Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 165 i GamesTM

I guess I must have been about 14 years old when the Nintendo 64 was about to launch. I wasn’t getting it on launch day, though. This was going to be the first console I bought with my own money. My friend, an even bigger Nintendo fan than me at the time, was going to beat me to it as his birthday was coming up and the anticipation was killing us both. So much so that he didn’t wait for the machine to be handed to him before going out and buying a bright yellow N64 controller so we would be ready for some split-screen multiplayer action. And the yellow pad sat there in his bedroom, taunting us both. We were so rabid for information on the N64 and its…

“Mario 64 means a lot to me because, well, when I was growing up, I didn't have a Nintendo 64. I’m from Italy originally, and one of my friends over there used to own a bar, and he had this Nintendo 64 [hooked up] in there. One night, there were about five or six of us and he closed the bar for the evening, and we got to the slide in the winter level. At this point, I’d never tried playing a Nintendo 64 and I didn’t know what to do with the controller… but I just loved it. One moment I’ll always remember in my gamer career is that, being able to do that slide, first time, when my friends couldn’t do it. But I’ll give an honourable mention…

CONCEPT • Fighters from all around the world take to the streets once more as M. Bison and Shadaloo plot more dastardly schemes in the shadow of some unknown terror INFORMATION Details Format: PS4, PC Origin: Japan Publisher: Capcom Developer: In-house Release: Q1 2016 Players: 1-2 Developer Profile Responsible for every Street Fighter iteration so far (including the ill-fated Street Fighter X Tekken), Capcom continues to treat the series with the respect it deserves – changing enough with each iteration to keep it relevant. Developer History Dead Rising 3 2013 [Xbox One] Lost Planet 3 2013 [Multi] Resident Evil 6 2012 [Multi] High Point Street Fighter IV, in its many iterations, proved that Capcom was keen to listen and respond to fan feedback, bringing in some expected (and some surprising!)…

CONCEPT • An expansive empire-building sim in which diplomacy, trade and just a touch of siegework provide the keys to Europe and North Africa INFORMATION Details Format: PC, PS4 Origin: Germany Publisher: Kalypso Media Developer: Gaming Minds Release: 25 September 2015 Players: 1-8 Developer Profile Though the name Gaming Minds might have you scratching impotently at the bottom of your brain barrel, the German team has actually been turning out PC strategy games since 1992. Grand Ages, however, is the studio’s first game to be simultaneously developed for PC and console. Developer History Rise of Venice 2013 [PC] Port Royale 3 2012 [PC, Xbox 360, PS3] Patrician IV 2010 [PC] Dark Star One 2006 [PC, Xbox 360] High Point Although technically developed by Gaming Minds’ defunct predecessor, Ascaron, Dark Star…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Konami DEVELOPER: Kojima Productions PRICE: £54.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-TBC ONLINE REVIEWED: No “Today is the day weapons learn to walk upright!” says the terribly scarred man known unironically as Skull Face. Kiefer Sutherland doesn’t say much as the camera pans across, showing the shrapnel in Big Boss’s head that quite literally looks like a devil horn. Zombie-like people sharing fashion tips with the Borg teleport instantly across the battlefield and make assault rifles appear from the palms of their hands. For those unaware: yes, this is Metal Gear Solid. All the fears surrounding Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain have proven unfounded. The probability that this is Hideo Kojima’s final entry to the…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Sony Computer Entertainment DEVELOPER: The Chinese Room PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A ‘Can The Chinese Room’s low-key style be sustained over five to six hours?’ That was the question we’ve been asking ourselves since we first heard of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. The reason the studio’s previous games worked so well was because of their brevity: seminal hit Dear Esther was as ‘short form’ as games have gotten. It was a game about language, interpretation, slowing down, self-reflection. That worked within its fleeting campaign, but Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture… it loses some of that impact because of its length. But it’s unfair to hold The Chinese Room’s newest endeavour up against its past efforts: the games are…

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PC ORIGIN: Netherlands PUBLISHER: Team 17 DEVELOPER: Tiger and Squid PRICE: £9.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A You play as a blind girl looking for her cat. That isn’t our reductive way of describing Beyond Eyes but someone else’s, when that person asked what game they were watching after seeing a crowd gather around the office HDTV while games™ was mid-review. And they are correct. You do play as Rae, a blind girl looking for her cat, Nani. But Beyond Eyes offers more than that statement suggests, its immediate strength being the unique art style. The world in Beyond Eyes is a white canvas, Rae’s exploration and nearby noise helping her fill in the blanks. Sometimes the world isn’t what you…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PS3 ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Sony Computer Entertainment DEVELOPER: thatgamecompany / Sony Santa Monica PRICE: £11.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes When we were playing Journey, the whole games™ team got involved. There was only one of us actually playing, but the game is so enchanting, so hypnotic, that eventually it drew the whole team in. It was beautiful on the PS3, but in 1080p resolution and running at 60fps, it’s hard not to fall in love with the game’s exquisite lighting, dynamic soundtrack and deceptively simple gameplay. If you already downloaded the game on PS3, it’s free for you on PS4. If you don’t already own it, go out and buy it – the PS4 version might be a simple remaster, but…

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PC, Mac, PS4, PS3, Wii U ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Toxic Games DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £7.99 RELEASE: Out Now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A It’s disconcerting when puzzle games burden themselves with wholly redundant narrative components, but in comparison to the majority of its genre stablemates, Q.U.B.E’s opening hour is a storytelling masterclass. Instead of bombarding players with superfluous plot, you’re told about your character’s life and situation for one entirely perfect reason: to stop you from losing your marbles in the heartless, disorientating depths of deep space. It’s very disappointing to note that Q.U.B.E’s narrative subsequently takes a sharp turn towards the (profoundly contrived) realms of conspiracy and paranoia, but first impressions that forceful don’t fade easily. Following a somewhat hushed reception on PC…

“The Mario game I’ve played more than any other is the one that was released [as a launch game] on the original Game Boy. [Hums the intro music]. You know, I could just do that all day! [laughs] We never had a real Nintendo console, just one of those brick Game Boys that my dad bought us – we’d end up fighting over it in the back of the car. I used to travel a lot as a kid, so I played a lot of that game! But saying that, I’ve played a lot of Mario Kart, too, that was a favourite – I think it’s so well crafted, considering how lightly it’s crafted, yet it’s got this incredible depth to it, too. The replayability of it is phenomenal –…

CRASH TEAM RACING • THE FINAL CRASH game by Naughty Dog was designed with the same focus on replayability and metagame as Crash 3: Warped. Developers slotted design pillars into the kart-racing genre instead. It was a well-regarded Mario Kart clone. Controls were tight, so players could focus on maintaining speed and fun. SONIC & SEGA ALL-STARS RACING • ALL-STARS RACING doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but everything it does, it does well. Track design is multi-faceted and entertaining, complex but not confusing, and represents the height of what a kart racer can do. Multiplayer modes and presentation of the game made it the best kart game of the PS3/360 era. SOUTH PARK RALLY • DESPITE THE LACK of involvement from Trey Parker and Matt Stone (and their criticism of the…

A couple of years ago, it was the norm for a single-player game to ship with a tacked-on multiplayer mode. From a publisher’s perspective, this made sense; it was supposed to keep games alive for longer, it was supposed to keep them flying off the shelves, it was supposed to ‘continue the conversation’. But as more and more games found ways to crowbar network support into titles that really didn’t need it (Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, The Last Of Us) players began to become disillusioned. Publishers saw that their games were selling no better or worse than before, and people were ignoring the multiplayer modes altogether. Despite running double experience weekends, special events and story-themed playlists, Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer was a ghost town within months of its release. Games…

CONCEPT • It’s the Sixties and America is recovering from decades of war. The homefront – New Orleans, specifically – has been left unattended, and now it’s your turn to rule the lands… INFORMATION Details Format: PC, PS4, Xbox One Origin: USA Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Hangar 13 Release: 2016 Players: 1 Developer Profile Hangar 13 was set up specifically to work on Mafia III, and has already attracted a slew of triple-A talent from around the world. Headed up by writer Haden Blackman – who has the Star Wars: Forced Unleashed games under his belt – Hangar 13 is funded and directly affiliated by 2K Games. The studio is keen to prove its worth in the field of narrative, and prove there’s still room in the industry for open-world…

CONCEPT • The timey-wimey shooter that’s arguably the Xbox One’s biggest exclusive ticks closer to release – but can its ambitious plans to redefine interactive narrative be counted on? INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One Origin: Finland Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Remedy Entertainment Release: 5 April 2016 Players: 1 Developer Profile Quantum Break is written, directed and produced by Sam Lake, a creator among that rarified breed synonymous with a specific developer. Having penned all of Remedy’s major titles and become creative director, he even lent oversight to Rockstar’s Max Payne 3. Lake is a pseudonym though – his birth name is Sami Järvi, which, err, means "lake". Developer History Max Payne 2001 [Multi] Max Payne 2 2003 [Multi] Alan Wake 2010 [Multi] Alan Wake’s American Nightmare 2012 [Multi] High Point While…

CONCEPT • A family of four has found an abandoned bunker, and tries to carve out a life for themselves in a post-nuclear world. Trade, barter, gather and sustain yourself for as long as you can INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One, PC Origin: UK Publisher: Team 17 Developer: Unicube Release: 2015 Players: 1 Developer Profile Unicube is composed of three main developers – Dean Foster, the lead programmer/ designer, Ben Ridge (responsible for the OST and audio design) and finally Sonny Meek: lead artist, programmer and designer. Between them, Unicube has been working on Sheltered for over a year, and was recently brought into the Team 17 studio where the publisher is helping smooth over some of the more challenging areas of game polishing. We’ve just eaten our son. We…

It starts with some spare arcade cabinets and the idea of a love triangle. So the tale goes, the failure of Radar Scope in arcades in North America lead to Nintendo’s president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, turning to a game artist in his late twenties, one Shigeru Miyamoto, to design something for the converted cabinets. What Miyamoto came up with was a Popeye-inspired love triangle that created Pauline, Donkey Kong and Jumpman. The latter would go on to be rechristened Mario during the development of a sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. And a new hero of gaming was born. But that was just the origin story. It was Super Mario Bros. that really turned Mario into one of the biggest entertainment icons in the world. With 40.24 million copies sold,…

Complete and utter destruction was the target set by Cloudgine and Reagent Games as they set about re-energising the Crackdown licence with Microsoft, but what this has spawned has the potential to change Xbox One games forever. That may seem like a bold statement, but actually what it’s really delivering is the full promise of the console Microsoft intended to launch in 2013, when the world of gaming turned against it over DRM and always-online functionality. This is the game that could take the Xbox One back to being a digital gaming powerhouse. A games console for the online age, using the full resources of the web to future-proof itself. And it all started so very simply, building on the sandbox freedom and interactivity the series has already established. “We…

1. F-ZERO Last Release: F-Zero Climax (2004) Dream developer: Criterion Why: F-ZERO SET the standard for the racing genre, outright inventing the ‘futuristic racer’ in the videogame space – going on to inspire WipEout and Daytona USA. It’s been due a rebirth for a while, and despite some loving nods to the franchise in the most recent Mario Kart, we’re still eagerly waiting a truesuccessor to the F-Zero throne. Enter Criterion, master of the modern racer, parent of Burnout and surrogate family to Need For Speed. Criterion would do justice to the rich legacy of F-Zero, making a blistering, futuristic racer with through-the-roof production values and gameplay like we might have seen in old Criterion game, AirBlade. Likelihood: 50% We may well see another F-Zero game surface on the NX…

DETAILS FORMAT: Wii UORIGIN: JapanPUBLISHER: NintendoDEVELOPER: Valhalla GameStudiosPRICE: £39.99RELEASE: 28 AugustPLAYERS: 1-16ONLINE REVIEWED: No It’s rare that a game that’s suffered years of development hell eventually pulls itself up by its bootstraps and delivers a fantastic experience. While there have been exceptions – Team Fortress 2 took eight years to make, and The Last Guardian alsolookssetto buck the trend – for the most part you only need to look at the likes of Aliens: Colonial Marines, Duke Nukem Forever and Too Human to see evidence that troubled development tends to lead to a mediocrerelease. Devil’s Third, sadly, nestles all too comfortably into this list. Originally started five years ago and planned as an Xbox 360 and PS3 game, Devil’s Third has been subjected to version cancellations, publisher closures (it was…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 ORIGIN: Canada PUBLISHER: Metanet Software DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-4 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A From tiny acorns do great oaks grow; that analogy fits perfectly with N++. A title born as a Flash-based browser game over a decade ago, now refined and sculpted into the ultimate package. The core gameplay is unchanged: you still play as a genderless ninja unlocking an exit gate and evading myriad dangers along the way. If you’ve never played N (or its Xbox 360 sequel, N+), it is in the Super MeatBoy vein of platforming: incredibly hard, but for every death you’re rewarded with a greater sense of understanding and eventually satisfaction. It’s a game that is immediately fulfilling, with incredibly honed controls giving you complete command over your…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PCORIGIN: JapanPUBLISHER: Sega DEVELOPER: Game Freak PRICE: £9.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A It's hard not to feel a slight sense of sorrow and pity for Sonic, the Sega-blue mascot having fallen so far from fame and public interest that even his creators are turning their backs on him. The cold-shoulder act isn't simply passive, with Sega seeking out ways to replace the hedgehog and cut their losses with what is increasingly becoming a burden that is dragging everything down with it. If Sonic was once Julius Caesar, than Sega is the senate-turned-conspirator. Tembo, the replacement beast and potential new franchise star, is Brutus - the one to stick the final knife in and, possibly, signal the start of a new…

• EVEN GAMES™ WOULD have to admit it was an inspired advertising campaign, and today the true meaning of the acronym ‘MDK’ remains cloudy. Two popular theories were Mission: Deliver Kindness and Murder Death Kill, with the latter having debuted in the Sylvester Stallone sci-fi action movie, Demolition Man. “Actually, you’ve managed to pick my favourite and the actual name there,” says Bruty teasingly. But while Tim Williams clarifies and confirms Murder Death Kill as the team’s original idea, they were soon all pondering over alternative meanings. “My contribution was Mission: Deliver Kindness,” says Williams, “so that, for me, was what MDK meant.” Other possibilities included Mother’s Day Kisses, Max, Dr. Hawkins And Kurt and Massive Dollops Of Ketchup.…

Released: 1 September 1992Publisher: NintendoDeveloper: Nintendo EADSystem: SNES SUPER MARIO KART is widely acknowledged as the game that started an entire genre – without it, we wouldn’t have the mascot kart racing games we know and love today. As with the majority of other Nintendo games, Super Mario Kart was a trailblazer – a game that inspired many clones and imitators, but no one could live up to the incredible formula that Nintendo worked into the game, creating something that was incredibly accessible to players of all ages, but still incredibly deep, once you lifted the hood and understood how the game actually worked. Less than two years after Super Mario Kart’s release, long-time Mario rivalSonic released his own kart game (Sonic Drift), followed by Ubisoft’s Street Racer on the…

ID@Xbox is about to turn two years old, and it’s already clear that the program has radically changed since its inception. European manager of the scheme, Agostino Simonetta, spoke to us about how far the program has come, how it’s shaping the identity of the Xbox One, and where it could possibly be going next… It seems that ID@Xbox was a program set up to democratise game development on the Xbox One? ID@Xbox began for the standard indie studio, not just the big ones like Roll-11, Team 17 or, like, Curve Studio. We wanted to make sure the program would foster innovation and experimentation, so we could allow developers to focus on their creativity and not focus on elements of game-making peripheral to development. We wanted to make it as…

CONCEPT • DICE’s take on the classic multiplayer series sees the Swedish studio elevate its coding skills to the heights with epic battles culled from the original trilogy and beyond INFORMATION Details Format: PS4, Xbox One, PC Origin: Sweden Publisher: EA Developer: DICE Release: 20 November 2015 Players: 1-40 Developer Profile DICE was founded back in 1992 in Sweden, where the team cut its teeth in development coding pinball games for the Amiga. The big break came with Battlefield 1942, before the company was snapped up by EA where it went on to develop countless Battlefield sequels and spin-offs. Developer History Battlefield Hardline 2015 [Multi] Battlefield 4 2013 [Multi] Mirror’s Edge 2008 [Multi] High Point While the studio’s money-making lies in the Battlefieldseries, Mirror’s Edgewas a game that broadened both…

CONCEPT • Drew – a plucky 20-something guy – has been dragged into the world of Draconis, and his only hope of leaving is his own bloody dragon INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One Origin: Japan Publisher: Microsoft Studios Developer: Platinum Games Release: Q4 2016 Players: 1-4 Developer Profile Founded in 2006 by gaming luminaries Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya, Platinum Games was the natural progression of Capcom’s Clover Studio, and has been the crux of neo-Japanese development for the last two generations. Developer History Bayonetta PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U [2009] Vanquish PS3, Xbox 360 [2010] Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance PS3, Xbox 360, PC [2013] High Point Bayonetta continued down the path Capcom’s Devil May Cry started on, but did it in a more action-packed, fluid and well-animated…

CONCEPT • Yooka, a manoeuvrable lizard, and his bat-friend, Laylee, are on a quest – a quest to collect everything they possibly can in a bright, attractive world INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One, PC, PS4, Wii U Origin: UK Publisher: Team17 Developer: Playtonic Games Release: October 2016 Players: 1 Developer Profile Playtonic Games is formed of ex-Rare staffers that wanted to create a spiritual successor to the popular games the studio released during its Nintendo 64 era. These staffers include Chris Sutherland (lead programmer, voice actor), Steve Mayles (character artist) and Steven Hurst (environmental artist) – between all three of them, we expect a faithful Rareesque adventure to be very well-presented. Yooka-Laylee isn’t going to be a copy of Banjo-Kazoiee. Considering the similar naming conventions, similar art styles and overall…

“So, Mario 64 is one of the finest games ever created… but I actually think Mario Galaxy beat it. It’s interesting that [Galaxy] didn't have the impact that Super Mario 64 did, despite it being such a brilliantly designed game and so fun to play. But, personally, I will never forget the time I spent with Super Mario Bros. Did you ever watch Xplay before that shut down? It had Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler running their own TV show. In the last season, they were doing this thing where every guest on the show would do a speedrun of World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. I actually used to do races in that game – I’d have two machines set up, start at the same time and I’d race.…

DETAILS FORMAT: Wii UORIGIN: JapanPUBLISHER: NintendoDEVELOPER: In-housePRICE: £39.99RELEASE: 11 SeptemberPLAYERS: 1ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Very few game franchises have stuck so closely to their roots over the years as Super Mario Bros. has. Put the 1985 original next to 2012’s New Super Mario Bros U and while some elements – the visual detail, the power-ups, the enemies – may be different, the core gameplay remains exactly the same, right down to Mario’s jump height. Nowhere is this made more clear than in Super Mario Maker. After using its delightfully approachable tools to create your own 8-bit NES Super Mario Bros. stage, with just one stylus tap you can instantly transform everything into the modern New Super Mario Bros style (or, should you prefer, Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World).…

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox OneORIGIN: UKPUBLISHER: MicrosoftStudiosDEVELOPER: RarePRICE: £19.99RELEASE: Out nowPLAYERS: 1-4ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes 30 games from one of the world’s most loved developers is surely worth at least £50, right? And yet, you can pick up this immense collection for under twenty quid. Not just that, but Rare Replay offers a lot more than just a simple list of titles. Retro compilations will surely never be the same again. Rare Replay spans 25 years of Rare history, from the developer’s humble beginnings on the ZX Spectrum in 1983, through its days as a top-tier Nintendo developer on NES, SNES and N64, and finishing up with its Xbox 360 releases up to 2008. All of this is wrapped up in a theatre-themed menu system with a quirky papercraft-inspired visual style and…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC OTHER FORMATS: PS4, Xbox One, PS3, PS Vita ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Curve Digital DEVELOPER: The Swindle PRICE: £11.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: 2.4 GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 512MB GPU, 1GB HDD space, Windows 10 not yet supported ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Roguelikes by their very nature need to be careful with how they frustrate; like an abusive relationship, there’s a strange undercurrent of pain running through the pleasure in all the very best roguelikes. With The Swindleyou’re an unspecified group of rogues, darting about steampunk London bashing in robotic guards, hacking vaults and pinching many pennies along the way. The combination of a unique art style - thank god for something other than blocky pixel art - and a rather original approach to stealth action…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: Bulgaria PUBLISHER: EuroVideo Medien DEVELOPER: Haemimont Games PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 MINIMUM SPEC: 2GHz Dual Core CPU, 512MB GPU, 4GB RAM, 4GB HDD Space ONLINE REVIEWED: No As we already know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And – as we already know – the games industry is full of flatterers. In the case of Victor Vran it feels a little mean calling it a copycat; as a click-heavy, loot-driven action RPG it’s unavoidably part of a genre more commonly described as ‘Diablo clones’. But for all intents and purposes, that is what Haemimont’s latest is, taking the improvements and innovations of Blizzard’s Diablo III and adding its own twist – albeit a twist that doesn’t do nearly enough to get Victor…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC OTHER FORMATS: Mac/Linux ORIGIN: Canada PUBLISHER: Funselektor Labs DEVELOPER: In-House PRICE: £8.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: 1GB RAM, 500MB HDD space, Pentium 4 1.8GHz processor Absolute Drift stands out from the plethora of driving games by being an intriguing mix of drifting game and puzzler. Controls are extremely straightforward but the drifting itself is incredibly tricky to master. The slightest excess on the accelerator can send you into a wild spin that takes a fair while to get out of. Luckily, you can alter the sensitivity. The main aim is to progress through each world by completing tasks, like drifting through a gap or performing doughnuts around an obstacle. Occasionally it descends into button-mashing, but on the whole you need to be precise. Each…

EAR FORCE STEALTH 420X HEADSET MANUFACTURER: TURTLE BEACH PRICE: £149.99 WITH THE LATEST Xbox One wireless headset from Turtle Beach it feels like the company has really hit its stride. The setup couldn’t be simpler, thanks to the USB adaptor that comes pre-paired with the headset, the sound is punchy and customisable, and the price is just the right side of premium. We weren’t hugely impressed by the sound customisation options on offer, with the bass boost, treble boost and bass & treble boost all making the sound a little fluffier. Instead, we opted to stick with the Natural Sound option. Regardless, the audio was really powerful, and everything from game audio, to music, to vocal performances came through clearly and cleanly. We tested it with a few games, but…