A new report traces the history of the early wave of Chinese hackers who became the backbone of the state's espionage apparatus.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Like shopping on Amazon itself, Prime Video can sometimes feel like a jumble sale: a proliferation of TV and movies from every era, none of it terribly well-curated. There’s a lot to sort through, and the choices can be a little overwhelming. Presentation issues aside, there are some real gems to be found, as long as you’re willing to dig a bit—the streamer offers more than a few impressive exclusives, though they sometimes get lost amid the noise. Here are 20 of the best TV series Prime Video has to offer, including both ongoing and concluded shows.Overcompensating (2025 – ) Comedian Benito Skinner plays himself, sort of, in this buzzy comedy that sees a former high school jock facing his freshman year in college, desperately trying to convince himself and everyone else that he's as straight as they come (relatable, except for the jock part). Much of the show's appeal is in its deft blending of tones: It's a frequently raunchy college comedy, but it's simultaneously a sweet coming-of-age story about accepting yourself without worrying about what everyone else thinks. The impressive cast includes Adam DiMarco (The White Lotus) and Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel) You can stream Overcompensating here. Étoile (2025 –, renewed for season two) Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) are back on TV and back in the dance world (following Bunheads) with this series about two world-renowned ballet companies (one in NYC and one in Paris) that decide to spice things up by swapping their most talented dancers. Each company is on the brink of financial disaster, and so Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), director of the Metropolitan Ballet, and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), director of of Le Ballet National, come up with the plan, and recruit an eccentric billionaire (Simon Callow) to pay for it. Much of the comedy comes from the mismatched natures of their swapped dancers, and there's a tangible love of ballet that keeps things light, despite the fancy title. You can stream Étoile here.Fallout (2024 – , renewed for second and third seasons) A shockingly effective video game adaptation, Fallout does post-apocalyptic TV with a lot more color and vibrancy than can typically be ascribed to the genre (in the world of Fallout, the aesthetic of the 1950s hung on for a lot longer than it did in ours). The setup is a little complicated, but not belabored in the show itself: It's 2296 on an Earth devastated two centuries earlier by a nuclear war between the United States and China, exacerbated by conflicts between capitalists and so-called communists. Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) emerges from the underground Vault where she's lived her whole life protected from the presumed ravages of the world above, hoping to find her missing father, who was kidnapped by raiders. The aboveground wasteland is dominated by various factions, each of which considers the others dangerous cults, and believes that they alone know mankind's way forward. It's also overrun by Ghouls, Gulpers, and other wild radiation monsters. Through all of this, Lucy remains just about the only human with any belief in humanity, or any desire to make things better. You can stream Fallout here.Deadloch (2023 –, renewed for a second season) Both an excellent crime procedural and an effective satire of the genre, this Australian import does about as well as setting up its central mystery as Broadchurch and its many (many) imitators. Kate Box stars as Dulcie Collins, fastidious senior sergeant of the police force in the fictional town of the title. When a body turns up dead on the beach, Dulcie is joined by Madeleine Sami's Eddie Redcliffe, a crude and generally obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. Unraveling the web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town is appropriately addictive, with the added bonus of cop thriller tropes getting mercilessly mocked all the way. You can stream Deadlock here.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.Reacher (2022 – , fourth season coming) Getting high marks for his portrayal of the Lee Childs’ character (from both book and TV fans) is Alan Ritchson (Titans), playing Reacher with an appropriately commanding physical presence. The first season finds the former U.S. Army military policeman visiting the rural town of Margrave, Georgia...where he’s quickly arrested for murder. His attempts to clear his name find him caught up in a complex conspiracy involving the town’s very corrupt police force, as well as shady local businessmen and politicians. Subsequent seasons find our ripped drifter reconnecting with members of his old army special-investigations unit, including Frances Neagley (Maria Stan), who's getting her own spin-off. You can stream Reacher here. The Bondsman (2025, one season) It's tempting not to include The Bondsman among Prime's best, given that it's representative of an increasingly obnoxious trend: shows that get cancelled before they ever really got a chance. This Kevin Bacon-led action horror thriller did well with critics and on the streaming charts, and it's had a consistent spot among Prime's top ten streaming shows, but it got the pink slip anyway. Nevertheless, what we did get is a lot of fun: Bacon plays Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter who dies on the job only to discover that he's been resurrected by the literal devil, for whom he now works. It comes to a moderately satisfying conclusion, despite the cancellation. You can stream The Bondsman here. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.The Expanse (2015 – 2022, six seasons) A pick-up from the SyFy channel after that network all but got out of the original series business, The Expanse started good and only got better with each succeeding season. Starring Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dominique Tipper among a sizable ensemble, the show takes place in a near-ish future in which we’ve spread out into the solar system, while largely taking all of the usual political bullshit and conflicts with us. A salvage crew comes upon an alien microorganism with the potential to upend pretty much everything, if humanity can stop fighting over scraps long enough to make it matter. The show brings a sense of gritty realism to TV sci-fi, without entirely sacrificing optimism—or, at least, the idea that well-intentioned individuals can make a difference. You can stream The Expanse here. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 – , renewed for a second season) One-upping the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie on which it's based, Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as a couple of spies tasked to pose as a married couple while coordinating (and sometimes competing against one another) on missions. Smartly, each episode takes on a standalone mission in a different location, while complicating the relationship between the two and gradually upping the stakes until the season finale, which sees them pitted against each other. The show is returning for season two, though it's unclear if Glover and Erskine will be returning, or if we'll be getting a new Mr. & Mrs. You can stream Mr. & Mrs. Smith here. Good Omens (2019– , conclusion coming) Michael Sheen and David Tennant are delightful as, respectively, the hopelessly naive angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, wandering the Earth for millennia and determined not to let the perpetual conflict between their two sides get in the way of their mismatched friendship. In the show’s world, from the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, heaven and hell are are less representative of good and evil than hidebound bureaucracies, more interested in scoring points on each other than in doing anything useful for anyone down here. It’s got a sly, quirky, sometimes goofy sense of humor, even while it asks some big questions about who should get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Following some depressingly gross revelations about writer and showrunner Gaiman, it was announced that he'd be off the production and the third season would be reduced to a movie-length conclusion, date tbd. You can stream Good Omens here. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017 – 2023, five seasons) Mrs. Maisel was one of Prime’s first and buzziest original series, a comedy-drama from Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) about the title’s Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a New York housewife of the late 1950s who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Inspired by the real-life careers of comedians like Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, the show is both warm and funny, with great performances and dialogue; it also achieves something rare in being a show about comedy that’s actually funny. You can stream Mrs. Maisel here. The Boys (2019 – , fifth and final season coming) There’s a lot of superhero stuff out there, no question, but, as there was no series quite like the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic book on which this show is based, there’s nothing else quite like The Boys. The very dark satire imagines a world in which superheroes are big with the public, but whose powers don’t make them any better than the average jerk. When his girlfriend is gruesomely killed by a superhero who couldn’t really care less (collateral damage, ya know), Wee Hughie (Jack Quaid) is recruited by the title agency. Led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the Boys watch over the world’s superpowered individuals, putting them down when necessary and possible. A concluding fifth season is on the way, as is a second season of the live-action spin-off (Gen V). An animated miniseries (Diabolical) came out in 2022. The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019, four seasons) From a novel by Philip K. Dick (whose work has been the basis for Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, among many others), The Man in the High Castle takes place in an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War II, and in which the United States is split down the middle; Japan governing the west and Germany the east. The title’s man in the high castle offers an alternate view, though, one in which the Allies actually won, with the potential to rally opposition to the Axis rulers. As the show progresses through its four seasons, the parallels to our increasingly authoritarian-friendly world, making it one of the more relevant shows of recent years. You can stream The Man in the High Castle here. The Wheel of Time (2021 – 2025, three seasons) An effective bit of fantasy storytelling, The Wheel of Time sees five people taken from a secluded village by Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), a powerful magic user who believes that one of them is the reborn Dragon: a being who will either heal the world, or destroy it entirely. The show has an epic sweep while smartly focusing on the very unworldly villagers, experiencing much of this at the same time as the audience. This is another mixed recommendation in that, while the show itself is quite good, it has just been cancelled following a third season that saw it really getting into its groove. The show goes through the fourth and fifth books of Robert Jordan's fantasy series, so, I suppose, you can always jump into the novels to finish the story. You can stream Wheel of Time here. The Devil’s Hour (2022 – , renewed for a third season) Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) joins Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, Doctor Who) for a slightly convoluted but haunting series that throws in just about every horror trope that you can think of while still managing to ground things in the two lead performances. Raine plays a social worker whose life is coming apart on almost every level: She’s caring for her aging mother, her marriage is ending, her son is withdrawn, and she wakes up at 3:33 am every morning exactly. She’s as convincing in the role as Capaldi is absolutely terrifying as a criminal linked to at least one killing who knows a lot more than he makes clear. You can stream The Devil's Hour here. Batman: Caped Crusader (2024 – , second season coming) I know, there's a lot of Batman out there. But this one's got real style, harkening back to Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s (no surprise, given that Bruce Timm developed this one too). With a 1940s-esque setting, the show dodges some of the more outlandish superhero tropes to instead focus on a Gotham City rife with crime, corrupt cops, and gang warfare. There's just enough serialization across the first season to keep things addictive. You can stream Caped Crusader here. Secret Level (2024 – , renewed for a second season) This is pretty fun: an anthology of animated shorts from various creative teams that tell stories set within the worlds of various (15 so far) video games, including Unreal, Warhammer, Sifu, Mega Man, and Honor of Kings. It's hard to find consistent threads given the variety of source material, but that's kinda the point: There's a little something for everyone, and most shorts don't demand any extensive knowledge of game lore—though, naturally, they're a bit more fun for the initiated. The voice cast includes the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Patrick Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Luna, Ariana Greenblatt, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. You can stream Secret Level here. Cross (2024 – , renewed for a second season) James Patterson's Alex Cross novels have been adapted three times before, all with mixed results: Morgan Freeman played the character twice, and Tyler Perry took on the role in 2012. Here, the forensic psychologist/police detective of a few dozen novels is played by Aldis Hodge (Leverage, One Night in Miami...), and it feels like he's finally nailed it. There are plenty of cop-drama tropes at work here, but the series is fast-paced and intense, and Hodge is instantly compelling in the iconic lead role. You can stream Cross here. Fleabag (2016–2019, two seasons) Fleabag isn’t a Prime original per se, nor even a co-production, but Amazon is the show’s American distributor and still brands it as such, so we’re going to count it. There’s no quick synopsis here, but stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the title character (only ever known as Fleabag) in the comedy drama about a free-spirited, but also deeply angry single woman in living in London. Waller-Bridge won separate Emmys as the star, creator, and writer of the series (all in the same year), and co-stars Sian Clifford, Olivia Coleman, Fiona Shaw, and Kristin Scott Thomas all received well-deserved nominations. You can stream Fleabag here.

Image by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty / FuturismRx/MedicinesGenerally speaking, drug testing in the workplace is supposed to be conductd at random intervals — but according to insider sources, that's not the case for the sometimes-world's richest man.A New York Times exposé about Elon Musk's fear and loathing on the campaign trail found that the billionaire not only has been on boatloads of risky and illegal drugs during his turn into hard-right politics, but was also being tipped off about when he'd be tested for them.As we've long known, SpaceX's federal contractor status requires that all its employees — including its mercurial CEO — pass drug tests. Given Musk's admitted penchant for mind-altering substances, and for ketamine in particular, his ability to pass those tests has long been a concern.If the NYT's sources are to be believed, we may now know how the 53-year-old keeps passing: because he's been warned in advance when the "random" tests are going to occur, and been able to plan accordingly.(Though those sources didn't get into it, anyone who's ever had to pass a drug test themselves knows that there are typicaly two options: drink so much water that you pee all the drugs out of your system, or get urine or hair from someone else and pass it off as your own.)As those same sources allege, Musk's substance use increased significantly as he helped propel Donald Trump to the White House for a second time. He purportedly told people that his bladder had been affected by his frequent ketamine use, and had been taking ecstasy and psilocybin mushrooms too.The multi-hyphenate businessman and politico also carried around a daily medication box with at least 20 pills in it — including ones with markings that resemble the ADHD drug Adderall, according to people who saw photos of it and regaled it back to the NYT. (He's also been linked to cocaine and a cornucopia of other substances.)When it comes to stimulants like Adderall and anything else in Musk's daily pill box — which, despite how the article makes it sound, is not that abnormal a thing for a man in his 50s to be carrying around — there's a good chance that the billionaire has prescriptions that could excuse at least some abuse. He also has claimed that he was prescribed ketamine for depression, though to be fair, taking so much that it makes it hard to pee would suggest he's far surpassed his recommended dosage.As Futurism has noted before, Musk's drugs of choice described here are not often screened for on standard drug panels. Though we don't know how in-depth federal drug tests are, standard tests primarily screen for cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, opiates, and PCP, though some include ecstasy/MDMA as well. Testing for ketamine is, on the other hand, pretty rare.If Musk is being tipped off about his drug tests — and is either flushing his system or taking a sober underling's urine or hair — none of that would matter. But given that the worst of his purported substance abuse revolves around ketamine, there's always a chance that he's in a recurring K-hole and getting off scot-free, unlike his employees, who are held to a much higher standard.More on Musk's drug use: Ex-FBI Agent: Elon Musk's Drug Habit Made Him an Easy Target for Russian SpiesShare This Article

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Baphomet Member Dec 8, 2018 21,923 Whether it be local or global , what is your most enjoyable experience with a multiplayer game? I love FFXIV and I am really enjoying WoW but my favorite multiplayer experience is probably not something most people would pick... My favorite is Dokapon Journey: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LciL9eWBUdI I have so many fond memories playing this with 2 of my closest friends during my early 20's. We would play at their house (they were brothers) until 3am every weekend.  Flipmenex Member Oct 27, 2017 2,283 PES 6. Or pretty much any PS2 Pro Evolution Soccer games. Still the best football games ever.  Shinobido Heart Member Dec 23, 2017 10,187 Probably Uncharted 3 multiplayer.   Cess007 Member Oct 27, 2017 15,493 B.C., Mexico Super Smash Bros Melee Followed very closely by Perfect Dark and CoD2.  Dogui Member Oct 28, 2017 11,019 Brazil Crash Team Racing. Still the goat kart racer.  Rosebud Two Pieces Member Apr 16, 2018 51,243 Fortnite   hydruxo ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 22,735 It's between CoD 4 and Destiny/Destiny 2. I think CoD 4 was the first MP game where I was truly addicted. I was so into it I even joined a clan and did some tournaments and I've never done that with any game. Then Destiny/Destiny 2 had its share of highs and lows but it was such a fun experience going along with those games for 10 years. Most of my friends that I still play with online today are from Destiny back in 2014. Some of my favorite gaming memories of all-time came from Destiny.   Lifejumper #1 Celtics fan / #7 Serbia fan Member Oct 25, 2017 30,000 Halo 2/3   Sargerus ▲ Legend ▲ The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 22,473 A tie between Halo 3 and MW2 (2009).   JhOnNY_HD Member Dec 13, 2020 1,076 Local: Perfect Dark Online: Destiny & Warhawk  atony7 Member Apr 6, 2025 147 Smash Ultimate   Solitude Member Nov 11, 2020 2,033 United Kingdom Uncharted 2 for me.   rawr its ry Member Oct 27, 2017 719 Halo 3, WoW from original to WoTLK or Street Fighter 4   mietek Member May 9, 2025 46 Halo 3   derFeef Member Oct 26, 2017 19,323 Austria For me personally it is a toss-up between Counter-Strike 1.6 and Anarchy Online. Both amazing times playing these games, meeting great people and forming friendships. It can't be recreated.  turbobrick Member Oct 25, 2017 14,451 Phoenix, AZ overwatch/overwatch 2. Its just been consistently fun the entire time I've been playing it. I do have a lot of nostalgia playing counter-strike back in the day, so its a close runner up.  CloseTalker Sister in the Craft Member Oct 25, 2017 38,114 I have had remarkably few multiplayer experiences that have measured up to my enjoyment of the Spies vs Mercs mode in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. And it has to be that version specifically, none of the others were as good   SupersonicHypertonic Member Apr 20, 2022 3,523 Between halo 3, COD:MW2 (the original) Titanfall 2 and Mario Kart 8. Some of the most fun I've ever had and played with a lot cool people online and in person.   Jameson Member Nov 23, 2017 1,096 WoW   MadJosh04 Member Nov 9, 2022 2,824 Halo 3   Mr. Poolman The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 8,159 Unreal Tournament, can't tell how many lunch breaks I forgot to play this at an old work I had. Also taught me about mods  Fossora Member Jun 14, 2023 2,445 It has to be WoW or OSRS. For non-MMOs, probably Dota.  Skel1ingt0n Member Oct 28, 2017 11,501 PVP: Halo 2 PVE: Phantasy Star Online Eps I&II LITERALLY more than 5,000 hours dumped into those two games. EDIT: Honest to God I could be completely satisfied with just Halo 2's 1-bomb assault on Headlong until the end of time if it had a huge community and dev support for tweaks.  Rockodile Member Dec 7, 2018 1,254 Probably Halo 2   Protein Carbs Fat Member Jun 24, 2024 97 World of Warcraft   Mr Evil 37 Member Mar 7, 2022 27,871 Halo Infinite and Titanfall 1.   Rygar 8Bit Member Oct 25, 2017 17,781 Site-15 Half-Life is #1 king for me no other game has come close. the amount of total conversion mods were crazy. Counter Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat, The Specialists, Natural Selection, Vampire Slayers, Firearms, Science & Industry, Sven Co-op, Brainbread, Earth Special Forces. These mods lasted me almost 10 years of daily play. After that I'd rank the rest of my top 10 as: Ultima Online Star Wars Galaxies Diablo 2 Nox Starsiege Tribes Phantasy Star Online Battlefield 4 Unreal Tournament Aliens vs Predator 2 Age of Empires 2  UraMallas Member Nov 1, 2017 24,473 United States PvP is Halo PvE is Gears  Jakenbakin "This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance Member Jun 17, 2018 14,387 Rocket League is my favorite, but some others I've enjoyed Trackmania (the Wii version had hundreds of hours played in my garage lol) Super Smash Bros (Brawl mostly just for timing) New Super Mario Bros Wii Mario Party's Jackbox Zombi U Borderlands Dead Nation Overcooked Game & Wario was weirdly a huge hit with my friends Nintendoland Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1+2/Champions of Norrath 1+2 Obscure 1+2 Pixeljunk Eden/Monsters Boom Blox Guitar Hero/Rock Band bit.trip Beat is not multiplayer, but my friends and I would set there stoned out of our minds jamming to the tunes taking turns lol  Stibbs Member Feb 8, 2023 4,258 The 518 Destiny probably, arguably the most important game in my personal life   JMY86 Member Oct 27, 2017 7,640 United States Battlefield 1942   panic Member Oct 26, 2024 83 Battlefield. Played all of them.   Indelible Member Oct 27, 2017 17,116 Canada Local: WCW/NWO Revenge for N64 Online: Titanfall  FLX-II Gargantuan Generousness Guaranteed Member Oct 28, 2017 456 Unreal Tournament 2004   ethanradd Member Oct 30, 2017 2,230 The Division 1, absolutely beautiful game, some really talented people at Ubisoft worked on that game.   PianoBlack Member May 24, 2018 7,522 United States This is tough but let's go with PlanetSide. At its best, it was unmatched.   overcast Member Oct 25, 2017 15,252 Rocket League followed by Gears/COD4. At its peak, Overwatch had its hooks in me like nothing else.   Bessy67 Member Oct 29, 2017 13,055 Mass Effect 3. Nothing else has scratched quite the same horde mode itch. The classes, the enemy types and factions, the weapons, and the biotic/tech combos just all blended together so well to make what is to me the best co-op PvE experience I've ever played.   VoidShaman Member Jul 11, 2023 1,381 Right now it is a tie between Warframe and Final Fantasy XIV, with Space Marine 2 coming in as a very close third.   Rygar 8Bit Member Oct 25, 2017 17,781 Site-15 PianoBlack said: This is tough but let's go with PlanetSide. At its best, it was unmatched. Click to expand... Click to shrink... True, how there are no other games like it is baffling. Planetside 1&2 are amazing.  julian Member Oct 27, 2017 18,995 For more than just 2 players, Saturn Bomberman.   TheBaldwin Member Feb 25, 2018 8,766 Halo 2/3. Hell now I can just cheat with Halo Master Chief Collection. Honestly I could play that collection until the end of time and be satisfied. Other mentions would be Rainbow Six Siege, GTA4 Online (Yes 4, not 5), Team Fortress 2, and Bad Company 2  Mudcrab Avenger Oct 26, 2017 3,963 The original DayZ mod for ARMA 2 before the bandit changes   PianoBlack Member May 24, 2018 7,522 United States Rygar 8Bit said: True, how there are no other games like it is baffling. Planetside 1&2 are amazing. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Seriously! Time for my annual "where is the StarCraft / Halo PvPvE take on PlanetSide??" post.  maze001 Member Sep 18, 2024 665 Halo 3 or Street Fighter 4 Spent countless hours on both too hard to pick one  Last edited: Today at 8:33 PM Grenlento Member Dec 6, 2023 1,801 I guess the early VS games (X-Men CotA & XvSF in particular) in arcades. It was the first time I made IRL friends from gaming.   Mr Evil 37 Member Mar 7, 2022 27,871 UraMallas said: PvP is Halo PvE is Gears Click to expand... Click to shrink... Franchise is cheating. Pick one 😉   Rygar 8Bit Member Oct 25, 2017 17,781 Site-15 PianoBlack said: Seriously! Time for my annual "where is the StarCraft / Halo PvPvE take on PlanetSide??" post. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Every time someone asks how a Starcraft MMO could even work I just constantly shout make it like Planetside. You take the 3 way war of Planetside, you add some base building type stuff like from Natural Selection and you make one of the best games ever made.  Razgriz-Specter Member Oct 25, 2017 34,508 Socom Rainbow 6 Vegas 1 COD4  EllaJay Member Dec 10, 2024 137 Left 4 Dead 2. It has one of the best communities. I made so many friends in random matches. I still play it sometimes but I wish they'd make a new one.  

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowImage: Paramount / Konami / Ocean / KotakuApparently there’s a new Mission: Impossible movie coming out soon. But what there isn’t is a new Mission: Impossible video game, and we’d like to hear someone explain why not. It’s outrageous. The 1960s TV show has games. The first of Cruise’s movies, 1996's Mission: Impossible, has a game. (No Tom Cruise likeness in the game, though.) Why aren’t I playing the Just Cause-like gamedo exist, and wonder quietly to ourselves if that was actually a good idea.Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 12List slidesMission Impossible (1979)List slidesMission Impossible (1979)HighretrogamelordThe very first Mission: Impossible video game, albeit an unofficial one, came out in 1979. And no, that’s not a typo. Scott Adams (no, thank god, not the Dilbert one) and Irene Adams made a series of text adventures after being inspired by Scott’s colleagues who created the seminal Colossal Cave Adventure in 1976. Widely considered to be a joint founders of the entire genre, the Adamses made a series of text adventure games (what you kids now call Interactive Fiction) for the TRS-80 in the late ‘70s, one of which was originally called Mission Impossible (without the distinctive colon that’s officially in the title of the TV shows and movies).Things were a bit of a wild west back then, given that there wasn’t really a vast home gaming industry. The game featured a spy called Phelps after the main character of the original show, who begins sat in front of a tape recorder containing a message that begins much like those on the show often did. “Good morning Mr. Phelps. Your Mission (should you decide to accept it) is to prevent this automated nuclear reactor from being destroyed by a saboteur’s TIME BOMB!” Perhaps it’s not surprising that the owners of the TV show threatened legal action.This led to all manner of names ending up attached to the game, the most common being Secret Mission, which was added to the already-printed boxes via a cheaply produced gold sticker. It’s something of a joy that one of the first ever popular text adventures should be such a brazen rip-off.Previous SlideNext Slide3 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1990)List slidesMission: Impossible (1990)SNES drunkTempting as it is to include the fantastic Impossible Mission platform/puzzle games of the 1980s in this list, they don’t really count, though they do still feature the greatest somersaults in gaming history. So instead we jump forward to 1990, when the Nintendo Entertainment System was blessed with a game based on the short-lived 1988 reboot of the TV series. This time we have an officially licensed game, developed by Konami, that was released just in time to mark the TV version’s cancellation after just 35 episodes. (The original 60s/70s Mission: Impossible ran for 171 episodes, with Leonard Nimoy appearing in 49 of them.) The IMF team is tasked with rescuing Jane Badler’s character, Shannon Reed, along with “Dr. O,” an IMF scientist, all through the magic of top-down 1990 action.You could switch between three characters, Max Harte, Grant Collier and Nicholas Black, each with their own skills as they charged through Venice, Switzerland, and all those good Eurozone adventure locations. Previous SlideNext Slide4 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1991)List slidesMission: Impossible (1991)Mission: Impossible gameplay (PC Game, 1991)It’s a year later, and there’s a second licensed game from the franchise! But this time, it’s a graphic adventure! This time published by Konami but developed by Distinctive Software, makers of many a TV/movie tie-in game, this was very much an attempt to muscle in on Sierra’s territory, complete with a near lift of Sierra’s distinctive row of interaction options across the top of the screen.It was then made more complicated by playing in real-time, with four characters to control at once as you tracked down terrorists, bugged phones and infiltrated enemy HQs. Only Jim Phelps appears to have made it over from the TV shows, however, with new characters to chose from, including the extraordinarily spelt “Rodger.”What’s so surprising about this game is that I’d simply never heard of it, despite being 14 years old at the time of its release and playing every graphic adventure I could get my hands on. However, its midi rendition of the theme tune really should have made it an all-time classic. Previous SlideNext Slide5 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1998)List slidesMission: Impossible (1998)N64 ArchiveSlipping subtly past Micro Games of America’s 1996 dedicated handheld game based on the series, we next find the spies appearing in video games in 1998, with the Tom Cruise era of Mission: Impossible now underway. And it’s on N64 (and a year later, PlayStation). Sometimes known as Mission: Impossible - Expect the Impossible, this console game was intended to be a tie-in with the first of the Cruise-led movies. Except, keen chronologers will note, 1998 was two years after 1996.This was originally supposed to be created by Ocean, a studio famous for its movie-based games. Think RoboCop, Platoon, Total Recall, and Lethal Weapon, all improbably realized as side-scrolling action games. That wasn’t the plan this time, however—ambitions were far higher. Mission: Impossible was an attempt to create something in the style of Rare’s GoldenEye 007, and, well, it wasn’t going great.After three years in development, and the slow realization that the N64 wasn’t powerful enough for their plans, Ocean was bought by Infogrames in 1997, and a whole new team was assigned to the project. Apparently at that time, the game was running at four frames per second. Things were made harder by Viacom, owners of the film rights, refusing to let the game feature too much gun-based violence, and Tom Cruise refusing to allow his face to be in games The new team wound up crunching for months.Yet, despite all this, it went on to sell over a million copies, even though its reviews weren’t exactly great. A late ‘90s IGN went as low as a 6.6, which was about as a low a score as the site back then would give. Previous SlideNext Slide6 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1999)List slidesMission: Impossible (1999)CGRundertowIt was four long years between Brian de Palma’s original Tom Cruise movie and John Woo’s somewhat unlikely follow-up. So it was that as late as 1999, the Game Boy Color’s Mission: Impossible game was still based on that first film. But this time it was as all movie-based games should be: an isometric action game. Incredibly, this belated tie-in was the work of developer Rebellion, who that same year brought us the landmark Alien Versus Predator on PC, and are now best known for an infinite number of Sniper Elite games (as well as this year’s Atomfall). There were all sorts of ambitious ideas, including an entirely game-irrelevant Agent Action Kit that let you use your GBC as a calculator, address book, and a notebook that could print stuff out on your Game Boy Printer. Sadly, none of these were part of the game itself, which was deeply mediocre.Previous SlideNext Slide7 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - Game Boy Advance)List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - Game Boy Advance)LongplayArchiveMission: Impossible - Operation Surma came out in 2003 on PS2, alongside a very different and much worse version on Game Boy Advance. It seems unfair to put them into the same slide, given they’re made by entirely different developers.By this point, Infogrames had begun wearing the ill-fitting skin of the long-dead Atari, and like so many games of the era, had two lots of developers make two versions of a game with the same name. For the GBA, it was M4 Ltd, a small UK developer that seemingly only made GBA games based on existing licenses. So alongside Antz World Sportz and Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winner’s Circle, they also created the handheld incarnation of the movie tie-in.Set between the events of Mission: Impossibles 2 and III, Operation Surma finds our espionaging heroes trying to stop the evil Surma group from releasing a virus called ICEWORM which can disable any type of security system. As you’d expect, you go all over the world in your efforts, although on the GBA version you do this in painfully static 2D, rather than in the PS2 version’s 3D action. This version got an absolute kicking by the press, with Cheat Code Central stating, “I would have had more fun gluing spray-painted macaroni to my ass than playing Mission Impossible: Operation Surma on the GBA.”Previous SlideNext Slide8 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - PS2)List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - PS2)LongplayArchiveOK, so this version was far better received, although not exactly widely loved. It was, as you can tell from the video, an entirely different game from the GBA incarnation. (As I say, this was common, but didn’t always end badly. The Tony Hawk GBA games, for instance, were masterpieces.)A third-person action game, it was packed with missions, spy tech, and a big cast of characters. And, rather importantly, it was attempting not to recreate the plot of one of the movies, but rather to bridge the time between the second and third films in the franchise.Developed by Texan team Paradigm Entertainment, who were best known for the N64's Pilotwings 64, it was a perfect example of that most damned gaming territories: fine. It was fine. As 7/10 as a game can be. It tried to do loads, it had excellent ambitions, but it all just fell a little flat without ever being bad.Yet, as Zack laments, it also marked the last console-based attempt to make a Mission: Impossible game. Why? Perhaps enough average-to-bad games had convinced Atari that the license wasn’t proving likely to get results? Or perhaps people were just fed up with Tom Cruise for being such a bloody spoilsport, and not letting his face or voice appear in any of the games. (Incidentally, Ving Rhames and John Polson showed up to voice their characters in Operation Surma!)Previous SlideNext Slide9 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible III (2006)List slidesMission: Impossible III (2006)Gameplays JavaThat’s right, we get near to the end of our round-up of every Mission: Impossible game ever with 2006's Mission: Impossible III, the mobile-only tie-in for the 2006 J.J. Abrams threequel. Created by Gameloft, who have also brought us Disney Dreamlight Valley and Sexy Poker: Top Models (alongside the Asphalt franchise and a billion other mobile IPs), this game was only ever released for phones, as were numerous other licensed Gameloft games of the era.Was it any good? I don’t know! It was released for mobile only in 2006! The game’s in portrait. Pocket Gamer liked it at the time, though, and while Carolyn here on staff hasn’t played it, she’s heard good things about a number of Gameloft’s mobile-only efforts of the era.Previous SlideNext Slide10 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible -The Game (2011)List slidesMission: Impossible -The Game (2011)Mission: Impossible - The GameI don’t think anyone’s ever even heard of this web-only game from developers Funtactix, and having watched the video above, I think that may be for the best.Previous SlideNext Slide11 / 12List slidesMission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)List slidesMission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)Mission Impossible Rogue Nation - Android Gameplay HDGlu Mobile’s 2015 tie-in Rogue Nation looks like a visually impressive gallery shooter, at least. In his brief review of the game for Pocket Gamer, Ric Cowley says all that probably needs to be said about it: “If you stick with it, there’s a perfectly average game in here. But it’s so repetitive that you’ll have seen everything it has to offer in ten minutes.” It’s now been over 20 years since there was a proper Mission: Impossible game for console or PC, despite the movies being such a massive deal. As Zack correctly laments, this is a series ripe for a fantastic video game. It’s somehow never received one. Perhaps making that hypothetical, great Mission: Impossible game is the most impossible mission of all.