nfall 2 a t i T • a d e t: Andromnite Warfare c e f f E s s a ild • M all Of Duty: Infi W e h Wars 2 T o f l a O H C h t • • a 2 1 e s r d Zelda: B f War • Battlefiel rdian • Watch Dog God O • The Last Gua y more! n a m d n a . Spider-Man ..
IT’s VR-y Scary!
14 Iron crew We grill Destiny art director Chris Barrett for all the info on the latest expansion, Rise Of Iron.
PARTY OF ONE Microsoft unveils two new Xbox One systems, including “the most powerful console ever”
Nomura is a busy chap, with Kingdom Hearts III also in his hands. Don’t expect FFVII Remake any time soon, then.
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16 Trek it out
18 ’Tuber man From captaining the USS Enterprise to being the Batman, we round up the best upcoming VR.
21 Crashing the party Skyrim’s looking shiny and a certain Bandicoot’s back – check out the best upcoming remasters.
Our roving Early Access reporter finds out what it’s really like to achieve YouTube stardom.
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icrosoft has gone hardware gaga and announced not one, but two new additions to the Xbox One family. The first is the Xbox One S, a pleasingly svelte version of Microsoft’s existing gaming hardware that manages to cram in a couple of teeny-tiny performance improvements to boot. The second is a full-blooded mid-generational refresh that Microsoft’s calling “the most powerful console ever”. Project Scorpio, as the new machine is currently known, is set for release in late 2017.
Microsoft’s slimline redesign is due sooner – we’re expecting it to hit store shelves in late summer – and in terms of physical dimensions the One S promises to be 40 per cent smaller than its bulky older brother. 4K video is the other focus of the device, which will play UHD 4K Blu-ray discs in its upgraded drive, as well as supporting the super high-definition format in streaming apps such as Netflix and Amazon. More intriguingly, the Big M has confirmed that its revised hardware will have additional reserves of processing power too, although it won’t make your existing games run any better.
The One S looks set to start at around £250 for a 500GB model, although if you want a 2TB machine it may be as much as £350. But, while the Xbox One S will upscale all your existing games for 4K screens, it isn’t a true 4K machine. That’s where Project Scorpio comes in, promising to deliver the raw graphical and processing power to render games at nutty resolutions. Microsoft reckons the device will be the most powerful console ever made when it launches in late 2017, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer claims it will be four-and-a-half times as powerful as the existing hardware.
“xbox boss phil spencer claims scorpio will be four-and-a-half times more powerful” Instead, it’ll be used to power HDR gaming for owners of fancy high dynamic range televisions – delivering a richer range of colours in games such as Gears Of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3.
Xbox One-and-a-half
The console will also ship with a subtly upgraded controller, featuring twice the wireless range and hardier thumbsticks than the existing model. It’ll be fully compatible with Windows 10 PCs via Bluetooth, too, which is particularly handy given that Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere initiative will see almost all of its forthcoming first party games launch for both Xbox One and PC. Buy them on one platform, and you’ll get the other version for free.
Despite this big performance boost, Spencer emphatically promises that “no-one gets left behind”. In other words, every XO game will be compatible with the Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Scorpio, with no titles being developed only for the more powerful hardware. Scorpio, it seems, will exist primarily to deliver 4K gaming and VR, rather than entirely new games. Exactly how devs end up making use of all that extra graphical brawn remains to be seen, however, as does the price. Microsoft has assembled an absolute beast – leaks suggest that Scorpio is considerably more powerful than Sony’s similar mid-gen update, PS Neo – and it may carry a price tag to match. Best start saving the pennies ahead of Christmas 2017. n
A sting in the tail
Scorpio may be exciting, but we still have some unanswered questions following Microsoft’s reveal.
How much will it cost? All that power could mean it ends up hundreds of pounds more expensive than the Xbox One’s launch price.
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What’s all that extra power going to be used for? Microsoft is emphasising resolution, but will we see better graphics too?
Why not just buy a PC? Xbox exclusives will be on Windows 10 now too, so why not just go for the more open platform?
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E3
Sony
Some blasts from the past alongside a host of new IP PAST Kratos is back, and he’s older, angrier, and more hirsute than ever. But rather than stabbing his way across ancient Athens, the death dealing deity has travelled to Scandinavia for a bit of a franchise reboot – hence the unnumbered title, God Of War. It’s a bit of a departure from what’s gone before, then, appearing to offer a heavier, slower style of combat, and spinning a narrative from the world of Norse mythology. Kratos still yells a lot, though. Another PlayStation classic soon set to make its PS4 debut is Gran Turismo Sport, the latest instalment in the distinguished series of driving simulators. This new entry carries something of a competitive flavour, boasting two persistent online championships that perhaps reflect the increasing cross-pollination of esports and mainstream
FUTURE We may not know what the heck he’s actually working on, but Hideo Kojima is back and he’s making a game exclusively for PS4. In what was surely one of the oddest game unveilings of all time, the acclaimed auteur introduced Death Stranding to the world with a video of a digital Norman Reedus hugging a baby on a beach. It may be strange, but a Kojima exclusive represents a significant coup for PlayStation – whatever he cooks up. The considerably more conventional (although really quite impressive in its own way) Days Gone is another new IP announcement from Sony. Sure, there’s nothing hugely original about the idea of battling swarms of zombies (er, Freakers), but some remarkable technology enables Sony’s Bend Studio to render fast-moving hordes that flow through
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BLOW OUT!
How the big three’s barrage of announcements looks both forwards and back gaming. In terms of the racing itself, however, it’s all quite comfortably reminiscent of 2013’s Gran Turismo 6. Elsewhere, Gravity Rush 2 continues to impress with its chaotic and colourful action-adventure gameplay. The original was an early PS Vita classic, but its follow-up will be exclusive to Sony’s home console. In fact, the Vita is now conspicuous by its absence from almost any major Sony announcements, and it seems as though the platform holder is no longer looking to support its handheld offering with first-party titles. World Of Final Fantasy, Square Enix’s cutesy role-playing effort, is one of only a select few titles bound for both PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. Perhaps the single most unlikely resurrection on Sony’s roster is Crash Bandicoot, a one-time mascot that had essentially faded into irrelevance once Naughty Dog moved on to bigger and better things. The garish marsupial will feature in Skylanders: Imaginators this October, before returning to the big time with PS4 remasters of his first three games. And then there’s The Last Guardian, a game that we’ve been anticipating for so long that it feels increasingly like a thing of the past. First announced in 2009 for PlayStation 3, Ueda’s tender platformer promises to portray an emotional story of friendship and giant cat-birds. It’s scheduled for release in October, but whether it can live up to the weight of seven years of expectation remains to be seen.
Death and axes “Sony was never going to top last year’s stunning performance, but there’s no denying it still nailed every item on the E3 checklist. Brilliantly inscrutable trailer to get people talking? Check, courtesy of Kojima’s Death Stranding. The long-awaited return of a beloved series? Check, and Kratos has a beard now. Some new looks at known quantities to get us frothing all over again? Check, with amazing demos of Horizon: Zero Dawn and The Last Guardian. Throw in the show’s most exciting virtual reality proposition, Batman: Arkham VR, and you’ve got good times ahead for PlayStation fans.” Robin Valentine, Production Editor
environments like a tidal wave. It’s a technical demonstration of the PS4’s specs advantage, as much as anything else. Although we’ve known about Horizon: Zero Dawn for a while now, it continues to impress in pre-release showings, leaving us quietly confident that Guerilla Games could be celebrating a strong launch in February 2017. Fans of narrative-led games, meanwhile, can look forward to David Cage’s Detroit: Become Human, a visually impressive but tonally downbeat tale of robotic oppression. All told, it’s a strong year for Sony in terms of new IP, with the PS4 set to host a number of brand new blockbusters alongside established franchises. But one area that Sony is understandably keen to shout loud about is virtual reality, and it’s been showing off all sorts of goggle-enabled experiences ahead of the PlayStation VR hardware launch in October. The lineup is looking healthy, with Farpoint, Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, and Batman: Arkham VR all shown off recently. The announcement that Resident Evil 7 will be fully playable in VR, meanwhile, shows how Sony could steal a march on its console rivals in the VR arena. And then there’s the PS Neo, a mid-gen upgrade in the vein of Microsoft’s Project Scorpio. According to a raft of leaks, the PlayStation 4.5 will be noticeably less powerful than Microsoft’s effort, suggesting we could see a reversal of Sony’s hardware advantage within the next 18 months. But there’s no official word on the Neo for now, so Kaz and co could surprise us yet.
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MICROSOFT
Indie intrigue and a slew of system-selling sequels PAST While Sony has been reeling off blockbuster new IPs of late, Microsoft has been talking up a roster of familiar favourites for XO owners. The most conservative of these, perhaps, is Gears Of War 4, a concerted effort to create something that sticks as closely to the series’ established template as possible. That said, it’s a graphically impressive effort designed to exploit the HDR features exclusive to Microsoft’s new Xbox One S system, potentially making it a technical showcase for the SKU. Halo Wars 2 and Dead Rising 4 are both more ambitious additions to existing enterprises, offering considered changes alongside a tasty core of familiarity. Forza Horizon 3, meanwhile, relocates its festival of racing to the varied landscape of Australia, and will ship with a map twice the size of its predecessor when it launches in September. And then there’s State Of Decay 2, a followup to the flawed but atmospheric original. This sequel promises a more fully-realised community of survivors in a more densely-detailed world, plus the addition of four-player online co-op.
FUTURE Microsoft has always struggled to gain a proper foothold in the Japanese market, but its policy of partnering with local devs will finally bear fruit this year. So, while Mighty No 9 may not have turned out to be the worthy Mega Man successor we were all hoping for (check out our review on p73 for more), Keiji Inafune’s ReCore continues to intrigue with its robot-commanding action, and Platinum’s Scalebound looks set to deliver the action goods in 2017. Similarly, Microsoft’s stated commitment to high-falutin’ indie fare should soon pay off, and we’re particularly excited by the dark little duo that is Inside and We Happy Few. And having finally had a chance to properly explore Rare’s cartoonishly colourful online world of pirates, Sea Of Thieves, we’re more excited than ever to see what the studio can do now that it’s no longer toiling away down in the Kinect game mines. It seems as though Microsoft’s finally given up on the once-popular peripheral, in fact – the Xbox One S requires an adaptor to even plug one in.
Sea change XXXXXXXX
“Remember how Microsoft once filled its conferences with motion Xxxxxxx controls, fitness blah, and sales data? E3 2016 was wall-to-wall games, and exclusives to boot: Sea Of Thieves, Halo Wars 2, Forza Horizon 3, Gears Of War 4, Dead Rising 4. All solid propositions, and Windows 10 functionality is a massive bonus. But what really entices me are fresh ideas in We Happy Few, Inside, and Cuphead. If you like videogames (and you probably do), the future’s bright on Xbox One.” Ben Griffin, Senior Staff Writer
NINTENDO
Zelda’s the focus, but we’re all wondering what comes NX-t PAST With so much attention currently focused on Nintendo’s mysterious new home console, it’s easy to forget that the company has at least one massive release up its sleeve that’s in no way dependent on the NX situation. That’s because the goliath multimedia franchise that is Pokémon rumbles on this year with the arrival of latest core series entries Sun and Moon for the 3DS, offering a brand new region to explore, the idyllic, Hawaii-like Alola, and a fresh roster of collectable critters to battle and imprison in spheres. As well as this relatively conventional outing, there’s also a more adventurous take on creature capture in the works: Pokémon Go. Scheduled for release in July, this AR offering from Niantic Labs encourages players to take to the streets with their smartphones in search of pocket monsters. And then there’s the Wii U. Nintendo is surely working its collective socks off on the NX launch lineup right now, leaving Paper Mario: Color Splash as one of the few lonely games on the Wii U release schedule.
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FUTURE Zelda may not be a new franchise, but Breath Of The Wild feels very much like new direction – a shake-up that reaches all the way down to some of the series’ hoariest conventions. But it certainly isn’t the only novel title on Nintendo’s horizon, and the freshly-announced Ever Oasis stands as proof that the Mario-maker isn’t just dedicated to endlessly rehashing its established IPs. There’s also the company’s move into mobile to consider, and Nintendo’s Miitomo app has already been downloaded by more than 10 million users since its launch earlier this year. Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem mobile games are coming next, and it’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Nintendo can deliver the gameplay goods on smartphones without provoking freemium ire from its fanbase. But really, Nintendo’s future is all about the NX at this point, the mysterious system that’s still shrouded in secrecy. Due in March 2017, this is the console that Nintendo hopes will reverse its recent fortunes, although we’ll have to wait until later in the year to find out what form it will actually take.
Breath of fresh air “If you’ve been around for as long as me, you should be getting goosebumps right about now. We’ve been here before, with Nintendo against the ropes and the future looking bleak. Each time though it’s cooked up something incredible and then hit it out of the park, whether inventing new genres, developing new hardware or a potent mix of both. Zelda will be brilliant, but if history has taught us anything it’s that Nintendo always delivers it’s biggest successes with it’s back to the precipice.” Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman, Editor
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Feature On The Cover!
Format NX, Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo ETA Summer 2017
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Sur vival of the fairyest in Nintendo’s biggest ever overhaul
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ink is the new Rosebud, a name with the power to instantly trigger childhood memories no matter how disillusioned we get and how cavernous our houses become. We’ll always have Zelda, a fantasy adventure series firmly entrenched in the history of interactive entertainment as if shared across a singular hivemind. Everyone’s played it. Everyone wants to play the next. Nostalgia, though, can cloud perception. Breath Of The Wild features familiar elf boys and Triforces, sure, but how does it
stand in its own right? Well, we’ll tell you how. Because we’ve played it. Our demo starts with Link awakening underground in a stone sarcophagus lined with glowing blue runes. Already dressed in his iconic tunic, he’s very much an elf in his prime, and while a lack of origin story makes pinpointing a place on the series’ convoluted timelines tricky, there’s a refreshing lack of growing up to do. Gone are the cumbersome tutorials of Skyward Sword, in which you bumble around your village chatting with various long-winded weirdos. Here you’re already a legend from the off. Emerging from the pokey tomb reveals a stunning contrast, both to that confined
space and the landscapes of previous Zeldas: a natural world stretching in all directions. “Go anywhere, do anything,” in a Zelda game usually means “go anywhere until you find the one correct route”. Now it means climb, swim, hunt, loot, cook, and above all, experiment.
Room to breathe
We spot a boulder perched on a hill crest and shove it, sending the stone careening down the slope and smack bang into two dozing Bokoblins. We descend doing a badass (and entirely accidental) Legolas shield surf. We go topless. We whack a tree and carve a deep groove in the trunk that widens upon repeated slashes until it
“we spot a boulder perched on a hill crest and shove it, sending the stone careening down the slope and smack bang into two bokoblins”
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THE 51 BEST GAMES OF 2016
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August 2016
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IndieMaster The Best Of The Indie Scene!
One of the visual inspirations comes from a group called eBoy which does city illustrations that Strych describes as “Where’s Wally? but cool”.
Who is...
Format PC Developer Smac Games ETA Spring 2017 Web http://bit.ly/gmtokyo42
#1 Tokyo 42 The land of the rising gun
Tokyo 42 is the very first title from Smac Games, which is made up of just two men in North London – Maciek Strych handles graphics, while Sean Wright does the coding. Publishing for the game is being taken on by fellow indie devs Mode 7, the guys behind Frozen Synapse.
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ometimes games look so irresistible you don’t just want to play them, you want to live inside them. Simply push through the TV and clamber in like a reverse of that scene from The Ring. Tokyo 42 is one of those games. Frankly too gorgeous for words, this ultra-stylish isometric assassination-fest is set in a
futuristic Tokyo where you have to carefully find and end your target without dying yourself in the process. For co-creator Maciek Strych, this wasn’t just about imagining a sci-fi world – a key touchpoint was Japan as it is right now. “Most importantly in terms of influence is Tokyo itself. We’ve visited a few times and there’s something magic in the way the city works,” Strych says. “It’s massive and mega busy, but there are tiny bars down quiet little alleys that sit a maximum of three people. On a hyper clean residential street you’ll have an Edo period house next to a red brutalist boxy thing. It’s a city of contrast and that spirit is something that we hope to reflect, albeit in isometric and simplistic form.”
Gun slay
When it comes to the gameplay, the original Syndicate and GTA are two of the biggest inspirations, with their top down
The action takes place across the rooftops of the towering city, so high up you seem to be above the clouds. Er, unless that’s smog.
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perspectives on fully explorable worlds. “Watching and interacting with crowds from above is a fantasy that these games did amazingly well,” explains Strych. “On a superficial level, Syndicate Wars had a similar engine to GTA 1 and 2 – 3D buildings and sprites for people. What we’ve done is gone full 3D. This has allowed us to liberate the camera somewhat but more importantly unlock player movement and combat. Now you can engage in combat from varying heights and angles, something that technically wasn’t possible back then.” But it’s not just all about looks. This world is yours to explore as you hunt down your target. You’ve got the option to sneak or go in all guns blazing, but whatever you do, beware of your enemy’s reaction – responsive AI is one of the team’s major goals. “What’s interesting here is that these days there are heightened expectations
“we’ve visited tokyo a few times and there’s something magic in the way the city works” www.twitter.com/gamesmaster
The 60 Second Pitch
Improving on its old school influences, Tokyo 42 takes full advantage of the verticality of its environments, allowing you to attack enemies from above and below. It’s not a fixed view, either – you can swing the camera around as needed.
The team loves the combat of games such as Worms, so they’ve included plenty of physics-based weapons. Bounce grenades off walls into your foes!
many options in as a two man dev team around AI, you can’t just have goons allows. So there are many paths around running at you shooting in varying the environment, different AI routines numbers and power levels,” Strych says. which respond to your approach and “So our AI now uses cover and dodges many tools which you can buy to give grenades, and actively seeks you out yourself the upper hand. One of the when they’ve lost sight of you. Stealth things we like about the game is the does come into play though, and we’ve unpredictability that all these taken elements from Hitman, Monaco, overlapping and Metal Gear to systems bring. The craft a sort of ‘mini game walks this stealth’. So you can line between you change clothing to using the tools you access certain areas. buy in a smart way When you can’t do Strych admits the visuals of and a bullet hell this, you can creep Tokyo 42 are influenced by shooter, so around dodging beautiful mobile game whatever your cones of vision.” Monument Valley – check it approach you get Vigilance is key at out for yourself here: rewarded.” all times. Enemies http://bit.ly/gmmonumentv Then there’s the can pretend to be small matter of civilians to hunt you tactical cats that down and use every you can use in the added competitive single one of your own tools against you. mode when you want to kill your friends. Luckily then you’ve got a dangerous “The multiplayer has this cool rhythm amount of choice when it comes to ways where it cycles between tense crowd to finish a level. “We’re not being too stealth into all out combat and back into precious about how missions play out, so stealth. You start as just another civilian if you find a way to exploit the weapons and you can walk around and think or environment, then all the better,” about stuff and do civilian things. Your enthuses Strych. “We’re trying to put as
Try this!
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enemies will be doing the same thing and you’ll be looking for each other,” Strych says. “We have some cool tools for the stealth phase. For instance, if your opponent(s) is camping too hard in the crowd, you can deploy Trackacat™ which will sniff them out. There’s nothing more terrifying than trundling around pretending to be a civ and looking down to see a cat at your feet and knowing that someone could strike at any second.”
Feline murderous
So, beautiful environments, GTA, stealth, and cats? Can this get any better? Well, best to layer on a perfect synth soundtrack just to be sure. “We’re super fortunate to be working with Vincent Espi, a multi-instrumentalist genius from Cape Town,” explains Strych. “The general brief was to make a contemporary, high energy sound which uses elements of traditional Japanese instrumentation but fuses it with unexpected sonic elements. In this future Tokyo cultures have been forced together, so the social space is all over the place and as such the sound would convey that kind of cultural blending.” Music to our ears. n
Walking the rooftops with Maciek Strych
Tokyo 42 is what happens when Where’s Wally? meets a sniper rifle. It’s an open-world action game set in a future Tokyo where corporate and gang warfare are the order of the day. This is an isometric cyberpunk game in the style of Syndicate, by way of GTA 1. So instead of rainy, dark streets, it’s mega colourful and full of detail. What makes it unique is that, with a spinning camera and physics-based gameplay, we’ve taken a classic genre and gone vertical, giving the player total freedom of movement and combat. Do you sneak past your enemies, hiding in the crowd? Do you jump off a flying car and find that perfect sniper perch? Or do you dodge through the bullet storm? We wanted to get away from the dark noir of the cyberpunk genre. We’ve gone to the flip side, ultra colourful and high energy. Games like Monument Valley and Syndicate have been key influences. It has singleand multiplayer and will involve cats. It’s being made by two brothers in north London, published by Mode 7 and will release early 2017.
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Review The Final Verdict!
Palicoes are more effective than ever as a distraction, often aggroing monsters while you’re glugging a potion or resharpening your blade.
Format 3DS Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ETA 15 July Players 1-4
Monster Hunter Generations Felynes, festivals, and fearsome fights make for a fantastic time
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his action-RPG is a celebration, a gathering to commemorate the series’ past and present with a few new surprises to boot. It’s a game that comfortably achieves its aims, even if, like any festival, some of its many attractions are more worthwhile than others. But the sheer volume of stuff and the friendly, welcoming vibe should ensure veterans, lapsed players, and novice hunters alike find something to enjoy. Your adventure begins in Bherna Village, a mountainside hamlet of grey stone and green grass, but soon you’ll gain access to three more settlements, all taken from previous games. Kokoto has plenty of rustic charm, with its wooden buildings and thatched roofs, while Pokke’s snow-covered stalls rest high among the
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world’s icy peaks. Then there’s Yukumo, previously known to Japanese players from Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which lets hunters rest weary legs in its natural footbath. You can travel by airship between each setting, tapping touchscreen icons to move between them in a matter of seconds. What this new structure gains in visual variety, it loses in coherence: it’s a bit confusing to head down the slopes of Pokke Village only to find yourself fighting land sharks in the desert. Most missions are accessible from any of the four hubs, though fulfilling specific requests from villagers earns you points specific to one place, like themed armour sets. It’s a nice touch, but by the time you unlock these you’ll probably already have stronger gear and better weapons.
Astalos vista, baby
to one of the game’s four signature monsters. Mizutsune’s graceful, serpentine movement makes for a fight that looks as good as it feels. Astalos, an electrically-charged insectoid wyvern, is challenging and distinctive, while Glavenus’ sheer visual appeal – it’s like battling a dinosaur with a Greatsword for a tail – compensates for a more straightforward scrap. Gammoth is, well, a giant mammoth: like its name, it’s not the most inspiring of opponents. They’re not the only newcomers. Ostensibly a mid-level monster, but tougher
than several beasts at higher levels, the owl-like Malfestio is as tricky as its Japanese name Hororohoruru is to pronounce. It’s a thrilling, slightly maddening encounter against an opponent that’s quick and lively, and capable of inducing confusion and sleep. Even the supposed entry-level cannon-fodder beast Great Maccao is good value, as it
Each village chief, meanwhile, offers a set of missions that will eventually lead you
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monster hunter generations backs up and kicks out with sharp claws to protect itself, occasionally launching forward with enough speed and force to bowl you over. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself facing a kind of greatest hits package of past beasts, including the brilliant Nargacuga, one of the game’s obvious standout battles. Oddly, the monsters themselves aren’t actually the star attraction, though. Recognising that 14 weapon types is probably plenty (though we’d be sad if Monster Hunter Frontier G’s Tonfa never made it to the mainline series) Capcom has chosen not to add more, focusing instead on four distinct hunting styles. These are bolstered by a range of selectable Hunter Arts, special abilities which can be triggered once you’ve filled their gauge by landing attacks.
Monsters brawl
loves… Styles and Arts massively expand your combat options.
What to expect from the game’s biggest battles
P
art of the fun of Monster Hunter is figuring out each creature’s weaknesses, but sometimes a few hints can save you hours of getting smashed into pulp. Here are just a few tips for some of the game’s nastiest brutes.
Almost all of the new monsters are great…
hates…
1
Steer clear of Gammoth’s Iceblight breath, and dodge its stomp attack when it rears up on its hind legs.
…so it’s a pity they didn’t introduce more. The lack of a strong narrative drive is noticeable.
Better than…
Style counsel
If you’ve played Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, you’ll easily be able to slip into the Guild style, which gives you two Arts to play around with but otherwise uses similar controls and move sets. Striker style is simpler and more streamlined, but gives you an extra Art: while limiting your approach somewhat, the range of Arts gives you the opportunity to focus on tactical special move use. The other two offer you just a single Hunter Art, but are much more interesting to experiment with. Aerial style is for those who enjoyed the Insect Glaive’s ability to vault onto monsters’ backs or otherwise attack from above. It’s no surprise to learn that it’s become the most popular style among Japanese players. In one battle, we sprinted and rolled towards a Cephadrome, but
2
Astalos can electrify parts of its body, indicated by a bright green glow. Bear in mind that it’s weak to ice.
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What’s Malfestio’s favourite branch of mathematics? Owl-gebra
Mizutsune’s bubble attack will make you fall over, and watch for its fins turning red – that means its enraged.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Generations has transformed the way we hunt – it’s hard to go back to older Monster Hunter games now…
Worse than…
4
Glavenus uses its tail a lot, so try to sever it. First break it, then wait for it to go red before cutting it off.
“you’ll find yourself facing a greatest hits package of beasts from past games” misjudged the distance. Fortunately, our Palico assistant stepped in, positioning itself to boost us into the air as we made the perfect downward strike to prompt the mounting minigame. If you’re playing multiplayer, you can be launched skyward by another hunter’s weapon, adding a neat tactical option to online hunts. This was the style we clicked with the quickest and, not coincidentally, the one we spent most time with. Adept (formerly Bushido) style is more of a connoisseur’s choice. It’s riskier, but the rewards are potentially huge: dodge at just the right time and you can immediately launch into a powerful counter. As such, it’s best reserved for monsters whose patterns you’re familiar with, or slower ones that tend to telegraph their attacks. This highlights a minor problem that also applies to Aerial style – and, indeed, to some of the Hunter Arts. We’ve never felt before that we’ve been playing Monster Hunter wrong, but against
3
Cat power
Fur flies in Prowler mode
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his time out you can play as a Palico, and it has advantages: their move set may be simple, but there’s a wide selection of equippable skills to customise them. Battles can feel a bit attritional – cats don’t lose stamina, but their damage output can’t compare with a hunter’s. It is, however, worth switching for gathering missions – you don’t need to craft any more kit, and they’re speedier.
5
Nargacuga’s wings and tail are particularly dangerous. Keep moving and use a thunder weapon.
certain opponents, some approaches can feel particularly poorly-suited. Dealing with the more mobile, unpredictable monsters can be an exercise in frustration if you’re not prepared to switch your style or weapon to suit. You’ll whiff a lot of attempted evades when using Adept against smaller, faster creatures, and you’ll constantly be jumping and missing if you favour an Aerial approach. It’s less noticeable if you’re using Dual Blades, for example, where you can quickly recover from mistakes, but anyone who favours heavier weapons may find enemies running rings around them simply because of their style preference. But, Monster Hunter has always been a game about reacting and adapting to unfamiliar situations, and if that encourages hunters to be more versatile, then they’ve never had more options to fall back on. The downside is that, despite its attempts to offer a gentler introduction, Generations perhaps isn’t quite as ideal for series newcomers as it first seems. But for those with the patience to get used to its new ideas – we did, and we have, and if Capcom takes Aerial style out of Monster Hunter 5 we’ll cry – this is as rich, deep, and satisfying as the series has ever been. n
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
…but MH4U had two brand new weapons to master, and a stronger sense of progression.
Online Generations, like its predecessors, is a game best played with others. If you can’t gather any friends locally, finding other hunters online is easier than ever using the multiplayer hubs.
Judgement %
89
A small step forward for the series, but still one of the 3DS’s most versatile and generous games. Chris Schilling
August 2016
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CultureMaster The Outer Regions Of Gaming!
from consoles to cameras
We go behind the scenes on YouTube’s biggest live gaming recreations with Real Life Hitman’s Shaz Abdullah and Uncharted In Real Life’s Zeb Jackson
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e’ve all had that moment where we wished the real world could be more like our favourite games, but there are some people out there who aren’t content to let that feeling lie. Time for us to catch up with Realm Pictures’ Shaz Abdullah and Zeb Jackson from Freakin Rad, two determined YouTubers each doing their part to bring virtual worlds to life. We’ve spoken to Abdullah before about Realm Pictures’ incredible Chatroulette-based Real Life FPS (see issue 297!), and it was precisely because of that project that the team became involved in creating an interactive Hitman level. “We were first contacted directly by IO-Interactive about a week after Level 1 of that went online – as soon as they floated the idea of doing a real life Hitman, we knew we had to do it!” he says. Not only was this a far bigger production, it had the added challenges of an open-world environment with all the choices of a traditional Agent 47 mission. On the day, our favourite barcoded baldie was in the hands of popular YouTube stars, and even the Chuckle Brothers.
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The team shot in the enormous Oldway Mansion in Devon, and in trying to make sure it was as authentic as possible, Abdullah had a challenge more tricky than an Elusive Target. “My next step after we had confirmation was to create a scale 3D model of the entire building and all its rooms from blueprints, and then use that within the game’s engine, Unity, to create a rough third person game which we could walk around in and mimic what we were going to do in real life,” he explains. “This really helped being able to plan out routes through the building, what gags we could have happen and where, and to get a rough idea of what that would look like on camera. We did our best to account for what would happen for all manner of things the player wanted to do and made sure of things in advance like costume. Every single one during shooting had velcro quick-release so 47 could change quickly!” Agent 47, voiced by David Bateson as in the games, but played by Realm’s Liam, caused chaos in many playthroughs, but some players did manage to guide him through stealthily. The Chuckle Brothers, unfortunately, were disturbingly deadly, murdering a guard with chants of “To me, to you”. Childhood: destroyed.
During the Uncharted shoot, the team was constantly interrupted by hail and rain.
Nate expectations
While Realm Pictures used a steadicam to capture the action, the US-based Freakin Rad team had other plans for their one-shot recreation of an Uncharted level. The Utah team used a drone to follow their Drake as he rescues Elena from an enemy camp, complete with plenty of gunshots, explosions, and even a car chase. “One of the things we strive to do is create things that no one has seen before. One thing we talked about was, how do we do a single take, but also include a car chase,” explains Jackson. “The only solution was a drone. We practiced several times with it to make sure that it would fit in certain doorways, and that we could manoeuvre it
“we created a scale 3d model of the building in the game’s engine” www.twitter.com/gamesmaster
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Gaming-inspired rides from around the world
Oldway Mansion had been empty for three years – giving the team plenty of creative freedom.
That looks like it’s going to hurt. Some players were a little… overzealous with their pistols.
Relay race
The Mass Effect: New Earth ride at California’s Great America theme park in the USA combos up special effects and live performances in a ‘4D holographic journey’. You’ll don 3D glasses before being juddered around on a tour of the galaxy, complete with the original voice actors. Not only did players miss the opportunity to intercept a pizza delivery to steal a costume, but they also ignored the chance to spike a guard’s tea with laxatives. Poor show.
Freakin Rad has also worked on other video game recreations, including a hilarious Halo vs Destiny showdown. The full-time team of five has its very own in-house gunsmith, and they love getting cosplayers to star in their creations. Their gaming After a week of pre-production, the team work is very much a labour of love. headed into the desert for a one day THIS! SEE THIS! SEE THIS! SEE “As filmmakers sometimes it’s shoot and managed to nail it over EE hard to make the content that you the course of 19 full takes. “We want to make. In this industry a lot fought a lot of things on set. Timing of times we’re shooting everyone’s action, making sure commercials for other brands, or everyone was where they were helping on bigger projects that we supposed to be, when they were Watch Agent 47 in action on didn’t design,” explains Jackson. supposed to be there, and then at YouTube here: http://bit.ly/gmhitmanreal “We as a group love games and the end of it, flying a drone and and Drake here: movies, which is a great platform making sure that we caught the http://bit.ly/gmunchartedreal for us to express our creativity action in the shot,” recalls Jackson. because there are millions of “Luckily, everyone had knowledge other people that share the same of stunt falling, and we had a stunt likes and dislikes as us. Plus choreographer friend on set helping bringing to life these characters that you never would everyone be as safe as possible. The only small accident have thought possible is super fun and exciting.” We’ve we had was at the end of the video one of the bad guys been inspired – fetch a red hat and a pair of overalls, jumps out of the car and rolls and on the first or second we’re going to make a film of our own… n Louise Blain take he got the wind knocked out of him.” without it being too cumbersome, and it ended up working better than anticipated.”
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Gives you rings
Because you’ve always wondered what it would be like to curl up into a ball and hurtle sideways at a great rate of knots. The pinballthemed Sonic Spinball rollercoaster at Alton Towers can’t quite manage that, but spins you teacup style while speeding along the tracks at 60km/h. Pass the sick bag.
Copyright war
In the world’s worst kept secret that lawyers still haven’t been able to close since its 2011 opening, there’s an unofficial World Of Warcraft theme park in Changzhou in China. World Joyland has shamelessly stolen slews of Warcraft art for its $48 million venture, complete with Pandaren noodle bars.
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