Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank arrives in theaters on Friday, July 15.

Relentlessly committed to the bit, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, for all intents and purposes, is a Mel Brooks movie. Not an actual one, written and directed by comedy legend Brooks, but one that emulates Brooks' style, tone, and gags while also referencing Brooks' own movies. To clarify, Brooks himself is involved with Paws of Fury, as the voice of the Shogun, and the movie itself is more or less a reworked version of Blazing Saddles (it was even titled Blazing Samurai at one point in its development), so this is the closest thing you'll get to an actual Mel Brooks film here in 2022, for better or worse.

Paws of Fury is a touch clumsy, a bit hacky, and not exactly an animated treat for the eyes. The story is tired and many of the jokes fall flat. All that aside, it's still good for a chuckle or two if not only because Mel Brooks' entire M.O. is to throw a hundred jokes at the wall in the hope 30 of them will stick. So the humor here, in this simple story of a hapless dog, Hank (Michael Cera), being made the protector of a cat village, is literally forced through the lens of Brooks as if every potential guffaw was born of a "What would Mel do?" philosophy.

This all makes for an extremely oddball project, where the target audience — namely kids — remain wholly unaware of the Brooks-ian layers as they view an animated adventure created by people seemingly out to only amuse themselves by honoring their comedy idol. This also happens to be Paws of Fury's lone saving grace, as it does, in the end, help differentiate it from something that could have been a run-of-the-mill celebrity-stuffed cartoon calamity. It doesn't help it soar but it stops it from sinking.

Cera's wide-eyed pooch is fast-tracked into samurai status by a scheming local cat lord (Ricky Gervais, naturally venomous) who wants Hank to fail and plots to have the local villagers vacate because the town is an eyesore. Samuel L. Jackson plays Jimbo, a disgraced aging samurai who reluctantly mentors Hank, in the same way Blazing Saddles' "Jim" (Gene Wilder) helps Cleavon Little's Bart.

Even the racism Bart encounters in Blazing Saddles as a Black sheriff is handled here, masked behind the cats' presumed hatred of dogs. Throw in an homage to the iconic fart scene and there's not much of Blazing Saddles that doesn't get reconfigured in this ridiculous reskin.

George Takei, Michelle Yeoh, Djimon Hounsou, Gabriel Iglesias, and the already mentioned Brooks round out the famous voice cast, throwing themselves whole-heartedly into this strange brew from directors Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little 1 & 2) and Mark Koetsier. Puns and sight gags bob in and out of jokes both current and out of touch, landing frequently enough to keep things amusing. Make no mistake though, there are some true groaners in here, as this is the type of film to have Takei say "Oh myyyy" not once, but twice.

Ever since Shrek, many animated films have filled their ranks with celebrity voices and pop-culture references. The goal was to entertain the children with the colors and grown ups, who many wrongly assume don't want to watch an animated film, with the jokes. Over time, the gags grew increasingly further and further away from being grounded in the story itself, as if two separate films were struggling to coexist. Paws of Fury feels like the final evolutionary stage of this. It's almost like this film was created as a Mel Brooks primer for parents whose kids aren't at all interested in watching the movies their folks grew up with.

Paws of Fury's bizarre existence and inspired goofiness allows it to eke out a soft victory in the crowded realm of derivative animation. The hero's journey aspect is rote and the meta elements are exhausting but there's a glow behind it all that shines as a reverent beacon for Mel Brooks in what might be the last of this particular type of film. If an outside trip to see a feature-length cartoon is in your near future, and you find yourself wanting to remain Minion-free, then Paws of Fury isn't the worst alternative.

Prime Video has revealed that The Boys spin-off series that is being described as "part college show, part Hunger Games" is officially called Gen V.

The news was announced alongside a short video featuring the cast of the upcoming spin-off and arrives shortly after The Boys' third season aired its finale.

Allow us to introduce ya to GEN V, The Boys college spinoff in the works with this brilliant bunch. pic.twitter.com/OOKjjqb87y

— THE BOYS (@TheBoysTV) July 15, 2022

"Set at America’s only college exclusively for young-adult superheroes (run by Vought International), Gen V is an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. It’s part college show, part Hunger Games—with all the heart, satire, and raunch of The Boys," the official description reads.

Gen V will star Jaz Sinclair, Chance Perdomo, Lizze Broadway, Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Marco Pigossi.

Michele Fazekas and Tara Butter will serve as showrunners and executive producers, and Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Neal H. Moritz, Ori Marmur, Pavun Shetty, Ken Levin, Jason Netter, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Craig Rosenberg, Zak Schwartz, Erica Rosbe, and Michaela Starr will take on executive producer roles as well. Brant Engelstein will be a co-executive producer.

There has been no word on a release date for Gen V, which was officially greenlit in 2020, but Prime Video did confirm it is currently in production.

In our review of The Boys' third season, we said that it "achieves a balance between impactful storytelling and extreme violence that cements itself as one of the best shows on streaming, no matter year or genre."

For more, check out our explainer of the ending of Season 3 and our chat with The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke on Season 3's finale and what's in store for Season 4.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Saints Row's open-world activities have always been one of its strongest aspects, rom Saints Row 2's Septic Avenger to the Insurance Fraud mode that's been featured in every Saints Row game. For the upcoming Saints Row reboot, they're not only sticking around but they're getting more fleshed out and expanded upon than ever.

In the exclusive video above, IGN is proud to show off four of the Criminal Ventures from the new Saints Row: the returning Insurance Fraud (which has an explosive new twist), Toxic Disposal, Food Truck, and JimRob's.

We got our first extended hands-off preview a couple months ago, and we've got our extensive hands-on report coming next week ahead of the game's release next month.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

In the realm of gaming headsets, many of the best options are wireless as they bring the freedom of being cable-free along with a host of premium features. They tend to cost a good deal more than wired headphones though, and the Razer Barracuda Pro is another pair aiming to sit at the top of that stack, with loads of capabilities and a $250 price. But Razer might be trying to do too much to still stick the landing in every department. Let’s get a closer look at how it holds up.

Razer Barracuda Pro – Design and Features

The Razer Barracuda Pro doesn’t look much like the wireless gaming headsets it competes with, and that’s largely because Razer positions it as a dual-role headset: gaming and lifestyle. It comes with a more subdued design with no splashy colors or gaudy flourishes. In fact, almost every inch of the headset is pitch black save for the little green indicator on the mic mute switch.

One thing the headphones ditch in their aim to fit as a lifestyle headset is the boom mic – typically a tried-and-true staple on most gaming headsets. Instead, the Barracuda Pro uses dual beamforming microphones that aim to replicate the quality of a boom mic, but largely fail to do so (more on that later).

The headset supports Bluetooth 5.2 in addition to a dedicated HyperSpeed Wireless connection using an L-shaped USB-C dongle that’s compatible with PC, PlayStation, and some mobile devices (though my experience was shaky on a Samsung Galaxy S20). Compared to the $99 Barracuda X (recently updated) and $159 Barracuda, the Pro’s key differences are “Bio-Cellulose” 50mm speaker drivers and Hybrid Active Noise Canceling, the latter of which actually puts it into interesting competition with the best of the noise canceling headphone market, as it undercuts two of the most popular models there in price. The mics can also offer pass-through mode, which is handy for hearing surroundings without removing the headphones.

There’s a button on the right earcup, called the SmartSwitch button, which can switch between Bluetooth and HyperSpeed Wireless with a double tap. The button also cycles through ambient sound modes. With the initial firmware, the SmartSwitch didn’t always work for switching back to HyperSpeed Wireless, and there’s a slight delay when it does work. The latest firmware update fixed the switching issue, though not the speed, but that also requires using Razer’s Synapse software. Useful as it may be, Razer’s SmartSwitch feature doesn’t stack up to the simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connectivity available on a great many SteelSeries headsets, like the new Arctis Nova Pro Wireless and earlier Arctis 9.

Considering the price, it’s no surprise Razer is also offering some blend of spatial audio support with the headphones. Unfortunately, it’s THX Spatial Audio, which is only accessible through Razer’s own software on PC – and also requires a user login.

The headphones offer a commendable 40-hour battery life, outdoing the many headphones that tend to stick around 20 hours. When the battery gets low, the lack of a wired connection can put you in a pickle. I had it getting low while I was in a meeting and couldn’t swap out to charge with the one USB-C connection on my laptop because then I wouldn’t have an audio connection, and Bluetooth is just never reliable enough as a backup. Once the battery gets to around 20%, the headphones say “low battery” every three minutes, which is hugely obnoxious, especially given that 20% battery should amount to another 8 hours of battery life.

That battery may be part of the reason these headphones are on the heavy side at 340 grams. The clamping force does a good job keeping them held in place, and the yolks have enough movement in them to get a good angle around the ears. But the memory foam in the ear cups and headband is pitifully low-density, not providing much comfort nor confidence in their longevity.

Razer Barracuda Pro – Software

Razer Synapse provides some key tools for the Barracuda Pro headphones. It will even try to install when you first connect the USB dongle. If storage space is tight on your computer, be aware that it takes up over 500MB. The key tool is the ability to upgrade the headphones and dongle firmware. Beyond that, the software enables custom equalizers, mic volume and sidetone adjustments, and the THX Spatial Audio setup (which will prompt a user login).

The implementation of the spatial audio is incredibly messy, though, seeming to appear in several different spots and not being consistent between them. The feature offers a test demo that all but confirmed the spatial audio was hardly worth the trouble, as it wavered between undetectable and simply not as capable as the easy-to-toggle Windows Sonic spatial audio setting.

Razer Barracuda Pro – Performance

The Razer Barracuda Pro headphones have to do a little bit of everything well, and for the most part they do. But they don’t quite do anything as well as the competition they’re up against in both the gaming and lifestyle headphone categories.

The Bio-cellulose 50mm drivers aren’t all hype. They prove quite sensitive, pumping out plenty of sound with the built-in THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier and remaining pleasingly accurate all the while. Bass kicks while crisp notes like cymbals and bells way up in the treble range still ring out clear. All the while, mids can continue to come through loud and clear. That clarity is the strongest point of the headphones, and it’s wonderfully backed up by Razer’s HyperSpeed wireless, which proves latency-free and manages to send a signal through a couple walls and about 30-feet of high-interference airspace before the signal starts to sputter.

That solid audio performance carries through in music, games, and entertainment. The soundstage is modestly wide, too, which makes the sort of spatial audio offered by games easier to tune into. I wasn’t caught off guard by enemy sounds seeming to come from the wrong areas while playing a bunch of Valorant with these headphones on.

The tune changes when turning on ANC or audio pass-through, though. ANC sucks every ounce of life out of the bass and shrinks the soundstage while the ambient mode makes for a tinny listening experience with harsher mids and treble. The ambient mode can also be a bit noisy and likes to pick up wind. It does sound transparent, but would get grating after prolonged use because of the sharper high-end. ANC is effective at drowning out some droning noises, like running fans, but it creates a much more noticeable feeling of pressure on my head than top-notch ANC headphones like Sony’s WH-1000XM4.

The audio experience is inverted when it comes to the mic. They sound good compared to the mics found on wireless earbuds, but they’re not a match for the boom mics on even budget gaming headphones. My voice feels like it’s getting picked up through a small tunnel and filtered by a computer first, and my pals on Discord confirmed this.

Survios is partnering up with 20th Century Games to develop a new single-player, action-horror VR game set in the Aliens universe.

According to a description posted on the studio's website, the game is being developed for PC, consoles, and VR. It will use Unreal Engine 5 for its graphics, creating an immersive world where players can be part of an original storyline that takes place between the Alien and Aliens films, in which "a battle-hardened veteran has a vendetta against the Xenomorphs."

Survios has plenty of experience building out existing entertainment properties through video games. The studio previously secured the license for MGM's Creed movie, which resulted in the development of its Creed: Rise to Glory VR boxing game. Survios has also released games set in the universe of TV shows such as AMC's The Walking Dead and HBO's Westworld.

"When I joined Survios in 2020, it was to build bigger, more ambitious games, using the best entertainment franchises across console, PC, and VR platforms," said TQ Jefferson, Chief Product Officer at Survios, per VentureBeat. "Aliens is a distinct and terrifying world that fans love to be entrenched in, and it is perfect for Survios' proven expertise in creating immersive gaming experiences."

"The vast universe of Alien is full of untold stories, and opportunities to create gripping original games," added Luigi Priore, VP of Disney, Pixar and 20th Century Games. "We're thrilled to work with a team like Survios who shares our passion for Alien, and for immersing fans into new worlds and experiences."

Despite being primarily known as a film franchise, the Aliens series has almost had just as long a history in video games. Its history is filled with memorable entries like Alien Isolation, and more infamous ones like Alien Colonial Marines. Aliens: Fireteam Elite joined the ranks last year, and came loaded with some great Aliens Easter eggs for players to uncover.

There's also a strategy game called Aliens: Dark Descent due out next year, which will drop players into an original Alien story where they'll lead a team of marines into battle against the deadliest creature mankind has ever faced. A cinematic trailer for the game revealed the tone of what players can expect, teasing a more squad-based approach to Xenomorph combat.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.