid them. Keep at him and you’ll get the Physalis Chip for your troubles.

5. Killer Marathon

Boss – Mothership

Well, if you count the Mothership as a boss then, yes, there’s a boss. Simply get below the mothership and fire at the core. Hitting ‘Y’ releases a 360° explosion of bullets, so use that if you’re surrounded by missiles.

6. Serious Moonlight/Damned Dark Knight

Mid Boss – Sheepman Pink

This one summons hexes that shoot energy balls at you – pink ones. Simple enough to dodge, this sheep is as simple as all the others and should cause you few problems at this late stage.

Boss – Eight Hearts

Eight Hearts spins into a tornado that tracks after you pretty sharpish, so you’ll have to be nimble. Just keep moving and deal with the skulls he summons quickly. Banishing him gets you the Crossbone Chip.

7. CIA

Mid Boss

There’s no traditional midboss, although you’ll encounter Sheepmen on your travels. In general, thin the horde before engaging them one-on-one.

Boss – White Sheepman

White Sheepman has a range of attacks to avoid, including a blackhole-style move that sucks you in, various homing projectiles, shockwaves to jump over and the ability to cause damage by igniting squares on the floor. The strategy is the same as always – keep moving and use that quick dash to get out of the way sharpish. If you’re low on health, equip the V Chip and wait until she moves to the centre and starts her shockwave attack – you’ll be able to stay in one spot absorbing health while jumping to avoid the waves. She’s got one seemingly unavoidable attack – a summoned ball of light that emanates across the entire arena – so you’ll want at least one life in the bank. Once finished, you’ll get the Dendrobium Chip.

Unless you’ve been fast asleep since last week, you’ve probably already heard the news that the development of Metroid Prime 4 is being entirely restarted. Nintendo issued an official statement on the game’s progress last Friday, telling us that Retro Studios would now be working on the title and apologising for what will be a pretty lengthy delay.

With the game now being started over from the very beginning, we’d imagine it won’t see a release until at least 2021/22, and possibly a couple of years later still, but it would seem that not everyone has received this particular message. Despite being among the first to open up pre-orders for the game when it was first announced a couple of years ago, major worldwide retailer Amazon seems to be offering very mixed messages concerning the product’s release.

On the US version of the site, Amazon still has the game listed under a generic 31st December 2019 release date, put in place in response to Nintendo’s original “2019” estimate with pre-orders still fully intact despite the product essentially being put on hold. Things get weirder still on the UK site, where the game has two separate listings – one saying that it will be released on 28th December 2018 (which has already been and gone, obviously) and another saying the year 2030.

Hopefully it goes without saying that any pre-orders made for Metroid Prime 4 will absolutely not be fulfilled by those dates (well, apart from the 2030 option we hope). It could be well over a year before Nintendo even talks about it again, so it might be best to ignore any purchasing options for now.

If you haven’t already, make sure to let us know how you feel about the Metroid Prime 4 delay on our Talking Point feature. You can always leave us a quick comment below, too!

Get ready for the Gears Pro Circuit Mexico City Open on February 1-3 at the World Trade Center in Mexico City, where top Gears Pro Circuit teams from around the world will compete for a $200,000 prize pool. Tickets are still available for fans to watch 70+ teams like OpTic Gaming, Denial and Ghost Gaming (the #1 LATAM team). There will also be a 2v2 Gnashers tournament on February 2 – registration begins on Saturday and is available to the first 100 spectators/pro players that sign-up.

Tune in to live.gearsofwar.com throughout the weekend to claim exclusive free in-game items including the new Glow and Mexico City weapons skins. If you want to fully immerse yourself in the Gears saga after the Gears Pro Circuit Mexico City Open, Xbox Game Pass members can now play every Gears of War game.

Have a great weekend Gears fans – we’ll see you from February 1-3 as teams battle it out in Mexico City! Be sure to visit www.gears.gg and follow @EsportsGears on Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest information about Gears Esports.

Judson Althoff visits Kroger’s QFC store in Redmond, WA, one of two pilot locations featuring connected customer experiences powered by Microsoft Azure and AI. Also pictured, Wesley Rhodes, Vice President of Technology Transformation at Kroger.

Computing is embedded all around us. Devices are increasingly more connected, and the availability of data and information is greater now than it has ever been. To grow, compete and respond to customer demands, all companies are becoming digital. In this new reality, enterprise technology choices play an outsized role in how businesses operate, influencing how employees collaborate, how organizations ensure data security and privacy, and how they deliver compelling customer experiences.

This is what we mean when we talk about digital transformation. As our CEO Satya Nadella described it recently, it is how organizations with tech intensity adopt faster, best-in-class technology and simultaneously build their own unique digital capabilities. I see this trend in every industry where customers are choosing Microsoft’s intelligent cloud and intelligent edge to power their transformation.

Over just the past two months, customers as varied as Walmart, Gap Inc., Nielsen, Mastercard, BP, BlackRock, Fruit of the Loom and Brooks Running have shared how technology is reshaping all aspects of our lives — from the way we shop to how we manage money and save for retirement. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, Microsoft customers and partners highlighted how the Microsoft cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) play an ever-expanding role in driving consumer experiences, from LGE’s autonomous vehicle and infotainment systems, to Visteon’s use of Azure to develop autonomous driving development environments, to ZF’s fleet management and predictive maintenance solutions. More recently, at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, Microsoft teamed up with retail industry leaders like Starbucks that are reimagining customer and employee experiences with technology.

In fact, there is no shortage of customer examples of tech intensity. They span all industries, including retail, healthcare, automotive manufacturing, maritime research, education and government. Here are just a few of my favorite examples:

Together with Microsoft, Kroger – America’s biggest supermarket chain – opened two pilot stores offering new connected experiences with Microsoft Azure and AI and announced a Retail as a Service (RaaS) solution on Azure. This partnership with Kroger resonates strongly with me because I first met with the company’s CEO in 2013 soon after joining Microsoft. Since then, I have witnessed the Kroger-Microsoft relationship grow and mature beyond measure. The pilot stores feature “digital shelves” which can show ads and change prices on the fly, along with a network of sensors that keep track of products and help speed shoppers through the aisles. Kroger may eventually roll out the Microsoft cloud-powered system in all its 2,780 supermarkets.

In the healthcare industry, earlier this month, we announced a seven-year strategic cloud partnership  with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). Through the partnership, WBA will harness the power of Microsoft Azure cloud and AI technology, Microsoft 365, health industry investments and new retail solutions with WBA’s customer reach, convenient locations, outpatient health care services and industry expertise to make health care delivery more personal, affordable and accessible for people around the world.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will harness the power of Microsoft Azure cloud and AI technology and Microsoft 365 to help improve health outcomes and lower overall costs.

Customers tell us that one of the biggest advantages of working with Microsoft is our partner ecosystem. That ecosystem has brought together BevMo!, a wine and liquor store, and Fellow Inc., a Microsoft partner. Today, BevMo! is using Fellow Robots to connect supply chain efficiency with customer delight. Power BI, Microsoft Azure and AI enable the Fellow Robots to provide perfect product location using image recognition to offer customers different types of products by integrating point of sale interactions. BevMo! is also using Microsoft’s intelligent cloud solutions to empower its store associates to deliver better customer service.

Fellow Robots from partner Fellow, Inc. are helping BevMo! connect supply chain efficiency and better customer service. The robots are powered by Microsoft Azure, AI and Machine Learning.

In automotive, companies like Toyota are breaking new ground in mixed reality. With its HoloLens solution, Toyota can now project existing 3D CAD data used in the vehicle design process directly onto the vehicle for measurements, optimizing existing processes and minimizing errors. In addition, Toyota is trialing Dynamics 365 Layout to improve machinery layout within its facilities and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to provide workers with expert support from off-site designers and engineers. Also, Toyota has deployed Surface devices, enabling designers and engineers to fluidly connect in real time as part of a company-wide investment to accelerate innovation through collaboration.

A Toyota engineer uses Microsoft HoloLens to perform a process called “film coating thickness inspection” to manage the thickness of the paint for consistent coating quality on every vehicle.

Digital transformation is also changing the way we learn. For example, in the education space, Law School Admission Council (LSAC), a non-profit organization devoted to law and education worldwide, announced its selection of the Windows platform on Surface Go devices to digitize the Law School Admission test (LSAT) for more than 130,000 LSAT test takers each year. In addition to the Digital LSAT, Microsoft is working with LSAC on several initiatives to improve and expand access to legal education.

One of the thousands of Microsoft Surface Go devices running Windows 10 and proprietary software to facilitate a the modern and efficient Digital LSAT starting in July 2019.

Beyond manufacturing and retail, organizations are adopting the cloud and AI to reimagine environmental conservation. Fish may not be top of mind when thinking about innovation, but Australia’s Northern Territory is building its own technology to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries resources for future generations. For marine biologists, a seemingly straightforward task like counting fish becomes significantly more challenging or even dangerous when visibility in marine environments is low and when large predators (think: saltwater crocodiles) live in those environments. That is where AI comes in. Scientists use the technology to automatically identify and count fish photographed by underwater cameras. Over time, the AI solution becomes more accurate with each new fish analyzed. Greater availability of this technology may soon help other areas of the world improve their understanding of aquatic resources.

Shane Penny, Fisheries Research Scientist and his team using baited underwater cameras as part of Australia’s Northern Territory Fisheries artificial intelligence project with Microsoft to fuel insights in marine science.

With almost 13,000 post offices and more than 134,000 employees, Poste Italiane is Italy’s largest distribution network. The organization delivers traditional mail and parcels but also operates at the digital frontier through innovation in financial and insurance services as well as mobile and digital payments solutions. Poste Italiane selected Dynamics 365 for its CRM, creating the largest online deployment in Italy. The firm sees the deployment as a critical part of its strategy to support growth, contain costs and deliver a better, richer customer experience.

Poste Italiane’s selection of Microsoft is part of their digital transformation program that aims to reshape the retail sales approach and increase cross-selling revenues and profitability of its subsidiaries BancoPosta and PosteVita.

These examples only scratch the surface of how digital transformation and digital capabilities are bringing together people, data and processes in a way that generates value, competitive advantage and powers innovation across every industry. I am incredibly humbled that our customers and partners have chosen Microsoft to support their digital journey.

Tags: AI, Azure, Cloud, customers

If you have ever looked for wargames on your iPad/android device you will know what I mean when I say it’s akin to walking into a swamp to find your wallet. Hundreds upon hundreds of tower defense, sniper and risk clones drown out the truly decent experiences.

Weary of warfare? How about some Sports management games instead?

So with the latest in swamp draining technology allows us to bring you some of the android and iOS war games that are actually worth looking at:

Vietnam ’65 (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform: iPad
Price: $9.99

The core mechanics simulate the nature of counter insurgency operational warfare in a plausible and realistic manner. The constant pressure to keep a presence out in the field makes it difficult to scrape together the forces you need for the big sweeps to destroy the core enemy bases without comprising somewhere. The result is a demanding just one more turn experience.

Also consider: Afghanistan ’11, Slitherine’s follow up that looks at the aftermath of the 2001 war.

Panzer Corps (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform: iPad
Price: $19.99

Panzer Corps has been hailed as the ‘the spiritual successor’ to the Panzer General series. If you don’t know Panzer General it was a wildly successful 1990’s war game. Panzer Corps is light-weight operational level WW2 game play that allows you to play a series of linked scenarios in which your forces will upgrade over time though around 800-unit types. The challenge is taking a specific objective within a time limit whilst retaining your force. Probably not for anyone who is interested in an actual simulation or specific order of battles.

Also Consider:  OpenPanzer, a completely free alternative to Panzer Corps which you can read more about on our ‘free games’ lists for iOS and Android.

Carrier Battles 4 Guadalcanal (Review)

Publisher: Avalon Digital
Platform:  iOS Universal
Price: $6.99

This is an outstanding pacific carrier battles game played out at the operational level. The excellent AI, easy interface and accessibility combined with realism and plausibility makes this game a must if you have a vague interest in naval operations. But most of all I love how this game gets you so quickly to the interesting decision points and the thick of the fighting.

Drive on Moscow (Review)

Publisher: Slitherine
Platform:  iPad
Price: $9.99

This is an operational level, area activation game allowing you to defend or drive or Moscow with realistic units. Battling against time you face a series of agonising decisions in this game, constantly trying to figure out when is a good time to push ahead or fall back to a new line. The outcome is determined by your skill in judging those correct moments. Realistic, tense and accessible, this a most excellent game indeed.

Also Consider: There is another game in Shenendoah’s original ‘lite’ war game series, Battle of the Bulge, which is iOS Universal and well worth checking out.

John Tiller Software

Publisher: John Tiller Software
Platforms:  Android, iPad
Price: Free – $2.99

Modern Campaigns Series

This is a series of four operational level games covering the Arab-Israeli wars, a hypothetical cold war gone hot in Germany in the 80s and Quang Tri offensive in 1972. These games provide detailed order of battle, some good fog of war and a realistic tactical combat element. However, the core system is somewhat dated, the AI isn’t great and the experience doesn’t provide a particularly plausible command simulation if that matters to you. If you don’t like endless drop-down menus then these games aren’t for you, accessibility is not a key strength here.

• Modern Campaigns: Quang Tri ’72 
• Modern Campaigns: Mideast ’67 
• Modern Campaigns: North German Plain ’85 
• Modern Campaigns: Fulda Gap ’85 

John Tiller’s Civil War Battles

There are a ton of civil war battle games on the various stores and most of them are a complete waste of time from a wargame perspective. However, the JTS Civil War Battles series does provide a tactically solid game with a strong order of battle backed up with good combat mechanics.

However, like Modern Campaigns the core system is dated and the overall simulation of the command experience doesn’t feel right. You will be hard pushed to find a better hard core tactical wargame of the ACW out there and with 11 games in the series you will be kept busy. Note, unlike the Modern Campaign games, not every game in this series has been released onto Android:

• Civil War Battles
• The Battle of Antietam
• The Battle of Shiloh
• The Battle of Chancellorsville
• The Battles of the Peninsula
• The Battle of Chickamauga
• Battles in the Ozark
• The Battle of Corinth
• The Petersburg Campaign
• The Battle of Atlanta
• The Battle of Franklin

Also Consider: There are more JTS games on iOS than Android, but in addition to the above JTS has put out some of their Panzer Campaigns and an air warfare and naval warfare game. All are worth checking out, and some are even free!

Alternatively if you want something lighter then look to Hexwar and their series of Civil War: 186X games or their slightly more complex game American Civil War Battles based on the wildly popular Terrible Swift Sword board game Great Battles of the American Civil War.

Conflict Series

Developer: Joni Nuutinen
Platform:  Android
Price: Free to $5.99

The conflict series covers an absolutely huge number of WW2 operational level games that have been put out by this Finnish designer. The main thing about this series is that they are very accessible, time to combat is very quick and its probably the main reason for their success. This is combined with reasonable pricing and a design that makes you want to take just one more turn. On the downside the games don’t look great, they are all pretty similar and the AI can be very poor which without 2 players makes the game long term viability pretty limited.

Nuutinen’s gamelist is a bit too numerous to list here (and it doesn’t appear that he’s on iOS?), so check out this link for the full list of games he’s created. 

Command & Colours: The Great War (Review)

Publisher: HexWar
Platform:  iPad, Android
Price: $9.99

While we weren’t that impressed during our review, the team at HexWar have been putting a lot of work into their digital adaptation since its release. It has some new well themed mechanics that well represent the tactical challenges of the era and to be fair, there’s not a lot of digital WW1 games on mobile around. Since we’ve just come out of the 100th anniversary at the end of the war, this one might be worth reconsidering if it comes up on sale again.

Ancient Battle: Hannibal

Publisher: Hex War
Platform:  iOS Universal
Price: $4.99

It’s hard not to like the Punic Wars with its diverse number of units, colourful characters and wide ranging geography. This game offers different battle scenarios in a traditional hex, you go, I go format linked together by a wider campaign. Whilst their games are pretty standard one thing that HexWar really surpasses in is in its ability to make their games look great and accessible.

This is not only immersive but it allows the player to quickly get to the hard decisions and the crucial turning points that one can agonise over and reflect upon later. The base engine used by HexWar has been used across a number of their games including the early and late medieval and Napoleonic wars. So there are plenty of different era’s here to pick and choose from if you are looking for some serious plate metal on your horse.

Napoleonics: Waterloo

Publisher: DK Simulations (David Kershaw)
Platform:  Android
Price: $1.99

David Kershaw has a traditional mix of mobile wargames that are none too dissimilar to the conflict series but Napoleonics: Waterloo stands out as it takes the mechanics of the Napoleon’s Triumph and Bonaparte at Marango board games and ports them to Android (I couldn’t locate them on the app store -ED). If you are bored of traditional hex war games and want something that better reflects the challenges of a real command and battle using a different kind of mechanic then look no further.

What are your favourite android or iOS war games? Let us know in the comments!

Facebook is under fire for allegedly facilitating over-spending by minors in free-to-play games on Facebook, and internal documents now show that the company chose not to implement security measures that would have prevented kids from unknowingly pouring their parents’ money into games.

According to Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, court documents containing internal Facebook memos, strategies, and employee emails show that Facebook employees knowingly exploited the spending habits of children playing free-to-play games and, in some cases, refused to refund parents who became aware of their children’s spending.

It’s a troubling affair, but one that game developers should pay close attention to as the conversation about ethical monetization, especially when children are involved, isn’t likely to wind down at any point in the future.

A full overview of the particularly troubling bits of what was released can be found over on Reveal’s website, including links to the released documents and snippets of conversations between Facebook and the developers of the games in question.

Some of those documents label children as “whales,” the term typically used toe describe the biggest spenders in a free-to-play game’s playerbase. In many cases, over-spending by minors was the result of either children not realizing they were spending real money by purchasing in-game goodies and currency, or parents not knowing that their credit card information had been stored in the games that their kids are playing.

According to internal documents, a team of Facebook employees set out to solve the issue and eventually devised a system that would require players to re-enter some credit card information to verify that the spending was intentional and permitted by the credit card owner. The change had the intended effect of lowering refund and credit card charge back requests from disgruntled parents, but it ultimately wasn’t implemented for fear it would impact revenue.

“If we were to build risk models to reduce it, we would most likely block good [total purchase value],” said one Facebook employee in the unsealed documents.

Another anecdote shared by the Reveal News roundup captures a conversation between Angry Birds developer Rovio and Facebook in which the developer noticed that 5 to 10 percent of in-game transactions were being refunded. “This seems quite high to me, but it might just be normal for games on Facebook,” wrote the Rovio employee.

In a resulting study looking to explain the high refund rate, Facebook found that 93 percent of those refunds were due to parents not knowing the game was charging their credit card, largely because parents “didn’t think the child would be allowed to buy anything without their password or authorization first.”