Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 191 i GamesTM

Competition between consoles is good for gamers. Sure, you’re probably going to need to pick a side and that means that you’re going to miss out on something, which is a shame. But would your chosen platform be pushing forward with technological innovations and groundbreaking new IP if it didn’t feel another platform breathing down its neck? Would Nintendo have launched the Wii? Would Sony have pursued VR? And would Microsoft now be launching the Xbox One X unless it thought it might shift the balance of the generation? At the highest levels, money drives almost everything, but rather than leading to a conservative approach, in many cases it seems to embolden first-party game-makers to push harder. The adage that you have to spend money to make money appears to…

FORMAT: PC, PS4 | PUBLISHER: ULTRA ULTRA | DEVELOPER: IN-HOUSE | RELEASE: 19 SEP | PLAYERS: 1 How much sleep, hair and years off your life have you lost facing down the biggest challenges videogames have to offer? You’ve overcome seemingly impossible bosses and carved a way to the top of the multiplayer corpse pile, but how well would you do if you faced off against the toughest opponent of all – you. That’s the question Echo – a new sci-fi action-puzzle game from new Danish indie Ultra Ultra – is posing, and judging from its haute couture, neo-classical look, it’s one we’re definitely intrigued to answer. In fact, this third-person catwalk isn’t just high fashion, it’s high concept, too – placing you in the well-tailored boots of En, a…

“ Every aspect of that game is so polished and has so much care and attention put into it that you don’t see that as much anymore ” ALEX PRESTON, CREATOR, ARTIST, DESIGNER, HEART MACHINE “Can it be a love/hate relationship? I love Overwatch right now. I still play that goddamn game like almost every day, definitely every week. It’s kind of infuriating at times because I want to be better at it and I want to find people and teammates all this stuff, but even when I go through the worst times with it, where I get into a competitive match that’s terrible and everybody is toxic and we lose and there go all my points and I just wasted my day…

• Main processor – The Scorpio engine: This is the heart of the Xbox One X and has been custom-built with AMD to power this 4K gaming powerhouse. Because this is an upgrade on the Xbox One rather than a new machine entirely, it was built around the common needs of games right now to be scaled up to 4K, which should make it a very easy system to develop for and make upgraded titles all the smoother. BD/DVD drive – 4K Blu-ray: This is the same as the Xbox One S allowing for full 4K Blu-ray playback, which is a nice addition. • GPU – 40 custom compute units at 1172MHz: The PS4 Pro was looking good in this regard with its 36 compute units at 911MHz. The additional…

There are three good reasons to be excited about A Way Out . Firstly, we’ve never played anything quite like it – a story-focused game that can only be experienced by two people playing in split-screen co-op. We like new ideas. The second reason is that it is being written and directed by Josef Fares, a man who has already proven that he can deliver when it comes to games built on original concepts. He did so with the fantastic Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. The third reason, is that we love the attitude that informs what Fares and Hazelight, the studio he heads up, does. “A lot of people said to me in the beginning, how can you only do co-op?,” Fares tells us. “You’ll…

WHEN LAWBREAKERS FINDS HARMONY WITH ITS FAST PACED NATURE IT IS A JOY “What makes LawBreakers different?” is a hard question to answer. Not because it has no unique qualities, but because they’re so well hidden. A competitive shooter with heroes or classes is hardly the most novel pitch of late and LawBreakers, on the surface, does little to differentiate itself. What truly separates it from the competition isn’t its guns or abilities but its movement. Each class possess their own unique way to traverse the maps, filled with sections of reduced gravity, whether that be a grappling hook or jet pack. This focus on traversal is what makes LawBreakers play like no shooter in recent years. Of course, it does play like shooters of old.…

WHEN IT SHUTS UP, AGENTS OF MAYHEM IS PRECISELY THE LAIDBACK, PLAYFUL SHOOTER IT SEEMINGLY WANTS TO BE In a wide-open sandbox world, you play a variety of larger-than-life characters, battling a Cobra-style evil organisation using gadgets, guns and crass one-liners. But don’t let Agents Of Mayhem charm you. Its cartoon aesthetic, dopey humour and constant reassurance that whatever you want to do here is a-okay – because you’re the beloved videogame player – might seem like fun, but it’s a smug and desperately cold piece of work. It doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything. And it’s not anarchic, or anything like controversial, because it’s also really, deeply corporate – one of the characters walks around with Deep Silver’s logo printed on his t-shirt, for crying out loud.…

TEAM STAR FOX (STAR FOX, 1993) This ragtag group of mercenaries are recruited by the Corneria military to pilot experimental Arwing fighter ships as Andros and his forces attack the Lylat system. The team of Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare have since become staples of the Nintendo family, appearing in further sequels (often remakes) to Star Fox as well as spin-off appearances in titles like Super Smash Bros. For their first appearance the simple camaraderie of the squad shines through clearly. AVALANCHE (FINAL FANTASY VII, 1997) While Cloud Strife’s team of warriors isn’t really referred to as Avalanche, they are essentially the latest incarnation of the ecoterrorist organisation, adjusting its primary focus from bringing to light the harmful effects of Mako Reactors used by the Shinra…

POWERPLAY WIRELESS CHARGING SYSTEM MANUFACTURER: LOGITECH PRICE: £109.99 LOGITECH HAS JUST CHANGED THE GAME. It isn’t a particularly important game – like, this is serious first-world-problem territory – but for those of you lamenting the amount of rechargeable devices in your possession, the PowerPlay wireless charging pad could just completely change the way in which you think about your PC gaming habits and rituals. This is, essentially, the first wireless charging solution that is more of a help than a hindrance – letting you enjoy the convenience of wireless technology without the hassle of tracking battery levels and rogue cables underneath your desktop. The PowerPlay does this by turning the entire surface of the mouse mat, into a charging station – if your mouse is on the pad, it’ll be…

FORMAT: XBOX ONE, PS4, PC | PUBLISHER: BETHESDA | DEVELOPER: MACHINEGAMES | RELEASE: 27 OCTOBER 2017 | PLAYERS: 1 How is MachineGames able to so confidently craft narrative-driven, single-player shooters in an era where the general play in the market seems to be thus: go online or die? Really, it’s no big secret. The studio has been so successful in an area where so many others have tried and failed because it understands storytelling; it knows how to tell a good yarn and it knows how to balance those particular demands with the requirements of good game design; MachineGames also understands how to leverage the power of the medium to create an experience that is as highly stylised and bombastic as it is nuanced and considered. It’s a difficult line…

“THERE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE A SINGLE PIECE OF CODE OR ARTWORK THAT HASN’T BEEN TOUCHED IN SOME WAY” FORMAT: PS4, PC | PUBLISHER: HELLO GAMES | DEVELOPER: IN-HOUSE | RELEASE: OUT NOW | PLAYERS: 1-16 “This update marks the one year anniversary of No Man’s Sky , and a lot has changed,” said Surrey-based developer Hello Games in a statement, emerging from its self-imposed exile for a rare instance of communication with the outside world. “This is the next step on our journey.” With Atlas Rises, Hello Games has demonstrated true resilience; it has doubled down on its commitment to the No Man’s Sky concept and pushed back against a violent tide of relentless resistance – and that’s us putting it nicely. With this third major…

“LIKE ALL GREAT SCIENCE FICTION, DETROIT IS HEAVILY ROOTED IN REALITY – DEALING IN STARK REFLECTIONS” FORMAT: PS4 | PUBLISHER: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT | DEVELOPER: QUANTIC DREAM | RELEASE: 2018 | PLAYERS: 1 1 DEALING WITH COMPLEX THEMES Detroit: Become Human is centred on Kara, Markus, and Connor, three androids who are struggling to come to terms with their sentience; and their place in a society that abhors the very notion of personal freedoms being afforded to creations of humanity. Detroit will attempt to navigate these complex themes. 2 IT HASCLEAR INSPIRATION While Isaac Asimov is a clear inspiration – if the three laws of robotics don’t show up we’ll be shocked – Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near has been directly referenced; the 2005 non-fiction work posits that human…

KILLER CONCEPT • Fortnite works so well because it understands its strengths and plays to them dutifully. It knows exactly what it is and what it has drawn from, leveraging its familiarity to create something with the potential to be truly special. It takes the easy and intuitive building found in games such as Minecraft and Starbound and marries that general concept with the Gears Of War Horde mode design, pitting you and several other players against incoming, and increasingly challenging, waves of enemies – each as eager as the next to tear down your beloved designs. ENGAGING LOOP • Every mission in Fortnite has the same basic gameplay loop and it’s immensely enjoyable. You begin by exploring your surroundings; using a pickaxe to tear down trees, cars, rocks, and…

At points, a third split-screen can appear to highlight an event of importance. If the cops show up in this scene, for example, a third screen will appear to show their arrival. You’ll normally share a 50/50 split with your co-op partner, but when an important scene starts, the divide will shift to dedicate 65% of the screen to that scene. When your co-op partner is locked in a cutscene, you’ll still be free to move around to interact with other characters and the environment. When a player is in a cutscene, they’ll get almost 90% of the audio so that you can both hear important dialogue. If you talk to an NPC while the other player is in a cutscene, subtitles will be used to compensate for the fact…

THE LOST LEGACY IS AS CLOSE AS UNCHARTED HAS COME TO GETTING THE BALANCE JUST RIGHT As an action hero, you can only cheat death so many times. Eventually, one of two things is going to run out: your luck, or the patience of the audience. While suspension of disbelief is not as important to Uncharted as to games that play things straight, maintaining a sense of possible peril is crucial to player engagement. Naughty Dog has employed some pretty neat tricks across its catalogue to keep that curtain up, the latest of which is a bold piece of recasting – Uncharted has auditioned plenty of replacements for Nate since it began and presented several strong candidates, with Uncharted 4 again adding a handful of solid new options. And while…

There’s something truly intoxicating about a new release from Supergiant Games. The studio has established an aesthetic, a ferocious creative fusion of style and sound, of rich and remarkable world building, brought to life with thoughtful, poignant characterisation. Pyre, much like Bastion and Transistor before it, is as unmistakable as it is alluring. But it’s also a departure. You’ll find commentary from Logan Cunningham and music from Darren Korb here, but it’s used sparsely. Pyre has plenty of action in it, but isn’t, crucially, an action game. In fact, it features no combat at all – at least, not in the traditional sense. Instead, you’ll find that Pyre is a blurring of lines between a fantasy adventure-RPG, visual novel and an arcade sports game. It shouldn’t work, but it does;…

Housemarque is the Quentin Tarantino of the videogame world; a studio whose output almost exclusively takes the form of remixes and inter-splicing of cult classics. While it would be unfair and incorrect to say that the Finnish studio’s work is one of plagiarism, it would be accurate to say its output is loaded with references to ideas no longer considered fashionable. Nex Machina borrowed from Smash TV and Robotron, whilst Resogun proudly wore its Defender influence on its sleeve. It says much about Housemarque’s ability that it has managed to turn design ideas considered passé into such celebrated gems of the modern videogame landscape. Matterfall takes its beats from both Gunstar Heroes and Metal Slug, side-scrolling shooters that live and die by the degree to which they’re able to tempt…

Narratively Sundered plays merrily in that grey area of uncertainty as to whether you’re the hero or villain of this particular tale. You certainly seem to be the victim of a hyped-up security system, but perhaps you’re deserving of this overly aggressive attention. What exactly are you hoping to achieve here anyway and why exactly do you keep coming back every time you die? You see, death is an integral part of success in Sundered as it’s the most logical reason for you to return to the first chamber of this labyrinthine facility to spend all of the shards you’ve collected slicing up creatures and machines, smashing containers and defeating gigantic bosses. You could warp there of your own accord, but why would you when there’s…

“ Whenever I feel down, and I just don’t want to do anything, I put on Civilisation VI and I’m happy ” ARTUR PLOCIENNIK, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, WARGAMING ST. PETERSBURG “Oh god, there are so many games that I love… why does this have to be so hard? It’s actually a very interesting question to ask, especially to developers, because everybody in this industry is only here because they are passionate about it. But you know, I absolutely love Civilization. Whenever I feel down, and I just don’t want to do anything, I put on Civilization VI , listen to Sean Bean’s narration and suddenly I’m happy. That’s the game. The city-states management in Civ VI is really cool; the Civics…

 Released: 21 February 1993 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Argonaut Software, Nintendo System: SNES ARGONAUT FIRST IMPRESSED NINTENDO BY BYPASSING THE PUBLISHER’S OWN COPYRIGHT SAFEGUARDS ON THE GAME BOY NINTENDO IS OFTEN impugned, wrongfully to our minds, as being a company perennially behind the times, slow to adopt new technologies and slower still to innovate. Critics of the company will often cite the Japanese publisher’s reliance on a handful of key franchises generation after generation as evidence of this creative immobility. Star Fox is a wonderful example of how this simply has never been the case. When it was released in 1993 it wasn’t the first attempt at making a 3D game, nor even the first to launch on a console, but it was technologically one of the most ambitious, pushing the…

“CRASH HAS SURPASSED ALL OF OUR EXPECTATIONS BY A PRETTY WIDE MARGIN”ERIC HIRSHBERG, ACTIVISION CEO FORMAT: PS4 | PUBLISHER: ACTIVISION | DEVELOPER: VICARIOUS VISIONS | RELEASE: OUT NOW | PLAYERS: 1 2017 is already being lauded as a breakout year for the current generation, putting it in direct contention to be considered one of the finest in the industry’s history. You don’t have to look far for supporting evidence with The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn reinventing and refining the tired open world formula; Resident Evil and Sonic back with a vengeance, in better shape than they’ve been for a decade. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice have paved the way for smaller triple-A quality experiences, while What Remains Of Edith Finch…

FORMAT: XBOX ONE, PS4, PC | PUBLISHER: BETHESDA | DEVELOPER: TANGO GAMEWORKS RELEASE: 13 OCT 2017 | PLAYERS: 1 1 THE PLOT IS MADDER If you want any chance of understanding what is going on here you are going to need to play The Evil Within, and the DLC, because this game has a bonkers story. It has you entering into a shared consciousness generated by the thoughts and memories of your potential dead, definitely missing, daughter who has disappeared inside of her own mind, which causes the falsified reality to twist and collapse around you. Look, just don’t even. 2 THERE’S A NEW DIRECTOR It’s worth noting that The Evil Within 2 will not see Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami returning to the director’s chair, instead John Johanas will…

“FOR A COMPANY SO STRINGENTLY FOCUSED ON DELIVERING AUTHENTICITY IN ITS GAMES THIS IS QUITE THE DEPARTURE FOR WARGAMING” FORMAT: XBOX ONE, PS4, XBOX 360 | PUBLISHER: WARGAMING | DEVELOPER: WARGAMING CHICAGO BALTIMORE | RELEASE: OUT NOW | PLAYERS: 1-30 It’s easy to forget about World Of Tanks , particularly when it comes to console. The promotional cycle works in such a way that the industry is vehemently focused on the next new thing – on new technology, sequels and new IP. As a market, the language we use to discuss, and the perception we have of, free-to-play games is still in its infancy, and so a handful of games get forgotten by the mainstream and adopted by a wholly dedicated minority. World Of Tanks is one…

FORMAT: PS4, XBOX ONE, PC | PUBLISHER: SQUARE ENIX | DEVELOPER: DECK NINE | PLAYERS: 1 | RELEASE: EPISODE ONE: 31 August, Episode Two: October 2017, Episode Three: December 2017 There were many reasons to love Max Caulfield and Chloe Price’s original adventures in Arcadia Bay, but we were always drawn to the sounds behind the serendipitous chaos that threatened to swallow the coastal town. Life Is Strange featured a carefully curated soundtrack – compositions from artist Syd Matters and an array of licensed tracks – that underpinned the entire experience, heightening its moments of intense loneliness and reflecting on its powerful themes of life, loss and grief. For Before The Storm, the three-episode prequel, the soundtrack has been handled by indie folk band Daughter, and the result is…

Microsoft announced the delay of Crackdown 3 in August, just ahead of its Gamescom showing and after what was considered a lacklustre demo at E3 in June. Our primary concern with the game was that given that its cloud-processing online destruction was previously its headline-grabbing feature, it didn’t show off either that or any live gameplay during its conference. It seemed to us like the perfect time to do a stage co-op session with four agents showing off everything the power of the cloud and Xbox One X combined could achieve. That this wasn’t the case struck us as strange and even stranger was the single-player demo available on the show floor, that also didn’t appear to be showing Crackdown 3’s best side. So a delay into 2018, as damaging…

TOP-DOWN VIEW While giving you a good overall view of the immediate area, the fixed camera, top-down view also leaves a lot of mystery at its edges. What exists on the other side of those trees or below you in the next section of the map? It’s at once revealing and concealing information. ZERO TO HERO Link starts the game in bed and ends up having to defeat an enemy in two different realities. How extreme a rise from loafer to legendary hero of an entire kingdom (two kingdoms?) is that? Such journeys have been a staple of the series, but this one stands out as particularly impressive. ITEMS LEVEL YOU UP Traditionally Link doesn’t earn experience points or invest them in a skill tree, he simply finds new tools…

“WHY?! I DON’T WANT TO PLAY THAT!”JOSEF FARES, DIRECTOR “NPCs in the game are unique. Not only unique in what they say to each player but they also have unique animations; this is not a system that generates animations. So, every NPC in the game when you talk to them, that’s been animated, mo-capped, edited. I hope people talk to them because these aren’t NPCs that will just go, ‘hey, go over there’. They are there for you to get to know your character, who they are. They are written quite short and quite funny, so it’s fun to interact with them and I hope people do.” on and caring about his child, or whatever. It doesn’t make sense.” You have the option of experiencing this story sat next to…

THE QUESTION OF WHAT IS AND ISN’T REAL IS SOMETHING THAT HOVERS OVER THE ENTIRETY OF THIS GAME When entertainment has a cause it can, on occasion, become consumed by the drive to be significant at the expense of being approachable or enjoyable. No such claim can be laid at Hellblade’s feet as Ninja Theory has threaded the needle of being both incredibly powerful and enlightening on the subject of psychosis and mental health while also being an often-superb gaming experience that punches far above its weight. While we can’t necessarily speak to the authenticity of this game’s depiction of psychosis with any authority, we can say that it is utterly compelling from start to finish. We know that Ninja Theory went to great lengths to involve experts, caregivers and…

Nailing the speed and feel, this is the best Sonic game in many years that we can remember. In fact, this is the game Sonic 4 should have been seven years ago. Once upon a time there would be pressure on a new Sonic game. The Blue Blur’s stock has fallen so far thanks to low quality and – let’s face it, bad games – that Mania’s status as a budget game being released just before the “most wanted big releases” carries a risk that, if you’re not careful, Mania could slip under the radar. And that would be a massive shame, because it’s only after playing Mania that you realise the feeling of almost every Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles in 1994 has been wrong. The inertia feels…

Everyone’s seen bodies riddled with more holes than Swiss cheese in gangster movies, or heard of evidence mysteriously disappearing in thrillers. Serial Cleaner takes you behind the scenes by putting you in the blood-stained shoes of the man who makes all those inconvenient details disappear. Stealthing your way through maps, you’ve got to collect bodies, evidence, and trophies on behalf of the Mafia – all while avoiding the glare of patrolling cops. Serial Cleaner oozes cool. The Seventies' funk soundtrack pumps through your ears as you scuttle through the stylishly-angular maps. Jumping into oil drums and biting your lip as you sprint to avoid the cone-shaped eyelines of the strutting cops, the bangin’ beats make you feel like you’re on a heist. Hold down L2 to activate your ‘cleaner sight’…