Rachael Leigh Cook has shared her regrets over not taking on the role of Rogue in 2000's X-Men movie, saying she recognized early on that she had made a mistake.
In an interview with The New York Times published on Sunday, Cook spoke about her decision to decline the role of Rogue in Bryan Singer's X-Men movie more than 20 years ago. The actress passed on the part because she wanted to avoid acting on a green screen but says she realized her mistake as soon as she saw the posters for the big-budget flick.
Cook noted the move had been a "huge misstep" in her career, as she reflected back on her decision to focus on independent movies. "I really thought what everyone told me was correct when they said, 'What we need to do now is make sure you're taken seriously,'" Cook told the publication, acknowledging that she "definitely did things for the wrong reasons."
The role of Rogue ultimately went to Cook's She's All That co-star Anna Paquin, who played the iconic Marvel character in four of the X-Men movies from 2000 to 2014. Paquin was slated to have a larger role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but it was cut down before the movie hit the big screen, with Singer later releasing a straight-to-home video "Rogue Cut" of the film.
Now that Disney owns 20th Century Fox, the future of the X-Men franchise has become an extremely hot topic considering the MCU made it all the way to Avengers: Endgame with nary a mutant. That spell might be set to last a little longer yet, but it doesn't mean that Marvel hasn't been busy laying the groundwork for the mutant superheroes to show up.
Respawn has announced that it will remove tap-strafing (a movement technique used by PC players) from the game in its next patch. It's been seen by some as a controversial move from the developer, and feedback from across the community has been polarised.
News of the removal of tap-strafing was shared by Respawn on their Twitter account. The company said, "After much consideration and debate, we've decided to remove tap-strafing from [Apex Legends] in patch 10.1. Our reasoning: It's inaccessible, lacks readability/counterplay, and is exacerbated by movement abilities."
After much consideration and debate, we've decided to remove tap-strafing from @playapex in patch 10.1.
Our reasoning: It's inaccessible, lacks readability/counterplay, and is exacerbated by movement abilities.
The next patch notes will include a more detailed note about this.
Prior to its removal, criticism towards the inclusion of tap-strafing within the game could predominantly be heard from the community's console players. The high skill movement technique can only be achieved on PC and essentially involves a combination of air strafing, b-hopping, and movement adjustments to modify a player's momentum in the air, allowing them to turn sharply and precisely mid-flight.
Despite it being felt by some players that the inclusion of tap-strafing within the game was unfair, its removal has also seen outcry. Across the game's subreddit, some Apex players have complained that the removal of tap-strafing hugely impacts PC players who utilize a movement-based playstyle within the game. In a similar vein, others felt that the change acted as a nerf for PC players generally, who would still come up against controller players aided in combat by aim assist.
The removal of tap-strafing isn't the only recent change to Apex that has come following community pressure. After the launch of Apex's newest Legend, Seer, the studio took the decision to nerf the character following criticism from its fanbase who felt like a number of the character's abilities were unbalanced and broke the action of Apex Legends.
There are still some incredible deals in the Amazon End of Summer Sale, including discounts on Apple AirPods, PS5 Pulse 3D Headsets, and more. One of our other favourite deals on this sale is on the Razer Kraken Tournament Edition Gaming Headset, now just £28.38 (see here) – which is an especially good deal considering it retails for £100.
You'll need to purchase from Amazon Warehouse, so make sure you click the 'Buy Used' section for the best discount. Don't worry Amazon has certified all these items, so normally it's just minor scratches or a damaged box. This sale is only running until the end of the day on September 3, however, so don't miss out on the best deals.
TL;DR – Our Favourite Deals
Amazon Warehouse Sale: Extra 30% Off Gaming and Tech Items at Checkout
Pulse 3D Headset Down to £78 at Amazon (Save £12)
Incredible Deal on FitTrack Smart Body Scales
FitTrack has got another incredible sale on its Smart Body Scales right now (see here). There's a huge site-wide sale for Back to School and the recent UK Bank Holiday, and you can get an extra 25% off with codes BANK25, or SCHOOL25. The sale is running until September 5, so don't miss out.
Audible: Get 3-Months for just 99p (Save £23)
Halo Infinite SteelBook Collector's Edition Preorders Now Live
Halo Infinite Collector's Edition SteelBook is now available to preorder for £54.99 (see it at Amazon). This includes a full copy of the game on Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, alongside a unique limited edition SteelBook case. Halo Infinite will launch on December 8, 2021.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
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Somebody call for a webslinger? No? Well, too bad because here's some going for cheap (Insomniac's original and its Miles Morales follow-up). Meanwhile, Xbox fans are getting spoiled with reduced Call of Dutys, plus Acti's chopping RRP on 3D platforming packs. Last but not least, there's a PC sale on everything Earth Defense Force, and those cheap Switch Lites are still a thing.
The nonsensical delight of Maneater's shark-RPG premise made for an amusing if somewhat repetitive campaign last year, but the recycled ideas of its new Truth Quest DLC don’t do much to stop that novelty from wearing thin. This expansion mostly offers more of what you’ve already seen, sending you on familiar missions to eat hapless humans, destroy boats, or kill fellow sea dwellers. You’ll still get to hear hilarious narrator Trip Westhaven (once again voiced by Archer’s Chris Parnell) say outlandish stuff while you explore a new area of Port Clovis, and it’s still exciting to kill-or-be-killed by bounty hunters who bear down armies upon you in an effort to taste your delicious shark meat. These activities are just as fun as they were in the base campaign, but unfortunately they’re just as monotonous too.
Having finished his documentary about a bull shark and Scaly Pete, Maneater’s narrator has naturally now gone full conspiracy theorist, sending you on a quest to uncover the truth that the Illuminati satanic lizard people are hiding… or whatever. What you’re actually after isn’t very well explained, but the story ultimately unfolds into a by the numbers hunt for a creature called the Atomic Leviathan. As over-the-top premises go, seeing Westhaven go from eccentric documentarian to babbling conspiratorial psychopath is entertaining and well written, even if a lot of the things you’re doing along the way feel extremely similar to when he was sane.
However, that’s not to say that there is nothing new in Truth Quest. There’s a fantastic new evolution set that turns you into an irradiated demon of the sea with the ability to shoot lasers out of your mouth like Godzilla. This new ability is cool, but it’s also so overpowered that there’s little reason to use anything else, as you’re able to blast apart even the toughest enemies with relative ease. Watching helicopters get knocked out of the sky and people explode as you melt their faces with it never really gets old, but its mere existence also undermines a lot of the other combat choices you could be making.
Alongside the new body mod there are five new organ evolution mods, an added organ slot, and an increased max level of 40 (raised from 30 in the base campaign). None of these are real game changers aside from the organ mod that lets you heal over time, but at the very least they give you some carrots on a stick to grind toward as you work your way through the new region and hunt a mysterious new predator.
The new laser attack is so overpowered there's little reason to use anything else.
One thing that does manage to stand out is how much Truth Quest makes use of Maneater’s Whipshot attack, which lets you grab grenades, torpedoes, or other explosive projectiles thrown at you, and tail-thwack them back at your enemies. While the Whipshot wasn’t required a whole lot to get through the original campaign, it’s absolutely necessary in Truth Quest as some enemies can only be hit from a distance. You can use this to satisfyingly destroy structures or helicopters that would otherwise be out of your reach, or to do serious damage to high level enemies.
The only issue is that you can’t use the Whipshot unless you’ve got AI enemies throwing explosives at you, and sometimes they don’t when you really need them to. Or they do, but they throw them so incompetently that you’ve gotta flail around desperately trying to grab one before they explode, probably taking more damage in the process than you would have if you’d have just gnawed on whatever it is you’re trying to blow up.
Speaking of dimwitted AI, the humans and sea creatures that are usually pushovers up their game slightly in Truth Quest, now coming after you with helicopters, massive warships, and freaky new radiation powers that can seriously mess you up. Seeing the new weapons of war for the first time is a thrill, especially facing off against helicopters – leaping into the air to chew on one of those metal dragonflies is just delightful. Normally all these new enemies would present a pretty lethal challenge… but since you can shoot lasers out of your doggone mouth now, they’re never actually an issue. Oh, the joys of power creep.
Outside of combat, there’s a new kind of side quest called Time Trials, where you literally and figuratively jump through hoops to complete a circuit in time. That helps break up the routine a bit, but Time Trials aren’t particularly exciting overall. Racing around the sea is already something you spend quite a lot of time doing in Maneater, so getting timed while you do it isn’t exactly adding much new to the experience. But at least now Chris Parnell will make fun of you as you struggle to jump through rings of fire. That’s always nice.
The DLC's short-lived campaign only lasts a handful of hours.
There’s also a new “collectible” in the form of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists who hide in hard-to-reach places and spout nonsense before you eat them, which can make for some good, murderous fun. But aside from those thin additions, all the new missions in Truth Quest are nearly identical to stuff we’ve seen before, like eating a certain number of humans or hunting an apex predator that presents a limited challenge. It’s actually surprising how many ideas are re-used, which sometimes feels like it could have been a part of the original game with how little it distinguishes itself.
Truth Quest’s short-lived campaign only lasts a handful of hours, even for a completionist run, but the finale, which has you facing off against the Atomic Leviathan itself, is an absolute highlight. This irradiated monstrosity is unlike any boss encounter in Maneater before it, and feels like a proper kaiju-like monster fight. It doesn’t quite justify a lot of the repetitive questing it takes to track him down, but it at least serves as an enjoyable finale to an otherwise unremarkable expansion.
