Gamesmaster - October 2015

Transcription

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ourite
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The am+ Super Ma
STAY ON TARGET
STAR WARS
BATTLEFRONT
Hands-on as we fly the
Millennium Falcon!
SPECIAL FEATURE
XBOX ONE
FIGHTS
BACK
Halo 5! Tomb Raider! Crackdown!
Why now is the time to go green
hero
PAIN KILLER
METAL GEAR
SOLID V
The ultimate review of
the epic final act!
on
iti
et
competition c
om
p
competition c
om
p
WIN!
on
iti
et
competition c
om
p
welcome
“Celebrating 30 years
of Super mario has me
a touch aflutter”
uper Mario Bros was the first
game I owned, back when I
was knee high to a Goomba, so
to celebrate 30 years of the
plumber’s Super-flavoured
exploits this issue, with an exclusive chat
with legendary designer and producer
Takashi Tezuka (p48) and a huge
review of Super Mario Maker (p50),
has me a touch aflutter.
Save your smelling salts, though,
as our steely special feature over
on p22 is enough to fortify the
nerves. Halo 5, Quantum Break,
Tomb Raider… Xbox One has some
real face-melters on the horizon,
and we’ve been behind the
scenes with all of them.
The big names keep on coming,
too. Star Wars Battlefront (p26)
continues to incite salivation in
the GM office whenever we get a
crack at it. And we’ve played
Dark Souls III (p34) as well!
Game on.
Enjoy your GM!
eDItor’S CHoICe
competition c
om
p
Issue 295 / October 2015
on
iti
et
on
iti
et
A rare Limited edition
Destiny: the taken
king ps4! see p83
to enter.
My tOp picks this issue
S
34
We’ve only gone and had a go on Dark Souls III. And
all these new mechanics are my bread and butter.
42
All that Mario level doodling in maths textbooks
comes good. A huge score awaits within…
60
As a chap with 17 completions of the first game
under his belt, it’s safe to say I’m hyped for MGSV .
Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman – Editor
Get more from your Gm!
Online at www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster
www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster
…or subscribe. See page 92 for details.
OctOber 2015
03
CoveR
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Contents
over story c
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Only the best games
are featured on
GM’s cover!
What’s In Your Latest Issue?
ver story
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staR waRs
26 battlefRont
We take to the skies in all the old favourites,
including X-Wings, TIE Fighters, and, yes, the
Millennium Falcon! You could say we had a
real… Hans on. Sorry. Not sorry.
30 yeaRs of
42 sUpeR
maRio
GeaR
60 metal
soliD v
If you’ve been around for as long as we have,
and then a tad longer, then you know how big a
deal this is. The big M’s super birthday was
never going to pass quietly in GM towers!
previews
30
Call of DUty: blaCk ops iii
33
fifa 16
34
DaRk soUls iii
36
falloUt 4
40
hitman
Need an excuse to get your mates
over for a bout of sofa-shooting?
Then get the next COD in your sights.
The beautiful game just keeps
getting more beautiful, but what’s
kicking off pitch-side this season?
New mechanics. A new dark
fantasy landscape. And, of course,
new bosses. We go toe-to-toe with it all.
400 hours of playtime? No level
cap? Looks like we might need that
nuclear shelter in the GM basement after all.
IO Interactive has been quietly
working on a game-changing
sandbox of murder. We don a bald wig and
a suit to get a shifty up close.
04
OCTOBER 2015
After days playing we’ve
snuck away from Big Boss’
final foray in guardbothering. Is this the best
open world game ever
made? Flick on over for the
full lowdown.
Reviews
66
Until Dawn
69
Galak-Z: the Dimensional
70
eveRyboDy’s Gone
to the RaptURe
76
RaRe Replay
79
kinG’s QUest
David Cage’s iron grip on the linear
QTE story game has finally been
lifted, as PS4 gets a unique horror gem.
Asteroids was a long old time ago,
huh? It’s about time the spacebased rock blaster had an indie jumpstart!
Matt was a wreck after this
apocalyptic yarn. All those ’80s references…
30 games in one £20 package? And
all from one of Britain’s best
developers? Today is a good fur day.
We can’t say we saw a reboot of the
decades-old classic coming, but
this first episode impressed us so much
we’ve given it a GM knighthood.
Regulars
06
fanbase
10
UpfRont
54
inDiemasteR
84
RetRomasteR
88
CUltURemasteR
We love you readers. We love you
so much you get a whole section to
spurt your thoughts at us each month.
We’ve gone all existential in our
survival test of The Long Dark.
Meanwhile Halo Wars 2 gets announced!
We Happy Few sounds and looks
like Bioshock with the creepiness
turned up. And with drugs. Lots of drugs.
Like a bullet of nostalgia fed
through a gatling gun of awesome,
our old school legend this ish: Commando.
Still got your old consoles? Then
you might want to have a look at
our in-depth delving into the world of
modding. A Pikachu Game Boy!
www.twitter.com/gamesmaster
team Gm
Issue 295 / October 2015
Meet The Magazine’s Makers!
Future plc, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA
Tel 01225 442244 Fax 01225 732275 Email [email protected]
Web www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster
Editorial
Editor Matthew Sakuraoka-Gilman
Production Editor Robin Valentine
Art Editor Sam Freeman
Contributors
Joe Baker, Louise Blain, Luke Brown, Matt Clapham, Matt Elliott, Duncan
Geere, Ben Griffin, Andy Hartup, Leon Hurley, Phil Iwaniuk, Leigh Loveday,
Daniella Lucas, Dave Meikleham, John Robertson, Phil Savage, Chris Schilling,
Joe Skrebels, Tom Sykes, Sam White, Ben Wilson
1
advErtising
2
Commercial Sales Director Clare Dove
Advertising Director Andrew Church
Advertising Manager Michael Pyatt
Account Manager Steven Pyatt
For advertising enquiries please contact Michael Pyatt,
[email protected]
3
markEting
Group Marketing Manager Laura Driffield
Marketing Manager Kristianne Stanton
ProduCtion & distribution
Production Controller Fran Twentyman
Production Manager Mark Constance
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It’s been all systems go in the build up to a hefty gaming release
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FuturE Publishing
Head of Content and Marketing Nial Ferguson
Head of Games, Film and Music Declan Gough
UK CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne
Next issue on sale 8 October 2015
Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman
Not being the man on the ground for
our Dark Souls III hands-on nearly
broke Matt’s heart in twain. The
burdens of being editor, eh? And
when Robin suggested he might not
get to review it either, we almost had
our first case of GM homicide…
Sam Freeman
Sam’s been breaking out his secret
photoshopping skills in order to
make us all look a bit classier. We
verily dub him ‘The Bouffant Filter’
from henceforth. Let’s see how long
he can bear it before he turns us all
into goat scrotums.
Robin Valentine
Our very own Joker finally got
Batman: Arkham Knight working
this month after weeks of
disappointment and spoilerific
eavesdropping avoidance in the
office. Still, at least his PC master race
credentials remain intact.
A member of the Audit
Bureau of Circulations
12,849
Jan-Dec 2014
the biG Game finder
Halo 5: Guardians
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
Preview – P22
Preview – P25
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Preview – P38
© Future Publishing Limited 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or
reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company
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Volume
Life Is Strange: Dark Room
Angry Birds 2
Review– P72
Review – P75
Review – P81
OCTOBER 2015
05
COnTaCT US
Email [email protected]
Twitter www.twitter.com/gamesmaster
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officialgamesmaster
Web www.gamesradar.com/gamesmaster
Post GamesMaster, Future, Quay House,
the Ambury, bath, bA1 1AU, UK
Waiting game
se
fanbase fan
se
ba
a
b
se
n
a
fanbase
ase
fan
nb
ba
a
f
se fanbase
nba
fa
fa
n
fanbaSe
the best of your emails,
tweets, and carrier
pigeon death
threats
base fanba
fan
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f
L E T T E R
se
ba
Arkham Knight was a painfully slow
download for those opting for an
online purchase. Physical media FTW?
of the
month
Downloads? Just give us physical copies, reckons Jon
T
he dilemma of buying a game nowadays
isn’t about which one to buy, but how to
purchase it. This generation of gaming,
especially on current-gen consoles, seems
to steer far too heavily (in my opinion) in
the direction of digital downloads, and pre-order
incentives or additional bonuses.
Buying an external hard drive for your console to have
all your games available at the click of a button seems
great and can be efficient. However, it takes away the
whole feel of being a gamer and physically collecting your
games, like we did back in the good old days.
When I was younger I used to be proud as I watched my
PlayStation 1 game collection build and gain muscle. I still
have my copy of Crash Bandicoot and my Pokémon
games in all their glory on my shelves.
And then you’ve got that feeling when you tear a new
game out of the wrapper. Clicking open a box to delve into
your next adventure won’t ever be beaten by a
downloaded game, it just doesn’t have the same effect.
What are your thoughts on the matter, GM?
Jon Campbell, email
In 1979 I started my love affair with
gaming, and it’s long been a
tempestuous relationship. For two years I
have been underwhelmed by what
current-gen consoles had to offer. And
then I finally bought an Xbox One…
Well all I can say is, whose bright idea
was it to have it have to load the games
onto the hard drive? I spent the best part
of my childhood having to wait five
minutes for each game to load. Now I
have to wait hours!
Sean Beech, email
We can sympathise with where you’re
coming from! Still, at least we’re beyond
our PS1 and PS2 memory stick juggling
woes. Oh, wait… our hard drive is full.
Saturn around
So Microsoft decided to implement
backwards compatibility with the Xbox
One. A smart and brave move. What I
didn’t understand though was the
backlash for Sony to do the same with
the PS4. As an avid gamer, I firmly
believe that retaining a console is a good
thing. I once got rid of my Sega Saturn
and I regretted it so much that my
fiancée got me another one for
christmas. Having it lined up next to a
PS1, PS2, PS3, and a Gamecube on our
media station looks great. Selling any of
those other consoles – or games – now
won’t cross my mind.
Jimmi Cottam, email
We do love our console collections, but
it’s just not practical for everyone.
Trading in old machines is a great way
to make up the cost of a new one. Also,
just thinking about all the wires a full
set-up needs makes us shudder.
Getting an Inkling
I’m different. I’m the guy who chooses to
play as Wii Fit trainer in Smash, or as
It seems a little unfair on buyers to have to pick between
different bonuses instead of being able to get all of them.
We also love a good collector’s edition, and seeing our
own displays of physical copies is a delight. But the growth
of downloads has made it easier for us to get our hands on
games that would normally be hard to find in shops, or try
out games we wouldn’t normally pick up. 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!*
But without the common usage of downloads you might
miss out on awesome little gems such as Rocket League.
06
OctOber 2015
*Don’t forget to include your postal address and
chosen format!
fanbasE
COlleCTOr COrner
YOUr TOP 5
Show us your shelves of gaming glory!
This month:
Martyn Newton, email
Not content to have just one
impressive collection, Martyn has two
to show off. “One is the current-gen
collection, the other is last-gen,” he
tells us. “totalling around 430 games
plus various other gaming
merchandise, the rarest item is
probably Phantasy Star II.” Not only
that, but we spy a burgeoning Amiibo
collection there too. Not planning on
ever removing them from the boxes
and having a little play? the
temptation must be unbearable…
Think you can do better? Perhaps
you’ve got an even rarer game than
Martyn? Send us your pics! n
I’m concerned, and quite honestly one of
the best experiences I’ve had as a gamer
was getting my hands on an Xbox
controller; talk about fitting like a glove.
So no, this will not be the last
generation of console. technically that
was the generation before online
multiplayer. this is simply the dawning of
a new era, of a marriage between Pc and
console that will some day result in a
machine that will blow everyone’s mind.
the only thing that’s going to be phased
out is the contempt that console and Pc
gamers hold towards one another.
Ross Cruikshank, email
“I’m DIfferent. I’m the guy who
pIcks wII fIt traIner In smash’’
Scientist (b) in Goldeneye. I never used to
understand why I had this innate need to
stand out; perhaps it was just
subconscious attention seeking.
When I picked up Splatoon a few
weeks after launch, I was presented with
even more ways to show my
individuality. Within a few days, not only
was I a snorkel-wearing squid-hipster
wielding the most obscure ink flinging
implement I could find, but I also had a
revelation: I noticed that most players
were using the same weapons, making
online matches seem repetitive at times.
And then it hit me. My need to be
different was fuelled by a need to upset
the established norms. I wanted to prove
that there are other effective weapons,
and give my opponents a new
perspective on the game and possibly
even life. I encourage any who read this
to be different and shake up people’s
strategies. Stick it to the Man/Squid!
Samuel Jego, email
What do you do when people start
following in your footsteps? Stick with
it, or swap things around again?
Console yourself
consoles being phased out? I don’t think
so. As I see it, consoles and Pcs are
slowly but surely being merged, as
evidenced from the wonders that the
Xbox One can perform. What’s really
missing? A keyboard and mouse as far as
PC and consoles are becoming
increasingly similar (you can even use a
mouse and keyboard on console now),
but they still offer enough differences
for them to coexist for a long time to
come. The great thing about consoles is
that you don’t need to upgrade them all
of the time to keep up, you always
know what you’re getting. Then again,
you can just keep on tinkering or
modding things with a PC to customise
things exactly how you want them.
We’re just happy that there are enough
different approaches
to get everyone into
gaming. n
rico returns to the charts
and Mario follows suit. but
bethesda’s open world rPG
shall not be moved…
1
faLLouT 4
Format PS4, XO, PC Out 10 November
Top of the wish list again – it seems no
one can wait to explore the wasteland
with a faithful doggy pal…
2
JusT causE 3
Format PS4, XO, PC Out 1 December
We can’t blame you lot for wanting to
catch some sun this winter by taking a
trip to Medici. Pack a medkit.
3
assassin’s cREEd syndicaTE
Format PS4, XO, PC Out 23 October
Maybe it’s the top hats that have got
you excited? Or maybe it’s because Evie
is looking totally badass?
4
supER MaRio MakER
Format Wii U Out 11 September
The prospect of an infinite supply of
homemade Mario levels is just too
exciting for anyone to ignore.
5
off ThE chaRT!
behold, the multi-coloured pie of chat
14% best uses of PS4’s Share button
22% Will the Warcraft film live up to the games?
34% the best looking games of all time
20% Using multiple drinks mats
10% choosing new Destiny guns
dooM
Format PS4, XO, PC Out 2016
Maybe it’s our bloodlust talking, but
there’s nothing quite like using a
chainsaw to split a demon’s face in two.
OctOber 2015
07
fanbasE
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Wisdom and weirdness
from our bustling social
media channels
Destiny should
have been
named “Profit”
– that’s the only
part of the game the
developers care about.
s
cool stuff and
videogame
culture
SOCIal
GrOUSInG
CRAZY
COOKING
ove games yo
ul
ul
yo
o
Braden Burgess, Facebook
get in on the
Bake Off is back, so why not
r biscuits
asau
Bulb
own
r
you
ing
mak
action by
on Etsy.
kies
Coo
Star
from
er
cutt
with this
TOP
TUBER
nya Belousova
YouTube pianist So
performance
ve
ssi
pre
puts on an im
shaped like a
no
pia
e
on this incredibl
oller stool.
ntr
co
NES, complete with
In Batman:
Arkham Knight,
I stopped the
Batmobile at
such an immense speed
it toppled off a bridge
and a bad guy happened
to be walking under at
the wrong time.
Daniel Climo, Facebook
Maniac of ThE MonTh!
Loving my free coasters with
this month’s GamesMaster! A
man chooses to park his brew
atop a Big Daddy.
Sam Bridgett, @sambridgett
DIY
MAGIC
We’ve seen some great
videogame art in our tim
e,
but never did we think
to put it on a skateboar
d.
User not_thenorm on Ins
tagram is way ahead of
us
with this fantastic Earthb
ound deck.
Want to brighten
up your home? Then
grab these pixelated
flowers from Think
Geek. Just make sure
that fire flower isn’t
too close to anything
flammable.
This one is for all the MinecraftMasters
out there. Now you can be prepared for
anything, thanks to this set of tool earrings
by TheCraftapplePanda on Etsy.
Leave Ellie and
Joel out? Bad
idea, what’s the
point in new
characters when their
chemistry was so good?
We need to know what
happened next!
Adam Ssz Lugia, Facebook
Good Egg
Galaxy from
Super Mario
Galaxy would
make a great crazy golf
course, actually – try to
hit the ball into the star
launcher while avoiding
the black hole.
Jake Parr, Facebook
I would love an
amphibious
vehicle in GTA.
It would be
awesome speeding
down the Fort Zancudo
runway in a hovercraft,
and then just driving off
the edge into the sea.
Louis Gardner, Facebook
08
OctOber 2015
10 deep burn
Dogs and cats are
pants – dragons are
the best pet going,
and Scalebound is
here to prove it.
War Of The
IndependenTs
The victor in this console conflict
isn’t Sony or Microsoft – it’s us
The fence sITTers (buT WhaT a fence!)
Feeling greedy? Then look forward to these outstanding games coming to both consoles
Space sandbox Starbound is confirmed for Xbox One’s
Game Preview – but should land on PS4 eventually, too.
10
OCTOBER 2015
Multiplayer riot Super Dungeon Bros hits four genres:
puzzler, fighter, platformer, and friendship-ruiner.
Kickstarter-funded action-RPG Hyper Light Drifter
looks mind-blowingly beautiful in motion.
16 snow joke
18 War zone
19 hell shocked
He may have bested
the dinosaurs of Ark,
but can our reporter
survive a trip into
The Long Dark?
Double jumps, wings,
and demonic
transformations – is
this WOW’s coolest
new class yet?
That’s right, there’s a
new Halo game
coming – though we
bet you won’t be able
to guess what it is…
Ashen looks relaxing like Journey, yet
as profound as Shadow Of The Colossus
– and it’s exclusive to Xbox.
R
1
ight back to the early ’90s, console wars have been fought using big
names. Sonic vs Mario. Cloud vs Zelda. Drake vs Master Chief. The
decline of the triple-A exclusive, however, is causing platform holders to
turn instead to the little guys of gaming. With Sony and Microsoft newly
focused on innovation and value, indie gaming’s future has never
looked so bright – as demonstrated by the gems below, our pick of the
best independent games coming to your console of choice…
Chasm
Imagine the golden
years of Castlevania,
with customisation,
procedurallygenerated levels and… yep, that’s the
‘excitement overload’ face we made too.
2
To Leave
3
Eitr
4
Night In The
Woods
One-of-a-kind 2D
puzzler by South
American studio Freaky
Creations, which tasks
you with escaping an imposing cityscape by
riding around on… a magic blue door.
The
Burning
Question
What’s your all-time favourite
independent game?
hotline Miami
Top music, the ’80’s,
neon, and lots of action.
Paul Davis,
@Mr_PaulDavis91
Journey
It really changed my
view on gaming, and
broadened my mind to
trying out more indies.
Thomas Conneely, Facebook
Visit www.facebook.com/
officialgamesmaster and www.twitter.
com/gamesmaster to take part in next
issue’s burning questions.
This seamless marriage
of 16-bit visuals and
isometric viking action
should entrance RPG
votaries new and old – just be warned that it’s
difficult like time travelling to 11th Century Oslo.
Adventure game
starring a nimble feline
in a world pulled
straight from a 1970s kids’ storybook – but the
beautiful visuals mask a bleak narrative.
5
Broforce
A side-scrolling
run-and-gunner that
hilariously lampoons
American
hyper-masculinity by serving up nefarious
‘foreign’ bosses and other ’80s movie cliches.
1
Thimbleweed
Park
Pixellated
point-and-click from
genre master Ron
Gilbert, whose murder-mystery storyline offers
satirical nods to Twin Peaks and The X-Files.
2
Knight Squad
3
Ashen
4
Worms WMD
5
Cuphead
This top-down,
powered-up result of a
Speedball-GauntletBomberman
threesome delivers all your retro Christmases in
one resplendent package.
Soothing and
unnerving all at once,
Aurora 44’s RPG has
you forming
relationships with other players while fending
off beasties in a handsome open world.
Ride-able vehicles
sound cool, but the real
draw here is seeing
British studio Team 17
going back to the future, with these
invertebrates playing like your yesteryear faves.
A gorgeous hand-inked
platformer, whose lead
character has a straw
sticking out of his
bonce. Barmy run-and-gunning and a grainy
1930s-style visual filter should make it a winner.
OCTOBER 2015
11
One Man
and his
dragOn
1
Scalebound is a lizard-based
buddy story – and Platinum’s
most ambitious game yet
4
2
3
This is Drew. He
looks a bit like
Ninja Theory’s
Dante, and like the DMC
star he has something of
an attitude problem – but
maybe you would too if
you were transported to
another world.
1
12
OCTOBER 2015
Draconis is
shaped by ‘pulse
energy’, which
Platinum has said is a bit
like the Force. It’s why
these islands are floating.
Reminder: land masses
aren’t supposed to do
that, outside of Avatar.
2
This place is
known as the
Grassland, for
presumably obvious
reasons. It’s a verdant
stretch of world that
reminds us of Xenoblade
– hopefully it will be just
as ripe for exploration.
3
Co-op’s in, for up
to four players at
once. At the end
of the demo, another
Drew appeared, sporting
Kamiya’s Gamertag,
suggesting we’ll be
playing multiples of the
same character.
4
The Big
PicTure
ig
e the big p
tur
ict
pic
u
e the big p
tur
ict
pic
ur
e
ig picture t
eb
he
th
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Drew’s arsenal includes swords,
explosive arrows, and sticky mines, and
he can summon a suit of scaly armour.
re
ig
The hoTTesT shoT
of The gaming
monTh!
g picture
th
e bi
eb
th
“With White hair and dragon
blood, he’s basically dany
from game of thrones”
P
5
The
Burning
Question
What would you do with a
real-life pet dragon?
give it a job
I’d take it to work. See
that dragon? He’s the
complaints manager.
Andrew, @Halo1nine
Thuban is an
intuiging
creature,
evoking The Last
Guardian’s adorable
cat-eagle thing, and the
transforming dragons of
the Panzer Dragoon
series. Also: fire.
5
Open a restaurant
Make him grill meat, of
course, and sell it for a
mint because it’s
dragon-roasted.
Shane Byrne, Facebook
latinum Games is
proving to be one
of the most
adaptable
developers in the
business, flitting
with impresive ease between
beat-'em-ups, shooters, space
adventures, and whatever the hell
The Wonderful 101 was. With its
action-RPG combat, four-player
co-op, and enormous dragon buddy,
Scalebound is proving equally
difficult to pin down. One thing is
clear though: this is shaping up to be
the studio’s biggest game yet.
The game tells the story of
wise-cracking loner Drew, who travels
from our Earth to the fantasy world of
Draconis (with his headphones and an
MP3 player in tow). Once there, he
teams up with a friendly dragon
named Thuban, who, like Sean
Connery’s Celtic firebreather in
Dragonheart, appears to be the last of
his kind. Sad times. If you’ve noticed
Drew’s alarmingly scaly arm, that’s
because he finds himself scalebound
to the creature – if one dies, the other
will croak as well.
Director Hideki Kamiya has said
that he’s always loved dragons, and as
such Thuban is the focus of the game.
While you can’t control the beast
directly, you can issue him simple
commands; the rest of his actions are
dictated by his A.I. The pair’s bond
allows Drew to heal the dragon, to
scan enemies and unleash a blast of
energy, to transform himself into a
freaky human-dragon hybrid, and
even to fly around on him later in the
game. With his white hair and dragon
blood, he’s basically Daenerys from
Game Of Thrones.
Dragon’s den
While Drew is a set character – and so
far a bit of an annoying one – Thuban
can be customised visually, and made
into a more effective killing machine
with the aid of magical gems. Dragon
Age, Dark Souls, and decades of bad
fantasy novels have given flying,
fire-breathing monsters a bed rep
– Scalebound seems like an attempt to
restore their standing, by making you
feel attached to its scaly behemoth.
The initial gameplay showing was a
bit technically shaky, the combat
surprisingly slight given the studio’s
pedigree, but we still have a ways to
go before the game releases in late
2016. Even with its (currently) rough
edges, this has the potential to be
something special – we just hope
Platinum’s verve shows through. n
OCTOBER 2015
13
w
new shots
ne
ots
w
sh
s
ne
ts new shot
sho
s
shots ne
new
ws
ts
ho
ho
one
shot thrill
ts
w
ne
the newest info
all wrapped
up in one
pic
hots new s
ws
ho
ne
ts
Good MorninG
VietnaM
2K’s organised crime sandbox embraces
the 1960s for its third instalment
S
o long, Empire Bay,
and thanks for all
the murders,
wiseguys, and
authentic ’50s
detail. Mafia III is
here, and it moves the family business
from the series’ fictionalised New York
analogue to a slightly less fictionalised
New Orleans (they got to use the real
name this time). Despite this, 2K is
describing it as a “reimagined” version
of the city – so they’ll still have a little
leeway to mix things up.
With the new setting comes a shift in
time, from the 1940s and ’50s to precisely
1968, when the US was still (just about)
the
biG
debate
This month we ask
the question…
What’s the perfect
level of difficulty?
14
OCTOBER 2015
engaged in the Vietnam war. You’re
Lincoln Lee, a veteran of the conflict who
returns home to make something of
himself in the swampy Southern city. For
a time, he finds a place within the local
‘black mob’, but after a violent encounter
with the Italian mafia leaves his new
family all but wiped out, Lee vows brutal
revenge on the rival syndicate. All of
which means you’ll get to build your own
powerful criminal empire, and take on
the mob you were an integral part of in
the first two games.
Mob rule
Your underdog venture will come to
“transform” New Orleans, which at the
start of the game is firmly under the
mafia’s grip. Lee will ally with other shady
groups to achieve his murderous goals,
including protagonist of the previous
game Vito Scaletta’s Italian sect, Irish
“you’ll get to build your own
criminal empire, and take on
the italian mafia”
gangster Burke and his crew, and
Cassandra, who controls the Haitian mob.
It’s rare for a game to feature ethnic
minorities in the lead roles, and rarer still
for the game world to reflect that fact on
a meaningful level, but Mafia III seems
unflinching in this regard. The footage
we’ve seen featured some seriously
thought-provoking encounters, and
showed pedestrians hurling racist abuse
at the African-American Lincoln.
We’re promised a “dynamic” narrative
that responds to your actions, but we’re
skeptical about whether that means true
branching paths or not. We do know
we’re intrigued, though: the setting alone
is enough to get us more interested than
we have been in the series in years. n
the dev
the critic
the fan
Hideteka Miyazaki
Director, Dark Souls III
Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman
Editor
Adam Wiper
GM Reader
For me it’s about level designs where
the player almost gets killed, but
ultimately makes it through and
overcomes the difficulties – that’s
something I wants to let players
experience during my game.
A game can be harder than a walrus
hide if it wants, so long as it inspires
some kind of story. I’m not talking about
narrative, but the juicy anecdotes about
the time you beat that impossible boss
or finally cracked that impassable level.
Done right, difficulty can be a challenge
you strive to conquer. Done lazily, it’s
cheap and infuriating. Games are
ultimately meant to be fun, and make
you feel empowered, not stress you out
and feel like a chore.
4
take
aim
your
eyes
only…
Rumours to keep under
your hat – also, buy a hat
“Games that have stuck
with me have limits, just
like the real world does”
Open worlds have their place, but they’re no
substitute for good level design and a truly
handcrafted setting, says Tom Sykes
N
on-linear
platformer
Wonder Boy III
was the first game
to make me feel
like I was in a
world rather than a collection of
levels. I’ve been hooked on that
feeling ever since.
Every time an open-world game is
announced, my mind races at the
possibilities – but the results too often
let me down. Assassin’s Creed: Unity,
Skyrim: I was engrossed in these
worlds for an afternoon or two, before
my spirit was broken by a billion
meaningless objectives. You don’t feel
grounded in these environments in a
coherent and satisfying way; you’re a
janitor cleaning up exclamation
marks, sweeping across areas that are
all surface and no depth.
The games that have stuck with
me, the likes of Bloodborne and
Akrham Asylum, have limits. They
have impassable obstacles, just like
our universe does. Their
“my spirit’s been broken by
meaningless objctives”
environments have meaning because
they’ve been handcrafted by a
designer, who with every unscaleable
wall and tantalising collectible is
subtly guiding us through a carefully
constructed space. This should make
these places feel more gamey, and
less authentic, but I think it often has
the opposite effect – much of the real
world is like this too. Think of how
we’re funnelled down city streets, and
manipulated by supermarket layouts
into buying things we don’t need.
I still love open worlds, and I think
they’re a great setting for many
genres. But as more and more games
treat it as a default feature, I hope the
vital and valuable art of level design
isn’t lost in the process. n
1
Clean up your act
2
Quest wishes
3
bungie jump
4
nX in line
Konami sounds like a terrible
place to work, if Japanese financial
paper Nikkei is to be believed. Devs
deemed “useless” have apparently been
given humiliating new jobs, including as
janitors at the company’s health clubs.
When Dragon Quest XI was
announced, it was for PS4, 3DS, and
Nintendo’s mysterious NX, making it the
console’s first confirmed game. Square
Enix has downplayed it, suggesting that
it’s only being “considered”.
The Destiny developer has put
up a job listing for a ‘PC compatibility
tester’, suggesting the currently
console-only shooter may be about to
get a port . That is, unless they’re
working on something entirely new…
stats MaGiC The gaming month in facts and figures
1.5
Number of subscribers, in
millions, WOW shed between
the end of March and June. It
still has 5.6 million, however.
1,000 220
Amount in dollars that speedrunner pannenkoek20012 is
offering to anyone who can recreate a time-saving Super
Mario 64 glitch. The bug occurred by accident during a
livestream by fellow runner DOTA_Teabag.
Cost, in pounds, of Rock
Band 4 with guitar and
drums in the UK – £60 more
than the US price. Boo!
Nintendo has filed a patent for a
console without an optical disc drive,
which has led some to speculate that
this could be a portent of an entirely
digital NX system. Stuff gets patented all
the time, so it’s not conclusive, mind.
OCTOBER 2015
15
20 minutes
Okay, try again
. But I need prior
ities: firstly, don’t
The only thing
be a dick. Seco
staying in the sa
ndly, keep mov
me place gets
this time I’m sp
ing.
you is colder an
awned on a ro
d hungrier. Brilli
ad, with nothing
shot, so I pick lef
an
tly,
bu
t
tre
t and head off.
es and snow in
It’s not long be
sight. It’s a 50/5
grateful surpris
fore I see a dista
0
e, the place is a
nt
roof, and to my
goldmine: food
but see what yo
, a tin opener, wa
u drink when th
te
r
(fr
e
om
alt
ernative’s deat
There’s enough
the toilet,
h) and furniture
to keep me go
ing for a while,
for firewood.
up and set out
but it’s not going
for another ho
to last long, so
use I spy in the
I load
distance.
utes it clear that mother nature hates a smart arse. I start off
10 minmp
t makes
How hard
My first atte
dam and a dead deer.
right by a hydroelectric
the deer’s
feeling cocky because I’m
plies right here? Except
d and a building full of sup
foo
with
de,
be,
l
insi
viva
I’m
le
sur
can
goes down whi
’s empty. Worse, the sun
es finding a
frozen solid and the dam
use three precious match
to
me
ing
forc
and
ss
, thirsty,
gry
hun
I’m
–
plunging me into darkne
perate
and things are already des
d out into the
hea
I
way out. I’ve barely started
ice,
cho
er
oth
no
h
of use around. Wit
cold, and there’s nothing
minutes. Ah.
death in a railcar within
to
ze
free
I
re
whe
st,
fore
a
If you go
Into the
woods
today…
What are the
chances of a survival
amateur outlasting
the Long Dark?
T
16
here are no zombies in this apocalypse – just the cold,
the search for food, and wolves. The idea is simple: stay
alive. Find supplies, search out shelter, and put off the
inevitable as long as possible in a frozen wasteland,
with no rescue in sight and no second chances. What
could possibly go wrong for our scrappy survivalist? n
OCTOBER 2015
35 minutes
Along the way, I pass a frozen body that no longer needs its axe, so I grab that and
head to the second house as the light fails. It’s the same situation – a short term haul
of goods, but nothing sustaining. I try to head out again, but a snowstorm cuts
visibility to nothing, forcing me back inside. A second attempt to leave the cabin
ends in a disastrous wolf attack. I fight the animal off, but the list of problems it
causes is the beginning of the end – all my clothing is ruined, I’ve sprained a wrist
and an ankle, and I’m losing blood. I manage to limp to a small shack and light a fire,
but ultimately die in my sleep. As afternoon’s go this is… thought provoking.
ing
utesvery lucky, or the game takes pity on mffe,evaserIywstahertreat–afohuodnt,
40 min
r
stu
go is eithe
t to
and there’s
to ge
My third
combat knife
phere is starting
thing I see is a
ly bleak atmos
ss
rnful
tle
ou
m
len
lodge. The first
d
re
e
an
s,
Th
ing
y-made snare.
, creaking build
nd
wi
find
u
of
d
yo
un
supplies, a read
en
e so
e, especially wh
so lonely, just th
s you of
ertingly moros
nc
ind
me though – it’s
co
m
re
dis
e
is
m
t
ga
fec
pany. The ef
hing about this
ys of
music for com
st a tree. Everyt
I have a few da
body leant again
n
to live is strong.
ze
ge
fro
r
ur
y
he
m
ot
ly
an
n.
en
pla
dd
st
su
t
be
e
bu
th
h,
t
of deat
d figure ou
the inevitability
things slow an
– it’s time to take
supplies at least
smaLL comForts
In a fight with the cold, you don’t need guns…
Tin opener
It’s no exaggeration to say that the first time we
found one of these metal beauties, there was a fist
pump. Without it you’re left smashing cans open with
your bare hands, or hacking at them with a tool. It’s
possible to still be in trouble with a bag full of tinned
food, because of the mess and loss involved in
opening them without one.
Matches
1 hour
of a field. If I
. There are rabbits on the other side
One of my biggest assets is the snare
y the
purif
and
snow
melt
also
with that can
can catch them, there’s a stove to cook
learned in my last
I
trick
her
Anot
tion.
situa
e
inabl
water. I’m in a potentially susta
cabin
to repair clothes, so I head back to the
playthrough is that cloth can be used
stuff I’m not wearing. The
spare
some
and
ins
curta
the
ding
and set about shred
warmth
ravaging the cold is, any increase in
improvements are small, but given how
s from
snare
new
make
to
how
me
n
has show
is a boon. A crafting bench in the cabin
bility. I’m going to survive!
possi
a
also
are
s
arrow
and
bows
sticks and animal guts;
Without matches, there’s no fire, and without fire
you’ll freeze, especially if you can’t find shelter. You
always start with a box, and they’re not that hard to
find, but you’ll sometimes start in the middle of
nowhere during a blizzard, meaning your mastery
over flame can be the deciding factor between
seeing another morning, or an untimely death.
Nice warm clothes
The elements are harsh, and freezing conditions
mean your body temperature can fall dangerously
low even indoors, while windchill will see
hypothermia set in rapidly if you try and go outside in
a storm. Finding a good coat and a warm scarf is a
literal game changer, and shredding curtains and old
socks to patch stuff up is a vital skill.
1 hour 10 minutes
Life falls into a routine. During the days, I set the trap, collect wood, and
explore. At night, I sleep out the bitter winds. Wolves wander past
occasionally but don’t approach. The cabin rests in a small dip with four clear
paths, so I look as far into each as I can. There’s a problem though: even with
repairs, my clothing just isn’t up to the weather. Each time I leave, my
temperature drops fast, until I’m forced back by the threat of hypothermia.
Travelling through nooks and behind rocks can help eliminate windchill, but
I’m still in trouble. I’ve got food and water, but am I trapped here?
tWo hours
It’s the end. It’s night, I’m
still hypothermic, but the
re’s no food or fire and, bec
my calorie count is so low
ause
, I can’t even sleep, as the
re’s no guarantee I’d wak
choice is either lie down
e up. The
and let it happen, or face
The Long Dark on my own
light up a torch and head
terms. I
out, intent on walking unt
il I die, but the game has
cruel twists left to play. Ove
a few
r the hill I could never qui
te reach before (when livin
a priority) I find shacks and
g was
supplies, not enough to
make a difference now, but
massive insult on what am
still a
ounts to my own funera
l march. I walk on. There’s
turn of the knife, chilling
one last
ly reflecting real life accoun
ts of survival. After more
wandering, near to death,
I see a building in the dist
anc
e. There’s a glimmer of hop
– food? Maybe firewood?
e
No. It’s the cabin again. I’ve
walked full circle. The scre
blurs, it gets harder to see
en
, and I die on the steps of
the place I tried to leave.
FinaL report
1 hour 30 minutes
guts strewn
I’ve settled into my ‘home’ quite well, though there are rabbit hides and
even a
about, admittedly, for curing. Soon I’ll be able to make another snare, and
my
all
smashed
I
wood.
is:
else
g
somethin
but
now,
concern
bow. Food isn’t a
how far I
furniture long ago, and the firewood outside is dwindling. The cold limits
desperate, I
can forage, and every day there are fewer branches to burn. Eventually,
point.
tipping
the
It’s
ia.
hypotherm
catch
and
safe…
is
push out further than I know
Stuck in
Unless I stay inside for 24 hours, my strength will drop, further limiting me.
rabbit raw.
the cabin, I light increasingly small fires to cook, eventually eating my last
Leon Hurley, Executive News Editor, GamesRadar+
I don’t think I’ve ever played anything quite as
poetically bleak as The Long Dark. It starts as a
simple survival exercise – find stuff, keep all the stats
in the green, explore, rinse, repeat. But there’s an
oppressive, barren melancholy that wears you down
and gets inside your head. The sound of the wind
and creaking structures forces a sense of isolation into your bones; it’s as
disconcerting as it is haunting. It’s basically survival horror, but all the more
unpleasant without monsters or scares, because with those distractions
absent, the only thing left is wondering how you’ll die, and understanding
that it’s ‘when’ not ‘if’. All those lonely, unknown bodies you find in games
like The Last Of Us? This is how they got there.
OCTOBER 2015
17
This, obviously, is the bad guy. Unless you
choose to play as the Covenant, in which
case he’s the hero. Decisions!
Ensemble made sure Spartans were
the coolest unit in the original game,
and that’s unlikely to change here.
state of the rts
Halo Wars 2 makes an unexpected return
B
ack in 2004,
Microsoft asked
Age Of Empires dev
Ensemble to make a
Halo RTS, and the
result – five years
later – worked far better than anyone
dared hope. The studio achieved the
unthinkable, creating a truly
controller-friendly strategy game
(although it failed to inspire imitators,
as many had hoped). With Ensemble
closing after Halo Wars’ release,
Creative Assembly has stepped up to
the plate to develop a surprise sequel,
announced at this year’s Gamescom.
It’s called Halo Wars 2, obviously, and it’s
coming to Windows 10 and Xbox One
18
OCTOBER 2015
next autumn. Details are currently thin on
the ground, but 343 Industries’ early
teases show a desperate battle between
a squad of Spartans and a group of
Covenant brutes, who are – quite frankly
– wiping the floor with the heroic
warriors. At the end, an energy-hammerwielding bad guy turns up to taunt the
soldiers, and he looks a lot like Halo 2’s
jerk villain Tartarus. As he’s not terribly
alive at the end of that game, that could
make Halo Wars 2 another prequel.
Flood warnings
What else can we expect? Well, more
isometric strategising, certainly – this is a
tough genre to control from any other
viewpoint. While the original Wars only
featured two playable factions – the
UNSC and the Covenant – we suspect
Creative Assembly will be chucking in
more for this follow-up. The Flood are an
obvious choice, and one that would
handle very differently, but depending on
the timeline, Halo 4’s robotic
Prometheans are an option too.
Hopefully, the Total War dev team will
carry over its knack for creating
large-scale battles featuring ridiculous
numbers of units. While specifics are
scarce, possibilities remain abundant. n
Top of our wish list are epic spaceship
battles. Naval combat would be a
compelling twist for the series too.
The
Burning
Question
What’s the best ever alien species
in videogames?
Krogan
They’re just huge,
awesome walking
tanks! “I am Krogan!”
Katie Stubbs, @katieee120
rapper
Are ToeJam & Earl the
same species? If so,
them. Because they’re
funking brilliant.
deKay, @deKay01
“a desperate battle between
a squad of spartans and a
group of covenant brutes”
Class Order Halls provide a shareable
new area to gather, much like Draenor’s
Garrisons, only not quite so lonely.
Warcraft’s level cap rises to 110 here. Put
that in your ornate pipe and smoke it.
The numbers
of The beasT
Sixth expansion to give Blizzard’s
seminal MMO a leg up
L
egion, the latest
World Of Warcraft
add-on, has been
revealed – and
signals the return of
Azeroth’s old
enemy, the Burning Legion. The
demonic horde is back for a fresh stab
at conquering both Alliance and
Horde, and it’ll take another banding
together of disparate races to stem the
tide. Thankfully, while that sounds
familiar for long-time players, there’s
lots more which is totally fresh.
For starters there’s a new hero class, the
Demon Hunter, inspired by the returning
lore-ific villain Illidan Stormrage (he’s the
chap pictured, with horns and an urgent
need for medicinal eye drops). With a pair
of head adornments and a
melee-focused bent, the Illidari will be the
first Warcraft-ians with the ability to
double jump. Oh, and they can transform
into hellspawn, too. Sign us up.
Art attacks
The continent of The Broken Isles also
makes way for new dungeons and raids,
including a jaunt through the Emerald
Nightmare, which packs seven bosses. An
Honour system aims to fix the fudgy PvP
of Draenor, and to separate PvP from PvE,
while the floating city of Dalaran makes a
return as a neutral hub where Horde and
Alliance can chill side by side. (In theory.)
A major new innovation is Artifact
Weapons. There’ll be 36 to discover,
including famous relics such as
Doomhammer and Ashbringer, and
they’re fully customisable, with in-game
quests unlocking new colours and
appearances. Subscriber numbers may
be dwindling and it’s visually creaking at
the seams, but the MMO daddy has tricks
up its sleeve yet. n
The
Burning
Question
What’s your all-time favourite
awesome videogame weapon?
Lancer
A machine gun with a
chainsaw attached can
only mean madness.
Conor Devlin, @BLaZEKiiNG
bfG9000
It kills just about
everything – and I love
the look on Doomguy’s
face when he picks it up!
Barry Carlyon, @BarryCarlyon
“the demon hunter class can
double jump and transform
into hellspawn. sign us up”
OCTOBER 2015
19
big news
mAster plAnet
Can’t wait for Mass Effect 4? You’re in
luck, as enormo space-sim Elite:
Dangerous is about to take a few cues
from Bioware with a new expansion. The
aptly named Planetary Landings will let
players “seamlessly” touch down on
atmosphere-less planets and moons, to
explore, mine, and fight using a handy
recon vehicle.
The latest Disney film to crash head-first
into the glorious mash-up world of
Kingdom Hearts 3 is robotic superhero
romp Big Hero 6. We’ve not seen
gameplay yet, but released art shows
Sora riding Baymax (!) and jousting with
his Keyblade against a shadowy
Heartless copy of the friendly android.
toAd rAge
Just when we think Killer Instinct
couldn’t get any weirder, they add a
shapeshifting amphibian-man. That’s
right, you can now bash heads as Rash
from Battletoads – as long as you’ve
bought any piece of previous KI DLC, or
the Rare Replay collection. That’s all well
and good, but when do we get Conker?
necessAry evil
You demanded it, and now, finally, it’s
actually happening – Capcom is officially
developing a remake of Resident Evil 2,
following an outpouring of enthusiasm
for the idea on its Facebook page. Your
voices have been heard! It’s even invited
the creators of popular but now defunct
fan project ‘RE2: Reborn’ to come lend a
helping hand.
Win
Lose
Topping the leaderboard this issue
yoU
yoU
No, we don’t want to continue thanks
A reAl drAg
Square Enix has announced the hugely
exciting Dragon Quest XI for PS4 and
3DS, but it’s not sure if it’ll bring the
gorgeous JRPG to us here in the west. It
all depends on the sales of Dynasty
Warriors-style spin-off DQ Heroes,
apparently. We’re still waiting on the Wii
U’s DQX, though that seems less likely
with each passing day.
20
OCTOBER 2015
Ashes to Ashes
It’s one of the year’s most bungled
Kickstarters, but Mega Man Legends
spiritual successor Red Ash is still going
ahead. Developer Comcept has
received external funding for the game,
something it wasn’t particularly upfront
about during the campaign. In related
bad news, Comcept’s Mighty No. 9 has
been delayed to next year.
lost souls
Twitch users may have beaten
Pokémon, but they’ve bitten off more
than they can chew this time – they’re
trying to play Dark Souls. With everyone
in the chat barking different orders,
they’ve spent more time attacking the
walls than foes. They’ve even started
cheating – pausing the game every few
seconds to vote on the next action.
time wAster
Time’s story about virtual reality caught
the world’s attention recently, largely
thanks to its bizarre cover, which shows
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey titting
about against a poorly photoshopped
beach backdrop. Despite the positivity
of the actual words within, this feels like
another unnecessary blow to VR’s
chances of mainstream acceptance.
18/09
Ball saints
11/09
17/09
Make My day
east Mode
What better way to celebrate ol’ tache-face’s
30th than with Super Mario Maker, out today?
Scrum enthusiasts of england rejoice as the
IrL rugby World cup 2015 commences.
time for a serving of red-hot Japanese
gaming news out of tokyo Game Show.
The
To do lisT
24/09
goal in one
crucial dates for your gaming
diary. If you only do one thing
this month, eat, but otherwise
make a note of these events…
FIFA 16 arrives – and hopefully isn’t an
elaborate bribery simulator.
06/10
08/10
25/09
toy zone
rev your engine and make space on your
shelf; Skylanders: Superchargers is here.
29/09
Reunion touR
Block woRk
build a better tomorrow (with batman and
Gandalf) in Lego Dimensions.
soul again
Dust off those plastic guitars for the return of a
music legend – rock band 4 is out today.
Summon yourself a copy of GamesMaster’s
fantastical latest issue, on sale now.
incoming
Six big releases headed to a format near you…
01
Assassin’s creed
syndicate
Format PS4, XO, PC
Out 23 October
02
03
halo 5: guardians
Format XO
Out 27 October
04
call of duty:
Black ops iii
Format PS4, XO, PC, PS3, 360
Out 6 November
05
Rise of The
Tomb Raider
Format XO, 360
Out 10 November
06
Fallout 4
Format PS4, XO, PC
Out 10 November
star Wars Battlefront
Format PS4, XO, PC
Out 20 November
OctOber 2015
21
Preview
Future Hits Played Now!
Oh, you thought Microsoft was down and out? How
wrong you were. Xbox One has come back swinging,
and it’s hitting hard – with a fresh arsenal of explosive
exclusives, it’s the underdog no more. Don’t believe us?
Just look at what’s coming up for the big black box…
22
OCTOBER 2015
Format XO Publisher Microsoft Developer 343 Industries Out 27 October
added moreish,
competitive edge.
Laser town
Chief masters new tricks in
this tantalising upheaval
E
very shooter of
distinction owes
something to Halo,
whether it’s
crunching melee
attacks, ricocheting
grenades, or regenerating health. It
seems only fair that Master Chief
should take something back.
The new Warzone mode does exactly
that. Superficially, it’s a chunkier Big
Team Battle, with two teams of ten
fighting for control of designated zones.
Once your crew controls those zones,
you can strike directly at the opposition
to finish them off. That might sound
duller than a Spartan gongoozling club,
but it’s merely the framework beneath a
more interesting concept. Each level is
alive with AI enemies, offering additional
ways to build your score and win the
game. Forerunner bots are everywhere,
begging for your bullets, and crackling
headset updates warn you when boss
characters are about to appear;
legendary, computer-controlled baddies
who can soak up serious gunishment.
Killing them offers a massive boost to
your score, but it’s a precarious
challenge. Time it wrong and your
opponents can sweep in at the last
minute and steal the kill. If you’re sat
there thinking, ‘well, that all sounds a bit
like Destiny’, award yourself a space
biscuit. It’s exactly like that, but with an
“do you buy a plasma pistol,
or save up for something that
belongs on a tank?”
As you capture bases you earn
resources, used to buy beefy
weapons and vehicles. The more
you can accumulate, the more lethal
the kit you can get. It starts off with
familiar stuff such as shotguns and
sniper rifles, with the preposterously
powerful Spartan Laser taking the top
spot. It’s also a showcase for some
mighty new vehicles: aircraft which can
steadily rain down incendiary death, and
chunky armoured walkers. It feels very
un-Halo-y at first, but the measured
delivery of dangerous goodies adds a
fascinating sense of escalation and
progression. Do you splosh your points
on a lowly plasma pistol, or save up for
something that belongs on a tank? (It’s
the second one, obviously).
We saw more than just multiplayer,
too. A hands-off single-player demo
showcased the shiny new team-based
campaign, with Master Chief or Spartan
Locke joined by three faithful
companions. Each one has different skills
and weapons; you can take your pick if
you’re joining another player for co-op,
otherwise the AI takes control. Combat
has the weighty thud of previous Halo
games, but it’s delivered at a brisker pace.
Squad commands also come into play –
you can tag tougher enemies, leaving
you to knock grunts about like stale buns
kicked across a supermarket floor.
Halo 5 has a difficult task: keep the
series hardcore happy, while still adding
enough new stuff to stay relevant. The
whooping, botty-slapping Spartan
dudebros of the beta are thankfully
gone, but this remains a rapid, modern
rejig of a proven concept. Some might
sigh at the prospect of yet another fight
with the Covenant, but Warzone is proof
that 343 Industries isn’t too proud to
learn from its younger, leaner
competitors. n Matt Elliott
Instant Reaction
THRILL-o-meTeR
Single-player still feels familiar, but
Warzone adds the things to multiplayer
you never knew Halo needed.
OCTOBER 2015
23
Preview
Eyes-on with Future Hits!
Format XO Publisher Microsoft Developer Remedy Out April 2016
Time for something completely different
R
emedy is used to
giving facelifts. Just
as Max Payne
famously swapped
his fizzog from
developer Sam Lake
to actor Timothy Gibbs, Quantum
Break no longer resembles what we
saw at E3 2014. Shawn Ashmore has
taken over hero-face duties – he’s the
one from X-Men who looks like a
handsome owl pellet – and Aiden
Gillan, famous for being in everything,
steps in as enigmatic, time-bothering
villain Paul Serene. This bold change
underpins everything new in the game.
Accurately describing Quantum Break is
tricky. It’s a story-driven cover shooter
with an emphasis on bending time, which
is a dusty way of saying the world will
probably end unless you freeze-o-run
behind bad guys then time-kick them up
24
28
MARCH
SEPTEMBER
20152015
the bumhole. We saw hero Jack Joyce
throw out ‘time blasts’, focussed breaks in
reality which pin enemies in place, as well
as ‘time stops’ which let him effortlessly
avoid incoming bullets.
Bernard’s overwatch
It certainly looks fun, if not exactly
revolutionary. Early enemies seemed
easy pickings, but tougher foes with
similar abilities to Jack soon appeared,
offering a sterner challenge. One
particularly nice touch was that when
enemies die – or, more accurately, lose
their ability to function in the stuttering
time rift – they remain frozen in the same
spot you disabled them.
But more interesting is the use of
these continuity-warping effects outside
of combat. Entire areas decay before you,
and fallen objects fly back to their places.
In one impressive sequence, we saw an
entire tanker crumble around Jack, with
shipping containers and fatigued metal
forming a shifting, makeshift assault
course. The level of detail is genuinely
amazing – more so because it’s
numerous moments in time, flowing into
each other, all rendered with immaculate
detail. No wonder the game got delayed.
“entire areas decay before
you, and fallen objects fly
back to their places”
It gets weirder. Remedy is making a
digital TV show to go with the game. This
isn’t a new concept, but the way that it’s
being implemented certainly is. It’s told
from another character’s perspective, so
Jack’s actions play out completely
separately. We saw two characters in a
standoff during the show, then watched
the same section in the game, told from
Jack’s perspective. Weirder still, junction
moments let you pick a narrative path
which changes your experience, altering
how the game plays and giving it a
‘choose your own adventure’ feel. The
example we saw let players (viewers?)
choose whether to murder or just
intimidate a political activist.
It says a lot that we really don’t know
how Quantum Break is going to work,
which isn’t the same as saying it won’t
work. While the core game looks rather
familiar, there are ideas here which feel
completely unexpected. That, at the very
least, makes this a fascinating
proposition. n Matt Elliott
Instant Reaction
THRILL-o-meTeR
Remedy’s latest has gone from a
stuttering shooter to an entertainment
experiment so mad it might just work.
Format PS4, XO, PC, 360 Publisher Square Enix Developer Crystal Dynamics Out 10 November
Lara digs into the past
ombs. Raiding. These two
things were both included
in Crystal Dynamics’ initial
reboot of the archetypal
adventure series but, weirdly, they very
rarely came together. Not so this time
around. Our hands-on with the new
game was one long raid in one big tomb.
T
Set in medieval catacombs hidden in a
Syrian cliffside, all the hallmarks were there
– booby traps, puzzle sections, the
opportunity to watch a virtual person
drown. Classic stuff. But that’s not to say
new-Raider’s been abandoned – not if those
five times we had to watch Lara’s windpipe
get impaled on spikes are anything to go by.
Lara is now both the world’s luckiest
and unluckiest person simultaneously.
Every bit of masonry she touches
crumbles away. Every corner she turns
features a corpse with scorpions living
inside it. Every pond she swims in
becomes a tidal wave. And yet she lives
through it every time. Tombs are now
danger gauntlets that Lara doesn’t only
need to solve, but survive.
It’s a blisteringly cinematic approach to
an old formula, and on first impressions, it
works beautifully. This is apparently a
tutorial area, so its puzzles aren’t much
cop, but with the promise of a globespanning adventure, and optional tombs
returning as giant challenge mazes, that
niggle should be addressed. Welcome
home, Lara. n Joe Skrebels
Ok, so it’s not completely exclusive,
but it won’t be on PS4 until winter
2016, a full year later than Xbox.
Instant Reaction
THRILL-o-meTeR
Appropriately for an archaeologist,
Lara’s bringing old and new together in
this world-spanning adventure. .
Format XO Publisher Microsoft Developer Reagent Games Out Summer 2016
Heads in the cloud
t’s not often that a technical
achievement leaves us
speechless. Improvements
in graphics, clever new
mechanics – this is stuff we get excited
about, but rarely surprised by. But
when you see Crackdown 3’s
cloud-based destruction on show,
there’s nothing to say. It’s unlike
anything else out there right now.
I
The game’s multiplayer currently
supports four players, all dropped into a
city where literally every single object
can be destroyed. Each bullet fired affects
the structure of what it’s been shot into.
That means you can create holes to snipe
through, or, you know, smash a
skyscraper into four other buildings, all
with absolutely no slowdown.
It works by sending physics
calculations to the cloud, which does the
hard work while your console just makes
things pretty. Reagent Games promise it
won’t be a strain on your connection, too.
But that does leave the sore problem
of no offline play. Reagent has a solution
– build an almost entirely different single
player game. The campaign will take
place in another (less destructible) city,
and more closely resemble the original
Crackdowns, as you rid the world of
various tooled-up Crime Lords infesting
the place. As they do. n Joe Skrebels
Instant Reaction
THRILL-o-meTeR
A lost classic reinvigorated by some of
the most exciting games tech on the
planet. Sounds good to us.
SEPTEMBER
MARCH 2015
29
25
DICE handling Star Wars spawned
many Battlefield-in-space fears – but on
this evidence, its galactic shooter is big
on both fan service and canonical fun.
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher EA Developer DICE Out 20 November
26
OCTOBER 2015
Preview
Stunning new Fighter Squadron mode
proves DICE is staying on target
W
e usually hate
starting a preview
with an anecdote,
but DICE’s take on
Star Wars is built for
stories. Here’s ours:
we’re screaming through a thick bank
of cloud in a battered X-Wing. In front
of us, coloured blips are scattered
about the screen like dropped
Smarties. For the first ten seconds,
that’s all we can see. Clouds. Blips.
We break through the white canopy to
see the most Star Wars scene in gaming.
Lasers flash past us, dangerously close.
TIE fighters twist in the air, dancing away
from proton torpedoes. Frantic
communications warn us when enemy
fighters are on our tail. More important
than anything else is the sound. It’s
perfect. Every laser blast sounds
mechanical and threatening, and tight
turns are accompanied by noises that
immediately make you feel like you’re
nine years old, sat on a ragged carpet,
watching Return Of The Jedi on a chunky
VHS. Cleverly, DICE doesn’t immediately
bombard you with familiar themes;
instead, there’s a tense silence before the
epic songs roar into being, usually just
after some incredible, last-minute kill.
Whether you’re humming heroically
along with the Rebel Fanfare, or
goosestepping to the Imperial March,
it feels amazing. It feels… Star Wars.
Storm brewing
That’s a pretty vague way of explaining
what Battlefront actually is, though, so
let’s try to do a better job. The first mode
we play is Survival – a co-op game with
two Rebel soldiers holding out against
waves of increasingly tough Empire
troops. It starts simple, as you fight
bumbling Stormtroopers with the
marksmanship skills of a pickled walnut,
but soon gets tricky. Different troop
types arrive, some packing dangerously
accurate sniper rifles, others
overwhelming you with numbers.
OCTOBER 2015
27
Preview
Flight School
The starships of Fighter Squadron
X-Wing
Standard Rebel craft,
equipped with homing
proton torpedoes, laser
cannon, and shields.
In-game, they function
like TIE Fighters, except
that being in the Rebel
Alliance makes them
100% cooler.
TIE fighter
The entry-level Empire
starfighter looks like an
eyeball between two
chopping boards, and
can even make noise in
space. Armed the same
as its Rebel counterpart,
but a speed boost
replaces the shield.
Slave I
Boba’s iconic craft is a
modified Firespray-class
starship, complete with
stealth capabilities.
Empire players can
pretend they’re the
coolest bounty hunter in
the universe by
grabbing this upgrade.
Millennium Falcon
Seriously, do we need to
describe this to you? Han
Solo’s spaceship is the
fastest hunk of junk in
the galaxy, and Rebel
players can pilot it if they
find the power up… or
win a game of sabacc.
(We can dream, right?)
but it’s a solid indication of what we can
Once one wave is dealt with, you have a
expect in the final game. It features two
few moments to regroup, before the
teams of ten, with the Imperials in TIE
fighting begins again.
fighters and the Rebels in X-Wings. As
Along the way you have to secure
well as player-controlled aircraft, 20
dropped pods, reached by launching
more AI fighters are dotted around the
yourself into the air with a Boba Fett-style
map, adding to the general sense of
jetpack – short, unruly boosts that will
chaos, as well as giving you something
send you whizzing to hitherto unreached
easy to shoot at. You’ll need it, too.
places (if that needed explaining
to you, please freeze yourself
in carbonite). It’s fast, floaty,
and the headshots feel
The mode is wild, frantic
lovely: there’s just
and pretty difficult. Our first
something about laser hits
game is successful,
complete
ricocheting off plastoid
bagging a couple of player
armour that feels instantly
kills early on, but it doesn’t
gratifying and familiar, like
last; most of the second game
stepping on a crunchy leaf in
is spent with enemy fighters on
autumn. Mmmmmm.
our six and lasers up our exhaust (we’re
You didn’t come here to hear about
paraphrasing). Each ship can take some
rocket packs and Stormtroopers, though.
damage – you aren’t sent spiralling to
The new Fighter Squadron mode shown
your death like poor Porkins the first time
off behind closed doors is still in alpha,
incoming fire glances your chassis – but
90%
TIE die
“We fly loW, Weaving in and out
of tunnels… but it alWays ends
in shattered bones and sighs”
both our opponents utilise homing
missiles. It only takes a couple of these to
finish you off, so aerial acrobatics are
required to survive. Another, riskier tactic
is to fly low, weaving in and out of the
twisting burrow of tunnels, rather like the
surface of the Death Star. We try this a
few times, and it always ends with
shattered bones and sighs. Still, at least
the Empire doesn’t kill us.
Being on the other end is even more
exhilarating. You slowly lock on to your
target by holding the left trigger, then
launch your homing projectile with the
right. The moments before the lock-on
are agonising, and you often have to
follow your prey like a hungry cheetah
chasing a gazelle (albeit one made of
metal, that flies through the air and has a
man inside). It’s deeply satisfying to score
a clean hit. You can also soften up ships
with well-placed laser fire too, but it’s
generally less accurate than a Sand
Person with a bucket on his head.
It’s more than just dogfighting, too.
Every so often a troop transport arrives.
Some matches swap legendary ships for legendary characters, though this option
isn’t there during our hands-on. We still pretend Han’s inside the Millennium Falcon.
28
OCTOBER 2015
Instant Reaction
There are 20 AI ships in every battle –
ten Empire, ten Rebel. You can tell them
apart because they look slightly less
cool, and are easier to kill.
Destroying one massively boosts your
score, so the focus of the fight quickly
shifts and becomes even more, er, Star
Wars-y. Smaller craft buzzing around
lumbering, tactically crucial carriers feels
totally in keeping with the series. It’s also
a helpful shift in the dynamics of each
fight, and one which prevents things
from ever getting too monotonous. To
win a round, a team must get 200 points,
with one awarded for an AI kill and three
for a player kill. Shooting down the
Transport ships are priority targets.
Shoot them down to bag match-winning
scores and the warm feeling of having
murdered everyone inside. Lovely!
transport nabs you a meaty 20 points. It
sounds like a lot to have to earn, but
scores stack up quickly in the searing
heat of battle.
Falcon rising
Ships are similar, the only difference
being that the X-Wings have shields and
TIE fighters have a speed boost. Both
have an acrobatic dodge, used to evade
missiles. We get to play as X-Wings –
handy, because we’re rebel scum – but it
Star Wars fact: if you listen closely at the
end of Return Of The Jedi, one Rebel
shouts a rather naughty word when the
Super Star Destroyer crashes.
seems well balanced. So much so that
one match is a draw. Best of all: scattered
around the ground are power-ups that
help you out with legendary spacecraft:
Boba Fett’s Slave I for the Empire, or the
Millennium Falcon for the Rebels. At one
point, Han Solo’s iconic vessel comes
screeching past, turning sideways to
narrowly avoid a messy end for both of
us. It’s the sort of moment that gives you
a shiver down the spine, and Battlefront
is packed with them. n Matt Elliott
+
All the scale and splendour
of the Star Wars experience,
in a varied and immersive world.
Prepare to feel five again.
–
Dogfights can be a bit
scrappy and difficult, and
there’s a limited selection of ships.
Why no Y-Wings?
THRILL-o-meTeR
1 2 3 4 5
Lasers. Dogfights. Millennium
Falcon. What more could you want?
There’s something sad about seeing an AT-ST getting shot – a bit like a tall, tired dog
falling over. At least the driver was evil. Probably.
OCTOBER 2015
29
preview
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Activision Developer Treyarch Out 6 November
Call of Duty:
BlaCk ops III
In the future war will be… very sociable
H
ere’s a startling
revelation: the
entirety of Blops III’s
story – every last
level, every single
scene – is unlocked
from the start. That means you can
buy the game, play the last stage, and
‘finish’ it in around 30 minutes. Not
that you’d want to, but the option is
there. It’s a bold decision by Treyarch,
which has just given us extended
access to the co-op mode in its latest
creation. And it’s a call that’s been
made for a very specific reason.
The whole of Black Ops’ dystopian,
2065-set tale is co-operative. Not just part
of it, not a separate campaign – but the
entire thing. Up to three of your friends
can drop in and out as they please, so
there’s no need to arrange marathon
sessions just to get levels finished. And
yes, the full game is open right from the
start, so you can play with buddies no
matter what stage of the narrative you’re
at. What’s more, you’ll all appear in
cut-scenes as yourselves, so if you’ve
gone for some questionable
customisation options – of which there
are myriad – you’ll look ridiculous during
those emotional story beats to everyone
in your lobby.
Modern war flair
Black Ops III, then, is structured a little
differently to any previous COD. Before
each mission you meet in a customisable
Safe House. Inside, you can engage in all
manner of in-game messing about, such
as managing your loadouts, creating new
guns, admiring your in-game
achievements, and checking
leaderboards. Friends can scope out your
custom Safe House when they drop in to
co-op, and you can even share your
bespoke weapons with them. Again, at
“the whole of black ops’
dystopian 2065-set tale is
co-operative”
You can change almost every part of each weapon, from
scopes to stocks, and from barrels to bullets.
Difficulty scales according to both
the number of human players, and
what settings you’re playing on.
30
OCTOBER 2015
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III
than other entries in the franchise), the
any time – so in theory, you can give a
stage we’re playing is relentless. There are
raw recruit the best gun in the game,
several points in the level – essentially a
straight away.
massive, square arena – where we need to
We roam a little in one of the Safe
plant strategic explosives using
Houses before launching the Rameses
something called a Spike Launcher. This
Station mission, based in Cairo. The full
weapon can be used against troops too,
four soldiers are in our squad, and we’re
and it feels damn good smashing them
sent out to destroy an entire city street to
with a single, cannon-like shot, before
halt the advance of an invading army.
clicking in the right stick to make the
When we drop in, a cut-scene shows a
projectile explode in their midst.
mobile wall barricade being deployed
Enemies pour into the area, and
from a helicopter. Yeah, a wall. It
it’s hugely confusing at first.
both expands and blocks off
Snipers take pot-shots from
the combat area, handily
balconies, drones hum
creating an arena to fight
around the battlefield on
in. We’ve opted for a
both sides, and robots
shotgun class, with pistol
complete
clamber over rubble, trying
as back-up, and there are
to smash our squashy
new abilities called Cyber
human body. This is where the
Cores, which are… essentially
Cyber Cores come into their own.
magic. See, COD’s vision of the
Holding down on the D-pad (on PS4)
future includes all manner of cybernetic
brings up a wheel of abilities. Select one,
enhancements, and tech that allows the
aim, press R1 and L1 together and it fires.
human mind to directly control bodies
Our chosen power hacks a couple of
and objects. As such you can hack the
robots, which then fight on our side until
robots that attack you, and take control
they’re scrapped by enemy fire.
of drones and tanks remotely.
The action itself is classic COD: violence
dialled up to 11 and kept there. While
Treyarch assures us there will be quieter
Other abilities will make mechs charge
moments in the campaign (and Black Ops
into enemies and explode, or even
games do tend to be more thoughtful
unleash a swarm of cyber-bees that sting
90%
Sting operation
Veterans: prepare for some additional upheaval in cutscenes, as changes are afoot.
There’s a third-person camera in Black Ops III’s filmy bits now, a first for the series.
human foes to death. There are several
different Cores, each with a list of abilities
to unlock and unleash. After about 10
minutes of frantic action, it’s all over, as
the final spike-explosive is planted and
we blow the street. We died a couple of
times, but were quickly revived by
buddies, and we saved our fair share of
skin too. It feels very much like Zombies,
but fleshed out into a full campaign… oh,
and without the undead. Sadly, our
hands-on is limited to story and
multiplayer, so we’ve not played the
actual shambler-splatting mode… yet.
Speaking of multiplayer, Black Ops III’s
competitive action is as lethal as ever,
and there are several special abilities to
accompany the raft of guns, grenades,
and enhanced movement options. We
opt for a loadout that brings swarm traps,
which unleash the aforementioned
robo-insects on any enemy who comes
close – we catch a few foes with them,
but the majority of the kills come from
classic gunplay. Our multiplayer
hands-on is a tiny snapshot of the whole
game, but the new abilities, along with
the increased movement possibilities
afforded by jetpacks and underwater
combat, make it feel delightfully fresh.
It all adds up to a seriously promising
take on Call Of Duty. Treyarch has been
given three years to craft BOIII and, from
the raw action, through to the elaborate
alternate history they’ve created, it
definitely shows. Question marks still
hover over the effectiveness of the story,
and whether the co-op campaign will be
well balanced and paced throughout, but
from what we’ve seen so far, the future of
war is wonderfully social and typically
lethal. n Andy Hartup
Instant Reaction
+
Having the whole campaign
as co-op, along with all the
social features, is a boon – for both
this COD and future versions.
–
The story, for all the talk of
how smart and dark it is, still
seems to be just a bunch of meaty
men shouting at each other.
tHRIll-o-meteR
1 2 3 4 5
Loads of smart ideas, and the action
is still satisfyingly explosive.
Action unfolds in a handful of fresh
locations for COD, including Cairo.
OCTOBER 2015
31
Preview
“Ooh, put me down or I’ll be really
cross! Then you’ll be in trouble!”
That’s probably not going to work.
Format PC Developer Creative Assembly
Publisher Sega Out Summer 2016
ToTal War:
Warhammer
Prime strategy cuts, served with
delicious orc chops
T
here are loads of
moments in the
recent trailer which
vividly bring the
enduring tabletop
game to life, but
none are quite so pleasing as the
charging Arachnarok spider. It scuttles
into a unit of knights, scattering them
effortlessly, before skewering one and
devouring him whole. The best
bit? When it spits out the
shield and carries on
killing. Ploomp!
greenskins grow by fighting. If you’re not
acting violently enough to satisfy the
brutal demands of the Waaagh! –
something between a holy crusade and a
brawl in Weatherspoons – then infighting
will occur, depleting your forces. As for
the necromantic Vampire Counts… well,
let’s just say they’ll need bodies.
Instant reaction
+
All the colour, variety, and
humour of Warhammer,
married with the most detailed
strategy game in the world.
–
What are we going to do with
the box of (plastic) skeletons
under our bed once this arrives?
Keep them, probably.
ThrIll-o-meTer
1 2 3 4 5
The best bits of Total War in shiny
Gromril armour. We can’t wait.
Grand total
In the tabletop game, hero
characters can fight solo or join
units, and there’s a similar
idea here, with leader units
appearing on the campaign
Seeing previously static
map like agents from
complete
miniatures brought to life
previous games, but also
is a huge part what makes
joining battles. It’s a risk
the game so special, but
committing them to fights, but
Creative Assembly is going
the boost they provide on the
further than that. The familiar Total War
battlefield is often worth it. This is also
foundations have been reinforced to
true of legendary named characters
withstand the exaggerated onslaught of
– you can send the mighty Emperor Karl
the Warhammer Fantasy world. The
Franz into the fray if you choose, but if he
campaign map will feel different
dies, he’s gone forever. Just like the
depending on your faction, which makes
faction campaigns, it’s a perfect way of
perfect sense; the Empire might build
applying Warhammer lore to a familiar
temples to Sigmar and muse about
strategic landscape. Whether it’s on the
irrigation, but the dwarfs are more
battlefield or across the Old World, Total
bothered about reclaiming lost glories
War: Warhammer looks like it’s getting
and satisfying grudges. By contrast,
everything right. n Matt Elliott
75%
32
OCTOBER 2015
An orc army charging is a glorious green rabble of axes, teeth, and fantasy favourites.
Who doesn’t love a troll spewing acid vomit all over the place?
New stadiums include Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome and Portsmouth’s Fratton Park
– the latter a tribute to creative director Simon Humber, who passed away in April.
PSG’s squad, including Ibra, are among
the 450 new or rescanned player faces.
Shooting feels glorious this year
– though comandeering lethal
finishers such as David Villa helps.
Instant Reaction
+
EA introduces new moves
and techniques that feel
effective without overcomplicating
or unbalancing matches.
–
Players, lighting, camera
angles, and atmospherics
aren’t quite on par with PES 2016’s
fabled Fox Engine.
THRILL-o-meTeR
1 2 3 4 5
Even tighter football makes up for
the lack of major new features.
Format PS4, XO, PC, PS3, 360 Publisher EA
Developer EA Canada Out 24 September
FIFA 16
New season delivers some outside
help for your Ultimate warriors
O
ur last hands-on
session covered
on-pitch matters:
Passing With
Purpose, No-Touch
Dribbling, Clinical
Finishing, and – yes! – vanishing foam.
These subtle innovations form a tight
and satisfying footy effort. Our
latest hands-on, then,
happily introduces new
ideas for off the park too.
fee of 7,500 gold coins (around £3)
which, as a more interactive alternative
to buying decks from the store, could
make for a wallet-menacing addiction,
depending on how committed you are.
Müller corner
As all features settle snugly into place, we
give career a go next. It aims to keep
you for the long haul with the
ability to train up to five
players a week, boosting
attributes and market value.
FIFA’s most successful
The transfer market is
complete
feature is Ultimate Team, in
improved too: it’s now
which players buy and sell
easier to search for precisely
cards to create fantasy sides,
the player you want, from
and Draft mode is its biggest
nippy winger to defensive wall.
addition yet. You’re given a random
Back on the turf, FIFA is more exciting
assortment of players with which to build
this year because of all the cool new stuff
a squad and take part in four matches –
you can do: playing a string of power
the more you win, the better quality your
passes up the pitch, watching your
prize packs. “It’s a cool way for new
player rearrange his footing as he whips
people to get a distilled taste of Ultimate
in a deadly cross, or running onto a
Team,” says FUT creative director Adam
lay-off and thwacking a belter towards
Shaikh. “You can get in one evening and
the top corner. EA Sports calls these
instantly build a team of great players.”
Moments of Magic, and it’s a term we
Bear in mind you’ll have to pay an entry
can’t help but agree with. n Ben Griffin
90%
A new partnership between EA Sports and Real Madrid sees 14 Los Blancos
superstars re-scanned, including Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale and Modrić.
OCTOBER 2015
33
Preview
“Ooh, I wanna dance with
somebody… with somebody who
burns me.” As ever, flame-retardant
clothing is a necessity in DSIII.
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Namco Bandai Developer From Software Out Spring 2016
Dark SoulS III
How the director of Bloodborne discovered elegance in the apocalypse
A
ny new From
Software game is a
scary prospect, in
the wake of their
previous output.
Every area
introduced could be the next Sen’s
Fortress, each boss another Rom the
Vacuous Spider. Despite this, we get a
sense of jittery excitement before our
hands-on, excited to discover fresh
ways to die, die, and die again. We rush
through to see as much as possible,
wonderfully afraid of the things
waiting to kill us. Best of all, we get the
chance to talk to Hidetaka Miyazaki
– president of the studio, and the man
responsible for some of our greatest
gaming glories (and most sickening
lows) – while playing.
We immediately feel at home, as a
dragon appears early on and toasts us
like an armoured muffin. In an attempt to
make things easier for ourselves, we ask
34
OCTOBER 2015
Miyazaki-san what it is about the dragon
motif that he particularly likes, and what
similar things we can expect in Dark
Souls III. He laughs, but reveals nothing:
“I cannot go into details. It will spoil what
I’m working on! But I want to bring more
cinematics into the real-time-rendering
environments, and the dragon is
one of the examples. Not
cutscenes, but actual
gameplay that will motivate
players to soldier on.”
helped me, as well as the team,” says
Miyazaki. “Our priority was letting players
feel comfortable with [carrying out]
action elements. We take this same
approach in Dark Souls III, and the
fast-moving player-built characters is one
example. So now the player is able to
throw a knife in combination with
taking quick steps.”
Although the influence of
Bloodborne is clear, there
are certain elements of
Dark Souls that drew
Hidetaka back. “Because of
complete
the character of Bloodborne’s
That big deadly lizard is just
gameplay, its battle style, as
one element that aggressively
well as the role-playing elements,
reminds you where you are, and
it’s limited compared to the Dark Souls
what you’re playing. That said, if you
franchise,” he explains. “It doesn’t
played Bloodborne – and if you want us
necessarily mean Bloodborne was bad.
to stay friends, you should at least
However, while working on [it] I realised, I
pretend that you did – then there’s some
want to [create] something which has a
common ground here. Characters feel
wide range of battle styles, or features
lighter and thinner, moving with a similar
magic, or those things which allow players
grace. “Experimentation and the
to wear awesome armour. Those elements
experience of Bloodborne definitely
Blood magic
75%
Dual-wielding returns, once again allowing you to hold a weapon in each hand for twice the attacks. We don’t know if we’re brave
enough for that, though - we’ll take a nice, safe, comforting shield instead, please. Much less risky.
Each weapon in Dark Souls III has a Battle Arts stance, which
offers a set of new moves to master.
The Dancer Of The Frigid Valley fight takes place in a vast, gloomy
cathedral. It’s all very reminiscent of Bloodborne.
are what actually made me come [back] to
the Dark Souls franchise.”
Deadly impact
We’re already glad of Miyazaki’s return. In
our brief playthough, there are recurring,
reassuring elements that feel like they
were pointedly guided by his
mischievous hand. Hollow soldiers lurch
out from dark corners; glowing items
tease you into ambushes. More than
anything, his influence is in the design.
The world still feels familiar, but there are
surprises everywhere.
A great example is the first boss we
encounter, the Dancer Of The Frigid
Valley – a wiry armoured statue in the
figure of a female. It feels like a slight
departure for Dark Souls, if not for
Miyazaki. Like much of Bloodborne,
there’s a sense it was once something
graceful, almost beautiful, but time and
circumstance have changed that.
In a sense, it’s a snapshot which
symbolises Dark Souls III’s own evolution
from its predecessors. “It’s again about
the apocalypse and doomsday, but at the
same time it comes with a very big
increase in presentation,” explains
Miyazaki. And the withered beauty
deliberately contradicts what’s
underneath: “I don’t know exactly where
“there are two sides – the
physical against the mental –
and that’s the contradiction
i wanted to bring out in dsiii”
that is coming from, but it’s important for
me to have something contradictory in
the game – to make players sense
something unique.
“[Think about] a warrior taking a
sword onto the battlefield. The physical
reason is to fight enemies, but mentally
he also needs a reason to accept the
sword as his sidekick. It’s the only thing
he can count on during the battle. There
are two sides – the physical against the
mental – and that’s the contradiction I
want to bring out in Dark Souls III.”
That conceptual tag-team of lost glory
and subtle contradictions should be
enough to get any long-standing fan of
the series seriously excited. On the
surface, it’s still a twitchy, precise action
game, and it feels better than ever, but it’s
the stuff underneath that really sets it
apart from the rest. It’s a harder thing to
sell in a trailer or a 30-minute gameplay
demonstration, but speaking to Miyazaki
himself left us in little doubt: the master
has returned. n Matt Elliott
Instant reaction
+
The familiar grind of
exploring a world designed
to destroy you, with heart in
mouth and shield in hand.
–
Never liked Dark Souls? This
won’t convert you. Also,
Bloodborners might lament its
comparitive lack of speed.
THrIll-o-meTer
1 2 3 4 5
Austere yet alluring, this is a world
of duality we can’t wait to explore.
OCTOBER 2015
35
Preview
Eyes-on With Future Hits!
Some worried that a fully-voiced
protagonist would limit the game’s
scope – but those fears certainly
don’t seem to be coming true.
T
o say that seeing this latest entry in the
series in action cloaks you in a blanket of
comfort and yearning is an
understatement of nuclear proportions.
With five years having passed since our
last post-apocalyptic adventure, our
thumbs and minds are more than ready to navigate the
horrors of the wasteland once again.
Despite the gap in time, Fallout 4 is certainly no radical
departure from what’s come before. The approach here is one
of continuity and expansion, rather than reworking or
reimagining – with a series as popular and revered as this one, it
makes sense to hold on to the elements which work.
The changes that have been included are designed to provide
even more freedom when it comes to playing your way. Most
notably, for those marathon gamers in it for the long haul,
there’s no level cap at all here – you can just keep ranking up
forever. Combine that with the fact that you can continue to play
after the main narrative is finished, and you might just find
yourself still shooting raiders and looting vaults until the actual
end of the world comes around.
Perk load
You’ll have plenty to grasp for as you climb that infinite
character progression ladder, too. There are 275 perks to pick
from in the game, and you’ll be granted a new one with every
level up. And hey, if you’re dedicated enough, that lack of an
experience cap means you could eventually get them all during
your journey through the game’s promised 400 hours of
content. You may have to give up your job for this one. And your
family, your friends, your pets, your house plants…
“the gunplay is vastly
improved, smoother and
more impactful than
ever before”
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Bethesda Softworks
Developer Bethesda Game Studios Out 10 November
Fallout 4
So much to do, you’ll go
into meltdown
36
OCTOBER 2015
The game’s special edition, which
comes with a real-life working
Pip-Boy, has already sold out.
85%
complete
It appears that skills, however, are
out, with the capabilities they’d normally
grant you being folded into other areas of
the levelling system. Your knowledge of
computers and crafting, for example, seems to no longer be
derived from your ‘Science’ rating, but instead from your ranks
in appropriate perks. Whether that’s a case of clever
streamlining, or unnecessary trimming, we can’t yet say.
Nuclear armaments
The most exciting news, however, is that the game’s gunplay is
vastly improved. Despite lofty aspirations, the moment-tomoment shooting of Fallout 3 was just about functional at best,
and frequently dipped into moments of frustration-inducing
clunkiness. This time around, Bethesda has taken a
nuclear-powered hammer to those problems, with every
moment of first-person gunnery already looking smoother, and
far more impactful and engaging, than ever before. You’ll no
longer be relying on VATS in every engagement (and hiding
behind rocks waiting for your action points to recharge) – and
when you do break out your targeting system, you’ll find it’s
changed from a complete pause to a slow-mo effect, still giving
you enough time to think, but no longer drawing the combat’s
momentum to a sudden and deflating halt.
Of course, all those improvements would be for naught
without a good arsenal of weapons, and boy has Bethesda got
you covered. Fallout 4 features even more death-dealing
implements than the developer’s ever seen fit to furnish us with
before, from hand-cranked laser guns, to plasma pistols, to
mini-nuke launchers, to assault rifles, to shotguns, and more,
alongside more up-close-and-personal fare like baseball bats
and wrenches. And you’d better believe they’re all fully
customisable, ripe to be modded and crafted into your perfect
loadout. Add to this a dog companion that’s more than happy to
attack and distract foes, and the simple act of fighting is looking
as deep and satisfying as we’ve always wanted from the series.
Perhaps it’s hard to believe that Bethesda could out-do the
popularity and scope of its own Fallout 3 and Skyrim, but there’s
no doubt in our minds that it’s on track to pull that feat off here.
The only worry we’ve got is, once it’s out, how are we going to
find time to play anything else? n John Robertson
Instant Reaction
+
We reckon this is going to be
the most expansive and
varied open-world RPG
experience you’ve ever played.
–
While it’s certainly bigger
and better, for some it may
all feel a little too similar to its
popular predecessors.
tHRIll-o-meteR
1 2 3 4 5
We’ll be surprised if this ends up
being anything less than essential.
Don’t give me that look, boy – I had to eat all our roasted iguanas to recover my health during that raider
attack. I’m sure we’ll find some more centuries-old tinned goods in the next town.
OCTOBER 2015
37
Preview
Adam Jensen is back and, yes, it
seems he’s still taking facial hair
fashion tips from Iron Man.
Format PS4, XO, PC Developer Eidos Montreal
Publisher Square Enix Out Spring 2016
Deus ex:
MankinD
DiviDeD
Sneaking past bosses... like a boss
A
lmost everything
about Deus Ex:
Human Revolution
was right on the
money. Its visual
identity had more
spark than your average bolt of
lightning, its blend of first-person
action and RPG progression harked
back to the quality of the original
release, and the world was
incredibly engaging.
to hide yourself from them within the
arena of battle, giving you a chance to
sneak around behind for a sneak attack.
Another option will be hacking nearby
computers, turning any turrets, drones,
or other futuristic security measures into
impromptu assistants.
instant Reaction
+
It’s great to see Eidos
Montreal listening to critique
of the previous game and looking
to rectify past mistakes.
–
Our hero’s fashion sense
continues to give him the
look of a B movie action star
struggling to find work.
THRiLL-o-MeTeR
1 2 3 4 5
Even more freedom of choice than
the last game? Yes please!
Iron pacifist
Most importantly of all, you won’t
have to kill anyone. You’ll be
able to complete the entire
game non-lethally, and
Where it unfortunately
that includes bosses. It’ll
failed was in its boss fights.
require some creative
complete
For all the emphasis on
thinking though, and
freedom of choice and the
plenty of interaction with
consequences of your actions
the game’s cast of characters
in the rest of the game, these
– we’re told that clever
climactic encounters represented a
conversation skills will grant you access
disappointingly narrow path. For the
to unique and useful means for dealing
series’ latest entry, Mankind Divided,
with bosses, without shedding a drop of
that’s all changed.
their blood.
As Adam, you’ll now have rather more
But how will letting all those rotters
options than just pulling out a gun and
live affect the story? Will they come back
filling every head honcho full of lead.
for revenge? Or embrace the spirit of
You’ll be able to use stealth, and take
forgiveness and invite Adam to their
advantage of the environment to get
birthday parties? We’re confident it’ll be
yourself past each boss. It’ll be possible
the latter. n John Robertson
60%
38
OCTOBER 2015
We’re promised a darker, more cynical world than Human Revolution’s. Suspicion and
conflict between augmented and non-augmented humans runs rampant.
MIRROR’s EDGE CATALYsT
Catalyst tells Faith’s origin story
– we’ll finally see what being a
Runner really means.
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher EA
Developer DICE Out 23 February 2016
mIRRoR’s
edge
CaTaLysT
A show of Faith in a more open city
A
you could only springboard from certain
lot about DICE’s
objects. In Catalyst, you can do it from
first-person
any object of the right height,” explains
free-runner remains
Jansson. “It adds to the freedom.”
familiar. It’s still
In a hands-off demo, DICE shows us
about Faith, a young
how campaign missions are
Runner operating
incorporated into the open world.
across the City of Glass. It’s still about
Switching to a map of the city, a waypoint
traversing the rooftops, and building
is added to the next story chapter.
momentum in order to
This enables Runner Vision,
gracefully building-hop
which highlights objects
towards your destination.
along the route in red. It’s
It’s still about the
not necessary, though, as
resistance to a dystopian
we can see her target – the
government, and the
complete
building of Elysium – clearly
endless chatter of hip
in the distance, and there are
jerks in your headset.
potential rewards for finding
our own route through.
The move to an open world
Reaching it triggers a cutscene that
system, however, has a profound effect
seamlessly transitions into the mission
on the design of the city. “No object in the
proper. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst will have
environment is there just to be pretty,"
no loading screens at all, we’re promised.
DICE senior producer Sara Jansson tells
“You just move out of the rooftops, into a
us. “It’s there because it’s a gameplay
building and out again. It’s very clean and
object. It’s something you interact with.”
beautiful," says Jansson. “We’re really
Faith’s moveset has been enhanced
challenging the engine because we’re
too, to help navigate a space that sprawls
doing so much.” n Phil Savage
out in every direction. “In the first game
70%
Instant Reaction
+
A technical marvel, pushing
the Frostbite engine to the
limit with a seamless open world
and no loading screens.
–
The city is packed full of
collectibles, one of the least
interesting ways to force us to
explore a space.
THRILL-o-meTeR
1 2 3 4 5
It’s recognisably Mirror’s Edge, but
improved in almost every way.
OCTOBER 2015
39
Preview
Eyes-on With Future Hits!
Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Square Enix
Developer IO Interactive Out 8 December
HITman
Kill and be thrilled by
47’s tools of the trade
A
gent 47 loves to play
dress-up, but that
isn’t why he’s come
to a fashion show, in
Square Enix’s demo
of the upcoming
Hitman’s Showstopper mission.
Everyone’s favourite killer-for-hire is in
Paris to take out the show’s organiser,
Viktor Novikov, a Russian oligarch and
the financier of the IAGO spy ring.
protected, but the chefs have been
working all day – they’re known to the
guards, so they’re ushered past
un-frisked. Hide baldy’s Silverballer pistols
in a crate of fruit, and the help become
unwitting weapons smugglers.
Mood killer
The Hitman series has always been at its
best when allowing you to discover such
security holes. This latest entry takes
things further than ever, by giving you
His first step is exploring the area. The
the opportunity to mess with NPCs on a
setup is similar to Hitman: Blood Money’s
more fundamental level. In the demo, 47
Curtains Down mission, but the scale
walks in front of a news camera, and
of this Parisian palace feels
the reporter cuts the take,
bigger than anything IO has
annoyed at the dispassionate
attempted before – it’s a
murder-clone’s rudeness.
huge, sprawling space. The
Later, a stressed out stylist
first floor is teeming with
can be driven to distraction
guests, while, around the
by activating the audio on
complete
peripheries of the publicly
a museum diorama. It’s not
accessible areas, there are
yet clear what this
workers, models, stylists, chefs,
psychological torture achieves
and guards, all going about their business.
– IO is being careful not to spoil the
Unlike the shuffling automatons of
level’s many possible interactions.
Blood Money’s New Orleans Mardi Gras,
What we’re shown is only a small,
these people aren’t just an anonymous
edited section of the level’s full scope.
mass. Hitman’s NPCs have needs and
According to the devs, the full mission
behaviour patterns that are defined by
will feature a secret auction, living
their role, and 47 can manipulate this to
quarters for the palace’s residents, and a
his advantage. In the demo, he comes
second, optional target. This is shaping
across some caterers carrying food up to
up to be the series’ cleverest systemic
the palace’s second floor. The stairs are
sandbox yet. n Phil Savage
80%
47 is encouraged to listen to conversations
between NPCs – they could reveal clues to
new locations and opportunities.
Instant Reaction
+
The levels are huge and
complex, and filled with
NPCs that can be manipulated by
the Machiavellian bald assassin.
–
There’s still a lot of questions
regarding Hitman’s episodic
release, and how much will be in
the game when it launches.
THRILL-o-meTeR
1 2 3 4 5
An exciting return to form, on a
greater scale than ever before.
“What do you mean you don’t see my name on the guest list? I definitely have an
invite. Have you tried scanning my barcode?”
40
OCTOBER 2015
How do you kill Novikov? One option is to lure him onto the catwalk into a deadly
trap, but of course there are many quieter methods too.
Preview round uP
Format PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS,
Mobile Pub Activision Dev Vicarious
Visions Out 25 September
skylanDers:
superCharGers
The big deal here is vehicles, with the
Skylands explorable by car, boat, and
plane. Activision hopes it’ll be enough to
make people forget Lego Dimensions
and Disney Infinity, and any attempt to
evolve the genre is welcome. All previous
toys will be supported, while the 20 new
Skylanders and vehicles include Bowser
and Donkey Kong. Those two figures will
actually function as both in this game,
and as amiibo (hopefully they’re getting
paid for the overtime). n TS
Format XO, PC Pub Superhot Team
Dev Superhot Team Out Winter
superhoT
Time only moves when you do in this
abstract indie shooter which spins that
one great scene in every action movie
into a fully-fledged game. The minimalist
crystal-people and monochrome world
concentrate your focus on the graceful
shooting, allowing you to follow every
particle, bullet trail, and severed limb
without any extraneous detail getting in
the way. In addition to guns, you’ll also be
able to slow-mo wield a katana, and
chuck weapons when you’ve run out of
ammo. This is the most original FPS
we’ve seen in quite some time. n TS
Format PS4, XO, PC Pub Deep Silver
Dev Dambusters Out Summer 2016
homefronT:
The revoluTion
After a troubled history, this is now Far
Cry But In A City, with the open world,
health syringes, and radio towers we’ve
come to expect from Ubi’s exotic shooter.
Yet this isn’t based in a tropical or
mountainous setting, but a grey-brown
urban environment under the grip of an
occupying army – will that be as fun to
explore? So far, the standout feature
appears to be its comprehensive weapon
customisation system, which allows you
to change every constituent element of
every gun on the fly. n TS
Format XO, PC Pub Fullbright
Dev Fullbright Out Summer 2016
TaComa
Gone Home is one of the best pokingaround-a-personless-place games on the
market, so there’s reason to be optimistic
about Fullbright’s follow-up, which plonks
you in a space station that’s lost its entire
crew. You’ll witness holographic
conversations, make friends with a
hopefully non-murderous AI, and even
walk on the ceiling thanks to the station’s
artificial gravity controls. It’s a big step up
from opening cupboards and reading
diary entries. The game world seems
larger too, and if it’s packed with as much
detail we could be onto a winner. n TS
Format PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360
Pub Warner Bros Dev TT Games
Out 29 September
leGo
Dimensions
Slimer and co make
this more of a toys-todeath game
aaand there goes all our
Christmas savings. In
September. Yep, in news
that will dismay your
partner and your bank manager,
Ghostbusters is coming to TT Games’
nostalgia-baiting toys-to-life game.
Across the various confusing add-on
packs, you can grab mini-figures of
Peter Venkman and the iconic Ecto-1
car, Slimer, the Stay Puft Man, and
other bits of busting paraphernalia.
A
It’s easy to forget that there’s also a
game attached – the Venkman-enabled
Level Pack granting access to a haunted
Adventure World. Separate from the
main story, these extra levels can be
explored with any character, from any
license, though you’ll obviously play
them all as Doctor Who or Marty McFly.
Between this, Skylanders and Disney
Infinity, it’s going to be an expensive
Autumn – and we hope you’ve cleared a
shelf in anticipation. n TS
Gm instant reaction
Thrill-o-meTer
1 2 3 4 5
Back To The Future… and the cashpoint.
Expect none of the murky generic
hordes of Dynasty Warriors here.
These monster posses are Pixar-esque.
Format PS4 Publisher Square Enix Developer Square Enix Out 16 October
85%
DraGon QuesT heroes
complete
Beloved JRPG’s long awaited western return hails a new dynasty
W
e’d never have guessed
it walking in – that a
mish-mash of the
Toriyama-designed (of
Dragonball fame) series
and Dynasty Warriors would be one of
the better JRPGs we’ve delved into in
recent times.
This colourful, unapologetically quirky
number is put together by Omega Force,
the team responsible for many Square
buttons on Japanese gamers’
Dualshocks falling off due to over
mashing. But mercifully, it leans much
more heavily on its Dragon Quest roots
than the near annually re-trodden
grounds of Lu Bu and company.
For starters it’s a genuine RPG. You
have a party of characters – some
original, others returning from previous
Quests. You have weapons, items and
abilities which require levelling up
through skill trees and inventory
management. You have a world map and
an airship with which to navigate it. It all
feels very wholesome, and free of the
typical brain-unplugging Warriors melee.
The fights fix a problem Omega Force
has dragged along through its half a
quintillion series entries. In the past you
always felt like a bastion of competence
amidst an ocean of bumbling peasantry
and some flowery cape-wearing
buffoons. Now, as each area floods with
monsters, you’re able to capture some
and deploy them to fortify areas while
you deal with other hordes. This tower
defence bent lends a greater sense of
strategy than Dian Wei and his thousand
mates could ever muster. n MSG
Gm instant reaction
Thrill-o-meTer
1 2 3 4 5
Much more Quest than Warriors. Phew!
OCTOBER 2015
41
Feature
On The Cover!
As NiNteNdo’s mAscot
Notches up yet ANother
milestoNe, Gm celebrAtes
three decAdes of
plAtformiNG excelleNce
as it really been 30 years since
he gobbled his first mushroom
and stomped that poor
Goomba? Well, time does fly
when you’re having fun, and
that’s usually the case
whenever you pick up his
games. With Nintendo at last
handing us the keys to make
our own Mario stages in Super
Mario Maker, it’s the ideal time
to look back at how a gaming
icon was born – and what still
makes him relevant today.
The late Satoru Iwata once suggested that “messing up, but
then thinking ‘I’ll try again’, is something that has never
changed in Super Mario Bros”. It’s a quote that touches
upon that one-more-go appeal almost all of the games
have, but also the development ethos that informed Mario’s
earliest adventures. From the way Donkey Kong saved
Nintendo Of America from disaster, to the triumphant
overcoming of technical limitations in Super Mario Bros,
Ninty has been persevering with Mario since day one.
Though he was named in the US, his games are very
much a product of Kyoto, whose culture, according to
Miyamoto, “keeps tradition alive by absorbing lots of new
things”. That combination of old and modern is what gives
Mario games their vitality, what’s kept him fresh for 30
years – and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the same
recipe is still working in another 30.
42
OCTOBER 2015
TURN OVER FOR...
ORIGINS
the story of how gaming’s most
iconic star was born
EVOLUTION
looking at the secrets behind
mario’s continued success
Q&A
An interview with the legendary
takashi tezuka, co-creator of
super mario bros
REVIEW
is super mario maker the best
digital construction tool yet?
Feature
On The Cover!
ne giant
from mr Video to mr VideoGAmes: the oriGiNs of mArio
t’s hard to think of another
character whose history and legacy
is bound to a single action. When
Mario first leapt over a barrel in
Donkey Kong, he wasn’t a plumber,
but a carpenter, known simply as
Jumpman. It wasn’t him that made
the 1981 arcade classic a hit, yet that
moment would go on to define a hero who would – from 1985
and his Super-flavoured platforming escape onwards –
transform Nintendo’s fortunes, and change the face of games.
Ironically, the company’s greatest success was born out of
failure. A young Shigeru Miyamoto designed an arcade game
called Radar Scope, which was a hit in Japan in 1979. Nintendo’s
newly-founded American division decided to ship 3,000
cabinets to the US the following year, but it didn’t win over
western players. Nintendo’s then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi
invited his staff to pitch new game concepts that would be
compatible with the Radar Scope machines, as a last-ditch
attempt to save the US branch from financial ruin; the winner
was Miyamoto’s idea, Donkey Kong. Yamauchi quickly set the
young creator to work, overseen by his mentor, Gunpei Yokoi.
Shigeru had hoped to use characters from Popeye, but
Nintendo wasn’t able to acquire the license. Yet he insisted on a
similar love-triangle story – one of the first examples of a game’s
narrative being conceived before its systems. The eponymous
ape was an obvious Bluto substitute, while Olive Oyl became
Pauline. Miyamoto’s surrogate-Popeye was originally dubbed
Mr Video, with the forward-thinking developer planning to use
him in all his future games. The character’s look was defined by
the limitations of the tech: with little memory to work with,
Nintendo had to be smart. He wore dungarees so that his arms
would be more visible, and the hat saved both Miyamoto from
designing a hairstyle, and programmers from having to animate
it. A big nose and ’tache made his design stand out all the more.
It’s-a hIm!
Mario was still known as
Jumpman when Nintendo Of
America began to translate the
game for US players. Meanwhile,
having invested so much money in
unused Radar Scope machines,
the company was experiencing
severe financial difficulties. Minoru
Arakawa, Hiroshi Yamauchi’s
son-in-law, was chairing a meeting
when the company’s landlord
interrupted, demanding payment
for overdue rent. His name was
Mario Segale, and he was soon to
be immortalised forever. He’s
actually still a very prominent and
successful businessman and
property developer in the
Washington State area.
Going ape
Nintendo Of America initially felt it was too different from the
arcade hits of the time, but it inserted the new game’s
motherboards onto the surplus Radar Scope cabinets
nevertheless. The first machines were installed in two Seattle
bars, whose initially reluctant managers were convinced to order
more when they made big returns within a week. As one of the
most complex and challenging arcade games of the era – and
only the second of its kind to feature several discrete stages
– Donkey Kong quickly found a huge audience. The refurbished
cabinets sold out – within a year, Nintendo had shifted 60,000.
Few attributed Donkey Kong’s success to Mario, but it
undoubtedly put Nintendo in a far healthier position. Miyamoto
decided to follow-up on his plan to reuse his hero, albeit this
time casting him as the villain in 1982’s Donkey Kong Jr. Then
came a follow-up with Mario back in the lead role once more:
the Joust-inspired Mario Bros. By this time, the character was
beginning to take shape. Miyamoto decided, after some
44
OCTOBER 2015
leap
Discounting evil doppelgangers, only once has Mario assumed the role of
antagonist – in the sequel to Donkey Kong, 1982’s Donkey Kong Jr.
prompting by Yokoi, that he should be able to fall great distances
without taking damage, and that player 2 should be his brother,
via a palette swap. He agreed with a colleague’s suggestion that
Mario looked more like a plumber than a carpenter, and that in
turn inspired the setting of Mario Bros, designed to resemble
New York’s sewers. It was only a minor hit in Japan, but by then
Nintendo was making in-roads into the home console market –
just as it was about to crash in the US.
Super power
With the Family Computer, or Famicom, establishing itself in
Japan, Nintendo took on more staff, and two of its new recruits
would help shape the game that would define both Mario and
his makers for decades to come. Miyamoto had become one of
the company’s best assets, and hired a team to assist him with
Devil World, a complex Pac-Man-style maze game. Takashi
Tezuka helped to develop Shigeru’s designs, while Koji Kondo
became part of the company’s first music team. Tezuka and
Miyamoto quickly formed what they would later call a “symbiotic
relationship”, while Kondo’s impromptu decision to compose a
musical theme for Devil World’s bonus screen prompted
Miyamoto to hire him for his next project – Super Mario Bros.
Miyamoto’s obsession with perfecting SMB caused a number
of projects – notably Wrecking Crew, and the original Legend of
Zelda – to be delayed, and yet it all came together remarkably
quickly. The design specifications were drawn up in February
1985; six months later, it was ready. Tezuka and Miyamoto would
draw the courses by hand on graph paper, before handing them
maRIO FaCt #1
Plenty of Mario
ideas end up on
the cutting-room
floor. A centaur
power-up was
once considered
for Super Mario
Bros 3, while New
Super Mario Bros
Wii’s Penguin outfit
started out as a
chicken suit.
to the programmers to turn into code. Despite the short
turnaround, development was far from plain sailing, and
the original design changed significantly. At one stage,
Mario took to the skies in a laser-firing rocket; Tezuka
changed this to a cloud. More alarmingly, Mario’s jump was
once mapped to up on the d-pad.
The rest is history. Nintendo had an instant hit in Japan,
and when the Famicom belatedly arrived in the US as the
NES, the decision to bundle in Super Mario Bros was a
stroke of genius. Home console gaming had arguably its
first killer-app, and the fortunes of the North American
video game industry were reversed.
It’s perhaps unwise to attribute the success of a game
to one factor, and Super Mario Bros gave players so many
reasons to fall in love, from the unforgettable theme tune
to the immaculate design of World 1-1 and its subtle,
wordless tutorial. But ultimately its lasting appeal might
just come down to its primary interaction. As Mario sets off
on his biggest adventure to date, the first thing in front of
him is a space in which players are free to experiment.
Press the A button, and the plumber once known as
Jumpman does what comes naturally. If that first hop over
an ape-propelled barrel helped define his gymnastic skill,
this one was a jump for joy: a moment of pure play that
represented a giant leap for gaming-kind.
mushroom for
improVemeNt
the refinements that have kept Nintendo’s
platforming king on top
SUPER
MARIO BROS
SUPER
MARIO BROS 3
SUPER
MARIO WORLD
SUPER
MARIO 64
SUPER MARIO
GALAXY
Nintendo didn’t invent the
platformer, but
popularised it, refining it
beyond recognition with
precise controls and stellar
level design. A
standard-bearer and a
standard-setter.
A revolution for the series,
expanding Mario’s
moveset so he could slide,
climb, lift and throw, while
introducing new
power-ups and an
overworld map that
brought the setting to life.
A great new look, sublime
soundtrack, a map stuffed
with secrets, one of the
best-ever power-ups (the
Cape Feather), and Yoshi’s
debut: understandably, for
some, this remains the
finest 2D platformer ever.
As influential in its own
way as SMB, this defined
3D games for many years.
Its analogue controls gave
Mario unrivalled freedom
of movement with which
to explore its thrilling,
expansive playgrounds.
Yet another reinvention,
this turned Mario’s
universe upside down and
back to front, its
gravitational tricks and
inventive design making
for the most generous,
varied platformer ever.
(1985)
(1988)
(1990)
(1996)
(2007)
OCTOBER 2015
45
Feature
On The Cover!
tHe
how NiNteNdo hAs kept its mAscot
fresh for GeNerAtioNs of GAmers
ew game characters stand the
test of time; fewer still enjoy
huge success so many years
after their debut. What makes
Mario different? He is, after all,
something of a cipher: a
chubby, happy-go-lucky
plumber who doesn’t actually
seem to do any plumbing. He may be great at jumping
on turtles and rescuing princesses, but his personality
doesn’t seem to stretch much further than that.
Perhaps, though, that’s part of his secret. As an icon, Mario
doesn’t need much of an identity, because it’s not who he is
but what he represents that’s important. He’s an
approachable kind of hero: a blue-collar everyman who, as
an Italian-American, has a certain cross-cultural appeal. But
he’s also designed to be malleable, and has been from the
beginning: after all, Miyamoto wanted him to appear in each
of his future games. He was essentially conceived as
Nintendo’s Mr Versatile, a man who could apply himself to a
number of different roles. Heck, between Donkey Kong and
Mario Bros he’d already shifted trades. By the time Super
Mario Bros arrived, he’d played demolition expert (Wrecking
Crew) and sportsman (1984’s NES Golf).
This may have been a novelty to some at the time, but
Nintendo’s background as a toy-maker had given it an
instinctive understanding of the value of leveraging a
popular brand. It still relies upon a number of recognisable
characters and franchises, of course – but as the man who
helped launch the Nintendo Entertainment System in the
west, and boost its popularity in the east, Mario was the
most obvious choice for company mascot. For that
generation of players, Mario was games.
Still, to keep him relevant, Nintendo has had to use him
intelligently. 1992’s Super Mario Kart was the game which
perhaps best established Mario himself as a selling point
rather than the series that had popularised the character.
Indeed, it’s occasionally proved an even more successful
outlet for Mario than the day job; likewise the Super Smash
46
OCTOBER 2015
It’s probably harder to name a TV show that hasn’t referenced Mario, with his likeness especially popping up in
animated series such as Futurama and Family Guy. The less said about his own Super Show, the better.
Bros series. Meanwhile, by 1996, he had a starring role in his own
role-playing game, as Nintendo partnered with Square for the
critically-acclaimed Super Mario RPG. It might not have shifted
as many units as Mario Kart, but it certainly added another
string to the plumber’s bow.
Sport story
maRIO FaCt #2
Mario’s triple-jump
has been a regular
staple since Super
Mario 64 (though
it’s absent in 3D
Land and 3D
World), but its first
appearance was
actually in the
Game Boy version
of Donkey Kong,
back in 1994.
He’s since become the accessible face of sports games for those
who don’t take the real world equivalent too seriously. Some
would argue that the N64 versions of both Mario Tennis and
Mario Golf have never been bettered since, though others
would make the case for the portable versions, with their
RPG-style story modes. Either way, the core tenets of Mario
platformers still apply: each of these games has simple,
immediate controls that make the games accessible to all, while
carrying enough nuance to give them longevity.
The roster of Mushroom Kingdom characters might swell or
change with each new instalment, but Mario is a constant, a
OF MaRiO
supeR CameO
WORld
Mario has made a number of
appearances in other Nintendo
games. He’s available to buy in
statue form in the original
Animal Crossing, while you can
cosplay as him in Wii entry Let’s
Go To The City, complete with a
bulbous nose and moustache.
Sharp-eyed players will spot him
in the audience outside the
wrestling ring in Kirby Super
Star Ultra, and he appears in doll
form in Metal Gear Solid: The
Twin Snakes – shoot him and
you’ll hear the familiar 1UP
jingle, as Snake’s HP gauge is
topped up. Perhaps his most
disturbing cameo comes in The
Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask,
with the Happy Mask Salesman
carrying a replica of Mario’s face
attached to his rucksack.
reassuring presence for those who might not
know the difference between, say, Rosalina and
Daisy, but who can instantly recognise that red
cap and bushy moustache. People find comfort in
the familiarity. You instantly know where you are
with Mario, no matter which game he’s starring in.
In Mario Tennis, Golf, Strikers, Baseball and Kart
– and even Smash Bros – he’s the archetypal
all-round jack-of-all-trades, good but not
outstanding in all areas, without any
notable weaknesses.
Meanwhile, in RPGs like Paper Mario and the
Mario & Luigi series, he’s still a mostly silent protagonist. He
represents the calm in the eye of the storm, an
unflappable presence amid the slapstick chaos
occurring around him. While Luigi has developed
something of a personality across these games
– as an occasional braggart but mostly a coward
– Mario is the wiser, the quieter of the two. In some
respects that makes him less interesting, but he
serves a useful purpose, as a conduit for both story and
humour. Occasionally, Nintendo plays upon this to gently
iconoclastic effect: we’re almost as shocked as Luigi at the
opening of the brilliant Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, where we
see the legend in his underpants.
’tache hit
Otherwise, not much has changed in the looks department.
Sure, the moustache is a little fuller, the belly a little rounder, and
we can now see the stitching on those dungarees, but the
modern Mario still carries the charm and iconography of
Miyamoto’s original design. He’s more talkative than he once
was, of course, and it would be wrong to overlook the impact of
voice actor Charles Martinet on Mario as a character. While the
plumber’s voice across cartoons and live-action TV shows had
been established as having a much deeper, harsher tone,
Martinet opted to try what he believed to be a more
light-hearted and kid-friendly approach. The result, heard in
almost every Mario game since the seminal Super Mario 64,
has helped update him for a whole new generation of
players, all without ever changing the
essence of the character. He sounds as
he looks: happy, friendly and
permanently upbeat.
That sense of fun is at the very
heart of Mario and his games, and
it’s Nintendo’s uncanny ability to
preserve it that ensures his
continued popularity. He’s a
grounding presence in unfamiliar
worlds, a way to express new ideas
in a friendly fashion. As anyone
who’s played Super Mario Ball will
attest, the plumber’s presence isn’t
always a guarantee of greatness,
but any time you see that red cap
on the box, chances are you’re
going to have a good time.
OCTOBER 2015
47
Feature
On The Cover!
&A Develope
rQ
rQ
pe
&
lo
oper Q&A
vel
De
De
ve
DEV
Q+A
&A Develope
rQ
rQ
pe
&
lo
A
“I never even
suspected he’d be
so loved decades
Into the Future”
A
oper Q&A
vel
De
De
ve
Our in-depth interview with Super Mario Maker
producer and game design veteran Takashi Tezuka
ow better to celebrate
this happy occasion
than with a chat with
one of the intrepid
developers who
originally brought the
happy little plumber
into this world?
To start with, we’d like to ask you to cast
your mind back all the way to your very
first contact with Mario. Did you have any kind
of inkling that this character would end up
being so prevalent over the next three
decades of gaming history?
I actually knew of Mario even before I joined
Nintendo, but after I joined and we released Super
Mario Bros, you could really feel how he became
much more widely known. Still, I never even
suspected that he would become a character so
loved even decades into the future.
In your opinion, why is it that the
character of Mario resonates so well
with so many different people all over the
world? What do you think is the key to his
incredible enduring success?
Personally, I think that even before people come to
like Mario as a character, it’s the gameplay of Super
Mario that really resonates with them. We created
Super Mario Bros paying close attention to intuitive
feelings – things that anyone in the world can relate
to – which users feel through the gameplay;
running is fun, jumping high is something you want
to do, falling is scary and spikes hurt you if you
touch them, etc.
I think it all started with how the gameplay
resonated with players. From there it’s been how
we’ve continued to make Mario games for so long,
and all the work we have put into making sure that
Mario is never used in an inappropriate way, that
has allowed him to slowly become such a
well-loved character.
48
OCTOBER 2015
you realise that your team had really caught on to
something very special?
What are the essential ingredients in a Mario
title, be it a platformer, one of his sports
games, or one of the many other genres he’s been a
part of over the years?
Ultimately it comes down to the quality of the gameplay.
No matter how many Mario games we release, if players
don’t enjoy them, it can only be a bad thing for Mario. The
quality of the visual design is also very important too; it’s
vital that we work hard to make sure that we present
everyone with the same image of Mario across all these
different games.
Moving on to Super Mario Maker specifically,
what are the origins of the title? How did such
an unusual game come to be, and at what point did
Tezuka’S greaTeST HITS
• Super Mario Bros (1985)
• The Legend Of Zelda (1986)
• Super Mario World (1990)
• The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (1991)
• Super Mario 64 (1996)
• Animal Crossing (2001)
• Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)
• New Super Mario Bros (2006)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
• Super Mario Maker (2015)
For me, there are two roots. The first is that for a long
time I’ve wanted to create a game like Mario Paint for
today’s generation, where you can draw freely using the
Wii U GamePad. I was concerned though that just
showing your drawings to others ultimately doesn’t
really constitute a game.
The other is that the team handling creation of tools
to support internal software production was testing a
Mario course creation editor on the Wii U GamePad.
They mentioned that creating your own courses like
this was a lot of fun and wondered if it would be
possible to turn it into a game.
It was taking these two things together that led us to
make Super Mario Maker. In order to make the course
creation itself into a game, we put in a lot of things that
couldn’t be done in the original Super Mario Bros, and
took the production stance that so long as the staff
found something interesting, it was ok to be included in
the game. Seeing how much fun the staff were having
in their work, I knew this game would be well received.
given that you’ve been involved with Mario
for so long, across so many different games,
have you been surprised by the various level
designs people have come up with so far? What do
you see players trying that you never would have
done before?
The level designers for Mario games have a slight
tendency to create very serious and by-the-book
courses, so that the finished product won’t have any
bugs. However, I’ve learned that people without
level-design experience, even members of the
production staff, will create wildly unique stages. I felt
that this must be extremely exciting for professional
level designers, and will provide good reference for
future projects. In particular I felt that the Nintendo
World Championship levels that Ninendo Of America’s
Treehouse came up with were exciting and something
that advanced gamers would want to try.
Do you have any advice for would-be creators
as they become familiar with all of the level
design tools in Super Mario Maker? What pro tips
can you offer from your many years of experience
creating videogames?
I created Super Mario Maker as something to play with,
so I don’t think of it as a tool, but I imagine that for
would-be creators there’s probably nothing better.
Courses posted from around the world can be sorted by
popularity, and you can even check out other levels
made by your favourite creators too. Since everyone’s
opinions are subjective, you may find for example that
some you don’t find interesting are actually really
popular, or that the opposite might also be true. My
advice would be that you should take these results with
an open mind, analyse them, and take what you learned
to make a new course, then see what happens.
Professionals create levels for lots of users, and it’s
important to know that sometimes what you yourself
may like and what others enjoy may indeed be different.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Toshihiko Nakago, and
yourself have famously been working
together very closely at Nintendo for the last 30
years. What have been your favourite memories of
this time among your colleagues?
You could say that the three of us have spent more time
with each other than with our loved ones! We usually eat
lunch and dinner together, and speak to each other
more than anyone else. We talk about a broad range of
things – everything from serious work-related
conversations to our families – with the aim of trying to
understand each other’s way of thinking. Sometimes
one of us comes up with something unexpected though,
and it’s always fun when that happens.
One thing we often do when we have to decide on
something is ask the opinion of the others, even if we
know they are going to say yes. We’d then use this as part
of our reasoning in making the decision. Or conversely,
we check to see if they have an opposing view, and then
decide against a certain course of action.
and finally, three decades since the release of
Super Mario Bros, how do you see the
character evolving over the next 30 years? What
are your hopes for his future going forward?
That Mario has been loved so much up to this point is
nothing short of miraculous, although obviously this is in
part the result of the untold work of multitudes of
people, not limited to just the developers at Nintendo. It’s
impossible for me to imagine what Mario will go on to
become in the future, so I am very excited to find out.
However, I do hope that even after 30 more years, Mario
continues to be Nintendo’s lead videogame character. n
OCTOBER 2015
49
Review
The Final Verdict!
Mystery Mushrooms turn Mario into an 8-bit
version of a Nintendo character. The range
includes every amiibo, and more besides.
SUPER
MARIO
MAKER
Format Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo Out 11 September Players 1
welcome to tHe nintendo
toYBoX oF YoUR dReAmS
f you ever owned a Nintendo
console growing up, this is like the
moment Willy Wonka hands Charlie
the keys to his chocolate factory.
This is a sublime creative tool for
just about anyone, but those who
count the likes of Super Mario Bros
3 and Super Mario World among
their formative gaming experiences will feel a special frisson
at such unrestricted access to the digital bricks and mortar
that helped define their childhoods.
If that sounds like you, then your early experiments might just
feel a little like defacing a work of art, or scribbling phallic
doodles over a sacred text. The ability to combine ingredients in
a range of new ways is at once thrilling and faintly blasphemous.
Ghost Houses in Super Mario Bros? Kuribo’s Shoe inside a Koopa
Clown Copter? The sheer breadth of options is surprising from a
notoriously cagey company like Nintendo. You’re positively
encouraged to go as crazy as you like.
Admittedly, it’s a little while before you’re properly let loose.
For some, particularly those accustomed to the likes of
LittleBigPlanet and even Minecraft, the initial restrictions will
rankle. Over nine days, features are steadily rolled out, forcing
you on your first play to rely upon a limited selection of tools, and
just two of the four different level styles, with SMB3 and World
locked out until later. Until then, you’re asked to make do with the
basics: Goombas and Koopa Troopas, Brick Blocks and Question
Blocks. By the tenth day you’ll have everything you need, but
impatient players might wonder at the wisdom of having to wait.
Oh, delay
Some will disagree, but in our opinion, the system works
beautifully. It’s in keeping with Nintendo’s design ethos,
encouraging players to consider creative solutions while
working with limited means, much as Miyamoto, Tezuka and co
were forced to when making the original Super Mario Bros. It
means newcomers aren’t overwhelmed by a full palette of
50
OCTOBER 2015
loves…
The subversion of
established Mario conventions.
CouRse you Can
Exploring an online universe
of Super Mario worlds
A
ny uploaded user-made levels can
be found within Course World,
which offers a range of ways to
search and sample stages, and even to
follow your favourite individual creators.
Here’s an overview of how it works.
1
If you’re not particularly choosy, or you’d
prefer to tackle multiple stages in one
go, then the 100 Mario Challenge is the
option for you. This randomly selects a
series of courses, giving you 100 lives to
complete the lot. It’s just 8 stages until you
reach the princess in Easy mode, while
Normal makes you finish 16 before finding
out she’s in another castle. At the end, you’ll
see a credit roll of all the creators whose
stages you beat: another lovely touch.
options, while ensuring no tutorial is necessary, and also
guaranteeing that the simpler ingredients won’t be
overlooked. On each new day, you’ll be asked to complete a
stage containing many of the newly available features; do so,
and it’ll be added to your personal Course Bot, from which it
can be tweaked, refined, expanded, or completely
overhauled. Alternatively, you can attempt the 10 Mario
Challenge, which gives you ten lives to complete eight
randomly selected stages, each of which can also be edited.
This essentially gives you a preview of features you’ve yet to
unlock; while you can’t access them elsewhere, you can copy
and paste these elements to create your own remix.
The interface, meanwhile, is astonishingly intuitive, and so
immediate that it doesn’t need to give you a single word of
advice. Part of this, of course, is down to how familiar its
iconography is – we all know how these individual elements
behave, after all. Even in the unlikely event you’ve never
played a Mario game, the included stages are an education in
how they work. Using the stylus and touchscreen, you simply
select elements and drop them into position, with an onscreen
grid – much like the graph paper used to design stages for the
original Super Mario Bros – acting as a useful guideline, while
lending the procedure a rare sense of precision.
You can customise your palette to bring your most
commonly used items to the top, while squeezing the
triggers or bumpers allows you to quickly and easily copy
objects or move level furniture in bulk. The different palettes
and styles allow you to transform a stage in a couple of taps: a
Super Mario World airship stage can suddenly become a New
Super Mario Bros U castle. Many elements are transposed
directly, but others are tailored to each game’s unique feature
set: Mystery Mushrooms can transform Mario into pixelated
versions of amiibo characters in Super Mario Bros, but in
World the result is a Cape Feather, while in NSMBU mode you
get a Propeller Mushroom.
One of the best UIs ever
conceived for a videogame.
Perhaps the smartest use of
amiibo figures to date.
hates…
The daily drip-feed of content
will frustrate some.
Build it!
The top tool kits for budding
creative types
1
Minecraft
2
Super
Mario
Maker
Quite simply,
Lego for the
digital
generation.
Immediate, fun,
and surprisingly
generous.
3
LittleBigPlanet
Charming and
comprehensive,
but comparatively
time-consuming.
Let’s tap
2
Choose Courses and you’ll be presented
with a rather daunting list of stages,
albeit one that can be sorted into a more
palatable length by time period, location,
difficulty level, and more. The cream will
naturally rise to the top of the star ranking
list, while the most newly uploaded are
featured in Up And Coming. For each level,
you’ll see a tiny overview of the layout,
along with Miiverse comments and a
clearance percentage.
3
Only the most prolific builders will stand
a chance of a slot on Maker’s
leaderboard, which ranks creators
according to the total amount of stars their
stages have received from other players. If
you stumble across someone whose style
you dig, you can follow them to discover
any other levels they’ve built. Initially, you’ll
only be able to upload ten stages of your
own, but the medals you earn from starred
courses will steadily increase that limit.
Its solutions to the most obvious problems are often
disarmingly simple, like the trail of Marios that traces the arc
of his jump, telling you the perfect place to put down that
next platform – or, for the more devious minded, an enemy
to ensure an unhappy landing. From planning to execution,
the whole thing feels like blocking a scene as a film director
before yelling “action!” How fitting that switching from
building a level to playing it merely requires you to tap the
clapperboard in the bottom-left of the screen.
But the real genius of Super Mario Maker is that it makes
the course design process fun. Elsewhere, putting stuff
together is often tedious, laborious or both: having done
something is always more enjoyable than the effort of
actually doing it. Here, Nintendo turns the act of creation into
something akin to a performance. Every part is musicalized,
using the tech from the maligned Wii Music: a vocaloid voice
announces each enemy name and block type as it’s selected,
while positioning them plays a note that’s perfectly in tune
with the current musical backing. It’s one of many
wonderfully playful touches that makes this feel like a
spiritual successor to Mario Paint, that great unsung creative
tool of the SNES era.
Some will be disappointed that most of the stages
Nintendo has included are designed to inspire rather than
challenge, though that unselfishly shifts the spotlight onto
user creations, which are easily shared, and intelligently
sorted and highlighted within Course World. Whether you
consider it an endless source of creative stimulation, or
simply a place to find new levels to play and download every
day, it’s yet another expertly judged element of a package
that, like its star, rarely puts a foot wrong. n
i
need to know
The game originally
existed as a tool for
Nintendo’s own
designers, before the
team decided
gamers would enjoy
it too. They pitched
the idea to Tezuka,
and Super Mario
Maker was born.
Judgement
%
92
There are more
flexible and expansive
creative tools, but
none as joyous or
accessible as this.
Chris Shilling
OCTOBER 2015
51
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IndieMaster
The Best Of The Indie Scene!
Every inhabitant of Wellington Wells
wears a pleasing white mask. Did we
say pleasing? We meant horrifying.
Who is...
Format PC Developer Compulsion Games Out 2016 Web http://bit.ly/gmwehappyfew
#1 We Happy FeW
Disturbing survive-’em-up brings joy to the world
Made up of 11 people working in an
old gramophone factory in Montreal
– yes, it’s that indie – this is the team
behind PS4 launch game Contrast.
We Happy Few sailed past its
Kickstarter target of $250,000, and
even met its stretch goal for
‘authentic English weather’. Lovely.
W
ait, what? A survival
game set in a quaint
English town full of
bobbies on the beat,
bunting, and people
having a jolly good
time, you say? Oh wait, now we see the
creepy masks, rampant drug
addiction, and corpses among the
flower beds. Never mind. Welcome to
the not-so-sleepy, and really quite
unsettling, Wellington Wells in 1964.
It’s broad daylight, but we’re still afraid.
Unlike other games in the genre, We
Happy Few has you trying to stay alive in
what, on the surface at least, looks like a
content, civilised world. “I think that was
exactly what attracted us to the idea,”
considers game designer Guillaume
Provost. “We wanted to get away from
the traditional wilderness setting, where
you break rocks and chop down trees,
and get rid of some of the more dull tasks
we found at the beginning of many
modern survival games. Surviving in We
Happy Few means drinking and eating,
but also staying off the drugs, which
permeate certain more abundant
sources of food and water in the world.
Gathering the basic resources you need
to survive will force you to ‘break’ the
rules of the society you are living in,
which will naturally bring you into
conflict with its inhabitants.”
Drug life
Oh yes, its inhabitants. clad in white
masks, the good folk of Wellington Wells
are all high as kites on a drug known as
Joy. taking place in an alternate universe
where the Germans managed to occupy
england in WW2, these pills are what the
This alternate universe has much of England in rubble after the occupation of the
Germans. The good news? Plenty of places to scavenge for supplies.
54
OctOber 2015
people took to cheer themselves up. Yes,
it’s just as unnerving as it sounds. “Joy is
that beautiful thing that makes the world
shiny and pretty. We didn’t want to make
a world where the people were on a
happy drug without allowing the player
to experience it for themselves,” explains
Provost. “taking drugs helps you blend in
better in certain parts of the city, but it
comes at a cost as well. If you take a little
bit, you’ll eventually crash from it, and
that tends to have adverse effects on
your health. If you take too much, you
run the chance of overdosing. In essence,
it’s a short term gain for a mid-term loss
in the game’s structure.”
While there are story elements to be
discovered within the world, this is a
survival game at heart. It’s a procedurally
generated roguelike, so perish and you’ll
respawn in a reconfigured version of the
environment. “You’ll die a lot in We
Happy Few,” says Provost, almost
gleefully. “And each time you die, we
generate a new city. You bring the
knowledge you’ve gained (and a few
other things we’re not quite ready to
“taking drugs helps you blend
in better, but it comes at a
cost. eventually, you’ll crash”
The 60
Second
pitch
The weapons you can wield range from rocks and branches, to more sturdy fare such as wrenches and pipes. It’s far safer, though,
to try to blend in with the populace and avoid violence entirely. Just take your happy pills and relax…
Crafting is an essential part of staying alive. Items are scattered everywhere, but just
to mix things up, they change every time you start over.
of the city have different types of citizens,
who respond differently to what the
player does. crouching, jumping, and
sprinting might be highly suspicious in
one area, and accepted in another. It’s
part of the natural learning curve for the
player to learn the rules that govern the
different areas of the city.”
crafting tables are scattered around
the world – in our playthrough,
It’s not quite Assassin’s creed,
? try this! l
there were two stationed in
but you’ll need to blend with
his
i
t
ke
e
There’s
t
ik
the vault we spawned in
the crowds as you make
nothing out
(where we’d have been
your way through the
there with quite the
quite happy to stay).
city. While Wastrels on
same creepy charm, but
“crafting is at the
the outskirts will pick
if you want to brush up on
heart of the player’s
on you if you’re
your survival skills, try
progression in the
wearing a smart suit
The Forest on PC. http://
game,” says Provost.
and not torn rags, your
bit.ly/gmforest
“Finding and
behaviour, as well as your
accumulating the right
threads, triggers reactions
ingredients in the world will
from NPcs too. they don’t like
ultimately let you escape the island,
you breaking into their house and
and it helps you graduate into areas of
stealing food from their fridge for one
the city that you might not otherwise be
thing – go figure – but the discovery that
able to survive in. there are three axis to
you haven’t taken your Joy is also a no-no.
crafting in We Happy Few: survival items,
“It’s an area of the game we’re still
mechanical crafting, and, of course,
actively working on, but at the moment
drugs. A cunning player uses all of these
just about every action you take in the
to survive in the game’s world. My
game will generate a response of some
personal favourite is a psychotropic drug
kind,” Provost explains. “Different areas
reveal yet) from playthrough to
playthrough, but we wanted the
experience to stay fresh and different
each time. And then there are certain
encounters or situations that will appear
only in certain playthroughs, revealing
additional world lore and history.”
this! like t
his
try
s?
?
hi
this? t try t
his
ike
!l
!l
is
Just mask
! like this? t
ry
his
th
yt
tr
which negates Joy in your body. If you
happen to use it on a regular Wellie, he
becomes a ‘Downer’ himself. It’s a great
way to distract a crowd.”
It’s the atmosphere that’s so striking
here. While the visuals might have you
screaming bioshock from the rafters, the
feel of the world is very different.
compulsion recorded a full television and
radio schedule for the ever present
smiling head of the city, Uncle Jack, and it
adds yet another layer of scary Doctor
Who episode to proceedings.
“We always wanted to make a darker,
dystopian atmosphere around the
project, but the mood and tone of the
world really crystallized when we cast
Julian in Uncle Jack’s role,” Provost
explains. “In terms of influence, we had a
lot. brazil, the Prisoner, brave New World,
and A clockwork Orange just to name a
few. Uncle Jack, the main figure you see
on all of our television screens, is actually
inspired by blackmail, a Monty Python
sketch featuring Michael Palin. We
wanted Uncle Jack to be all-pervasive, a
kind of oppressive, creepy-happy
presence that follows you throughout the
game.” Well, it still looks like a lovely place
to visit to us. Positively… joyful. n
Self-medication with
Guillaume Provost
We Happy Few
is the tale of a
plucky bunch of
moderately terrible people
trying to escape from an
alternate 1960s English city
filled with cheerful denial.
As one of the only lucid
individuals in a society
pumped full of happy drugs
and desperate to forget
their past, you’ll have to
blend in with the
inhabitants, and quickly
learn the governing rules of
their world, before making
a daring escape. It’s a
first-person game, set in a
procedurally generated,
fully 3D city that you must
escape before everything
collapses around you. But,
like any good roguelike,
you’re probably going to
die a few times before you
figure out how it all works.
You will need to learn how
to conform and avoid
suspicion. You will need to
hunt for supplies, and craft
the devices and weapons
that enable you to make it
out of town alive. What do
the Wellies approve of you
doing? What makes them
get suspicious? What turns
them into a terrifying,
homicidal mob? And is
there anyone here who can
help you? Welcome, my
friends. It’s just another
fabulous day in
Wellington Wells.
XXXXXXXX 20XX
49
indiemaster
The Best Of The Indie Scene!
Format PC Developer Gamious Out 2016 Web http://bit.ly/gmturmoil
#2 Turmoil
Don’t worry, it’s just a drill
H
ospitals and theme parks?
Pah, get out. Everybody
knows that oil’s where it’s at,
and thankfully this
charming Early Access sim
doesn’t go anywhere near
‘making jokes about George Bush’ territory. Set
firmly in the oil rush of 1899 in North America,
Turmoil has you hunting for the good stuff,
upgrading your drilling equipment, and
trading to the highest bidder.
“I’ve previously described the game as a mix
between Gold Miner, High Tea, and Mini Metro,
of which it borrows important elements,”
explains creative director Jos Bouman. “But
deep down, I think the game has more to do with
real-time strategy games in which you build up
your economy. For years, I’ve been a huge addict
of Warcraft II. I’ve always highly enjoyed starting
with low resources and getting as many peons,
buildings, and upgrades as fast as possible. It’s a
very satisfying and relaxing activity.”
Reservoir gods
The Early Access version is currently a simple
single-player campaign with some interesting
characters to interact with and plenty of ways to
upgrade your town, but the team is working
hard on adding extra layers. Not unlike those
you’d have to get through to find oil. “We want
the game to be fun and challenging all the time,”
says Bouman. “The game contains millions of
automatically generated levels (enough to play
it 285 years full-time). If we can manage to add a
Small…
But
Perfectly
Formed
The best indies to complete in
one sitting
#1
ThirTy FlighTs
oF loving
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her sTory
#3
Dear esTher
#4
To The moon
#5
gone home
The design of the game all started out from a
very rough drawing sketched by Bouman in
Microsoft Paint. It’s nicer now.
few extra elements, each one of these levels
should prove to be a different challenge. It’s a
matter of facilitating dilemmas; for instance,
should you buy an upgrade to drill through rock
layers, or is it cheaper to pipe around it? And is
that also sensible in the long run, because
upgrading pipes is more expensive when pipes
cover more distance.“
Accompanied by a relaxing acoustic guitar
soundtrack, Turmoil’s visuals are exceptionally
easy on the eyes, with a crisp, bright style. “As a
reference, the 19th century time period is of
course a given. But we also set out to give the
game a diorama-like feel,” explains Bouman.
“We wanted to come close to ‘vertical slice’ kind
of illustrations, like the ones you’d use if you had
to explain the technique of oil drilling in science
magazines with infographics.” Gas is currently
being added as a resource – and yes it’s just as
risky as it sounds – and so far it’s a lot of fun.
We’re excited for this one. In fact, you could
even say we’re… pumped. n
If a character doesn’t say ‘Well oil be
damned’ then we’re going to have
some strict words with Gamious.
56
OCTOBER 2015
The shortest of the five here, the
less we reveal about this first
person adventure the better. All
you need to know is it’s the
follow up to Gravity Bone from
Blendo Games, involves a heist,
has excellent music, and takes
less time to finish than that cup
of tea you’ve just poured.
Available on both PC and iOS,
there’s no excuse not to play this
riveting detective story from
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
creator Sam Barlow. Using only
FMV to unravel its secrets – no,
it’s nothing like Night Trap – this
is an utterly compulsive tale you
won’t be able to put down until
it’s well and truly over.
One of the original ‘walking
simulators’, this haunting tale,
set on a barren Hebridean
Island, manages to effortlessly
pull you into its world. Beautiful
and atmospheric, you explore
the story of one unnamed man
through his many letters to a
woman (rather unsurprisingly)
named Esther.
Two doctors have a very specific
job – to give dying patients a
new life to remember before
they pass on, one where they
fulfil all the dreams that they
never could in life. If that doesn’t
already tug on your heart
strings, then they might actually
be broken. See if an adventure
to the moon fixes them.
Another gradually unfolding
narrative we don’t want to spoil,
this first-person story sees you
exploring your parents’ new
house after returning from a
gap year. It’s a perfect slice of
’90s nostalgia with an affecting
emotional core, and the devil is
in the intricate details of the 12
months that you’ve missed. n
twitter.com/gamesmaster
w
Format PS4 Developer Wonderful Lasers Inc
Out 2016 Web http://bit.ly/gmsuperimpossible
#3 super
impossible
roaD
Get the ball rolling
T
here’s something
a little off-putting
about adding the
word ‘impossible’
to a game title. It’s
not exactly a
welcoming hug is it? However, while
this follow up to creator Kevin Ng’s
addictive mobile ball roller might
feel unbeatable to start with, it has
that dangerous one-more-go effect
that sees dishes go unwashed and
bedtimes passed by. And this time
it’s coming to PS4 with split-screen
multiplayer. Oh dear.
Simply put, Super Impossible Road
sees you piloting a ball down a
coiling, curving track with no sides.
One wrong roll and you’re over the
edge, but if you can steer your
sphere back down onto the course
below within 5 seconds, then you’ll
smugly bypass a chunk of the race.
“Landing a good shortcut can be
hugely satisfying in Impossible
Road,” says Ng. “But I felt that the
original game didn’t really call this
out or reward the player as much as it
should. When I started to experiment
with multiplayer racing, it was just a
natural fit. A racing game where the
only way to win is cheating seemed
like a pure concept in line with the
original, but taking the idea to the
next logical level.”
Slippery slope
There’s a single player campaign, but
it’s when you’re going up against
other players that things get exciting.
“During a race, there’s no game over
screen,” explains Ng. “Instead, you
are respawned at the last gate you
rolled through. This adds a layer of
strategy, because if you just bounce
your way down the track without
rolling through a gate, you’re going to
really pay the penalty for missing a
jump. Seasoned players will make
sure to take in the occasional gate as
an insurance policy.” We reckon this
could be a multiplayer hit of Rocket
League proportions. n
A booming techno soundtrack awaits your ears – Ng is maximising the PS4’s
surround options for some serious noise making.
Format PS4, PC Developer Vertigo Gaming Out 2016 Web http://bit.ly/gmcookserve
#4 Cook, serve,
DeliCious 2
Do you want retries with that?
H
ungry? Oh, you will
be – the sequel to the
most intense
cooking simulator
around is looking
seriously scrummy.
This devious culinary follow-up is
coming to PS4, as well as the series’
original home on PC, and sees you take
charge of your very own restaurant in
an enormous skyscraper.
While you start out with a zero star
café, your aim is to work your way up to
five star glory with over 180 foods and
1,000 recipes. Shift work is available at
other restaurants, and there will even
be a stint on a high stress cooking show
to test your mettle. Developer David
Galindo wants the game to be faster
than ever, running at a breakneck pace
as you participate in competitive
cooking tournaments and take on the
world. And you’ll be building burgers at
a crisp 60fps too.
Taco hell
We said we’d make you hungry, didn’t
we? If crafting fries, hotdogs, and tacos
wasn’t enough, steaks are on the menu
too, and an update from the original
means customers can choose exactly
how they want their rib-eye cooked.
From blue to well done, it pops up on
the recipe card, and you’ll need to have
perfect timing to deliver the goods.
Cooking Mama, eat your medium rare
heart out. Ew. n
“you’ll need perfect timing to
deliver the goods”
From sushi to soup, the game has everything you’d ever want to eat. No guarantee
that it’ll actually teach you how to cook though.
OCTOBER 2015
57
MinecraftMaster
The Most Block-busting Builds!
The urge
to grab a
boatload of TNT
blocks and stage our
own recreation of that
scene from
Independence Day is
pretty difficult to
resist.
You
could impale
the Ender Dragon
on this huge quartz
recreation of the
Washington Monument,
which commemorates
the first US
president.
Build of
the month…
state of
Mined
It might
be tempting to
dig up Lafayette
Square and build a dirt
shack, but you’ll
probably get shot by
the secret service
before you even
begin.
Your ticket inside the home of the US president
E
ver fancied having a kip in the
seat of power of the western
world? Finally, the president of
the United States’ very own crib
can be yours. This Minecraft
recreation – including the
building itself, its grounds, Lafayette Square, and
the Washington Monument – is probably the
58
OCTOBER 2015
closest that most people will ever get to stepping
inside the real thing. The build is part of a
recreation of the entirety of Washington DC by
BlueSheep123. “It isn’t going to be exactly the
same," he wrote in a post on Reddit about his
plans for the build. “It’s going to be like how GTA V
is to Los Angeles.” Now, where did I put my
Minecraft Obama skin?
HoW to ... survive Hardcore difficulty
Tread carefully – there are no second chances here
#1. risky business
The number one rule for being successful is never
to take unnecessary risks. Have an escape route
planned for any hazardous situation you find.
#4. nether you mind
Don’t set foot through a nether portal without a
diamond sword, bow, iron armour, and a pickaxe.
Once you’ve got what you need, get out again fast.
#2. cave man
#3. sleep year
#5. cavern brawl
#6. end game
The safest place to build your base is underground,
but make sure to light up dark corners with torches
so you’re not surprised by an unexpected creeper.
By the time you’re looking for dungeons, you
should have a full set of enchanted weapons and
tools. Build a safe mob grinder if you need more XP.
Kill enough sheep on the first day to build a bed,
and always snooze through the night – it’s by far the
most dangerous part of the game.
Before you leap through the End portal, you’ll want
diamond everything, potions of regeneration, and
water buckets to fend off Endermen. Good luck!
tHe vinyl
countdoWn
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hese gorgeous vinyl figures perfectly capture the
spirit of the terrifying, teleporting Minecraft baddies.
They’re nine inches tall, and come with their own
stone block that can be gently inserted between
their hands, staying in place thanks to magnets in their palms.
The arms, as well as the head, are fully articulated. But whatever
you do, don’t look them directly in the eyes…
T
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steve's
trivia
If you’re
feeling
brave, whack a
Ghast’s fireball
with your blade,
and it’ll rebound
right back at the
beast, slaying it
in one hit.
construct corner
Home improvement
This Month:
Elworrier, Reddit
Boxy houses don’t need to be ugly,
as this impressive build proves.
Elworrier says it’s based on an
architectural render found on the
web, and it took about three hours
to put together as an application to
become a builder on the World of
Keralis server. “It’s mostly made out
of quartz, wooden planks, and
different types of stone," he says.
“The hardest part was fitting it to
Minecraft’s scale.” After completing
the build, he’s now moved on to
making blocky recreations of
multiplayer maps from Call Of
Duty: Advanced Warfare. n
OCTOBER 2015
59
reviews
66 Until dawn
Careful on your way
to our scariest
review… these pages
are dangerous at this
time of night.
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.
Metal Gear
Solid V: the
PhantoM Pain
Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS3, 360 Publisher Konami Developer Kojima Productions Out Now
T
his latest (and last?) entry in one of
gaming’s longest running series manages
something that only the finest sequels
achieve: it feels both familiar and original.
From the grizzled voice of Snake, to the
importance of silent sneaking and
The result, and this is absolutely crucial, is
that whether you’re already into Metal
Gear, a long-term naysayer, or missed the
boat on prior entries entirely, this game is
worth your time and effort. Director
Hideo Kojima has, in the past, produced
some of gaming’s most divisive titles, but
here he manages to skilfully blend
enough elements together to provide
something that almost any player can
appreciate. You might not have enjoyed
previous Metal Gear outings, but that
certainly doesn’t mean you’re not going
to get along with this one.
That new-found accommodation is
mainly facilitated by the open world
structure that’s thrust upon you, after an
hour or two of exposition-laden prologue.
While not expansive to the extent of the
likes of GTA, Skyrim, or Far Cry, the
environment offered here inflates
knowing when to pull out a trusty cardboard box, this is a
game that will feel instantly recognisable to franchise
veterans. And yet, thanks to its embracing of an open world,
the implementation of the Mother Base command centre,
and a host of new extras, those same franchise fans will
likely have a few exclamation marks over head, too.
enormously the potential ways you can
approach and complete your missions.
Free agent
Whether seeking to infiltrate a lightly
guarded outpost positioned in isolation
along a stretch of road, or rescue a
prisoner from a fort built into the side of a
cliff that houses enough
troops to bring down the
Death Star, the plan of
action is left firmly in your
own hands. From which
direction you decide to
attack is your first key
choice, and it’s here that
you learn the value of
routinely consulting your
map to locate the best
vantage point. Scoping out enemy bases
– crouching atop a hill or rocky outcrop,
“the open world inflates
enormously the ways you can
approach your missions”
60
OCTOBER 2015
binoculars up to Snake’s one good eye –
allows you not only to note the position
and weaponry of guards, but also to
uncover the optimum entry point. Equally
vital, it gives you the chance to memorise
potential escape routes, should your best
laid plans fall apart, and a hasty retreat
become your only means of keeping your
head attached.
It’s impossible to
overstate just how much
more independent and
truly in control you feel
when you’re given such
free reign. Where previous
Metal Gear’s have defined
for you how and where
you start each level, here
your experience of a
mission can change significantly
depending on how you approach it from
its earliest beginnings. Replaying the
same sortie a second or third time
highlights this brilliantly – sneaking into a
camp through an unguarded water pipe,
for example, produces very different
results and dangers to quietly disabling
the power and nipping in while guards
How did John achieve the ultimate MGSV experience? By playing the game from inside his custom cardboard box.
One final love letter to gamers, sealed with a hiss
70 everybody’s Gone to the rapture
What would you do if
everyone suddenly
disappeared? At least
you’d have GM to
keep you company.
76 rare replay
79 King’s Quest
30 full, classic
videogames in one
package? Is Rare
trying to break the
record or something?
Over three decades
after the franchise’s
debut title, we crack
into a right royal treat
of a reboot.
OCTOBER 2015
61
Gear headS
Meet the cast of characters
that bring The Phantom
Pain’s story to life:
inStant exPert
Getting to grips with the tools of Snake’s deadly trade
Fulton Recovery
Phantom Cigar
Suppressor
Mother Base
Do yourself a favour
and upgrade this vital
system as early in the
game as you can. Once
you’ve got the
technology to extract
cargo crates, weapon
emplacements, and
vehicles, you’ll be able
to earn improvements
to Mother Base much
more quickly.
If you’ve ever
fantasised about
owning a cigar capable
of speeding up time
then firstly: um, why?
Secondly, you’re going
to be in (outer) heaven
here. This carcinogenic
gadget ensures you
can always count on
the cover of darkness
when sneaking about.
Keep in mind that the
silencers in MGS V have
a finite life span. Shoot
enough bullets
through one and it’ll
eventually break and
become useless. Keep
an eye on its durability
at all times while you’re
in the field, or you risk
accidentally making a
noisy scene.
The pipes straddling
the walls of your HQ
can be climbed in order
to reach certain
platforms which would
otherwise require
painstaking trots up
rows of staircases.
Trust us – there are
points in the game
when you’ll be grateful
of a shortcut.
diamond dog
Once grown up, D-Dog becomes one of
your most reliable buddies, thanks to
the ability to sniff out enemy locations
and highlight them on your map.
Quiet
Quiet has a huge range of interesting
talents, but it’s her skill with firearms –
particularly long range sniper rifles –
that makes her someone to be feared
and respected.
Big Boss
Despite being rather younger than in
previous outings Snake is still every bit
the grizzled, tortured warrior. Fresh
from the events of Ground Zeroes, he’s
out for revenge on his enemies.
d horse
Without question, D-Horse is your
most important companion, and your
only real option, aside from walking,
when it comes to silently approaching
enemy locations.
ocelot
If Snake is the one willing to take risks
and flirt with danger, Ocelot is the other
side of the coin: calm, calculated and
forever rational. They make the perfect
double act.
62
OCTOBER 2015
recon Man
Keeping your eye on the enemy
It’s vital to get a
look inside a
building’s doors and
windows before moving
into it. Getting caught in
a confined space is
never good.
Whenever
you’re in the
vicinity of even a
single guard it makes
good sense to stay in a
crouched or prone
position, to make
sure they don’t
spot you.
Use any nearby
cliffs and rock
formations as an
overlook to scout out
enemy camps and gain
extra info before
approaching them.
Aiming
down the
sights is a good way
to check out your
surroundings without
blocking your
peripheral vision by
pulling out the
binoculars.
are in a panic trying to get the generator
back up and running.
And your chosen direction of attack is
just the beginning. A full day/night cycle
affects how you might act in a marked
way, making it more or less difficult to see
and be seen. Scouting in daylight hours
from a high perch might make the task of
working out enemy patrol numbers and
movement patterns that bit easier, but
the enemy has eyes too, and they’re
going to spot you if you so much as poke
your head out from that long grass.
Conversely, you’re more prone to
mistakes when scouting during the night,
but you’re less likely to be discovered,
guards having to rely on floodlights and
flashlights should they suspect
something is awry.
Once the basics have been learned
and certain skills and understandings of
enemy behaviour polished, the cover of
darkness becomes your best friend. As
long as you’re prepared to advance
slowly and methodically, even the most
hostile of encampments can be
overcome without so much as having to
pull out a tranquilliser gun. It becomes
common to find yourself entering the
battlefield only at night, reluctant to take
the unnecessary risks that come with the
sun and accepting (and enjoying) the fact
that you’re locking yourself into crawling
and slithering your way to victory.
That’s not to say that darkness makes
your job simplistic – rather, the lack of
light benefits those with the patience to
stick to the path of the ninja and learn to
the love the shadows.
Equip shape
Armaments and gadgets play an equally
important role in getting you safely
through, and out of, hot zones, but you’ll
need to consider your loadout carefully.
Under the light of the moon, night vision
goggles are a must, but during the day
they’re a waste of precious space. Even
the traditional cardboard box has a
correct time and place, and the right
firearm can mean the difference between
a heroic escape or an ignominious death
when a mission goes south.
For anyone with ambitions to get
through the game without being seen,
you’re going to want to learn extremely
quickly just what you can get away with
when brandishing each type of weapon.
Taking out enemies from afar with a
sniper rifle is a great way to thin out the
crowd, but it also puts the survivors on
high alert, becoming more robust in their
search patterns and dangerously
trigger-happy. So long as you’re far
enough away from your targets, enemies
won’t be able to pinpoint your sniping
location precisely, but give them the
chance and they’ll quickly start pulling
the strings of the net shut.
Similarly, applying a suppressor to your
assault rifle or sticking to using the silent
tranquilliser gun might give you the
ability to quietly put foes out of action, but
unless you’ve given yourself a chance to
pick up and hide the body then you’re just
MEtal GEar solid V: thE PhantoM Pain
SerieS GUide
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The sneak-em-up almost as old as Mario
Fans unfortunately remember the MGS2 as a ruddy
great troll of a game, thanks to the Raiden switcheroo.
classic gm c
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The first MGS brought had a boat-load of memorable encounters, including the brilliant Psycho Mantis fight.
Metal Gear (1987)
Designed by Hideo Kojima and
originally released on the MSX2
computer, then later on the NES,
Metal Gear is often seen as the
birth of the modern stealth
genre. A version of this original is
playable within Metal Gear Solid
3: Snake Eater.
making things more difficult moving
forwards. Enemies, understandably, react
suspiciously to dead and unconscious
comrades. It’s always worth keeping in
mind that the least aggressive act might
be the slowest, but it is very frequently
the one of least resistance.
Perhaps the best use of deadly arms,
however, is to employ them as a
distraction. Certainly, it’s here that
explosives in particular come into their
own, a well placed and timed detonation
of C4 doing wonders to clear out a camp,
giving you vital seconds to get in and out
before your would-be adversaries stop
panicking and start looking for a culprit.
Alternatively, you can ditch all that, stick a
load of bombs to a truck, drive it full
speed into a base, and jump out at the
last minute before blowing the thing up
in a ball of fiery death. It might not be
entirely in the spirit of Snake, but there’s
no denying the entertainment factor.
To help further your quest for
dominance over the land, you’re able to
Metal Gear Solid
(1998)
For many, this PS1 release is not
only the best Metal Gear ever but
the best game period. Its blend of
gameplay, character, and
narrative was seen as a
revolution, and it remains an
essential game today.
It had some problems, including a dubiously-attired
female enemy squad with ‘issues’, but wow, what an
Metal Gear Solid 2:
SonS of liBerty (2001)
At the time of its release, MGS2
brought with it impressive new
heights of graphical realism, and
was one of the games that
helped the PS2 firmly cement its
position as the dominant console
of the generation.
Metal Gear Solid 4:
GUnS of the PatriotS
(2008)
While MGS3 has plenty to offer, it
would be remiss of us to not
mention its follow-up. Perhaps
more than any other, this entry
split audience opinion on
Kojima’s directing.
“each buddy provides their
own unique brand of support
abilities to complement snake”
employ the help of ‘buddies’, including a
trusty steed. Just like the mounts in Red
Dead Redemption or The Witcher 3,
Snake’s horse is more essential than
optional – tackling the long distances
between inhabited bases on foot would
be a serious chore.
Friend game
‘D-Horse’ isn’t Big Boss’ only companion,
however. As the story progresses,
spiritual siblings D-Dog and D-Walker are
introduced, as well as silent, scantily-clad
sniper Quiet. Each provides their own
unique brand of support abilities,
allowing them to complement Big Boss’
stealthy abilities across your many
different styles of play.
Your faithful hound, for example, uses
his sensitive nose to mark enemies on the
map. This has obvious benefits when it
comes to tracking guard’s movements,
but it also comes in handy for locating
prisoners in need of extraction, some key
to your missions, others acting as
optional objectives.
Quiet, however, is magnificent at
taking out enemies from afar, while the
robotic D-Walker is geared towards those
that prefer a straight shoot-out over
stealth. You soon come to appreciate the
different skills of each and it becomes
instinctive to switch between them
depending on the situation.
Those optional objectives, along with a
number of ‘side ops’, are important for
more than simply ticking a box and
achieving golden ‘S’ ranks. Rescuing allies,
gathering resource crates, and collecting
intel documents is vital to empowering
your base of operations. A strong Mother
Base, as it’s called, ensures a strong Snake.
It’s from this cosy HQ that you enter
the open-world combat zone ‘proper’,
experience key narrative events
involving Metal Gear cast members both
new and familiar, and choose which
weapons and gadgets to unlock and
upgrade. Fuelling such development
takes manpower, however, and for that
you need good personnel, rescued and
recruited out in the field, each possessing
skills ranked across a number of
categories that make them more or less
suited to the roles you need.
Some might be specialists in
technology research and development,
others in intel-gathering, or medical
knowledge. The better the staff you have
in each category, the more rewards you
see. Each weapon you can create, for
OCTOBER 2015
63
review
Pro-tip: never get lazy when it comes to
finding a hidden spot and scouting out
the terrain in front of you.
The Final Verdict!
example, demands its own degree of
expertise and manpower, some requiring
you to hunt down a whole gaggle of
clued-in collaborators. Or you might
instead focus your efforts on building a
strong intel group, who’ll help you during
missions by randomly popping enemy
locations onto your HUD.
Features like this, tying directly into
your success or failure out in the field,
make Mother Base feel like a constant,
important presence, rather than the
pointless doll’s house it could so easily
have been. Always, no matter what the
mission, you’re thinking about how you
want to enhance and improve it, and
what you need to gather to do so. Such a
mindset is vital, too – neglect your
headquarters and you’ll find yourself
struggling for the lack of the game’s best
weapons and gadgets.
Prisoners aren’t your only option
when it comes to filling out your personal
posse – in fact, successfully extracting
them is difficult enough that you’ll
essentially be forced to turn elsewhere
for new recruits if you want to keep
Mother Base well-populated. Enemy
guards are your other source of
manpower, typically less skilled and
intelligent, but far more numerous, and
surprisingly easy to capture and
reprogram to suit your needs.
This person-pilfering is achieved
through the Fulton Recovery device, a
balloon that can be attached to people
and used to send them to your private
residence. While it sounds simple
enough, the very idea of acquiring
enemy troops creates an interesting
diversion and balance between the
traditional sneaking structure and the
need to forcefully engage. It ensures you
can’t avoid contact forever.
Invisibly knocking guards
unconscious (Big Boss’ ignorance of
necromancy meaning you can’t extract
the dead) is an ability you must hone to
fine precision, either through smart use
of the tranquilliser gun, or getting in close
and choking them out before they can
retaliate. The game’s dynamic is still
firmly based around stealth, but at the
same time you’re constantly encouraged
to put yourself in the kinds of dangerous
situations you’d have avoided in previous
Metal Gears. It’s subtle touches such as
this which help to mix up the series’
classic formula, while still staying
pleasingly true to its core spirit.
Eventually, you’re able to upgrade the
Fulton to allow for the direct extraction of
“subtle touches mix up the
series’ classic formula, while
still staying true to its spirit”
64
OCTOBER 2015
Due to the comparative lack of hiding spots, smaller outposts can often be more
complicated to stealthily navigate than larger ones.
bigger items – vehicles, AA guns, and
cargo containers filled with valuable
resources. Attaching a balloon to a truck,
hiding in the grass, and observing the
stunned, confused reactions of nearby
guards is a treat that never gets old, and
if you’re quick, you can even take
advantage of their disbelief to sneak
around behind one or two of them, take
them out, and send them hurtling into
the sky after it.
dead space
While populated areas are full of this kind
of interaction, the rest of the world is
rather devoid of life. Wild animals and
plants are littered about, but unlike the
expansive settings of an Ubisoft or
Bethesda offering, the environment
presented here never managed to rid us
of the sense that the areas between
outposts and bases are only there for the
sake of it. It’s initially fun to gallop on
horseback between locations, but after a
while the lifelessness of the intermediate
zones makes travel a chore.
On the one hand, it does ensure
moments of quiet downtime that give
the stealth action sequences room to
breathe, and certainly we were very
willing to endure the long, repetitive treks
through the countryside for the sake of
such an impressive freedom in
approaching missions. But still, that is
what they are – long, repetitive treks –
and some distractions to break up the
monotony would certainly not have gone
amiss. Travel Scrabble, perhaps?
Luckily the feel of the narrative could
not be more opposite. Its mix of the
MEtal GEar solid V: thE PhantoM Pain
ridiculous and the heartfelt is anything but
dull, feeling very much in the vein of classic
Kojima. It doesn’t seem to know whether it
wants to be self-aware parody or
hard-hitting military critique, at times
achieving both and at others neither – but
never once is it anything less than utterly
charming. The icing on the cake is a cast of
characters drawn broader and more
outlandishly than anything even Looney
Toons ever managed, their adventures
keeping the story unremittingly
compelling. They’re the kind of people you
want to follow just to see what bonkers
thing they’re going to do next.
Before the final credits roll the plot
touches on almost every possible
criticism and complication of the modern
war machine. Child soldiers, the private
military-industrial complex, the lust for
control of oil fields, secret Soviet weapon
projects, the destruction of local cultures,
the seedy influence of corporate
interests, and more.
Because so much ground is covered
it’s impossible for it to go into great depth
on any single point. Instead, it’s all about
looking at the wider picture – the concept
that each individual terror of war is
insignificant in the face of the overall
gestalt of pain and suffering that every
conflict inevitably brings with it.
tale spin
It’s told, of course, in Kojima’s trademark
style of elaborate cutscenes and
dialogue on the Greek tragedy end of the
drama spectrum. Snake and his allies
have plenty to say, but it’s left to their
nemesis, Skull Face, to do the preaching,
and become the pivot used to highlight
the negative effects that industrialised
nations wreak on their less wealthy
victims. Given just how over-the-top
everything is, though, it’s perfectly
acceptable to ignore the underlying
messages and simply enjoy the uniquely
pantomime atmosphere.
There has been a tendency, likely the
result of the respect garnered by the
original Metal Gear Solid, to treat this
series as though it is some sort of
holier-than-thou example of ‘serious’
gaming. While there perhaps is an
element of truth in there somewhere, it’s
important to also remember that this has
always been a series that has revelled in
the crazy and the extreme. This is as
much a sci-fi comedy as it is a serious
commentary on the nature and impact
of war – and we wouldn’t have it any
other way.
So much is true particularly when
you consider the
spectrum of
enemies that stand
in the way of your
success. Generic
soldiers take up most
of your time, but these
skirmishes are
intersected regularly
with encounters with
giant, muscle-bound
men covered in
tranSlation
Station
No Russian? No problem!
W
henever you’re presented
with a side mission that
promises to provide you
with a translator as a reward, make
sure to get right on it. Without
someone on side who speaks the
lingo, Snake is unable to probe
foreign enemies for information.
You’ll need experts in many different
tongues too, as Snake’s adventure
takes him across many different
regions. Once you can understand
what your foes are saying, you can
pump them for information, such as
where their buddies are, where
prisoners are being housed, and
what sort of resources a base might
be holding in storage.
flame, floating psychics flaunting their
powers of mind control, and beefed-up
super-soldiers bringing their guns to bear
with baffling speed and accuracy. Oh, and
the giant bi-pedal nuclear robots are
back too, of course.
The miraculous thing is that this
approach works alongside the
consistently more serious business of
staying invisible and not getting yourself
killed. It’s here that Kojima demonstrates
the true deftness of his touch, ensuring
that the wackiness of the story never
undermines how seriously you take your
role as Snake on the battlefield.
However, there are problems thrown
up by the open world format when it
comes to delivering that narrative during
its final stages. When the plot starts
ramping up towards its conclusion the
game fails to engineer an elegant way to
keep the pace of the story in top gear
whilst also allowing you to indulge in the
freedom you’ve grown
accustomed to. Having the
most dramatic cutscene
you’ve ever
experienced
suddenly stop
halfway
through,
labelled with
a ‘to be
continued’
sticker, is an
unwelcome
jolt that can’t
help but kill
your
immersion. You’re
then immediately
thrown into Mother
Base, in order to
upgrade your equipment, before heading
straight back to the conclusion of the
cutscene as though the break to a
location hundreds of miles away had
never happened.
It’s a seriously clunky solution to a
problem that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Brutally speaking, it feels surprisingly
amateurish given the calibre of talent
behind the project and the level of quality
on show elsewhere. If this example was a
one off it might have been forgivable, but
over the final chapters it happens
numerous times, and the joke quickly
wears thin.
Still, a general rule remains true: for
everything there is not to like about MGS
V, there are five things that are impossible
not to love. There’s such a wealth of
content here that any irritations are
generally forgotten a couple of hours
after the event, once you’ve stumbled
across a new approach or a new piece of
equipment that allows you to interact
with the world and its populace in a way
you’d not previously conceived.
There’s a seriously impressive amount
of content on offer here too – you’re free
to fly through the main missions without
fear that you’ll be left wanting for things
to do after. We finished the main narrative
in roughly 30 hours, but once the final
cutscene had played out, our overall
completion percentage was still in the
low 30s. Bigger isn’t always better, as the
original Metal Gear Solid so aptly
demonstrated, but when bigger is
accompanied by this degree of diversity
it’s hard to not feel spoilt.
Given the status of both MGS V and
Hideo Kojima, combined with the drama
that has surrounded Konami and this
franchise over the past couple of years,
many fans have whipped themselves
into a frenzy, hoping for this to be the
best game ever made – or at the very
least, the best Metal Gear. We’re not sure
either have turned out to be true, but
failing to hit such lofty standards is
certainly no failure in our minds.
While there are some niggling things
that could be improved, the overall
experience is a sumptuous combination
of pleasure, and deeper thought about
the series’ core themes. It’s that expert
blend that makes this, while not our
favourite MGS to date, certainly the one
that’s most worth playing for the largest
number of people. The open world
structure brings with it a set of rules that
are far more accessible to broader
western tastes than anything Kojima has
provided before, while around those
rules is wrapped enough craziness and
intrigue for any hardcore fan.
It might not be as supremely focused
and faultlessly executed as some of its
most celebrated predecessors, but Metal
Gear Solid V is, without question, a
mission worth taking. It’s a game with an
incredible amount to give – if this is the
series’ final hurrah, or at least its last
outing under Kojima’s leadership, then
we’re pleased to report that it’s going out
with a deeply satisfying bang. n
loves…
True freedom to approach
missions however you like.
The story’s as crazy and
outlandish as ever.
hates…
Open world design sometimes
clashes with the narrative.
The land between outposts feels
empty and barren.
better than…
Far Cry 4
Far Cry 4 managed to deliver an
impressive open world, but it failed to
deliver the same level of diversity and
intrigue that MGS V does.
worse than…
Metal Gear Solid
The first PS1 outing of Snake remains
the series high point, birthing an entire
genre of stealth action. Will it ever
receive a current-gen re-do? Should it?
online
The game’s
multiplayer mode,
Metal Gear Online,
won’t be up until
October on consoles,
or January 2016 on
PC. Due to the delay,
we weren’t able to
factor this feature in
to our review.
Judgement
%
91
Maybe not the finest
Metal Gear, but
certainly one of the
finest games of this
generation.
John Robertson
OCTOBER 2015
65
Review
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Brett Dalton,
Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere, and The
Pacific’s Rami Malek all make the cast.
The Final Verdict!
Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Supermassive Games Out Now Players 1
Until Dawn
Or ‘I Know What You Did Last Winter’
A
s Chris sits in the
snow-decked cable
car destined for
Blackwood
Mountain, he tells a
high school
anecdote that nicely summarises
chaos theory. A guy in his class kept
snapping a girl’s training bra, you see,
so the teacher told Chris to swap desks
with him. This turn of events kickstarts
a friendship with then classmate, now
fellow protagonist, Josh.
“If it weren’t for the fact Jeanie Simmonds
decided to wear a low cut shirt," Chris
says to Sam, another of Until Dawn’s
eight playable characters, “you could be
talking to some other person entirely”.
But while developer Supermassive
centres on the butterfly effect, it often
struggles to take off.
This PS4-exclusive survival horror tells
the story of eight friends making an
annual pilgrimage to a picturesque ski
lodge, where one year earlier two
members of the group died under
strange circumstances. The
aforementioned Josh reunites the gang
to celebrate their memory (and possibly
have a little party), but when an insane
clown-masked killer rudely crashes it, the
do turns deadly.
And so, across 11 chapters, you’ll creep
through graphically gorgeous settings,
casting the light from your torch/lighter/
phone across vacated log cabins,
menacing mines, thick forests, and dank
sanatoriums, examining objects and
solving the odd dilemma. Areas are
linear, and puzzles limited like a
streamlined Resident Evil, to maintain the
game’s slasher flick pace.
Your actions determine who lives and
who dies – a big promise. What if you fail
a QTE because your cat distracted you?
Will it trigger an irreversible chain
reaction? Well, as it turns out, ripples here
“you’re not so much player
as director, manipulating
characters and events”
66
OCTOBER 2015
don’t so much cause tidal waves as other
equally sized ripples.
Incidents can feel inconsequential.
Early on, when a massive icicle plummets
towards Mike and Jessica as they enjoy a
quick roll in the snow, for instance, it
doesn’t matter whether you complete
the QTE or not, because no one can die in
this bit. Miss a button press at the apex of
a perilous cliff and your character simply
slips, dusts themselves off, then starts the
ascent again; bungle another QTE climb
and you’ll split your head on a rock. An
arbitrary choice – turn left or turn right?
– might result in death, while a seemingly
meaningful one lets you keep living.
Dawn stars
Without wanting to spoil too much,
alterations are often self-contained. In
one scenario there’s the option to
perform a painful bit of body
modification. Maybe it’ll influence your
ability to fend off attacks or perform
certain tasks later? It’s hard to tell. The
outcome is near identical, except for one
QTE which you’re never sure is actually
significant. When you’re besieged in the
woods you can indeed meet a demise,
but this doesn’t have a huge effect on the
next bit, in which your friend simply
Gotta solve
‘em all
Three subplots to unravel
Burn, baby
There’s an arsonist on the
loose! Every so often you’ll stumble
upon police reports and see flames
blazing in the distance. Just who is
this mysterious firestarter?
1
Get a clue
Examine discarded lockets,
glasses, and love notes to uncover
the mystery of the group’s two lost
friends. How exactly did they die,
one year ago today?
2
Peak your curiosity
There’s clearly more to the
history of Blackwood Mountain than
meets the eye. Just what happened
here back in the 1950s?
3
UNTIL DAWN
loves…
A well told horror story that
keeps the tension high.
Astonishing visuals paired with
incredibly believable animation.
hates…
Replays can give you too much
of a peek behind the curtain.
Have face, will tRavel
The amazing mugs of Until Dawn
There aren’t many locations as ripe for horror as this
twilit, serenely brooding, snow-blasted wilderness.
The game doesn’t just feature an array of visually incredible
locations – it also boasts among the most believable character
models ever seen in a game. Supermassive
conducted extensive facial and performance
capture to get the best likeness they could, and
they utterly satisfy as real people, with life
behind the eyes and weight behind the action.
Even the most subtle flicker of emotion is visible,
from a subversive smirk to a knowing glance, and
this prevents the need for our actors to ham it up.
If you stay still for five seconds, the camera actually cuts to a
close-up of your character’s chiselled Hollywood features,
letting you see light dance across their soft skin and shadows
thrown over real-time wrinkles. And that’s not all. On the pause
menu, the giant head of whoever you’re playing as
fills the screen, whereupon you can use the right
thumbstick to shift their gaze and move their
bonce around. Listen, we don’t think you
understand the full implications of this: in Until
Dawn, you can literally control the
near-photorealistic head of Peter Stormare.
While authentically person-like in pictures,
faces do look a bit less human in motion, with smiles
in particular seeming a little botoxy. When you think about it,
though, that’s pretty realistic. That’s Hollywood, baby.
How many times did Ben say, “Hey wait, isn’t that the person from…“? Precisely eight times.
From their wavy hair to their flowing clothes, Until
Dawn’s characters look utterly convincing at any angle.
explores a watchtower like she would if
you survived, only without you there to
trade quips with.
There are enough changes at least to
make a second playthrough to see
different outcomes worthwhile, and
Supermassive makes this convenient by
letting you start from the beginning of any
chapter. It’s a shame, though, that there’s
no way to skip cutscenes or dialogue, but
at least the game’s length is pitched just
right at about five hours.
While its butterfly effect system is
flawed, Until Dawn is never dull. Whether
crunching through a snowy wilderness, or
searching rotten cadavers in a dingy
morgue, atmospheric visuals keep the
tension intact throughout. And when quick
time events do trigger, they’re unobtrusive
and well communicated. One of the best
takes advantage of the gamepad’s gyro
sensor to make you stay still and avoid
detection from, say, a murderous
psychopath or squirrel. Opening doors and
grabbing levers by holding the shoulder
button and pulling the right thumbstick,
meanwhile, feels pleasantly tactile. With
each location containing only one or two
points of interaction, environments strike
the right balance between guiding you,
and giving you freedom.
Although always stylish, some
elements lack substance. Before each
chapter there’s a countdown – ‘X hours
until dawn’ – but elapsing time will only
feel like a theme for some. A plan
specifically mentioning the arrival of
dawn is only put into motion for those
that make certain choices. Splash screens
and loading icons show a grinning skull
with snow pouring downwards from it
like an hourglass. Though it’s arresting, it
can feel very surface level, depending on
which paths you take, potentially leaving
you with the impression of certain
premises abandoned and unfulfilled.
Flaws and effect
The personalities system also doesn’t
seem to affect much, despite
introductory character screens that detail
their attributes in a word cloud, and its
prominence in menus which track traits
such as bravery, honesty, and curiosity.
Given these ratings can go up and down,
you’d expect some sort of malleable
human drama, but besides binary
dialogue choices that let you, for
example, comfort someone or chastise
them, their presence is hardly noticeable.
When Chris catches Sam snooping on his
phone, the game warns that he now
distrusts her, but it’s not clear whether
this actually means anything.
Still, characters are well-drawn and
likeable, utilizing age-old horror
archetypes: there’s the nerdy shut-in, the
no-nonsense athlete, the Hayden
Panettiere. Witty writing and fantastic
performances eliminate the element of
cringe – though it is strange to see
obviously adult actors playing teens
happy that their parents are away.
And that’s not to say there’s a lack of
great ideas here. Between each chapter
you’ll pay a visit to a psychiatrist played
by the incomparable Peter Stormare,
whose mental health quizzes alter the
world. Point to a picture of gore in his Big
Book of Scary Things rather than, say,
needles, and you’ll see a jar of quivering
flesh on his desk next time you’re there.
And with 22 butterfly effects in all, there’s
scope for experimentation.
With this in mind, you’re not so much
player as director, manipulating
characters and events like a puppet
master, and watching gleefully as they
play out. While the butterfly effect often
boils down to more of a small flow chart
than a long and intricate chain of events,
Until Dawn is nevertheless effective, tight,
and wonderfully cinematic. n
The impact of your choices is a
little too inconsistent.
Better than…
Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream’s unfocused,
open-ended mystery sloppily changes
tone and genre on a whim. Until Dawn
shows more discipline.
Worse than…
Mass Effect 2
Bioware’s RPG shoots for the cinematic
and does it better than Until Dawn,
with a richer cast of characters and
sharper writing across the board.
2nd opinion
“I wasn’t expecting much
from Until Dawn, but I
actually ended up loving it
even more than Ben did.
Weirdly, this is a great
experience to share with friends or your
significant other, tossing theories about
the story back and forth across a sofa
along with the pad.”
Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman, Editor
Judgement
%
77
More linear than
you’d like, but this
is a well-crafted
and replayable
horror experience.
Ben Griffin
OCTOBER 2015
67
Review
The Final Verdict!
loves…
One character, school backpackwearing melee fighter Mana, blows
raspberries at RPG conventions.
An intriguing twist on the JRPG
party-gathering formula.
Combat is deep and character
customisation satisfying.
hates…
Lack of environmental variety
actively dulls the senses.
Dialogue is blunter than a wall
– and as emotionally involving.
Better than…
Natural Doctrine
A cookie-cutter cast and static
character development leave you
wanting so much more from your
dungeon crawling.
Worse than…
Format PS3, PS Vita (reviewed) Publisher NIS America Developer Lancarse Out Now Players 1
Lost Dimension
Gunpowder, treason and… not a great plot
If there were a traitor on Team GM, who would it be? What do you mean ‘if'? Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuun!
T
oo many JRPGs run
through a very
familiar story set up
(some hybrid of
‘kids team up to
save the world’ and
‘kids join forces to attend Japanese
high school'), but this unique title from
the under-celebrated studio behind
Etrian Odyssey has a refreshing
arrangement. You start off with a large
party of characters, but this number
dwindles as traitors in the group are
exposed and… disposed of.
You are Sho Kasugai, an initially mildly
amnesiac (ok, so some story aspects do
dip into predictable JRPG waters like a
walrus rolling with a mighty sploosh
through a crack in an iceflow) chap with
mysterious psychic abilities. He’s thrown
into a tower, which ascends upwards
through steadily tougher battles against
the minions of a villainous terrorist called
The End and his army of robots, turrets,
and cyber ninjas. Alongside a team of 11
other gifted people, known as SEALED,
you’re tasked with assassinating him at
the tower’s top, thereby preventing a
nuclear winter-inducing terror attack.
The rub is that for each floor you
climb, a party member turns out to be
batting for The End’s team. You’ll have to
pick them out via the medium of
colour-coded guesswork, not too
dissimilar to the peg-based board game
Mastermind. When party members do
die, you’ll get their abilities to dish out to
other characters, which is handy
considering how much tinkering you’ll do
with each of them.
Tossed-in translation
If you’ve spent time playing through the
excellent Valkyria Chronicles, you’ll have
more than a good idea of how combat in
Lost Dimension works. Your team and
the enemy’s take it in turns to fire lead
into one another. Within the small
window of movement you’re assigned
each turn you look to work with fellow
soldiers in order to open up assisted
attacks. Scraps get particularly tactical
when you’re forced to consider your foes’
“for each toWer floor you
climB, a party memBer turns
out to Be on the enemy’s side”
68
OCTOBER 2015
movements and ability to team up, too.
Especially enticing is the depth on offer
when it comes to upgrading team skills
and loadouts. Individual special abilities,
called Gifts, unlock over a pleasantly
intertwining skill tree system begging to
be pored over between affrays.
Yet for all the gunfire pew-pew-ing
about the place, combat is by no means
bulletproof. The camera can be
unreliable, often hiding behind nearby
buildings rather than focusing on the
action. Also, the cold, hard sci-fi edge to
proceedings saps personality away from
the combatants and their surroundings.
Not that they had too much warmth to
them to start with. Whether it’s the fault
of the original script or the localisation
work done upon it, the dialogue is
functional at best, turgid at worst. Despite
characterful Japanese dramas and
wide-ranging ensemble casts now being
a dime a dozen on Vita (Danganronpa,
Zero Escape, and Persona 5, anyone?),
the gaggle of teens under your tactical
tutelage here interact with all the enticing
humanity of a bag of concrete.
With a little more spark behind the
characters, this could have been up there
with the very best of the handheld’s
already billowing array of Japanese titles.
As it stands, it’s a deep and intriguing RPG
betrayed by a honking script and the dull
individuals that populate it. n
Danganronpa: Trigger
Happy Havoc
Another ensemble of kids in an equally
bleak scenario, this Battle Royale/
Phoenix Wright mash-up oozes charm.
i
need to KnoW
Recognise the voice
of The End? That’ll be
because Matthew
Mercer was also
responsible for
Batman: Arkham
Knight’s Robin,
Hearthstone’s
Rexxar, and Resident
Evil 6’s Leon.
Judgement
%
74
A stuffy story hinders,
but its party-whittling
sci-fi conceit is too
enticing to ignore.
Matt
Sakuraoka-Gilman
GAlAk-Z: The DimensionAl
loves…
Collecting five
Crash Coins grants
a rare retry, at the cost
of hiding all your former
gear in a special,
guarded crate
somewhere in the
level.
Your mech form
can grapple
enemies or objects,
then hurl them forward.
Either’s a fine way to
introduce foes to
hazards.
Dynamic, exciting space combat
that trains you into an ace pilot.
Enemy AI clever enough to be a
joy to outsmart.
hates…
Samey mission types can blunt
the fun of repeated plays.
Occasional performance issues
in the busiest moments.
Randomly
spawned crates
offer new abilities,
salvage to spend in
shops, or more missiles.
Listen for the sonar
pings to locate
them.
While hull
damage is
persistent, your
slowly-recharging
shields provide some
room for pilot error. If
they pop, seek cover.
Immediately.
Better than…
Asteroids
Galak-Z owes a debt to Atari’s 1979
classic, but whip-smart AI and that
roguelike structure make it a confident
evolution of the score chaser.
Worse than…
Format PS4, PC Publisher 17-Bit Developer 17-Bit Out Now Players 1
Galak-Z: The
Dimensional
Spelunky HD
Shares a spirit with Galak-Z, but its ace
locations compensate for dumber
enemies, while daily challenges
provide more incentive to return.
How many new swear words has Matt Clapham invented in the course of reviewing Galak-Z? Actually, he’s lost count.
You’re a Gundam hero, A-Tak
O
ur hands are
trembling. Our heart
hasn’t stopped
pounding. We seem
to have forgotten to
breathe. It’s taken
every ounce of skill to emerge from the
constrained lair of the second season
boss; now all we need to do is reach the
warp point without losing our final
point of health. A mere three
Hammerheads surround it, but we
can’t afford to take chances. Bugs it is.
So we fly ace pilot A-Tak around until we
find a spitting Bug, keeping it on our tail.
Then we lure another. We’re juking over
their shots with quick jabs of Square, but
it won’t be long before one lands. No time
to think now – we squeeze the boost and
clatter right at the Imperial ships and
then past them. The Bugs take the bait.
We hear, rather than see, the resulting
fight, lurking just offscreen and firing
indiscriminately. One by one, the enemy
indicators wink out. We’re home free.
Anime day
This is Galak-Z. It’s sort of a roguelike and
definitely not a twin-stick shooter, but
what really defines it is its lofty skill
ceiling and capacity for generating
dynamic encounters. We’ve had many
such moments as each of the three
factions – Bugs, Void Raiders, and
Imperials – interact in environments filled
with hazards and toys, though not even
half have ended nearly so well. What
makes that manageable is how the game
is structured: it’s divvied up into ‘seasons’
of five procedurally pieced-together
‘episodes’, each new season unlocked
forever once you complete the last one.
If the appropriation of TV naming
conventions confuses, it’s because
Galak-Z is a love letter to VHS-era anime,
also borrowing a Macross-style missile
barrage, a Battle Of The Planets flight suit
“as you increase in skill, so do
galak-z’s intelligent enemies.
you’ll still Be dying a lot”
for A-Tak, and a Gundam-like secondary
mech form for your craft which you can
access at will. It’s barmy and brilliant.
It’s also hard. Partially that’s down to
the controls. The left stick rotates your
nose, but the left and right triggers fire
fore and aft thrusters to move you. It’s a
learnable setup but, with no air resistance
and a weighty sense of momentum, it
takes some practice before you’re
moving in anything but drunken arcs.
Persist and you’ll soon have the hang of
not only movement, but deft little tricks
that will make you feel more like a cocky
flyboy (or girl), such as flipping your craft
180 degrees and firing at your pursuers
as you boost backwards. But as you
increase in skill, so do the game’s
frighteningly intelligent enemies – and
since damage is persistent and health is
hard to recover, you’ll still be dying a lot.
That works in that being regularly
outgunned forces creative thinking and
makes every ability upgrade feel like a
real score. Oft-repeated objective types
and occasional slowdown in busy scenes
can frustrate, yet Galak-Z is something
new and wonderful: an intricate
interlinking of intelligent systems that
forces you play smartly in turn. That’s
worth facing down a few gribblies for. n
2nd oPinion
“It pains me to admit that I
would not fare particularly
well in a real galactic conflict
– this much 17-Bit’s quirky
shooter has taught me.
That’s not, however, a criticism. The
game’s frantic space combat is fantastic,
just a little overly difficult for my frayed
nerves and delicate temper.”
Dave Meikleham, News Editor, OPM
Judgement
%
85
A roguelike for the
cerebral pilot. Those
with viper-like reflexes
shouldn’t miss this
step up for gaming AI.
Matt Clapham
OCTOBER 2015
69
Review
Whose bike is that? And why is there
only one plate? Unraveling the mystery
means questioning every tiny detail.
The Final Verdict!
Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer The Chinese Room Out Now Players 1
eveRybody’s Gone
To The RapTuRe
And you’ll kick yourself if you don’t join them
T
here is a run button
in The Chinese
Room’s cerebral
Shropshire-based
exploratory story.
You won’t need it.
The idea here is that you’ll take the
time to drink in the world you’re
exploring, actively reading the clues
ushering you towards always
tempting answers. How did the quaint
English village of Yaughton suddenly
become apparently empty of life? Why
do pint glasses sit empty on beer
garden tables or cigarettes lie
still-smoking in ashtrays? And what
are all these blood-stained tissues we
see littering the living rooms of the
ex-residents’ houses?
Despite not physically meeting the
people who called the place home, you’ll
get to know them intimately through
your meticulous exploration. And these
characters are so enrapturing, you won’t
want to risk missing anything by rushing.
The first thing that’ll strike you, as you
crest over the rise and step into the village
proper, is just how familiar it feels. We’re
writing this review having spent the best
part of our youth grappling with the ’80s
(yes, ok we’re that old). Anyone with a
similar glam rock-stained past will
instantly grasp onto the long-thought-lost
physical elements of that era which have
made their way into Rapture’s world.
There are the obvious things, such as red
phone boxes and letter boxes. And then
there are the seeping, admirably detailed
touches. The local pub has a smoky haze
to it, long since absent in even the most
dingy of today’s drinking pits. The local
garage sells those propane gas canisters
which used to be so much more common
before we realised how dangerous indoor
gas heaters could be. Even the phones
“despite never meeting the
people of yaughton, you’ll get
to know them intimately”
70
OCTOBER 2015
you come across while rifling through
people’s houses are chunky,
finger-trapping rotary models.
Light club
Immediately, for us Brits at least, there’s
this implacable sense of loss to
proceedings. OK, so the ’80s might not
have been the best era going (we still
haven’t quite forgiven Rick Astley for all
the rickrolling), but by cherry-picking
these quaint touchstones of long-buried
memory, The Chinese Room imbues its
players with an imbedded yearning. And
this is exactly in line with the general tone
of the story…
…which we aren’t going to touch on at
all here. Part of Rapture’s lure is that its
narrative is told in part by the player. As
you explore Yaughton and the
picturesque countryside, you’re guided
loosely around by a floating, shining ball.
Exploring areas, whether you’re following
this glowing sphere or not, reveals
snippets of stories. The residents of the
village may have long since departed, but
left behind are light-based shadows,
depicting the events that may or may not
have led to their… well… to what
happened afterwards.
Top five…
…things we didn’t know we
missed from the 80s
1
Cheap curries
Inflation, eh? What a bleeder.
TVs you have to tune
Who needs buttons when
you’ve got knobs? Honestly.
2
Rotary telephones
Another modern convenience
ruined by buttons, this time over a
disc of holes.
3
Magazines are everywhere
Not that we’re bitter, but life
was better in many ways before the
arrival of the Internet…
4
Camping holidays
Rainy day Scrabble in a tent/
caravan, anyone?
5
EVERYBODY’S GONE TO THE RAPTURE
loves…
The deliberate pace, juxtaposed
with the always rising tension.
Landmarks are
perfectly placed
around the world,
drawing you towards
them and pulling your
curiosity from place
to place.
Yaughton is gorgeous, and filled
with touching, crafted detail.
The music and voice acting put
other games to shame.
There isn’t any
filler here – every
object you see in the
world is there for a
reason, and tells its own
tales that feed back
into the overall
story.
Yaughton is a
small enough
place that everyone
who lived here pretty
much knew everyone
else. That doesn’t
mean they all got
on, though…
Characters’
voices are
immediately
recognisable, and
there’s a variety in
accent, as well as tone,
to help distinguish
them from each
other.
hates…
Sixaxis controls pull you out of
the experience somewhat.
Better than…
The Vanishing
Of Ethan Carter
Looks lovely, but the interesting story
stuff is too sparsely peppered, and
digging it all up is a bit of a chore.
worse than…
Dark Souls
In-game ’80s price references that made us well jel’: 50p pints, £2 curry night, and 20p for a cup of tea.
Some of the more momentous conversations you eavesdrop
in on are built up to with subtle verve.
If that sounds coy, it’s because we
really do not under any circumstances
want to spoil anything. The characters
whose stories you uncover are incredibly
well put together. From the dialogue,
which is never anything less than
captivating, through to the voice acting
which – and we’re totally going there – is
the best we’ve yet heard in gaming.
There are scenes which will take your
breath away, dripping with drama and
nary a whiff of pretension. The ways the
village’s residents react to the
circumstances they find themselves in
feel jarringly real. Perhaps it’s the
masterful implementation of their
faceless ethereal constructs, requiring
you to fill in the visual gaps with your
own brain and to stop and intently listen
to what they are saying, but they actually
sound like people. They don’t sound like
they’ve been written, or like they’ve been
birthed by a directorial hand.
Partly this is down to your own part in
the affair. Your role is one of detective,
though not in an overt sense. Your faceless,
nameless (or are they?) protagonist
wanders from place to place, observing, so
that you can slot together the pieces of the
story yourself. There’s an awful lot of trust
Oh look, it’s the corner at the end of every middle England 80s
road. Expect you can’t smell the phone booth wee taint.
involved on the developer’s part. The
Chinese Room are asking you to slow
down, to observe, and to actively engage
with what you’re seeing, not with a button
press but with something deeper, a shift in
perspective, or a mental knotting together
of several story strands.
Private eyes
It says a lot that the one videogame-y
element of all of this, the tilting of the
sixaxis required to fine tune the
occasionally static motes of light that dot
the map and demarcate the more
momentous story slices, feels jarring and
out of place. As too do the rare instances
where you come across locked doors or
un-jumpable knee-high hedgerows
which indicate the edges of the map.
Not that you’ll notice these niggles
often. There’s too much to drag your
attention back into your own frantic
ordering of thoughts about what you’re
seeing. Ushering you along throughout is
a throbbing orchestral soundtrack, which
permeates moments of intense panic as
ably as it lets those slower burning scenes
hit for all their worth. The sound design is
fantastic in numerous other ways, too. A
particularly dramatic occasion occurs (no
spoilers) and the crescendo of sound it
blasts your ears with is like a fog horn,
crumpling you aurally as you deduce the
true horror of the situation unfolding
before you.
Apart from a slightly awkward run-in to
the finale, which feels oddly linear
compared to the rest of the game, Rapture
never lets up. Each chapter culminates in a
guaranteed heart string-twanger, and the
build up to each is ominous, intense, and,
at times, genuinely harrowing. It’s not
about speed, then, but pace, impact, and
timing. And there’s an artistry at work
behind the placement of things. You might
be walking over to have a look at a distant
car, its doors open and a bottle of whiskey
perched on the boot, only to realise that
this visual carrot was dangled before you
just so you could then discover a doctor’s
surgery loaded with hidden exposition
only the attentive will latch onto.
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture is
brave, it’s challenging, and it’s essential.
How The Chinese Room has managed to
convey this level of narrative artistry,
while simultaneously offering us the
freedom to dig through it’s characters’
lives so freely, is beyond us. It has to be
experienced to be believed. n
An odd choice for this box, but this is
another game which trusts its players
to pick up the pieces of its story and
extrapolate the rest themselves.
2nd opinion
“In terms of environmental
detail, this is a truly
staggering achievement:
Yaughton Valley feels like a
totally real slice of rural
England. I wasn’t so keen on Rapture’s
Lost-like mystery, but its complex,
well-acted characters made the empty
world feel surprisingly alive.”
Tom Sykes, Contributing Writer
Judgement
%
92
An exceptional story,
told via one of the
most vivid game
worlds around.
Matt
Sakuraoka-Gilman
OCTOBER 2015
71
Review
loves…
The Final Verdict!
Great weapon skills that offer
interesting new ways to play.
Challenges for each dungeon
reward experimentation.
hates…
A forgettable story and fixation
on groan-worthy jokes.
None of the absurd spectacle
that uplifts its contemporaries.
Better than…
Victor’s default movement controls are
mapped to the keyboard, putting an
emphasis on dodging enemy attacks.
Sacred 3
A confused attempt to put the ‘action’
in action-RPG, where the lack of
character customisation created a
listless, repetitive campaign.
Worse than…
Format PC Publisher EuroVideo Medien Developer Haemimont Games Out Now Players 1-4
VictoR VRan
An undead adventure that’s a bit bare bones
What should Victor do if the Hunter thing doesn’t work out? He could always become a white Vran man.
E
very action-RPG
released in the last
few years seems like
a response to the
fact that some
people really don’t
like Diablo III. Fair enough, Blizzard’s
hack-and-slash had some problems at
launch, but now – plenty of patches and
an expansion later – it stands as a high
point of the genre. It’s a fantastic,
fast-paced romp through the hordes of
Hell, and its competitors keep trying to
pretend it doesn’t exist. Victor Vran, like
so many other action-RPGs, fails to learn
any of Diablo III’s lessons. What we’re
left with is a solid but unremarkable
campaign of undead violence.
Vran is a monster hunter, newly arrived in
Zagrovia – a generic Eastern European
city with plenty of beasties to kill. The
story is instantly forgettable, and
thankfully sparse. In every instance,
progression is a matter of talking to a
person at the city’s palace, and then using
a world map to teleport to the next
location. The map consists of a number of
street-level hubs containing multiple
dungeons. Your job is to fight through the
hub, then the dungeons, then teleport
back to the palace to do it all again.
Accompanying you along the way is
the Voice. He’s your narrator, and the
primary vehicle for Victor Vran’s
almost-jokes. For an idea of the game’s
tone, imagine the Chuckle Brothers doing
a Hammer Horror pastiche… for ten
hours. The best that can said about the
humour is that it didn’t make us cringe
ourselves into permanent muscle
damage. It takes a much better game
than this to justify an entire dungeon full
of The Stanley Parable references.
Vran Helsing
Despite all this, we find ourselves warming
to Victor thanks to his enjoyably creative
arsenal. Vran’s loot is a bit sparse,
consisting of small stat changes to a
handful of weapon types – each with a
basic attack and two skills. At first, these
seem far too simple, but learn the specific
quirks, and there are some satisfying
“ImagIne the ChuCkle Brothers
doIng a hammer horror
pastIChe… for ten hours”
72
OCTOBER 2015
combinations to be found. Our favourite
quickly becomes the shotgun’s Quickshot
ability – it instantly recharges when a
monster is felled, meaning it can be
chained into a series of meaty insta-kills
on a dungeon’s weakest enemies.
Later we find a ‘vampiric’ shotgun,
which combines the above skills with a
life-steal effect that restores our health
with each hit. It’s a weapon that stays in
our loadout long after its damage stops
being useful. By hitting the
middle-mouse button, you can instantly
switch between two equipped weapons
– we like to use our powerful rapier to cut
through enemies, before switching to the
shotgun to refill our health.
Victor Vran is never more enjoyable
than when figuring out the best
equipment to see you through the
next dungeon. As an isometric-style
action-RPG it lacks the spectacle and
feeling of power that Diablo III – or even
Torchlight II – can offer, focusing as it
does on a handful of basic enemy types
scattered sparsely through
unremarkable gothic environments. But
its combat is robust and engaging, and is
combined with a challenge system that
rewards you for experimenting with
different weapons and playstyles. It’s not
a classic, but there’s enough here to
reward those in search of some
mindlessly entertaining action. n
Diablo III
Changed up the click ’n’ loot formula to
make it faster, punchier and more
explosive. It has its detractors, but
remains the high point of the genre.
2nd opInIon
“Between the challenges
and the weapon-based
skills, this is the most
engaged I’ve been with the
genre in years. The variety is
a breath of fresh air – it’s a blast
constantly switching up your abilities,
instead of being locked in to a spec. Grab
a controller for this one, though.”
Robin Valentine, Production Editor
Judgement
%
70
A solid hack-and-slash
that suffers from a
mostly unexciting
loot system and
ordinary campaign.
Phil Savage
BEYOND EYES
loves…
Lush, impressionistic graphics
and ingenious visual design.
The story pays off well, even if
the set up feels weak.
hates…
It’s too easy to get lost or trapped
behind scenery.
The pace is slower than a turtle
pushing a zimmer frame.
Better than…
Proteus
Twisted Tree’s imaginative exploration
game is wonderfully atmospheric, but
lacks the narrative pull that Beyond
Eyes provides.
We spent at least five minutes trying to
free ourselves from behind this stone
pillar. Curse you, stone pillar.
Worse than…
Format XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher Team 17 Developer Tiger & Squid Out Now Players 1
Beyond eyes
Forget Nani; who’s the best Manchester United footballer to name your cat after? Bastian Schweins-Tiger of course.
Can you solve the mysterious feline disa-purr-ance?
R
arely is the premise
for a game so
unique. In this
dulcet adventure,
you play as Rae, a
blind young girl
venturing out into the world for the
first time since losing her sight, in
pursuit of her missing friend Nani (her
cat, not the ex-Manchester United
footballer, thankfully).
To portray Rae’s impaired vision, the
game world is fogged out, with
impressionistic swathes of detail only
added when she utilises her other senses
to imagine her surroundings. Her
blindness, and the accident which led to
it, are sensitively handled, and in a
manner which re-imagines the short
draw distance games of yore. It’s an
intriguing concept.
But therein lies the problem: Tiger &
Squid hasn’t been able to develop a
game worthy of that brilliant core idea.
There’s precious little to actually do, no
real puzzles or challenges (unless you’re
the type of person to find the
competition questions on daytime
television difficult). Instead, tasks come
down to repetitively walking Rae from
point A to point B. Unfortunately, that’s all
there is to it.
And that walking… Much of the game’s
intrigue is hampered by the infuriatingly
slow speed at which Rae proceeds
through levels. Being slow-paced in itself
wouldn’t be a deal breaker (see our
review of Everybody’s Gone To The
Rapture), but it’s hard not to feel like Rae’s
meandering is wasting your time.
Bore to explore
What makes the pedestrian pace so
frustrating is that Beyond Eyes is
essentially a game of exploration, but it
becomes so tiresome to slowly walk
away from the gravel path, only to stroll
into a wall that materialises at the last
moment, that any thought of adventure
is quickly discarded. It’s a real shame, not
least because the game’s gorgeous,
watercolour-style graphics certainly
impress, and deserve to be lingered on.
“the concept is intriguing, But
tiger & sQuid hasn’t developed
a game Worthy of matching it”
There are other things to enjoy, too. At
times, Rae’s conceptualisations of the
world deceive her, and these occasions
are especially effective. Her visualisations
are never infallible – at one point, for
example, what she perceives to be a line
of linen flapping merrily in the breeze
turns out to actually be the wind rattling
through the hollow body of a scarecrow.
Moments like these feel like the start of
some interesting twists on the premise
– but they never really develop.
At first, Rae’s characterisation is at
least compelling. Rarely in gaming do we
encounter characters as vulnerable as
her, which initially imbues the player with
a strong desire to protect her, much as
with Clementine in Telltale’s The Walking
Dead. But, as elsewhere, the game fails to
build on this and take advantage of the
emotional connection, because the level
of mild peril is never elevated, and Rae
always feels safe.
A powerfully emotional final scene
nearly atones for this, but only nearly,
because, for many, the ending of Beyond
Eyes will simply be beyond their patience.
We were desperate both for the story to
carry more weight earlier in proceedings,
and to experience it in a pacier, more
engaging way. It’s a reminder that no
game can thrive on a bold concept alone
– even the best ideas flounder if they lack
sufficient substance to empower them. n
Shelter
It’s by no means fast, but this badger
botherer’s pacing, as well as its
gameplay, is far superior. And it packs
a more emotionally compelling story.
i
need to knoW
Beyond Eyes is the
creation of Sherida
Halatoe, who runs
one-woman studio
Tiger & Squid. She
begun working on
the project back in
2011, as part of her
Bachelor’s degree in
game design.
Judgement
%
61
Neat premise and
graphics, but slow,
repetitive gameplay
lets an ingenious
concept down.
Luke Brown
OCTOBER 2015
73
Review
The Final Verdict!
loves…
This top
bar lets you
scroll through all the
game’s objects, NPCs,
and logics. Still simple.
You needn’t worry
about camera and
light 99% of the
time.
Stealth-puzzling without an
ounce of fat on it.
Robin Hood on YouTube? It’s
better than it sounds.
The community’s already
putting out ace new levels.
hates…
Ah yes, the
closed-off room
full of hounds. It
admittedly achieves
absolutely nothing, but it
does look very
menacing, don’t
you think?
Welcome to
the level creator.
Simple stuff – here’s
your cursor. Build things
with it, like so. Instead of
deleting objects, you
just build over
them.
Gems. It’s
important to
include these,
otherwise Loxley has
nothing to achieve. The
gem breadcrumb trail
plots your path
through a level.
Narratively more ambitious, but
less memorable than TWA.
Better than…
Thomas Was Alone
Mike Bithell’s first game imbued tiny
blocks with enduring personalities, but
didn’t offer the kind of evolving
gameplay Volume does.
Worse than…
Format PS4, PC (reviewed), PS Vita Publisher Mike Bithell Developer Mike Bithell Out Now Players 1
Volume
Self-indulgent codec conversations endured to reach the end of Volume’s narrative: Zero. That’s how it’s done, Kojima.
Even better than herding rectangles, you say? It can’t be!
N
ever has a game’s
title lent itself so
readily to trite
observations about
its content. Mike
Bithell’s follow-up to
blocks-with-feelings breakthrough
Thomas Was Alone offers an enormous
serving of stuff, and just in case your
appetite for sneaking around its neon
environs isn’t satiated by the 100 story
missions, there’s a level editor, too.
Player-generated content is already
suitably… voluminous, and particular
gems find their way into the hallowed
‘Staff Picks’ collection to save you
trawling through the Pac-Man clones.
Quantity isn’t joined at the hip to quality,
of course, but in this case the Viking feast
of content it offers is all underpinned by
well-communicated game logic and a
thoughtful toolset. Playing Rob Loxley, a
modern day Robin Hood, you’ve hacked
into the security database of an
oppressive regime to run simulations of
heists, aided by gregarious AI Alan. Why?
Because those simulations are 1:1 replicas
of actual secure facilities around the
company, and by broadcasting his
progress, Loxley’s effectively streaming a
YouTube tutorial on how to rob from the
rich, give to the poor, and take the power
back – and getting more subscribers too.
Robin banks
Unlike Thomas Was Alone, voiceover
takes a back seat to the action in Volume,
emerging only every few levels to give the
main storyline a little nudge. Each level is a
playground for you to test out Loxley’s
gadgetry, and make fools of the inhabiting
guards, luring them one way then another,
distracting them with sounds and visual
cues to clear a path through. To beat a
mission, you’ll need to collect every
gemstone, after which an exit teleporter
appears – ostensibly your task never gets
more complicated than that. But with the
addition of new enemy types – turrets,
hounds, knights, booby-traps and the like
– and fresh tools and tricks, the solution to
that simple problem becomes ever more
varied and devilish.
“loxley’s effectively streaming
a youtuBe tutorial on hoW to
roB from the rich”
74
OCTOBER 2015
Creator Mike Bithell’s talent for
beautifully uncomplicated design and
steadily escalating challenge once again
come to the fore here, as they did in his
previous title. You’re introduced to a new
mechanic in one level – say the Oud, a
remotely triggered audio distraction
device – then you get a couple more
missions to explore its possibilities before
the formula changes again. You might
feel a bit more of a super-sleuth by the
time you reach the final 25 chapters of
story mode, but you’re never served up
reheated ideas from earlier in the game.
When you feel ready to do a Mike
Bithell impression of your own, the level
creator lies in waiting. It’s simple as hell,
(though could have done with a few brief
tutorial screens to cover the basics, like
the absence of a delete function), and has
already been used to excellent effect by
the best minds of Volume’s community.
And us, though our ‘haphazard room full
of hounds’ has yet to find inclusion in
Volume’s Staff Picks.
Though Bithell’s been transparent
about his game’s Metal Gear Solid
influence, it’s endowed with its own, very
British, character, and cleanly designed
stealth mechanics that never induce wild
frustration or suspicions of shonky AI. If
you take your sneaking with a side of
cyberpunk and subtlety, loosen off that
belt buckle and prepare to gorge. n
Dishonored
Both riff on the same classic tale of
inequality, both dream up wondrous
arsenals of stealth tools… Dishonored
just does it all that bit better.
i
need to knoW
Curious about how
Bithell and his band
of merry men (and
women) made the
game? There’s an
eBook on Amazon,
entitled ‘Raising
Volume,' that goes
into depth on that
very topic.
Judgement
%
85
Another exercise in
elegant, flab-free
game design from
Mike Bithell – though
lighter on the laughs.
Phil Iwaniuk
LIFE IS STRANGE: DARK ROOM
loves…
The (super)natural phenomena that
accompany every episode of Max’s
travels get a whole lot odder here.
Throws every genre trope it can
at the wall – and they all stick.
Heartache, real disgust, audible
gasps – this is truly affecting.
hates…
Probably the least game-y
instalment so far.
It’s going to be impossibly hard
to wait for the final episode.
in the loop
Let’s do the time warp with
three top clock-batterers
Zelda:
Ocarina
Of Time
1
The Temple of
Time didn’t just
turn young Link
to adult Link, allowing for some
incredibly iconic, innovative puzzles – it
also changed our tiny lives.
2
Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS3, 360 Publisher Square Enix Developer Dontnod Out Now Players 1
Life is strange:
Dark room
Give us time powers – we want the next episode now
How hard is it to write a review of this game without spoilers? Joe had a nervous breakdown.
M
ax Caulfield, like any
self-respecting
player-character,
has always been the
driving force behind
Life is Strange, an
unassuming hero who grows more and
more confident with pushing the series
forward (and backward). Dark Room,
for the first time, feels more like Chloe’s
episode. Max’s mercurial best friend is
by her side almost constantly, and it’s
her we’re really concentrating on in this
episode’s standout opening and climax.
It makes for a strange instalment, at once
the most changeable (almost every
scene, perhaps even every conversation,
will be affected at least slightly by your
previous choices) and the least interactive
of the series so far. Environmental puzzles
are at a minimum, major decisions seem
to be either cosmetic or in some way
made for you, and even Max’s lovely “sit
down and think for a moment” optional
interludes are saturated with the worry
that she’s, well, wasting time.
And that’s just fine. The very fact that
so much of what plays out seems in some
way moulded by our actions in other
episodes makes this feel like one big
pay-off. We see the effects of the most
life-changing interventions, right down to
chance comments made because we
accidentally pushed the wrong button
and couldn’t be bothered to rewind
because it seemed unimportant. We’d
describe it as a final deep breath before
plunging into what’s now become an
unmissable finale, if it wasn’t for the fact
that it’s such a wonderfully bumpy ride.
Picture perfect
Life Is Strange has always delighted (for
better or worse) in its references, and this
episode hits some familiar notes along its
path to yet another viciously positioned
climax. It’s easily the longest episode yet,
and it needs to be, taking in
heart-wrenching conversational drama,
cop show sleuthery, and even touching
on out-and-out horror in a couple of
moments. The eponymous room earns
its name. Things get dark.
“the storyline treads deftly
around subJect matter games
simply do not approach”
It’s shaken off all but the most necessary
pop culture namedrops in favour of aping
whole styles of film, shaping them around
a twisting, twisted narrative. It’s brave,
brilliant, and thrillingly unusual for the
medium. The silent, lingering shots of
Chaos Theory return, offering a stillness
games rarely capture. Even the episode’s
hardest decision feels like a purely moral
choice – it’ll resonate more loudly in the
player’s conscience than in the plotline.
The scenes between the standouts
can drag a little – even we got bored of
hearing the question “have you seen
Nathan?”, and we desperately wanted to
know – and a few of the puzzles which
did make it in feel a little forced, with
some Nancy Drew detective work on a
passcode keypad feeling downright silly.
But that these missteps feel out of
place is testament to what’s in here, a
storyline that plays a heartstring sonata,
and treads deftly around subject matter
games simply do not approach (enough
that it now carries an “if you were
affected by issues in this programme”
warning). Dark Room isn’t the series’ high
point – it doesn’t need to be. It’s proof that
Life Is Strange as a whole is living up to its
promise by gently tying everything
together, and leaving us to wait for what
it all looks like in the end. We’re terrified.
We’re excited. We can’t decide which
emotion is more powerful. n
Ghost
Trick:
Phantom
Detective
This DS wonder
lets you travel
four minutes before someone’s death,
and then work out how to save their life
using your spirit powers.
3
Singularity
In a world of
agonising,
bullet-related
deaths, using a
machine to just
age a man to death seems super-cool
– and actually more humane.
2nd opinion
“The dialogue gets a little
too gushy in spots, but this is
still the most dark, intense
episode yet, with a flurry of
unexpected twists and
turns, and more emotionally
devastating decisions to make in its first
15 minutes than most videogames
manage at their climax. ”
Robin Valentine, Production Editor
Judgement
%
86
The series continues
to establish itself as
one of the year’s most
surprising and
excellent prospects.
Joe Skrebels
OCTOBER 2015
75
Review
The Final Verdict!
Conker’s Bad Fur Day is a highlight, but
it’s odd to see the N64 original and not
Xbox update Live And Reloaded.
Format XO Publisher Microsoft Studios Developer Rare Out Now Players 1-4
RaRe Replay
Celebrating a gaming legacy with one of
the best-value compilations of all time
S
omething of a
hodge-podge, is this
Xbox One exclusive.
It’s a collection of 30
notable offerings
from one of British
game development’s most enduring
names, returning all the way back to its
origins as Ultimate Play The Game. But
it’s an incomplete picture, missing
several of the games for which Rare is
most fondly remembered. Its
piecemeal delivery is an awkward
fudge, with some games unchanged,
others emulated, and more appearing
as high-definition updates. Yet it’s also
a wonderfully generous package,
valuable both for its historic
significance and for its sheer volume.
What you get, then, is most – but not all
– of the studio’s output between 1983’s
Jetpac and 2008’s Banjo Kazooie: Nuts &
Bolts. That XO-exclusive status means
76
OCTOBER 2015
some of its best games are missing due
to licensing conflicts – most notably
Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye.
Unavoidable perhaps, but disappointing
nonetheless. What’s left covers three
distinct periods in the company’s history,
comprising 16 games from Rare’s classic
arcade era, a further seven from its N64
years, and six Xbox 360 games. Then
there’s original Xbox effort Grabbed By
The Ghoulies, which somehow manages
to feel as out of place now as it did upon
release in 2003. That’s despite it being
one of the most kindly treated of all the
games featured here: it looks sharper and
runs more smoothly than ever.
Many of those early games are more
interesting as museum pieces, but some
still hold up well – though if there’s a
single common thread running through
them all, it’s their high difficulty level.
Happily, Rare Replay includes optional
cheats to make certain games – we’re
looking at you, Battletoads – more
tolerable. Still, you’ll have to grit your
teeth through the likes of Sabre Wulf and
Cobra Triangle, while slower-paced
isometric titles such as Knight Lore are
unlikely to be revisited after the first few
goes. Jetpac is still a superb single-screen
arcade game, while RC Pro-Am and its
sequel are as moreish as they are
challenging. (Which is to say, very.)
Others are more enjoyable when
presented in the snack-sized format that
is Snapshots mode. Seemingly inspired
by Nintendo’s NES Remix, this sets you
five discrete tests to complete for each
game, while themed playlists give you
limited lives to beat back-to-back
challenges across several games.
Having a blast
Of the N64 titles, meanwhile, four appear
in emulated form, with another three in
their upscaled Xbox 360 incarnations.
Killer Instinct Gold doesn’t really stand up
to close scrutiny, while Jet Force Gemini
RARE REPLAY
suffers badly from a baffling control
scheme. Foul-mouthed platformer
Conker’s Bad Fur Day, by contrast, is still
wonderfully irreverent, despite a few
questionable gags. But the brilliantly
barmy Blast Corps, whose eccentric
conceit asks you to demolish buildings
before a runaway missile carrier can
reach them, is the undoubted highlight
here. It’s not much of a looker these days,
but remains a thrilling one-off, quite
unlike anything we’ve seen since. If
there’s one classic Rare game that
warrants a sequel on Xbox One, it’s this.
While the rest of the games are
presented as being part of the same
package, you’re whisked away from Rare
Replay to play them. This includes
Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel, as well as
Perfect Dark, which are treated like the
other Xbox 360 games, as your Xbox
One temporarily pretends it’s a
generation older.
If the three older games are still
considered fan favourites, there’s much
less affection for Rare’s last-gen output. In
some cases, that’s understandable.
Kameo: Elements Of Power is a
serviceable adventure but nothing
special, while Perfect Dark Zero felt dated
at the time and is even more so now. But
despite a gardening sim featuring
candy-filled animals not being quite what
people may have wanted or expected
from Rare at the time, the two Viva Pinata
games are a gaudy delight.
The final game, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts &
Bolts, highlights the tensions within the
studio at the time. It’s a flawed but
inventive and characterful
vehicle-building game, that nonetheless
feels like a compromise between
Ultimate
selection
The five Rare Replay
games you should play
first, and why
I
How many rewinds did it take Chris to get through Battletoads’ tunnel stage? A mere 19. Easy.
Curtain call
All of this is tied together with some
charming presentational touches. Load
Rare Replay up and you’re invited to
enter an old-fashioned theatre, with each
game displayed as a piece of art in an
ornate frame. Circus-style posters act as
menu transitions, and converging drapes
mask the brief load times when you bring
up each new game. And if that wasn’t
Plenty of truly great games – and
some interesting oddities too.
n any compilation of this size, it’s
easy to find yourself spoiled for
choice. Not Rare Replay, as we’ve
done the hard work for you. Here’s
Jetpac – The oldest game here
our guide to the games that should be
happens to be one of the best – it’s a
at the top of your playlist:
slice of classic, addictive twitch gaming.
hates…
It’s a lot of work to unlock the
behind-the-scenes goodies.
1
Was Sabre Wulf always this hard,
or are our skills on the wane?
Better than…
2
Battletoads Arcade – A gloriously
unreconstructed, old-school
scrolling brawler that looks beautiful.
3
Blast Corps – Trucks, bulldozers and
giant robots smash buildings in a
wonderfully silly destruction derby.
SNK Arcade
Classics Vol.1
This Neo Geo collection is decent, but
features a less varied collection of
games, with fewer additional features.
Worse than…
4
Perfect Dark – Alas, GoldenEye is
missing – but Rare’s spiritual
successor is the perfect substitute.
“Blast Corps remains a
thrilling one-off, quite unliKe
anything We’ve seen sinCe.”
developer and publisher. It’s particularly
fascinating to read the self-mocking
dialogue in light of what’s happened
since, with many Rare alumni having
joined Playtonic Games to make
Yooka-Laylee – the spiritual successor to
Banjo Tooie it’s evident they yearned to
make here. Nonetheless, while Nuts &
Bolts has a little too much to say for itself,
and is often needlessly convoluted, at its
heart it’s a clever idea executed with no
little charm and skill. In other words,
exactly the kind of game upon which
Rare justifiably earned its reputation.
loves…
Snapshots make the creaking
older games more palatable.
ReveRse
psychology
Coming back to
what you know
H
old down the menu button
to access the pause menu,
which gives you three save
slots on the classic games. Some
allow you to enable cheats, like
infinite time and lives on the
mercilessly tough Digger T. Rock.
But the rewind function is better still
– that Battletoads tunnel level had us
squeezing LT every few seconds…
5
Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise
– An expansive sequel, which was
criminally ignored on release.
enough, a series of bonuses give you a
fascinating glimpse behind the scenes,
with concept art, making-of featurettes,
and even a host of unseen ideas and
unreleased music.
It’s just a pity that these extras won’t all
be accessible to most players: you need
to amass enough stamps, earned by
achieving specific objectives within the
games and in Snapshots mode, to unlock
them. That’s fine when it’s just six stamps
for something new, and you get one for
simply playing a game for the first time;
less so once it’s 12 to level up, and you
need to complete Battletoads or Sabre
Wulf to make progress.
While it’s easy to quibble about the
omissions and inconsistencies, not to
mention the debatable quality of some of
the games, Rare Replay is still a rich and
eclectic compendium – one which
delicately preserves the heritage of a
great British studio. What makes it even
more exceptional is the price: we rarely
factor that into reviews, but £20 for
everything you get here is astonishingly
generous. As such, this sizeable chunk of
gaming history comes highly
recommended to all Xbox One owners. It
might be a bit of a ramshackle assembly
in places, but so many games for so little
dosh? Why, that is a Rare treat indeed. n
The Orange Box
Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal…
Sure, it’s not a retro compilation, but
you’ll struggle to find a finer collection
of games in a single package.
i
need to KnoW
Struggling with Jet
Force Gemini? Fear
not – Rare promises a
post-launch patch to
introduce a more
comfortable
dual-analogue option
as an alternative to
the current unwieldy
control setup.
Judgement
%
84
A terrific, diverse
collection of
classics and curios,
and an absolute
steal at £20.
Chris Schilling
OCTOBER 2015
77
Review
You
can’t see it in
a screenshot, but
trust us when we say
that Devil’s Third’s frame
rate is never stable.
Barely a moment goes
by without a jitter
or a hitch.
The Final Verdict!
This is
one of the
game’s most
colourful levels. For the
rest, you can expect only
greys and browns
galore – it’s a real
famine for the
eyes.
loves…
The violence is ridiculous and
funny, even if it isn’t trying to be.
hates…
Looks two generations out of
date, and runs even worse.
The gameplay mechanics are
a disconnected mess.
Flimsy characters, from macho
men to over-sexualised women.
With the
exception of a
few explosive
weapons, guns pretty
much feel identical in the
hand. They’re all about
as imprecise and
floaty as each
other.
The swordplay
mechanics are
never married well
enough to the gunplay
to make them even
remotely satisfying to
get to grips with.
Better than…
Tattoos
Getting all of Ivan’s tattoos in real life.
Not only are they samey and low-res,
but they’re all in single columns like a
terrible excel spreadsheet.
Worse than…
Format Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Valhalla Game Studios Out Now Players 1-16
Devil’s ThiRD
How many times did Sam sigh hopelessly while playing Devil’s Third? Sam continues to sigh hopelessly to this day.
The devil’s in the disappointing details
N
intendo is one of
gaming’s seals of
approval. Like
Rockstar, Kojima
Productions, and a
small number of
other companies, the big-N is a sign of
excellent quality. And because of that
revered status, the Wii U is in an
interesting position. It may not have a
huge amount of games – in fact, it has
very few indeed – but the games it
does receive are regularly top-tier.
Devil’s Third is very much the
exception to the rule.
And you wouldn’t think, with Tomonobu
Itagaki at the helm, that lack of
innovation would be at the root of this
third person shooter/brawler’s many
problems. His is the same mind
responsible for the slick 2004 revival of
Ninja Gaiden. Take the L out of ‘slick’ and
what do you get? Devil’s Third.
It stars Ivan: a topless, tattoo-covered,
drum-kit bashing Eastern European
terrorist sentenced to over 800 years in
maximum security. Do you care yet? No?
Oh, dear. Because that’s about as far as
poor Ivan’s characterisation goes.
Flashbacks dart throughout the main
narrative, presumably intended to
heighten a sense of connection to his
various companions, but any air of
emotional intrigue is completely wiped
out by the sheer shoddiness of
storytelling. Our star is a walking cliché,
and the supporting cast are equally
uninspiring, ranging from grunting
hard-men to shamefully clad women
reminiscent of Itagaki’s infamously
dubious Dead Or Alive roots.
Crap shoot
Shooters have rarely thrived on Wii U
(Splatoon admittedly excepted), but
Devil’s Third takes the usual problems to
new levels. Aiming is imprecise on both
GamePad and Pro controller, and any
attempts to mix weightless gunplay with
blade-based bad-assery fall woefully flat.
In confined spaces it’s a case of
button-mashing your way through
umpteen cookie cutter mooks, while
“any air of emotional intrigue
is completely Wiped out By the
sheer shoddiness of the story”
78
OCTOBER 2015
Ninja Gaiden
open areas see the frame rate wheeze
like an 89 year old asthmatic sloth after a
half marathon. Shooting enemies is far
from empowering – grunts are mere
cannon fodder, while larger enemies
simply suck up more bullets.
Visually Devil’s Third looks, at best, like
a dolled-up PS2 game. Most of its levels
share a murky grey-brown palette, with
only one stage boasting a dash of colour
– an assault on a Japanese complex, at
the foot of a volcano spitting neon blue
lava. It’s a high point that, all things
considered, still isn’t all that high.
Elsewhere, the game attempts to
ratchet up the tension with a biological
terror plot arc that, rather than get you
chewing on your fingernails, has you
digging them into your eyes. Small
rooms in an overrun medical facility are
ripe enough for the best Resident Evil
games, but this is never about crafting an
atmosphere of isolation. Instead, dull,
repetitive corridors only frustrate.
Devil’s Third is a technical, mechanical,
and narrative mess. Unlike Nintendo’s
best, this title eschews quality with nary
an iota of respect for your time. Ivan’s
story isn’t entirely without mystery, but
its meandering nature and the uninspired
action that frames it makes for a painfully
below par gaming experience. This is
quite comfortably among the worst
things we’ve played in 2015 so far. n
The same style of swordplay exists in
Itagaki’s 2004 classic, which even now
would be a far more enjoyable way to
spend your time than Devil’s Third.
online
Unfortunately the
multiplayer wasn’t
available when we
reviewed the game,
so we haven’t had a
chance to try it out.
We’d be surprised,
however, if it’s any
better than the
single-player mode.
Judgement
%
29
An absolute disaster
of a videogame, on
every conceivable
level – it’s a taint on
the Nintendo name.
Sam White
KING’s QUEsT: A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER
loves…
Witty dialogue backed up by
fantastic performances.
The puzzles are brilliantly
inventive and varied.
The art style is gorgeous – like a
storybook come to life.
hates…
We wish there was a map – it’s
too easy to get lost.
To become a knight, young Graham
must win a contest of strength, a
contest of speed, and a contest of wits.
Format PS4, XO (reviewed), PC, PS3, 360 Publisher Sierra Entertainment Developer The Odd Gentlemen Out Now Players 1
King’s Quest: A
Knight to RemembeR
A reinvention of point-and-click royalty
What tool did Robin use more than any other in his quest for knighthood? Baked goods, of course.
I
f adventure games
ever were dead,
they’ve certainly
made a dramatic
recovery. From the
emotional journeys
of Telltale, to LA Noire-style triple-A
hybrids, to pixel-perfect indie
throwbacks such as Gemini Rue, fans
are more spoiled for choice now than
they were even in the genre’s heyday.
It’s rare, however, that any of these
actually feel like an update of the genre
– usually they either ditch the classic
conventions, or stick so slavishly to them
as to revive the bad with the good. Enter
King’s Quest, a true reimagining of
adventure games that still stays faithful
to classics past.
In this first episode, of five, you step
into the pointy shoes of gangly but
ambitious teen Graham. The events of
the game – a grand tournament with
knighthood as the prize – are narrated by
his older self, now an elderly king on his
deathbed, as he recalls his rise to power
to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. It’s the
perfect frame tale, simultaneously
justifying and gently ribbing the genre’s
stranger tropes. Adventure protagonists,
for example, are usually prone to baffling
bouts of internal monologuing, for the
player’s benefit – here, that’s replaced by
the storyteller’s commentary on his past
actions and, even more cleverly,
Gwendolyn’s excited interruptions and
contributions to the story.
Quest behaviour
The puzzles, always the aspect of the
genre that modern devs most struggle
with, are similarly impressive. The harsh
truth is that, even in the most revered
classics, the actual challenges in adventure
games were often total guff – bizarre
solutions to unclear problems. Recent
examples are prone to phasing puzzles out
entirely – in The Walking Dead’s first
season, for instance, you can watch them
disappear as you go. King’s Quest,
however, embraces them, streamlining
without oversimplifying, placing them in
unique, entertaining scenarios, and
“a true reimagining of
adventure games that still
stays true to classics past”
imbuing them with a restrained but
creative design that never frustrates.
If you ever do get stuck, there’s always
something else to move on to – at every
turn, you’ve a whole spread of possible
avenues to pursue. Many puzzles also
have multiple possible solutions, with
your approach – along with your choices
in the dialogue and simple but satisfying
action scenes – impacting the story’s
course in minor but appreciable ways.
Sometimes you’ll be happy just to
poke about. The world is truly charming,
a beautiful, fairytale setting that’s a joy to
explore. It’s a bit too easy to get lost, that
speaks to its impressive size, but each
area is full of things to see and do, and
characters to chat with.
With a genuinely funny script, and
great performances from the likes of Tom
Kenny (Adventure Time) and Wallace
Shawn (The Princess Bride), meeting the
kingdom’s inhabitants is always a treat.
Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future) is
especially wonderful, bearing much of
the story’s weight as the narrator, and
carrying it off with a real nuance and flair.
At 4-6 hours long, with a story that’s
surprisingly self-contained, this first
episode almost feels like a full game unto
itself, and an excellent one to boot. That
there’s four more on the way is just the
icing on the cake – or, rather, the feather
on the adorably jaunty cap. n
past glory
The history of the royal line
The first King’s Quest game, designed
by Sierra co-founder Roberta Williams,
was released over 30 years before this
modern reboot, for the IBM PCjr, one of
the first home computers. It was a
hugely influential pioneer in its graphics,
animations, and freedom of gameplay,
leaps and bounds ahead of other
adventure games of the time. In this
debut entry, Graham was already
knighted, and was searching for a series
of magic items for the right to become
the ruler of the kingdom of Daventry.
Over the next three decades, it
spawned seven sequels, most recently
hybrid point-and-click/action RPG Mask
Of Eternity in 1998, as well as a spin-off
trivia game called King’s Questions.
i
need to Know
GM’s changing the
way we review new
episodic games
– we’ll be covering
just the first
instalment, and
then doing a
wrap-up of the
whole season at
the end.
Judgement
%
90
Long live the new
king of point-and-click
adventure games
– we can’t wait for the
next four episodes.
Robin Valentine
OCTOBER 2015
79
Review
The Final Verdict!
now
playing
This month’s biggest time
sinks on Team GM
DangErous
PC
1ElitE:
Inspired by the New
Horizons mission to Pluto I
got my sprog a telescope
(that he’s too small for) and
have spent a month looking
for Elite’s star systems in the
real-life night sky. I’m cool.
Matt sakuroka-gilman, Editor
lEaguE
PC
2 roCkEt
It’s been a very long time since a
multiplayer game grabbed me quite
like this. I don’t like cars or football, but
there’s something undeniably special
about the combination of the two.
robin Valentine, Production Editor
gP 15
Xo
3Moto
My first foray into
motorbike sims – once I’d
mastered the handling, I
was hooked. The slick
environments and
controller rumbles make for
some serious immersion.
sam Freeman, art Editor
gonE to
thE raPturE
4Ps4EVEryboDy’s
This game would be setting off a
hundred conversations in the office…
if anyone else had played it yet. Grr.
Matt sakuraoka-gilman, Editor
thunDEr
PC
5rising
It’s very much still in alpha,
but this accessible fighting
game already feels like
something amazing. All the
strategy of Street Fighter,
without the overly complex
inputs. Plus, giant robots.
robin Valentine, Production Editor
A journey into space with this lot,
featuring heavy Armageddon
overtones – an open goal, missed.
Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS3, 360, Mobile Publisher Telltale Games Developer Telltale Games Out Now Players 1
Tales FRom The
BoRdeRlands:
escape plan BRavo
Rhys will remember that… but will you?
L
ast episode, Catch A
Ride, was a new
high for the series.
Its stockpile of jokes
hit the mark with
deadeye accuracy,
pacing was judged perfectly… oh, and
it reunited Troy Baker and Ashley
Johnson, thanks to the latter’s
appearance as wuvvable wobot
Gortys. Episode four was probably
always going to feel like a bit of a lull.
That it feels more of an outright
hangover is a disconcerting surprise,
lEaguE
Ps4
6 roCkEt
Our lunchtime multiplayer session
led to a bit of a love affair with this
addictive gem. Hours of fun, even if
you’re not a fan of the beautiful game.
sam Freeman, art Editor
oFFiCE lunChtiME
gaME oF thE Month:
roCkEt lEaguE
Ps4
It’ll be a while, we reckon,
before something knocks
this out of our lunchtime
gaming schedule. It’s the
mariachi hats which do it.
80
OCTOBER 2015
Borderlands stalwart Scooter tags
along to offer his, er, expertise. Well, he
does love to catch a ride.
though. Gortys is still here, and still
adorable, but instead of well-written
wise-cracking and punchy narrative
beats, Escape Plan Bravo offers a lot of
connective tissue, and a few uninspired
new bespoke interactions – such as
physically blasting away at a firewall on a
computer screen, offering all the fun of
drawing something in MS Paint then
rubbing it out.
If you recall, the gang surrendered to
Vallory at episode three’s climax, and
now have no choice but to do her
bidding, which involves staging a heist of
sorts at Hyperion HQ. It’s a fine setup with
lots of potential, but most scenes along
the way offer little in terms of meaningful
decisions or insight into long-running
mysteries. Even when Fiona’s forced to
act as impromptu tour guide to a gaggle
of Handsome Jack fanboys, episode
four’s writing fails to glean the laughs
from an excellent premise.
Fair’s fair – there are three standout
moments, only one of which doesn’t
come with a spoiler warning the size of a
small island nation. Somehow Rhys gets
himself involved in an imaginary
shootout with dozens of Hyperion
accountants, à la Spaced, which sees
corporate shills miming blood spurting
from their neck, a cappella machine gun
sounds, and irresistible laughs.
Those other two? Let’s just say they’re
harder-hitting, and cause significant
ripples throughout this series and
Borderlands lore as a whole. Frustratingly
all three ‘good bits’ come towards the
episode’s climax, leaving the first few
chapters feeling threadbare.
Its quality hasn’t dropped so much
that episode four feels like a slog, but it’s
disappointing to know Telltale’s capable
of distinctly better and, for reasons that
will remain known to
only them, just really
hasn’t delivered the
goods this time. n
Phil Iwaniuk
67
rEViEw rounDuP
hoT
downloads
We don’t care what anyone says –
Waterworld will always be our aquatic
post-apocalypse of choice. Probably.
The latest DLC and
expansions explored
Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Pub Uppercut Dev Uppercut Out Now Players 1
suBmeRged
Dead in the water
T
his tranquil title from a
team of former
Bioshock developers
might seem an inviting
calm before the storm
of this year’s big name release period.
Sadly, despite a steady doggy-paddle
out of the gate, it quickly drowns in the
wake of similar indie journeys. Namely
Journey, in fact…
You play as Miku, a girl who sails into a
sunken city of forgotten ruins with her
unconscious brother in tow. With this
intriguing hook in place, it’s time to
clamber up a bunch of rather
unintriguing buildings to find life-saving
supplies. Navigating these seemingly
perilous but ultimately mundane climbs
is the game’s main challenge, though
they’re less puzzles than they are
pointless legwork. Unusually for the
genre, there are no enemies to watch out
for or dangers to overcome, and we’d
admire the purity of its exploration, if it
weren’t all quite so dull.
The game’s open world works both in
its favour and against it. You’re free to
boost around the water on Miku’s boat,
scooping up collectibles that improve
your engine and reveal how the city was
flooded in the first place (spoiler alert:
nobody left a tap on). However, when the
game’s platforming amounts to
functional but banal bounding from
ledge to ledge, with barely any difference
we could discern from one mossy
skyscraper to the next, it’s hard to care.
The flashback tale of Miku’s arrival to
this sunken city, told via a series of
comic-book style snippets unlocked with
each new supply found, provides at least
some sense of discovery as you
progress. Unfortunately, the game’s
strengths are almost entirely eclipsed by
awkward platforming that
feels like being
submerged in a sea of
treacle. n Joe Baker
50
Over-abundant microtransactions
make us even more miffed than the
game’s cast of spherical poultry.
Format Mobile Publisher Rovio Dev Rovio Out Now Players 1
angRy BiRds 2
They’re back, and they’re still in a fowl mood
F
lap away, Flappy Bird.
The godfather of
ludicrously addictive
iOS games has come
home to roost, once
again laying siege not just to Babe and
his cousins, but to every ounce of
productivity you had left in the tank
for this year. Only this time, it’s aiming
at your wallet too…
Adding multiple stages to each level and
big boss pigs to conquer, Rovio has
certainly directed efforts at making its
porcine murder simulator as dramatic as
possible. Every explosive impact of
bird-on-TNT box throws shrapnel and
screaming enemies helplessly at the
screen. A closeup camera in the corner
documents the sheer anguish on the
pigs’ faces before they’re blown to bacon.
And the ability to pick the order in which
birds are flung will challenge fans who’ve
already earned their wings, particularly
when trajectory-altering desk fans and
other environmental hazards pop up.
The only problem is the game’s
irksome freemium bent. Gems acquired
through in-game challenges or real-life
payment enable you to gain more retries
and replace birds on the battlefield.
Otherwise, its time to watch a 30 second
video to revive, joy of joys. Compared to
other money-grabbing apps, Angry Birds 2
might not be the worst, but being asked to
watch an ad in the sequel to one of mobile
gaming’s most celebrated sons will only
make a boring commute soul-destroying.
The colours that pop from the screen,
catchy music, and endlessly fun slingshot
destruction do make Angry Birds 2 a
hoot. It’s just a shame the game has
turned so far to the dark
side, likely driving many
fans to fly the nest in the
process. n Joe Baker
60
Dragon Age: Inquisition is going
underground with The Descent, its
second piece of story DLC, and one that
takes the Inquisitor to everyone’s
favourite location: the Deep Roads. The
Dwarven tunnels might have gone on
forever in the original game, but they’re
a vital location in Dragon Age lore, on
account of all the Darkspawn that keep
emerging from their cavernous depths.
Bioware reckons that the events of
this quest will shake the world to
its very core, although that
might just mean you’ll be given
a massive hammer after
beating it. Still: massive
hammers are pretty great.
Hammers are unlikely to be a
major part of Pillars of Eternity’s The
White March: Part 1 expansion, which
ups the level cap, adds new
companions, and whacks in a load of
new story set in a chilly part of
Obsidian’s original fantasy world. Not
that you’ve finished the base game yet,
of course: the isometric RPG throwback
was already ridiculously massive to
start with.
‘Massive’ is a word that tends to refer
to explosions in Battlefield 4,
DICE’s initially wonky
shooter that’s slowly
been patched into an
acceptable state over
the last two years.
Battlefield sequel/
spin-off Hardline might
be more recent, but DICE
continues to trickle out updates for
their aging FPS, including the new
Night Operations. This chunk of DLC
takes the Zavod 311 map and changes
the time of day, adding destructible
light sources and nifty night-vision
gadgets. DICE has even improved the
sound system, so you can pinpoint the
location of enemy footsteps.
Hardline, meanwhile, is more
concerned with daylight robbery, its
aptly-named Robbery expansion
adding four new maps, various
weapons, vehicles, and
gadgets, and a new 5v5 game
mode. Squad Heist is
essentially Battlefield 4’s Squad
Rush, only a bit more… heisty,
featuring lots of shiny loot to steal
from a guarded vault.
Lastly, if you’re as hooked on Rocket
League as the GM team, check out the
Supersonic Fury pack, with two new
cars and host of accesories and paints.
Alongside it, the devs have released
another stadium, Utopia, free to all.
OCTOBER 2015
81
The essential magazine
for PlayStation 4 owners
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82
march 2014
Find it in the Official PlayStation Magazine App
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ou’re probably
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Its massively multiplayer loot-hunting
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bungie and Activision are treating the
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Terms and conditions: By entering this competition you are agreeing to receive details of future offers from Future Publishing Ltd. The closing date is 15 October 2015. 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
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OctOber 2015
83
RetroMaster
We
5
❤ Old Games!
REASONS
to REPLAY
Reaching any
end-of-stage
congratulations
screen (as Joe hit the
ciggies and booze – bad
Capcom) was an
accomplishment.
1
On-the-fly
objectives: POWs
to save, officers
to gun down, and those
chunky grenade boxes
– the most satisfying
collectibles in town.
4
Enemies upped
the ante in each
successive stage,
lurking in ponds for a
soggy ambush or
manning watchtowers to
unleash bullet hell.
5
84
OCTOBER 2015
•
T
he Street Fighter
maker loves
commandos. Within
the games industry,
the only comparable
obsessions are
Nintendo’s love of the word ‘super’ and
Team Ninja’s grim fascination with
jiggle physics. 1985 battlefield shooter
Commando was the game that set
Capcom on this road. Bionic
Commando soon followed, as did
beat-'em-up Captain Commando,
whose hero served as company
mascot for a while. We wouldn’t be
surprised if Capcom employees also
had to memorise the script of 1991 Hulk
Hogan film Suburban Commando and
obey a corporate ‘no pants’ mandate.
The origins
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The
original Commando, a top-down
run-and-gun legend, came about by
crunching the spirit of mid-'80s gung-ho
soldier films (notably Missing In Action
and Rambo) into Capcom’s verticallyscrolling arcade game template. That had
debuted with space shooter Vulgus a
Developer Capcom
Publisher Capcom
Released 1985
Format Home conversions, arcade
Get it Capcom Arcade Cabinet (PS3, 360)
year earlier, and many of the games that
followed simply shifted themes: 1942
went WWII, The Speed Rumbler tried out
Mad Max car combat, and Gun Smoke
was all about the cheeky cowboys.
But it never worked better than it did
with Commando. Tokuro Fujiwara was
the man in charge, and would later go on
to direct the Ghosts ’n’ Goblins games
and produce the Mega Man series, so
making games tougher than a toffee
T-800 became something of a career
trait. Meanwhile, Capcom was making
deals to get its most popular games into
living rooms worldwide, leading to a
Commando raid on just about every
system, from Atari 2600 to Amiga.
•
ng
End of gam
ing
LEg
#32
of Gaming
• LEgEnd of
ga
m
i
3
Over the top with Captain Capcom
Legend
ng
mi
ga
Tactical
experimentation.
Using cover to
duck and weave, or just
spraying and slaying?
Either could work… if
you kept it together.
CoMMando
of gaming • L
Eg
E
ing • LEgE
nd
gam
of
of
2
nd
gE
LE
nd
An alternating
competitive
mode for total
arcade bragging rights.
Co-op would’ve made
the game too easy, or
slowed it to a crawl by
doubling the opposition.
Joe cursed his own flamboyant taste,
realising how much less stressful his
day could have been if he’d resisted the
teal ensemble and just worn grey.
The legend
However you approached them, the
warzones of Commando’s carefully
inspecific country were joystick-tearingly
lethal: the screen was a mess of pixel
munitions within seconds as grenades
flew, mortar cannons boomed, and
enemies either roared in on jeeps and
bikes, or just ran headlong at you firing
blindly. Even having your toe stepped on
was fatal. Survive this, and you were
ready for the end-of-level twitch gaming
gauntlet as the fortress gates rumbled
open and reinforcements poured out.
Our hero Super Joe did at least have
unlimited eight-way machine gun ammo,
while enemy fire moved at the speed of
shuttlecocks travelling through jam. But
grenades could only be thrown straight
ahead, which meant knowing their range
intimately to flush enemies out of cover.
“MAKING GAMES TOUGHER THAN A
TOFFEE T-800 BECAME SOMETHING
OF A CAREER TRAIT”
Studio Spotlight
One arcade accolade after another
1 1942
(Arcade – 1984)
The surprisingly representative ‘all
kicking off’ cover of UK home versions.
Before Capcom’s arcade
debut year was out, it took
wing with a second
accomplished shooter and
first big hit. Either humbly or
cynically, 1942 featured a heroic
Allied pilot ripping through the
big bad Japanese WWII forces
like wet tissues. The gamble
paid off, spawning a sequel
every few years in an
order only Capcom
understands: 1943, 1941,
19XX, and 1944.
2 Ghosts ’n’
Goblins
(Arcade – 1985)
From vertical to horizontal with a
new level of unwary player pain.
This made Commando look like a
picnic – one with fancy pâté
sandwiches, Pimms, and fluffy
cushions for a post-picnic doze.
But the punters loved it, and
each of Sir Arthur’s later
lance-launching comic horror
exploits became a cause for
celebration. He, thankfully, never
went commando.
“Straight on, past the garage and the
big Tesco, you can’t miss it.”
Like many of its era, Commando was a
challenging and unforgiving devourer of
coins – but with guts and persistence you’d
ultimately walk away a hero. Not unlike real
world warfare, but with more 10p pieces.
The legacy
30 years old now, Commando helped set
the stage for Capcom’s arcade
heavyweight status through the ’80s and
early ’90s, from which it matured into a
big deal console publisher. This was also
one of the first attempts at a (relatively)
realistic war game, and as we all know,
you can’t get off the sofa without falling
over a dozen of those nowadays.
Crash-bang co-op sequel Mercs
continued the assault in 1990. Then it
wasn’t until 2008 that Wolf Of The
Battlefield: Commando 3 appeared, as
Capcom outsourced a few downloadable
revivals – not with universal success, but
saving some love for old IPs is
commendable in itself. It’s important to
remember where you came from, and
spare a cheery wave for your chopper
pilot to make sure he always comes back
when you need him. Ah, we knew those
military campaign/customer retention
analogies would be handy one day. n
3 Bionic
Commando
(Arcade – 1987)
This one took the side-scroller and
piled on layers of titillating
verticality, despite ditching the
ability to jump. Good early use of a
grappling hook, with the NES
version starting a trend of
redesigning arcade games for
console release, rather than trying
to cram them wholesale into an
openly sobbing 8-bit box.
4 Strider
5 Street Fighter II
The highest peak of Capcom’s
platforming experiments, showing
how far they’d come in a few short
years. No Prince Of Persia could
match Hiryu’s breathtaking blend of
ninja athleticism and unstoppable
melee ruination. A distinctive
‘dystopian Soviet future with
airships and robots’ setting was the
polish on a game that escorted out
the arcades’ defining decade in fine
free-running style.
If you weren’t expecting to see this
here, you should probably stop
hitting yourself in the side of the
head with that mallet. Not the end of
Capcom’s arcade history by a long
shot, and Street Fighter III and IV
stood out as highlights of that neon
wonderlands’ advancing years, but
few games before or after Street
Fighter II would pack a Dragon
Punch powerful enough to reshape
an entire landscape.
(Arcade – 1989)
(Arcade – 1991)
OCTOBER 2015
85
RetroMaster
We
❤ Old Games!
Six Of The BeST…
One-Man
aRMies
War never changes, as smart
trousers would be inappropriate
O
kay, so roughly two games out of every three feature a
hero who could be called a one-man (or indeed woman)
army. They might stealth-kill their way to a
pant-sharting body count like Altaïr or Sam Fisher,
follow Master Chief or dear old Doomguy by ambling in
through the front door dragging a gun the size of
Sweden, or simply romp across the world extinguishing monster
populations as the very huffiest of hedgehog-haired RPG heroes. So to
save us having to choose from two thirds of all the games ever released,
we’ve only selected lone heroes with military standing. No teams and no
bromantic co-op duos, whether it be Lance and Bill from Contra or Salem
and Rios from Army of Two. Their day will come, and they can ruddy well
share it. But it’s not this one. n
Nick
“HavOc”
PaRkeR
Command & Conquer: Renegade
(PC – 2002)
Bullish GDI commando in C&C’s FPS
spin-off. Somehow got nicknamed
“Havoc” (rather than “Dangerous
Idiot") by blowing stuff up as a
youth. Very good at it
though.
BJ
BlazkOwicz
Wolfenstein 3D (PC – 1992)
Square-jawed thwarter of occult
Nazi plans, BJ evolved from a lowly
prisoner into a chaingun-toting
guided missile whose methods and
winning personality endure in
Wolfensteins to this day. Hitler
never knew what hit him.
ROY
Operation Wolf (Arcade - 1987)
He may have gotten shafted in
the powerhouse name stakes, but
the Green Beret hero of this light gun
showstopper soloed a hostage
rescue mission by perforating
countless beardy guerrillas
and asshat Arnie clones.
86
OCTOBER 2015
Grab Bag
Retro gems from every era
Awesome Boss!
BReN
McgUiRe
Turrican II (Amiga, C64 – 1991)
A United Planets Freedom Forces
soldier turned one-man army when
dirty half-man, half robot warrior The
Machine wasted everyone else. Zip
up the Turrican assault suit and
unleash a torrent of hot plasma
for liberty! And revenge!
And fun!
Mega Man
Format NES Developer Capcom Released 1987
lU BU
Dynasty Warriors 2
(PS2 – 2000)
No, not a ghost in a toilet. Long
before Link took on car park-sized
crowds of foes in Hyrule Warriors,
Chinese warlord Lu Bu was the
beastliest unlockable battler to
brave the absurd odds of
the Dynasty Warriors
saga.
In boss terms, the Mega Man series is fuller than Mr. Creosote –
with few more recognisable than the mustard mauler, Yellow
Devil. His ridiculous signature attack involved hurling lumps of
himself across the screen to reform on the far side as you tried to
dodge and blast his big red eyeball. Super Smash Bros for Wii U
recently made him a gatecrashing guest star at Wily Castle.
Classic Moment!
ecco: Defender Of The Future
Format PS2, Dreamcast Developer Appaloosa Released 2000
The dilemma: how can Ecco be coaxed out of the sea and into a
world of more versatile platform game challenges? The solution:
add a level to your nutso sci-fi dolphin game where giant globes
and tubes of water hang in the air and Ecco has to leap between
them, encouraged by kooky new age music. No forgetting that in
a hurry, especially as it could take months to master.
Big BOss
Metal Gear
(MSX2, NES – 1987)
Remake Request!
Call him Naked Snake, call him
Punished Snake, call him John (no,
really): he had many names and led
many causes before he went a bit
daft and evil. Also singlehandedly snapped many,
many necks.
Unirally
Format SNES Developer DMA Design Released 1994
Unsurprisingly, given that it’s a zippy 2D stunt racer starring
riderless unicycles, there’s been nothing else quite like this in the
last 21 years. The idea of Unirally undergoing a hi-res Trials-style
makeover? See us salivate. Considering it was made by Rockstar
North back in their DMA days, we’re surprised a spiritual
successor hasn’t already been ferreted away inside a GTA game.
OCTOBER 2015
87
CultureMaster
The Outer Regions Of Gaming!
Present time It’s hard to imagine creating this and
then having to give it away, isn’t it? How noble.
Gotta Mod
‘eM all
Oh boy! We catch up with Gareth LeTourner, who’s
managed to make the world’s cutest handheld with
his first ever custom modded console
I
f Team Rocket ever wanted to get
their hands on a Game Boy Color, it
would be this one – 25 year old
Gareth LeTourner, from Marseille in
the South of France, should
probably prepare for trouble. Or at
least lots of questions from us, about how he managed
to build what he calls, adorably, the Pikaboy.
cerebral guy, so a build process kind of scared me at first,
but I had attempted a portable SNES build months
before and learnt a lot from it,” he says. “I first made a
quick photoshop sketch at 1:1 scale, which I then used to
cut the ears, arms, feet, and tail off a plastic sheet. I then
outlined the ears and feet with the help of some epoxy
putty. It’s easy to model for a short time, but then it goes
rock solid. Once done, I used ABS cement to seal ears,
arms, and feet in place.”
“I’ve been into videogames since my childhood, and
have been mainly interested in retro gaming. I made the
Game Boy as a present for my girlfriend last Christmas,”
explains LeTourner. “But actually, I don’t know if I can
claim it as a present, as I stole one of her Game Boys to
make it… We both love to collect retro systems, and she
loves Pokémon and Pikachu best. At that time I was
lurking at Vadu Amka’s customs site – a talented Belgian
artist. That’s when I remembered I had the idea of
making a Pikachu Game Boy Color back in 2011. I’d made
a terrible clay prototype, but hadn’t stopped visualizing
it since then, so I told myself it was time to give it a try.”
After gazing at the incredible custom consoles on
Vadu Amka’s site, Gareth got thinking. “I’m more of a
Tail spin
88
OCTOBER 2015
The Pikaboy has paws it can stand on and the electric
mouse’s iconic tail, which for ease of playing can move
180 degrees. It can even go flat for convenient storage in
its very own custom Pokébox. The hinge proved to be a
hurdle for LeTourner but, in the closest anyone will ever
get to a real-life Rare Candy discovery, he found a solution
lying discarded on the ground one day.
“The tail took days before being added to the case,
because I wanted it to be rotating, and I didn’t know how
to make it work. It would have been such a little piece,”
he explains. “I came up with several ideas which weren’t
working. Then I found the perfect solution. I saw a Chupa
Misty eyed The Pikaboy was a gift for Gareth’s
Poké-fan partner (who even has Pokéball nails).
Chups stick lying on a pavement. My thanks to that
litterer! That’s when I decided the rotating tail link would
be made of a Chupa Chups stick and a Q-Tip stick going
through it. I love that about being in the creative process
– you just keep challenging yourself and improvising
stuff on the spot.”
Not content with that as the finishing touch, LeTourner
wanted to add even more character to the console. Yup,
those cheeks flash with kawaii joy. “Once I put the tail in
place, I wondered how cool it would be to have his red
cheeks, so I decided to make them light up when the
system is powered,” Gareth enthuses. “I added two red
LEDs, after removing the original power LED, which I put in
place under a brand new homemade screen bezel. The
“the most
challenging thing
was hiding the build
from my girlfriend”
super fans!
Cool stuff from the
hardcore of gaming culture
Crash course LeTourner was inspired by the console work of Vadu Amka, who has created a plethora of incredible
retro systems based on the Legend Of Zelda and even Crash Bandicoot. That TNT power button is a stroke of genius.
Ink pIece
One Splatoon fan in Japan has
taken his love of the game to
the next level and crafted an
Inkzooka. 180 cm long, 14 kg in
weight, and with a range of up
to 25 metres, it’s shoulder
mounted, and can’t be fired
without you falling over. See the
ink-redible footage here:
http://bit.ly/gmsplat
Mouse bound It only took a month for Gareth to build the console, but since then he’s added the custom
Pokébox case and had a number of photoshoots, the results of which we see right here. Daaaawwww!
to work on it, and was running out of secret places to
final add to the system was a circuit board I took off of a
hide it between each build session. The project also
McDonalds Pikachu toy I found on Ebay. I soldered it to a
relied on a lot of filling and sanding, but that’s the part of
DS Lite speaker, and then to the Game Boy motherboard,
the process you want to forget, as it’s really annoying
so that when the systems turns on/off, you have a
and time consuming.”
‘Pi-ka-pika-chuuuuuuuuuuuu’ sound. All these last
features were not planned, and came while
building the system, but I think that’s what
SEE THIS!
SE
IS!
E
gives you the feel of a ‘real’ Pikachu.”
Gareth’s girlfriend loved her gift, but who
TH
E
Overall it only took LeTourner a
wouldn’t? While this is his first full mod
month to build the console, but he
after his failed portable SNES,
admits he added the custom
LeTourner is already looking forward
Watch and hear the
Pikaboy in action in
Pokébox storage case at a later date,
to starting on more projects in the
LeTourner’s demo video,
because he ran out of time before
future, and considering learning to
complete with chiptune
Christmas. Other than the tail
sew for a Conker’s Bad Fur Day N64.
soundtrack: http://bit.ly/
mechanism, there were a few other
We’ll try not to think about the heating
gmpikaboy
hiccups, but mainly it was an issue of
issues that might cause. For now, the
stealth. “The hardest part of the build itself
Pikaboy is enough.
was to achieve the curve between the ears,
“He hugs you warm with his arms as you
because it had to be the same on both part of the case. It
manage to reach the ending screen of your favourite
was really difficult to get it to match perfectly,” says
game, and expresses joy by lighting up his cheeks and
Gareth. “But I consider the most challenging thing
saying his name when you turn him on,” says LeTourner.
overall being to make it out of my girlfriend’s sight. I was
A cute little friend with a face full of retro classics. What
always thinking about the build, didn’t have much time
more could anyone need? n Louise Blain
hug shot
!S
SE
S!
IS
S!
SE
H I S! S E E T
ET
HI
S!
I
SE
TH
ET
HIS!
EE THIS! SEE
SE E T H
I
TH
See
this!
cake off
This Marioshaped tower
of yum isn’t
just an
absurdly tasty
treat with a red
velvet interior
– mmmm – but it
nabbed crafty baker Cory
Pohlman an impressive
$10,000. An entry on a
Nintendo themed episode of
Cake Wars, it was over three
feet high. See more images at:
http://bit.ly/gmcakewars
Me-oWWWTh
Professional
tattooist Alicia
Thomas from The
Boston Tattoo
Company has
been on a mission
to collect all 151
Pokémon in ink form.
Well, by collect, we mean put
on people, not actually keep,
because that would be weird…
You can see them all on her
Instagram:
http://bit.ly/gmpoketats
OCTOBER 2015
89
CheatMaster
The Biggest Games Taken Apart!
2
1
3
4
Never let anyone tell you
that Chain Chomps
weren’t meant to take to
the skies.
5
90
OCTOBER 2015
cheatmaster
pro
tips!
t
Hints to transform
you from cowboy
builder to artisan
chief
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
ps
ps
s
ip
s pro tips
o tip
pr
pr
o
ti
Format Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo Out 11 September
super Mario Maker
Mastered!
Learn to build classic courses that would make Miyamoto weep
1
Remember
Kishótenketsu
Recent 3D Mario games are
built upon a design philosophy espoused
by Koichi Hayashida. It’s Kishōtenketsu, a
story structure traditionally used in
Eastern narratives (Hayashida was
particularly inspired by four-panel manga
comics). The four steps are: introduction,
development, twist and conclusion. In
Super Mario games, each new concept is
taught, embellished, twisted in some way
and then discarded at the end of a stage.
It’s definitely worth keeping this in mind
as you build a stage: start simple, then
increase the challenge before throwing in
a curveball to keep things interesting.
Better still, try to include one last flourish
en route to the flagpole as a final reward.
6
2
Don’t overdo it
3
Embrace constraints
4
Toy with expectations
5
Up is the new right
Once you’ve unlocked
everything, the temptation is to
go mad with power and build the most
outlandish stage you can. This rarely
makes for an enjoyable experience. That
isn’t to say you should necessarily stint
on the challenge, but lobbing in as many
enemies and hazards as possible will
likely frustrate players, rather than
encouraging them to have another try.
By limiting your early
experiments to a handful of
elements, Nintendo encourages creators
to consider ways to make familiar ideas
unique – even something as simple as
attaching wings to a Goomba. As you
unlock more content, impose limits: such
as a stage using four or five ingredients
rather than the whole palette. Really
think about how you can combine them
in new and unusual ways.
6
Learn from the best
That’s learn, not steal. Not that
you can, of course: download
someone else’s work, edit it and try to
claim the glory for yourself and you’ll
rightly be told that it’s “not possible to
upload courses originally created by
other people”. Clever old Nintendo. Still,
it’s certainly worth trawling the levels at
the top of the Star Ranking list for
inspiration. Even lesser stages sometimes
contain ideas that can be refined or
twisted in some way, so don’t focus your
search exclusively on the most popular
levels. Try to gauge what works and what
doesn’t, and use that to inform your own
designs. Beyond that, it’s worth taking the
time to study the daily stages
automatically uploaded into your Course
Bot; these are, after all, Nintendo’s own
courses, and though most are fairly
simple in concept, they’re the blueprints
to which you should always refer in times
of creative crisis.
The beauty of Super Mario Maker is its variety of ways to surprise those
who download and play your levels. It’s always smart to offer some kind of
spin on an established idea: basic interactions prompting unexpected sound effects,
or Lakitus throwing coins or power-ups rather than Spinies. Again, the trick is not to
change absolutely everything. Your first cluster of Question Blocks should reveal
coins and power-ups, but the next one might prompt a Cheep Cheep to emerge. You
could include a musical stab suggesting imminent danger before a Super Star
bounces into view, or tease a short cut that leads to an enemy-filled gauntlet.
Remixing classic Mario stages always goes down well, too. Failing all that, you could
just have a winged Bowser swim into view as soon as the stage begins.
7
You can’t beat a good
auto-scrolling Airship stage as
far as we’re concerned, but there’s no
need to be a slave to the traditional
left-to-right template. Vines provide
ample opportunity to give your stages a
bit of verticality: dodging enemies while
running and jumping is one thing, but
doing it while climbing is a challenge few
level designers seem prepared to set.
Meanwhile, pipes aren’t just a way to
descend to underground areas. Let them
stretch up from the surface and ask
players to wall-kick up and over them.
7
If in doubt, use amiibo
We’re tempted to say this is the
cheapest route to success, but
for the fact that it requires significant
financial investment. But yes, if you don’t
mind the hollow sensation that follows,
featuring an amiibo character or six – the
rarer the better, naturally – is one of the
simplest ways to ensure a rush of stars
from your Super Mario Maker peers. So
why not go the extra mile? A labyrinthine
underground cavern would make for a
fine Metroid substitute, and it shouldn’t
be too difficult to approximate a stage
from Kirby’s Dream Land. n
OCTOBER 2015
91
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Roll up for the definitive
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Due to the unpredictable nature of the gaming
world, all contents are subject to change.
GAME GUIdE
Your easy, at-a-glance index of what games to get for which
machine. These are what we deem the absolute best
experiences to pick up right now.
MULTIPLATFORM
PLAySTATIOn 4
1
1
1
BLOOdBORnE
FromSoft finds the number one spot
again with the greatest PS4 exclusive to
date. Brilliant, bold, and brutal.
dARk SOULS
Combining challenge, intrigue, and
desolate beauty like nothing before or
since. The finest game ever made.
2
hALO: ThE MASTER
chIEF cOLLEcTIOn
With five full Halos included, this is the
best value gaming package ever.
2
7
2
TOwERFALL AScEnSIOn
GRAnd ThEFT AUTO v
The most comprehensive and denselypacked sandbox going, full of wonderful
distractions and typical Rockstar humour.
3
BATMAn: ARkhAM knIGhT
Expert storytelling, incredible visuals,
and a utility belt full of tricks make this
the ultimate superhero fantasy.
Still nothing on current-gen has come
close to matching the multiplayer thrills
found in this arrow-flinging battler.
3
kALIMBA
An indie hit for Xbox and something
completely different, this co-op puzzler
is packed with charm and invention.
3
8
ThE LAST OF US REMASTEREd
ThE wALkInG dEAd
Some of the greatest interactive
storytelling that gaming has to offer – and
season two even outdoes the original.
4
ALIEn: ISOLATIOn
Survival horror reinvented. Finally the
treatment that the movie deserves, and
an experience of remarkable intensity.
Naughty Dog brings all of its strengths
to the fore, fusing engaging gameplay
with believable, emotive storytelling.
4
FORZA hORIZOn 2
If it’s automotive fantasy fulfilment that
you crave, then look no further. Horizon’s
current-gen debut is a sight to behold.
4
9
MInEcRAFT
The phenomenon shows no signs of
abating. Far more than just a game, this
is a magnificent creative outlet.
5
BRAId
Platforming? Tick. Brain-bending puzzles?
Tick. Delightful, timeless art style? Tick.
Bizarre tale of nuclear arms? Possibly…
FInAL FAnTASy XIv:
hEAvEnSwARd
The MMO on consoles, with extensive
new content adding to its appeal.
5
TITAnFALL
The first big XO exclusive truly delivered,
and Respawn’s debut is still serving up
bombastic multiplayer action.
5
10
jOURnEy
ThE wITchER 3: wILd hUnT
An epic proposition that truly lived up to
its promise. Vast, mature and engaging
– and one of the best fantasy RPGs ever.
6
BIOShOck InFInITE
What a world, what a story, and what a
twist. Plus the original still deserves to be
played, eight years after release.
96
XBOX OnE
OCTOBER 2015
FAR cRy 4
Few places can you (legally) find this level
of freedom. Kyrat is a playground for all of
your most destructive urges.
This intensely emotional trip through a
strange, beautiful world is a truly
spellbinding display of games as art.
SUnSET OvERdRIvE
Insomniac is back in the groove, bringing
forth crazy weapons and an open world
bursting with colour and life.
6
TITAn SOULS
6
ORI & ThE BLInd FOREST
11
dIABLO III
7
LITTLEBIGPLAnET 3
7
dEAd RISInG 3
12
MASS EFFEcT 2
8
nIdhOGG
8
STATE OF dEcAy: yEAR OnE
13
dIShOnOREd
9
dOn’T STARvE
9
MAX: ThE cURSE OF BROThERhOOd
14
ULTRA STREET FIGhTER Iv
10
RESOGUn
10
MASSIvE chALIcE
15
PORTAL 2
This month, Robin
pours himself a glass
of Crusader Kings II
Beneath its unwelcoming
strategy exterior and awkward
menus beats the heart of one
of the most compelling, innovative role
playing experiences of all time. This isn’t dry
global domination – it’s about truly stepping
into medieval life, guiding and guarding a
noble dynasty. Through its dense, emergent
systems, real human drama unfolds – tales of
family, love, death, intrigue, politics, and war.
Getting to grips with its complexities may
seem a daunting task, but it’s so worth it.
wii U
1
MARIO kART 8
Reinvention is what Nintendo does best,
and nowhere is that more apparent than
in this party-fuelling karter reborn.
2
Pc
3dS
1
1
GUILd wARS 2
Still the benchmark for PC MMOs. No
subs fee, and a vast, storied world
constantly updated with new stuff.
2
BAyOnETTA 2
Proof that every so often more of the
same isn’t a bad thing at all. Everything
good about the first, but better.
3
TOTAL wAR: ATTILA
3
SUPER SMASh BROS
A perfect sofa-based multiplayer pick. An
irresistible line-up, and bursting with
modes to bum-bash your buds across.
4
Arguably the best Zelda made better,
with visuals to make your eyes water.
5
hEARThSTOnE
Try and walk away from it. We dare you.
Blizzard has given the collectible card
game genre an accessible shot in the arm.
Some of the most innovative uses of the
GamePad, inside or outside of the
Nintendo research labs. An indie delight.
The move to 3D has only improved this
classic series, which has never been in
better form. Get your trade face on.
ELITE: dAnGEROUS
Utterly unique. No other game out there
gives you the chance to carve your own
path through as massive a universe.
ThE LEGEnd OF ZELdA:
MAjORA’S MASk 3d
A masterpiece from the past reworked to
hit the hardcore and still be approachable.
Bringing back the halcyon days of Infinity
Engine-powered RPGs, only with modern
visuals and a fresh fantasy setting.
Bright, beautiful, and inventive – and
perfectly suited to handheld. Creative
exploration that doesn’t get old.
PERSOnA 4 GOLdEn
Never been to Japanese high school?
Then this stylish JRPG can help correct
that. Only with demons and murders.
3
FIRE EMBLEM: AwAkEnInG
Play this with permadeath switched on
and you’re in for a generation-spanning
heartbreaker like no other.
vELOcITy 2X
For those with the need for speed this
is the way to go. Frantic running and
gunning perfectly distilled.
4
XEnOBLAdE chROnIcLES 3d
Nintendo does the impossible, bringing
a vast and glorious open world to its
diddy dual-screener. Witchcraft, surely…
5
PILLARS OF ETERnITy
FEZ
2
4
5
AFFORdABLE SPAcE AdvEnTURES
POkÉMOn X/y
3
4
ThE LEGEnd OF ZELdA:
ThE wInd wAkER hd
1
2
The kings of RTS have outdone
themselves with this latest nomadic
take on the warfaring formula.
PS vITA
ZERO EScAPE:
vIRTUE’S LAST REwARd
The current king of the crop in terms
of Vita’s visual novel renaissance.
5
LUIGI’S MAnSIOn 2
Bubbling over with personality, this
long-awaited sequel is still the pinnacle
of puzzling on your 3DS. Yello?
GRIM FAndAnGO
It’s back from the grave! You’ll laugh.
You’ll cry. You’ll steal more bread of the
dead than you could possibly need.
6
SPLATOOn
6
dOTA 2
6
MOnSTER hUnTER 4 ULTIMATE
6
hOTLInE MIAMI 2: wROnG nUMBER
7
SUPER MARIO 3d wORLd
7
ThE ELdER ScROLLS v: SkyRIM
7
AnIMAL cROSSInG: nEw LEAF
7
TEARAwAy
8
EARThBOUnd
8
kERBAL SPAcE PROGRAM
8
SUPER SMASh BROS
8
STEInS;GATE
9
hyRULE wARRIORS
9
EndLESS LEGEnd
9
SUPER MARIO 3d LAnd
9
FInAL FAnTASy X/X-2 REMASTER
10
PIkMIn 3
10
hER STORy
10
PROF LAyTOn vS PhOEnIX wRIGhT
10
GRAvITy RUSh
OCTOBER 2015
97
masterminds
Because sometimes one brain isn’t enough
GUeSt
mASteRmInD
Takashi Tezuka
In the 30 years since helping
shape the original Super Mario
Bros alongside Miyamoto, Tezuka
has worked on countless
Nintendo classics, including The
Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario
Galaxy 2, and most recently
Super Mario Maker.
This month: With the celebrated plumber’s Super
iterations turning 30, we thought it the right time to ask:
which Mario game is the best Mario game?
Sam: Super Mario Kart on the SNES is
king, in my opinion. Of all the games I
98
OCTOBER 2015
Tezuka: When it comes to development, I
like 2D Mario games, because the
structure is simple and production is a lot
easier. Although, that’s not to say that I
dislike 3D Mario games!
Matt: I remember getting hand and neck
cramps trying to beat Tatanga. A real git,
he was. Here’s a slightly different question
– Tezuka, which Mario game are you most
proud of being involved in?
Robin: Among the 2D Marios, my faves
are the first two Super Mario Lands on
Game Boy – tight, charming platformers I
Matt: Mario Kart is one of those series
could take with me wherever I went. My
which ages terribly though. I couldn’t go
princess was Daisy, not Peach, and
back to Mario Kart 7, for example,
before I ever faced Bowser, I
after having spent two solid
ext month
n
ne
th
xt
was fighting the good fight
days playing Mario Kart 8 for
on
m
against Wario and… some
review. What a blessed 48
sort of purple alien in a
hours that was… If we’re
spaceship? Super Mario
talking about old school
Will Team GM quit to
Land 2 especially had it
Mario, before 3D took
retrain as plumbers?
Find out in GM296,
all – fiendish boss fights,
over, then Super Mario
out 8 October!
creative level design, and a
Bros 3 on NES is up there
brilliant overworld. For a
for me. I still remember
NES-less kid, it was a revelation.
finding the flute, and those
Tezuka: It’s difficult to say – we were able
to complete all of the games without any
particular regrets about not being able to
include certain ideas. It may just be
because the memories are fresh, but I’m
extremely satisfied with Super Mario
Maker. A large number of staff were really
engaged with the project, competing to
come up with ideas, and most importantly
they were all having fun. I’m really satisfied
with it – it’s not every day you get to work
on a game where the staff are as psyched
up as they were here.
th
on
m
next month n
ex
t
next
month!
next month n
ex
t
Robin: Couldn’t agree more! Even beyond
the revolutionary mechanics, that world
felt so rich and dense, packed with things
to do and secrets to find. I remember
spending hours figuring out how to catch
that rabbit… And the star system was
brilliant. Levels weren’t just something to
run through and beat, they were theme
parks full of different activities.
Sam: Ahhh yes, a great contender! That
8-bit charm that had me hooked for hours
on end. I could never get the timing right to
avoid those Piranha Plants though!
next month n
ex
th
t
on
m
Matt: It’s Super Mario 64, surely? Even
booting it up now it’s still bursting with
ideas, tactile controls, and intricately
designed levels. It’s great not just because
it was awesome to play through, but for
paving the way for a whole genre of 3D
platformers, too.
world maps were a masterstroke. The
ominous airship music, too! Might just
have to get that set up to play during GM
deadline week. You, know, as motivation.
dedicated time to as a kid, SMK was the
first that everyone in the family wanted to
play. Being two player didn’t prevent
everyone packing into the living room to
catch a glimpse of the action, either. Sure,
the Mario Kart series has evolved hugely
since this release, and playing it today
may not have the same impact, but you
have to commend a game that created
and popularised the kart racing genre. For
me, zipping along as Toad in Ghost Valley
will always take some beating!
th
on
m
O
ne thing is constant
in this topsy-turvy
videogame industry:
Mario games are the
business. The rotund
mascot pretty much
birthed a generation of gamers, and it
doesn’t matter where you stand in the
marketing conflict between consoles,
PCs, mobiles, et al – we’ve all fallen for a
Mario game at some point. But which
one is top of the pile?
“super mario 64 is bursting
with great ideas and
intricately designed levels”
Robin: Would now be the appropriate
time to admit that I haven’t played a
proper Mario platformer since Sunshine
on the Gamecube?
Matt: You at least need to play Galaxy!
Take the GM Wii U and download it
tonight. I won’t let you leave until you do.
9000

Gamesmaster - October 2015

Transcription

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