Amagavn call of duty infinite warfare

on iti et

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e’re coming up to big game season, as you might be able to tell by our cover story this month. Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare has inspired a million bouts of gamer banter since its initial sci-fiflavoured reveal, some of it excitable and some of it sceptical. We’re here, after time spent playing the game, to tell you that it’s shaping up to be the bravest, most surprising Call Of Duty since the series redefined the genre with Modern Warfare. Get yourself over to p50 to read our impressions for yourself.

The other sizable shooter in our sights this month is Destiny: Rise Of Iron. It’s so close you could almost touch it.

Well, we actually have on p22, going hands on with the new Strike and PvP modes. We’ve also been behind the scenes at Bungie to see just what makes this 25 year old studio tick.

All of that’s backed up by the likes of Prey, Final Fantasy XV, Pokémon Sun and Moon, and Dishonored 2, while over in reviews we’ve the definitive (surprising!) verdict on No Man’s Sky. Get stuck in and enjoy your GM!

My tOp picKs this issue

WIN!

An Xbox One with copies of Final Fantasy XV and Kingsglaive!

Flick to p83! on iti et

“It’s the bravest Call of Duty since modern Warfare”

eDItor’S CHoICe

competition c om p

competition c om p

Issue 308 / October 2016

on iti et

on iti et

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welcome

W

22

I’ve played so much Halo and Destiny. To hear how Bungie works behind the scenes is fascinating.

28

In Prey you can disguise yourself as a bin. Not exactly a life-goal, but trust me, it sounds amazing.

64

Our Ben has been playing so much No Man’s Sky he’s seeing stars. Wait, that sounds normal, actually.

Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman – Editor

Get more from your Gm!

Online at www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

…or subscribe. See p92 for details.

OctOber 2016

03

Contents What’s In Your Latest Issue?

CoveR stoRy Only the best games are featured on GM’s cover!

CoveR stoRy

22 destiny: Rise of iRon

Only the best games are featured on GM’s cover!

We chart a starry-eyed course to Bungie’s Seattle studio for an in-depth look at Rise Of Iron’s all-new enemies, armour, raids, and exotic weapons.

of duty: 50 Call infinite waRfaRe

ex: 72 deus mankind

The modern military shooter blasts off into space as COD reinvents itself. Not only have we been hands-on with the action, we’ve grilled the minds behind it for all the classified info.

previews 28

pRey

34

pokémon sun and moon

36

quake

40

final fantasy xv

44

dishonoRed 2

Sci-fi horror with aliens who can turn into chairs, combining our fear of derelict spaceships and poor feng shui.

Forge friendships with mud horse, battery bug, kind dragon, metal fairy, Trump weasel, and more.

First Wolfenstein, then Doom, now Quake gets rebooted. Bethesda sure knows how to bring back classics.

The delay is hard to stomach, but it’ll make your roadtrip less bumpy in the long run.

Sun-baked stealth with a side of time travel, teleportation, and total player freedom.

04

OCTOBER 2016

divided

We see humanity’s dark side during our review of this cyberpunk RPG – though that might be down to hero Adam Jensen wearing sunglasses all the time.

Reviews 64

no man’s sky

69

f1 2016

70

gRow up

76

abzû

78

oveRCooked

What wonders does this colossal universe hold? Oh… a bouncy alien pineapple. Does that count as a wonder?

Ready your car puns for F1’s offical sim. This year we recommend ‘oil be back’. Because cars use oil.

Ubisoft continues its sci-fi Jack And The Beanstalk simulator series with an open-world sequel.

Ever made a wish that you could play Journey with fish? Then we’ve got a game you’ll find pretty swish…

Reach boiling point with this stressful multiplayer cooking game that’s best described as ‘a spicy meatball’.

Regulars 06

fanbase

10

upfRont

60

indiemasteR

84

RetRomasteR

88

CultuRemasteR

Tweet, email, or Facebook us. Just don’t visit our office with a boom box because it’s creepy.

Leon Hurley gets attacked by a mad rabbit in Rimworld. Find out who emerges victorious.

Excuse us while we touch the sky in Project Highrise. Because we are building very tall skyscrapers, you see .

Before No Man’s Sky came Elite, the intergalactic adventure that proved definitively that space is quite big.

Just how good can GTAV look? We take new visual facelift mod GTAV Redux for a potentially PC-exploding spin.

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

team gm

Issue 308/October 2016

Meet The Magazine’s Makers!

Future plc, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Tel 01225 442244 Fax 01225 732275 Email gamesmaster@futurenet.com Web www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

Editorial

Editor Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman Art Editor Rob Crossland Senior Staff Writer Ben Griffin Production Editor Robin Valentine

Contributors

Louise Blain, Matthew Castle, Matt Elliott, Kate Gray, David Houghton, Leon Hurley, Alex Jones, Ben Maxwell, James Nouch, Jamie Schildhauer, Chris Schilling, Tom Senior, Jen Simpkins, Justin Towell

1

2

advErtising 3

Commercial Sales Director Clare Dove Senior Advertising Manager Lara Jaggon Advertising Manager Mike Pyatt Director Of Agency Sales Matt Downs Advertising Director – Games Andrew Church Head Of Strategic Partnerships Clare Jonik For advertising enquiries please contact Andrew Church andrew.church@futurenet.com

markEting

Marketing Director Sascha Kimmel Marketing Manager Kristianne Stanton

ProduCtion & distribution

Production Controller Fran Twentyman Head of Production UK & US Mark Constance Printed in the UK by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT, Tel: 0207 429 4000 Overseas distribution by Seymour International

CirCulation

Trade Marketing Manager Juliette Winyard – 07551 150 984

subsCriPtions

UK reader order line & enquiries 0844 848 2852 Overseas reader order line & enquiries +44 (0)1604 251045 Online enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email gamesmaster@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk

the most dediCated team in the business

So dedicated are we that this month we all took holidays at different times, just to change things up a little. Except Matt, who spent a week in Cologne at Gamescom playing games on work time. He’s the wurst.

liCEnsing

Head Of International Licensing Matt Ellis (matt.ellis@futurenet.com) +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax +44 (0)1225 732275)

managEmEnt

Editorial Director Matthew Pierce Group Art Director Rodney Dive Deputy Group Art Director Mark Wynne

Rob Crossland 1

Rob was in the market for a standing up desk, this issue. Little did he know the (probably) seedy criminal underworld that this search would expose him to. Well, it was a bloke with a white van looking proper dodgy at least.

What would your spaceship be called?

The Best Ship

Ben Griffin 3

What was the best part of the ever-youthful Ben’s month? It’s a toss up between reading Harry Potter, getting his face painted, and buying a Spider-Man costume. Oh, also, his sister had a baby, so now he’s finally got someone to watch Yo Gabba Gabba with.

What would your spaceship be called?

Please Don’t Shoot Me www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

2

Robin Valentine

While Matt was off devouring sausages and partaking in German lager, Robin was back at GM HQ steading the ship with a deft hand. It’s a good job Matt made it back in time to ensure we keep up a certain photoshopping tradition, eh?

What would your spaceship be called?

The Millennium Pigeon

Jen Simpkins

Regular contributor Jen pulled a blinder this month, heading to Seattle and getting a sneak peek behind Bungie’s closed doors for our mini-feature. Didn’t make a great impression when she got pulled up for trespassing in one of the dev’s laundry baskets, however.

FuturE Publishing

MD, Magazines Joe McEvoy Chief Financial Officer Penny Ladkin-Brand UK CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne Next issue on sale 6 October 2016

Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital business. We reach more than 49 million international consumers a month and create world-class content and advertising solutions for passionate consumers online, on tablet & smartphone and in print.

Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). www.futureplc.com

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial Penny Ladkin- Brand Tel +44 (0)207 042 4000 (London) Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 (Bath)

© Future Publishing Limited 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. The registered office of Future Publishing Limited is at Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.

Future Games: The First Choice For Gamers. This magazine is brought to you by Future Publishing Ltd., the makers of Edge, PC Gamer, Official XBox Magazine and Official PlayStation Magazine.

We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).

What would your spaceship be called?

The Starship Jenterprise APRIL 2016

05

fanbase fa nb ase b as n fa

COnTaCT Us

ase fanba s anb e fa ef n as

e

ase fanbase f nb an a f b

Email gamesmaster@futurenet.com Twitter www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

fanbase

Facebook www.facebook.com/ officialgamesmaster Web www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

the best of your emails, tweets, and carrier pigeon death threats

Post GamesMaster, Future, Quay House, the Ambury, bath, bA1 1AU, UK

Level lord

today I’ve reached a huge milestone in my gaming career, and completed a task I started in 1999 when I first played Pokémon blue. today, I finally trained all 721 Pokémon that are currently released to level 100. I do mean every Pokémon. even Magikcarp and Metapod. every single one of them. It’s taken countless hours over the years to achieve this. It’s been a grind, certainly, but with Pokémon transferable these days, a task well worth it. I’ve not cheated, I’ve not used hacked Pokémon. I’ve trained them myself barring a couple that I’ve received from official Pokémon giveaways that arrived at level 100.

My question is this: is this a world first?

I’ve checked forums and I’ve not found anyone saying it’s been done before. So I’ve come to you, the all-knowing GamesMaster. I’ve also emailed the Pokémon company.

Jamie Garbutt, email

ase fan fanb ba se se ba

You can actually try We Happy Few for free for 45 minutes on Xbox One – though it is an unfinished, early build of the game.

L E T T E R

of the month

the days of the demo are done, laments ben

T

he joy of a demo is slowly being lost to a new generation of gamers. Years ago when I first started playing, demos of games were very common. If a developer wanted to create buzz it released a small free snippet that you could download or find attached to a magazine – even the original PS1 came with a selection of demos. this was a great way of getting me psyched for a game.

In fact some I played over and over and over. Medievil was one such where I couldn’t put this short section down. Now, it seems that if I want to try a game out I have to pre-order or pay for early Access, and then it’s usually a beta, alpha, or

even barely a work in progress. I appreciate the need of developers, particularly smaller ones, to ensure a steady flow of cash to fund the game, but surely in some instances this unfinished product does more harm than good. I’m thinking of the recent We Happy Few as an example of that.

I love gaming and will continue to do so for many years, but sometimes the gamble of paying £45+ is something I just cannot chance!

Ben Williams, email We too lament the loss of the demo, especially given how easy they would be to release digitally these days. The sad truth, however, is that the rise of preorders proves that many players will consistently purchase games sight-unseen, meaning publishers have no real incentive to let you try before you buy. Some companies are bucking the trend, however – Bethesda has released a demo for Doom, for example. n

Win!

Got an opinion? Have even the barest grasp of words and how to put them together? the best letter bags a free mystery game!* The question is, how many of those who played a beloved demo to death actually ever bought the game?

06

october 2016

*Don’t forget to include your postal address and chosen format!

That’s quite the achievement Jamie [Pics or it didn’t happen -Ed] though we’ve no idea whether you’re the first or not – even our prodigious gaming knowledge doesn’t stretch that far. Has anyone else out there pulled off the same feat? Write in and let us know!

World cup

This month we asked you: what’s your favourite ever setting from a videogame?

Skyrim’s wilderness. the amazing background music coupled with great graphics makes my spine tingle!

DanzGamez, @Danz_Gamez bullworth Academy and the surrounding town from bully (or canis canem edit).

Absolutely adored it because it was

bakE OF THE MONTH Dylan cooke’s proven his Pokémon fan cred (and lived up to his surname) with this delicious-looking Pokéball strawberry cheesecake!

Made any gaming-related food you want to show off? Send in a shot!

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

FaNbasE I still want a truly great lightsaber combat game, one that captures the tension and deadliness of the duels in the films.

Robin Valentine, @robinlvalentine

WisH LisT

What would be your perfect new Star Wars game?

the epic battle between Link and clay rages on, with the elf hero retaking the top spot by a hair…

agon Age Kotor 3 on the Dr e. gin en n itio Inquis hebreadroll Absolute Zero, @t

An XcoM-style em game where yo pire-based u play as a squa d of Stormtroop ers hunting do wn rebel scum.

Stuart Cullen, @FuryAc3 ised for the prom to Still waiting ip/in sh a to in s/ le planet batt t we less battlefron space seam ! ed were promis azingdweezo am Adamski, @

1

ival h from arr n Dagoba s, charting o e lif ’s a ive Yod n Luke arr up to whe to madness in t his decen l, Facebook ea Martin N

“if the rumours about the nx are true then i’ve had enough” highly relatable.

Rob Manifield, Facebook

nintendo power

rapture. It was so unique and eerie.

Nothing can beat watching a blue whale swim by as a Splicer sneaks up on you Ryan Jones, @RyanAJ13 Editor Matt’s got a serious soft spot for The World Ends With You’s take on the real Tokyo district of Shibuya (“it’s like if J-pop was a city!”), Ben can’t get enough of exploring The Wind Waker’s Great Sea, and Robin’s one true love is the richly-detailed, lore-stuffed world of Thedas from Dragon Age.

YOUr TOP 5

I am a huge Nintendo fanboy, but if the rumours about the NX are true then I have had just about had enough…

After the epic failure of the Wii Poo I was really looking forward to Ninty coming back with something great, not just a gimmick. but guess what? It looks like I fell into the trap of believing in Nintendo all over again.

I do not want a really good 3DS that plugs into your tV. I was hoping for an amazing home console that would at least rival the current crop, that you could also take on the go. I was hoping the hub

An open rPG lik the action of e Mass effect with older Star W ars Games like Jedi Knigh t Vaggelis Kar and Academy. petis, Facebo ok

that it sits on would have a disc slot and extra graphical capabilities for bigger games and third parties to get behind this time! then when you take it mobile, it would be a weaker system using 32Gb cartridges and act as the 3DS successor.

I know graphics are not everything but I would love to see Mario/Zelda the best way possible…

Why do you think Nintendo don’t throw everything and the kitchen sink behind the NX. Is it the price? battery capabilities? or just that they don’t want to be in a direct three horse race with Sony and Microsoft? bring back the SNeS glory days I say…

Samuel Hamilton, email It’s important not to get too caught up in your own expectations – Nintendo’s always dealt in big, brilliant surprises.

We suspect the reason Ninty’s not doing what you were thinking is because a) it wants to keep things simple and unified, rather than confusing people with a divide between the docked and undocked machine, and b) beating the competition on pure technological power isn’t its aim – as it wasn’t on the Wii or Wii U. Don’t despair just yet – let’s wait and see for now. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised by this new direction once it’s out in the wild. For now, head to p14 to find out everything we know so far. n

THE LEgENd OF zELda: bREaTH OF THE wiLd

Format NX, Wii U ETA Spring 2017 We need our own ocarina to travel into the future to when this is released…

2

MaFia iii

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 7 October A criminal overlord trying to keep his three squabbling underbosses happy?

Sounds like Team GM, hurr hurr.

3

waTcH dOgs 2

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 15 November Hold on, did you actually vote for this, or did Ubisoft hack all your computers?

We can’t trust anything anymore…

4

THE LasT guaRdiaN

Format PS4 ETA 28 October Don’t just adopt random giant animals you find. Team GM got a 10 foot tall dog this month and it’s a bloody nightmare.

5

OFF THE cHaRT!

the hot topics you’ve been gabbing about 32% Pokémon Go’s controversial updates 28% the best superpowers in gaming 17% Your favourite boss characters 15% Has call of Duty had its day?

08% the coolest videogame dads

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

baTTLEFiELd 1

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 21 October Zeppelins! Horses! Biplanes! This ain’t your father’s Battlefield. Because, er, it’s your great-grandfather’s Battlefield.

october 2016

07

FaNbasE

you love ga mes me ga e v

Wisdom and weirdness from our bustling social media channels

es you love g am am eg e ov

s

sOCiaL GrOUsinG

ove games yo ul ul yo

YOU LOve Games s

cool stuff and videogame culture

The USG Ishimura from Dead Space is the creepiest setting for a game ever.

David Galbraith, @davygabs

ove games yo ul ul yo o

Call Of Duty needs at least a 3 year break!

Annual sequels had their time. Now follow Assassin’s Creed’s example.

Vaggelis Karpetis, @greek_hylian

Any news on a Diablo 4 for consoles?

@jayswriting’s tribute to Crash Bandicoot is… well, it’s horrifying, isn’t it? We’ll be having nightmares for weeks.

amazing art!

Jamie, @jamiecockshott

MaNiac OF THE MONTH!

Putting it out there for the Uncharted movie – Idris Elba as Nathan and Judi Dench as Sully!

Ben Watts, Facebook

Fast Racing Neo on Wii U really reminded me of Star Wars Episode I: Racer in all the best ways.

These beautiful paintings by Marc Davies (@KoiNoYokan2381 on Twitter) show off some of our favourite games in a whole new light!

Brad Herdman, @bherdm

No doubt caught up in Breath Of The Wild excitement, @1stLegend’s drawn this amazing portrait of Link!

POLL POSITION

Keeping democracy alive on our Facebook and twitter feeds

Who’s gaming’s coolest archaeological explorer?

50%

Which is the best Doom?

50%

Gareth Reel, Facebook

47% 39%

Nathan Drake

08

october 2016

Lara Croft

Doom

I’m considering deleting Pokémon Go. There are too many things wrong with it and I’m not enjoying it anymore. It was a nice idea though.

7%

7%

Doom 2

Doom 3

Doom (2016)

I want Mario’s superpowers.

Imagine the money I could make in the NBA with his never ending stamina, jump height, strength, and lets not forget the ability to pop a shroom and get taller!

Jacob Luke Thursfield, Facebook

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

12 Fast from the past the glory days of 2D pixelated Sonic return with Sonic Mania, a retro remix with attitude…

Gear we Go aGain

the first Kojima-less Metal Gear has snuck up on us, but what exactly is Metal Gear Survive?

Heavy metal

the weird new world of Metal Gear Survive

Players will need to team up to tackle ‘massive threats’.

We’d put money on a titular Metal Gear cropping up.

10

OcOtber 2016

The environment will feature Mad Max-like sandscapes strewn with half-formed constructions.

Survive is being built in the Fox Engine, so everything has that familiar physical feel of The Phantom Pain.

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

14 Show of handhelds

16 life on the edge Half-stay-at-home console, half-on-thego handheld… what strange hybrid has Nintendo created?

T

here’s a new Metal Gear game coming, and it’s set just after the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, in the moments following Snake and Kazuhira Miller’s escape via chopper as the whole of Mother Base is blown to smithereens. Suddenly, and inexplicably, monumentally large wormholes, ruptures in the space/time continuum, tear open the flame-strewn skies above the carnage, gobbling up chunks of the base along with many surviving soldiers, before dumping them into a postapocalyptic world in an alternate timeline diverging from the main game’s plot. And you thought things got a bit weird when Hideo Kojima was still at the helm…

19 Choco-block Our intrepid reporter attempts to manage a colony at the wild frontier of space in rimworld.

arrow with neck-snapping, rotating arrowheads, and a crudely fashioned spear to thrust in the bad guys’ general direction.

Dead rising

Speaking of enemies, Survive’s alternative timeline brings a new breed of foe to the fore, seemingly crystal-infected zombie-types. there’s an almost Left 4 Dead feel to proceedings, as the four players team up to defend themselves in the released footage of the game in action. there are plenty of things yet to be made clear though. While taking a look at the game behind closed doors at a press event, we were told that Konami “aren’t talking about” any other modes apart from the four-player one

It’s the last month of our Final Fantasy XIV item codes – find out how to get your white Fat chocobo!

we’ve seen, so we’re not even sure if the game can be played solo.

We do know, however, that it’s coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Pc, and that it won’t be a full priced game. confirmation on what exactly this means is still forthcoming, but we’re assuming we’ll see a Ground Zeroes-esque standalone release at some point in the near future.

What really makes this an intriguing prospect is that aforementioned lack of Hideo Kojima at the helm. It’ll be a chance to see just how much of Metal Gear Solid’s greatness was down to the man at the prow (we suspect a lot), and how much of the less palatable elements were down to him also (the ending of the Phantom Pain says ‘hello’). n Snake makes a brief appearance, before going on the game-long jolly of The Phantom Pain and leaving you in the lurch.

because while Koj is off in pastures new working on Death Stranding with the new-look Kojima Productions, the team that got left behind at Konami HQ (not unlike the Mother base soldiers abandoned to their fate in the flaming wreckage of Mother base) still have a job to do. And that job is Metal Gear Survive, a four player, co-op focused offshoot of Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom Pain.

Dubbed a ‘survival action’ title by Konami, Metal Gear Survive will feature a tasty-sounding new take on the stealth sandbox-ness that we know from the original MGS V. New weapons spotted in the wild so far include a bow and

“while Kojima is off in pastures new, the team that got left behind still have a job to do”

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

OctOber 2016

11

Sonic’s movement looks perfect, and he’s learned a new ability too: the ‘Drop Dash’, which lets you Spin Dash out of a jump.

W

e’ve been waiting 20 years for a true follow-up to the classic 16-bit Sonic games. Last-gen’s Sonic 4 should have been exactly that but, fundamentally, it didn’t feel like the old games. Now, a new team has been formed to make an authentic 2D Sonic revival for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Fast and Furious Say hello to

NEW REVEAL N EW

EW REVEAL L N NE EA W V E

AL VE RE

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october 2016

first look at brand new games!

NEW REVEAL N EW

12

new reveal

AL VE RE

Sonic’s bright new future: a retro remix of his past

NEW REVEAL N AL EW VE E R

“Sonic Mania is a hypothetical title asking: ‘what-if Sega kept making 2D platforming games on the Sega Saturn?’," explains the game’s producer Lola Shiraishi. Sega’s rival to the original PlayStation never had a first-party Sonic of its own due to the team focusing on Nights Into Dreams – could this retroactively fill the gap?

“Sonic has gone through much iteration after 25 years, and now for the first time in a long time we’re taking things back to 2D," says Lola. “I wouldn’t say this is where he belongs, but what does belong to a Sonic game is his cool attitude, and the gorgeous and awesome environments that he runs through.”

Sure enough, Mania’s environments look magnificent, featuring a mix of all-new zones and returning levels given fresh twists. Green Hill Act 1, for example, is completely faithfully recreated until the big ramp, at which point it changes dramatically, ending up in

an underground cavern with a brand new boss. “everything in this game is being rebuilt,” explains Lola. “true, the team has experience in creating Sonic on the mobile platforms, but for Sonic Mania every little sprite is made with care and attention. I could go on about how the enemies are fitted with new animation, Sonic’s movements are different, the backgrounds are meticulously coloured, and how the sound feels on every section. When we say the game is re-imagined, we are going all-in to bring you the best 2D Sonic experience.”

Stranger zone

It certainly looks like a labour of love.

Developers Headcannon and PagodaWest Games have teamed up with prominent long-time Sonic fans including christian Whitehead, known for porting Sonic cD to last-gen machines in 2011. As a result, fan-pleasing inclusions are everywhere. You’ll get to play as Sonic, tails, and Knuckles, pop open item boxes with the elemental shields from Sonic 3, and free furry animals from familiar badnik robots. but then there are new enemies too, as shown in the glittering new Studiopolis zone, which also sees Sonic broadcast from a truck (branded with Daytona USA’s ‘Hornet’ livery – swoon) across the level and out of a television set, smashing from the

“Now, for the first time iN a loNg time, we’re takiNg soNic back to 2d” www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

Look who’s back! Classic Sonic returns in a second newly-announced Sonic game, codenamed Project Sonic 2017.

screen and continuing on his way. there’s something to geek out about everywhere you look.

Blue’s clues

We have to ask Lola: what’s her favourite Sonic game? “I’m a bit biased to my favourite with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (but it’s hard to compete against a perfect Sonic game), but I’d recommend Sonic Generations to those who are new to Sonic. You can enjoy both classic and modern Sonic’s play style and it’s funny to see all the characters interact. take it as a refresher course to Sonic.”

Funny she should say that. Sega also announced a new ‘modern’ Sonic game at comic-con. currently dubbed ‘Project Sonic 2017’, the trailer shows the blue blur being saved from certain death by a familiar, chubby little chap. Yep, ‘classic Sonic’ from Sonic Generations is back. So maybe we’re getting a Generations 2 as well as the fan-pleasing festival that is Sonic Mania? Get excited. 2017 might just be the year of the hedgehog. n

The

Burning Question Which is your favourite Sonic game ever, and why?

sonic the Hedgehog 2

It’s over twice as long as the first game, and had multiplayer and insane boss battles. It is so good that no game will ever beat it!

Daniel Climo, Facebook

sonic the Hedgehog Cd

Green Hill Zone’s new final third has an underground backdrop. And look – a bat from Marble Zone! You’re blowing our minds here, Sega.

It’ll always be my favourite for its time travelling mechanic and its awesome opening cartoon and theme. h4mm487, @hamma0307 Visit www.facebook.com/ officialgamesmaster and www.twitter. com/gamesmaster to take part in next issue’s burning questions.

Studiopolis Zone is all-new and packed full of fan-pleasing details, including this knowing nod to Streets Of Rage’s ‘Pine Pot’ club.

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

october 2016

13

These images come from various patents filed by Nintendo to the US Patent Office. The finished product could look completely different.

GettinG the best of both worlds Could Ninty’s NX be a two-in-one?

N

intendo’s new machine, currently codenamed NX, is a hybrid of console and handheld, patent applications suggest. It’s reported to be a tablet-style device you can dock with your TV, or pick up and take on the go.

The dock resides within two detachable controllers that bolt onto either side of screen, each with all the buttons, sticks, and triggers you’d expect. And recent updates to a patent originally published in 2013 reveal several more illuminating concepts.

One details a more customisable device you can change with different layouts and

accessories – slotting in a D-pad at the top or bottom, for instance. Whatever the degree, modularity appears to be central.

That you can detach controllers hints at touch-screen implementation, like the DS and 3DS – and as with those machines, NX’s games look to be coming on cartridges rather than discs, Nintendo’s last home console to do so being 1997’s N64.

Why? Cartridges are easier to take on the go than discs, and won’t scratch inside the device when you’re hauling it around.

Lending credence to the rumour is a trademark in May for The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, a confirmed NX game, that mentions cartridges. This change in physical media does rule out backwards compatibility with your existing GameCube, Wii, or Wii U library – though that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be made available via digital download.

So, what’s in the box power-wise?

Reports suggest NX will use Tegra, Nvidia’s powerful mobile processor, which makes it

“as with the Ds anD 3Ds, nX’s games look to be coming on cartriDges rather than Discs”

difficult to compare with Sony and Microsoft’s machines directly, but as squeezing everything into a device small enough to be portable means sacrificing power, it seems likely it’ll once again refrain from chasing technological parity.

Cart life

Although that’s bound to disappoint some, ultimately it’s the games that matter.

Veteran Nintendo dev Shigeru Miyamoto has said earlier this year that Pikmin 4 is close to completion, and Splatoon and Smash Bros sequels are both strongly rumoured to already be in development for the new machine. Nintendo will want to avoid the Wii U’s unclear marketing, so whatever it is, expect an official announcement imminently. n

stats magic The gaming month in facts and figures

10 million 46% The amount of species players discovered in No Man’s Sky in just the first day of release. That’s more than all the known species on Earth (around 8.7 million).

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OCTOBER 2016

Of peak concurrent players on Steam, this is the percentage more No Man’s Sky has had compared to the next most popular 2016 release (XCOM 2).

25

Hours Reddit user DoktorFeelgood spent maxing out his multi-tool, exosuit, and ship inventory slots… without ever leaving the first planet.

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most wanted What’s most tickling the team’s fancy this month

take aim

“Good menus explain; bad ones convolute”

MaTT’S PiCk

final fantasy XV it’s so close. i remember first seeing this game announced, back when it was called Final Fantasy Versus Xiii and was intended to form a part of the ill-fated Fabula Nova Crystallis umbrella (that of Lightning, Snow, and the rest of the Xiii cast). That was back in 2006. A decade ago. it’s safe to say i’m positively buzzing to get my hands on it.

PS4, XO – 29 November

Elegant videogame UIs are a vital part of the gaming experience, says Ben Griffin

Y

ou wouldn’t order from a restaurant menu containing stacks of confusing sub-menus that take ages to switch between, each criss-crossed by lengthy yet cryptic descriptions of food, all while crap music plays in the background – so you shouldn’t put up with it elsewhere.

Videogame menus exist for two reasons: to explain a game’s rules, and to help you perform tasks quickly.

Developers must nail both to avoid frustrating players. The best interfaces avoid elaborate transitions, refrain from information overload, and use space economically. PC strategy game Rimworld is a recent ugly example I struggled with, regardless of emergent tales I hear of mentally unhinged space colonies and bear attacks, simply because there’s too much drawing your focus, whether it’s precise

temperature readings, rolling updates of your settlers’ moods, or soil fertility percentages.

Now, it might make sense to you that crafting a cowboy hat involves clicking on the ‘electric tailoring bench’, opening up the ‘bills’ menu (after checking you meet the recommended power wattage level obviously), disabling the box marked ‘allow rotten’, and pressing ‘+1’ ten times, but it doesn’t to me. There’s so much information nested within more information, whether it’s notifications such as ‘not suspended’ or ‘take best to stockpile’ or ‘small-volume ingredients like gold require 20x as much’, that it would pass for an online tax return if there weren’t so many mentions of gut worms.

It’s the same with third-person survival game Ark: Survival Evolved, space MMO EVE Online, and action-RPG The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing, all burying themselves under layers of drab dressing, and while you might argue conveying reams of data is necessary in

“is battleborn more compleX than overwatch? its Ui is certainly more clUttereD” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

experiences so deep, equally complex games such as Civilization V, XCOM, and The Witcher 3 show how it’s done. Case in point: is Battleborn more complex than Overwatch? Its UI is certainly more cluttered.

order up

Intangibles are important, like cursor stickiness, or the time it takes to switch between tabs (too slow’s a bore, too quick feels cheap – a car pedal without resistance). So is consistency. Why do some graphical settings go up to ‘max’ and others ‘ultra’? Oh, and logic. Having to arbitrarily wade through several screens before quitting just makes me want to quit harder. And stop reminding me your game autosaves…

Appealingly framing essential information cleanly and boldly is the way to go. 2013’s SimCity had perhaps the clearest stats page ever, managing to make analysing your entire city’s sewage output somehow beautiful.

Bonus points if developers maintain immersion – The Division projects its bright orange menu from your in-game holographic watch, and Fallout 4 sees you peering down at your Pip-Boy. The bottom line is, good menus elegantly explain and bad ones convolute. No matter the genre, UX (user experience) marks the spot. n

RObiN’S PiCk

the fall Part 2: Unbound

i absolutely adored the first instalment for its bold, interesting premise and palpably unnerving atmosphere (read my impassioned defence of it over on p96!) but after two years of silence i’d lost hope this promised second part was still being made. a very pleasant surprise to see it announced, then – i can’t wait to follow where the story goes next following the first part’s stunning conclusion.

PS4, XO, Wii U, PC – Spring 2017 bEN’S PiCk

fifA 17 The new Journey mode is everything i ever wanted from a football game: the chance to live the life of a Premier League footballer, whether that’s brushing shoulders with Rooney in the corridors of Old Trafford, receiving coaching from Liverpool manager klopp, or choosing what to say in interviews. i hope Ea lets me disgrace myself.

PS4, XO, PC, PS3, 360, Mobile – 29 September

OCTOBER 2016

15

welcome to a world of hurt Building a colony in Rimworld – how hard could it be?

O

ur reporter has a mixed relationship with spawling management games. He loves it when it’s all going his way, but when everything ends in a horrible mess of regret and bad decisions, he tends to get the hump. So of course we’ve decided to send him into brutal sim Rimworld to see how long he can keep his people alive… n

5 minutes

My choices ha ve given me Ro salina. Yumi, an on a barren pla d Dominguez – net surrounde three random d by their ship’ indecision. Ther survivors s wreckage an e’s no hand-hold d m y own crippling ing : room’ are my fir ‘Need beds’, ‘H unter lacks a we st objectives ac apon’ and ‘Build cording to the on how to do th game, but it pr a is. There are bu ovides no infor ttons and men minutes feel lik mation us everywhere e trying to cont , an d th ro e l ca fir st few ts by thinking ab through options , my settlers wa out them really nder aimlessly hard. As I poke them directly, bu . Eventually I ge t rather assign t it: you don’t co jobs and mark ntrol out building pla ns.

-game 1 minuttelye in Hell with Rimworld as it presents the kind of crippling pre make will

I’m immedia isions I’m about to ke at night. Clearly the dec ssey choices that’ll keep me awa ? My planet-settling ody ctly exa ng to happen, but how h Eac e.

Trib t Los or r, hugely affect what’s goi lore Exp ions: Crash Landed, Rich opt e thre it’s of e one gam the with t ing can star but without play set of starting resources, for easily one gives me a different theme. I agonise over it the you told ’s one no n whe e choices thre with ted like picking fancy dress n get presen ing Crash Landed, but the , or random out led half an hour before pick chil l, ma nor – on ate the flow of the acti erent of ‘AI director’ who’ll dict of one easy and four diff difficulty levels consisting five e ed. I hav n edd shr the h are eac ves – and ady my ner ssed two buttons and alre types of hard. I’ve only pre y! awa nus take all these scary me can’t take the pressure –

16

OCTOBER 2016

10 minutes

My settlers are keeping busy – it’s not long before I’ve got them all sleeping in a building, planting crops, and collecting resources. Maybe everything’s going to be…

Oh, Dominguez is being attacked. By a rabbit. Hmm. While he manages to kill it, he’s injured, and I have to designate a bed as ‘medical’ to heal him. As I can’t make food yet I figure the dead bunny is better than nothing – but because the game is more about guidance than direct orders, when I mark the animal’s corpse as a resource Dominguez eats it raw, goes mad from the stress, kills Yumi and chases Rosalina into the hills where they’re slaughtered by wolves. Let’s start this again shall we?

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asp on utesoriginal three settlers, but at least I’vel,noChwewgoy,tana fird mSaerutgrreau are 30 mdin about my e rld uses. Pear

I feel ba o a hom ntrol Rimwo erting a ruin int torial style of co has them conv on tech. the more direc so y g m nin up zo l to ay s, and carefu search underw re e m know we so t my new victim en ev go n’t en supplies. I’ve ev kills our dog. I did chased and gathering ing lf turns up and be wo o’s a til wh y, Un ll. ew ing we out it. Except Ch goes ab d d Everything’s go an sa le ’s rif r ne he yo with but now ever l’s on the case ar join us!

Pe to ly es had a pet dog te cid na de rtu lled Turk even by the wolf. Fo ca ap r m lle e ve th tra ss a ro ac red, and e is soon resto after them. Peac

2 houRs

ly. Pearl finds Somehow the comedy disaster train doesn’t derail my colony complete back for something nicer to eat and snaps out of it, Sautreau gets hungry and comes Plus deer. psycho the kills Stein and clothes), his into back forced food (but has to be built some the fire burned out, taking only a tiny patch of the house’s wall after Turk Bill, has sandbags to protect it. So things have calmed down a bit. And a new guy, family new my set I so things, of hang the got I’ve like turned up and joined us. I feel , with to work building a larger house to replace the hovel. It’s got separate bedrooms first the For table. chess a and plants area, dining a one; each in heaters light and time, life on this rock doesn’t look too bad.

1 houR

food paste how to butcher animals and build a For a while all is well. I’ve worked out cocky, it g gettin me sense can As if the game dispenser so no one’s going hungry.

I’d installed as security trap the by killed gets y Chew – ter decides it’s time for a disas the as he’s the only one of my settlers with in front of the door. This is not good, 20 next the for s mean It , dead bodies. ability to haul stuff like, oh I don’t know doesn’t corpse to enter or leave the house. It minutes everyone has to step over his es so I cloth ed tatter his t abou ppy unha s also really help anyone’s mood much. Turk’ best! my doing I’m g. lainin , but he’s still comp get him to strip the body and take those

3 houRs

The good times can’t last . Turk gets kidnapped by raiders who spend the rest game sending me ransom of the notes I can’t afford. Then a storm causes electrical systems to short and star t fires everywhere. Only Bill has the skill to deal with them, so as he fights it alone, eve ryone else sleeps outside . In winter. In the rain. Eve Bill’s injured and Stein put ntually s him in the only room tha t isn’t burning. Yet. Sautrea of the cold, Pearl’s killed u dies by passing traders, and Bill’ s room catches fire, roastin alive and incapacitating g him Stein who, as the only sur vivor, has no one left to resc I’ve lost everything. I leav ue him. e Stein to slowly cook. I’m not cut out for this.

the end of the woRld 1 houR 20 minutes

Fortunately, a new colonist called Stein arrives, running from pirates and, yes, he can haul, so he’s put to work burying Chewy. The ‘pirates’ turn out to be ‘pirate’, and my team of four quickly bludgeon him to death. It’s all too much for Sautreau, though, who has a psychotic break and runs off into the wasteland naked. While the rest of the team get on with the hard work of not dying, he wanders around slowly starving.

Suddenly, chaos erupts. A mad caribou starts attacking everyone, the deer Stein was hunting starts chasing him, a fire breaks out near the house and, left to her own devices, Pearl eats raw meat, has her own breakdown, and heads for the hills. Sigh.

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It takes a while to get used to Rimworld’s controls, so expect to throw away the first few games learning them. It’s the kind of experience where you don’t even know certain things can happen until they’ve killed everyone. By which point everything’s usually on fire. Stick with it, though, and there’s some amazing story building here, and a really satisfying colony sim. The AI director system just seems to know what to do to keep you busy. Rather than levels or objectives, there’s just a slowly building progression of events to keep you busy. You can tailor the experience to whatever you fancy too – from no hassle building up to ‘good luck surviving five minutes’. For a game that’s not technically finished it’s great stuff, and worth checking out on Steam if you fancy a little interplanetary settlement building.

OCTOBER 2016

17

a

Fold school!

How to build your

papercraft arcade machines

H

opefully you all managed to pick up a copy of our last issue, where we had part one of a proper papery offering with our print edition: free Asteroids and Centipede papercraft arcade machines. This issue we’ve got part two ready for you to fold into existence, and they’re a couple of Atari classics: Missile Command and Pong.

below we’ve got some handy instructions on how to assemble your machines, so get busy and get folding! remember, though, that the big GM arcade machine bonanza doesn’t end here – we’ve got four more machines to come, and you can see exactly what’s in store at the bottom of the page. In the mean time, feel free to send us photos of your arcade-in-the-making!

1

2

4

r, familiarise first tabs down, howeve Before you stick your You need s. fold e chin t of the ma yourself with how the fron fold back up. to en scre the n the k, the controls to fold bac

Start by cutting out the machine s, being careful when you reach the narrow sections. Youn ger readers may want to ask an adult to help out with this bit!

ines are relatively Get folding! the outsides of the mach ring the art faces ensu – back these fold simple to spot. Just outwards, of course!

5

6

7

It’s time to start sticking. be extra aware of how the marquee art at the top sits. the scree n should be slightly tilted back into the machine.

Make sure pe, but this is the tricky bit.

It’s starting to take sha having ’re you if re you want it, but you’ve got everything whe ure it all… sec to e chin ma the de ts insi trouble getting your mit

…grab a long handled implement, such as a chopstick or, as we show here, a spoon, then poke the long end into the bowels of your machine to help push the tabs into place.

Not eNougH Nostalgia?

Has this got you in the mood for some retro classics? Hit up Atari Vault on Steam, where you can play Missile command, Pong, and more.

Find it at: http://bit.ly/gmatari

3 18

See those white tabs? those are for glue or your chosen adhesive of choice (sticky back tape works a treat should you fancy a trip to your nearest craf t shop).

october 2016

8

t’s left And you’re done! All tha optimal now is to place it within ge! nostalgic side glance ran

aNd comiNg sooN to a gm Near you GM309 Pac-Man + Galaxian GM310 Dig-Dug + custom machine!

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Are you being served?

It’s the final issue in our three month long FFXIV birthday bonanza, and we’ve saved the best for last

E

very party has to end at some point and so it’s time to wind down, start sweeping up the bits of shattered crockery, and pick the bits of cake out of the carpet. But wait, what’s this? One final salvo of Final Fantasy XIV awesomeness to soothe our aching heads? Oh, go on then! over the last two issues we’ve given away in-game items codes for loads of gear, ranging from Deluxe Heavenscrackers to character masks, and we’ve got even more attached to our print issues this month. Inside the folds of this mag you’ll find codes for Housemaid and butler attire, as well as a third code to unlock 99 sets of Magicked Prism wings.

No card in your issue? email us at

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

gamesmaster@futurenet.com so we can sort you out. but even with all this free FF gear, the main event is still to come. If you managed to gather all three sets of codes you can now bag yourself an incredibly rare original Fat chocobo Mount, the perfect banter-baiting accoutrement for your sojourns across eorzea. We’re unable to print this final code in the mag for logistical reasons, but follow the instructions to the right and we’ll get your additional code over to you.

What was that guff about the party coming to an end? n

How to clAim

…your chocobo Mount! step 1

Grab all three cards from GM issues 306, 307, and 308.

To claim this month’s items, just follow the instructions on the card included with your issue!

step 2

Pop them all together and take a photo of them so we can see them clearly.

step 3

Send the photo to gamesmaster@futurenet.com with The Big Fat Chocobo Giveaway in the subject, and we’ll get your additional chocobo code sent over!

“inside this mag you’ll find housemaid and Butler attire, and 99 magicked Prism wings”

october 2016

19

GrapHic scenes Mod nation creative players are already adding to No Man’s Sky using mods. the space adventure feels a little more fully-featured after you download resolution scaling, a toggleable HUD, good old ‘infinite item’ cheats, and the blessed ability to disable your exosuit’s audio warnings. If you’re on Pc, it’ll get better by the day.

Nvidia is outfitting its new notebooks with impressively powerful graphics cards. Portable systems containing the Geforce GtX 1060, 1070, and 1080 are comparable to desktop machines, and given that these cards were released this year, the ability to take them on the go is, if you’ll excuse the pun, noteworthy.

GorGeous Jaws Fancy a round of slapsies on bunker?

With Goldeneye: Source v5.0, a ten-years-in-the-making fan project that recreates N64’s classic shooter in Source, you can relive the glory days, only with all-new textures, weapons, sound design, and ragdoll animation. Download it for free at http://bit.ly/gmgoldeneye

castle crasHers blizzard continues to update overwatch with free content – the latest addition is a new map called eichenwalde. Set in a beautiful German village, once the site of a devastating battle with omnic robots, it’s a hybrid Assault/escort map where one team defends the ruined castle while their opponents try and breach it with a hovering, high-tech battering ram.

Win Lose Topping the leaderboard this issue

yoU yoU

No, we don’t want to continue thanks

House arrest Pewdiepie’s fans keep coming to his house uninvited, and the biggest star on Youtube is not impressed. “I’ve even had parents coming over with their kids,” Pewdiepie said in a video. “I’ve had people yell outside my house. I’ve had school classes come outside. Just because you found my address doesn’t mean you found an invitation for you to come over.”

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october 2016

Blue peter the days of announcement-packed press conferences are numbered, eA executive Peter Moore suggests. “I’m not too sure [they] have a future,” he said in an interview at Gamescom. “the medium is changing. Influencers, celebrities who aren’t the classic journalists, are finding their own way. our job is to put the games in their hands…” but Peter, how will you show off your new tattoos now?

Failure to launcH insane in uraniuM Final Fantasy XV’s delay has angered fans. Square enix’s JrPG was meant to release in September, but they’ve pushed it back to November 29, the swines.

Predictably, some people online took it rather too personally and sent abuse to reporters contributing to the ‘rumour’. As long as those extra two months are used for bug-fixing, polish, and making the game as good as it can be, we’re happy.

this month Nintendo requested the developers behind unofficial Pokémon rPG, Pokémon Uranium, cease making it available for download. the Japanese company is well within their rights to protect their property, but we can’t help but feel bad considering how long Uranium’s devs spent on it: nine years. oh well, Sun and Moon are out in a bit – maybe they can play that instead?

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20/09

life’s a ball 15/09

NbA 2K17 is out, featuring peak Stephen curry, a player so good he’s basically the cheat mode.

16/09

shocking news

ice cold Get your skates on and start off the sporting calendar with ice hockey sim NHL 17, out now.

bioshock: the collection launches today, with all three games and their DLc.

The To do lisT

27/09

Road hog

crucial dates for your gaming diary. If you only do one thing this month, eat, but otherwise make a note of these events…

Forza Horizon 3 speeds into the rearview mirror, then overtakes while saying “I’m here!”.

04/10

06/10

29/09

das boot FIFA 17’s on shelves now, featuring a Premier League dream-simulating story mode.

30/09

adventuRe time It’s the 20th birthday of classic point-and-click adventure series broken Sword today!

Rat pack

at last

Loot-driven co-op rat-splatter Warhammer: end times – Vermintide comes to PS4 and XO.

GM drops today! Grab a copy for news on resi 7, battlefield 1, and Pokémon Sun and Moon.

incoming

Six big releases headed to a format near you…

01

call of duty: infinite Warfare

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 4 November

02

03

dishonored 2

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 11 November

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04

Watch dogs 2

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 15 November

05

steep

Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 2 December

south Park: The Fractured But Whole Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 6 December

06

dead Rising 4

Format XO, PC ETA 6 December

OctOber 2016

21

Feature On The Cover!

22

OctOber 2016

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destiny: rise of iron

Rise To T h e OccasiOn Destiny: Rise Of Iron is throwing a party – and everyone’s invited

T

he kiss of death for an MMO? When it starts feeling like a job.

Logging in every day to snaffle rewards and make sure you’re not missing anything… it’s work.

Maybe you stopped playing Bungie’s smash-hit, always-online multiplayer shooter for that reason. But in the fifth expansion, Bungie want you back to toast the good times in an unabashed celebration of everything that Destiny has ever been – and also what it’s set to become.

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

rise Of Iron is a shower of gifts. Not only is there tons of new content, weapons, armour and vanity options, but the Light level cap’s raised from 335 to 385 – amping up to 400 once the Hard version of the new raid drops. that new raid is the tough-as-nails Wrath Of the Machine, and it arrives alongside a new Strike, the Wretched eye. there’s a new social space called Felwinter Peak, horde mode Archon’s Forge, and there’re new crucible options. best of all, Destiny: the collection contains every release up until now (meaning the base game, the Dark below, House Of Wolves, the taken King, and yes, rise

OcOtOber 2016

23

Feature On The Cover!

THE GUN SHOW Your ticket to check out Rise Of Iron’s new (and old) weapons

GJALLARHORN

Oh yes. Gjally’s back, and although she’s been reined in a little (reload’s slower, and so’s round velocity), each pair of heat-seeking missiles still feels utterly devastating. The rate of fire’s gone up, as has the blast radius. It’s practically two free kills in PvP, and it is glorious.

A N G E L ’ S A DVO C AT E

A snappy little scout rifle, holding ten rounds and stable as you like. Reload speed is hugely increased after each precision kill, and reloads grant bonus damage for a short time. Perfect for mid-impact, long-range pops, and it features the best description ever: “Just… Come on. Just don’t.”

THE WAIL

Wail, Wail, Wail. This hand cannon looked so much like a Fab lolly that we couldn’t help but grab it.

Named and sanctified by Future War Cult’s leaders, each of its seven rounds packs a delicious punch.

Kills grant enhanced motion tracker resolution for a limited time – hello, new PvP favourite.

DEPOSITION VII

This ultra-satisfying sniper rifle comes courtesy of New Monarchy executor Hideo, so be sure to keep him sweet. It already handles like a dream, but one perk buffs target acquisition, while another triggers the chance of a larger-than-normal magazine upon every reload (the standard’s four).

Campers, prepare to be happier.

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OctOber 2016

“RISE OF IRON’S FIVE-MISSION CAMPAIGN WEAVES A TALE OF DEATH, DESTRUCTION, AND PLAGUE” Of Iron too). And while the new expansion doesn’t support last-gen machines, PS3 and Xbox 360 players aren’t completely left out: you can grab the current-gen version of the collection at a discount if you’ve played up to the taken King on last-gen. time to upgrade!

In the shindig spirit, Destiny: rise Of Iron’s five-mission campaign weaves a tale of death, destruction, and plague. the Fallen have punched a massive hole in the wall at the southern border of Old russia. the cosmodrome has been transformed, snowdrifts smothering ruins and the crimson feelers of SIVA blighting the surroundings. this technological disease (once the killer of earth’s defenders, the Iron Lords) has resurfaced, thanks to the Fallen digging it up out of the ground where it was

buried by sole survivor Lord Saladin. You must eliminate the SIVA-augmented Fallen (now Splicers) under the guiding hand of the Iron banner event’s master, eventually becoming an Iron Lord yourself. towering bronze statues; the howling of wolves; honour to uphold: it’s all very viking. What strikes us most in our hands-on, then, is how colourful some of our gear is. We scroll through our rainbow-hued weapons inventory, equipping a turquoise and orange Legendary pulse rifle named… b-29 Party Favour. the description reads “Let’s get this party started”. Perfect.

artifacts of life

eon tracer gear sings red, white, blue, and yellow as we bounce about Venus’ viridian Floating Gardens in the crucible. 6v6 Supremacy tasks us with scooping up downed Guardians’ ‘crests’ to bag points and win the match. elevated walkways and twisting corners mean teammates fall fast and enemies faster in a flurry of…

Hang on. Are those Engrams? In an inspired touch, crests look just like our favourite encoded goodies; we’re almost unconsciously playing the objective.

We bring up our inventory to consider our loadout – and then we see the new Artifacts. Gone are the days of shoving a book, a compass or a spiky owl pellet in the slot to boost Light. Similar-looking to the Iron banner medallions, the Iron Lord’s Artifacts grant new abilities.

We select Memory Of Ghelon for an extra-detailed radar (even when we’re aiming down sights, a la third eye); our teammate equips Memory Of Perun to have enemies with low heath and full Supers highlighted.

On the second of four new maps (Icarus, a

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destiny: rise of iron

teleporting powers. the unbound monster lumbers about the hall, flattening us with damage-happy hands.

it’s all ogre

blisteringly yellow solar power station on Mercury), glass corridors and circular hallways draw Guardians towards each other. What’s more, rise of Iron makes the crucible even more fun with long-requested Private Matches. You and a Fireteam of up to 11 others can set custom match rules. 4v4 doubles control, 7v1 clash, 3v3 rift – it’s all possible, and you can choose the map you play on, the time of day, point limits and more.

And brilliantly, the new Strike, the Wretched eye, offers similar flexibility. clutching a fetching, stripey hand cannon called the Wail, we weave our way through traps that detain anyone they catch in cages of green flame, headshotting infection-twisted, peg-legged Splicers and hunting down humongous, red, pulsing SIVA nodes. So far, so Strike.

Once our Fireteam descends into bunker triglav, things change. corridors shoot off from a central spire of platforms, doors leading off in all directions. the team separates to hunt kills on alternate levels; we dart off, lost in the maze, battling Wizards in dead ends or struggling through slowing gases. We’re not completely alone: our Memory Of timur Artifact means meleeing enemies has a chance to convert them to our side. regrouping, we freefall into cyclone 1416 and pepper the waiting ogre with rounds. Immune. turns out we must target his owner, Kovik, the High Priest – a Splicer Major with a pyramid head, purple sniper shots and

Quickly, we crack it: someone baiting Fatso McHamfist, someone blasting mobs, and someone popping the Priest in his isometric noggin. the monster switches target; our roles rotate; the dastardly duo fall. A brief Strike at under 15 minutes on our first run – but replays last longer as we explore alternate avenues of the bunker. there’s a real sense of adventure to this usually automatic loot-grinding activity: mini-puzzles, freer-flowing structure and, giggly Guardians playing Ogre Hot Potato (“Don’t bring him over here!”).

It’s a tonal benchmark for rise Of Iron. Like the agony and the ecstasy of the Iron Lords’ story itself, every serious crucible refinement and Strike sophistication stands side by side with an irrepressible sense of fun. It’s a stepping stone, yes – but an illuminating one for the game’s future. As executive producer Scott taylor tells us, “this right now is the culmination of everything we’ve worked on so far; we’re going to learn a bunch of things for the next release. this is the best version of Destiny that we know how to make today.” bigger changes will come in 2017’s Destiny 2, but for now? this is one party you shouldn’t miss. n

SIVA NODES

Now that looks infected.

Popping these spiky pustules is an absolute must for progressing through the new Strike.

Fortunately, though they look angry, they’re not hostile. A few close-range hand cannon blasts is just what the doctor ordered.

SPLICER VANDALS

This newly-horrible lot are plagued by a Berserk ability that triggers once they’re low on health. To avoid any unnecessary pain to both our patients and us, we recommend 50ccs of precision kills fed directly into the gob from range. Say “ahhhhh”.

KOVIK’S MONSTER

Whatever this poor beast has, it’s incurable (probably a headache, from the looks of that bear-trap in its skull). It’s immune to every gun under the sun: liaising with his daddykins is the only viable way to begin treatment.

KOVIK, SPLICER PRIEST

Need-to-know info on new social space Felwinter Peak Felwinter Peak plays host to “new rituals” that players can take part in. Er, we’re not worried at all about the wording of that.

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

Doctor Destiny’s prescriptions for new SIVA-infected enemies

This guy’s got a case of the Purple Lasers, a tragically-misshapen cranium, and teleport-itis.

With a little help from colleagues, a few sniper bullets in his bonce is the best murdery medicine for both him and his ugly spawn.

SUMMIT SPECIAL

You’ll have to fight the Fallen to reclaim it. “We wanted to have players be part of taking it back,” game director Christopher Barrett explains. “It’s a cool new thing we haven’t done before.”

DIAGNOSIS: MURDER

Each bronze statue corresponds to a fallen Iron Lord. The flames at their feet light up to mark your progress through the new campaign.

No doggy sidekicks, but there’s a good reason: the devs visited a wolf sanctuary, who requested these wild animals weren’t portrayed as pets in the game.

OcOtOber 2016 2016 SePteMber

25

Feature On The Cover!

BEHIND THE SCENES AT BUNGIE The everyday excitement of working on Destiny’s newest expansion

B

ungie CEO Pete Parsons reminds us that this is “an auspicious time” for the company, as we sit in the comfy theatre room decked out in Rise Of Iron banners. It’s the Halo and Destiny devs’ 25th birthday: no wonder there’s such a party atmosphere in the building. But as we wander, wide-eyed, about the incredible Seattle headquarters (which used to be a cinema), we realise that the crackle and spark of excitement we feel is just another day at Bungie.

Development on rise of Iron is reaching peak levels of ‘oh God, it’s nearly release day’ – but everybody’s smiling. A giant captain statue greets us as employees

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wander by, clad in Hakke, New Monarchy, and Vanguard t-shirts. retro arcade machines line the walls (we jump on for a few rounds of Street Fighter III), alongside towering glass display cases filled with replicas of the Icebreaker sniper rifle, the Last Word hand cannon, and endless award trophies. the shiniest? the hallowed bungie Pentathlon trophy, awarded to the winning team of bungie’s annual in-studio gaming showdown. cuddly toy tigers (a reference to Destiny’s original codename, tiger) sit proudly on desks, while devs put the finishing touches on rise Of Iron. to the left of us, a full climbing wall stretches up to the ceiling. On our right, the ‘Laboratorium’ holds several PS4s running demos of the new expansion; there’s sign above us on the left reads “Spandex Palace”. erm.

bungie’s hilariously-named mocap studio is where many of the Guardian animations in the game are made. Up to six actors work in here at once, donning suits and wielding wire-frame fake weapons. ”‘All the running, the jumping, the dancing: it all starts here,” we’re told. “We had some people in earlier this week doing new emotes. You often see people lined up against the wall outside, ready to sprint through the double doors to get momentum.” the sound recording booth’s next. “We break glass in here, throw shell casings on the ground. Sometimes we’ll go out in the desert and blow things up.”

Protect and server

Hmm. We’re starting to quite fancy working here. Jonty barnes, vice president of game development, laughs: “It’s interesting, and maybe it’s a bit cliché, but very few days are the same.” We spot a twitch livestreaming studio, meeting rooms with Destiny-themed names – Mars, Fallen, Vex, the Devil You Know – and towards a tiny, mysterious room at the end of the corridor. this is the Dock: Destiny’s 24/7, 365-day-a-year, technical troubleshooting hub. this room keeps the servers alive. two people monitor everything at all times, currently-green charts and screens filled with twitch streamers giving the team intel: “When they start kicking and screaming, we usually know something’s

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destiny: rise of iron

wrong!” even the error codes are fun at bungie: we spy ‘beaver’, ‘Anteater’, ‘beetle’, ‘Melon’ and… er, ‘19’. On our left is a wall covered in circuit boards: it’s actually all the Halo 2 build farms that the game was developed on. “It is an honest death-trap. If you fall against it, you will die,” our guide jokes (we hope). “It’s beautiful. but we keep stealing the rAM out of it!”

Birthday boys

A quick peek in at the oddly-shaped playtest room (which used to be the projection room of the cinema), and we’re suddenly above a gigantic room housing the team working on rise Of Iron and Destiny 2. the fairy light-strewn, adjustable desks of devs (who wave as we walk by) sit in an open-plan layout. Anyone can walk up to any desk and chat Destiny development. No corner office for the ceO: he’s hanging out with everyone else.

As we take it all in, lead designer Lars bakken explains his regular day working on rise Of Iron. “At the beginning there’s a lot of talking, broad sketches like that image of the back of Lord Saladin with the wolves and the wall broken… the vision and the vibe spawns all these separate conversations. then we go into the tools and start creating things.” can you sense when the really important ideas come to life? “It happens all the time,” he nods. Sometimes outside the office too, when I’m walking my dogs at night I’ll think of something. then I come in and I tell Steve, and he’s like ‘oh my God, that sounds amazing!’ or ‘wow, that’s really dumb’, or some version in between…”

Lead world designer Steve cotton adds: “It’s exciting when things surprise me. the first time you hear music in an encounter that you haven’t heard before, and it blows you away, like “Oh my God, Skye [Lewin, composer]! this is insane!” that happens on all different levels, working with all different disciplines, and among everybody that works on the project. It’s one of the most rewarding experiences. “but we put our golden pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else!” he laughs. “No, it’s a lot of fun.” evidently. Here’s to another 25 years of it, bungie: thanks for our share. n

IRON FAN After 25 years, game director Christopher Barrett and executive producer Scott Taylor still love Destiny GM: Do you still play in the office a lot?

ST: Oh, we play in the office all the time. We played at home last weekend with each other.

CB: I play it all the time.

ST: I still have things to do. I’m not at max Light level yet. Are you, chris?

CB: No, I’m not at max level yet!

ST: there’s nothing more satisfying than going in, because you’re seeing the iteration of everything you’ve made. I wish we could track our hours that we play here!

GM: What parts of the game do you still love jumping into?

CB: I play crucible myself. What I actually enjoy most is just putting on headphones and soloing in control or something like that. I find that very relaxing. Not all the time! Sometimes it’s infuriating when I die a lot…

Also, one of the good fortunes of being a game director at bungie is I have friends who are very good at Destiny. Some of the community will take me through trials of Osiris, and take me to the Lighthouse!

ST: Didn’t you and I get carried by someone..? No, we were getting carried in Prison of elders.

CB: Yeah, I did that with you!

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OcOtOber 2016 2016 SePteMber

27

Preview Eyes-on With Future Hits!

Space is big. And empty. And scary. And there’s something very dark waiting there. Guess what? You’re definitely going out there.

“prey is now an arkane game through and through, so the means you’ll have to fight back are many and varied” 28

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Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Bethesda Developer Arkane Studios ETA Autumn 2017

Prey

Survive any way you can – no really, we mean any way

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hatever you’re expecting of this once-sequel-nowreboot at this stage in its lengthy development, you’re very probably wrong. There’s none of the original game’s portal-jockeying FPS on show here – at least none in our behind-closed-doors eyes-on demo. Neither is there the scantest hint of the bounty-hunting, Blade Runner parkour seen at E3 a couple of years ago.

Hunting of a kind, there certainly is, though the tables have turned. this time, the game’s title refers not to your alien foes, but to your very unfortunate self. but fear not. For Prey is now an Arkane game through and through, and so the means you’ll have to fight back are as many and varied as you can imagine and execute. think bioshock, but in the cold, unforgiving, technological environs of space. except this time around, Dishonored’s freeform, player-driven action has come along to impart more than a few tricks.

Set on the talos one space station orbiting the Moon, protagonist Morgan

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Yew has been involved in an experiment designed to expand the scope of human existence. Naturally, something has gone wrong. Something always goes wrong. In this case, it involves a pantheon of horrific shadow beasts, tattered, rampaging nightmares of alien origin, seemingly made of air, and rags, and darkness. And the best part? they can be anywhere. they can be anything. because these creatures can hide. these creatures can mimic. that bin over there? Don’t trust it. better empty a few rounds into it to be sure. At any moment it could turn into a skittering horror-crab and leap at you with ravenous intent.

Prey tell

Actually, don’t shoot it. Your bullets are better saved for something bigger and nastier, and you’re not going to have many of them. Weapons are scarce in Prey, simple, brute-force luxuries that you won’t want to waste. rather, you’ll need to take a more complex approach. It’ll take more effort, but you’ll be rewarded tenfold, because once you’ve unlocked a few new abilities – augments of human and alien origin are available – you’ll have the power to rework and reshape both reality and yourself at will.

october 2016

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Preview Eyes-on With Future Hits!

Arkane discussion

creative director raphael colantonio and writer ricardo bare explain it all...

Freedom RC: It’s a weird balance, allowing things that are not initially pre-planned until it becomes a game-breaker. If something’s too much of an exploit then we need to fix it. But usually… we’ll support it.

The enemy RB: They’re not just waiting around for you to kill them. They have an agenda. And that’s what you’re trying to figure out. What’s going on on this space station?

How do I survive, how do I get off it?

Choice RC: Because the game is more open, you can, in a way, break it more. But in a good way, hopefully.

And so there are more permutations, more ways that players can have a different experience.

Risks RB: The more alien material you put into yourself, the more things start to change. Like the station’s turrets. They protect humans and shoot aliens. But guess what? You’ve got alien material in your head.

right raw materials, you’ll be able to craft take those crabs, for instance. You can all manner of supplies and gadgets. whack them with a wrench it you like – a because, being an Arkane game, Prey is tried-and-true, old-fashioned tactic, and it as much emergent, strategic action-rPG will work. Against one or two. but if there as it is atmospheric sci-fi horror game. are more than that? And if they’re joined by a couple of the station’s flying security droids? You might want to think bigger.

You might want to think as big as a Stealth, naturally, is always an option. but crate, and use your upgraded it goes far beyond creeping in the kinetic ability to hurl one shadows. talos one provides – assuming you have it. or an abundant number of maybe you’ll want to use a those throughout its piece of (significantly) desolate, Alien-meetsmore sophisticated 2001-in-a-particularlycomplete hardware. Maybe you’ll use nasty-haunted-house the recyclotron, a architecture. Simply hiding nanotech-powered vortex might keep you safe… but grenade that sucks in and harnessing the aliens’ ability to dismantles everything in the blast radius, mimic will work far better. one-up Solid handily turning it all into raw resources at Snake by forgoing hiding in a box in the same time. favour of being one. turn into a coffee resources? oh yes. because there’s a cup and bounce over into the sink for lot more to Prey than combat. With the cover. turn into a spherical power core

Box boy

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“one-up solid snake by forgoing hiding in a box in favour of being one” and roll straight under the enemy’s nose – or whatever it’s nearest equivalent is. or, this – as cannot be re-emphasised enough – being an Arkane game, combine a few ideas, mixing your unlocked human-shaped abilities with your newly adopted form. Add a kinetic charge to that power core and skip the whole area, launching yourself up to a higher vantage point like a flaming, sci-fi golfball. In space, no one can hear you shout ‘fore!”.

And then there’s the Gloo Gun. oh wow, the Gloo Gun. It will no doubt see intensive puzzle use, but right now we’re more concerned with its offensive capability. Hose an enemy with it, and you’ll freeze it solid with a cocoon of sticky foam. Launch a grenade into a frozen mob, and your job’s done in a couple of quick hits. or, of course, you could harvest those stricken bodies for resources. or use them for cover. or probably platforms as well.

Prey’s enemies come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it will just be the crabs, sometimes this brute. Good luck.

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Instant reaction There’s junk and debris everywhere on Talos One. But it’s not just there for set dressing. Any seemingly-inanimate object could be a monster in disguise.

Yes, Prey seems to have a break-’em-and-remake-’em it attitude to the rules of environmental navigation. can’t find a decent route up to the next floor, or haven’t got time to look, due to being chased by a huge, slavering beastie? Spray a line of solid Gloo diagonally up the wall, climb up, and run along it. If you can’t find the path you need, build one.

And what makes this laissez-faire approach to traversal even more exciting

Prey’s lighting really is beautiful to behold in real-time. This is a world of stark light and shadow, and real, atmospheric grit.

is that, in stark contrast to Dishonored’s funneled paths through small open-worlds, the entirety of talos one is theoretically wide open from the start.

You’ll be gated by tougher enemies and obstacles, and guided by your mission objectives, but otherwise the structure is looking pleasingly open-ended.

Super gloo

talos one somehow not open enough for you? Perhaps you’d like a jaunt into

A full-frontal attack on enemies of this strength probably wasn’t wise.

Especially not with a simple pistol. Learn to fight smarter. Or, you know, hide.

outer space, then? Find an airlock, and away you go, floating along the outside of the station in any direction you wish, and finding your way back in anywhere you can. It remains to be seen how Arkane can reconcile this kind of freedom with a coherent story and game-flow, but with the design so clearly focused on anarchic, pioneering levels of inventive freedom, the answer is likely to be as surprising as it is cleverly calculated. n David Houghton

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The freedom to interact with a stunningly realised, entirely horrible new world is incredibly engaging.

–

It remains to be seen if Arkane can balance that freedom with a tight, well-structured, campaign.

THrILL-o-meTer

1 2 3 4 5 Influenced by the best, but evolving past every inspiration.

You’re not the only person still alive on Talos One. But numbers are dwindling fast, for obvious reasons. Better look busy.

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october 2016

31

preview Future Hits Played Now!

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Rebellion Developer Rebellion ETA 14 February 2017

Sniper elite 4

Definitely in violation of stealth and safety regulations

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k, admit it, you spent at least an hour just trying to get that shot in Sniper Elite 3, didn’t you? Lining up your sights perfectly on the crotch region before squeezing the trigger gently just to watch one, or perhaps both, somewhat vital organs of the male anatomy pop brutally in a shower of gore. It might be rather infamous for its gruesome ‘testikills’, but there’s far more to the Sniper Elite series than just X-ray bullet time and sudden sterility. Next year’s offering – taking the WW2 action to Italy – is looking stealthier and, yes, more painful, than ever.

It’s clear the moment we’re dropped into the halfway point of one of the game’s missions, playing as ultra-grizzled soldier and series stalwart Karl Fairburne, that Sniper elite 4’s environments are intimidatingly sprawling. A heavily guarded bridge looms across a valley, abuzz with wandering soldiers. our mission is to blow it up, but… well, that’s not going to be easy. regardless of how we’ll pull it off, even getting across the map looks like it’s going to be tough.

Despite some reassuring mortar fire every few minutes to disguise a well-aimed bullet, one shout of “sniper!” and it’s not going to end happily.

“In Sniper elite 3, we focused on trying to step up the non-linear side of the

gameplay so you could tackle missions in different ways and to improve the stealth mechanics so you could actually behave more stealthily, rather than it just devolving into a long-range pop-up shooter,” explains rebellion head creative tim Jones. “this time around we’re just taking it to another level. We’re improving and souping up every aspect of the game.

Probably some of the most obvious things are the increase in scale of the environments. that offers up much more

long-range sniping as well that fans have been calling for.”

Snipe-geist

You can now take on missions in any order you like, and Fairburne himself is more agile than ever, able to hang off ledges and clamber onto rooftops. As we stealth down to a village at the foot of the valley, it’s clear that these new skills are going to come in handy. New enemy AI means that you’ll now be hunted far more intelligently than ever before –

“we’re improving and souping up every aspect of the game”

Find the officer with his list of reports on his staff, and they’ll all automatically be tagged on your map. Handy.

Fire at the same time as mortars, bells or other sounds in the world to diguise the sound of your shot.

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Sniper elite 4 gone are the NPcs who’ll forget after five minutes that you shot their complete best friend. reveal your position accidentally and new icons appear on the HUD map as soldiers descend on you. If you escape a spinning red triangle you’ll have some small hope of being able to blend into the background once again, but enemies will stay to guard bodies. It’s enjoyably tense.

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Scope and glory

this all means plenty of opportunity to steer away from just gazing down a scope and start getting inventive. the addition of what’s called the ‘trap cam’ will let you see as well-placed landmines and trip explosives do their grisly job.

And, don’t worry, that guilty pleasure X-ray vision has been improved too. xxxxxx xx xx xxx xx xx xx xxx xx x “We’ve increased the level of detail of the kill cam,” confirms Jones. “We’ve polished up the way the cameras behave as well.

We’ve got a lot more variety in there now. the detail on the muscle layers and the skeleton and the number of ways the teeth and bones can break from every angle. We obviously can’t predict that we

know where bullets are going to go but we have to be able to respond to that and show that when it happens. the internal organs sort of deform more realistically than they did in the previous game. It’s pretty gruesome, and pretty visceral but people seem to dig it!” For a game about killing from far away, Sniper elite 4’s rather good at getting up close and personal. n Louise Blain

instant reaction +

Even experiencing part of one mission shows exactly how far Rebellion is pushing Sniper Elite 4’s size and scale.

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The difficulty is a bit too unforgiving – though that does mean we’re forced to use every tool at our disposal.

tHrill-o-meter

1 2 3 4 5 Thoughtful stealth action and brutally satisfying kills.

A view to a kill

Deadly ways to play Mine now As if trip mines weren’t nasty enough, Sniper Elite 4 adds the Teller and the S-mine. The latter starts off plunged into the ground but when activated, it pops up and fires shrapnel in multiple directions.

trap battle The trap cam lets you watch as your carefully set explosives go off – and you don’t even need to be nearby. Leave a trap across the map and regardless of when it gets set off, you’ll always see the end result.

Go ballistics You can switch between ultra-authentic ballistics, and a less realistic but easier setting. Breathe out when Fairburne is aiming down his scope and focus time will show a red dot where the bullet will land.

Off script The AI across the map is constantly reacting to the world, which means anything can and will happen. Add custom explosives into the mix and it’s a far more exciting prospect than just point and shoot.

Timeline-wise, this is technically a prequel – it takes place between the events of Sniper Elite III and Sniper Elite V2

New climbing options mean new takedowns to perform on enemies, and even more freedom to find that perfect camping spot for enemy tagging.

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Preview Eyes-on With Future Hits!

Komala TYPE: normal

Eats, travels, and battles while snoozing. Its Comatose ability fights off status effects.

Format 3DS Pub The Pokémon Company Dev Game Freak ETA 23 Nov

Pokémon Sun and moon

Charjabug

the amazing all-new monsters okémon Go may be earning global acclaim on mobile, and quite rightly too, but it’s a shell of the true catch-’em-all experience you can only

P

get on Nintendo’s handheld – the trading, the battling, the snide deployment of status effects that see you wilfully poison and confuse innocent wildlife. As the comparatively barebones augmented reality title proved, Pokémon themselves are the

game’s primary appeal, and in Sun and Moon, the culmination of a deceptively complex RPG that’s quietly been refining itself over 20 years, they’re more appealing than ever. And you don’t even have to go outside! Here are 25 revealed so far. n Ben Griffin

TYPE: BuG/ElEcTric

The cocoon form of Grubbin is basically a battery that stores enough power to run a house for one entire day. Can also raise the effectiveness of allies’ special moves.

litten rowlet

TYPE: Grass/flYinG

Can turn its head 180 degrees to receive direction from trainers. Its ability is Overgrow, which powers up its Grass-type moves.

bounsweet

PoPPlio

TYPE: firE

Has fur filled with flammable oils to facilitate the use of its Blaze ability, which buffs fire attacks.

TYPE: waTEr

Swims at speeds of 25mph and emits highly elastic water balloons from its nose. Uses the Torrent ability to boost water-type strikes.

togedemaru TYPE: ElEcTric/sTEEl A spark-filled rodent like Pikachu, except it can curl in a ball and protrude spikes, porcupine-style.

taPu KoKo Comfey mudsdale

TYPE: Grass

Smells so fragrant people scatter them around their homes as a natural air freshener. Low defense but lovely personality.

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TYPE: fairY

Has an ability called Triage which gives its restorative moves high priority. It often creates healing flowers and drops them off at Pokémon centres.

TYPE: Ground

A Pokémon of huge stamina and endurance – it can drag ten tonnes of weight for three days without stopping.

TYPE: ElEcTric/fairY Guardian deity of Melemele Island. Its Electric Surge ability charges the electric attacks of allies and prevents everyone – friend or foe – from falling asleep.

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yungoos roCKruff TYPE: rock

grubbin PiKiPeK

TYPE: normal

A persistent rock type that tenaciously fights off the effects of sleep thanks to its Vital Spirit ability.

Was brought to Alola to control populations of other species. Has the Stakeout ability, dealing double damage to any Pokémon swapped into the battle.

ViKaVolt

dramPa

TYPE: normal/ flYinG

A swift woodpecker thing that can stab foes 16 times a second with its beak. High speed offers a high chance of it being able to strike first.

TYPE: BuG

It loves electricity so much that Grubbin swarms can often be found gobbling energy around power plants.

Cutiefly bruxish

TYPE: BuG/ElEcTric

The final evolution of Grubbin. It often carries a Charjabug between its legs for extra boosts of power, but drops it for increased mobility during aerial battles.

TYPE: normal/ draGon

Usually friendly, it blows down buildings if it sees a hurt child. Which probably increases the likelihood of hurt children.

salandit

TYPE: waTEr/PsYchic

TYPE: BuG/fairY

A flamboyant fish that uses the Dazzle ability to blind opponents and stop them striking first. That lump on its head is a radar that detects nearby prey and predators.

Drawn to strong auras so it tends to flock around people who are either happy or sad. No love for the emotional moderates. Its Shield Dust negates additional effects of physical moves.

mimiKyu

wimPod

bewear

TYPE: firE/Poison

Makes people dizzy with a sweet-smelling toxic gas. Its Corrosion ability can inflict poison on Steel and Poison types, which are usually immune.

TYPE: normal/ fiGhTinG

One hug from this cuddly creature can shatter trees – and trainers. Its Fluffy ability doubles damage recieved from fire but halves direct physical attacks.

TYPE: GhosT/fairY

Dresses like Pikachu because it wants to make friends. The Disguise ability lets it avoid an attack for one turn and changes its appearances each time it’s used.

Gm VERdICT

lunala solgaleo

TYPE: PsYchic/sTEEl Attacks with a move called Sunsteel Strike that completely ignores an opponent’s ability. Cover stars are allowed to do that.

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

TYPE: BuG/waTEr

A sheepish pokemon with the ability Wimp Out which automatically swaps it out of battle when its health drops below half. Also it eats rubbish.

Best Pokémon? Rockruff because dogs are an automatic win.

Worst? Yungoos, because he has Donald Trump hair.

magearna

TYPE: PsYchic/GhosT

Its Moonbeam Geist move, like Sunsteel Strike, hits hard and disregards all abilities. Again, cover star and everything.

TYPE: sTEEl/fairY

Created 500 years ago by a scientist, it transforms into a Poké Ball when sleeping. Only obtainable by scanning a code with the game’s QR Scanner.

october 2016

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Preview Eyes-on With Future Hits!

We’ve so missed Quake’s ridiculous, overpowered arsenal of weaponry.

Dibs on the railgun!

Format PC Publisher Bethesda Developer Id Software ETA Summer 2018

Quake ChamPions

The fast and the furious return, as the arena shooter king makes a comeback

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ometimes all it takes is the smallest detail to prove that a game is going in the right direction. One look at Batman: Arkham Asylum’s cape physics, and a couple of stoic lines from Kevin Conroy, and we could see the game was in safe hands.

A quick flash of that curling tail animation, starkly illuminated by flickering strobe, and Alien: Isolation suddenly felt like a safe bet.

And so it is with Quake Champions, the first completely new entry in Id Software’s (rightly) legendary series in 11 years, and the first one entirely dedicated to Quake’s still unbeaten arena FPS multiplayer since Quake 3 in 1999.

Unveiled at this summer’s Quakecon, the only thing Champions had to do to prove its chops was move.

That’s not the way that Id would have presented the game for a mainstream E3

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fastest, most demanding, most audience, but, as Id Creative Director Tim rewarding competitive shooter out there, Willits later tells us, it was the perfect way and most fundamental to the whole to convince the Quakecon crowd – made show is the smooth, responsive, up of the hardest of the hardcore, many lightning-quick movement at its core. If of whom have been playing competitive Call Of Duty is a rapid military assault Quake for two decades – that this is vehicle, and Doom is a Batmobile, then indeed prime Quake.

Quake is an F1 car. And just a second And he’s right. Because Quake, of its hurtling, fluid control is all more than any other that it takes to know that multiplayer shooter out Quake Champions has the there, is about movement. series’ spirit nailed.

It’s about speed. It’s about Not that this is just an sheer, kinetic force exercise in recycling past combined with rapid-fire, complete glories. It’s no more that on-the-fly tactical decisions than this year’s Doom was a and a raft of creative weapon regurgitated retro shooter. Just designs, fine-tuned to cover like Id’s last resurrection, Quake every possible situation that might arise.

Champions knows that to triumph, it has And any possible situation will arise. to bring the best of its heritage to a new Quake is the game that invented the audience as well as the faithful. And to do rocket-jump – whereby players can that, it’s taking a cue from Overwatch. exploit the game’s physics to launch The clue is in the name. That second themselves sky-high with their own word isn’t self-congratulatory bravado. It explosions. It’s the game that mastered refers to the game’s cast, a mix of old the art of balletic, aerial gunplay, the

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Cyborg maniac Anarki has a zippy flying hoverboard. In any other game, that sort of advantage would feel like cheating, but in Quake, everything moves at super-speed already. Just make sure to lead those rocket shots…

Do not get killed by the gauntlet. Never do that. The spinning blade of humiliation must be avoided at all costs.

favourites and new faces elevated to dizzying new levels by their current-gen upgrade. It’s far from just a graphical step up for the likes of Anarki and Ranger, though in-keeping with everything else their 2016 iterations are arrestingly crisp, rich, and packed with character. No, where once all characters played the same, now Quake’s Champions each bring a unique class ability to the fight.

The initial intent is to hook in new players through personal attachment to specific characters and strategies in exactly the same way that Blizzard’s game does, allowing the inexperienced to explore and understand Quake’s

values and dynamics through focused, powered-up play. But the tertiary effect is that these abilities should explode Quake’s already staggeringly expansive core game out into a nonsensical number of directions, refreshing and reinvigorating the experience for everyone who tickles the mouse.

Imagine having Doom’s personal teleporter all the time, able to take the cat-and-mouse dueling game to the next level by warping around your opponents as a matter of course. Imagine being able to strategically hunt your prey far in advance – a major boon when head-on skirmishes are as fast and adrenaline-

“where once all characters played the same, now quake’s champions each bring a unique class ability to the fight” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

fueled as these – using an at-will wallhack to highlight distant opponents. Imagine baiting a foe onto a pokey staircase, before instantly cloaking and changing your angle of attack unseen. Or perhaps you want to take the direct approach, teasing your opponent into close-range combat before striking them down with a one-hit-kill body charge?

All of these things are possible in Quake Champions. All of these things are possible with just four of what will eventually be a much bigger cast. 12 will be revealed during the game’s “long” 2017 beta (you don’t manufacture an F1 car without applying a great deal of science), with more to follow after the game’s as-yet unspecified launch date.

Exciting? Yes. Quake Champions is very, very exciting indeed. Exactly how exciting, you can’t quite yet know, as it’s impossible to fully do it justice in words.

You see, to understand for yourself, you really need to see it moving… n David Houghton

instant Reaction +

It’s fast, it’s exhilarating, it’s aggressive, and it’s more strategic than ever before. This is unmistakably Quake.

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Those hoping for a new single-player campaign will be disappointed. Plus that release date is just too far away…

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1 2 3 4 5 An overdue return, but it was always going to be worth the wait.

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Insomniac’s assembled the largest team it’s ever put together for this project, and has already been working away for some time in secret.

This spandex number is noticeably different from the usual getup.

This is no origin story rehash – it’s a brand new storyline created in conjunction with Marvel.

Instant Reaction +

Slinging around this meticulously detailed Manhattan skyline looks set to fulfil all our childhood dreams.

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Superheroics don’t always make good gaming fare.

Spidey will need to get up to more than just sandbox fisticuffs.

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1 2 3 4 5 Is Insomniac the ideal dev to return Spidey to our good graces?

Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Insomniac Games ETA Winter 2017

SPIdeR-man Silky smooth action and open-world webbing

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hey say that with great power comes great responsibility, and the licence to develop a game based on one of the most beloved characters in comicbook history sure sounds like great power to us. Fortunately, it looks like the wisecracking Peter Parker has found something of a kindred spirit in the form of the fun-loving folk at Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games.

advancements to the open-world engine developed for its last game, Xbox one exclusive Sunset overdrive.

King of sling

Further revelations abound. While Marvel’s cinematic machine has recently brought Spider-Man into the fold as a smart-aleck adolescent, Insomniac has opted to pursue a refreshingly different direction, portraying an older, wiser, and more experienced spandex-bedecked superhero at the peak of his powers. the game’s impressive reveal trailer – Also, take a closer look at his new premiered at e3 earlier this year – suit… that white Spider crest on Parker’s showcased the webbed wonder chest suggests that we may even slinging his way across the see a different take on the New York city skyline and character altogether. thumping thugs with Insomniac has described arachnoid grace. the game as existing within Insomniac has now its own ‘brand new complete confirmed that this video Spider-Man universe’, was captured entirely clearing the way for in-engine, suggesting that the potentially shocking final game should be a close divergences from established visual match to this immaculately comic continuity. detailed footage.

For our take, whatever the narrative What’s more, the studio has insisted direction, if the studio can inject its usual that its trailer was taken from a standard supplies of gameplay vim and vigour PlayStation 4 – not a superpowered Neo into web-slinging around an open world, upgrade – a feat that it only managed by it’s sure to get our – ahem – Spidey-sense making significant technical tingling. n James Nouch

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Mister Negative and the Green Goblin are early favourites for the role of primary antagonist, but many more could feature.

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P R E S E N T E D

B Y

VOTING IS OPEN HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Zelda: Breath of the Wild the most wanted game of the year?

THE ONLY GAMING AWARDS VOTED FOR BY GAMERS

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Preview Future Hits Played Now!

Format PS4, XO Publisher Square Enix Developer Square Enix ETA 29 November

Final Fantasy XV

Just when was refilling a petrol tank anyone’s fantasy?

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he sky buzzes with Niflheim’s invading forces as the rumour spreads that the king, your dad, is dead. And where do we find Prince Noctis? Trying to catch a fish for a stray cat in Galdin Quay, a distinctly non-invaded corner of tropical paradise. Our loyal subjects are suffering, but you should see this cat. It’s adorable! Okay, it doesn’t help our case that we spend the rest of the afternoon lobbing ice spells at magical horses and debating which classic Final Fantasy tune to play on the car radio, but these things tend to happen in FFXV. It’s a world where the story competes against an entire continent of distractions.

In building those side activities, Square enix draws on all kinds of influences. there’s a dab of Ubisoft’s radio towers and sync points in the way local experts

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before unleashing a darting cut that only mark your map with intriguing a perfectly timed parry can deflect. that landmarks and potential campsites. said, they’re a cakewalk compared to the embark on a monster hunting career Mindflayer – a floating wizard who, in the and you’re playing an unofficial entry in olden days, was happy to fling spells, but capcom’s own series, victories bumping now sits atop your head like a fleshy hat you up hunting ranks and towards and churns your brain to mush. ever-tougher beasts. then there’s the spread of side-quests – find a weapon-crafting part for cid, or sniff out a missing delivery balancing things out are your – that have been padding party’s modern action out sandbox games since smarts. Noctis channels the dawn of time. A royal magic to weave familiar recipe, but spiced around enemy attacks and complete up by iconic FF ingredients.

Warp-strike – the power to take the enemies: you’ll throw his sword and teleport recognise designs and names, to its hilt. Warp from a greater but the there’s a spark of villainous life distance and his velocity amplifies the missing from before. enter a goblin nest attack’s damage; for best results you can and they practically overrun you, warp to high up grapple points and shoot dropping from cracks and cutting the back down like a rocket. His regular lights to swarm you by surprise. attacks have also been simplified since elsewhere, Flans (think Jelly tots gone last year’s episode Duscae demo: you bad) explode into puddles of oily slop switch weapons with the d-pad, letting and samurais stoically stand their ground you mix their varying speeds and ranges

Warp drive

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Parry an attack near a friend for a showboating Link attack that combines your abilities, such as Prompto and Noctis’ ludicrous weapon-swapping routine. Now that’s teamwork!

As well as traditional swords and spears, our heroes can learn to turn Niflheim’s mechanised boomsticks against them.

Once you reach the Duscae region you can finally swap the car for Chocobos and take the gang for a wark on the wild side.

Justice Monster Five is all the rage in Eos – it’s a blend of pinball and Breakout and we’re absolutely terrible at it.

into one slick combo. If it feels a tad button-mashy when fighting smaller enemies, it at least looks spectacular.

Smarter tactics arise as you invest in the Ascension board – a skill tree not unlike FFX’s sphere grid. buying an aerial dodge lets us keep Noctis safe against taller foes, such as Niflheim’s 15-foot mechs – while his blink skill lets us dodge with no cost in MP as long we time the block; more engaging than holding the button to auto-dodge. buying techniques for his friends is a wise move: teaching nerdy Ignis to analyse enemy weaknesses then allows Prompto to target them with his pistol’s Fatal Shot, for

example, while buying shield proficiency and counterattacks for Gladiolus makes him a perfect bodyguard for Noctis. then there’s the incredible magic system, a hybrid of FFVIII’s finite spells and rikku’s item mixing in FFX. raw arcane power is absorbed from cracks in the earth and blended with food or items to create bespoke spells. And so it is that a Firaga spell can heal your party, recast itself several times over, or mutate into an icy blizzard once it’s done burning. these aren’t simple recipe lists, but one-off concoctions that feel extra special for their limited uses. Do you use your energy to make lots of weedy spells, or

“do you use your energy to make lots of weedy spells, or invest it all in one screenclearing wmd?” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

invest it all in one screen-clearing WMD? A tantalising choice.

Park king

the one area where the game does feel limited is in the driving. Far from a being a GtA-like simulation, your car, the regalia, is instead kept to the roads at all times by firm barriers. In fact, you only really control its speed; parking and U-turns are automatically handled with a button press. What Square enix have built here is a passenger simulation: it’s all about watching the world go by, exchanging banter with your posse and flicking through the tracks of Now that’s What I call Nobuo Uematsu. If the inability to mow down a chocobo is going to be a deal breaker then a) seek a different sandbox, and b) seek help. the rest of us will be quite happy to buckle up, bang on the radio and drive towards the nearest adventure. Just don’t get angry if we stop off for some fishing along the way. n Matthew Castle

instant Reaction +

Combat is visually spectacular, and the spell-crafting system is ripe for cauldron-stirring experimentation.

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Early hours are hard to follow if you haven’t seen the movie, Kingsglaive. Got a spare two hours and some popcorn?

tHRill-o-meteR

1 2 3 4 5 Classic ideas given new life by a change of scene.

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Preview Future Hits Played Now!

Help your friends achieve the best superhero movie franchise. You don’t want to be stuck with just a Netflix tv show, do you?

Format PS4, XO, PC Developer Ubisoft Publisher Ubisoft ETA 6 December

South Park: the Fractured But Whole cartman and co trade tolkein and trolls for Stan Lee and Spider-Man

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here the 2014 original lampooned fantasy, this sequel takes on the culturally relevant realm of Marvel and DC, as the kids play comic book dress-up and wage a superhero civil war as part of an imagined movie franchise.

calendar for future film instalments containing Supercraig: Man Of craig, and rise Of captain Diabetes.

Instant reaction +

Turn-based combat evolves.

Now you can manovure yourself in 3D space to dodge and flank your foes.

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Without enough environmental changes or additions, exploring South Park a second time could wear thin.

thrIll-o-meter

1 2 3 4 5 Stronger combat, sharper gags – and superheroes beat wizards.

Supe up

the biggest change is that combat now takes place on a grid. You can, for instance, duck behind bags of flour in a kitchen for protection from angry chefs, teleport behind strippers to boot them in You start by creating your the rear for extra damage, own hero or heroine and bait opponents together choosing powers that play and use an area-of-effect complete into turn-based battles. lightning strike, and smash Sure, the ranged blaster class Stan’s drunk dad into a car to with its ‘ionic ass cannon’ and end the sad encounter sooner. ‘rad burn’, close-range brutalist, or the this new approach transforms fights ‘quantum punching’ Speedster, all sound from stripped-down brawls to tactical impressive, but they’re products of the mini battlefields. kids’ hyperactive brains.

With the Stick Of truth, the show’s token’s Magneto helmet? A creators showed they can nail the tricky tupperware box plonked on his head. task of comedy in a medium where there are more gags-per-second here players decide the timing. We’re not sure than watching Airplane at 2x speed, how they’ll top meeting the Underpants whether it’s the rubik’s cube cartman Gnomes or playing as David Hasselhoff, forbids you touching for fear of but we can’t wait to find out. trey’s hinted destroying the galaxy, or the release at a Kanye West cameo… n Ben Griffin

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Special moves are even more impressive. Kyle the Human Kite flies up into space and fires down plasma beams on enemies from above.

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You can switch between first and third-person, as well as the four control methods, at any time.

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Annecy ETA December

Steep

No one man should have all that powder

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Instant Reaction +

A rare winter sports game shooting for realism. That goes for painful physics-based crashes, too.

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That same authenticity could result in a bland setting, sucking the thrill out of carving the piste.

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1 2 3 4 5 Needs a bit of a fun injection, or it could go downhill from here.

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on real life mountains, however. Stark itans in the winter white territory stretches for miles with sports genre have a only the odd tree, rock, and ramp to common trait: break monotony. Instead of getting us they’re extreme, heady with the realism it has on offer, man. Ubisoft Steep sees us long for the variety found Annecy’s in the likes of SSX or 1080. It’s truer, multiplayer open-world carves a almost simulation-esque edge different path, all about might not be for everyone. exploring accurately modelled Alps on officially licensed skis, snowboards, wingsuits, While a realistic direction and paraglides to sniff somewhat limits the scope complete out fresh routes, races, of the mountain, it enables and score attacks. complex handling models.

“We’ve got snow physics, and Although aided by years of also ice [physics]. You do slide firsthand piste experience and tonnes of much more on ice and it’s much map data, creative director Igor Manceau tougher… we also take into account the stresses Steep “isn’t an exact g-force when landing.” representation of the reality”. there’s work to do, but the potential “the mountain, generally speaking, is for satisfying authenticity exists. those not something you can ride everywhere,” physics power violent wipeouts (or what he explains. “And we wanted to make the Manceau calls “bone-collecting”) that playable zone as big as possible, so we you’re encouraged to share online for the changed it to make it more playable.” world to wince at, so this lighter side will A hands-on session leaves us slightly hopefully slick what could otherwise be a concerned with this barely tweaked take fairly dry slope. n Ben Griffin

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Snow globe

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Preview Eyes-on With Future Hits!

That’s Delilah Copperspoon, the Witch villain of the first game’s DLC. She was vanquished then, but apparently not well enough.

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orvo is perched on a window-ledge, looking out onto the street below. The road is teeming with guards after the escapade he’s just pulled, and one in particular, directly across the cobbles, looks up and sees him. Dishonored 2 has an even greater focus on verticality, you see, and this time around the goons are somewhat more capable in the area of up-and-down search and pursuit.

It doesn’t help that corvo has a slumbering body over his shoulder, the unconscious form of the target he’s just knocked out and is now trying to escape with. but nothing about this hit has been inconspicuous. this one is going to be tricky. except that it’s not. corvo dumps the body out of the window and stops time before the plummet results in a lethal end to the mission. He blinks-teleports down and instantly kills the guard upon arrival – all his old tricks have been upgraded this time around. As the mook starts to fall, he unpauses reality, spins around, and catches his sleepy cargo. this is some seriously slick, systems-abusing nonsense – exactly the kind of thing that developer Arkane delighted in watching on Youtube the first time around, during those post-release months in which the studio realised what it had really created, when it saw what corvo’s powers could do in the hands of a creative public.

See Emily slay

You can’t help feeling that those months inspired Arkane to push Dishonored further, to create sillier, giddier, and even more spectacular potential in Dishonored 2. everything about the game certainly screams ‘unbridled escalation’. there’s the addition of emily as an optional protagonist, of course, with her

“Corvo performing a blink-dodging, swordparrying waltz of freeflowing destruCtion”

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Bethesda Developer Arkane Studios ETA 11 November

DishonoreD 2

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The coastal city of Karnaca is a gorgeous blend of Europe, the Mediterranean, and endless, steampunk monstrosities. But picturesque ones.

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ability to Spider-Man around on magic tentacles, open hypnotising dimensional rifts, and link the fates of enemies in order to unleash some brutal ‘kill one, kill ’em all’ action. but there’s also the new approach to level design. realising that the first game’s masquerade ball mystery hit upon something special – namely the idea that Dishonored is at its best when mission requirements are forcing a specific, angled approach through special, bespoke circumstances – Arkane has made that specialness its sequel’s focus. there’s a mission which plays out in two separate timelines at the same time, corvo and emily free to peer through the temporal veil, switch between time periods, and play with causality at will. there’s one set in a clockwork mansion, where levers and gears remodel the building’s structure to the advantage and disadvantage of all concerned. And then there’s this mission, the one we’re watching corvo try to fight his way out of – where the target is empowered by a special rune that means he has to be killed twice in a single day in order to remain dead.

Honour bound

In the end, corvo replaced the second killing with the knock-out that led to this situation. but getting there wasn’t exactly a neat process. First there was the matter of a jazz club full of witnesses to silence with before making the first hit, which he dealt with via a maelstrom of blink-strikes, immolations, time-stops, and good old fashioned slashing. A glorious, deceptively intricate display, but one that, in in-universe time, probably lasted a second, corvo striking like ten batmans and four Punishers at the same time. then there was the initial duel, in which corvo took down his target with relative ease. but then the body turned into rats and ran away, leading to a fair bit of clue-hunting and investigation, and a swift, high-flying pursuit of his fleeing prey.

And then there’s that street battle to fight, corvo performing a blink-dodging, sword-parrying, body-throwing, crossbowfiring, body-catching waltz of free-flowing destruction.

After that, who knows? only Arkane, really. And even then, once you start exploring Dishonored 2’s scope, you’re likely to surprise them as much as yourself. n David Houghton

instant reaction +

The next-level escalation of Dishonored’s core ideas is spectacular. This is the series’ full potential blown up far and wide.

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Between extra complexity and a story that picks up from the original’s DLC, it could be confusing for newcomers.

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1 2 3 4 5 No question about it, this is a sequel with brand new ambition.

Kill too many people and leave their bodies out in the open, and grotesque and aggressive Blood Flies will infest and breed in the corpses. And you thought rats were bad?

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Preview Future Hits Played Now!

You won’t be chopping down trees to gather wood here – it’s more a matter of ransacking old dressers in bombed-out buildings.

In ‘civilised’ areas you may have to swallow some Joy to blend in.

In-game dialogue quotes Shakespeare and WB Yeats, but these literary lines feel ostentatious in their present form.

Instant Reaction +

A unique world and brilliant narrative kernel that we’re excited to explore in much more detail as monthly updates arrive.

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The game’s far from finished, with crude combat and simple survival systems making it hard to recommend right now.

THRILL-o-meTeR

1 2 3 4 5 A tremendously intriguing world, but gameplay has a fair way to go.

Format XO, PC Publisher Compulsion Games Developer Compulsion Games ETA Spring 2017

We HaPPy FeW Pulling the drug out from under us

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ompulsion Games certainly knows its dystopias. The most direct reference point here is probably Brave New World, and both works depict a pill-popping society that promotes hallucinogenics as the path to happiness. Orwell’s 1984 is a touchstone too, and you spend the game’s opening minutes working as a state censor eagerly redacting whole pages from humdrum newsprint.

mark the various biological necessities you’ll have to forage to fulfil. because, while most of We Happy Few’s trailers to date have focussed on establishing its grimly psychedelic setting, there’s been rather less explanation of the gameplay nitty-gritty, which sees traditional survival systems fused with simple quest-based storytelling.

Down and out

You’ll wander this procedurallygenerated landscape, rummaging around in quaint abandoned houses for crafting materials.

You’ll pick Gilead berries that cushy job falls (another dystopia through the minute you reference!) to concoct stop taking your ‘Joy’ pills. healing balms, and complete Suddenly, the colourful complete ‘encounters’ in world takes on a greyish hue the hopes of advancing the and dreadful memories storyline towards escaping threaten to overwhelm you. It this pharmaceutical nightmare. doesn’t take long for your co-workers to It’s this narrative focus that could notice – you’re branded a ‘Downer’, separate We Happy Few from the chased from the building, and left to fend survival pack, but it’s currently hampered for yourself in a rural wasteland. by crude combat and tedious inventory And it’s here that We Happy Few management. It’s stylish, smart, and begins in earnest, with hunger, thirst, and promising, but in its current state it’s a fatigue meters all appearing onscreen to little too fussy. n James Nouch

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It’s hinted that Joy is partly a tool for repressing the memory of some mysterious but deeply shameful communal crime.

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Preview round uP

Format PS4, PS Vita Pub Square Enix Dev Square Enix ETA October

Format PC Pub Nexon Dev Boss Key ETA Winter

If you love Final Fantasy, you love little chibi versions of things, and you really, really want to see a baby cactuar, then this new spin-off is just the game for you.

You play twins Lann and reyne as they attempt to regain their lost memories, meeting familiar main series characters like cloud, Lightning, and tidus along the way. You can also befriend, ride, and evolve Mirages, creatures that range from the adorable to the absolutely terrifying. even the scary ones are kind of cute, though. n

World of final fanTasy

laWbreakers

Format PC Pub Big Robot Dev Big Robot ETA Summer 2017

Format XO, PC Pub Microsoft Dev The Coalition, Splash Damage ETA October

The siGnal from Tölva Gears of War 4

the first game from cliff blezinski’s new studio boss Key (you’ll remember Mr b as the mind behind Gears of War), has now entered its final alpha test phase. It’s a competitive first-person shooter with a slick old school streak, a complete lack of respect for the laws of gravity, and a selection of super-powered classes to choose from. these include the newlyrevealed titan, which, though slow, can put out huge area-of-effect damage, and wields a rocket launcher as its main weapon. Looks like we’ll be breaking more than just laws. n

the folks behind Sir, You Are being Hunted are back, and this time it’s with an utterly beautiful explorationadventure game where you remotely control a robot on the surface of a planet covered in ancient ruins. It looks lovely, mysterious, and peaceful, at first – but you’ll soon find yourself in conflict with the planet’s more hostile inhabitants, who don’t seem especially keen on visitors to their home. Get busted up in one of these scraps? No problem – you can transfer your mind into a fresh robot body. Maybe a bigger, stronger one… n

We’ll never stop being disappointed that it’s not called ‘Gears of 4’, but that doesn’t mean we’re not excited for this latest entry in the classic series. thanks to an avalanche of illuminating new footage, we’ve got a rather better idea of what to expect now: vastly improved graphics, destructive windflares (which are like… lava tornadoes?), and the return of the gruff, intense voice acting and gruesome executions we know and love.

It’s looking like just the ticket for Gears of War fans, though we’re concerned it may be a bit too faithful to the old games… n

Format PC, PS4, XO Pub CI Games Dev CI Games ETA January 2017

sniper GhosT Warrior 3

All aboard the snipe train

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his is one of those titles that sounds like three random words squished together. As it turns out, it’s not the tale of a phantom that’s great at shooting – it’s about a team of elite snipers who take on missions across the world.

In this third entry in the series, you play world-class shooter-of-things-that-are-faraway, Jonathan North, as he attempts to prevent a new cold War from happening. there’s only one way to deal with a problem like that, of course: shoot a bunch of baddies in the face. though in a shocking twist, this entry now adds stealth takedowns and melee combat to the mix, too – expect a rebrand to Sniper Ghost Puncher within the year.

It’s the first in the series to take place in a full open world, and features new mechanics and gadgets like drones that can hack enemy electronics, and parkour movement for Assassin’s creed-ing your way to better vantage points. n

Gm instant reaction

Thrill-o-meTer

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complete

Format PC, PS4, XO Publisher EA Developer Bioware ETA March 2017

mass effecT: andromeda In space, no one can hear you make games about space

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emember the controversy around Mass Effect 3’s ending, when a million voices cried out in anger, and were (partially) silenced when it was patched to be less pants? Well, this new sequel is apparently going to completely sidestep that particular mistake by taking place in an entirely different part of the universe, unaffected by your decisions.

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More varied than ever, but still a bit niche.

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New protagonist Ryder’s mission is to colonise new worlds far from Earth’s solar system.

two of the game’s senior designers, Ian Frazier and Graham Scott, have been

cryptically tweeting about the game’s story and quests, praising the “outstanding mix of humor, character, thrilling combat, and unique visuals”. All the stuff you want to hear – but then, of course they’d say that…

We know the main character a little better than we did before: they’re called ryder, and their job as a Pathfinder is to locate new planets to colonise. In a welcome bit of interstellar gender equality, the studio’s leading with the female version of the character in trailers, in contrast to the dominance of boy-Shepard in past games.

on the technical side of things, bioware is promising to push the limits of the Frostbite engine (the same foundation on which the likes of battlefield, Need For Speed, and Star Wars battlefront were built), they’re even basing parts of the game’s geography on real-life locations, which means you might see your favourite cave in the game! …er, if you have a favourite cave, that is. n Kate Gray

Gm instant reaction

Thrill-o-meTer

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The epic series looks better than ever.

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Feature Feature

On The Cover!

The our

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Call oF duty: inFinite warFare

Who said war never changes?

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e can all agree that Professor Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History Of Time and globally celebrated scientist, is a sharp one, right? He once said that “to confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.” Now, while the good prof might not have specifically been talking about Infinity Ward’s brave decision to take the Call Of Duty series out of Earth’s atmosphere, we reckon a good portion of the folk hammering the ‘dislike’ button on the YouTube reveal trailer from a few months back might want to pay him heed. Because we’ve played Infinite Warfare, and not only is its space-faring, sci-fi infusion backing up the most exciting Call Of Duty to burst into view since Modern Warfare, it’s also disarmingly smart. Strap in for a special behind-the-scenes look at the inexplicably contentious, but undoubtedly brilliant, Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare…

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Feature Feature

On The Cover!

Insert your own ‘these are the droids you’re looking for’ joke here.

Or y’know, just shoot ‘em.

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nfinite Warfare has explosions. Oh yes. It has big explosions, small explosions, shuddering explosions, smokey explosions, fiery explosions, quiet explosions, loud explosions, explosions on the ground, explosions in the air, and, yes, explosions out in the cold vacuum of space. But much like you, fair reader, having reached the end of that overlong sentence, it’s possible to get tired of things that simply go boom. the folk behind call of Duty: Infinite Warfare seem to think so, too, judging by one of the main campaign levels we see behind closed doors. While we are given a chance to sit down and play the game ourselves (and we’ll get to that in a bit) we’re also shown a hands-off mission which begins as main player character captain Nick reyes and his team make landfall on an asteroid near the sun. this hunk of minerals was once home to a resource mining operation, but has mysteriously gone radio

silent, hence the need for reyes and his crew to touch down and investigate. but this is no ordinary ball of rock hanging lifelessly in space.

Some unknown event has caused the asteroid to spin on its axis at an increased velocity, seeing its day/night cycle go into overdrive. every 15 seconds the sky above roars between inky blackness and the engulfing rage of the far-too-close sun. With each ‘night’ comes swooshing winds and ominous silence. With the onset of each brief ‘day’, however, comes a whopping 900 degree increase in temperature.

Never mind frying an egg on the asphalt. Step outside in this heat and your delicate human body will likely rival your dad’s cooking at a family bbQ after seven cans of warm Fosters.

Hot stuff

What this leads to is a steady yet frantic traversal, as you and your squad jog, jump and jetpack between areas of cover from the sun’s brutal top-down assault. Lava eddies through crags to either side of your suited-up posse, only to burst upwards and outwards and spray across your path. each time the sun comes up,

Space jamS In Infinite Warfare, space is your playground. Apart from Geneva and that spinning asteroid, we’ve also spotted missions taking place across the Solar System.

Titan, which is one of Saturn’s moons, has been spotted, as well as an SDF Destroyer class ship orbiting the moon, which features grappling hooks and zero-gravity combat.

“loud isn’t loud unless you have quiet as a counterpoint to it. We’re trying to play With those different types of tension” 52

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the metal walkways you scramble across glow with the intense heat, looking like they could melt away at any moment. And each time you head out into the open air, your eyes honed on the relative safety of a nearby overhang or abandoned shelter, there’s this assault of oddly calm tension on your senses. 15 seconds. that’s all you’ve got. And with each one that ticks by the whole game is working its hardest to ratchet up that tension the closer you get to either crispy death or sweet shaded safety.

It dawns on us, after about ten minutes of the mission, that not only have our bum meats edged ever closer to the edge of our seats, but also that neither player character reyes nor any of his weapon-wielding crew have fired a single shot. there’s action, of course, but it’s of a slower burning flavour. reyes and his fellow soldiers continue to explore the abandoned mining station. Lifeless yet menacing drones hang like disturbing marionettes along the walls, and slow but steady exploration is accompanied by dialogue between your crew, fleshing them out as characters neatly while you poke around the base looking for answers.

We’ve seen coD flex its pacing muscles before, though it really does feel like an age since it’s done so with as much confident capability.

“I loved All Ghillied Up,” narrative director taylor Kurosaki tells us when we ask about his favourite moments from coD’s past. the Modern Warfare mission in which you sneak

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Call oF duty: inFinite warFare No anonymous helmeted soldiers, here. Space suits come with Interstellar-like helmet lighting so you can see who’s talking.

Everyone’s dead and you’re in charge now. The perfect way to start to a day at the office for Nick Reyes.

and snipe around Pypriat with captain Price is pretty much everyone’s favourite, right?

Kurosaki elaborates: “one of the things I loved about it was how that game was not afraid to have pacing and to have high-points and low-points; high-energy moments and big impact moments; stealthier quieter moments.

“As storytellers, we like all the different tones and all the different moods and all the different flavours. Loud isn’t loud unless you have quiet as a counterpoint to it. We’re trying to play with these different types of tension and different types of energy levels and how it all comes together as a whole.”

For a certain breed of coD player, who enjoyed the genre-defining campaigns of past games but fell away as the multiplayer seemed to take the reins, this is good news.

old dogs, new tricks

Kurosaki is one of two former Naughty Dog narrative bods, the other being Jacob Minkoff, to have joined Infinity Ward for this game, and you can feel this double-team’s impact. At one point reyes and his no-nonsense Lt Nora Salter step away from the group for a verbal sparring match which shows off all manner of things about them as characters and how they think, with both subtle nuances in dialogue and more blatant body language (“No offence” says reyes at one point, “None taken” comes the reply, with a cheeky middle finger poked in his direction).

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Feature Feature

On The Cover!

Nora Salter is one of the fleets best pilots and has been working with Reyes for a decade.

You can’t help but feel like this dev duo, once responsible for thinking up the incredible sinking ship sequence from Uncharted 3, as well as the train level in Uncharted 2, might very well have had a major part to play in this sun-scorched asteroid mission, too. It’s got a blend of atmosphere and design which feeds deliciously into the player’s decision making process, and the way in which we’ll use the tools given to us, be they legs for running or guns for shooting. And speaking of guns…

As we said up there at the top of this feature, Infinite Warfare has plenty of explosions. And it’s here that our hands-on mission comes in.

It’s Fleet Parade Week in Geneva and earth’s collective UNSA (United Nations Space Alliance) force is out in full fettle to celebrate. A sudden attack from the SDF (Settlement Defence Front) threatens to decimate the entire fleet, and as reyes it’s our job to navigate the chaos and take the fight up beyond the stratosphere. Why the surprise attack? Well, this fascist regime, led by Salen Kotch (played by Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington) is out to limit earth’s power across the solar system in a bid to claim the abundant resources out there for themselves.

For now though, we find ourselves hunkered down behind a parked car as thick black smoke

Screenshots don’t do the game in motion justice. This near-future world feels authentic, thanks to stellar audio work and careful design.

billows over us, blocking our vision. When it clears it’s time to get running. Some things feel instantly familiar, the snap of the gun barrel to our screen as we aim or the moment when our run slows to a steady pace as we make our way through a makeshift medical barracks (just to nail home what the stakes are). but once we’re out into our first larger gunfight arena – a gardened hillock leading to the entrance of a huge glass-fronted building thrumming with enemy drones and humans alike – Infinite Warfare’s fresh setting, and the gameplay it facilitates, suddenly becomes apparent.

Fleet first

our first attempt to tackle this area sees us head to the left, where cover is sporadically placed, though there’s little in the way of line-of-sight on our foes. our enemies have called in a dropship full of robot drones and we’re having a hard time taking them down in time without being overrun. In true run-and-gun fashion we grab a trojan assault rifle off a fallen foe to test it out and find it incredibly useful, with a much wider scope compared to our starting weapon, for easy target acquisition, and a satisfyingly hard-hitting thump of impact with each short

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Call oF duty: inFinite warFare

“We’re on you, Captain.” Incidental dialogue reinforces your role as the leader of surviving fleet forces.

burst of bullets we release. clearing our immediate area, we’re able to open up our Jackal targeting reticule, which allows us to summon in automated air strikes from our space-faring fighter ship, and set our sights on the dropship. After few uninterrupted seconds its engines are blown apart, and it spins out of control and into the nearby building. that would be one of those shuddering explosions

Staff Sergent Omar is played by David Harewood, known for his roles in Homeland and The Night Manager.

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Robot waRS Black Ops III has robotic enemies, and we were pretty down on them at the time, mainly as they didn’t offer up the same level of physical feedback we’re perhaps used to in a COD. Here in IW, though, the drones we take down are brilliantly realised. From staggered, believable movement to the audible snap of metal upon a direct hit, you really feel like you’re doing damage when you fire at these guys.

“We see an allied helicopter get shot doWn. its metallic carcass cascades doWn stone steps in a tumbling crescendo of carnage” we mentioned, then. A short jog later and we’re through to the next bit… but wait a second. before we tell you about what happens next, let’s do a bit of time-warping. We played through this section of the game multiple times and for our next attempt we did things very differently indeed.

robo-Cod

this time out, upon reaching the hill, we start off heading to the right, where things get mighty hairy, mighty fast. there are far too many drones, all of which are well protected by ample cover as we push steadily towards the building’s entrance. but whenever we pop out of cover, our screen is filled with telltale red haze as bullets rain upon us. From here we get a better view of the rest of the hill and we can see an allied helicopter get shot down. Its metallic carcass cascades down stone steps in a tumbling crescendo of fiery carnage. It comes to a stop to our left, right in the middle of the battleground, and we sprint over to use its open shell as makeshift cover.

A few Seeker grenades allow us to take out the closer drones honing in on our new hidey hole. these natty little devices burst out of our palms to scuttle over and around cover to our targets before exploding like deranged suicide crabs. Said breathing room attained, we re-assess our surroundings. Nearby, a crate lies on its side, its contents, a bevy of Hacker charges, spilled out on the glowing hot metal of the chopper floor. With these charges we’re able to hijack a nearby drone – do this and you can see through its eyes, before choosing to open fire on any nearby enemies, or tap a button to have it self-destruct.

With the dropship still hammering down on us from above we use a Hacker charge to leap into the mind of one of the drones inside the ship. From its viewpoint we can see 20 others waiting to drop down into the chaos and join the fight. We activate its self-destruct mechanism, and our viewpoint zips back to reyes in the burnt-out chopper. We risk the gunfire outside to look out as the dropship is engulfed in a white hot explosion. It feels good.

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Feature Feature

&A Develope rQ rQ pe & lo

oper Q&A vel De De ve

DEV Q+A

&A Develope rQ rQ pe & lo

On The Cover!

A

A

oper Q&A vel De De ve

The good FighT

Meet Taylor Kurosaki, narrative director, and Brian Bloom, co-writer and lead actor portraying Nick reyes, as we discuss war stories, a plausible future, and getting real naval admirals on board…

Q

When it comes to creating a new Call Of Duty, especially this one which takes a huge leap in terms of setting, are there still things that you wouldn’t dare touch in case you upset the fanbase?

A

Taylor Kurosaki: First and foremost, we know that we’re making a call of Duty game, right?

You can’t just call it call of Duty and therefore it is. there are those incredible controls, there’s that feel. call of Duty is the standard bearer of this soldier fantasy, this military simulation. And so, wherever call of Duty goes, or whatever backdrop is used, it has to retain that.

So that is still sort of a sacred cow. It has to feel gritty, it has to feel tactile, it has to feel military. As those qualifications are met, I think it can be many [other] things.

Q A

How do you go about making these massive ficitonal spaceships feel real and authentic?

Brian Bloom: A lot of it is in things that might seem insignificant… like switches! believe it or not, that’s something that the team was really cognisant of in terms of grounding this thing. the aircraft carrier, retribution, it’s in many ways designed after what you would see today on a real-life modern aircraft carrier. except this one flies! the design language was this fusion of something that’s true to the Navy and also a little bit of NASA in terms of having access, availability, and repairability to panels and wires and the kinds of materials that are there, the kind of surfaces that are there.

We had the opportunity to do an embark on a real-life aircraft carrier. taylor and I had spent the night, landed on the flight deck, watched flight operations. It was an incredible experience, and one of the things that really stuck out to us were redundancies – this idea that there would be a touch panel, next to a phone, next to a bell, next to a tube.

And each one of them could do that job. because, as you get further away from home, as you get further away from port, so to speak, those redundancies, that kind of repairability, dependability, durability, and that kind of backup is all part of it. And that helps keep things grounded, gritty, truthful, and

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real. We’ve had the great opportunity to show [Infinite Warfare] to real-life admirals.

Q A

Wow, what was the response from those real naval officers?

Q A

Apart from picking your missions, is there anything else to see or do on the Retribution?

BB: their response to what they saw – at least to our faces! – was that they said: “Hey man, I can really smell the jet fuel. I can smell the steel. I can smell the iron. I can smell the surfaces. I feel like I’m there.”

BB: Depending on your playstyle and how you move about the ship, you’ll find that the crew responds to you. You’re their leader and if you stop they pay attention to you. In some cases if you don’t stop they’ll pay attention to you. they’re aware that their commanding officer is nearby and they’re telling a story in the background as well.

And it’s also fun! You want to move through that space. You’re not just the grunt, you’re not a noob, you’re not the FNG. Some of the other titles have looked at it from that perspective, and that was a technique for telling the story. there’s been an evolution now, there’s been a lot of titles, there’s been quite some time. Many of our players are veterans, so we thought as storytellers, and as a team it’d be fun to do something with that concept.

Q

Does the huge shift in responsibility for Reyes, from soldier to leader, affect his character through the course of the story?

A

TK: Absolutely. reyes is not a rookie by any stretch of the imagination. He’s a seasoned operator with a lot of combat experience under his belt, but he’s kind of been operating under this mantra of: you fight for the guy next to you. No-one fights alone, that’s a thing that call of Duty has, it’s a theme that it’s embraced. And it’s a theme that’s common in a lot of war movies and war stories. but to go from a guy who’s fighting for his wingmen and vice versa, to go to a guy who’s fighting to support the directives of command above all else – that is a

shift in a mindset. And the burden of carrying that weight of command is a whole other thing.

Sometimes you can’t have everything you want. If you’re fighting just for the guy next to you, that’s your thing, that’s what you do. If you’re fighting for the mission and the mission comes first at any cost, then sometimes you’ve got to make difficult decisions… that’s going to result in maybe not everyone making it back home all the time.

Q

Do you feel a moral obligation to tell your story a certain way, it being a war story told when real life war is on the news everyday?

A

TK: As storytellers, the war genre – which is about duty and about honour and about completing the mission – that’s a rich heritage to draw from. And it’s really been fertile ground for telling meaningful stories. You know, we say that character is plot, and how you reveal true character is to put pressures onto people. And what better source of pressure than the backdrop of war?

BB: Stories are characters drawn into conflict. I don’t think many storytellers or narrative teams or writers could argue with that. And how those characters resolve that conflict is really what a story can be distilled down to. And as taylor’s saying, war is the ultimate mortal, terminal consequence where life and ways of life are in the balance and the stakes are really high. And Infinite Warfare gives you the opportunity to explore that on a whole new level, because the weight of the world is on your shoulders and the battleground is vast.

TK: these are people doing their jobs. that’s a really simplistic way to look at it, but they’re doing their job, they’re overcoming obstacles, and those pressures can expose, reveal, test relationships, and to us that’s the really interesting stuff. reyes is an operator, but he’s also a man with feelings and a sense of obligation and a sense of duty.

So in the same way that we feel a sense of obligation, not only to our fans and our players, but to do justice to this genre, in a very similar way reyes feels a duty to complete the mission, bring his men home…

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Call oF duty: inFinite warFare

These ground troops are part of SATO (Solar Associated Treaty Organization), the armed forces of the UNSA.

And this is just what Infinite Warfare is capable of when you’re playing a somewhat more traditional stage. As we saw back on the asteroid, and as we’re about to discover in the closing stages of this black Sun mission, Infinite Warfare’s near-future setting allows it to go much further with scenarios that are anything but call of Duty’s comfort zone. “this new setting that we’re playing in affords us new gameplay opportunities,” says Kurosaki.

“Instead of just having the enemy out in front of you or worrying about [what’s at your] left and right like you do on that hill, imagine also having to take cover from the sun that’s above you.

“It comes from [asking the question] ‘what can we do with this new setting?’, but it also comes from [asking the question] ‘what can this new setting can do for us?’.”

rocket man

the hill taken, the next stage of our mission involves leaping into our Jackal and taking off to space. A short transition, which involves your ship automatically turning and adjusting itself as you perform a mild Qte, plays out. And then suddenly, you’re there, floating in the midst of a pitched dogfight. Gigantic Star Destroyer-esque capital ships dominate the centre of the battle, their myriad cannons blasting at any winding fighter ships that pass by too close. As you burst around you can release chaff to dissuade enemy missiles while thrusting through enemy fire, looping around behind your opposite numbers and drilling them with locked-on machine gun barrages. As the battle evolves, you have to line up cannon strikes, passing over the broader sides of those bigger ships and hammering their artillery with flak as you go.

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Between missions you can explore the Retribution and talk to the various members of your team.

“gigantic capital ships dominate the centre of the battle, their myriad cannons blasting at any Winding fighter ships that pass by” If this all sounds complicated, know that in terms of the controls, it really isn’t. the whole sequence thrums with authenticity, reyes flicks switches in the cockpit as you pilot it, and the sound design’s so perfect that it demands to be experienced at full volume with a headset on. but this is no elite-like sim. With the pad in your hands it’s very easy to wrangle your ship under control, almost like its an extension of your ‘boots on the ground’ running and gunning. It feels like the best kind of arcade experience: spectacular, accessible, and wildly good fun.

We’ve still got a lot of Infinite Warfare to see, not least its multiplayer which is, for many, the most important element. but our time with the campaign was as reassuring as we could have hoped. And that’s not because of the ways it holds true to much of what we love about coD (because, trust us, it does maintain that classic feel). We can’t wait to play through the full game because its the bravest, smartest, and most self-aware departure from the series’ solid yet all too well-trodden formula yet. this is shaping up to be the giant leap that call of Duty needs. n

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57

Feature Feature

On The Cover!

EvErything you nEEd to know about…

Poindexter

Associate project director Lee Ross takes us through the finer points of this year’s ’80s-inspired, theme-park-based undead co-op action

1

There’s a card system “In Zombies In Spaceland we have what’s called Fate And Fortune cards, and the way that they work is, before you go into a game you can actually set up your deck, up to five cards which you can bring into a game with you. So strategically you can figure out what’s the best combination of things that you want to bring along with you. Think of it like your travel kit. Once you’re in-game just doing regular in-game activities like buying weapons, boarding windows, killing zombies, you’ll fill the meter for the Fate And Fortune cards, and once it’s active, players can choose from any one of those five cards to play. They offer some really unique abilities – you can spawn with a new weapon, you can drop a power-up, you can use one of my favourites which really encourages co-op play, called Life Link. So if you stand next to me, our health gets a buff, just because we’re standing next to each other when that Fate And Fortune card is active.”

2

There are no boundaries “No idea’s too crazy, so we have some really interesting things going on in the park, from the weaponry to the park attractions that we’ve turned into traps. The cast of characters, the soundtrack – we’ve really pushed it. One of the weapons is called the Face Melter. When you shoot a zombie with it their legs turn into rockets, they blast off and explode into fireworks. It doesn’t get any wackier than that.”

3

There’s an in-game retro arcade “We want to bring the theme park to life. So Spaceland actually features an ’80s arcade. You can actually go into the arcade and play classic Activision Atari 2600 games in the arcade, you can play parlor games like shooting basketball, skeeball, things like that. So it’s got that classic feel, and when you walk into the space it looks like an ’80s arcade.

It’s got the neon lights on the wall, the rows of arcades, ticket booth prizes. It feels just like it did once upon a time.”

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4

Death sounds like the best time ever “Typically when you die when you’re playing in a multiplayer game, you go to spectate mode, so you get to watch the rest of your teammates run around, and hopefully when they survive long enough and they pass that next scene, then you get revived and come back in. Well we created a system called the Afterlife Arcade, and in this when you die you’re spawned in an arcade, you can play those same games we have in the game located within the park, but there’s a slight difference: you can earn what’s called a Soul Token, and when you do you can bring yourself back to life immediately without having to stay watching in spectate.”

The nerd, played by Seth Green, of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Robot Chicken, and Family Guy fame.

“When we were looking at the nerd character we were looking at everything from Revenge Of The Nerds to Sixteen Candles.”

The story revolves around the above four aspiring actors getting sucked into a film directed by Willard Wyler (voiced by Pee-Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens).

5

Seth Green is the perfect nerd “As an example [of our casting process] we discussed amongst our team saying ‘who should the nerd be?’ and as we went through everybody’s list, Seth Green was always on the top of everyone’s list, and it’s funny because when we did the VO sessions with him there were lines of dialogue that we had him recite that he said, ‘I literally have said this line 20 times in my career in various films and TV’. He really just embodies that character, and because of that he really breathes a life into it that we didn’t suspect.”

6

It’s set in the ’80s, but it’s for everyone “We’re seeing kids walk around with ‘I love the ’80s’ shirts, which is… you weren’t born yet! It’s interesting.

But looking at the show Stranger Things in particular, they’re doing a lot of what we’re doing, finding the bits and pieces that people can say, ‘Oh I do remember that – I remember Rubik’s Cubes, I remember Saturday morning cartoons’ and things like that. I think there’s a lot of commonality there. The music that we’re playing in the park, and the dialogue, it may be a little alien to [younger players] at first but it’s something that will become more commonplace as more ’80s things start to pop up, like Stranger Things.”

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Call oF duty: inFinite warFare

AJ

Andre

The rapper, played

by Saturday Night Live’s Jay Pharoah.

“In that decade you had acts like Run DMC on one spectrum and then on the other side you had NWA, and so we wanted to take little bits and pieces of all this.”

The jock, voiced by Suicide Squad and Disaster Movie’s Ike Barinholtz.

“When we designed the characters I’m kind of sitting there envisioning what they sound like and how they’re going to behave, then when the actors come in and portray those roles, they add this essence to the character that just totally brings them to life.”

Sally

The valley girl, played by another of the SNL comedy line-up, Sasheer Zamata. “[The ’80s] breathes through their dialogue. So when you’re playing as the valley girl as an example, she’ll have lines like “Gag me with a spoon,” and “totally,” and all that kind of ’80s lingo.”

Your eyes aren’t decieving you, this is David Hasslehoff. He voices the theme park’s DJ.

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OCTOBeR 2016

59

IndieMaster The Best Of The Indie Scene!

In sandbox mode you can build your tower as high as you’d like, but you’ve got make sure you can maintain it all.

Who is...

The simulation-loving team at SomaSim was founded in 2013 by Robert Zubek, who previously worked at Zynga on big-hitters CityVille and FarmVille 2. Project Highrise is the studio’s second game after 1849, a city management game set during the California Gold Rush where you have to build a thriving mining empire. Project Highrise thankfully has less digging.

Format PC Developer SomaSim ETA Summer Web http://bit.ly/gmprojecthighrise

#1 Project HIgHrIse Reach for the skyscraper

I

f it wasn’t for the man on the sixth floor complaining about the bins, our tower would be perfect. Internet and electricity is flowing, the one fast food restaurant’s making money, and the people from that accountancy firm are finally happy because the copy and bottled water services are happily stowed away in the basement. But then again we’re only at ten floors.

We’ll just stay up to build one more and maybe try and sort those bins…

The happier people are in your tower, the more influence you’ll gain – and then you’ll be able to hire people to make your skyscraper a better place to live.

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There’s always that one more problem in Project Highrise, as you build up your tower of apartments, offices, and restaurants into the sky, juggling the ever-growing needs of the pesky humans within. Viewed in a somewhat voyeuristic cross-section, it might just remind you of a certain 1994 Maxis game…

Tower power

“SimTower was a really amazing game in its time – for us, it made the hours disappear – but it was actually a very different kind of a game,” says SomaSim studio co-founder Robert Zubek. “The challenge centered on traffic and elevator management, which were the limiting factors on the player’s ability to advance. But once you got those figured out, the economy was pretty forgiving and largely secondary. In contrast, our game mainly centers on the economics of running a large building, and on keeping the entire ecosystem of tenants happy and prosperous. But that’s a challenge because, as any city dweller will immediately recognize, living and working in a dense environment can

sometimes be very fun, and at other times extremely annoying. We wanted to really focus on that aspect – managing a living and breathing ecosystem where individuals are both positively and negatively affected by each other, and your job is to keep them happy while also remaining profitable.”

Building upwards is a satisfying yet simple affair. Just add a lift in the right place and send in your live-in maintenance workers to fit out the floor as required. Remembering amenities is essential, and companies will only move in if set needs are met. Apartment floors need water and somewhere to store those aforementioned bins, while offices are more keen for internet and a phone line. “We talked to real estate developers and managers during the initial design of Project Highrise,” designer Matt Viglione explains. “For example, in actual skyscrapers, buildings that combine offices and residences under a single roof are pretty rare. Mixing tenants lowers your operating efficiency: how much rentable space there is compared to overall space. Mixed-use buildings tend

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the 60 second Pitch

Always try and keep a layer of offices between apartments and food businesses. How would you like to live sandwiched between two floors of McDonalds? No, you know what, don’t answer that actually…

While it would be nice to sit back and just watch your building run, every scenario is tailored to keep you on your tower building toes.

buildings that rival real world monster towers. The Willis (Sears) Tower here in Chicago is 108 stories. You could replicate that in Project Highrise. At the same time, some specific scenarios will have you work within firm height and area limits that you can’t exceed.”

On top of a challenging scenario mode Half the joy of the game is seeing your there’s a sandbox available to let you tower running. simply build to your Once everyone’s heart’s desire and (mostly) happy, you’re positively there’s a beauty in encouraged to put the ant-farm nature the high in highrise. of the cross section SomaSim wants you Want to build skywards like view. The colourful to reach for the sky. there’s no tomorrow and visuals make each “Our goal from the manage the simpler needs of level an interactive start was to enable miniature humans? Try Tiny painting as office monster towers,” Tower for size on iOS: workers arrive for enthuses Zubek. http://bit.ly/gmtinytower work or apartment “There’s no technical dwellers settle impediment to down to a night in doing that – the front of the TV. “We were very much game easily supports having around drawn to mid-century modernist 1,000 characters onscreen at the same aesthetics in both art and music,” says time. In fact, some of the higher level Ziglione. “The building exteriors and the tenants – the penthouse apartments and UI are directly inspired by Ludwig Mies the corporate headquarters – pretty van der Rohe buildings in downtown much require a monster tower in order Chicago, especially the IBM Building and for them to even want to move in. In the Federal Plaza. His style of architecture sandbox mode you’ll be able to build to have lower efficiency because having different types of tenants means using up more floor space on non-rentable infrastructure and support elements.”

High times

Try this!

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was unprecedentedly bold: strong rectilinear grid, supporting beams, and infrastructure on the outside instead of being hidden away, showing the materials from which the building was made right on the facade.”

And as you work to improve your tower, you’ll be soothed by a seriously smooth soundtrack. “In terms of music we were inspired by mid-century jazz in particular, but we also had an interesting additional constraint. We knew that players would play the game for hours and hours, and we were concerned that the music would get repetitive and eventually annoying,” explains Zubek.

“So we worked with our composer to build a dynamic, randomized soundtrack, which gets built at runtime from shorter phrases. It also changes subtly based on time of day, and based on what the player is looking at. This led to a soundtrack that never plays the same way twice, but at the same time feels very comfortable because it keeps reusing familiar phrases and expressions.” Prepare to lose hours to your new tower – the perfect combination of intuitive controls and challenging dilemmas ensures you’ll feel right at home. Just don’t look down. n

Donning a hard hat with Robert Zubek In Project Highrise, you’re in charge of the construction and management of a modern skyscraper. You’ll have a lot to deal with and many hats to wear. As the architect, you’ve got to plan the building. Will it be a skinny, sleek tower piercing the sky? Perhaps a slowly rising series of setbacks that dominate the surrounding area? Once you’ve made those architectural decisions and get your construction crews in place, you’ll need tenants. They pay rent and that’s your primary source of income for further construction. So now it’s time to change hats and become a building manager. Will you fill the tower with offices? Perhaps make a residential tower?

Do you have the mettle to do both? Once you’ve decided, you’ll find your tenants’ satisfaction is your new priority. Happy tenants pay rent on time. Unhappy tenants pack their boxes and leave. And that’s just the beginning. There are city politics to navigate, consultants to manage, contracts to complete, and prestige to gain. From the moment you break ground, every decision rests with you.

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IndieMaster The Best Of The Indie Scene!

Format XO, PC Developer Mr Whale’s Game Service ETA Spring 2017 Web http://bit.ly/gmfargame

#2 Far Junk in my car

T

here just aren’t enough gaming road trips – jumping into your vehicle of choice and heading into the sunset with only the radio for company… The beautiful Far wants to take us on a journey, but not one with sand and long scarves. Instead we need to take the wheel of a hulking machine and traverse a barren wasteland.

“I wanted to take a different approach to the idea and use of vehicles in games,” explains designer Don Schmocker. “Far is not so much about speed, but about the journey. You are not the vehicle, but you need to work with it and care for it. This almost automatically creates an emotional attachment to your vessel and I really liked the idea of this human-machine-bonding.”

This friendship with a hunk of metal means we’ll be clambering around the inside of the vehicle like a side-scrolling platformer, pushing buttons and seeing what makes it tick. Think Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime but alone on land and you’re almost there. Add in the fact that the vehicle itself needs upgrading as you go and things will get tricky fast. Although we’re assured that prior experience as a car mechanic thankfully isn’t necessary.

Wheely good

While the base truck that you start off with is relatively spartan, you can make it your own by, amongst other things, sticking a giant sail on top to help glide across the world. “The vehicle changes as you progress and you can find modifications and possibly a few collector’s items to alter its functionality and looks,” says Schmocker. “The modifications provide more options for coping with dangerous situations

Small…

But Perfectly Formed

The best indies to play by the pool on holiday

#1

rIdIculous FIshIng

#2

Prune

#3

ollIollI 2: WelcoMe To ollIWood

The view of the internals of the truck was born out of Schmocker’s childhood obsession with Stephen Biesty’s book Incredible Cross-Sections.

and they add more depth to the driving mechanics. The biggest challenge that the player has to face is to keep the vehicle moving: The machine was once built as a hybrid land and naval vessel, and has since been modified numerous times by its owner. The frame is of a somewhat robust construction and may compensate collisions, even at high speeds.”

There’s something exciting about heading out on the road and attempting to keep on trucking but there’s a sadness to Far that means less Queen songs and more quiet alone time. “I wanted to create a feeling of loneliness and wonder to spark an inherent urge to explore this world,” Schmocker says. “That’s also why I like to keep most of the background story vague: curiosity and the longing for company are strong motivators that the players are meant to fully experience while they play Far. I can give away, though, that you are, most naturally, following the receded water, and that the character you play has not always been just as lonesome. As you progress through the game, you will find clues as to what happened and whether you really are the only one left in this world.” For the sake of our sanity, let’s hope it’s not just us and a truck for all time. n

OCTOBER 2016

Lopping off tree limbs just shouldn’t be this relaxing.

If you’re looking for a zen experience to play while you sizzle on that lounger like a BBQ skewer, look no further than this. Gorgeous visuals and soothing sounds accompany your quest to let trees grow gracefully into the light.

You want to do some summer sport, but not move. It’s understandable – you’re on holiday, not at the gym. Never fear, OlliOlli 2 is here to test your skateboarding skills on PS Vita and 3DS. It’s even more addictive than its predecessor.

#4

TWoFold Inc

#5

egg Inc.

Schmocker describes his influences as Journey and Little Big Planet crossed with David Lynch.

62

Fishing never really appealed?

Something about all the guts and scales put you off? Well, let this mobile app transport you from your drifting lilo to an 8-bit rowing boat for some absurdly addictive fishing and then, err, shooting action. Sea-riously, it’s the reel deal and no need for actual Dory-murdering action.

If you want to use your brain poolside, look no further than this block puzzle game from the creator of Rymdkapsel. It takes a while to get used to, but persist and you’ll lose yourself in the lovely visuals and sounds. A perfect challenge to match up with some holiday cocktails. Ok, maybe not too many.

Let’s face it. You’re on holiday. All you actually want to do is tap your screen mindlessly, and that’s exactly what this free-to-play chicken-packed app lets you do. Build hen houses, hatch eggs, make more chickens, send out eggs for sale, and do it all over again. No yolk, this is surprisingly eggcelent. n

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w

Format PC Developer Finish Line Games ETA October Web http://bit.ly/gmmaize

#3 MaIze

Ready for some corny puns?

P

erhaps if we get all the jokes out of the way first, then this will be bearable to read.

How a game about sentient corn sounds pretty sweet. We can ponder whether it will wheat our appetite for more farm-based experiences that don’t require Saitek tractor controls and constant obsessing over how often to make hay. Ahem. Yes, anyway, Maize is a first-person adventure that’s all about a sheaf of corn that just happens to be alive and really dislikes it when crows attempt to eat its tasty, tasty yellow flesh. Yes, really.

Toronto-based devs Finish Line Games are being very secretive about the experience, but have revealed that the story follows what happens when two scientists misinterpret a memo from the US government and end up creating the aforementioned living maize. Oops.

Mixing up inspirations from the ridiculousness of Monty Python and the comedy episodes of the X-Files, it

charges players with exploring an abandoned farm and a secret underground research facility as they search for the truth.

Stalk exchange

The world of Maize is surprisingly realistic-looking, making the experience all the more surreal.

Promising a cornucopia of areas to explore and plenty of environmental puzzles that are apparently even more absurd than the idea of sentient vegetables, the game wants us to gradually uncover the secrets of its world and find out exactly what it is that exceptionally angry living corn wants from life. With visuals that look like an American version of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture and characters that include a small grumpy Russian robot bear who looks a bit like Teddy Ruxpin, hopefully this can deliver an enjoyably absurd experience.

Information is largely classified for now, making it even more intriguing.

Mulder and Scully-influenced vegetable puzzling? Harvest time can’t come soon enough.. n

Developer Finish Line Games’ last project was Cel Damage HD, a modern update of the 2001 cel-shaded car combat game.

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Format PS4 Developer Tangentlemen ETA October Web http://bit.ly/gmheretheylie

#4 here They lIe You can’t handle the truth

W

hile E3 this year was understandably all about Resident Evil 7’s frankly terrifying rebirth in the realm of virtual reality, other equally disturbing horror was being announced for PlayStation VR. Here They Lie is being published by Sony Santa Monica, and its indie dev team, Tangentlemen, is quietly confident that this is going to be the game to sneak under your skin and give you nightmares long after the headset has been safely thrown out the window in blind panic.

Made up of veteran developers who’ve worked in the past on the likes of Spec Ops: The Line, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Medal Of Honor, the team is focusing its efforts completely on building utter dread in us helpless

players. Acts of violence take place at the end of long corridors, shadows flicker just out of sight, and odd, misshapen creatures crawl limply through alleyways towards you as you explore the streets of a strange and bleak cityscape. In other words, it’s a living nightmare captured in VR. Remind us to go hide our headset…

Scare candy

“Here They Lie is a dark psychological horror experience that transports you to a terrifying, surreal world inhabited by strange and malevolent creatures,” says co-creative director Cory Davis.

“Unimaginable horrors lurk around every corner, just out of sight, haunting and infecting your mind. Dare yourself to go deeper down the rabbit hole and confront the meaning of your existence.” Can’t we just say 42 and not be chased by all these monsters? n

“unimaginable horrors lurk around every corner”

You can play on PS4 without PSVR but it was designed with virtual reality in mind and takes everything at a pace that won’t have you reaching for a sick bag.

OCTOBER 2016

63

Reviews

70 Grow Up It’s two pastimes blended into one: gardening and extreme sports. but is it any good?

The Final Verdict!

How we scoRe

0-39 Awful Avoid it as you would a bullet with your name on.

40-59 Poor Major issues here that won’t be solved with a hug.

60-69 Decent A mixed bag filled with sweets and sharp stones.

70 -79 Good Some flaws, but still a very enjoyable experience.

80-89 Excellent Buy it, love it, thank us when you’re done.

90-100 Outstanding A rare and essential piece of brilliance.

The small print: We rate games in comparison to what else is available on the same system, in the same genre, and for the same format at the time of release. So this year’s FIFA might score less than a FIFA from three years ago, but still be a better game. because time, and our expectations, move on. Hey, you’re smart, you get it…

Not awarded based simply on score, but rather given to games that possess a special blend of qualities.

For instant classics that you won’t regret owning.

No MaN’s sky

Format PS4 (reviewed), PC Publisher Hello Games Developer Hello Games ETA Out now Players 1

We boldly go where no reviewer has gone before – and find a bunch of weird dinosaurs

T

here are 18 quintillion planets in this procedurally-generated space adventure, and if someone discovered a new one every hour from birth until death they would only find 718,320 of them. It’s big is what we’re saying, bigger than you’d ever

You mine various elements, fuel your engines, warp to the nearest star, and repeat the process a few light years away, but what staves off repetition is never knowing exactly what to expect when you barge through the cloud barrier and touch down without a hint of loading (texture pop-in is forgiven). rock formations, weather patterns, soundscapes, fungus, the length of the grass, and the colour of the sky – all of it is decided by cold, hard maths, which means your story is your own. We’ve seen worlds of endless blue oceans; honeycomb cave systems containing towering crystalline treasures; vast ridges of feathered red coral; thick columns of pure gold rising from the dirt; and gravitydefying metallic discs floating above pink

think the dozen devs at Hello Games could possibly pull off – but more important is how it plays. You start on a random planet amidst ship wreckage, with the aim to gather resources and repair your vessel so you can blast off and begin exploring, trading, and fighting across the void. The ultimate goal? Reach the centre of a star-stuffed galaxy.

cotton candy fields. Land on a mountain high enough and you can see the curvature of the earth.

Universally speaking

on Goldilocks planets – far enough from a star that it’s not barren, near enough that it’s not freezing – life comes in enough diversity to give naturalists heart attacks. there are bouncing jelly beans with big black eyes and floppy arms, six-legged dogs wagging feathered tails, horned big birds with flippers and shells, bipedal dinosaurs walking like their shoelaces are tied together, and schools of fleshy sky eels fluttering in the breeze. Across

“worlds of endless blue oceans; honeycomb cave systems; vast ridges of feathered red coral” 64

october 2016

land, sea, and air, each new world shuffles the deck. Documenting everything is one way to earn the universal currency known as units, scanning them into a database where you can pore over the age, temperament, gender, height, weight, and diet. You’re Darwin on a rocket-powered HMS beagle, Attenborough filming a bbc special called Weird Ass Life, somewhere between christopher columbus and Samus Aran.

Interaction is fairly minimal, mind – you can feed fauna scraps from that delicious smorgasbord known as the Periodic table in return for them sniffing out rare elements for you, or shoot them dead and watch them roll down a hill – and they don’t seem to have much function besides ambling around roaring. but it’s still exciting to see what mad combinations the algorithm gods have thrown up (and some of them actually do look like throw-up).

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72 Deus ex: Mankind Divided Will Adam Jensen survive a full day without extolling how little he asks for things?

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76 abzû

78 overcooked Up on the shore they slave away, on PS4 they play this game.

It’s better down where it’s wetter...

Why has robin been screaming the word ‘onion!’ point blank into ben’s face all month? Find out here!

october 2016

65

staR sailoR

You’re in space. Ahhh! What now?

The pulse engine requires fuel.

Careful you don’t run dry or you’ll have to go and mine asteroids for thanium to get yourself running again.

At regular cruising speed, any moons or planets you can physically see take hours to reach. Engage the pulse engine to get there in seconds.

Beacons are planet-side antenna. Interacting with one reveals items of interest and unlocks the ability to upload your discoveries.

The photon cannon is how you crack asteroids and shoot ships – but use it too much and the space police will come after you, you vandal.

BiG GaMe HUNteR

Hello Games use sophisticated algorithms to generate a huge spread of possible alien creatures by combining hand-crafted body parts. We use guns to shoot them all.

each planet also has a brief story to sniff out, like an alien warrior attempting to blow the hinges off a storage vault and demanding you hand him a combustible stimulant, or a cyborg doctor who wants to inject you with mysterious green goo, or a dying electronic lifeform resembling Daft Punk circa 2007 asking you for carbon and offering a new weapon in return. the variety in these one-paragraph tales is astonishing given they seem to extend throughout space without repeat. the downside to these run-ins, and the overall experience, is that it all feels a little false. choose the dialogue option to give the safe-robbing warrior an unstable isotope and when you exit the conversation the camera shakes slightly and your health goes down. the ‘terrified’ alien cowering in the corner of a research base ‘on his knees’ is really a calm alien

66

october 2016

These bulbous-eyed Moth Dogs know nothing of the stars because they can’t look up. Ignorant. Shoot it.

The horn-billed Flip-Flap struts around arrogantly on webbed feet. Who does he think he is? Shoot it.

“you’re less inclined to unravel the mystery when you start seeing patterns repeat” sitting in a chair. they’re rooted to the spot so you never feel in danger, and as a result, it makes NPcs seem less like living beings and more like extravagantly shaped text logs. Sure, their emotional remoteness is in keeping with a game about struggling to connect with exotic races, but your choices rarely have meaningful consequences because of it.

Skyfall

More interesting are monoliths. these sleek black structures stand out on any landscape and allow you to learn a few words of an alien language before jetting

off to the next one, thereby travelling along the game’s central storyline both literally and linguistically. Find enough and a space station resembling transformer’s Unicron appears in the sky, with the being inside giving you a choice of following along the path of Atlas or finding a shortcut to the centre. the game never explains the virtues of either, though. both routes are symbolised on the map screen as linear lines that you can travel along by using warp drives, but after a dozen hours of scavenging ingredients to craft fuel and bunny hopping between stars, even using a

Mump-Men bounce up and down on their squidgy bodies and puff out their chubby cheeks. Rude. Shoot it.

so-called shortcut, we’re barely closer to destination or resolution. A little more clarity would prevent wasted time. obtuseness is fine – this is deep space, after all. the problem is you’re less inclined to unravel the mystery when you start seeing patterns repeat. take space flight, for instance, where another portion of the game lives. It’s initially wonderous – you can aim cannons at asteroids and crack them open for minerals (even shooting holes in bigger ones and flying straight through), fend off space pirates in thrilling battles set against neon backdrops, and respond to distress calls from hulking battle cruisers – but it soon becomes formulaic, the game picking from a shallow bag of tricks and slotting them in and out of rotation. often it seems you’re roleplaying less as a cool miner, trader, or mercenary, and more as a floating camera. We swap our

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loves…

burst info inf st o ur

How to become a space millionaire in No Man’s Sky

The universe is full of gorgeous, unique alien vistas.

info burst in fo

iNFo bURSt!

t rs bu

u info b rst in fo st b ur

No maN’S Sky

Discovering freaky alien critters is a thrill – at least at first.

hates…

t rs bu

info burst in fo

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Once you start to see the patterns, things get repetitive.

As Elton John once sang, it’s lonely out in space.

better than…

Buy low, sell high

Want to own a flash, high-tech ship like the one above? Pay attention to star icons on galactic trade terminals. They indicate items that are especially valuable in this sector. If, for instance, you find suspension fluid is selling at a 100% mark-up, farm that item and then unload it all for insane profit. That’s just good business sense.

storage wars

Save yourself from item rearrangement woes by expanding your storage early. A simple solution is heading for the left room in any space station (you’ll need an Atlas Pass V1 first), and nabbing the suit slot. You can do this repeatedly.

Subsequent slots cost more, but that’s fine, because you’ll be hauling increasingly valuable loot.

strike gold

Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a planet stocked with a rare alien treasure, be it Vortex Cubes or Gravitino Balls. When this happens, empty your inventory of non-essentials, fill it up, then go sell. Be wary, though: the better a planet’s resources, the more hostile the sentinels will be. Don’t bother fighting if they do turn nasty – just run away and keep gathering.

Freightfully sorry

You can often see massive freighters hovering around planets. What you’re going to want to do is raid them. Blast apart their numerous storage containers and nab everything inside. Now, you’ll likely get blown to bits by their superior firepower, but that’s fine. Simply return to your grave after respawning and retrieve everything from your corpse.

worse than…

Although similarly endless, Mojang’s toybox is anything but repetitive, giving multiple players agency and purpose in a shapeable environment.

the important discoveries on our space adventure

sky sky sky low middle high

This space combat centric affair worked hard to make its transforming ship feel like a physical machine, but its series of rote battles was sadly linear.

Minecraft

GamE oF GRaPHS

one bouncing warty pineapple later and the answer’s no.

We learn the Gek word for Gek, which is Gek.

A planet filled with gravitino balls!

We’re never leaving.

We make millions and buy this ship. the end?

this guy showers us with gifts. Are all aliens this nice?

2 hours

Strike Suit Zero

4 hours

small red jet for a bulky blue dropship and the difference, both in maneuverability and firepower, is muted, trading plasma with AI craft similar regardless of where you are and what you’re flying. this means the challenge doesn’t evolve. Space stations are particularly disappointing. Despite on the outside looking anywhere from a tetrahedron to a gigantic arrowhead, inside they’re identical, eight landing platforms at the end of a corridor, with a single merchant situated in a room on the right. this is a universe with thriving trade, multiple alien races, and even robot police, so it’s sad they’re not the bustling hubs they could have been.

It sounds ungrateful to complain about a game with enough content to last past the heat death of the universe, but that’s the root problem, as new sights and sounds boil down to variations on a

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6 hours

theme constructed with building blocks you’ll identify early. there’s always a lone alien trader on a station. Always a shelter containing a multi-tool blueprint.

Stretched across a game this size, that starts to make less and less sense, like it’s a giant hall of mirrors.

Heavenly bodies

to stress, however, these niggles settle in after a healthy chunk of time in the company of greatness. When the gleam does start to fade, you’ll already have encountered fascinating beasts on strange worlds, charged through luminous pink atmospheres, and won mind games with telepathic parasites.

Indeed, No Man’s Sky is an astounding achievement fully deserving of its exposure, a technical triumph fashioning numbers into art. As a £40 game, though? You’ll struggle to shake the

8 hours

10 hours

creeping feeling something’s missing as your imagination fills in the blanks, and so tantalisingly massive is the space you’re given, it’s more tempting to ponder what might have been, like multiplayer, or planet-based vehicles, or warping back to worlds you’ve discovered, or the ability to catch animals and stuff them in a celestial zoo.

A miraculous self-replicating experience you could theoretically play forever, maybe, but one that starts to echo itself after about ten hours. Different worlds, same events, your limited cosmic routine following you through space and time. once you’ve got your fill of sightseeing, bought a flash ship, or named a planet after beyoncé, you’ll reach out for something meaningful, a mission or purpose or direction, and grab empty space. bold and beautiful, but lacking in the long run. n

2nd opinion “I’ve played it for 30 hours, often in sessions so lengthy that parts of my body went numb, and I still don’t know if I love No Man’s Sky – though I suppose 30 hours of pootling through space suggests does rather suggest the answer is ‘yes’.”

Matthew Elliott, Senior Commissioning Editor, GamesRadar+

Judgement %

77

Procedurallygenerated infinity is a wondrous thing – but it’s also strangely samey.

Ben Griffin

october 2016

67

Review

loves…

The Final Verdict!

The dreamy handling is surprisingly easy to get into.

Each of the cars on offer comes with its own distinct feel.

hates…

Losing heavily to the AI without doing anything wrong sucks.

Where is the records screen? Oh, there isn’t one. Meh.

Better than…

Forza Motorsport 6

But only when you’re behind the wheel (admittedly a big part of any racer). If Forza 6 felt like Assetto, it would probably be the best racing game ever.

All the cars feel different and fun to drive. And let’s face it, you want to drive these babies.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher 505 Games Developer Kunos Simulazioni ETA Out now Players 1-16

Assetto CoRsA

What’s it like? Do you remember Yu Suzuki’s Ferrari 355 challenge? this feels a lot like that, but with more cars and tracks.

the most realistic driving sim money can buy. but...

T

his sultry racer started life as a professional driving simulation program that real car manufacturers bought to help them develop their cars. This kind of technology isn’t normally available to us mere mortals, but here it is, turned into a videogame and freshly ported from PC to console.

For anyone who always fancied themselves as the next Lewis Hamilton this is as close as you can get on your console to a bunch of actual supercars.

Spend time behind the wheel here and you’ll feel like you know what it’s really like to drive the new La Ferrari around Barcelona. It’s that good. but sadly, the superlatives only extend to the physics simulation. As a videogame, Assetto isn’t as comprehensive as its competition and falls short in almost every other area. It can feel sedate, especially when played on a pad. couple that with understated damage modelling

and last-gen graphical quality and it’s a hard sell to a casual racing fan. there are moments of beauty as light filters over your authentically-modelled dashboard, but loading up Project cArS after a long play session shows just how much better racing games can look.

Smash a barrier in that game and your wheels might come barrelling off. In Assetto corsa, expect minor buckles, tops. everything feels slightly underplayed, which is disappointing when this could have been utterly essential. especially since vehicular contact feels like real cars trading paint.

When you’re in a closely-matched race, it’s captivating. You can reel in an opponent for two or three laps, before making your move at an appropriate moment. there’s no scope for recklessness here – it demands more respect than Aretha Franklin. the AI drivers exhibit excellent driving technique, from defensive moves to utterly brilliant passing manoeuvres, but their difficulty setting is alarmingly inconsistent. they can be very hard to

“there’s no scope for recklessness – it demands more respect than aretha franklin” 68

october 2016

beat, even on the easiest difficulty, but sometimes you’ll lose by some 10 seconds in one race, only to beat them by far more on the next. Sometimes they just seem to be driving faster cars, which is very annoying, especially when you aced the pre-race time trial.

Time a-track

Ah yes, the time trials. For some reason, the game favours arcade-style checkpoints over target lap times. With no codemasters-esque rewind button, you’ll need to drive consistently well for several laps to keep extending the time and meet a points tally to progress. It’s unnecessarily complicated. And if you choose the simpler ‘hot lap’ option, your lap times aren’t available to view afterwards. there’re no online leaderboards or even a records screen to check out. career mode offers plenty of unlockable events in a pleasant array of car types, but they feel unrelated and detached, like a collection of quick races.

You’re left with a game that plays magnificently when you get into a close race, but with fewer features than a salt lake. there’s no night racing or varying weather to speak of, no online challenge system to taunt your friends… it’s ‘merely’ one of the best simulations of actual driving you can buy. n

Project CARS

Project CARS’ handling isn’t as refined as Assetto Corsa’s, but pretty much every other aspect is superior.

Especially the weather.

i

need to knoW Online mode has set races that you join, rather than make yourself. You can filter by car, track and ping time, but it would have been better had we been allowed to go in there and tinker.

Judgement %

69

the best-feeling racing sim out there, but physics aside, it’s lacking in most areas compared to its rivals.

Justin Towell

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

f1 2016

loves…

The pit crews looks absolutely sensational and you can watch their work in slow-motion during replays.

The new, improved career mode is everything it should be.

Hitting a wall and knackering the suspension feels awesome.

hates…

While it looks pretty, it’s not what you’d call photorealistic.

Finding a difficulty setting that works for you takes time.

Better than…

Assetto Corsa

This driving sim has its own selection of F1 cars in its line-up, and they do feel great to drive, but ultimately F1 2016’s depth is far superior.

Worse than…

Did Justin really give up on barcelona’s acclimatisation challenge? Yes, he “already knew the track inside out anyway”… then missed the qualifying target. Legend.

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Codemasters Developer Codemasters ETA Out now Players 1-22

F1 2016

Finally, an F1 game that ticks all the box box boxes

W

hatever was on your wish list for features you’d like to see in a modern F1 sim, you’ll probably find it here. Just as Dirt Rally catered for hardcore rally fans before it, Codemasters has made this game for the dedicated F1 enthusiast.

And boy, does it ever deliver.

Career mode is the core of the game, and every great idea from the series is now integrated into it. even the previously redundant Free Practice sessions are now home to rewarding gameplay, thanks to the new track acclimatisation programme with challenge gates to hit, multi-lap tyre preservation challenges, as well as more over-arching team objectives for you to complete. tested DrS? tick. reward. All of this gains you points to spend on the car development skill tree, rPG-style. It’s accessible, deep, and – most importantly – entertaining. there’s a focus on integrated mini-games to add new gameplay to

almost every aspect of the race. When you head into the pits, you have to slow the car manually in time for the speed limit line. On the grid, you need to release the clutch and hold the optimum revs to get a good release. On the track, not only do you have a personal race objective and your team mate to beat to govern your stature in the team, you’ve also got a rival to deal with. Having a Super Monaco GP-esque rivalry system woven into the campaign really ramps up the importance of everything you do. the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car are both in (though have a few bugs here and there), and you can even warm up your brakes and tyres before the start in the new formation lap.

Winning formula

but if you rarely use the brakes, let alone the brake balance button, there’s plenty for you to enjoy too. All the usual stability assists and rewind feature are available for a more arcade-y experience, and the smooth, detailed graphics look lovely in motion – particularly when it’s raining.

“the neW Wheel tethers look really convincing When you rip a corner off your car” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

the improved tV-style presentation and commentary analysis is impressive, and while none of the 3D people in the game really look convincing, the likenesses of Vettel, Hamilton, and toto Wolff will raise a smile. What a shame toto doesn’t have any dialogue. Or räikkönen, for that matter. there really should be a “yes, yes, I’m doing all of that” response among the list of pit talk options. the car handling is superb, perfectly adapted for a gamepad, and the tyre-saving challenges teach you how to corner without holding the stick fully left or right. Progressive acceleration and braking inputs are rewarded, and if you drive with discipline you’ll both see and feel the difference. With a force-feedback wheel, it’s easier to feed in smooth commands, but the game is just as much fun with a standard controller. real F1 has seen loads of prolonged, side-by-side battles in recent years, but the AI drivers here are too quick to chicken out of duels. Still, collisions have been improved and the new wheel tethers look really convincing when you rip a corner off your car.

F1 as a sport is overly complex and not currently as exciting as it should be, and that carries over slightly into the game. but commit yourself to its mindset and you’ll find a deep, satisfying, and long-tailed racing sim. n

Project CARS

The greater variety and feeling of realism in Project CARS make it a better package as a racing game, though its F1 equivalent is weak.

i

need to knoW There’s a limited edition ‘career booster’ version that gives you extra car development credits. Sounds like cheating if you ask us. It has a bunch of extra helmet decals too, mind.

Judgement %

83

Complex and rewarding, this is modern F1 on a disc. It makes F1 2015 look like a demo.

Justin Towell

OCtOber 2016

69

Review

loves…

The Final Verdict!

The core tree climbing loop is infectiously fun.

Like the best 3D platformers of yesteryear, it’s full of charm.

hates…

We preferred the original, more focused, conceit.

The loose controls, though deliberate, will infuriate some.

Better than…

Climbing in Grow Up is very tactile, requiring active limb movement with the sticks and trigger presses to activate your apendage clamps.

Knack

He should have been the next Crash, Jak, or Spyro. Instead he became the game character we dig out whenever we’re stuck for what to put in this box.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Reflections ETA Out now Players 1

GRow Up

taking a leaf out of Super Mario Galaxy’s book

T

What’s bUD’s favourite salad? rocket.

his sequel’s predecessor, Grow Home, was a fascinating little side project from Ubisoft Reflections, which cropped up out of nowhere to capture the imagination of whoever played it. The first adventure of BUD, the little red robot who returns to star again here, delivered a fresh-faced 3D platformer, a genre which had gone underserved for years, with a unique green-fingered, tree growing bent.

While there are plenty of new features and differences, Grow Up very much emerges from the same charming, climby, roots.

As bUD, you’re travelling through space in your literal mothership (MoM), when she’s smashed into pieces against the side of a moon. chunks of the ship fall down to a planet below, and it’s your task to bobble about the various islands, deserts, ice caves, and such hunting them down to rebuild her.

It’s here that you find the huge Star Plants, returning from the first game. You still have to clamber up these vast floral bastions, tethering bits of them to floating glowing rocks in order to see them grow ever taller. the first game featured just the one Star Plant. In Grow Up there are several, each one a different flavour to correspond with the styles of biome you find yourself in, from bouncy fungi to spiky cacti.

Rose BUD

Like so many sequels (and especially Ubisoft titles), Grow Up takes the core formula of Grow Home and shifts it into open-world territory. From the start of the game you can travel absolutely anywhere you like, though it might take a while to make your way to certain places on the map as you’ll need to grow those Star Plants to reach the higher spots. At any point you can pop open the top-down view and glory at the globe before you, like a giant Super Mario Galaxy level, with all the colour and vibrancy that comparison suggests.

“liKe so many sequels, it taKes the core formula and shifts it into open-World territory” 70

october 2016

bUD himself has had a few upgrades too. As you explore the open world you discover new abilities to aid in your multi-tiered ascents. Some are very useful, such as the hang glider wings which allow you to essentially fly from one high point to another. others are less so, such as the ability to curl up into a ball and… well, roll about.

For all these new features, though, something feels oddly amiss. It’s the breadth of the whole thing. the fantastic first game saw you focus your attention on a single Star Plant, getting higher and higher, and each time you looked down you were blown away by just how far you’d come. In Grow Up you’re more often looking to the sides rather than up or down, and a small slice of the original’s magic is lost. It’s like comparing a single, perfect rose to a bunch of daffodils. both are lovely to receive, but one is a bit more special than the other.

Perhaps this is unfair, as we remember polishing off the 2-3 hour first game only to wheel away wishing there was more of it. We’ve got exactly what we wished for in that sense, but bUD’s adventures have grown outwards rather than upwards. It’s still brilliant fun, and the core concept remains pleasingly innovative in a genre sorely lacking in progress these days – but it’s just that little bit less essential than its unexpected and excellent forebear. n

Grow Home

The first game had a finer sense of purpose and, despite being smaller, felt richer for it. We do miss the glider when we go back to it, mind.

i

need to KnoW Ubisoft’s Reflections studio is actually responsible for working on the vehicles and driving for Ubi’s other big games, such as Watch Dogs 2 and Ghost Recon Wildlands.

Judgement %

78

Wonderful and full of charm, but it can’t reach the heights of the first game.

Matt SakuraokaGilman

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

BATMAN - THE TELLTALE SERIES

loves…

It’s easily the most technically accomplished Telltale game yet.

Fan favourite characters are reimagined with subtle style.

The Batcomputer may look snazzy, but mostly serves as glorified set dressing for Batman to casually brood at.

hates…

Uneven writing occasionally disrupts your immersion.

The QTE combat is stylish, but still sadly insubstantial.

Dependable Alfred is on hand to dispense wisdom and sandwiches alike, but is he keeping secrets from you?

You’ll spend as much time in Bruce Wayne’s tailored suits as you will in Batman’s form-fitting lycra.

One of the episode’s weightiest decisions revolves around which associate to trust with some explosive information.

Better than…

Batman: Dark Tomorrow

Even veteran comics scribes couldn’t save this buggy blunder from a critical mauling back in 2003.

Worse than…

Format PS4, XO, PC (reviewed), PS3, 360, Mobile Publisher Telltale Games Developer Telltale Games ETA Out now Players 1

Batman: the telltale series – episode one the Dark Knight returns or the Killing Joke? We’ve always been pretty partial to the Long Halloween, actually.

the Dark Knight returns, and he’s chattier than ever

R

ing celebratory bells and sing songs of joy from the rooftops – the Telltale Games engine may finally be fit for purpose again. The stuttering scene transitions and frustrating freezes that plagued past efforts have been all but eliminated from the Dark Knight’s debut, while character models and environments have undergone a tasteful but very noticeable upgrade. As such, this opening episode feels like the first in a new generation of Telltale games – so it’s a shame that some other familiar foul-ups rear their ugly mugs.

An opening scene in which the caped crusader interrupts a brazen break-in at Gotham’s city Hall provides an atmospheric introduction to telltale’s

take on the character, as the cowled vigilante puts down a crew of beleaguered burglars one-by-one. the sequence does more than simply establish Wayne’s martial prowess, though – it also provides an arresting playable insight into the myriad ways that batman makes use of fear and intimidation in his battle against crime. back at Wayne manor, however, you’ll have to run an altogether different sort of gauntlet, gladhanding with the city’s elite as you oversee the launch of Harvey Dent’s mayoral campaign. And while this shift from fast-paced fisticuffs to chatting over canapes certainly emphasises the bizarre nature of Wayne’s double-life, the writing is of such an uneven quality that it’s occasionally difficult to take this opening episode seriously. Stilted smalltalk and jarring exposition sit alongside some genuinely interesting characterisations, creating a rollercoaster

“it can sWing BetWeen engagement and emBarrassment in the course of a single scene” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

ride of immersion that can swing between engagement and vicarious embarrassment during a single scene.

Tin ear

Voice-acting is similarly spotty, with the unexpected arrival of one familiar face marred by an accent so horrible that they might as well have just handed Dick Van Dyke the part and had done with it. richard McGonagle’s interpretation of carmine Falcone resides at the other end of the spectrum, however, and your verbal sparring with this menacing mafioso prove an early highlight. In moments like these, the script generates actual ambiguity and intrigue, even pushing you off-balance as you attempt to select satisfactory spoken responses.

Given the countless incarnations of the bat across comics, film, television, and more over the years, it’s commendable that telltale’s depiction manages to carve out a fresh place for himself. but while the studio has wrung a certain amount of interest and intrigue from this well-worn setting, a few lacklustre lines and patchy performances prevent this season’s opener from stepping fully out of the shadows. n

Batman: Arkham City

There might not be any dialogue decision-making on offer, but Rocksteady still managed to spin a surprisingly solid Batman yarn.

i

need to knoW Rather than choosing an existing movie or comic storyline to adapt, Telltale’s created its own – fairly grounded – take on the Bat. That means no Robin, no Joker (yet), and no shark-repellent Batspray.

Judgement %

70

telltale delivers action and intrigue, but the caped crusader’s greatest enemy is an uneven script.

James Nouch

october 2016

71

Review

The icarus landing system cushions falls from great heights, and looks amazing. You can upgrade it to take out enemies too.

The Final Verdict!

Format PS4, XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher Square Enix Developer Eidos Montreal ETA Our now Players 1

Deus ex: mankinD DiviDeD

conspiracy? Murder? Sunglasses at night? It has to be Deus ex

I

t’s 2029 and cyberpunk Prague is in a bad way. At the end of the previous game a shadowy conspiracy hacked the brains of everyone with bionic augmentations, briefly turning them into violent lunatics. After this bout of terrible PR, cybernetics are no longer associated with aspiration and progress. Now unemployed homeless ‘augs’ crowd the alleyways. As terrorist bombings deepen divides, it’s your job to chase down the forces behind the ‘Aug Incident’ and uncover the mysterious figures exploiting the unrest for personal gain. our playable hero Adam Jensen is just the man for the job. His gleaming black augmented arms contain an arsenal of high-tech lethal and non-lethal weaponry, from knuckle tasers that can lock onto multiple targets, to deadly chisels that

can pin enemies to walls. He’s an ultra-violent one-man-band in a swish designer jacket, and that gives you a lot of options when you’re infiltrating futuristic facilities, pulling off bank heists, and kidnapping gangsters.

Cyber crime

Deus ex games are all about freedom of choice, and Mankind Divided is no exception. the game is structured as a series of small open-ended hubs, with the large explorable zone of Prague as its centrepiece. Here you take missions from your bosses at Interpol and your contact at an international aug-friendly group called Juggernaut. In the streets you can walk around freely, chatting to people and shopping for weapons. restricted areas such as bank vaults and drug dens require a stealthier approach, or a violent one if you decide to play Jensen as a gun-toting maniac—an entirely viable route if you want to treat the game as a shooter rather than sneaking around.

“hacking, stealth, shooting: every approach has been refined over the first game” 72

october 2016

that’s what impresses most about Mankind Divided. Hacking, stealth, shooting: every approach has been refined in the five years since eidos Montreal released Human revolution.

You play in first-person and pop into a third-person perspective when you take cover or dispatch someone with a satisfying melee takedown. the new cover system draws a dotted path on the floor as you move the camera around to let you know how far you can dash. You can use the cover dash to reach other pieces of cover quickly – useful in both stealth and combat situations – or to close on an enemy for a takedown. It’s an odd system initially, but drastically cuts down on the amount of accidental cover transitions. A host of small changes like this – bullet hit registration on enemies, easy vaulting, clearer enemy alert indicators – result in a smooth and much improved action game. the guns are decent, too. Pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles can be upgraded with different sights, muzzle apparatus and ammo. You can even switch your attachments around in the middle of a fight – nothing gives you that futuristic special forces feeling quite like swapping to an eMP clip to disable a swarm of drones.

Hacktivism

How cyber warfare works in Mankind Divided.

T

he hacking minigame presents you with a network of nodes that can be captured and reinforced to plot a path to the green victory node. Once that’s captured, you’ve won, and the door or safe you’re trying to break into will open. However, once your intrusion is discovered, red nodes will start capturing points to reach your blue origin node. If that happens the hack fails and there’s a chance you’ve just set of an alarm and alerted every enemy in the building. Tough hacks are quick games of cat-and-mouse in which you make snap decisions about which nodes to fortify, and which nodes to sacrifice.

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

Deus ex: MankinD DiviDeD

loves…

Jensen’s beard is 50% less augmented in Mankind Divided. We miss the abnormal pointy-ness of Human Revolution.

Abilities are fun and the levels are brilliantly intricate.

The cyberpunk world is gorgeously realised.

hates…

You could use Jensen’s arm blades to take this guy out, but it’s a lot noisier and your approach can affect future conversations.

The story is unengaging and there’s only one real hub area.

Your boss at Interpol puts in a honkingly bad performance.

Activating a takedown from cover pulls enemies over to your side of the cover, which helps you to keep takedowns out of guards’ sight lines.

You fight augs and non-augs as you travel through the game. Non-aug authorities tend to bring robots and guards in exoskeletons.

better than…

Deus Ex

The original was a seminal, revolutionary, and hugely influential game at the time, but it’s so dated as to be almost unplayable today.

Worse than…

Dishonored

How many crimes has tom been inspired to commit? None yet, but the local HSbc has some pretty insecure looking vents…

It wouldn’t be a shooter without some randomly placed gas canisters for you to blow up.

then, of course, you have augmentations. You start Mankind Divided with most of the augs you attained during Human revolution, which means you’re much more powerful from the outset. Some abilities, such as the typhoon attack that bombs an area around Jensen, have received non-lethal versions (a sleeping gas attack in the typhoon’s case). You’ll also have access to hacking powers, super strength (for throwing giant boxes at terrified guards), and a vision mode that lets you see enemies, turrets and other useful level elements through walls.

You also have access to a new suite of experimental augmentations. You unlock and upgrade your abilities with ‘Praxis’ points that you earn when you level up. once they’re unlocked, you must balance these extra powers against Jensen’s battery output, which means you have to make some important choices about which augs you decide to have activated, and which ones you can live without. the system forces you to define a playstyle, but is also flexible enough to let you experiment with different combinations.

Highlights include a boost move that lets you hurtle up to ledges and barge into

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

Of all the cool gadgets you find in Mankind Divided, this hardcore virtual reality device is the shiniest.

guards at the speed of lightning, and an aug that turns your forearm into a concussive blast gun. remote hacking lets you hack into drones and robot guards with a quick rhythm game (borrowed from bioshock 2) and, along with the mid-combat weapon fiddling, lets you bring more varied abilities into combat encounters than has been possible in any previous Deus ex, resulting in more dynamic, tactically satisfying conflicts.

Hack and slash

Mankind Divided’s intricate levels provide intensely detailed little playgrounds for your bionic toys. there are multiple ways in and out of every mission. Sometimes you can talk your way in, using a social aug to read your target’s personality type during dialogue sequences. there might be a weak wall you can punch through, or a network of vents, or a checkpoint full of guards to take out. the areas can feel quite small, but they’re rich with optional objectives and minor characters to talk to. the bank in Prague is especially good, a huge structure riddled with laser grids and battle droids where the secrets of the international elite are stashed.

It’s a great package, and intensely atmospheric, Prague at night, where old world architecture collides with glowing futuristic structures, is especially moody.

Golem city—a hive structure based on the Kowloon walled city—is a bustling blade runner mashup, and an excellent self-contained level.

Despite all the magnificent views, Mankind Divided is let down by its story, and a sense that the game’s initial ambitions have been curtailed. Fans of the series expecting a series of major hubs will be disappointed by the game’s relatively fleeting hops abroad. the story feels similarly thin. It features the layers of deception and conspiracy that you’d expect, but Adam lacks any serious personal stake in this one, and stalks through the game grumpily, the living embodiment of a scowl.

With those story and scope expectations reset, Mankind Divided is a seriously decent sandbox action game. outstanding level design and superb side missions help to deliver a confident, detailed vision of the future. It left us wanting more, in a slightly unsatisfied way, but Mankind Divided is still easily worth the trip. n

Arkane produced an outstanding take on the Deus Ex formula powered by dark magic in one of gaming’s most fascinating settings.

2nd opinion “Adam Jensen’s debut is impressively improved on.

Choices are tougher, combat’s slicker, and Prague is a fascinating and enthralling place for exhaustive exploring. Unfortunately, bugs on the PS4 version mildly spoil the experience.”

Ben Tyrer, Staff Writer, Official PlayStation Magazine

Judgement %

86 An elegant action game with some fantastic abilities, let down by a lacklustre narrative.

Tom Senior

october 2016

73

“I literally hadn’t seen Oddish for about ten years. I forgot he existed”

“Christmas shrapnel? What does that mean?”

“Another day on Bear Planet…”

“There are plenty of reasons to pick up the mag. Even if you can’t read”

“The golden age of gaming is travelling with us as we move through time” “I became quite the drumsman”

Join Matt, Robin, and Ben for juicy gaming chat in GM’s brand new podcast, available every two weeks on iTunes or at www.bit.ly/gmmastercast

heAdlAnder

loves…

The Metroidvania map is meticulouslty crafted.

A cohesive world serves up splendid visual spectacle.

hates…

The shooting lacks excitement, and feels fussy overall.

Unlocks are plentiful, but there’s little sense of empowerment.

Better than…

The Cave

Narrative may not be the star here, but Headlander’s semi-serious tale of posthumanism offers thoughtful chuckles.

Ron Gilbert’s hybrid of platformer, Metroidvania, and adventure game produced an uneven game with as much backtracking as wisecracking.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), PC Publisher Adult Swim Games Developer Double Fine ETA Out now Players 1

Headlander

Keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…

can you latch onto any body, then? Pretty much. citizens, turrets, and guards are all fair game. Dogs, too!

S

ince it was founded in 2000, Double Fine has produced a slew of truly funny games. Its track record is spotty, however, when it comes to producing great gameplay. Brütal Legend, for example, was a love letter to metal delivered in the form of a muddled RTS, and Psychonauts is remembered more for its wonderful writing than its ho-hum platforming. Gameplay has all too often been Double Fine’s bland side salad – the stuff you chew through in order to reach the nuggets of narrative wit that you actually ordered.

Headlander is a different proposition, managing to strike a better balance between performance and play than perhaps any of the developer’s output to date. And to do so, it establishes a conceit that’s both narratively fun and mechanically innovative. You play as a disembodied human head on a retrofuturistic space station, then, and

must dock with robotic bodies in order to explore the labyrinthine structure.

You might commandeer a high-ranking robo-chasis in order to pass through a secure doorway, exchange some laser-fire with the guards therein, and then decouple from your mechanical bod to pass through a ceiling ventilation shaft, propelled by the dinky jet-engines on your helmet. And while that image might border on slapstick, the mechanic also serves the gameplay handsomely, enabling you to body-swap your way through puzzles or jet off into hidden nooks-and-crannies as you please.

A head of its time

because, structurally, this is a pure Metroidvania, and whether you’re boosting around as a rocket-powerednoggin or stepping out in a borrowed body, you’ll be gradually uncovering areas in a single connected environment, unlocking new rooms as you come across new gear and new abilities according to the time-honoured traditions of the genre.

“a ’70s vision of the future that comBines the singularity and shag carpeting” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

Metroidvanias depend on great environments, and Headlander delivers on this front, too, with a ’70s vision of the future that combines the singularity and shag carpeting. It’s a charming, cohesive world, offering neon vistas and lava-lamp spectacle alongside apologetic autoturrets and wisecracking doorlocks.

What the game lacks, however, is satisfying character progression. classic genre entries have always delivered a sense of systematic empowerment by drip-feeding the player new weapons to wield and moves to master. but Headlander’s upgrades just aren’t especially exciting or transformative, and the most useful prove to be simple boosts to your HP and damage. combat is similarly underwhelming, with blaster battles visually fun but ultimately feeling fussy and unsatisfying in the hand.

Fortunately, you can always forego marksmanship in favour of your helmet’s suction module, hoovering off enemies’ heads as you jet around. And at moments like these – when you’re flinging burnished bonces down elevator shafts or uncovering hidden passages tucked away in fluorescent corridors – Headlander stands as proof that Double Fine can deliver the gameplay goods. It may be imperfect, but this slice of sci-fi silliness often manages the serious business of great design. n

Shadow Complex Remastered

It may tell a tedious tale, but Shadow Complex boasts brilliant gadgetry and excellent environmental puzzling.

i

need to knoW This isn’t the first time Double Fine has experimented with body-swapping. Its 2011 game Stacking had a similar mechanic, casting you as a matryoshka doll that could jump inside others.

Judgement %

79

A retrofuturistic adventure that promises comedy and action, and only ever falters on the latter.

James Nouch

OctOber 2016

75

Review

loves…

The Final Verdict!

A beautiful, graceful experience of gentle discovery.

Its quiet moments of reflection will stay with you.

hates…

It’ll likely be too slow and contemplative for some.

Rush it, and you’ll find it’s all over much too soon.

Better than…

Jaws Unleashed

This secretly brilliant tie-in lets you play as the shark… but its murky depths can’t match the beauty of Abzû’s ocean of life.

Swimming through fat shoals of fish feels lovely. You can even hijack larger fish and help them eat their fill.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), PC Publisher 505 Games Developer Giant Squid Games ETA Out now Players 1

ABZÛ

Nautical but nice

How big are a giant squid’s eyes? The size of watermelons. Nightmare fuel.

I

f you have friends who play games, one of them will inevitably tell you this contemplative adventure, from the mind of former Journey dev Matt Nava, is terrible. It’s the same person who said the Blair Witch Project wasn’t scary, thinks Kane And Lynch is the best shooter ever made, and secretly doesn’t believe in the Moon landing. As such, this is a difficult game to give an absolute score to – some will love it, others will mock it – but you’ll have a much better chance of enjoying it if you go in with complete sincerity.

It’s a diving game about exploring a beautiful ocean full of marine life – think Journey meets the BBC series Blue Planet (national treasure Sir David Attenborough even gets a shout out in the credits). But before you start sweating about nightmarish underwater sections from The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, and every other game ever, let us

Journey

reassure you – this feels wonderful to play. You float around with complete control, gracefully flipping and spinning, suspended in a sea that feels unusually calming to drift through.

As pleasant as it is to stop and explore, you do have purpose. The game gently nudges you forward with subtle checkpoints, and you can discover nodes which release new types of fish. It might sound less exciting than unlocking a red dot sight or brutal melee takedown, but there’s something rewarding for the completionist in seeing fresh types of life burst into the ocean. Finding and interacting with all the different species of animal becomes a goal in itself.

ocean view

There’s also a narrative of sorts, but it’s one that you’re best discovering yourself unspoiled. Abzû is a tonic for anyone weary of playing games which decide the fate of planets and galaxies. It’s a small story about the relationship between a diver and a shark, but there are many bright moments that will stay

“a diving game aBout exploring a Beautiful ocean – thinK Journey meets Blue planet” 76

OCTOBER 2016

with you. It’s not a long game – you can ease through it in a single evening – but it benefits from being savoured. You can find spots to stop and meditate, reflecting on the marine life you’ve discovered around you. It sounds twee, but just try it – it’s a game that’s meant to be watched sometimes, as well as played.

And you should take the time to listen, too. Talented composer Austin Wintory’s score is as much responsible for bringing Abzû to life as the meticulously detailed seascapes. It’s the sort of music that could make brewing a cup of tea seem like an act of cosmic significance, and it helps the more emotional moments of Abzu’s story soar.

All that sounds like wholly positive stuff, so why isn’t the score higher?

Perhaps it’s because Abzu has to be analysed to be fully enjoyable, and that asks bigger questions about what games are designed to do – questions we don’t have space to answer here. Like any piece of art – yes, this is absolutely a piece of art – you’ll only get out of it what you’re prepared to put in. That doesn’t make the game bad, or you dull for not wanting to engage with it, but it’s simply not for everyone. That inevitably makes it more interesting than many games. But whether you love or loathe it, just promise you won’t become That Guy in the pub, okay? n

Abzû is equally beautiful, but not quite as affecting as artist Matt Nava’s previous game – and it lacks that innovative multiplayer.

i

need to KnoW Abzû is a direct descendent of Thatgamecompany’s Journey. Artist Matt Nava and composer Austin Wintory worked on both titles, and it shares themes of discovery and exploration.

Judgement %

82

A gorgeous adventure that improves the more time you invest. Take it slowly and explore.

Matt Elliott

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

The Assembly

loves…

NDream’s warping movement works perfectly in VR. It sets a good pace with its puzzling and exploration.

hates…

Terrible writing and even worse voice acting ruin the story.

There’s not even a cursory effort to fold VR into gameplay.

Better than…

You’ll have to tackle a handful of these block shifting puzzles early on, and they’re good fun if a little simplistic.

Daylight

At least The Assembly looks good and feels authored, two things that Zombie Studios’ procedurally-generated horror game can’t lay claim to.

Worse than…

Format PC (Oculus Rift and HTC Vive compatible) Publisher nDreams Developer nDreams ETA Out now Players 1

The Assembly Does opening a seemingly endless procession of empty drawers constitute good gameplay? No, as it turns out, it doesn’t.

A box of pieces that don’t quite fit together

T

his first-person puzzle game has, according to creator nDreams, been built from the ground up for VR. But while it’s true that VR certainly adds to the experience, it’s a disappointingly inessential component of the game itself. There are bound to be some hiccups along the way as studios orient themselves in a medium which is rewriting the rules of development, and we’re perfectly willing to forgive the odd mistake made in the name of innovation or progress. But modern VR’s formative months have been marred by a glut of lacklustre games masquerading as cutting edge experiences, and The Assembly is one of the worst offenders yet. there is, however, some salvageable material buried underneath the dross. the story revolves around two individuals: disgraced medical scientist Dr. Madeleine Stone and whistleblower

Dr cal Pearson. You switch perspectives throughout the game, and the taut structuring keeps the story clipping along at a satisfying pace while also adding a little variety to play. As Stone, you’ll take part in a gruelling, protracted job interview – under duress – for a secretive underground scientific community, solving a series of puzzles and conundrums ranging from simple, but enjoyable, block shifting to a full-on murder mystery party attended by a motley group of mannequins. Pearson, meanwhile, must explore the installation in which he is already employed, and sneak under the radar to expose unethical practices (such as kidnapping prospective hires…).

Assembly required

the story’s harmless sci-fi fun, but it’s delivered in such an atrociously am-dram manner that you’ll spend more time grimacing at the histrionic performances than concentrating on the details. At least the game’s snazzy locomotion system manages to sparkle – you’re able to hold

“the story’s harmless sci-fi fun, But you’ll grimace at the histrionic performances” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

a button and place a silhouette of yourself anywhere, then release it to zip to that position. It’s a smart system that eradicates nausea while also allowing you to move around with even more urgency and precision than you would with standard FPS controls. but while this is all very well, we can’t see why it’s a Vr game. Sure, it’s cool feeling like you’re there, but that’s a base-level expectation of any Vr experience. NDreams fails to capitalise on the intimacy of the viewpoint, and at no point are you asked to, say, look under a desk for a door code or even prompted to look over your shoulder. Instead, you’ll spend much of your time reading emails on flatscreen monitors – a depressingly ironic underscoring of the problem – or opening countless empty drawers and cupboards in the hope of finding a critical item. that nDreams has taken the bizarre decision to release the game in traditional 2D form for £14.99, but offers the opportunity to “unlock” the Vr version for an additional fiver, neatly encapsulates its muddled priorities.

Strip the game of Vr’s inherent charm, and what remains is a mundane adventure that leans too heavily on stale mechanics and chips away at what could have been an enjoyable yarn with a cast of actors who aren’t up to the job.

Frustratingly, it’s a missed opportunity. n

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Both feature a great deal of email reading and drawer opening, but Deus Ex actually has other stuff to do too.

i

need to knoW You play Madeleine Stone, who has been kidnapped by a shady organisation after being found guilty of causing the death of her mother by testing an experimental therapy on her.

Judgement %

50

It promised to elevate Vr to a new level; instead it’s further weakened the case for early adoption.

Ben Maxwell

OctOber 2016

77

Review The Final Verdict!

Between its surreal story, catchy music, and cheerful art style, Overcooked is relentlessly charming.

loves…

With a team of two to four, this is co-op gaming at its finest.

Creative level design makes every stage a unique treat.

hates…

If you don’t have people to play locally with, you’re screwed.

Competitive mode feels thin compared to the main course.

Better than…

Cook Serve Delicious

CSD’s single-player restaurantmanagement is a treat, but its core cooking action and co-op play can’t match the excitement of Overcooked’s.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Team 17 Developer Ghost Town Games ETA Out now Players 1-4

OveRcOOked

Robin’s top tip: If you run out of worktop space, try storing ingredients on the floor. Stars are more important than hygiene.

Cooking up three-course chaos

T

he best cooking games are never actually about cooking. They’re about stress – finding fun in the frenzy of a restaurant kitchen as it races to get every order out on time.

And this co-op gem might just be the most stressful ever made.

Overcooked is effectively a Gordon Ramsay simulator, designed to get you shouting and swearing at your friends over every culinary error. You and up to three buddies play a team of adorably squat chefs, attempting to fulfil an endless queue of orders. The actual cooking is simple – to make an onion soup, for example, you just chop three onions and put them in a pot. It’s the levels themselves that add the spice.

From haunted houses where poltergeists regularly rearrange the furniture, to slippery, drifting ice floes, to a trio of speeding lorries you’re expected to hop between as you cook,

Overcooked’s stages are inventive, hilarious, and, most importantly, utterly brutal. Frying up a burger is easy; doing it in the middle of an earthquake, less so.

It’s these constantly shifting challenges that turn your kitchen into a pressure cooker, as your best-laid plans and strategies collapse in the chaos.

Invest in sound-proofing – you’ll quickly find yourselves yelling orders and insults across the room at each other as the clock ticks down and the action grows panicked. “Bring me a tomato!” “Serve that burrito! Serve it!!!” “The bloody frying pan’s on fire you idiot!” “Why did you put lettuce in that burger?!” And if you can hold back from a top-of-yourlungs expletive when your mate slips over into the sea, taking a ready-to-serve plate of steaming fish and chips with him, you’re a saintlier soul than us.

Food fight

The end of a match is invariably met with relieved giggling, exhausted sighs, and a steely determination to head back in and do better this time. The core campaign is

“Frying up a Burger is easy; doing it in the middle oF an earthquake, less so” 78

OCTOBER 2016

Towerfall: Ascension

based around this score-chasing – your performance on each level is rated out of three stars, and later levels aren’t unlocked until you’ve accumulated enough from earlier ones. It’s a system that deftly encourages you to revisit and master stages you once barely floundered through, each time revealing quite how far you’ve come. Because, despite the ultra-accessible simplicity of the core mechanics, there’s a surprising amount of depth to be found as you refine your strategies.

It’s the stuff of adrenaline-fueled co-op gaming magic, whether brought out for a frantic few rounds at a party, or tackled start to finish with a dedicated team.

Outside of that core focus, however, Overcooked unfortunately flounders.

Online is nowhere to be seen, and single-player is a joyless struggle that sees you switching control between two chefs. Even the head-to-head competitive mode lacks the irresistable spark of the cooperative campaign.

So if you only play games alone or online, then sadly there’s really nothing for you here. But if you can find even one mate to sit on the sofa by your side, this is simply one of the best gaming experiences this year, and among the finest local co-op games on current-gen machines. Assuming your friendships can survive it… n

The reigning king of couch play remains unmatched. Overcooked’s brilliant, but Towerfall is local multiplayer perfected.

2nd opinion “I have never had so much fun shouting “onion!” at GM’s Ben Griffin, and that’s saying something. This gem has everything I want from local multiplayer – rats, lettuce, haunted kitchens – and if you can find three friends to play with, it’s essential.”

Matthew Elliott, Senior Commissioning Editor, GamesRadar+

Judgement %

82

The best local multiplayer game of 2016 so far – this is co-op chaos that anyone can enjoy.

Robin Valentine

www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

attack on titan: winGs of freedom

loves…

What are you smiling about?

The Titan character models nail that freakish feel of the anime. We especially hate the grinning ones.

Aiming for different body parts will weaken your foe. A fast-moving Titan will need nipping in the knees to slow it down, for example.

The movement system is wildly fun and feels true to the show.

Plenty of variety keeps the gameplay feeling fresh.

hates…

The colour palette is grim – and not in an atmospheric way.

Technically it’s a bit... ropey, running on a now-creaky engine.

Better than…

Your swords, manoeuvre gear, and scabbards can all be upgraded, with stat increases improving your abilities during combat.

Mikasa is a firm fan favourite – especially with her chain combo move, which lets you slice multiple times after one pass.

Dynasty Warriors 8

The series which keeps on going, despite not really changing, has its fans (Matt included) but no-one can defend its major flaws.

Worse than…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS Vita, PS3 Pub Koei Tecmo Dev Omega Force ETA Out now Players 1-4

AttAck On titAn: Wings Of freedOm It’s like Spider-Man but with swords. enough said

T

What game is eren Yeager most looking forward to? titanfall 2

hink about this: how many Warriors games have there been? From Dynasty Warriors through to Hyrule Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes, and about a billion more, Omega Force’s flawed but popular blueprint has been well and truly run into the ground. But with this anime/manga spin-off, the developer known for sticking to its comfort zone has zipped right into unknown territory. And it’s brilliant.

For those unfamiliar with the source material, Aot is set in a bleak steampunk future, where giant monsters (the titans of the title) have mysteriously appeared and begun nomming on the populace. the last city of humans protects itself behind three massive walls, but after a hundred years of isolated peace, along comes the skinless monstrosity you see

on all the posters, the colossal titan, to ruin the fun. He smashes a hole in the outer wall, which triggers events leading to our trio of heroes, eren, Mikasa, and Armin, joining a sort of militaristic Harry Potter school of titan take-down-ery.

Gas man

How do you solve a problem like a freakish cannibalistic giant? With a pair of super sharp swords, two tanks of gas strapped to your thighs, and the skill set of a trapeze artist, that’s how. titans have one fatal weak spot, a small patch of skin at the nape of their neck, which when sliced away will see them burst into a miasma of steam.

As you take on the role of those three heroes, as well as other characters across the anime’s story, you manoeuvre around by attaching wires to scenery, bursting around with mid-air gushes of gas in dizzying spurts of deadly momentum. this movement just feels

“a pair of sWords, tWo gas tanKs strapped to your thighs, and the sKills of a trapeze artist” www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

great, whether you’re in the city, with tall buildings to run up and swing between, or in the middle of a field, where your horse runs up next to you ready whenever your feet do touch the ground.

You can seamlessly swing from saddle to a strafing airborne burst around the back of a titan ready for a salvo of darting swipes with your blades.

And yet, there are some niggling little elements which remind us of the dev’s past efforts. the tech powering all of this is woefully under equipped, with a camera which can’t always keep up with your characters’ on-screen dexterity.

Also, while the environments do change as you advance, there’s no escaping the dullness of the palette that you have to endure throughout. the anime has a washed out feel to it, which is broken up by forays into verdant wilderness. Here, no matter where you go you’re met with dull browns and textures woolier than a tardy sheep making excuses at a knitwear convention. but with its high-wire traversal, fast and tactile combat, and fascinating setting, this is a game unlike any that you’ve played before. Who would’ve thought we’d be able to say that about a game from the Warriors stable? n

Shadow Of The Colossus

Another game wherein you fight giant creatures with the occasional aid of a horse. AOT has none of SOTC’s subtlety – nor should it, really.

i

need to KnoW The story of the game follows the show, but in a less layered way. The first season is on Netflix and Crunchyroll streaming services and it’s well worth a watch before you get stuck into this.

Judgement %

79

High-wire hijinks in the spirit of the show.

Who knew omega Force had it in them?

Matt SakuraokaGilman

october 2016

79

Review

You’ll also find a range of mounted weaponry, from regular turrets to sniper rifles and even Saints Row’s dubstep gun.

The Final Verdict!

now playing

this month’s biggest time sinks on team GM

PC 1RimwoRld

A genius sandbox of storytelling. Fave moment so far: living through a tough winter by having my one surviving colonist eat his fallen friends. He then died. Horribly. matt Sakuraoka-Gilman, Editor

Six SiEGE PS4 2 RainBow

The Skull Rain DLC’s got me back in, with its new favela map. I forgot how moreish the destruction in this game is and I’m now smashing planks every evening. And in the game. matt Sakuraoka-Gilman, Editor

aGE aCt 2 PC 3BRokEn

Act 1 was my favourite game of 2014, so don’t ask me why it’s taken me this long to play its second chapter. The warm visuals, the dad jokes – it’s a nearperfect point-and-click.

Ben Griffin, Senior Staff writer

3

Pokémon Go moBilE

A great micro-distraction, one I check a dozen times daily for ten seconds at a time. But, er, obviously not when I’m meant to be working.

Ben Griffin, Senior Staff writer

monStER HuntER 53dSGEnERationS

This is my first foray into the famously intimidating series, but I think I’m getting the hang of things, one dead dinosaur at a time. Getting pawed of cat puns, mind…

Robin Valentine, Production Editor

aGE: inquiSition 6PC dRaGon

Despite my love for the series, I’ve never gotten to the end of DA:I. Time to fix that. And then on to the DLC… Robin Valentine, Production Editor

offiCE lunCHtimE GamE of tHE montH: oVERCookEd PS4 This co-op gem presents something of a problem in our open-plan office – it’s impossible to play quietly.

Oh well, some games are worth getting fired for.

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october 2016

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Team 17 Developer Team 17 ETA Out now Players 1-6

woRms wmD back again for a birthday blow-out

T

he first splash screen celebrates Team 17’s “25 years of gaming excellence”, and for all but four of those years it’s been making games about little pink invertebrates blowing each other up with sheep; indeed, since the turn of the century, the developer/ publisher has released no fewer than 20 games with Worms in the title. It’s probably fair to say neither would still exist without the other, but more than two decades on, both are still plugging away. Fair play.

The Full Wormage weapon scheme is for those who want maximum destruction.

How about Armageddon on turn one?

Worms WMD is certainly not 2016’s most exciting or innovative game, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t have quite a bit of fun with it. As the name suggests, it’s basically classic Worms, but toting some more powerful ordnance. In this instance, it’s mostly vehicular: you’ve got a tank, a mech suit, and a chopper you can hop into this time around, capable of shelling, pounding, and machinegunning your opponents into wormy oblivion. It returns to classic Worms physics, so movement speed is sluggish and jumps are feeble, but it’s all part of the fun when a misjudged leap lands you on a mine or in the drink.

You can now hide inside buildings, though you’ll be exposed once a rival worm walks through the door. And there’s the inevitable crafting system, allowing you to make new weapons from bits and bobs you find in crates, or from dismantling existing gear. the publisher would have you believe that this provides an extra tactical edge to battles, but in play it feels like a box-checking addition and nothing more, included presumably because seemingly every other game has it.

Boom town

Still, with goats on ropes and rocket League cars joining the sheep, old ladies, and holy hand grenades, Worms WMD feels like a solid greatest hits compilation with some decent new material thrown in for good measure. With 30 campaign levels, time-sensitive training missions, and more options than you’ll ever need to customise your multiplayer experience (online and off), it’s a pleasingly generous package, too. there are more refined and inventive competitive games out there, but if you’ve not played a couple of rounds of Worms in a while, this is a good time to remind yourself why it’s endured for so long. Happy annelid-versary! n Chris Schilling

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REViEw RounduP

Hot DownloaDs

You know how we said it never gets fiddly? Well, this puzzle is. A bit.

the latest DLc and expansions explored

Format PS4, XO, PC (reviewed), PS Vita Publisher Curve Digital Developer Fiddlesticks ETA Out now Players 1

Hue

Just about palatable

T

he sign of a good puzzle game is the number of times it has you exclaiming out loud in an empty room.

Hue passes the “ah!” (or “aha!” if you’re so inclined) test with flying colours, but it unfortunately fails the sterner examination that marks out the truly great brain-teasers from the merely good: you have to be thinking about it even when you’re not playing. For all its charming silhouetted art and the meticulous assembly of its most enjoyable conundrums, this is not a

game that’s likely to stick in your memory for very long.

Hue’s puzzles are given a light dusting of narrative, which invites you to locate fragments of colour to undull a grey world and eventually find your missing mother. the right stick gives you access to a radial menu of different colours; time will briefly slow as you hold it in a given direction to change the background hue. objects will appear and disappear as you make the switch, revealing hidden platforms, blocking lasers, and allowing balloons to rise and descend. Getting

past each of the game’s levels often involves pushing crates into position, whether it’s to cross spiked pits, or to form makeshift steps to higher platforms. elsewhere you’ll need to shift while moving; jumping towards an orange wall, for example, and jabbing the stick left to ensure it disappears mid-leap so you can land safely on the other side. the most satisfying challenges Hue offers are the ones that simultaneously test your mental and physical dexterity, inviting you to formulate a plan before you move: switch to green, run, jump and switch to cyan, wait, jump and switch to indigo, grab the key, and so on. but while it never gets frustratingly fiddly, you’ll also rarely be seriously taxed. Despite all those colours, Hue lacks the vibrancy of the very best puzzle-platformers. n Chris Schilling

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Each day starts with a glance at the newspapers, offering an “amusing” take on the current state of affairs. Bloody journalists eh?

Format PC Pub EuroVideo Medien Dev Weappy Studio ETA Out now Players 1

tHis is tHe police Not much cop

P

erhaps the title’s an anagram, because we can’t help but wonder: Is This The Police?

From the off, protagonist Jack Boyd doesn’t behave like a police chief should, making deals with the mafia, burying paperwork for financial gain, and jeopardising public safety for an extra bit of cash.

Managing a fleet of coppers might ostensibly be the aim of the game, but

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

the real objective is to build up a pension fund from bribes and bounties. the mafia will slip you a few thousand bucks for leaving them be, or you can hire out your officers as private security, then pocket the cash. these scenarios aim to provide a moral quandary, but you’ve got little freedom: disobey the mafia too much and you’ll end up dead and city Hall can strip your budget if their questionable requests are ignored. the only viable option is to ignore right and wrong to try and keep both mayor and mafiosi happy.

behind this moral veneer, your main agenda is choosing how to divide up your officers between crimes as they’re reported. It’s a satisfying, if simplistic, juggling act, but frustratingly, even when officers or civilians die, none of it feels impactful: it’s hard to feel mournful when you’re immediately asked if you want to fiddle the paperwork to receive the deceased’s salary yourself. It’s a common thread – moments of serious drama or moral dilemma are consistently implemented with startling clumsiness.

Its takes on racial tensions, feminism, and state-endorsed brutality could have formed a meaningful commentary.

Instead they’re all poorly constructed scenarios in a middling management sim. n Alex Jones

51

Three new hellscapes await Doom players looking to make a return to its online arenas this month, in Unto The Evil. Cataclysm is a military base adjoined to a satanic chamber, while Offering provides a more gothic vibe with its crumbling fortress. Completing the trio is Ritual, a seemingly abandoned laboratory filled with nightmarish experiments gone wrong.

Along with the new maps, and a bunch of customisation options, comes a new demon type, giving you the chance to zip around the battlefield as the Harvester draining life from enemies with its infernal beam shots to charge up a devastating ‘detonation attack’.

If that’s all a bit too intense then perhaps adorable cat costumes are more your speed?

Nintendo is serving up some free, and incredibly cute, costumes in Monster Hunter Generations, modelled after classic videogame characters. There’s a whole range on offer, with more coming each month. Among the first batch, Okami and Wind Waker themed costumes for your Palicoes are a highlight. If you don’t want to play as a cat dressed as a wolf battling a ginormous monster, then there’s no helping you.

There’re no cat-people in Stellaris’ first bit of paid DLC, Plantoids, however. Instead there’s a range of botanically-inspired alien races. The sentient venus-fly-traps are cool, but we’re more taken by the idea of ruling a race of radish-headed leaf people. It’s all cosmetic, but when the art is this lovely, it’s easy to see the appeal. Lettuce know if you’re conquering the galaxy as one of these organic creatures.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Rainbow Six Siege’s Operation Skull Rain DLC is currently available, offering a distinctly South American flavour, with the two new operators, Caveira and Capitão, hailing from an elite Brazilian police battalion. The accompanying map comes in the form of a favela which snakes through the streets of Rio, meaning you’ll need to re-evaluate any tactics focused on breaching a single building. And, if you think you’re tough enough, a Tactical Realism mode strips away some of the HUD to make things more realistic.

october 2016

81

New issue on sale 30 pages of new info, screens and FF celebration!

FREE

Two incredible Final Fantasy XV decals for Xbox One

AVAILABLE NOW OR ORDER DIRECT FROM MYFAVOURITEMAGAZINES.CO.UK/GAMING

Comp

WIN! WIN! IN! WI N! !W IN

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Swag party!

Win an Xbox One, FFXV, and a copy of Kingsglaive

B

esides the promise of true love, lifelong companionship, and matrimonial bliss, it’s surely the lure of expensive gifts that provides the main incentive for anybody thinking of tying the knot. It’s entirely appropriate, then (and not a tortured segue at all), that we’re giving away a bundle of prenuptial booty to celebrate the launch of Square Enix’s stag party simulator Final Fantasy XV. When Prince Noctis and his pals set off on their bachelor party road trip (presumably to the bellowed accompaniment of ‘lads

on tour! Lads on tour!’’), they have no way of knowing that war is about to be declared on their kingdom. That’s bad news for Noctis, sure, but good news for gamers spoiling for a scrap. As such, we’re giving away a copy of the game as well as a shiny new Xbox One to play it on.

But there’s more to the story of FFXV than a magical knees-up, and to get the full lowdown on the war-torn world of Eos, you’ll have to watch Kingsglaive. This CGI blockbuster launched to an enthusiastic reception in Japan earlier this year, and now it’s heading to Western shores starring Aaron Paul, Lena Headey, and Sean Bean. We’re throwing in a Blu Ray of this blockbuster for our lucky winner.

To be in with a shot of winning this grabbag of game, movie, and console, all you need to do is mosey on over to our online competition page via the link over on the right. Once there, simply submit the answer to the following headscratcher by 13 October 2016:

s the name of Final Fantasy XV’s main character?

Q What’

A. Noctis B. Socklisp C. Croc-fish

Terms and conditions: By entering this Competition you are agreeing to receive details of future offers from Future Publishing Ltd. The closing date is 13 October 2016. By taking part in a Competition, you agree to be bound by the Competition Rules, which are summarised below but can be viewed in full at www.futureplc.com/competition-rules. Late or incomplete entries will be disqualified. Proof of posting (if relevant) shall not be deemed proof of delivery. Entries must be submitted by an individual (not via any agency or similar) and, unless otherwise stated, are limited to one per household. The Company reserves the right in its sole discretion to substitute any prize with cash or a prize of comparable value. Unless otherwise stated, the Competition is open to all GB residents of 18 years and over, except employees of Future Publishing and any party involved in the competition or their households. By entering a Competition you give permission to use your name, likeness and personal information in connection with the Competition and for promotional purposes. All entries will become the property of the Company upon receipt and will not be returned. You warrant that the Competition entry is entirely your own work and not copied or adapted from any other source. If you are a winner, you may have to provide additional information. Details of winners will be available on request within three months of the closing date. If you are a winner, receipt by you of any prize is conditional upon you complying with (amongst other things) the Competition Rules. You acknowledge and agree that neither the Company nor any associated third parties shall have any liability to you in connection with your use and/or possession of your prize.

How to enter

ONLINE

Make your way over to http://bit.ly/gmswag to enter, where you can fill in your details and submit your answer.

RetroMaster We

❤ Old Games!

OCTOBER 2016

End of gam ing LEg

• ng

Bolstered by a marketing campaign that was massive by contemporary standards, Elite launched to considerable sales and acclaim. The Acorn Electron

ga m i

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The legend

• LEgEnd of

The more you hear about the circumstances surrounding Elite’s creation, the more unlikely that legendary finished product starts to seem. For starters, the entire thing was made by a pair of nineteen-year-olds, and the young David Braben and Ian Bell worked on the project alongside their studies at Cambridge University.

But in order to create a game that would satisfy their ambition, Braben and Bell had to perform engineering miracles.

The finished version of Elite contained

eight galaxies’ worth of stars, planets, space stations, and AI vessels, and it all had to fit on just 32k of memory. As such, the idea of designing all of these cosmic landmarks was quickly dismissed in favour of an algorithmic solution. Elite, then, was one of the first games ever to feature a procedurally-generated universe, composed of eight galaxies and 256 planets created from a single starting seed number.

And although Elite looks basic to modern eyes, its wireframe visuals were cutting edge in 1984 – especially its implementation of hidden-line removal technology. So, with a near-final build of the game in hand, the development duo confidently approached a publisher, only to be told they should only come back once they’d added a scoring system and three lives. Fortunately, Acornsoft was rather more keen on the concept, and channelled considerable funds and focus into giving Elite the launch it deserved.

of Gaming

Developer David Braben and Ian Bell Publisher Acornsoft Released 1984 Format PC, NES, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, MSX, C64, Spectrum, BBC Micro, Get it http://bit.ly/gmretroelite

and BBC Micro versions were first to market, and they sold so quickly that the game’s success soon became an item on the British evening news.

But it was the open-ended gameplay – rather than promotional pounds – that made Elite a phenomenon. Players simply hadn’t seen a game before that offered such freedom of choice and spatial enormity. You might make your way as a trader, for instance, comparing the supply and demand of commodities on various worlds to find the most profitable trade routes. You could even smuggle narcotics from planet to planet if you had the firepower or speed to evade police intervention.

ng mi ga

The origins

Legend

ing • LEgE nd gam of of

Braben, Bell, and the (not so) final frontier

S

of gaming • L Eg E

#44

ElitE

tudents tend to get a pretty bad rap these days. Some say “they’re all lazy”.

Others say “they keep putting their general waste bins out on the wrong days”. But it was students that gave gaming one of its greatest open worlds, the power of procedural generation, and the space-trading genre as we know it today. But honestly, if the lads at number 47 could just sort it out with their rubbish, that would still be great.

nd gE LE

nd

•

The game started you off with a Cobra Mk III space craft and 100 credits. What you did with them was entirely up to you.

But if none of that appealed, it was no matter! You could always pursue a career as a miner, bounty-hunter, pirate, or soldier, rising through the ranks in pursuit of that coveted Elite designation. And if you remained unmoved by that raft of opportunity for space-based adventure, you could ignore it all in favour of just shooting some aliens for a while.

Elite’s success, of course, led to huge demand for ports on myriad other platforms. In a masterstroke of self-belief, Bell and Braben had insisted on retaining the rights to publish their game on other systems, leading to some lucrative terms as the game spread to a huge range of consoles and home computers.

The legacy

Braben and Bell’s wireframe baby is surely one of the most influential games of all time, jumpstarting not just a genre but also a widespread appetite for

“PLAYERS SIMPLY HADN’T SEEN A GAME BEFORE THAT OFFERED SUCH FREEDOM OF CHOICE” www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

David Braben

From space simulation to smell-o-vision

1 Zarch (PC – 1987)

The Acorn Archimedes port is perhaps the best of the sizeable bunch.

It may look basic now, but Zarch’s solid 3D visuals were revolutionary in an era when wireframe still ruled.

Braben reportedly wrote the game in a mere three months for the launch of the Acorn Archimedes, at which point the patchwork landscapes and fully 3D player-controlled lander craft served as a technical showcase for the machine.

2 Frontier: Elite II (PC, Amiga, Atari ST – 1993)

Elite fans had to wait an agonising nine years for a follow-up to the genre-defining original, but Braben’s sequel added realistic Newtonian physics to that beloved core of space-trading gameplay, completely transforming the experience of player navigation and exploration. The game was another technical marvel as well, featuring curved surfaces (a first for the industry) and enabling players to seamlessly land on planets, too.

Elite launched with a 64-page manual and a novella included.

open-ended gameplay that has only grown as the industry’s matured. Games such as EVE Online, Freelancer, and the X series obviously owe a sizeable debt to Elite, and even recent release No Man’s Sky – as a procedurally-generated and open-ended game of space exploration – is arguably just the latest direct descendant of this 1984 classic.

But Elite’s sphere of influence cannot be constrained to a single genre, and its design has inspired creators in every corner of the industry. Gary Penn, for instance, who served as creative director at DMA Design, has described Grand Theft Auto as “Elite in a city”. Braben and Bell didn’t just pioneer space trading gameplay or procedural generation in games, then – they pioneered all sandbox gaming as we know it today.

And while it’s all too easy to think of the genre as being simply about size, there’s more to it than that. Elite created a world of alien ambushes, police patrol routes, and planetary purchasing that seemed to exist even when you weren’t around. Today, it’s cliché to describe a game as taking place in “a living, breathing world”. But back in 1984, that’s exactly what Elite managed. n

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

3 Frontier: First Encounters (PC – 1995)

The third game in the Elite series shifted the focus away from open-ended trading and towards interstellar storytelling, introducing a fully-fledged narrative as well as full-motion video segments too. The realistic, procedurally-generated planetscapes were hugely impressive for the time, but the game was rushed out and disappointingly buggy.

4 Dog’s Life

5 Elite: Dangerous

Next, Braben designed and directed this truly unusual canine curio – a narrative title in which you play as a lovelorn dog out to rescue his kidnapped crush. You had to keep your playable pup healthy and well-fed as he explored the streets of three distinct locations, and you could always hop into ‘smell-o-vision’ mode to gain a first-person perspective on the area’s various scents.

Although Braben has been designing open-ended space exploration games for decades, Dangerous stands apart for introducing massively-multiplayer gameplay to the series. The gameplay consequences of this change are enormous, creating a persistent universe in which honest traders and industrious miners must contend with opportunistic thieves, privateers, and assassins. It’s intimidating, infuriating, and frequently pretty incredible.

(PS2 – 2003)

(PC, XO – 2015)

OCTOBER 2016

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RetroMaster We

❤ Old Games!

Six Of The BeST…

TRadeRs

The silver-tongued shopkeepers ready to receive your digital dollar

L

ook, not everyone can be the subject of an ancient prophecy or a warrior of world renown.

We can’t all wander off on epic quests to avenge our loved ones or save humanity, either – it simply wouldn’t be practical.

So, the next time you’re off averting catastrophe or fighting for glory, spare a thought for all those working stiffs just trying to earn an honest crust in these cruel digital worlds. You know the sort – those salt of the earth characters that Bruce Springsteen would be singing about if Bruce Springsteen was also a character in Secret Of Mana. Probably.

And sure, they may be an eccentric bunch, but where would we be without these entrepreneurial oddballs? Well our inventories would be an awful lot emptier, for a start... n

The Guardian of MeTal

Brütal Legend (PC, PS3, 360 – 2009)

The MerchanT

Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, PS2 – 2005)

Ozzy Osbourne provides a full-throated and foul-mouthed vocal performance for this mystical merchant. As well as upgrading your ride and beefing up your weaponry, the Guardian of Metal also has the power to deeply offend your grandparents.

Videogame shopkeepers are often mysterious sorts, but few are as downright sinister as this threadbare pedlar. He offers a fine range of firearms, sure, but it’s those spectacular pipes that really appeal. “Got some raaaare things on sale, stranger.”

drebin 893

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots (PS3 – 2008)

In a world in which firearms are secured with ID lock technology, weapon launderers provide a valuable service to tactical espionage enthusiasts. And as if that wasn’t enough to endear old Drebs to you, he’s accompanied by a nappy-wearing monkey.

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OCTOBER 2016

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Grab Bag

Retro gems from every era

Awesome Boss!

ToM nook

Animal Crossing (GameCube – 2004)

Depending on your point of view, this entrepreneurial raccoon is either a perfectly respectable shopkeeper or an exploitative loan shark. Either way, there’s no denying his business acumen – your loan repayments eventually allow him to open a sizeable department store.

fallout Format PC Developer Interplay Entertainment Released 1997

Mabe VillaGe ShoPkeePer

The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy – 1993)

Thievery is a risky business on Koholint Island, thanks to this wizened old clerk.

Return to his store after nicking an item and he’ll scream “I wasn’t kidding when I said pay! Now you’ll pay the ultimate price!”. One lethal magical attack later, Link’s a goner.

The Master may not feature in Fallout 2, 3, or 4, but as the creator of the Super Mutant species, he casts a long shadow over the series. And, true to Fallout form, this big boss showdown can be tackled in a variety of ways. Masochists might want to battle him head-on, while especially charismatic sorts can actually talk him out of his genocidal ways.

Classic Moment!

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker Format Mega Drive, Master System Developer Sega Released 1991

neko

Secret Of Mana (SNES – 1994)

This feline opportunist acts as a wandering vendor, popping up throughout your travels to sell you precious items at inflated prices. Neko’s also a devoted pun enthusiast, and never misses an opportunity to deliver groan-worthy wordplay alongside predatory pricing.

The opening level to this digital tribute to the king of pop is truly disorienting stuff. A synthesized version of Smooth Criminal begins to play on a loop, you have a magical hat you can throw at enemies, and occasionally your player character (MJ himself) will transform into a robot. And then you set about rescuing children from cupboards.

Remake Request!

Power Stone Format Dreamcast Developer Capcom Released 1999

Single-screen multiplayer brawling has become something of an industry trend in the last few years, but it certainly isn’t a new concept. Capcom’s manic multiplayer fighting game hit Japanese arcades just a few weeks after the launch of Super Smash Bros, but while Nintendo’s property flourished, Power Stone inspired just a single sequel. Time for a revival, we reckon.

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OCTOBER 2016

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CultureMaster The Outer Regions Of Gaming!

No this isn’t Forza – this is what Grand Theft Auto V can look like, with the right selection of mods.

Making the best look better

Who needs a sequel? We delve into the ultradetailed madness behind GTAV Redux with lone modder Josh Romito

E

ver wanted to slightly tweak your favourite game? Iron out those little inconsistencies that would make it like Baby Bear’s porridge – just right? While most of us have to settle for what we’ve got and perhaps hope for a PS4 or Xbox One remaster, others just won’t stand for it. Josh Romito from Ontario in Canada is one of those people. Fighting the super-realistic textures fight, he’s now released the ultimate mod for GTAV on PC to deliver the experience he always wanted in the first place. The result, GTAV Redux, is eye-meltingly pretty and practically a whole new game.

Romito, a computer programming student, has been crafting the mod in every minute of his spare time. While he loves GTAV, he just always felt like it could be better performance wise. “When GTAV initially released on PS3 and Xbox 360, I was disappointed. I found many downgrades of the same code used in the previous game,” he explains. “I decided ‘If you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself.’ Ergo I began

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the un-official development of Redux. I had always been fascinated by what was accomplished with the GTA series, and an opportunity to work with the code and customise it to my liking could not be passed up.”

On particle

Redux doesn’t just mean the game has had an extra lick of HD paint. Astonishingly, Romito has upgraded Los Santos entirely. Amongst a slew of other updates, all vehicle handling has been tweaked, the police system has been retooled with a whole new wanted system, guns have been reconfigured for realistic physics, and the population of Los Santos can be fully customised.

But how are there enough minutes in the day to do this alone? “There has been a tremendous amount of time dedicated to the project,” confirms Romito. “I’m well into a few thousand hours over an 8-10 month period to accomplish what I have so far. Literally every spare moment I have has been spent working on Redux.”

In Romito’s quest for perfection everything from road textures to the litter that’s scattered across the Los Santos streets has had a new lease of life. Every surface has been updated with new friction and traction to take

Romito spent hours looking at LA weather on YouTube to get that blue sky just right.

the newly updated vehicles across and even the damage and crashes are more spectacular. This is GTAV through brand new eyes, and Romito has been relentless in his quest. “My biggest challenge by far has been all the texture work,” he says. “Not for the difficulty, but rather the quantity. The vast amount of textures that have been remade is astounding, and finding all the time to perfect them is another story.”

And when it comes to research there was a lot of caffeine involved. “Obtaining the visuals for Redux has been no easy feat. Starting by trying to get a base colour tone for all the lighting, I took to YouTube and spent many hours simply watching videos of the Los Angeles’ weather patterns,” he explains. “Then I moved on to

“the vast amount of textures that have been remade is astounding” www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

global Master

The best places to play Pokémon Go

Romito has cranked up the realism from the handling of the cars to updating muzzle flashes.

Taking to the skies above Los Santos is now a whole new experience.

Staryu walk

Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles in California looks like one of the best places to don a baseball cap and get Pokémon hunting.

According to reports there are more than double the sightings of mythical and rare Pokémon here than anywhere else in the USA. Time for a holiday to catch an Aerodactyl?

You may find it a bit difficult to concentrate on robbing banks and taking down cops when beautiful vistas like this are begging to be screenshotted and shared.

SEE THIS! SEE THIS! SEE THIS! S

rain check

Watch this

IS! SEE THIS! SEE THIS! SEE TH TH

blend together realistically is another story. Considering photos and extracted RGB colour codes to add to the the thousands of parameters, and a 24 hour timecycle game. Of course the engine handles the codes quite spread across 13 values, it’s very easy to make a mistake differently than standard RGB, so much further testing that leads to visual bugs. So to end up with the finished and tweaking was required. Overall, the main process project that is Redux, I’m very proud.” has been trial and error. Testing after Yet he still wanted to keep testing, eventually coming up on the THIS! SEE THIS! SEE THIS! SEE adding more to the mod, and values that look just right! Patience, EE opened things up to suggestions motivation, an abundance of time, from the community. “What and a couple of pots of coffee to get surprised me was the massive the job done!” We’ll drink to that. amounts of them I received,” he says. “Hundreds a day, far too You won’t believe you’re many to read at the beginning! I While every aspect of the game has looking at GTA V in the incredible Redux launch trailer. quickly had to stop the requests, had due attention, one of Romito’s So pretty! or else the mod would have been biggest tasks was rewriting all of the http://bit.ly/gmGTARedux 60GBs, I’d end up spending five weather files, and it’s what he’s most years on it, and I would have to proud of. “For me, the most rename it to GTAVI!” important addition to the mod has The project is an astonishing been my own custom weather labour of love – though we’d suggest that Josh now go particle effects,” he says. “Adding these new mist and outside for a serious dose of Vitamin D while we head weather effects to the game has brought a new level of back to Los Santos for a sun-kissed catch up with Trevor atmosphere that I think no one is expecting. It’s easy to and co. n Louise Blain make a single weather mode look good, but having 14 SEE THIS! SEE THIS! SEE THIS! IS!

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

Culture ShOCk

Fancy a trip to Holland?

Zuiderpark in The Hague is apparently one of the best places in the world to catch a certain electric mouse Pokémon.

The area became so popular around the game’s launch that it adopted a new nickname: Pikachu Park. As a bonus, it’s also known for its live music, so you can have a perfect soundtrack for your Pokéhunting.

Surf’S up

Waipahu in Hawaii actually has a real life Pokéstop that’s called, well, Poke Stop. Poke – said po-kay – is actually a raw fish dish popular in Hawaii, so it’s the ideal place for trainers to have a bite to eat. As long as they’re not serving Magikarp…

OCTOBER 2016

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CheatMaster The Biggest Games Taken Apart!

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cheatmaster

pro tips!

ps pro tips o ti pr pr o

ps pro tips p o ti ro pr ti ps

ps pro tips pr o ti ot pr i

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We pound the streets, phone in hand, to find the best Poké-tips… s ip

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Format Mobile Publisher The Pokémon Company Developer Niantic ETA Out now

Be a pokéMon Go pro

Seven tips and tricks to make you the very best, like no one ever was Eeevee evolution eevee’s are so gosh darn cute – but it’s hard not to be frustrated by the randomness of their evolution into Flareon, Vaporeon, or Jolteon. turns out having a little knowledge of the original Pokémon tV show can help you out here. In the anime, one episode revolved around the eevee brothers, each of whom had a different eevee-lution, and the secret to getting the type you want is in their names.

Sparky had a Jolteon, rainer a Vaporeon, and Pyro a Flareon. All you need to do is rename your eevee to the corresponding eevee brother and you’ll get that evolution. Just make sure the name saves, then quit out of the app fully and reload before hitting the evolve button.

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Staying vigilant Don’t ignore your team’s gyms.

You might think Mystic has it in the bag with you and multiple other trainers defending your local church, but gyms need constant protection. If you’re going to be in the area for a while, head in there again with one of your other Pokémon and build up the prestige to make it stronger, and allow more trainers to defend the location.

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Walking without walking You technically should be moving to hatch your eggs – though no faster than 10 miles per hour – but if you just set your phone down on your desk while you’re at work, you’ll probably find that as the GPS resets every so often, the app will count you as having moved a bit each time. Pop a 2km egg in your infinite incubator and let broken signal do some of the walking. It won’t be miles but, hey, every little helps.

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Public transport trains and buses – useless for Pokémon Go, right? Wrong.

Always keep your app open on public transport. For one thing, buses are ideal when going through cities for all the lovely Pokéstops, and maybe even some bonus egg-walking time if the traffic speed slows to a crawl. trains are slightly trickier to take advantage of, but keep the app open as you hurtle across the country and fast fingers can be used to pick up any stray Pokémon that might appear. Most train stations have Pokéstops too, so make sure you’re playing as you pull in. Plus, Steel Pokémon can be found around train lines. there’re only two of them for now, but Magnemite and Magneton can both be found hanging out wherever metal is in plentiful supply, and that means both train stations and tracks. Just remember to plug in on your journey if you can.

Wouldn’t want you to miss a call.

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Improving your throws You’re probably a pro at flicking Pokéballs by now, but if you haven’t been throwing curveballs already, it’s time to start. Grab your Pokéball with one finger, and instead of flicking and letting it go, hold on and start spinning it in a small circle. Stars will swirl around it when it’s ready for pitching. You can’t flick it straight up like normal – instead, toss it in the opposite direction from the way you’re spinning. This should mean it goes one way and gracefully arcs back to hit the Pokémon. You’ll get bonus XP and a better chance of it staying in the Pokéball.

Combo this up with hitting the Pokémon within the ever shrinking circle that appears when you are about to throw, and it’s even more likely that they’ll stay inside. Obviously using a Great or Ultraball will increase your chances even more.

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Conserving your data If you’ve got limited internet usage on your phone, Pokémon Go can be a frustrating data-eater. this trick will reduce that problem. the game takes its map data from Google Maps, which means if you download your home and work areas from the app, it won’t constantly have to pull it in. open Google Maps, select the ‘Settings’ menu (shown by an icon with three horizontal lines), and tap on ‘offline areas’. Press the ‘+’ icon then use the map to draw a square of the area you want to download, then tap on ‘Download’.

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Egg-hatching efficiency Unless you’ve been investing in Pokécoins with actual money, you’ll find that you have far more eggs than incubators as you progress. the levels get pretty stingy with incubators once you’re into the teens, so it’s essential to manage your hatching strategy carefully. Always make sure, for example, that you’re only using your infinite incubator for those annoying 2km Pokemon – breakable incubators should only ever be used for 5km and 10km eggs. It’s much better to get 30km out of three uses than a measly 6km, after all.

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Due to the unpredictable nature of the gaming world, all contents are subject to change.

gAME guIDE

Welcome to Gm’s carefully collated list of the most essential gaming experiences you can undertake right now. If even one of the 50 games on here has passed you by, get a shift on post-haste

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DARK SOuLS III

THE LAST OF uS

THE WITcHER 3: WILD HuNT

gRAND THEFT AuTO V

MARIO KART 8

The first game might be closer to fans’ hearts, but this is Souls – and gaming – at its current-gen finest.

Naughty Dog brings all of its strengths to the fore, fusing engaging gameplay with stunning storytelling.

An epic proposition that truly lives up to its promise. Engaging, mature, and unbelievably vast.

The most comprehensive sandbox going, full of wonderful distractions and typical Rockstar humour.

Reinvention is what Ninty does best, and nowhere is that more apparent than in this joyous karter reborn.

PS4 / XO / PC

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PS4 / PS3

PS4 / XO / PC

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METAL gEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

Hideo’s last hurrah brings open-world action to the revered series.

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MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

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PS4 / PC / PS Vita

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SuPER MARIO MAKER

ROcKET LEAguE

One year and three chunks of DLC later and Bungie has finally made Destiny the shooter-RPG it was meant to be.

An engrossing mystery that makes us believe in FMV again. Utterly, wonderfully unique.

The most brilliantly accessible level creation game around, dripping with Nintendo’s slick signature style.

2015’s surprise hit combines football and motors to create an amazingly universal multiplayer experience.

PC / Mobile

Wii U

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HOTLINE MIAMI

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STREET FIgHTER V

BATTLEFIELD 4

PS4 / PC

PS4 / XO / PC

PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360 / Mobile

XO / PC / 360

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FAR cRY PRIMAL

TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER

PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

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PS Vita

25

DISHONORED

PS4

TEARAWAY

PS4 / XO / PC

24

BLOODBORNE

PS4 / PC / PS3 / PS Vita / Mobile

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INSIDE

DOTA 2

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NIDHOgg

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HER STORY

PS4 / XO / PS3 / 360

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DESTINY: THE TAKEN KINg

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guILD WARS 2: HEART OF THIORNS PC

PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

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HALO 5: guARDIANS

PC

PS4 / XO / PC

XO

FORMAT BuYER’S guIDE Just bought a spanking new console? configured a new rig? or perhaps you’ve a new handheld ready to go?

Whichever machine you’ve got, Gm is here to ensure you’re clued in on the top exclusives 96

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MARIO KART 8

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SPLATOON

BAYONETTA 2

SuPER MARIO 3D WORLD www.twitter.com/gamesmaster

H H H each month we clash over a classic H H H THE FALL

THE DEFENcE

This atmospheric tale of an artificial intelligence struggling against its own programming deftly mixes sci-fi philosophy, horror, dark humour, and brilliantly inventive puzzles into something completely unique. The combat is bum, but other than that, The Fall doesn’t put a space-suited foot wrong during its compact run-time. A modern indie classic.

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THE OPPOSITION

THE DEFENcE

THE OPPOSITION

ROBIN VALENTINE

MATT SAKuRAOKA-gILMAN

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JOuRNEY PS4 / PS3

This intensely emotional trip through a strange, beautiful world is a truly spellbinding display of games as art.

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uNcHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END An incredible end to one of the most spectacular series in games.

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OVERWATcH

TOWERFALL AScENSION

XcOM 2

A wonderous foray into first-person shooting from the World Of Warcraft dev – essential for team players.

Still nothing on current-gen has come close to matching the multiplayer thrills found in this twitchy battler.

Turn-based strategy gold that doesn’t pull its punches. Try not to get too attached to your soldiers, eh?

PS4 / XO / PC

PS4 / PS3

You can have a contemplative and deep exploration of humanity’s place in a technologically advanced world, sure, but you still need a game to back it up. The Fall feels like one of those poorly aged Delphine Software platformers from the ’90s (Flashback or Another World), and in an age when Portal and Soma exist, this feels like a regression to darker times.

PS4 / PC / PS Vita

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FALLOuT 4

SPLATOON

STARBOuND

THE WALKINg DEAD

PORTAL 2

A hundred little improvements over its predecessor make this trip to the wasteland one worth booking.

Injects more fun and colour into the online shooter genre than we ever thought possible.

Side-on crafting at its best. A wonderous world filled with planets to explore and furniture to plunder.

Both seasons display some of the finest storytelling in videogames.

Effortlessly combines pitch-perfect puzzling with perhaps gaming’s best ever comedy writing.

PS4 / XO / PC

Wii U

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PC

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ROcK BAND 4

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FIRE EMBLEM FATES

PS4 / XO

ELITE DANgEROuS

3DS

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SALT & SANcTuARY

PC

XcOM 2 HER STORY

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MONSTER HuNTER gENERATIONS LuIgI’S MANSION 2: DARK MOON

www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster

80 DAYS

3DS

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POKéMON X AND Y

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MONSTER HuNTER gENERATIONS

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PC / Mobile

TEARAWAY

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PERSONA 4 gOLDEN

ANIMAL cROSSINg: NEW LEAF

DOTA 2

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PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360

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PC

guILD WARS 2

ALIEN ISOLATION

Wii U

STELLARIS

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SuPER MARIO 3D WORLD

PC / XO

FIRE EMBLEM FATES

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TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER

PS4 / PC

POKéMON X & Y

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ANIMAL cROSSINg: NEW LEAF

XO / PC

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DOOM

Wii U

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PC / PS3 / 360

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BAYONETTA 2

3DS

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gRAVITY RuSH

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80 DAYS

FTL: FASTER THAN LIgHT

VELOcITY 2X

zERO EScAPE: VIRTuE’S LAST REWARD 5

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SORcERY 3

HEARTHSTONE: HEROES OF WARcRAFT 5

PAPERS PLEASE November october 2016 2015

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PART 1

Part 2 in next issue!

On The Record!

While we obviously have massive brains full of gaming know-how here on GM, we’ve built this quiz with the help of the fine folk over at Guinness World Records.

The Guinness World Records 2017 Gamer’s Edition is out now, and you can pick up a copy at your local bookshop or online for loads more gaming factoids.

Get your thinking shoes on: it’s time for a real test of your gaming knowledge Q1

Which of these was the most critically acclaimed Final Fantasy game?

A – Final Fantasy VII B – Final Fantasy VIII C – Final Fantasy IX D – Final Fantasy X

Q2

Q4

Can you put these games’ worlds in order of size, from biggest to smallest?

A – Elite: Dangerous B – World Of Warcraft (pre-Burning Crusade) C – No Man’s Sky D – Minecraft

Q5

What land-based videogame has the highest vertical range?

Which of these is the best-selling racing series of all time?

A – Gran Turismo B – Mario Kart C – Need For Speed

Q3

Pokémon might have the highest number of recruitable characters in a JRPG, but which game had the most ‘consenting’ party members?

Q6

Which was the first FPS to feature a sniper rifle?

Answers: Q1 Final Fantasy IX, which got a GameRankings score of 92.72%. Q2 Mario Kart, which has shifted 109.98 million units. Need For Speed comes second with 101.6 million and Gran Turismo last with 72.1 million. Q3 That would be Suikoden, with its 108 Stars Of Destiny. Q4 No Man’s Sky, Elite: Dangerous, Minecraft, World Of Warcraft. Q5 Just Cause 3. Rico Rodrigeuz can reach 3,015 meters above sea level. Q6 Goldeneye 007, although Quake Team Fortress had a sniper rifle modded in a year prior in 1996.

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