Pixel Magazine by Bryan Castro

Pixel MAGAZINE May 2017

Final Fantasy XV Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Square Enix

THE HISTORY OF FINAL FANTASY One of the most iconic franchise of all time. Almost two decades of fantasy RPG at its finest. Where it all started to the much waited Final Fantasy XV.

CONTRIBUTORS One of the most iconic fanchise of all time. Almost two decades of fantasy RPG at its finest. Where it all started to the much waited Final Fantasy XV

THE HISTORY OF FINAL FANTASY One of the most iconic fanchise of all time. Almost two decades of fantasy RPG at its finest. Where it all started to the much waited Final Fantasy XV

CONTENTS

MAY GAME REVIEWS The reviews consists of Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Final Fantasy XV, and Nier: Automata

2 | Contents

FUTURE OF GAME DESIGN The future is here, as technology advances so do video games and endless amount creativity around them.

08 18 28 3

TOP TEN GRAPHICAL GAMES

Explore the most realistic and immerse video games that have been released.

36 40 45 4 |

INJUSTICE 2 INTERVIEW WITH ED BOON Find out what Neatherrealm Studios has in store for your favorite DC characters in the new Injustice 2. Ed Boon Gives us the details on the upcoming fighting game and how every battle defines you.

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COMING FOR E3? Find out what Neatherrealm Studios has in store for your favorite DC characters in the new Injustice 2. Ed Boon Gives us the details on the upcoming fighting game and how every battle defines you.

NINTENDO, TIME FOR A SWITCH The Nintendo SWITCH has been very successful with their release. But there are certain design flaws that really need to be changed.

CONTRIBUTORS

Contributors

Joel Guzman Joel is a freelance game journalist and historian from the East Coast. In this issue he contributed to the History of Final Fantasy article.

Michael Carrera Andy is a writer from Chicago Illinois. In this issue he co-wrote the Future of Game Design. He showed his full knowledge of older game and their main contribution to the games of today.

Jeremy Fraguada Jeremy is a writer from Chicago Illinois. In this issue he co-wrote the Future of Game Design article. He showed his full knowledge of older game and their main contribution to the games of today.

Barbara Rangel Barbara is an Associate Editor on the Features team at IGN.com. She has been with the team since 2013. In this issue she contributed in editing the History of Final Fantasy article

6 | Contributors

Bryan Castro

Pixel

Pixel Magazine’s own publisher and art/design director contributed to the this issues game reviews.

MAGAZINE PUBLISHER Bryan Castro

Bryan De-Jesus Bryan De-Jesus contributed to the game reviews on this month’s issue

EDITOR IN CHIEF David Gorelick MANAGING EDITOR Marlene Cole EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Nikki Chan Alondra Armijo-Morales MARKETING COORDINATOR Jasmine Melendez ART DIRECTOR/DESIGN Bryan Castro EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Eva Loh Florance Liu DISTRIBUTORS Place Media Inc. EDITORIAL SERVICES (818)-285-0361

Jasmine Melendez Jasmine contibuted in the interview with Ed Boon to give us the latest news on the upcoming fighting game injustice 2.

Ed Boon The creator of the infamous Mortal Kombat franchise. We did an interview with him on the upcoming Injustice 2

Pixel Magazine is published monthly. It is mailed directly and distributed at locations throughout the United States by Place Media Inc. 149 Ventura Blvd, Suite 210 . Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. Subscription price: $15 per month

The gaming and animation fields are thriving. What are these jobs really about, and what does it take to get into the industry? By Jeremy Fraguada and Michael Carrera

he popularity of video games is a staple of our culture and appears as

though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to stay. From the different genres of video games to the complex stories and character developments, video games have become an entity that spans generations of gamers. For many, it is an escape into a new world of fantasy and adventure. As a result, it is no wonder why so many high school and college graduates are going into the field of animation and game design. Several colleges offer courses and programs related to learning how to create video games. The video game industry is a growing, multi-billion dollar field and many of the college graduates want to get their hands on the controller.

Mass Effect Andromeda Platform Playstation 4 Xbox One, PC Developer Bioware

The increasing demand for more games with better stories and more life-like graphics has been on the minds of serious gamers for years. There is no satisfying the serious gamer because the graphics continue to get better every year and the stories tend to get more interesting, too. Therefore, the video game players expect more every time. This is why colleges are now offering courses in animation and game design. They see the prevalence of video games in our culture and the people who want to build and design them. But the programs and courses that deal with animation and game design are not only about drawing and how to create a video game. Creating a game that is both playable and sell-able is not an easy task. Basic classes for those who begin in animation and game design deal with topics such as artistic terminology and artistic theory. From there, a student can expect to enter classes in which they generate ideas and concepts for their particular video game. There is also an additional course dealing with presenting your idea to a video game company. If you decide to go into the field of animation and game design, you can also expect to take some more educationally geared courses. There are some that deal with the history of video games along with other courses that teach the demographic makeup of who plays certain ones. You may also be required to do reviews of games and learn about the nuances of the different gaming genres. But success in these classes will inevitably lead to more enticing topics such as artificial intelligence and prototyping your game. For the avid video game player, taking these courses may make the game-playing experience a more interesting one as he thinks about the intricacies of every move made on the screen.

10 | Future of Game Design

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The biggest disappointment in this generation of games has to be the lack of innovation in artificial intelligence. There have been little breakthroughs: Platformers now feature enemy AI leaving their little cone of defense and chasing you around an environment; AI recognizes various levels of danger (just watch the enemies in MGS3); and AI gangs congregate to slaughter you (Manhunt). There are hundreds more little improvements, but also hundreds more complaints. And after every game we beat, we wonder why the AI wasn’t better. In driving games, for instance, developers should look to Burnout: Takedown to see why super aggressive AI is actually fun and teaches you to take chances and improve your skill level. In first-person shooters, developers should look to Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 for ideas on how to improve fluid, independent AI behavior. AI should react intelligently to you. It should recognize that you have a bazooka aimed at its head and duck and cover. It should call out to allies and call for back up, use team-behavior to flank, suppress, and attack you. AI should make you think, trap you and set you up for failure, forcing players to think about the game design, patterns, and environment. It should do the things humans are doing now in games, so that when we play next-generation games, we should feel like we’re playing against smart humans. Not slightly improved bots. AI should react locally to gun shots: Individual body parts should react with real physics (if shot by a shotgun, a limb should blow apart; if shot by a small handgun, it should bleed but not as severely as when hit by a sniper rifle or a shotgun), and blood and gibs; AI should wince in pain when shot, and it grab particular body parts. Even Virtua Cop did this back in the day. AI should react in a way that’s believable, with some sort of intelligence.

Burnout Paradise Platform Playstation 3 Xbox 360, PC Developer Criterion Games

Why Its Hot?

Video games are more than just fun; they’re big business. The research firm Gartner predicts that video game sales will top $74 billion worldwide this year and reach $112 billion by 2015. Part of what’s driving that growth are the ever-expanding ways to play games. The rise of smartphones, iPads and similar devices has made mobile gaming the fastest growing segment of the market. Sims creator WillWright has dubbed the phenomenon the “Gambrian Explosion.”

Batman Arkham Knight Platform Playstation 4 Xbox One, PC Developer Rocksteady

A REAL EMOTION ENGINE What a disappointment. Sure, I’ve played games in which I felt intense emotions besides fear, anxiety, rage, and excitement. But not that many. There were a few levels in Medal of Honor: Frontline that opened up that emotio-nal box of wonder amazement, and perhaps a glimmer of the chaos and destruction of World War II was like. Ico did a superb job of digging down internally. The Silent Hill games injected a whole new level of fear and surreal uneasy feelings in me. I’ve been told that Final Fantasy and KOTOR delivered on giving gamers something to care about and feel for, but for the most part, those games are exceptions to the rule. The only thing is, in order to create real emotion in games you have to create characters people care about, write stories that deal with real world emotions (or even science fiction story scenarios that deal with the nature of life and death), and show characters show can convey that emotion like those in Half-Life 2. I’ll approach those ideas below.

ART DIRECTION

Shifting direction just a little bit, we need better art direction in our games. Not just more polygons or slicker textures, but games with a better sense of visual style. Off the top of my head, one of the first games that really showed a distinct sense of art direction and style in this generation of games was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. That game oozed with style, and even though it was simple and quick, it became one of my favorites because the main character, Sly, had real character. He wasn’t some fuzzy-ass thing with pointed ears and an attitude. He was a smart, slick thief, and a raccoon no less. Not so strangely it worked. Ico, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Tron 2.0: Killer App, Halo 2, and all of the Grand Theft Auto games delivered great styles, all of which were different andunique to their properties. Former Naughty Dog President Jason Ruben once said that the amount of shapes you have on screen doesn’t matter anymore, it’s what’s you do with it.

12 | Future of Game Design

BETTER STORIES

While Hideo Kojima might have a fetish for guns and weird-ass characters that love to spin their guns, he is at least trying to direct his games in the medium he’s using. His Metal Gear Solid series has shown what can be done extremely well and conversely, not so well, but one thing is for sure you will remember his games and his style for better or worse. Games such as the original Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, the wonderful and original Beyond Good and Evil and the two Max Payne games Max Payne, and Max Payne: The Fall of Max Payne all provided distinct styles of storytelling that were also distinctly unique to video games. We don’t just want video games to emulate movies. We want stories to be told like movies, but specialized for the medium of games. Better writing, more story branching, more distinct characters, and less potty talk are all high on our wish-list of next generation games.

Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE Developer Konami

BaSly Cooper: Thieves in Time Platform Playstation 3 Playstation Vita Developer Sucker Punch

THE ART OF PERSUASION PRESENTATION

The HUD, or Heads-Up Display, for instance, has actually evolved well in this generation of games. But there is room for improvement. The HUDs in games such as Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty, The Getaway, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Mercenaries and a few others have shown how to persuade gamers they are fully immersed in other worlds. When it gets down to it, hundreds of little things could improve our interactions with games. Games such as Metroid Prime have pioneered the cool visor look, while lobbies for Internet games in Halo 2 have grown more sophisticated. But what else can be done? With games like Halo 2 giving us easy to use online menus, lobbies and the like, a great amount of work has been done to make very difficult things look quite easy. Developers should take tips from Bungie’s online methods, and their Website support and Microsoft should make these tools available to everyone so that other first-party and all third-party Xbox developers can modify, tweak these brilliant designs to make them even better.

CONTINUITY IN SERIES In the early 1990s, PC games used to ship in series. They used to enable players to take their built up character from one game and use it in the next.The idea rewards players who have played the game and encourages them to buy the sequel. It’s pretty easy to do, and it forces the next game in the series to be more than just a game that fixes all the old problems. EA’s “EA Bios” were based on a similar set of ideas, although theirs rewarded gamers playing a variety of EA games with bonus character stats, and surprises. EA canceled this feature in its sports titles. But how cool would it be to take your character from Fable, KOTOR or even Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal and bring it into the next set of games fully built up?

OUTSIDE WORLD INFLUENCES

New ideas in sports games have really accelerated in the last three years as Visual Concepts and EA have fiercely fought for market dominance. But things could always be better. For instance, in the latest NBA Live, when a new rookie talks to a coach, you should see him doing it and see there action of the team players. Or, for instance players should reap the benefits of maintaining a clean football or basketball program with real game play features. Additionally, both Visual Concepts and EA are working to make their games more realistic but presenting them with more visual and visually interactive means is clearly the next step. We could easily write another 10 pages on how sports games could be better but let’s just say now that some of the on field presentation has been taken care of let’s focus on the off the field experiences. Why hasn’t anyone taken a clue from this game and made a newer better one? Sure, there was Deus Ex: Invisible War, but that didn’t take that next step. An evolution from System Shock and System Shock 2, Deus Ex set you up in an intelligent world with options enabling you to play the game in at least three distinct ways: as a hacker, a stealthy bastard, or a fun-and-gun brute. In each way, the game played decisively well, and in each way, it gave you the chance to play it differently. An RPG and first-person shooter, this game really broke genre boundaries as well. Journalists still have arguments about exactly how to categorize it. There are three games that have had the most influence on this generation Grand Theft Auto III, Battlefront 1942, and Deus Ex and we’ve seen lots of attempts to copy the first two. Why isn’t there some smart developer out there making a better, smarter, faster version of Warren Specter’s Deus Ex? Developers! We want you to make it happen!

CUT-SCENE INTERACTION

Games are almost always designed in this fashion: Players get a cutscene to set up a story, they play the mission, and they then watch a cut scene to complete it. Watch, play, watch: repeat ad nauseam. How long has this been the way we play games? Seems like 10 years or more. Why can’t we play the cutscenes? Why can’t we interact with the cutscenes? Mr. Kojima has started the trend in his opus Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater by pressing R1 to take sneak peaks at Eva’s boobs or zoom into an enemy’s activities. Think about this part of Halo 2: In the early part of the game, Master Chief must locate the Covenant Bomb, stop it, and get rid of it. When he clears out the enemies guarding it, a cutscene shows this ridiculous, over-the-top super hero stunt that screamed out for interaction. Wouldn’t it have been cool to launch and direct that bomb onto the enemy ship, then launch off yourself and feel the satisfaction of having done it, instead of just watching it? Isn’t that what games are all about anyway? Games are not TV shows, and they’re definitely not movies. They’re games. Developers: Make the medium more distinct, more radical, by making them more interactive. Games in the next generation should feature more interactive cutscenes so you feel like you’re actually controlling the events. Not just watching them. Watching is for old folks who don’t get it. Games are the future, and they are meant to be played.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Platform Playstation 4 Xbox One, PC Developer Square Enix

14 | Future of Game Design

Grand Theft Auto V Platform Playstation 4 Xbox One, PC Developer Rockstar Games

“

”

Games are not TV shows, and they’re definitely not movies. They’re games. Developers: Make the medium more distinct more radical by making them more interactive.

GENRE MATURITY CHARACTER EVOLUTION

Peter Molyneux did something spectacular with Fable he gave gamers an RPG character that visually evolved throughout the course of the game, partially by means of their actions, and partially through manual customization. Knights of the Old Republic and the most recent Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas do it too. Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando did this a little bit with weapons (you saw them visually upgrade) and Nintendo’s Metroid Prime presented Samus’ evolution with superb presentation. Can you imagine if all games featured this type of growth in the future? Wow. But wouldn’t it be superb if more RPGs, but more specifically more action and adventure games, gave you this kind of control? Gamers want more control over their characters and with developers seeing that customization is popular in this generation, this path of development looks bright in the next.

INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Games should have more interactive environments. This is an obvious one. But then again, why haven’t more games done it? Once you play games such as MechAssault, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf and Mercenaries, where you can render entire cities to dust, there is no going back. Future games should feature totally interactive environments that take things to a new, unexplored level. Trees should splinter when shot, buildings should collapse when bombed, and walls should be graffiti-ed. You should be able to punch and make a hole in a wall, or break through it while in an action game (somewhat like what’s happened in fighting games). You should be able to bust open a street and drop down into the sewers, set fire to a city, or flood an enemy compound by controlling the water pipes and not in cut scenes either. The environment should become so interactive that playing with it is a challenge and a game all on its own.

REALISM

And you should not only encounter totally interactive environments, but they should react with more realism. When an enemy shoots at you while you’re hiding in a wooden house, the bullets should pierce through the wood. Grenades thrown from the enemy while you’re hiding behind the corner of a brick wall should blow it to pieces the chunks of exploding bricks and mortar should affect you. The look and emotion of the characters in Half Life 2 should be the tip of the iceberg in terms of human emotional reactions in the next generation. Next gen games should better Valve’s superb characters with more character, emotion, and realism.

ONLINE FIRST-PERSON SHOOTERS

So, we all craved the ability to play cooperatively and online through the story mode in Halo 2. What’s stopping developers from doing this on next generation systems? Why not enable say three or four players to play through the story-mode of a first-person shooter as a team?

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Platform Playstation 4 Developer Naughty Dog

16 | Future of Game Design

THE NEW RPG

I personally don’t like RPGs, particularly because most are turn-based. They’re slow, plodding and I usually quit before too long because of boredom. But I love good stories, and I love adventure games. And I crave playing an RPG like Knights of the Old Republic in full action. Why isn’t there a game like that now? Is Jade Empire what I am looking for? Is Kingdom Hearts? They may very well be. In these games, you fight in real time, upgrade abilities, and change based on your actions. Why aren’t there role-playing games that seamlessly blend action and role-playing? The next-generation of games should make RPGs even more accessible.

SMART MOVIE GAMES

Vivendi Universal and Starbreeze had it right. They created a game based on an existing universe but purposely did NOT make their game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay on the movie. And THANK GOD. The game was way better than the film, and what’s more the game enhanced and expanded the property. Making movie-based games isn’t a bad idea all of the time but for God’s sakes, please stop making games that are strictly based on movies. Use your imaginations build something new, tell us a new story, and create games in the universe but not directly on a particular movie or TV Show. Even a technically flawed game like The X-Files: Resist or Serve had it right. It took place “in between” episodes in the series, and used the likeness of the characters, tons of cool details from the series, and created a whole new episode. If you must use a movie or TV property, don’t assume we’re stupid or willing to buy crap. You’ll eat it, if you do.

“

In short, there are dozens of ideas we assuredly share when we think of improving games. These dozen or so just scratch the surface. We all know that better graphics, more control, and better AI should be on the drawing board of every developer. But what else can be done? What kinds of things do you imagine could really make games incrementally better than they are now?

Gamers want more control over their characters, and with developers seeing that customization is popular in this generation, this path of development looks bright in the next.

” 17

The History of

FINAL FANTASY By: Joel Guzman & Barbara Rangel

Final Fantasy XV Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer

Square Enix

inal Fantasy is the longest swan song of all time. It was never meant to last, but now, more than two decades later, it remains the most recognizable name in role-playing games. More of an idea than a true series, it has evolved into something that a young Hironobu Sakaguchi would never recognize and almost single-handedly turned a small, struggling company into an international powerhouse. In the twenty years since it first arrived on Japanese Famicom systems, it's never once relied on nostalgia or conceded to rest on its laurels. Every new game has continued to press forward, and that's precisely what makes it one of the most interesting stories in game history.

he watershed moment for RPGs came with the 1986 release of Dragon Quest on the Famicom. Games like Wizardry and Black Onyx introduced Japan to the genre, but Enix’s flagship title distilled it into a simple, playable form that the console crowd could embrace. Along with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, the title went on to become one of the defining games of the Famicom’s early life, and propelled the console to a new level of success. This was the climate when Square released their earliest games in 1986. Sakaguchi released a pair of graphic adventures, and others at the company put out Cruise Chaser Blassty Square’s first original RPG. By the following year, they had some novel pseudo-3D games on the NES. Tobidase Daisakusen and Highway Star might sound unfamiliar, but we’d bet you’ve heard of their American names, 3D WoldRunner and Rad Racer. Square was picking up a lot of creative steam, but there was one problem: the games weren’t really selling. Sakaguchi grew increasingly pessimistic as the company faced possible bankruptcy,and he realized his next game would likely be his last. Every man wants a legacy, so he committed to take one good crack at a masterpiece before bowing out. He decided to make his final game a fantasy epic, and he named it accordingly.

20 | The History of Final Fantasy

The finality of the title would haunt him in the years to come, but at the time it seemed perfect. Final Fantasy followed the mold of other RPGs of the day. The genre wasn’t crowded yet, but competition was heating up. Final Fantasy released on the same week as SEGA’s Phantasy Star and just two months ahead of Dragon Quest III, classic games and timeless rivals. Fans will still squabble about which of these was truly the best, but all of them played a role in legitimizing the RPG as a main stream genre. To stay competitive with Enix, who drafted Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama to do designs for their games, Square recruited Yoshitaka Amano, known for his distinctive, sophisticated art style popularized in Vampire Hunter D. Coupled with a memorable soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy was a polished package that just about anyone could hop into. This one game alone was not enough to build the Final Fantasy empire, but it was success enough to pull Square out of their financial crisis, at least for a little while. It cemented a long and valuable working relationship with Nintendo that would eventually pull them away from the computer game market, and propel them to international success. It was nearly three long years before Nintendo’s localization reached American kids. By the time it arrived, it was behind Phantasy Star, Dragon Quest (known as Dragon Warrior here), and even the 16-bit Phantasy Star II. Despite the competition, Final Fantasy outsold them all in the US, and did much to erode the myth that American console gamers didn’t want RPGs. For many, it was the first time they ever played such an expansive, deep, and involved game. You never forget your first RPG, and that loyalty would take Square a long way. Well before Square even dreamed of releasing its game abroad, they were already hard at work on a sequel. With Dragon Quest cranking out new games about once a year, they knew they had to move fast or get left behind. Rather than just expanding the game with a bigger quest or more classes, they set the tone for future games in the series by releasing a game that had little connection to its predecessor and did its best to advance the game play and create something new. While Dragon Quest would later become notorious for its adherence to convention, Final Fantasy would constantly strive to be the Next Big Thing.

For the first time, Square placed their narrative front and center. While the first game had a thin story with interchangeable protagonists, competitors like Phantasy Star had comparatively rich stories and even cut scenes. Final Fantasy II upped their game with an original cast of characters with names and designs by Yoshitaka Amano, and much more complex storyline set in a new world unconnected to the first. Akitoshi Kawazu would later gain renown and infamy for his experimental approach to RPG mechanics, and it was during the development of Final Fantasy II that he first began to rebel. The sequel’s gameplay was reworked considerably, with a new leveling system that powered up players’ skills based on specific criteria. For example, using swords would increase the player’s sword proficiency and attack skill, but magic could only be boosted by casting spells and archery by using a bow. Even hit points were leveled up by taking damage.

On paper, this sounds like an intriguing way to add depth, but in practice it forced players to masochistically allow characters to take damage in order to level up, and turned already cumbersome level grinding into an involved chore. While later remakes toned these elements down, Kawazu was banished from the main series until Final Fantasy XII, and instead headed up the more experimental SaGa series. With the first game a hit in North America, Square decided to bring its sequel to our shores. While the original was localized by Nintendo Final Fantasy II was the first major translation effort by Square’s newly formed American office. Unfortunately, they still had a few things to learn. The effort was badly supported and the translator was forced to make cuts and rewrites to try to cram the script in place of the Japanese text with no compression. As the project dragged on, Square decided to abort the effort and focus on the first next-gen effort, Final Fantasy IV.

Final Fantasy Platform NES, Gameboy Playstation, iOS Developer Square Enix

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN FINAL FANTASY VII

Final Fantasy is dead. Long live Final Fantasy. The first 32-bit game in the series wasn’t just a turning of the page, it was a whole new beginning. Much of what was the series was buried, and new trail was blazed. It was a turning point, not just for the series, but the entire industry. Final Fantasy VII was a force that could not be ignored. Square had a long and cozy relationship with Nintendo, that few ever thought to question. When they showed off a 3D demo featuring Final Fantasy VI characters, many assumed we were getting a glimpse at the series’ next incarnation. When they announced their plans to jump ship for Sony’s new platform, loyal fans felt betrayed. Square was a turncoat but they were about to win over a whole new generation of fans. It wasn’t an RPG that showed them the power of Sony’s console. Capcom’s Resident Evil (in turn taking a page from Alone in the Dark) combined 3D and bitmap graphics in a way that allowed for detailed, realistic environments that could never be done in real-time. The effect of using detailed CGI backgrounds was immediately apparent. When Nintendo announced that they’d be limiting themselves to cartridges, Square had no choice. The divorce was bitter, but Square made the right decision. The transition wasn’t easy, though. Final Fantasy VI was already a massive undertaking by the standards of its day, with a team of around 50 people. Sakaguchi had hoped to return to the director’s chair for the seventh game in the series, but as the team swelled he soon realized that producing would be a full time job. By the time the production had reached full swing, its staff had grown to more than quadruple the size of FF6’s. Sakaguchi managed the team as they expanded, while Yoshinori Kitase (who had honed his skills on Chrono Trigger in the interim) returned. Progress was difficult at first, as Square had only about six months of experience working with CGI graphics, but as soon as it started to come together, the team knew they were making history. Kitase realized early on that the eye-popping world they were creating would be the real way to capture the American audience (and not simplified game play, as had been previously thought). In fact, it was the occasionally stubborn Japanese audience he was afraid of losing. These changes may seem largely superficial and indeed the game play had not been radically changed but they were powerful. The transition was like going from a screenplay to a fully realized movie. The much talked about death scene from the game’s first act was nothing new for RPGs it had been done similarly in two Phantasy Stars, and even within the Final Fantasy series but the cinematic presentation and rich detail gave it a power that small dialog boxes and tiny sprites could never have. It was simply an unforgettable moment. The world got their first playable taste of the game when Square released a demo disc with their 3D fighting game Tobal No. 1. The hype train left the station immediately, 22 | The History of Final Fantasy

A new generation of role-playing had begun. Final Fantasy VII’s impact on Japanese RPGs was immediate and permanent. Detailed cut scenes and environments became so universal that the Nintendo 64 suffered a near-total lack of RPGs. Its impact was no less significant in the West. While Bernie Stolar once said as Sony’s VP that he didn’t want RPGs on the PlayStation because they wouldn’t flatter the system, it was a Japanese RPG that would cement its stranglehold on the market. It wasn’t that Final Fantasy VII was an innovative game; pre-rendered backgrounds and CGI cut scenes had all been done before, and the gameplay stayed close to the proven formula. But Square had their finger on the pulse. They used these tools to create a game of such undeniably broad appeal that publishers across the world had to take notice. They shattered the myth that Americans wouldn’t play RPGs, and that action would always win over story. Many were vindicated by its success, and many more forced to hang their heads in shame for ever doubting. For many, especially those in America and Europe, Final Fantasy VII would be their first RPG. The sentimental bond gamers feel for Square’s 32-bit classic is rivaled by few others. Its star has faded a bit, as we look back with a critical eye, but there’s little denying its lasting impact. Even in recent years, Square is still dredging up its characters for the movie Advent Children or the PS2 spin-off Dirge of Cerberus.

It was a breakthrough, it was a commercial zenith, and it was Square’s greatest triumph. In the years that would come, they would find themselves forever chasing that success, never to reach it again. Final Fantasy VII was a production of an epic scope. While the delays didn’t hurt them in the end, Square realized that they needed to plan ahead if they were going to pace their releases right. They made the decision to form two separate teams (albeit with considerable overlap) to work on future games in a staggered, parallel cycle, in order to get two sequels out while the PlayStation was in its prime. They flirted with the concept before, during the early development of Final Fantasy IV, as well as during the development of Mystic Quest and FF5, but this was an undertaking of a much larger scope. This time, however, they had more of a strategy. They would take two completely opposite approaches, in order to bring new people into the fold and win back those who had left. Final Fantasy VIII would be a progressive, unmistakably modern game, and Final Fantasy IX would go back to roots with a fantasy story full of gooey nostalgia. Together, they’d broaden the fan base and strengthen the Final Fantasy name.

Final Fantasy VII Platform Playstation Developer Square Enix

THE NUMBERED SEQUEL FINAL FANTASY X

Following the release of Final Fantasy VIII and IX, the fans were divided between the more modern, sci-fi tinged motif and classic castles and dungeons. Kitase wanted to move in a new direction. He decided to return to a fantasy setting without the technological elements, but he wanted to create a new world that wouldn’t come off like a retread of fantasies past. He asked his designers to draw on Asian elements as well as original designs to create a more “primitive” world that was still something all its own. The Active Time Battle system that had become a series hallmark was laid to rest,a controversial move to dedicated fans. In its place, they debuted the strategy-minded Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system. This pauses the action when a character’s turn arrives, and gives and overview of upcoming turns, allowing for a more thoughtful approach. In addition, the ability to substitute other characters mid-battle greatly changed the way players fought. Leveling was revised, as well, with the Sphere Grid system, allowing for a unique sort of “ability tree” more reminiscent of modern Western RPGs. Final Fantasy X Platform Playstation 2 Developer Square Enix

The History of Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy had been in slow decline for years, but the release of Final Fantasy X put them back on the upward climb. With just short of 8 million copies sold, it nearly matched the success of Final Fantasy VIII, and far eclipsed IX. Square was proud of what they had created, and for once, they didn’t want to leave it behind. Fan reaction to their latest installment was so great that, in 2002, Square started work on the first ever “true” sequel in the series lineage. Final Fantasy XI was already nearing release, so they called their game, confusingly enough, Final Fantasy X-2 (leading some to pronounce the Roman numeral ten as the letter “X”). Since they already had their world and characters designed, and an engine ready to go, they were able to spin the team off into a small, relatively inexpensive production of about a third the size of its predecessor. Even better, they were able to complete their game in a little under a year. Despite tying in closely with FF10, Square was careful not to take the exact same approach. This was a game of fan service, and the lighthearted, fun approach seemed a perfect break from the sometimes dreary melodrama the series was known for. The playable cast was whittled down to the three female starlets, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. The return of a Job System added playable variety, as well as a “dress up” element that suited the girly undertones. The television campaign made the shift in tone abundantly clear, with a pop montage that looked more like American Idol than Final Fantasy. Despite the cheery atmosphere, Square still showed some of their trademark ingenuity in the game’s design. In addition to the wide character development afforded by the Job System, they also introduced a missionbased structure more akin to Western RPGs, and they allowed for wide-open exploration from very early on. Most of the game was comprised of side-quests a major departure from the linear structure of earlier games.

Final Fantasy X-2 wasn’t the same kind of critical or commercial success as the original, but it was never meant to be. It was a companion title, made on a reduced budget, aimed at fans, and with over four million copies sold, it seemed like most came back for seconds. Shortly after its release, Square merged with long-time rival Enix. The move made sense, but it was the final blow for Sakaguchi. Even within Square, Sakaguchi had been increasingly marginalized by some accounts, and his role in Final Fantasy X-2 was diminished. His new bosses at the merged company were less sentimental. “The Spirits Within” was a $94 million red mark on Sakaguchi’s record, and it was not a debt he could easily repay. In 2004, 21 years after he helped to found Square, Sakaguchi left to start his own company, Mistwalker, where he would once again be free to do things.

A GIRL NAMED LIGHTNING FINAL FANTASY XII In 2004, with the looming successors of the Xbox and PlayStation 2 on the horizon, Square began work on the next proper installment in the Final Fantasy series. Rightfully dubbed Final Fantasy XIII, Square posited the game as the flagship title of a new collective mythos called Fabula Nova Crystallis (much more on that later). Game director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase began work on XIII as a PlayStation 2 title, but the success of Square’s Final Fantasy VII tech demo convinced the team to move development of XIII onto the 7th generation of consoles. At E3 2006, the company unveiled Final Fantasy XIII alongside Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, the trio of games set to act as the pillars of Fabula Nova. The hero of XIII was unveiled as Lightning, a strong female protagonist posited as a mix between VI’s Terra and VII’s Cloud. A bulk of the game was delivered via flashbacks that revolved around Lightning’s mission to save her sister Serah from a crystal-based prison created as an act of fate. Aided by characters like Serah’s lover Snow, a desperate father

Final Fantasy XIII Platform Playstation 3 XBOX 360 Developer Square Enix

named Sazh, and an orphaned child named Hope, Lightning and company progressed through the world alongside a new battle system that brought a cinematic flair to the action reminiscent of the fight scenes in Tetsuya Nomura's animated film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Though XIII turned out to be an undeniably gorgeous RPG for the 360 and PS3 when it was released in late 2009, many fans of the series were a bit disappointed by the lack of exploration during the first half of the game. Though XIII opened up after about 30 hours and allowed much more player freedom, the prospect of spending an entire day to get to the “good part” of the game left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans. Luckily Square seemed to take the feedback to heart, and worked on fixing some of the linearity in the game’s sequel, Final Fantasy XIII-2. 2012’s XIII-2 focused on Serah after being freed at the end of XIII. It alleviated much of the original’s linearity by allowing players to jump through time and space at their leisure, and tackle many of the game’s

obstacles in whichever order they desired. Though XIII-2 built upon the Command Synergy Battle system of its predecessor, one major change came from its whittling down of playable heroes. Your party almost exclusively consisted of Serah and the enigmatic Noel, with the third slot being reserved for one of the many monsters that the player would encounter and tame along the way. From Chocobos to Cacatuars, this collection system brought to mind shades of Pokemon, and despite the lack of story influence contained within these creatures, it added a new layer of strategy to the battle system. FFXIII-2 contained a wealth of different endings for the player to discover, but the main one left the game on a cliffhanger that Square will soon pick up with the release of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Though originally promised to launch in 2013, Square pushed the game back in the US and Europe to February 2014. Once again, Toriyama and Kitase have listened to the fans, and have decided to add many elements to this third act that draw from action-adventure games. This time around, Lightning can traverse the environment more freely, and is able to climb, jump, and use stealth to navigate the world. Also more action-orientated is the combat system. Lightning fights battles herself, but this time around the player has full control over her movement and actions in battle.The player can maneuver behind an opponent before releasing a slew of attacks that each correspond to a single press of a button.

Final Fantasy XV Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Square Enix

THE FIFTEENTH COMING FINAL FANTASY XV While Lightning helmed a trilogy and the drama surrounding Final Fantasy XIV unfolded, Square also posited the Fabula Nova Crystallis as the future of the Final Fantasy series. FFXIII was to act as the tent-pole of a much larger world which consisted also of Final Fantasy Agito XIII for mobile phones and a more action-driven Final Fantasy Versus XIII for PS3. Agito XIII was a response to the success of Before Crisis, a prequel to FFVII which did quite well for itself on the Japanese mobile platform. But in 2008, a few years into the development of Agito, Square decided to move the game over the PSP and cancel the mobile phone version. Eventually the game was released in Japan on October 27, 2011, with the new title of Final Fantasy Type-0. Though received quite well, it shared little in common with XIII, thus the changing of its name. There has been speculation over the years that Square is working on a localized version for the US, possibly even on PS Vita, but that rumor has never been confirmed. As for the third announced title in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, Versus’ development is one as strange as this industry has ever seen. Initially unveiled in early 2006, Square announced that it was to be an action-heavy take on FF helmed by Kingdom Hearts’ creator Tetsuya Nomura. It involved a young prince named Noctis and his journey through a decidedly modern looking world. Many of the game’s locations drew influence from various places around Tokyo. But after the initial announcement in 2006, Square became very coy with showing off new elements of Versus XIII. This eventually came to a head after January 2011, when Square pretty much went silent regarding the project, leading fans and critics to believe that Versus would sadly fall into the realm of vaporware, and never actually see a proper release.

After years of critics and fans proclaiming that Final Fantasy Versus XIII would never see the light of day, June 10, 2013 rolled around. It was a Monday, and the first day of E3 2013. With all talk centered on Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, no one figured that we’d hear any updates on Square’s defunct project. But then Sony took the stage for their press conference, and suddenly the journey of Versus XIII became much clearer. Tetsuya Nomura appeared on camera and unveiled a brand new trailer for Versus XIII which featured a wealth of new game play. Though the characters, story, and tone were still in place, the game looked decidedly different thanks to it now being developed for next-gen consoles. And as a bit of icing on the cake, the trailer ended with the Versus XIII logo shattering, only to be replaced with the words Final Fantasy XV. The future has never looked quite so bright for the Final Fantasy series. We have Lightning Returns, A Realm Reborn, and Final Fantasy XV all on the horizon. Plus, Square is set to release an HD compilation of Final Fantasy X and X-2, and they’ve hinted at giving this same treatment to other games in the series if it sells well. Fans worried about the series taking a more action-orientated approach and forgetting about its tactical roots need not worry at E3 2013, the company promised that there’s room for both kinds of RPGs in the current gaming landscape, and has plans to deliver experiences that cater to all gamers. Aside from all of this, we can only speculate where the future of Final Fantasy will take us, but a good place to start is with the Agni’s Prophecy tech demo that Square unveiled at E3 2012. The gorgeous display of the Luminous Engine showed what looked like pre-rendered CG, but was actually running in real time. How these impressive technical elements will pair with the nuanced mechanics of past Final Fantasy still remains to be seen.

9.3 AMAZING

Horizon Zero Dawn Platform Playstation 4 Developer Gorilla Games

HORIZON ZERO DAWN

REVIEWS

here’s something about being dropped into a brand new game world and finding it to be dense with deeply considered lore, terrifyingly aggressive creatures, and tantalizing questions that leaves an indelible mark on the memory. Horizon Zero Dawn is one of those games, and it carves out a unique identity within the popular action-roleplaying genre. Coupled with wonderfully flexible combat and a story that touches on unexpectedly profound themes, I found it hard to tear myself away from Horizon even after I’d finished its main campaign some 40 odd hours later. A sense of urgency is established from the getgo, as Horizon’s premise is a big mystery that begs to be solved. The questions raised by protagonist Aloy and the primitive, feral machine-infested open world she inhabits kept me guessing throughout: what’s at the centre of it all? Although Horizon suffers from occasionally corny dialogue that belies its smarts, the broader ideas it prods at - the nature of creation, for example - are remarkably ambitious.

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Aloy’s personality helped me care about her journey on a more personal level. Nimbly voiced by Ashly Burch (known for her performance as Borderlands 2’s Tiny Tina), she’s a charming character to watch and play as because of the wry wit that tempers her big-hearted heroism; some of my favourite smaller moments came from Aloy’s sarcastic interactions with other characters who didn’t get the joke. Though you have some say on the way she responds to situations in the interests of dialogue flavour, she remains largely a well-intentioned character, which is in step with Horizon’s broader story. There’s much more flexibility to be found once Aloy’s out in the big wide world. Horizon’s combat is its most compelling feature, thanks to the variety found within 26 distinct species of animal-like machines that roam its great far-future expanse. These beasts have several weak points that can be scanned using Aloy’s Focus (a lore-friendly device that gives you Witcher-like heightened senses), and hitting different points can have different results that change the way a fight plays out. Send a piercing arrow into the bulging ‘cargo sac’ of a giant fire-spewing Bellowback, for example, and you’ll set off a massive explosion. Down a flying, ice-shooting Glinthawk by destroying the armoured sac on its chest to temporarily freeze the bird, or shoot the cannon off the back of a tiger-like Ravager and pick it up to blast a T-Rex-esque

Thunderjaw, who you only just noticed approaching from the corner of your eye during the fight. It’s breathless stuff, and there are no hand-holding tutorials telling you how to best approach the beasts, which makes for more rewarding wins.

THE VERDICT Across a vast and beautiful open world, Horizon Zero Dawn juggles many moving parts with polish and finesse. Its main activity - combat - is extremely satisfying thanks to the varied design and behaviors of machine-creatures that roam its lands, each of which needs to be taken down with careful consideration. Though side questing could have been more imaginative, its missions are compelling thanks to a central mystery that led me down a deep rabbit hole to a genuinely surprising - and moving - conclusion.

eeking out new life and new civilizations to shoot and have sex with, Mass Effect: Andromeda creatively sidesteps the limitations of Mass Effect 3’s ending by launching a group of pioneers into a whole new galaxy. What they find there is a vast and sometimes exciting action role-playing game that kept me engaged, but after the outstanding trilogy that created this universe, Andromeda is a disappointing follow up with some significant technical issues on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. From the opening moments, there’s an immediate sense of mystery and peril as the human colony ship encounters a massive, world-ruining space anomaly that throws their plans into disarray, and a new hostile alien race led by a threatening villain attacks on sight. The quest to find a

habitable and safe new home for tens of thousands of frozen colonists and form a functioning independent government along with colonists from the krogan, salarian, turian, and asari ships is an interesting struggle that sets this Mass Effect apart from the establishments of previous games. At the same time, Andromeda just can’t stop itself from retreading some major plot ideas from the original trilogy, including another long-dead civilization that’s left advanced technology lying around. What’s bizarre is that BioWare went to the trouble of shipping us 2.5 million light years away to introduce only two new alien races (plus some robots) over more than 50 hours of campaign and major side missions, and only one local joins your crew. Given that the original games have multiple background races like elcor, drell, vorcha, batarians, and more to add diversity and the sense that we were living in a universe full of different peoples, the Andromeda galaxy seems practically barren of

7.7 GOOD

Mass Effect Andromeda Platform Playstation 4 Xbox One, PC Developer Bioware

MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA

Our new customizable protagonist, Ryder, quickly finds himself thrust into the leadership role of Pathfinder and placed in command of a ship, the Tempest. (As with Shepard, Ryder can be either a man or a woman, but because my first playthrough was as a guy named Biff with a large ginger afro and a scar that looked as though he’d been hit in the face with a hot waffle iron, I’m going to refer to him as male in this review.) On the whole, Ryder is a likable and well-acted character who can carry the story, and the idea of having the alternate-gender version of your character play a role in the story as a twin sibling is a novel idea and used to good effect. It can also be ridiculous if you choose to use the character creator to make the twins appear as completely different races – or just freakishly deformed, tattooed, and scarred.

THE VERDICT Mass Effect: Andromeda is an expansive action role-playing game with a few great moments that recapture the high points of the landmark trilogy that came before it, and energetic combat and fantastic sound effects contribute to a potent sci-fi atmosphere. Without consistently strong writing or a breakout star in its cast to carry it through the long hours and empty spaces, however, disappointments like a lack of new races, no companion customization, and major performance problems and bugs take their toll.

inal Fantasy XV opens, quite fittingly, with a splash screen that reads: “A Final Fantasy for fans and first-timers.” Having played every numbered entry since the first, I can see both reverence for the old and a courtship of the new in this latest chapter. I’d like to say it’s an elegant fusion of the two, but in reality it’s more of a duality - a conflict that reaches into nearly every aspect of Final Fantasy XV. In the end, its beauty, charm, and commitment to the bond between its four protagonists keep it glued together, even when some of its design and story elements threaten to pull it apart. Prince Noctis and fellow travelers Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto aren’t a loosely assembled band of strangers uniting to face evil, like in so many other roleplaying games - they are close, long-time friends, and it’s this closeness that gives Final Fantasy XV’s often incoherent story all the heart it has. While the danger that befalls the land of Lucis never truly materializes until the end of the tale and the would-be romantic element of the story never gets more than a handful of weepy, insubstantial cutscenes, the mutual respect, understanding, and kinship of these four is fleshed out and reinforced beautifully whether in combat, on the road, or everywhere in between. Fully real-time combat is the single biggest departure from the turn-based systems of the past, and while it doesn’t feel like the other main-line Final Fantasy games in any regard, the way it makes you and your three AI-controlled compatriots feel like a cohesive fighting unit kept it mostly enjoyable for me. Well-placed flanking strikes are rewarded with big damage and slickly animated team-up attacks, and commanding one of your buds to use one of their stylish-looking special attacks at just the right moment can be a literal blast. Especially here, the banter flies as they cheer each other on and pick one another up when they

fall. They turn monster-slaying into family bonding time, and I love it. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they’re all exceedingly competent in battle. Assuming you keep their gear up to date and you aren’t poking things too many levels above you with a pointy stick, they’ll generally notch almost as many kills as you will, which is great when taking on medium- to large-sized groups. They switch between whatever spells and weapons they have equipped fairly intelligently, and even swoop in to get you on your feet if you’re incapacitated. Though Noctis is more well-rounded statistically (and can wield any weapon type), his three wards feel more or less like his equals. That their usefulness makes battles look like Avengers-style swirling melees isn’t the only upshot, either; it also makes them feel vital, further reinforcing the themes of closeness and brotherhood that make up the backbone of the story.

THE VERDICT When I’m riding chocobos across the beach at dusk with my three friends and hunting iconic Final Fantasy monsters in a huge, picturesque open world, Final Fantasy XV feels like nearly everything I could want from a modern Final Fantasy. But when it funnels me into linear scenarios and drab, constricted spaces that plunge the simplistic combat into chaos, my blood boils a bit. There is so much good here, so much heart - especially in the relationships between Noctis and his sworn brothers. It just comes with some changes and compromises that were, at times, difficult for this long-time Final Fantasy fan to come to grips with.

8.2 GREAT

FINAL FANTASY XV

Final Fantasy XV Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Square Enix

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8.9 GREAT

Nier: Automata Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Platinum Games

NIER: AUTOMATA

fter trading fisticuffs with a Transformer, cartwheeling around a bullet-spewing tank controlled by evil clowns, and using a moose to buck my way through killer robots, it’s safe to say that there are very few games – if any – quite like Nier: Automata. At different times it’s a hack-and-slash, an RPG, a shoot-‘em-up, a brawler, and even a text adventure. But no matter which style it is at any given moment, this dazzling hybrid delivers 30-plus hours of fantastically fun action, remarkable locations, and a story so weird I doubt I’ll forget it anytime soon. Nier: Automata takes place in a desolate but stunning futuristic dystopia where humanity has fled to the moon after an extraterrestrial invasion, leaving behind an army of androids to fight the aliens’ more primitive but prolific machines. It’s a world where lush green tendrils of ivy coil around the massive skeletal remains of crumbling skyscrapers and tears of rust streak down the sides of old factories, with rotund buildings and looming cranes dominating the skyline. Automata’s striking art style and enormous sense of scale are mesmerizing to look at on the PlayStation 4, but especially on the PlayStation 4 Pro. It doesn’t go above 1080p on the Pro, but colors appear fresh and vivid, while better lighting and shading bring the world into sharper focus. I did encounter a few hiccups that knocked the frame rate below 60fps and witnessed a fair share of texture pop-in, but they only pockmarked Automata’s lovely features ever so slightly. That, or I was too enchanted with the soaring, chorus-filled soundtrack to really notice; Automata will definitely be joining its predecessor’s score on my playlist.

The story that takes place amongst the tumbled remains of abandoned superstructures is bizarre and entertaining, if somewhat haphazard. First as an android named 2B and later as other characters experiencing the same events from different perspectives, your job is to fight the alien machines and bring an end to the war. The quirky, full-tilt drama that unfolds as you bounce between Earth and the moon is an intriguing one, touching on existential themes like the meaning of life and humanizing those on the other side of war. It works, for the most part, due to a couple of bonkers plot twist and well-done voice acting that helps sell the more outlandish bits of allegory. Like its predecessors Nier and Drakengard, Automata does have an unfortunate tendency to wander into uber-convoluted territory, and this is where problems start to arise. Try as I might, I couldn’t always understand what was happening, even after I played through several of Automata’s multiple endings. There are also some emotional moments that struck me as forced. It’s as if the game’s lead writer Yoko Taro wanted to make me cry and was casting about for ways to make that happen. (To be fair, one event did have me pretty darn misty-eyed.)

THE VERDICT Nier: Automata is a crazy, beautiful, and highly entertaining journey full of nutty ideas and awesome gameplay. It may not include the most sensical story or compelling characters, but its frenzied combat -- coupled with beautiful visuals and a stunning soundtrack – make it too much fun to pass up.

INJUSTICE 2

INTERVIEW with Ed Boon the creator of Mortal Kombat Interviewed by Jasmine Melendez

NetherRealm Studios was at the cornerstone of

many, many childhoods. From tearing out pages of fatalities in old gaming magazines to setting up dream fights with our favorites DC superheroes, NetherRealm has created franchises that have had a lasting impact on the fighting game genre. Next year, the team is aiming to top their much beloved first title with a sequel that is much more than just an expanded roster. Q: How Injustice 2 will differ from Injustice? “I think we started off with what people would expect us to do, a bigger roster with characters we couldn’t include in the last game, going deeper into the DC roster. I guess the biggest thing that we added is what we call the gear system, which is a whole system of acquiring gear pieces which power up your character and this constant search for the best version of your character.” Q: DLC has been a mainstay for the Mortal Kombat and Injustice titles for quite sometime now. With various skins and levels, it’s always nice to freshen up the content. How will DLC be different this time? “I think we are going to go further with DLC than any of our previous games.” He clarified that the DLC will be, “Most likely with packs of characters and costumes. Some of our costumes will be a gear piece, so if you put on a gear piece, you might switch over to a different character. And that is going to be another part of what makes finding these pieces so much fun.”

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Q: Are you guys planing on pulling from other franchises? “We are absolutely open to those ideas. We’ve done a little bit of that. Like, we have the Man of Steel Superman in our games and stuff like that, so we are constantly looking for crossover things like that. Again a lot of the fans of these games, they watch the movies. They see the animated show, and there is a cool novelty to seeing that in the game.” Q: How are the character skins? “So, we are going half of them are new and half of them are returning to keep it as fresh as possible.” So, it will be interesting to see who does/doesn’t make the cut coming over from Injustice. On top of the DC characters, there is always speculation as to what guest characters we could expect to make their way over into Injustice 2, and if it was up to Boon, there would be plenty. “We definitely have had a lot of discussion about guest characters. Like in Injustice, we had Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, and he was actually the most downloaded of all the characters. So, there is always a discussion of would it be cool to have this character in. And I have certainly had people approach me and ask, ‘Do you want to have this guy in the game?’ But, it is a pretty long process, you know a lot of discussion, and it definitely doesn’t boil down to, ‘Do we want him in? Okay, he’s in.’ Because there are licenses, and stuff.”

Q: How will the campaign be different this time? “Story in fighting games is kind of like a punch line, kind of like a joke. There is just no story in fighting games. We wanted to do the opposite,” said Boon. “We have a multi-hour cinematic experience that you play where we are telling a very elaborate story. We hired professional actors and everything to play the roles of these characters. We try to tell as elaborate of a story. We want to try to tell something as close to this great cinematic experience where you participate in the fights.”

Injustice 2 Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Neather Realms

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Pixel MAGAZINE June 2017

Injustice 2 Platform Playstation 4 XBOX ONE, PC Developer Neather Realms

THE NEXT GEN FIGHTING GAMES Nothing more satisfying then crushing the competition. Fighting games have been an icon game genre and have evolved so much.