Issue 121 april 2016 £5.99 gamesradar.com/opm
REVEALE D !
lego star wars The Force Awakens comes to PS4 with exclusive content
WORLD EXCLUSIVE! WE EXPLORE THE BIGGEST game EVER MADE
n e w t o p l ay s tat i o n ?
GAMING ON ATheBUDGET 15 free-to-play games you need to download today
the PLANETS the SPACESHIPS the SECRETS
REV I EWE D !
far cry primal
Plus we score Street Fighter V, Layers Of Fear, Unravel and more
DARK SOULS III TESTED INSIDE Batman vs Superman – who wInS the comic war on playstation? destiny 2 + watch dogs 2 confirmed
rePlies F facebook.com/OfficialPlayStationMagazine T @OPM_UK W gamesradar.com/opm E opm@futurenet.com
#120 Ratchet & Clank, Hitman, Hideo Kojima’s next move, The Witness.
We can see why they like it Andrew, even if they’ve no idea about Elizabeth and company. Jen also sang about her love for Bioshock in her interview, actually. Matt’s ears are still trying to recover…
can I get a RT? Tweet gold (and one troll) from this month’s @OPM_UK timeline
@dazfink Had a dream that my wife woke me up and told me another settlement needed my help.
Generation game
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OurTone (PSN) via email
Indeed, OurTone, we’re happy to report that young Douglas’ note inspired a flurry of letters from, um, more experienced gamers. The OPM team itself has a good two-decade spread, with art ed Milf actually a veteran from the PS1 OPM magazines.
An ode to Infinite
I wrote and recorded a song a few years ago that was inspired by the Bioshock series (mainly Infinite) and it has become a few peoples’ favourite song of mine. Unfortunately, they don’t know what I’m singing about as they’ve never played the games! I’d love it if you guys gave it a listen – bit.ly/1mhZ7Sm. Thanks! Keep up the good work. Awesome magazine! Andrew Vanstone via email
Okay, I’ve done my homework. I’ve jogged the streets at night figuring things out. I’ve made up charts, checked the stats, called the accountants and had scientists check my theories. I’ve compared resolutions and stereophonic qualities and seen all the local psychics. I’ve consulted doctors and visited museums. Finally, I purchased the last few OPMs and decided that, yes, a PS4 will be my next console – the biggest investment I will make this year after a new pair of second-hand Reeboks. This is a most important day. Robert Roemer via email
Impressive research, Robert, and undeniable proof, we think you’ll agree, that PS4 is the greatest console to have existed. To reward your efforts, here’s a year’s free subscription to OPM. Enjoy!
@robertashley A friend’s hot take on The Witness: “I feel like I took mushrooms and went to a Google interview.” @Jonathan_Blow At least one reviewer 100%ed the game or pretty close, which is way beyond “finish.”
Sean Constable via email
The range of non-violent, non-sporty games is huge, Sean… Animal Crossing-style is trickier though. Worth a look will be Norwind Interactive’s Astraea. It’s due out in the coming months.
there is nothing better than running around endor, blaster in hand, after a stressful day at work.
Star letter The moment of truth
@stal_86 Great FF7 article guys, doesn’t seem that long since I was reading about the original.
troll of the month
Stress-blaster
It’s good to hear that Douglas [Star letter, OPM #119] is enjoying his PS4 at the age of 56. As a younger gamer of 46, I find there is nothing better than running around Endor, blaster in hand after a day at work to relieve any stress.
Hi, as a 40-plusyear-old, I’ve been enjoying my PlayStation consoles through all the generations and am always spoilt for choice with games. However, I’m constantly trying to get my wife on board. She prefers the non-violent, non-sporty sims, Animal Crossing-style games. Are there any such games for PS4 out there?
@theRadBrad The Division: I learned nothing is more stressful than extracting a beanie from the dark zone. @CharionnaTV The first time I went rogue was an accident, but after the thrill… I love the Dark Zone! @VirtueTanv THE PS4 CONTROLLER SUCKS.
Team Koj
Being the fan of Metal Gear Solid that I am, I worry about the future of the franchise. If Konami want to go down the cash cow route then so be it, but give Kojima his franchise back.
@ultrabrilliant There should be a bit in Doom where you meet a Witness line puzzle, then just shotgun it to bits.
badboytommyg via the OPM UK PSN community
@SixerMason Just saw a photo of Hideo Kojima and David Cage. This worries me.
We’d love that to happen, tommyg, but there’s zero chance – Konami owns MGS. End of story. That said, we’re very excited by Koj working on new IP…
@Davesaninja You know you play too much #destiny when you stroll through missions while reading @OPM_UK.
best comments from facebook.com/officialplaystationmagazine
“Why are people talking about games not even coming out? P.T. is over guys. Move on and talk about No Man’s Sky or No Man’s Sky.”
“Who needs AAA games when indies are as good as this?”
jesus orozco is not one for dreaming of what could have been.
jason macdonald on firewatch.
readers’ most wanted 1
Which games are bleeping loudest on your radar?
5
Ratchet & Clank
Last month’s cover feature clearly caught the attention of the Lombax fans out there, as the platforming classic’s imminent remake shot past Nathan Drake to claim its first Most Wanted number one spot. This one’s shaping up to be rather special, so its moment at the top of the pile is well deserved.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
PlayStation’s love affair with Lego games can be traced back to the very first Lego Star Wars, so news of an Episode VII tie-in has us worshiping the Force gods once more. Roll over to p6, BB-8 style, for all the info you need.
Format PS4 eTA 22 Apr
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vote now!
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Still clinging on to the second spot as if it were a train car dangling over a cliff edge, Nathan Drake’s latest adventure has spawned a special edition PS4. Check it out on p12, then get excited for next issue…
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Tell us the five games you can’t wait to play at opm@futurenet.com
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Format PS4 eTA 29 apr
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Format PS4/PS3/PS Vita eTA 28 Jun
Dark Souls III
With this month’s cover story no doubt causing jaws to unhinge all over the world, we suspect No Man’s Sky will soar up the Most Wanted charts by the time we’re back next month. Race over to p52 to begin exploring your next favourite PS4 game.
The closing chapter of the Dark Souls trilogy is a mere month away, and we can already see the fear sweat forming on the brows of series fans. Creep forward to p34 for our hot take – but beware ambushes on the way.
Format PS4 eTA Jun
Format PS4 eTA 12 Apr
No Man’s Sky
exit poll
Our Facebook fans answer a final question
Which classic Hitman level from Agent 47’s past is your all-time favourite?
28% Say no to vegetarians at The Meat King’s Party in Contracts.
12% Want to
party in both Heaven and Hell with Blood Money’s A Dance With The Devil.
32% Are living A New
Life in the Blood Money surburban slaughterfest.
16% Love opera in Blood Money’s Curtains Down. 4% Celebrate
Mardi Gras in The Murder Of Crows from Blood Money.
8% Prefer going old-school in Russia at the St. Petersburg Stakeout in Hitman 2.
next month
Try not to cry: it’s almost time for Uncharted’s final chapter. What setpiece from Nathan Drake’s series is your favourite?
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museums
Museums Curating and killing in PlayStation’s best historical (and homicidal) institutions 1 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
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He may have been inspired by the adventures of Indy, but Nate and Dr Jones have different views when it comes to rare artefacts. “They belong in a museum,” is not a philosophy Drake’s too keen on. He eagerly busts into the Istanbul Palace Museum to steal a Mongolian oil lamp in Uncharted 2.
2 Ghostbusters: The Video Game
They may not be ‘fraid of no ghost, but curators everywhere are terrified of the ‘Busters. And with good reason. While trying to stop another Great Destructor, Venkman and co. utterly wreck the Big Apple’s Museum Of Natural History with their Proton Packs.
3 Hitman Absolution
What does every malevolent, southern redneck millionaire own? Why, their very own penthouse/private museum, of course. While there, on the trail of Blake Dexter, Agent 47 ends up murdering the evil-doer’s secretary. Why not use an exhibit for the hit, like a pointy whale harpoon? Ouch.
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GTA IV
Forget a night at the museum, try spending 20 minutes in one during a diamond deal gone wrong. One of GTA IV’s best missions sees Niko flogging stolen stones before a shootout erupts among some dino exhibits. Museum Piece also involves Johnny and Luis – the two leads from the Episodes From Liberty City expansions. How very Pulp Fiction. 5
Stranglehold
Never let it be said that educational exhibits can’t be cool. Take Tequila’s trip to the Chicago History Museum, which soon transforms into a firefight among (you guessed it) dinosaur remains. But the cop isn’t there to bone up on his palaeontology – he’s trying to save his family from the Russian mob. Cue sliding along a T rex’s spine. 6
Ratchet & Clank 3
The Insomniac Museum is in several Ratchet & Clanks, providing a window into vehicles, characters and features the developer cut from its final titles. In R&C3, you could access the emporium by either 100%ing the game or visiting the museum between 3am-4am.
7 Batman: Arkham City
Gotham museums do things differently. Instead of Bats facing a narrated tour, he has to contend with dino models coming to life, Penguin’s pet great white shark, plus armies of Joker’s thugs. The reason he has to endure these obstacles? So he can rescue lunatic lolly-lover Mr Freeze. Makes sense. 8
Bioshock Infinite
Ah, the Columbian Archeological Society. Not only is this virtual museum a hub for Infinite’s Clash In The Clouds DLC, it also stores some cool character models. Coo at Booker’s chiselled jaw, cower beneath the Songbird, or buy models of the Lutece Twins to unlock a house with Voxophones. Yup, museums rule. 9 call of duty: Modern Warfare 2
A rare moment of fourth wall-bending wackiness from MW2. Wrap up the campaign and you’ll be treated to an interactive museum based on levels from the game, set in Encino, California. Push the buttons on these displays, and their models will come to life. Best shoot ‘em quick sharp!
Honourable mentions The Last Of Us
Lord, museums are creepy at night. Especially the Clicker-filled Civil War one Joel visits in Boston.
Max Payne 3
Max can both slow-mo murderise men and admire tarantulas in a brief museum section set in São Paulo.
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Silus Vesuius’ abode in Dawnstar is a museum ode to a Daedric cult. It’s also… kinda just a house.
Did we miss your favourite museum? Got a great In The Mood For idea? Show and tell at twitter.com/opm_uk.
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Preview
Format PS4 / ETA 12 Apr / Pub Bandai Namco / Dev From Software
DARK SOULS III
An incandescent return for one of gaming’s grimmest
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Grumbling about sequels that merely give the formula a bit of a tweak here and there is commonplace, but in a series as meticulously designed as Dark Souls, the tiniest changes hit with the force of an axeblow. From Software’s latest outing incorporates the more fluid animations of spiritual cousin Bloodborne, plus a little of its ferocity, and the result is a follow-up that’s much less conservative than it seems. The broad strokes are as before: this is a vast, morbidly in-depth action role-player in which caution is the cardinal virtue. You’ll tip-toe through a selection of rotting castles and crypts packed with secret routes, learn the habits of respawning enemies and spend souls at bonfires on upgrades. Stamina remains as precious a resource as health, with over-extended combos leaving your character winded and unable to block. Dying is once again a double setback – all factrick 1 . H u m a n i n t e r e s t the souls you’re carrying fall to the floor The Humanity system is out. along with your corpse. Die in the process You’ll now consume embers of recovering them, and all that progress is to boost health and become going to be lost forever. a host in multiplayer. 2. Familiar faces
At least one Dark Souls character returns – the beloved blacksmith Andre. We’ll find out why soon.
Gwyn and bear it
Faster recovery times and various new abilities make for a more aggressive game, however. There’s now a Soul Dart spell that 3. Last hurrah can be quickfired, for instance, allowing Creator Hidetaki Miyazaki the magically inclined to chip away at has said Dark Souls III will be the final Souls game. Can we short-range while circling for a backstab. say… Bloodborne 2? The new shortbow, similarly, can be used to shred foes up close. It’s both a nod to Bloodborne’s duelling and a return to the pace of Demon’s Souls, the game that made the studio an international darling. And then there are the cherries on the cake – the Weapon Arts, a layer of special abilities that can turn the tide of a fight, but use up mana quickly. Ranging from armourcleaving uppercuts through charging spear attacks to protective auras, they’re likely to get plenty of use in multiplayer. As in previous games, this takes place in the same world as single-player, with players able to invade or summon one another using certain items. Afraid to head online? Don’t worry, Dark Souls III’s NPCs are cruel and calculating enough to keep
you busy. Imposing knights shut down resistance with shield slams and overarm chops, driving you into corners. Ghouls in rags pounce before you know they’re there. Candlebearing priests scream imprecations from afar, rousing otherwise docile mobs to do battle on their behalf. Some humanoid foes are vessels for even nastier entities, sprouting oily tentacles when you approach (best save up your firebombs for these moments). But the worst of the lot, naturally, are the bosses – corrupted giants and dragons, sinuous doublejointed monstrosities armed with vicious scimitars and rolling ironclad juggernauts, to name just a few.
Lording it up
New foes and melee mechanics aside, Dark Souls III fascinates because it inherits a universe that has quite literally lost its spark. In Dark Souls, players fought to either stoke up or snuff out the primordial fire that gave rise to the realm of Lordran and its gods. In the new game’s northern kingdom, Lorthric, the flames have finally been reduced to embers, and the world is an ashen wasteland ruled over by the Lords of Cinder. In some ways this new instalment is more of a retelling than a proper follow-up. Certain regions directly reference the first game – there’s a variation of the Firelink Shrine, for example, a hub space of sorts that houses NPCs who may (or may not) help you on your quest – and your goal is, seemingly, once again to overthrow the Powers That Be in order to decide the fate of civilisation. Something tells us that a happy ending is too much to ask for, but the journey itself will be worth the pain. It’s going to take a lot to cast Bloodborne into the shadows, but Miyazaki’s final Souls outing could just do it.
Preview
You wouldn’t go picnicking there, but the withered landscapes of the Souls series are undeniably beautiful. A shame the frame rate is still slightly uneven.
“in some ways this is more of a retelling than a follow-up.” 035
The old magic schools return: pyromancy, miracles and sorcery. Fire’s good against maggoty priests.
Above You’ll find Hawkwood, a deserter from Farron’s Undead Legion, at Firelink Shrine. Yes, Firelink Shrine is back – excited, Souls fans?
review
Unravel’s folksy score is delightful for the most part, but can be smothering.
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@schillingc
Knot’s landing
Unravel
This indie purl won’t leave you feeling fleeced
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oor Yarny. Under our watch he’s been crushed by falling rocks and drowned in icy water. He’s been pinched by crabs, pecked by crows, buzzed by midges and greedily set upon by cockroaches. We hoped he might have forgiven us for that incident with the toxic waste, but since we guided him into a car crusher, we think he might have finally lost it. His white eyes gaze out of the screen as if staring into our very souls. We’re a bit scared. In other words: no, Unravel isn’t the cloying slice of indie whimsy you were expecting. Sure, it occasionally lapses into treacly sentimentality, but there’s an edge to Coldwood’s picturesque puzzle-platformer. It’s there in Yarny himself, who sits at the intersection of the creepy/ cute Venn diagram alongside the Moomins. It’s most obvious, however, in the myriad ways he can meet his end. If you imagined something akin to Sackboy swinging around the Swedish countryside, you’ll be surprised to learn that Unravel has more in common with the brutal Limbo – albeit not quite as dark and violent.
Cottoning on
Several of its environmental riddles take cues from PlayDead’s monochrome adventure, too. There’s quite a bit of dragging objects into position to clamber up to otherwise unreachable
info Format PS4 ETA out now Pub EA Dev Coldwood Interactive
surfaces. You’ll break branches to float across water and weigh down see-saws to create ramps. There’s even a hair-raising set-piece in which you must escape a pursuing creature. And you’ll regularly find yourself dangling from ropes, shifting your weight back and forth to generate enough momentum to carry you across yawning gaps. The key difference is that you’re supplying your own threads, with Yarny attaching himself to loops of red wool. This can be a temporary measure, or you can tether yourself to them more thoroughly. Binding two nearby loops will often create a trampoline that can propel you over obstacles, and they double as makeshift bridges,
allowing you to ferry moveable items towards platforms conspicuously just beyond Yarny’s reach. Coldwood relies on this type of riddle a little too often, but surprisingly squanders one potential puzzle avenue – if Yarny is coming undone with every step, surely his exploration should be more limited? Rarely are you forced to consider a more efficient route – even if hidden secrets encourage more risky manoeuvring. It’s when it mixes things up that Unravel most delights – although one early physics conundrum involving a handle, a well and a tiny piece of wood is too fiddly by half, several sequences are much more
“dazzlingly pretty, it’s certainly the best-looking twine game ever made.”
review Right You’ll have to think fast to escape the waves in this seaside set-piece.
the opm breakdown w h at y o u d o i n… u n r av e l
10% Playing the piano in the old lady’s house.
Below As Yarny progresses, he’ll collect memories in his scrapbook.
20% Trying not to get killed while admiring the view.
30%
10% Pondering who left all these red loops of yarn lying around.
Wondering how long this particular piece of string is…
12% Strongly considering moving to Sweden. Permanently.
18% Getting killed while admiring the view. Oops.
second opinion string master
Unravel is so much more than just pure charm. Poignant and bittersweet, there’s heart in every sequence. I hate to talk about those pesky feels but it’s got them in spades with a beautiful score and lovely atmosphere. Challenging puzzles and gorgeous environments tie the whole package in an exceptionally pretty bow. Louise Blain compel-o-gr aph
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Beyond the pail.
Well, well, well…
Above You’ll see knots in Yarny’s woollen trail when it’s almost run out.
Let’s go fly a kite!
Shocking behaviour.
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verdict
A platform-puzzler with real heart, Unravel makes up for mechanical shortcomings with a world as palpable as it is pretty. It’s no classic, but it’s a memorable journey all the same. Chris Schilling
6 hours
l o v i n g / h at i n g
Dangly bits
Push it?
Swinging from a thread is nothing new, but Unravel somehow captures the nervy thrill of abseiling better than almost any other game.
The absence of traditional visual indicators adds to the immersion, but sometimes leaves you unsure of what you can interact with.
trophy cabinet a
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bronze
This one’s straightforward enough: reach the end of the snowy stage and grab the broken heart.
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A big part of that is the physical sensation of simply being in such a tactile and tangible world. Yarny is lightweight enough to fling around with abandon, yet heavy enough to feel like a proper, solid object – there’s little of Sackboy’s floatiness here. And his world, rendered in something approaching photorealistic detail, is dazzling. Based on the studio’s rural surroundings in the north of Sweden, Unravel has plenty of sumptuous scenery to lean on – one stage combines snow,
time
Ge
pulling the strings
sun and ice to gawp-worthy effect – but it also finds beauty in the mundane, with the scale lending everyday objects a sense of wonder. It’s certainly the best-looking twine game ever made, no question. If its narrative sometimes leans towards the trite and the predictable, it comes across as heartfelt rather than manipulative, and there are some touching little vignettes sprinkled throughout. Much like director Martin Sahlin’s charmingly fidgety E3 presentation, Unravel isn’t always as sure-footed as it might be, but there’s an unfakeable sincerity of feeling behind its message.
W Time ill Ca
artfully constructed, and all the more satisfying to solve, given the total absence of hints and visual cues. Sure, it’s hardly string theory, but even when the solutions are more obvious – such as rolling a dislodged pine cone downhill to form a snowball – Coldwood frequently compensates with visual wit and invention.
A light that never goes out.
silver
Tucked away within a mountainous maze, one of the best-hidden secrets requires some careful spelunking.
gold
Swing away, Yarny! You’ll need to dislodge the snow from every branch in a single go to get this Gold.
online tests what we’re playing now
multiplayer modes put through their paces by our team of experts
review
Destiny: The Taken King
Jen Simpkins expects headshot heaven, but gets hopping mad Raiding is the jewel in the Destiny crown, so I hop in on a friend’s Vault Of Glass run. Hopping and running turn out to be the order of the day – Destiny is now somehow a platformer. Vanishing pillars send me spiralling into misadventure, and a labyrinth full of Gorgons is bent on the destruction of my sanity and my Kill/Death ratio. When we eventually make it to final boss Atheon, my trigger finger’s as itchy as a dermatitis-afflicted flea in a mohair cardigan. He goes down easy. Those Gorgons need promoting.
Bloodborne 098
Matthew Pellett becomes a hunterturned-scribe in From’s masterpiece I’m late to the party, I know, but what a party it still is! The thought of being back-stabbed by a wily PvPing fiend keeps me from ringing the summoning bells for now, but I’m making up for it by ‘liking’ every helpful hint. I’ve been writing some, too; the thrill of a health-topping ‘like’ in a moment of peril is unparalleled, though the anguish of seeing the pop-up just after Vicar Amelia squishes me flat hurts more than the death itself.
GTA Online
Ben Tyrer returns to Los Santos, only to find it’s not quite how he left it… Hang about, what’s a SecuroServ? And why can I become a VIP for them? This isn’t the smooth transition I thought it would be. Gone is the simplicity of just dipping into events, replaced by a bombardment of messages of what I’ve missed in my two years away from Los Santos. Fortunately, I can still murder a random player and then spend half an hour trying to run away from their retribution. No wait, text message, Lester wants me to do a mission. Oh, there are now heists too. It’s too much. Just let me kill indiscriminately!
info Format PS4 Pub Capcom Dev Capcom review Issue #121
Street Fighter V Bruised by a brutal launch
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here’s a Twitter account dedicated to the Street Fighter V server. At launch, it was the saddest thing we’ve ever seen, the social media equivalent of someone trying to fix a smashed cat with Smarties tubes, Sellotape and prayer. After four (mostly) successful Betas and a solid pre-release weekend, the online launch has been a stumbling failure. As noted in our review, everything in Street Fighter V feels like it’s been stripped back so the competitive elements work flawlessly. The bare-bones launch would be forgivable if everyone was too busy having fun online, but it’s not always the case. Street Fighter V has improved since launch, but it’s still wobblier than a jellied eel on stilts. It’s not just the obvious, essential stuff, like fighting other players – the very framework of the online game
currently feels unfit for purpose. The Capcom Fighters Network lets you pick out rivals, search for players and view replays, but only a fraction is functional. Even selecting a rival is poorly done. You can search for a player and add them to your favourites, but you can’t actually challenge them to a match. Apparently, rival scrappers only stare longingly at each other
from afar, examining each other’s stats and comparing victories, rather than, y’know, actually fighting each other. Helpfully, the Battle Lounge option lets you set up bespoke, password-controlled rooms where you can invite friends and privately scrap away. There’s one small problem, though. That’s right! At the time of writing, Battle Lounge is knackered as well.
Street Fighter V has improved since launch, but it’s still wobblier than a jellied eel on stilts.
Candid Cammy
You can watch replays of your favourite fighters via Capcom Fighters Network. It’s a useful tool for learning what works, and almost makes up for the ropey tutorial…
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There’s one best way to play SFV right now – and it involves sitting next to your foes.
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow Of New Despair On a Wingdiver and a prayer, EDF pulls it off info Format PS4 Pub Xseed Games Dev Sandlot review Issue #119, 6/10
Some of these problems even creep into local play. Get disconnected from the server and both players are booted from a versus game. For real. Don’t even get us started on that one… Capcom is, obviously, fixing it. And when it works (which it will, going by the Beta’s performance) SFV will become a wonderful online game. Even now, matches come quickly and are mostly lag-free, and things are getting better every day. Already it has us getting up early and staying up late like frazzled fistoholics, and the fight request system is especially brilliant: letting us potter around the solo game while we wait for an opponent. When it’s working, it’s an essential purchase for anyone who wants to put foot to face online. It’s certainly far better than it was at launch, but it’s still difficult to unreservedly recommend Street Fighter V’s online component. verdict
When it works it’s sublime, but shaky servers mean you’re occasionally more likely to find a fight at Ghandi’s School for Especially Peaceful Pacifists. Wait until it’s fixed before getting involved.
here’s no rest for the EDF, which makes its online offering perfect for those who can’t get enough bug squishing. Basically, it’s the main campaign, but with three of your friends. Simple. Getting a game is quick and relatively easy, though the overwhelming volume of menus lurking in lobbies is hard to digest. But let’s be honest: you don’t come to EDF for clear design, you come for the hilarious insect slaughter. And that’s only amplified online. The action is smooth (well, there are no additional problems not found offline), and you can jump into any level on any difficulty, though it’s obviously not the best idea to take your underpowered wingdiver into level 30 on hard. One major disappointment? PvP battles are couchplay only. Boo. verdict
The main game campaign with your friends swapped in for AI companions makes this the best way to sample the joyful lunacy of big-bug-blitzing. Ben Tyrer
T Trans-Galactic Tournament
Wannabe MOBA leaves you spaced out info Format PS4 Pub Kiz Studios Dev Kiz Studios review N/A
here’s no denying it: this colourful free-to-play MOBA’s got personality. Jumping into an online match to play Plunderball, Conquest or Annihilation is instant and slick. You ready your wacky Champion, eager to gank some fools. A hilarious Will Ferrell sound-a-like announcer booms “Somebody’s dreams are about to be dragged out to the parking lot and set on fire!” The intrigue, sadly, ends there. Matches are fast, but movement’s at a snail’s pace. A lack of in-game progression or levelling along with heavy focus on pick-ups makes it less tactical MOBA and more trigger-happy ability spamfest. It plays like an absolute dream online – it’s lag-free and matchmaking’s a breeze – but it’ll neither convert non-MOBA players nor satisfy fans. verdict
Non-existent strategy means a potentially terrific little MOBA is “hammer buttons until death” soporific. Give it a go, just don’t set aside days. Jen Simpkins
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info pub Namco Dev Namco Productions released 2006, PS2 get it now Amazon, ÂŁ22.49
need to know
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Original title Katamari Damacy never made it to these shores, so thank goodness its oddball charm rolled over to the sequel.
Original title Katamari Damacy sold out in Japan. Easter eggs include a rollable lady called God. Its Japanese title means Everybody Loves Clump Spirit.
retrostation
Roll Playing
GA me
We hardly need a reason to replay it – it has a natural, irresistible pull.
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After assimilating a neat row of skyscrapers, you might wonder why you’re doing all this. Don’t worry, there are reasons. Sort of. Hilariously, the success of the first game, Katamari Damacy, has gone to the alreadyoutsized head of the King of All Cosmos. He’s eager to please his fan club, who request katamari from down on Earth. The variety and originality of missions is what makes We Love Katamari so absurdly brilliant – they’ll ask for balls made only of sweets, or task you with shunting about a sumo wrestler until he’s big enough to defeat his opponent. Nothing ever feels like a chore, and everything makes a bizarre kind of sense. Honest. It’s all fun and games until some serious challenge kicks in. If your balls aren’t big enough, bashing into
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adies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up, and… that’s it, actually. It was We Love Katamari’s simplicity that led to it bowling over from Japan (and into our hearts) on a glittering rainbow of quirky puzzle-action fun. The rules? See a thing, roll it into your ball of stuff, repeat until the stability of the universe is compromised. See? Whimsy abounds. The mechanics are at once charming, satisfying and a little terrifying. Katamari are bumpy pseudo-balls that magically attract anything and everything they come into contact with. And we do mean everything. You roll one about the kaleidoscopic ‘toon world using the analogue sticks, the Prince’s stubby green limbs going like the clappers as he pushes the katamari over a lounge floor littered with paperclips and drawing pins. Once your ball o’ junk snowballs, it can traverse trickier terrain and pick up bigger objects. Then, it’s up the steps and out the front to add a handful of carrots, the neighbour’s dog and several mailboxes to your mobile haul.
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WE LOVE KATAMARI
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Every month we celebrate the most important, innovative or just plain great games from PlayStation’s past. This issue, we roll up fire extinguishers, cats and even entire planets to avoid disappointing our wacky space dad…
oversized obstacles will dislodge your katamari. This can mean the difference between high praise from your omnipotent papa (he lobs your katamari into space to become a new star) and a mini-game in which you dodge lasers firing from his eyes as he hurls verbal abuse at you. Tough time limits and specifications ensure that it’s a regular occurrence. Sorry, Dad.
ROLL WITH IT
But it’s not simply the desire to please our goofy guardian that has us returning to We Love Katamari time and time again. We hardly need a reason: it has a natural, irresistible pull. The intense strategising that goes into rolling up an acceptable katamari is coated in the hypnotic pleasure of tidying up personality-rich worlds. Add in that toe-tapping J-pop, swing and drum ‘n’ bass soundtrack, and the sensory overload is stratospheric. When you tire of solo spins, you can give its co-op mode a whirl – an instinctive couchplay delight that’s all about communication and wiggling those sticks in sync with your buddy. What puts We Love Katamari on a whole other planet to its predecessor is that it goes further, layering in complex and delightful weirdness. By the time you’re calmly acquiescing a dog’s request to use the Earth as a katamari to roll up the sun, you realise that We Love Katamari’s simple appeal has attached itself to you. Slowly, effectively, like so much katamari fodder, this is an experience that starts small and builds big until it’s one of the brightest stars in the PlayStation sky.
■ Katamari fans include Excited Baby and Nerd Boy. ■ Even trees aren’t safe from our giraffe-hatted pull. ■ Keeping a bonfire katamari going is flaming hard.
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