Technologies
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: A Pricey Way to Join the AI Craze
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s new AI tricks show promise, but you don’t need to splurge on Samsung’s top-of-the-line phone to get them.
Why You Can Trust CNET
Pros
- Chat translations and Circle to Search are useful
- Sharper 5x zoom
- Good low-light camera performance
- 7 years of software upgrades
Cons
- Expensive
- Some Galaxy AI features aren’t exclusive to S24 series
- No specific S24 Ultra Galaxy AI features
With the press of a button, all the text messages sent between myself and my husband over the past couple of days were translated into French. I didn’t have to highlight specific words or message bubbles, nor did I have to copy and paste text between apps. Once I hit the «Chat translation» button on the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s screen, the words were translated instantly as I scrolled through our message history.
It’s one of several new features on the Galaxy S24 lineup that are part of Galaxy AI, a collection of productivity, communication and content creation tools powered by generative artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has been the buzzword du jour in the tech world ever since ChatGPT became an overnight hit in late 2022, and it’s tempting to write off Galaxy AI as another attempt to cash in on the hype. And that may be true to some degree.
But using the Galaxy S24 Ultra for the past couple of days convinced me there’s some promise behind the excitement. While the vast majority of Galaxy AI features feel familiar rather than groundbreaking, Samsung’s real-time translation technology and Circle to Search — a feature it created in partnership with Google — feel genuinely useful.
The problem for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which launches on Jan. 31 starting at $1,300 (£1,249, AU$2,199), is that you don’t need Samsung’s high-end phone to use these features. They’re available across all Galaxy S24 devices and will come to the previous-generation Galaxy S23 lineup, too. Circle to Search is also coming to the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, both of which are notably cheaper than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Read more: Best Phone to Buy for 2024
When I reviewed the Galaxy S23 Ultra last year, I called it «the king of extra.» That still applies to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s the Ultra’s giant screen, embedded S Pen and ridiculously long digital camera zoom that truly separate it from the regular Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, not Samsung’s new AI features. Samsung gave the Galaxy S24 Ultra a fresh coat of paint with its new titanium design and flatter screen, along with a sharper 50-megapixel zoom camera that can take crisper photos at 5x magnification. Perhaps most importantly, the entire Galaxy S24 lineup will get seven generations of Android version upgrades like the Pixel 8 lineup, marking a big step up from Samsung’s previous four-year pledge.
Aside from its new AI tricks, the Galaxy S24 Ultra ultimately feels like a slightly upgraded version of last year’s phone. Samsung also missed an opportunity to make its top-of-the-line phone stand out from the rest of the S24 lineup with Galaxy AI features that are tailored specifically to the Ultra.
Galaxy AI: Language translation and Circle to Search shine
Galaxy AI spans everything from text messaging to Samsung’s apps for note-taking, voice recording, web browsing and the camera. Many of these features feel like tools we’ve seen from Google and Microsoft throughout 2023, but optimized for Samsung smartphones. Galaxy AI can, for example, organize notes in the Notes app into neat bullet points. Its web browser can summarize news articles, while the Voice Recorder app offers transcription summaries broken down by speaker. You can also translate any of these types of content into different languages.
These features should sound familiar to anyone who has been following Google’s AI developments over the past year. That’s intentional: Samsung worked closely with Google on certain Galaxy AI features and is even using the company’s underlying technology to power some tools like the ability to summarize transcriptions, notes and webpages, rewrite text messages in a different tone and remove or rearrange objects in photos.
Read more: Your Future Phone Will Likely Be Smarter, Faster and More Bendy
But the execution isn’t typically the same. Take Samsung’s Generative Edit and Google’s Magic Edit as an example. Both tools let you select an object in a photo and either erase or move that object to your liking, but they can produce different results.
Sometimes one version will patch up the background after removing an object, while the other will substitute the unwanted object with another similar-looking structure that fits into the background. Google’s tool provides a few options to choose from when providing the result, while Samsung only provides one, but watermarks the new photo to clarify that it was altered using Generative Edit.
Of all the Galaxy AI features, there are two that impressed me the most: language translation and Circle to Search. While apps like Google Translate have existed for years, having translation built into the keyboard and phone app makes the whole process feel more natural.
In addition to the French example I mentioned earlier, I used Samsung’s translation features to text with a coworker who speaks Korean. As soon as she sent me a text in Korean, a prompt to translate the message to English appeared in the Messages app. I typed my response in English in a separate text box below the messaging field, and within seconds my words, translated into Korean, appeared in the message box.
Features like these could be extremely useful for anyone who travels a lot, has family members who speak a different language or that frequently work with colleagues or clients in different parts of the world.
Circle to Search is another practical tool that has the potential to make certain tasks more convenient by preventing the need to switch between apps as often. It’s self explanatory; just circle an object on screen that you’d like to learn more about, and the Galaxy S24 will launch a Google search for that item or location.
I have to admit, it’s hard to fight the instinct to open Chrome or the Google app and just type in my search query the traditional way. But Circle to Search works impressively well so far. I circled images of pesto pasta in my Instagram feed to find recipes and nearby restaurants. Circling a photo of a dress that I liked in my Instagram feed also pulled up similar pieces. Dragging my finger around characters from an animated TV series I recently finished watching resulted in news stories and YouTube videos about those characters, although Google warns that search results for actual people may be limited.
Shopping is the most obvious use case, but there are other ways it could be useful. Circling my character in Diablo Immortals pulled up a search result about my character’s class, for example, which could be helpful for new players. But this experience wasn’t consistent. When I tried to reproduce that result on a separate occasion, I got links to websites and videos about other games like Final Fantasy and Genshin Impact. Depending on how Circle to Search evolves, I feel like there are opportunities for it to be much more helpful.
Another favorite feature of mine is Instant Slow-mo, which lets me preview any video in my gallery in slow motion just by pressing and holding the clip. It’s not a game-changer, but it’s fun to play around with nonetheless. My only complaint is that it’s not always easy to see how to save the clip in slow motion. You can do so by tapping the pencil icon below the video clip, but I wish there was a way to just save it directly from the preview mode.
However, not all Galaxy AI features feel as valuable, and the writing style tool in the Messages app falls into that bucket. It essentially feels like a Samsung-customized version of Google’s Magic Compose, and it’s based on Google’s technology. The tool can rewrite text messages in a different tone, with options including professional, casual, social, polite and emojify.
When I chose the casual option, which sounds the most like my usual tone, my husband thought the message sounded strange and unlike me. I could possibly see the polite or professional option being helpful if you’re sending a message to a work colleague, but other options like emojify and social just pepper your words with hashtags and emojis.
The summarize option in Samsung’s Notes app has a cap at 8,000 characters, meaning it couldn’t sum up the entire 1,475-word script (which was around 8,400 characters) I had written for my Galaxy S24 Ultra video review. While I understand that most people aren’t jotting down lengthy notes on their phones, long documents like these are the ones that need summarizing the most.
Overall, Galaxy AI seems to be off to a promising start, although its long-term usefulness will depend on where Samsung and Google take it, and whether the existing features actually resonate with people. The fine print on Samsung’s product page for the Galaxy S24 Ultra hints that it could eventually charge for such features after 2025, although the company hasn’t said how much. While I’m glad Samsung isn’t making you pay for the most expensive model to get Galaxy AI, I wish it offered a few extra Galaxy AI features specifically for the Ultra. Doing so could have made the Ultra’s high price a little easier to swallow, especially given Samsung’s emphasis on productivity and creative tools with Galaxy AI.
The Galaxy S24’s camera has a crisper 5x zoom
Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra phones are known for their zoom prowess, with the Ultra capable of zooming up to 100x digitally. But this time around, Samsung realized that quality matters over quantity. It replaced the 10-megapixel sensor that zooms at 10x on the S23 Ultra with a sharper 50-megapixel camera that specializes in 5x zoom, with the goal being to provide crisper results even at a shorter magnification.
Samsung succeeds in that regard, although you’ll have to look closely to spot the differences between photos from the Galaxy S24 Ultra and last year’s S23 Ultra. Take these photos of houseplants below as an example, both of which were taken at 5x zoom. They look the same at first glance, but when you examine them more closely, you can tell that the Galaxy S24 Ultra preserved more detail. I zoomed in more and cropped a section of it so that you could see the difference.
Galaxy S24 Ultra
Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Galaxy S24 Ultra also captured more detail at 5x zoom than the iPhone 15 Pro, although Apple’s photo is brighter. An image taken on Google’s Pixel 8 Pro, however, was crisper at 5x zoom than both Samsung and Apple’s.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Pixel 8 Pro
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera specifications are otherwise largely the same as the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s, though Samsung increased the size of the pixels, which should mean the S24 Ultra’s sensor can absorb more light.
As a result, I found that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is good at handling mixed and dim lighting environments, such as a cocktail bar or a friend’s living room. Even if the S24 Ultra’s photo wasn’t always the brightest of the bunch when compared to the S23 Ultra, iPhone 15 Pro and Google Pixel 8 Pro, it preserved a good amount of detail in these dark settings. When it comes to general image quality, the Galaxy S24 Ultra did a better job of making skin tones and colors look more natural compared to the S23 Ultra.
It’s hard to say whether the S24 Ultra is the best camera phone overall, since image quality can be subject to interpretation and depends on your preference. In my experience, each phone succeeded in their own way.
Check out the gallery below for more photos taken on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Galaxy S24 Ultra design, performance and battery life
The Galaxy S24 Ultra looks a lot like the S23 Ultra, but with some subtle yet important differences. There’s titanium in the design, and the screen now has flatter edges that make it easier to grip. Samsung also boosted the screen brightness to 2,600 nits, which is brighter than the S23 Ultra’s 1,750-nit screen on paper, but not as luminous as the OnePlus 12’s 4,500-nit peak brightness.
However, in everyday use, I couldn’t see much of a difference between the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s screen at maximum brightness and the S23 Ultra’s. Maybe the change will be more noticeable in bright sunlight; it’s been overcast and somewhat gloomy in New York and San Jose, California, the two cities I’ve spent time in while reviewing the S24 Ultra.
The Galaxy S24 lineup runs on a version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor optimized for Samsung’s devices, and it felt as snappy and smooth as you’d expect of a phone at this price. Language translations, which are processed on-device rather than in the cloud, happen quickly; games like Diablo Immortal and Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat run smoothly; and scrolling around the interface feels responsive and speedy.
Samsung is also making a big deal about the Galaxy S24’s ray-tracing capabilities, which should make shadows and reflections in games look more lifelike. Samsung cited Diablo Immortal, Racing Master, Arena Breakout and Night Crows as early examples of ray-tracing-optimized games. I didn’t see much of a difference when playing Arena Breakout on the Galaxy S24 Ultra alongside the Google Pixel 8 Pro, which does not support ray tracing. I’m not sure if Diablo Immortal has been updated to take advantage of the S24 Ultra’s ray tracing yet, but I noticed a difference regardless. Shadowy areas had more definition and contrast on the S24 Ultra compared to the Pixel 8 Pro, which made the game look a bit hazy by comparison.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra beat last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra and Pixel 8 Pro, the latter of which runs on Google Tensor G3 processor, in benchmarks I ran that measure general computing and graphics performance. But the OnePlus 12 surpassed the S24 Ultra on 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, the graphics-oriented benchmark, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max beat Samsung’s new phone in general computing benchmarks (but not 3DMark).
Galaxy S24 Ultra Geekbench 6
- Galaxy S24 Ultra
- Galaxy S23 Ultra
- Pixel 8 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- OnePlus 12
Galaxy S24 Ultra 3DMark Wild Life Extreme
- Galaxy S24 Ultra
- Galaxy S23 Ultra
- Pixel 8 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- OnePlus 12
Battery life is solid so far, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra easily able to make it through more than a day on a single charge. But it’ll depend on how you’re using the phone. On a day that mostly involved browsing Instagram and Google, sending text messages, taking photos and streaming Spotify for about 30 minutes with the screen brightness set low, I still had 69% of my battery left after about 15 and a half hours of use.
After a busy workday, during which I streamed music for part of my commute (about 15 minutes), streamed video for about 25 minutes, frequently checked email and social media, and used my phone as it searched for cell service underground on the subway, I had 55% of my battery left after about 13 and a half hours of use. Playing games, processing some Generative Edit photos and turning up the brightness also drained the battery faster in my experience. We’ll update this review with CNET’s battery tests soon.
Overall thoughts
At $1,300, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is hard to recommend unless you really want a giant screen, a camera with a wide range of zoom options and the S Pen. These are the features that truly distinguish Samsung’s high-end phone from the less expensive Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus. Galaxy AI is also coming to the Galaxy S23 series, and Google’s Pixel 8 family will get Circle to Search, which means there’s nothing about Galaxy AI that stands out on the Galaxy S24 Ultra specifically.
A device like the Galaxy S24 Ultra that’s already geared towards productivity thanks to its large screen and S Pen seems like a prime candidate for extra Galaxy AI features, so hopefully we’ll see more in a future update. Circle to Search and Generative Edit are easier to use with the S Pen, but that alone isn’t enough to justify the higher price.
Otherwise, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s sharper 50-megapixel telephoto camera, speedy new processor and seven years of software updates make it a solid upgrade for those coming from an older Samsung phone — if you can stomach the high price.
How we test phones
Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team is actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water-resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes, using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark as well as our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.
All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions, from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using the phone daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.
Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. competitors
| Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra | Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra | Google Pixel 8 Pro | Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate | 6.8-inch AMOLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate | 6.8-inch AMOLED; 3,088×1,440 pixels; 120Hz adaptive refresh rate | 6.7-inch OLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate | 6.1-inch OLED; 2,556×1,179 pixels; 120Hz adaptive refresh rate |
| Pixel density | 501 ppi | 500 ppi | 489 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Dimensions (inches) | 6.40 x 3.11 x 0.34 in | 6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 in | 6.4 x 3 x 0.3 in | 5.77 x 2.78 x 0.32 in |
| Dimensions (millimeters) | 163 x 79 x 8.6 mm | 163.3 x 78 x 8.9 mm | 162.6 x 76.5 x 8.8 mm | 146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25 mm |
| Weight (grams, ounces) | 233 g (8.22 oz) | 234 g (8.25 oz) | 213 g (7.5 oz) | 187 g (6.6 oz) |
| Mobile software | Android 14 | Android 13 | Android 14 | iOS 17 |
| Camera | 200-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto), 50-megapixel (5x telephoto) | 200-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) 10-megapixel (3x telephoto) 10-megapixel (10x telephoto) | 50-megapixel (wide), 48-megapixel (ultrawide), 48-megapixel (telephoto) | 48-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 12-megapixel (3x telephoto) |
| Front-facing camera | 12-megapixel | 12-megapixel | 10.5-megapixel | 12-megapixel |
| Video capture | 8K | 8K | 4K | 4K |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy | Google Tensor G3 | Apple A17 Pro |
| Storage and RAM | 12GB RAM + 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 8GB RAM + 256GB; 12GB RAM + 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 12GB RAM + 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB (RAM undisclosed) |
| Expandable storage | None | None | None | None |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh | 5,050 mAh | Undisclosed; Apple claims up to 23 hours of video playback (20 hours streamed) |
| Fingerprint sensor | Under display | Under display | Under display | None (Face ID) |
| Connector | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C |
| Headphone jack | None | None | None | None |
| Special features | Titanium frame, 2,600-nit peak brightness; 7 years of OS and security updates; 5G (mmWave); IP68 water and dust resistance; wireless PowerShare to charge other devices; integrated S Pen; UWB for finding other devices; 45W wired charging (charger not included); Galaxy AI; Wi-Fi 7; Gorilla Glass Armor cover glass | 4 years of OS updates, 5G (Sub6, mmWave); IP68 water resistance; wireless PowerShare to charge other devices; integrated S Pen; 100x Space Zoom; 10x optical zoom; UWB for finding other devices; 45W wired charging | 5G (Sub 6, mmWave); VPN by Google One; 7 years of OS, security and Feature Drop updates; front-facing camera has autofocus; 13W Qi wireless charging; 30W wired charging; USB-3.2 speeds via USB-C; IP68 dust and water resistance; Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on front and back | 5G (Sub6, mmWave); Action Button, Always-On display, IP68 water resistance, MagSafe, Dynamic Island, 5x optical zoom (120mm equivalent), satellite connectivity, eSIM, thread networking technology |
| US price starts at | $1,300 (256GB) | $1,200 (256GB) | $999 (128GB) | $999 (128GB) |
| UK price starts at | £1,249 (256GB) | £1,249 (256GB) | £999 (128GB) | £999 (128GB) |
| Australia price starts at | AU$2,199 (256GB) | AU$1,949 (256GB) | AU$1,699 (128GB) | AU$1,849 (128GB) |
Technologies
Trump Gives TikTok Another 75 Days to Strike a Sale
The president says he’s signing an executive order to push back enforcement of the ban again, pushing back the previous deadline of Saturday.
President Donald Trump is giving TikTok more time to sell its US operations, saying that «tremendous progress» has been made toward a deal and pushing off enforcement of a ban that was set to kick in Saturday.
In a Friday afternoon Truth Social post, Trump said that despite that progress, the deal still needs more work, so he’s signing an executive order giving TikTok 75 more days, taking the deadline out to June 19. The move prevents the wildly popular video app from potentially going dark in less than a day.
Trump went on to say that his administration will continue to work with China and credited the tariffs he enacted earlier this week, calling them «the most powerful economic tool» and «very important» to national security.
«We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark,'» Trump said in his post. «We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.»
Both TikTok and the Chinese government have long opposed a sale of the company’s US operations and it remains unclear as to if their positions have changed. TikTok didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
Read more: TikTok Backups: 6 Similar Apps for Your Daily Dose of Fun
China on Friday reacted to the tariffs Trump spoke of by matching them with its own on US goods, escalating the trade war between the two countries and sending stock markets around the world tumbling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 2,200 points and the Nasdaq composite lost 5.8% in afternoon trading — its biggest drop in five years.
The TikTok ban delay wasn’t unexpected. Several potential bidders for TikTok’s US operations have made their interest known in just the past few days, and Trump has been meeting with administration officials this week to discuss possible deals and ownership structures.
According to recent reporting by The New York Times, one plan included private equity firm Blackstone and the tech company Oracle, while another involved a last-minute bid from Amazon.
Lawmakers in both political parties have long voiced concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda. TikTok continues to deny those accusations.
The law requiring the sale was passed by Congress last year with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. Free speech and other groups sued to overturn the law on First Amendment grounds, but it was upheld by the US Supreme Court in January.
So what’s next for TikTok? Here’s what you need to know.
What does the law do?
The law aims to force TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell to a buyer American officials are OK with and guarantee that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm.
TikTok was given nine months to comply, hence the original Jan. 19 sale deadline, at which point the government could require the removal of its app from US app stores and that other tech companies stop supporting the app and website.
TikTok shut down in the US the night of Jan. 18, citing the ban, but came back online the next morning after Trump made assurances that he would not immediately enforce it. Trump later formalized that promise by signing an executive order that directed the attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days, effectively moving the deadline to April 5.
The new executive order pushes the deadline back to June 19, which is Juneteenth, a federal holiday.
Read more: TikTok Loves to Give Financial Advice. But Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
What’s Trump’s take?
After originally calling for a ban during his first presidency, Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he wasn’t in favor of one and pledged to «save TikTok,» though he didn’t specify how he’d do that.
Trump told the press on Sunday that «there’s tremendous interest in TikTok.» He added that he would «like to see TikTok remain alive.» The president also said that «we have a lot of potential buyers» and that his administration is «dealing with China,» which has long opposed a sale.
On March 26, Trump said he would consider lowering tariffs on Chinese goods if that country’s government approved a sale of TikTok’s US operations. He also at that time reiterated his willingness to push the deadline back if needed.
Trump also has floated the idea of the US taking a 50% stake in the company as part of a joint venture, but hasn’t given specifics as to how that would work.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew was one of several high-profile tech executives to attend Trump’s inauguration in January, just hours before Trump would sign the order granting the 75-day extension.
Previous to that, during a press conference in December, Trump pointed to the role TikTok played during the election, crediting it with helping him pick up the votes of young people.
«TikTok had an impact, and so we’re taking a look at it,» Trump said. «I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.»
Technologies
Marvel Rivals Season 2: Here Are Emma Frost’s Abilities
Emma Frost is joining the Rivals roster in season 2 as a vanguard with a set of abilities that change depending on her form.
Marvel Rivals players are getting invited to the shores of Krakoa for the start of season 2 on April 11. The game dropped the first trailer for the new season, giving us our first official look at the new heroes, and a developer vision video dropped major news about the future of hero releases.
The trailer features Emma Frost, wearing slightly more clothes than usual, inviting people from across Rivals’ various timelines to the mutant nation of Krakoa, where everyone gets dressed up for a fancy gala — even Wolverine puts on a white tux. The event, however, is unceremoniously interrupted when Ultron shows up preaching extermination.
Emma Frost abilities revealed
Emma Frost joins the roster as a vanguard who can project a shield forward, give herself damage reduction by going into her diamond form and also choke-slam people while insulting them. We got a glimpse at her abilities in her hero trailer and a streamer event on Friday confirmed her full kit.
In Frost’s default form, her primary fire is a beam with damage that ramps up over time and her alternate fire projects a barrier forward. In her normal form, Frost has a Psychic Spear ability that pulls an enemy’s sentience into a crystal form, damaging them by attacking and shattering the crystal.
However, all of these abilities change when Frost transforms into her diamond form, which gives her damage reduction and makes her unstoppable. In diamond form, her primary fire turns into a punch and her alt fire kicks enemies back, dealing extra damage if they hit a wall. Diamond-form Frost can no longer attack people’s sentience but she can lunge forward to grab enemies and slam them into the ground.
Her Psyonic Seduction ultimate has different effects. It damages and stuns enemies in range and locks them out of activating ultimate abilities. Additionally, enemies who are caught in the blast for long enough will be psychically compelled to move toward Frost, making it easier for her to grab them, kick them, slam them, etc. Rivals devs have seen the players’ thirst and seem to be leaning heavily into it.
Ultron is coming in the season 2.5 update, which should be in late May.
Team-up changes and other season 2 balance adjustments
Some team-ups are changing in season 2, including three new team-up abilities that were previewed in the newest developer vision video.
- Emma Frost allows Magneto and Psylocke to create illusions of themselves.
- Doctor Strange teams up with Scarlet Witch allowing her to use small portals to seemingly increase her damage output via a rapid-shooting alternate fire.
- Cap finally teams up with Bucky, allowing the Winter Soldier to leap to allies.
A few existing team-ups are getting adjustments, with Psylocke, Winter Soldier and Doctor Strange being removed from older team-ups in favor of new ones, and Namor is moving from working with Luna’s anchor to Hulk’s to empower his squids with gamma energy. Two team-ups are being removed entirely: Magneto can no longer team up with Scarlet Witch, and Thor is no longer anchoring Cap and Storm.
Rivals announced the full list of season 2 balance changes, including buffs to Peni, Mister Fantastic and Moon Knight, with Strange losing some damage for more survivability (via his new anchor buff) and Rocket getting several adjustments, while Loki and Adam Warlock receive nerfs to their Regeneration Domain and Soul Bond abilities.
Future seasons will be shorter, which means more new heroes
One of the most surprising moments in the developer video was the announcement that, beginning with season 3, seasons will be two months long instead of roughly three. There has been a lot of discussion online about whether Rivals’ pace of new heroes (about eight per year based on three-month seasons) was sustainable. Well, apparently the Rivals devs took that personally and are cranking up that pace to a new hero every month, meaning 12 new heroes per year.
This feels borderline ludicrous compared with other hero shooters that average about three new heroes per year, or even MOBAs like League of Legends, which has averaged about four new champions per year in the past five years. Rivals benefits from having an overflowing stable of Marvel characters to pull from rather than inventing their own hero concepts, and compared with Overwatch, the developers seem less worried about mechanical overlap in their heroes, as seen with many support ultimates. Still, a new hero every month feels unheard of for a hero shooter.
New Krakoa map and competitive changes
Season 2 is adding two new maps, including a Krakoa-themed domination map at the season’s start. Yggsgard: Royal Palace (domination) and Tokyo 2099: Shin-Shibuya (convergence) will rotate out of the map pool for ranked modes, though they’ll still be available in quick play and custom games.
The threshold for competitive picks and bans, which currently only happen in diamond-ranked lobbies, will be lowered to gold 3. Players in Eternity or One Above All ranks will only be able to duo queue, instead of queuing with larger groups — a measure that’s likely intended to keep high-level teams from stomping lobbies.
Speaking of ranks, season 2 will drop everyone by 9 divisions, which is equal to 3 ranks. That means players in Eternity will drop to diamond, and any players at platinum 3 or below will start their climb from bronze 3 again. (AGAIN… AGAIN.)
Rivals developers also announced that individual player performance will be weighted higher when determining competitive progress after a match, meaning if your stats outperform your team’s, you’ll earn more for winning and drop less for losing. This change can help elevate smurfs and other high-skill players in lower-ranked lobbies by getting them into their appropriate ranks faster. However, it can also lead to players stat-farming, instead of playing in a way that is most effective for winning games. Overall, given that Rivals doesn’t use any sort of competitive placement matches, this should be a net positive for the game.
Other announcements
Rivals is adding new skin recolors to certain hero skins and (finally) giving players the option to gift costumes to their friends so they can surprise someone for their birthday, which you definitely did not forget about.
Missions are changing a bit, with the addition of weekly missions and a redistribution of where battle-pass-progressing chrono tokens are earned. The devs framed this as creating a «smoother expectation» of how to earn chrono tokens, but the surface-level description sounds like they’re just making it harder to earn battle pass progress over the season by tucking away more progress under missions with shorter time limits.
The developer vision update also gave us our first look at the competitive distribution, showing how many Rivals players are in each tier as of season 1.5.
The Hellfire Gala trailer says season 2 will start on April 11 UTC. While it doesn’t give a specific start time, expect the between-seasons maintenance to finish sometime in the middle of the night in the US.
For more on Marvel Rivals, check out which heroes and roles you should play and how to get free skins.
Technologies
Review: McDonald’s Minecraft Meals Are Out, With Toys and Nether Flame Sauce
Commentary: I tried the Minecraft-themed McNuggets sauce. It might just be the hottest sauce Mickey D’s has ever offered.
The children yearn for the mines. It’s no April Fools’ Day joke: Kids at my local McDonald’s were streaming out the door on Tuesday with the new Minecraft-themed Happy Meal boxes when I drove up to try the new offering. It’s all a promotion for A Minecraft Movie, which opens Friday, April 4, and it draws inspiration from the popular video game available across platforms including Xbox, Nintendo Switch and mobile phones. So, of course, I had to try everything they offered and report back. And I think my tongue is still burning days later. That Nether Flame Sauce is no joke.
Read more: McDonald’s Launches Minecraft Happy Meals, Plus a ‘Nether’ Hot Sauce for Nuggets
Happy Meals: 12 toys, digital game, Creeper box
You know what a Happy Meal is. It’s a boxed kids meal with a toy, where the kid can choose between a hamburger, cheeseburger, or 4-piece or 6-piece chicken McNuggets. Fries, apples and a drink also come with it.
For this promotion, even the Happy Meal box is Minecraft-themed. Personally, I think the Happy Meal boxes are much cuter than the themed boxes that come with the adult Minecraft Movie Meal. My Happy Meal box looked the familiar green Minecraft monsters called Creepers, but this Creeper has kind of a furry look, like it was a cousin of Sesame Street’s green Muppet Oscar the Grouch
But it’s the toy, sorry — «figurine», that will have kids making multiple trips to their local McD’s. There are 12 different toys. Mine was marked «#1, grass block and llama.» When you open the box the toy comes in, you might think the llama was left behind, because the toy itself is a closed green grass block. But you can open the block and inside is a little llama figurine, permanently attached to one side of the block.
The box my toy came in shows the other options you might get. There are six different block-and-creature toys, like the one I got, and six slightly bigger figurines that don’t come inside a block. And the walls of the block are kind of like puzzle pieces. You can take the block apart and lay its walls flat and connect them. So if you get more toys, you can make a little playmat of them all, and even attach the six slightly bigger figures, because their bases fit the «puzzle.»
The little toy box in each Happy Meal also comes with a scannable code on one side to unlock a digital game where players can complete a quest in the Minecraft Movie world. I tried it, and it’s actually more fun than a free mini-game from a fast food eatery has any right to be. Good job, Ronald.
Minecraft Movie Meal: McD-themed toys, in-game bonus item, Gold Block box
McDonald’s also was smart enough to know that adults like collectibles too, and that they might have bigger appetites. So the fast food chain is also offering a Minecraft Movie Meal — kind of like a bigger Happy Meal. Choose a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, with fries and a drink.
The boxes for these meals are like larger Happy Meal boxes. But instead of being Creeper-themed, the one I got was designed to look like a Minecraft gold block. While I prefer the Creeper, it’s smart that the adult meal and kid meal boxes are themed differently.
And then, the toy. The grownup meal toy was a big letdown compared to the Happy Meal toy options. While the Happy Meal toys were actual Minecraft characters, the ones in the adult meals are McDonald’s mascots created with that blocky, Minecraft look. The figurines have a bit of a twist — with the toys including a Grimace Egg and Zombie Hamburglar. Mine was called Birdie Wings, and is based on Birdie the Early Bird, a mascot McDonald’s introduced in 1980 to promote its then-new breakfast items.
Each figure, including my Birdie Wings, comes with a shiny card with that figure’s image. You scan the QR code on the card to unlock a matching item in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.
Nether Flame Sauce is hot, hot, hot
Maybe the most fun part of the McDonald’s-Minecraft promotion is a new chicken McNugget dipping sauce called the Nether Flame Sauce. It’s named for the Minecraft underworld, and I think it’s the hottest sauce McDonald’s has ever used. You don’t have to buy the Minecraft Movie Meal or Happy Meal to get the sauce. If you want to try it with fries or something else, you can order the Nether Flame Sauce with any purchase.
I’m a fan of hot sauces of all sorts. While Nether Flame Sauce isn’t one of the hottest hot sauces I’ve ever tried, it’s definitely the hottest McDonald’s dipping sauce I’ve ever tried, and I practically made a career out of reporting on the Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce.
There’s a definite kick to this sauce, which looks like Thai red chili sauce but is less sweet and more spicy. The ingredient list on the sauce packet says it includes chili peppers, cayenne peppers, vinegar, sugar, garlic, apricot concentrate and more. I had an extra sauce packet, and my husband devoured it with leftover French fries.
Final Minecraft-McDonald’s thoughts
Although I have no idea if the upcoming A Minecraft Movie is any good, I feel comfortable grading this McD-Minecraft promotion with a big fat «A.»
I’m not reviewing the non-Nether sauce foods in the meals. It’s McDonald’s. You know what it tastes like.
The boxes are cute. There’s a meal for kids and one for adults. The toys are creative and fun, though in my mind the tiny Happy Meal toys are far more fun to collect than the McDonald’s mascot ones that come in the adult meal.
And best of all, the Nether Flame sauce is a fun, spice-filled change of pace for those of us who don’t mind a fiery dipping option.🔥
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