Innholdsfortegnelse for May 1, 2015 i PLAY

To the world of tomorrow! Not just a classic Futurama line, oh no, but a handy summary of this month’s cover feature, which digs into the pioneering – and at times borderline crazy – tech that could change the way you play games and interact with your PS4 inside the next 12 months. We’ve spent hours tinkering with Project Morpheus and talking with its creators, and even the biggest virtual reality sceptics on the team were blown away by the results. That’s not to say PS4 is moving away from traditional gaming. Far from it. It’s taken a while for the truly great triple-A games to emerge, but in Reviews this issue we welcome a nailed-on future classic to the PS4 library. In Previews, meanwhile, fresh hands-on tests with Rainbow…

02 We’re not caught off guard by much these days, but the news of two extra Assassin’s Creed games somehow managed to sneak up on us like a hooded member of a certain Brotherhood. Who said Ubisoft couldn’t do surprises anymore? Originally announced last year as part of Unity’s season pass, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles China for PS4 stars the 16th century protégé of Ezio Auditore himself, Shao Jun. Flattening the AC universe into 2.5D gameplay, the side-scroller has a hand-brushed style that makes it look like interactive concept art. More importantly, it’s now only the first in a trilogy of stealthy, stabby Chronicles tales that travels from 16th century China to 20th century Russia. Following characters from the Creed graphic novels, Chronicles India and Russia tell the stories of Arbaaz…

“I think the story is horrible.” David Jaffe isn’t the biggest fan of Snake’s plots, but still says Metal Gear is one of the all-time great series. “With VR you are in that one magical position, your eyes are properly located to the screen.” Epic boss Tim Sweeney doesn’t see VR as a 3D TV fad. “It filled me with a sexual thrill.” Conan O’Brien gets too excited watching NFL players fight it out in MKX during a Clueless Gamer video. Okay……

FOR THE ULTIMATE PARKOUR PLEASURE, I WANT TO RUN WILD WITH A MORPHEUS VERSION OF MIRROR’S EDGE 2. Seemingly,I’m really set on spending my evenings hunched over a toilet bowl. How else can you explain my dream VR project being a game that would court enough motion sickness to make that scene in Stand By Me look downright tame? The original Mirror’s Edge channelled a sense of beguiling inertia unlike any other title. In full flight, it was hypnotic; Faith’s bounds, rolls and darting first-person sprints creating a seamlessly immersive bond with the player. Now imagine that sense of movement ratcheted up another notch on Morpheus. Pray for a strong stomach. • FIRST, I WANT KOJIMA TO STAY ON SILENT HILLS. THEN, I WANT HIM TO GO NUTS WITH MORPHEUS.…

1 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain It’s the hot news topic of the month, for good and for bad. Whatever happens with Kojima, MGS V: The Phantom Pain is less than five months away. FIVE MONTHS! Unless it’s delayed, natch… Slither to p6 for the latest. FORMAT PS4/PS3 ETA 1 SEP 2 Batman: Arkham Knight With fellow chisel-jawed hero Nate bowing out until 2016, it’s good to know Bruce Wayne Esq is still ready to put the boot to crime this summer. He’s also suffered a release date slip (!) but thankfully it’s just a matter of weeks. FORMAT PS4 ETA 23 JUN 3 Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Taking a tumble into the Class Of 2016 has knocked Mr Drake and his chums down from last month’s…

Christmas is a time of joy, happiness, peace and, for most, the much needed excuse to catch up on the game pile threatening to topple into the new year. Last December I fully intended to play everything. I did. I even spent hours opening every chest in Paris . Then I found Ed McMillen’s controversial dungeon crawler. While others focused on the festive hunting of animal wallets in Kyrat, I was gritting my teeth and hitting ‘New Run’ to send tears flying at faeces. The Basement and its insta-death despised me. Isaac refused to co-operate; gleefully handing over runs of all coins and no keys, all bombs and no hearts. Death was swift. My DualShock 4 threatened to become one of those glowing Avengers lamps lodged in…

1 Thatcher’s jammer breaks up any electronic devices nearby – it’s worth calling him in if the other team is using a heartbeat sensor to predict your movements. 2 Smoke is equipped with toxic smoke bombs (what a surprise). Perfect for flushing enemies out of hidey-holes – or forcing them to change their route. 3 Sledge’s MO is as subtle as a… well, a sledgehammer. His trusty weapon can take down barricaded doors without the need for loud breach charges. 4 Mute’s jamming device disrupts any local gadgets, including drones. The more of them you take out, the fewer the deathcams to be used against you.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 9 JUN PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEV ZENIMAX ONLINE STUDIOS By Akatosh, it's been a long old while since we last heard from this massivelymultiplayer-online role-player, eh? Well, it's back, and it’s dropped that much-maligned subscription model along the way. With that new subtitle in place, TESO will come to PS4 minus the monthly fee that PC players have been forking out for the last 12 months. You'll be able to pick up a copy of TESO and play it for as long as you like without forking out extra fees to progress. Instead, there's an in-game Crown store; essentially a pit stop for those less financially burdened to pay for aesthetically-pleasing trinkets. A new mount here, for example, an XP boost there. A premium sub…

FORMAT PS3/PS VITA / ETA MAY PUB PQUBE / DEV 5PB/NITROPLUS With the likes of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward and the Danganronpas calling PS Vita home, Sony’s handheld is fast becoming known as the place to be for all things niche and Japanese. You don’t get much more niche than the humble visual novel, but if one of their number can claim to have gained relative mainstream focus, it’s Steins;Gate. Having done the business in Japan to the extent that it inspired an anime series, this time-travelling thriller sees you take on the role of Rintarou Okabe. The self-styled mad scientist and his fledgling team, which includes an overweight otaku hacker and an apparently air-headed cosplay enthusiast, have just stumbled upon a very dangerous device…

FORMAT PS VITA / ETA SUMMER / PUB SONY / DEV DRINKBOX STUDIOS You’ve just won all the plaudits for your 2D lucha libre-inspired action adventure on PS3 and its current-gen Super Turbo Championship Edition follow-up, so what do you do next? If your name’s Drinkbox Studios, you make a PS Vita game that turns your finger into a katana, of course. “We wanted to try and challenge ourselves creatively with this game,” explains Drinkbox co-founder Graham Smith when we express our surprise at the studio’s latest direction. “We had been working on Guacamelee for three years and we kind of needed a break – a palate-cleansing game. I don’t think that there necessarily has to be a common theme across all Drinkbox games except that we want to make…

FORMAT PS4/PS3/PS VITA / ETA JUN / PUB WARNER BROS / DEV TT GAMES Be in no doubt: TT Games friggin’ loves Spielberg’s dino franchise. Games have had 22 years to do justice to The Beard’s masterpiece, and yet only now are we getting a title worthy of the Jurassic Park name. That said title is built from delightful Danish blocks and countless winks to Michael Crichton’s universe is just an indominus rex-sized bonus. Hold on to your bricks… Actually, we’re not sure how big that hybrid dino is. Our first hands-on with Lego Jurassic World is focused on the original 1993 film. With Colin Trevorrow’s soft reboot only two months away, TT is on lockdown over the levels that’ll house I-rex and its raptor squad chums for fear of…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 23 JUN PUB WARNER BROS / DEV ROCKSTEADY An ESRB rating for Rocksteady’s final instalment in the Arkham franchise revealed a few tantalising details, including the news that, “players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage.” With Batman’s no guns policy taking him off the table, could we be playing as a less scrupulous member of the Bat cabal? The US-only Red Hood DLC revealed last year could well paint Jason Todd as a playable star in the slightly-delayed trilogy-closer.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 PUB HARMONIX DEV HARMONIX We know that the new rebooted and Kickstarterfunded take on Amplitude features both solo and multiplayer modes, but there’s one element it definitely didn’t have back in the PS2 days: co-op. It’s not a mode developer Harmonix was even considering at the project’s outset, but playtesting and feedback from within the studio led to a bespoke component being created. It debuted last month at PAX East to a strong reception from players and critics, with its 2v2 and 3v1 variants proving very popular. You also can’t fail a song, with the focus being on who can bag the biggest score.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 PUB 3D REALMS DEV INTERCEPTOR It’s been a while since we’ve seen the bionic arm-brandishing badass – the reveal trailer we saw early last year looked so terrible we solemnly shook our heads at former Duke Nukem custodian, 3D Realms – but now Bombsell is back. She’s brought with her a much-needed visual upgrade, a noticeably different character design and (of course) lots of aliens. It’s still clearly in its early stages, but if 3D Realms and Interceptor can prioritise building a balance between its top-down shooter action and its RPG elements then it’ll finally step out of the shadow of the prehistoric Duke.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV OMEGA FORCE It’s been almost a decade since the Dragon Quest franchise last graced these DualShock-shaped shores, but that slimy drought is about to be well and truly banished with the arrival of Dragon Quest Heroes. It’s technically not a pure sequel – it’s actually a battlefield-clearing brawler in the Dynasty Warriors mould – but series creator Yuji Horii is at helm so DQ fan-boys can rest easy. It’s made quite the impact in the East, too – so well, in fact, that it’s sent PS4 straight back to the top of the hardware charts in Japan. Thankfully, the enemy types will be just as varied as the main series with dragons, golems, etc replacing all those angry DW men.…

OPM: How did you come up with Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes? Allen Pestaluky: It was over a year ago at the Global Game Jam and both Ben [Kane] and Brian [Fetter] had Oculus DK1s, which was the only VR headset that was available to developers at the time. But every time they’d go to show it to their friends, there would be this scenario where one person is sitting in virtual reality and everybody else is just kind of sitting there waiting for them to finish. So they wanted to involve all the other players in the room and that’s where this virtual reality party game idea came from. There was also an episode of Archer where they’re trying to defuse a bomb, and there’s this chaos that happens…

There’s an awful lot of backstory in The Witcher, partly because the game is based on a series of adult fairy-tale-like short stories (plus five novels) by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The Witcher videogame narratives continue to pile on both the lore and the confusion, and it doesn’t help that the polygonal Geralt – as opposed to the literary incarnation – is an amnesiac. He’s the ultimate unreliable narrator; his confusion is our confusion. So as the Wild Hunt draws ever closer, we played the heck out of the first two games to bring you the definitive – and intensely SPOILER HEAVY – story so far. Just don’t fret too much if you don’t take it all in the first (or even the fifth) time round……

INFO  FORMAT PS VITA (DOWNLOAD ONLY) ETA OUT NOW PUB RISING STAR GAMES DEV PYGMY STUDIO A lot of games like to pretend they contain rugged adventures, but end up closer to theme park rides: a set-piece here, a signpost there, a telltale glint meaning all you need is eyes to scoop up priceless artefacts. Not so with this PS Vita revision of 2005's austere Japanese Indy – sorry, indie1 – tomb raider. Here, you'll even have to earn the basic tools to read the cryptic clues found on stone tablets and the remains of many, many fallen adventurers. As Dr Lemeza Kosugi, who starts out with only a whip and a laptop, your journey deep into an ancient temple is more Metroidvania than Spelunky, with set puzzles to decrypt.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW PUB TELLTALE/2K GAMES DEV TELLTALE/GEARBOX More than being simplya good episode, like so many others on the Telltale Games assembly line, episode two of the bright and breezy Tales From The Borderlands marks a refreshing departure from many of what TWD and TWAU veterans will recognise as Telltale clichés. The transparently signposted live/die decisions and lingering shots of The Simsesque facial contortion take a backseat here to smartly written, canon-friendly giggles. Episode one set a solid foundation of character comedy within Gearbox’s world of post-apocalyptic wastelands controlled by weapons companies and populated by bandits, and Atlas Mugged recognises that the best way to tee up the laughs for the rest of the series is to build those characters further. Such is…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3/PS VITA ETA OUT NOW PUB SONY DEV ARROWHEAD GAME STUDIOS They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – sage advice. But they also say some pretty discouraging things when you spend seven straight hours on a Waterstones sofa really getting to know that book, having slipped off your shoes, socks, and trousers (they were chafing a bit) in theprocess.Thepoint– obviously –is that although Helldivers looks like a top-down shooter with the complexity of an untied shoelace, there’s actually a lot going on here. Almost all of it very enjoyable. The setup – in which Super Earth is under threat from its galactic enemies, the Bugs – is as much an excuse to grin and wave at Starship Troopers as anything. Fine…

OLLIOLLI 2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD Matthew Pellett seeks Daily Grind glory One world #1 spot – is that so much to ask? All I want from OlliOlli 2 is to, just once, top the global leaderboard for the Daily Grind challenge. I race through the campaign, unlocking grind switches and reverts. I spend a good 15 minutes practising the same line over and over again. I nail the one run that counts, and… I come second in the world. And then it’s released free on PS Plus. Great. Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy you all get to enjoy it. But I also HATE YOU ALL FOR ROBBING ME OF MY #1 SPOT CHANCE. *sob* CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE Double XP = double guilt for Phil Iwaniuk I…

Long may the McConaissance continue. After winning a small golden man for Dallas Buyers Club and putting in a dazzling performance in True Detective, Mr “Alright, alright, alright…” just keeps getting better. Matthew McConaughey is acting his socks off right now and his mesmeric run continues in Chris Nolan’s visually breathtaking sci-fi tale. We’re a long way from Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past now, thank goodness. Interstellar sees Nolan at the top of his high-concept game. This is a sensory experience that overwhelms through its depiction of wormholes and alien planets dominated by mountain-sized tidal waves. It possesses the same pioneering audiovisual spirit of 2001: A Space Odyssey; often flexing astrophysical theories so fiercely complex it could make your nose bleed. Luckily, McConaughey’s captivating drawl and insane-o space chases keep things…

INFO PUB CAPCOM DEV CAPCOM/DIMPS RELEASED 2009, PS3 GET IT NOW £12.01, AMAZON NEED TO KNOW 1 Zangief originally had the name Vodka Gobalsky. 2 Abel was first conceived as a judo-loving boy. 3 Ryu was born in 1964 - not bad for a man in his ‘40s. As a rule, trying to remake ‘90s classics only ends in tears. To try the PS2 version of Sensible Soccer after sampling its Mega Drive grandfather is to know the feeling of a gut punch free transfer from Chelsea to Chippenham Town. PS3’s Golden Axe: Beast Rider is as head-scratchingly awful as its 1990 ancestor was cranium-splittingly great. As for Sonic The Hedgehog’s numerous comeback attempts? prickly. So very prickly. Street Fighter IV, however, didn’t so much break the dodgy revival mould…

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO V The magic of our favourite PS3 game’s reappearance on current-gen hardware isn’t in the improved textures, shinier cars or even the brilliantly executed new first-person mode. It’s in the way each addition and improvement combines to enthral and seduce you all over again to sink another blissful 50 hours into Los Santos without it ever feeling like a re-run. Also: an unhealthy dose of first-person cat-stomping. 2 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED Like a full-bodied Stilton, this modern masterpiece just gets stronger with age. A starkly brutal, emotionally honest take on the end of the world, Naughty Dog’s stealth shooter is quite simply one of the best written, most wryly-paced videogames ever. 3 DESTINY Blurring the lines between single-player shooting and co-op camaraderie, Bungie has…

1 VELOCITY 2X A ludicrously enjoyable puzzle/platformer hybrid that should come with a health warning. So joyous is the side-scroller’s twin-stick teleporting, there’s a danger you may well grin your face clean off the bone. Masterfully designed, with arguably the best control scheme on PS Vita, Velocity 2X is utterly essential. 2 PERSONA 4: GOLDEN This thoughtful and unique JRPG epic gives you another stab at high school – only this time with intrigue and superpowers instead of nerves, acne and an unpredictable vocal register. 3 FEZ Gomez charms you instantly with his perspective-shifting puzzles and pin-sharp pixel-art, then blows your mind with a world of secret languages, hidden areas and beguiling background tunes. 4 VIRTUE’S LAST REWARD This visual novel/puzzler just gets better over its 40 hours. The dialogue’s…

INFO FORMAT PS1 RELEASED 26 FEB 1999 PUB KONAMI DEV KCEJ SALES 6.3 MILLION METAL GEAR SOLID CONTAINS... An epic tank battle / A pixelated arse / The mother of all giant robots / Boxes METAL GEAR GENIUS ! During the battle with Psycho Mantis, he reads data from your memory card and comments on what you’ve been playing, then seemingly switches your TV to another channel. Creepy. !! If you stay out in the cold too long, your rations would freeze. There’s also a puzzle later where you have to activate a key by either heating it up or cooling it down in different areas. !!! Your Codec buddies respond to every unique situation. Try equipping the cardboard box then calling Nastasha. !!!! Snake could escape the prison cell…

Dave Meikleham NEWS EDITOR Fireball-tempered Meiks focused his Medusa glare on PS4’s toughest games in Reviews. Our pet demon was ‘borne ready for this… GAME OF THE MONTH Bloodborne DREAM PS4 INVENTION Smell-O-Vision Phil Iwaniuk GAMES EDITOR Dr PlayStation succumbed to sickness for half of this issue. We blame the 35 donuts he scoffed during Battlefield Hardline. Oink. GAME OF THE MONTH Helldivers DREAM PS4 INVENTION Training bike peripheral Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR This issue’s Metal Gear gift brought the memories flooding back. Mostly the time he lived in a urine-soaked cardboard box. GAME OF THE MONTH Valiant Hearts DREAM PS4 INVENTION Editor-throttling robot Andy Hartup GUEST WRITER Gaming’s tallest journalist played Project Morpheus for our cover feature. We were amazed it tracked his head through the clouds. GAME…

Square Enix’s president is teasing a new, “JRPG for home game machines,” before the end of the new fiscal year. Another Final Fantasy remake? Kingdom Hearts III? A new IP? The Last Guardian’s trademark has been refiled. Hope for Trico? Insiders say Warner Bros is making a new Lego toys-to-life game to rival Skylanders. The latest remaster rumours? Batman’s Arkham Asylum and Arkham City outings will hit PS4 this Xmas. Square Enix has registered the name World Of Assassination. Could Agent 47 be going open-world or multiplayer?…

No, this isn’t another ‘contrary’ dig at the cult of Destiny, dear reader. Instead, my potent ire is directed at something far broader and mainstream than men, women and children who get up at the crack of dawn to mine spinmetal with their chums. My beef is with the way developers are incorporating RPG DNA into their games by default, even at the expense of their final product. Much like fellow OPM resident and games editor Phil, I’ve spent more time than I care to admit speeding through the truncated (yet still bloody massive) continental map of The Crew. It’s not even a particularly good racer, but as the hours bled into days, and those days transmogrified into weeks, I took a step back and realised all I was doing…

1 DEAD RISING 2 When you gotta go, you gotta go. Especially when you’re stuck in a Las Vegas-style casino resort with more zombies than poker chips. Mercifully, the save system in Chuck Greene’s undead adventure is a tad more forgiving than that of the non-PS original. While there’s still no auto-save, you’re at least granted the reprieve of multiple save slots. No saving ourselves into a hole this time, coffin-dodger scum. *flush* 2 ALIEN: ISOLATION WHY. WON’T. YOU. SAVE?! We’ve not checked the precise calculations, but we’re fairly certain it takes 37 minutes for Isolation’s save stations to register Ripley’s key card. Not that there’s any hurry, of cour… annnnnd you’ve been eaten by the alien. Again. Like everything else in Isolation, saving acts as a masterclass in fraught…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA SEP / PUB WARNER BROS / DEV AVALANCHE STUDIOS Time was, you could count on some two-bit studio knocking out a platformer based on a new film announcement – one that butchered the story and played like a waking night terror. Post-Arkham, we’re seeing a new trend: games wearing the clothes of famous series, but running in entirely new directions with them. Rocksteady’s Batman series, Shadow Of Mordor – these aren’t movie games, they’re universe tie-ins. And Mad Max could well be the most interesting one yet. Created by the open-world obsessives at Just Cause studio Avalanche, Mad Max aims to nab the spirit of the Mel Gibson movies and the upcoming Tom Hardy reboot but does so without using their stories, worlds or, well, Mel…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB CAPCOM / DEV CAPCOM He’s a wily one, that Yoshinori Ono. Oh, of course the Street Fighter exec producer will have fun whipping the fans up into a frenzy on Twitter. He’ll give coy half-answers to questions about his next game’s identity. He’ll giddily praise favourite, semi-obscure combatants, neither confirming nor denying their likelihood to ever return. And he’ll never, at all, give you a straight answer on just whether or not he’s ever bloody going to get around to making Darkstalkers 4. But when he finally drops the goods? Totally worth it, each and every time. And so is the case with the latest info-slap from Street Fighter V. Three words: Charlie goddamn Nash. Guile’s long-lost war buddy – and the source…

1 The player character, Rintarou Okabe, aka Okarin, is a fantastic main man. Too many central figures are blank slates in videogames. Not this guy. 2 Kurisu Makise is the genius foil against which Okarin and his pals can bounce off. When the physics gets too heavy, Kurisu has all the knowledge. 3 At first, Mayuri Shiina appears to be a sigh-worthy, weak-minded type with a wistful far-away gaze. There’s much more to her than that, however.…

BLOOD BOWL II In a future where all physical contact has been outlawed, sports are now decided by a stare off… in full gear. Break out those poor PS Move controllers and attempt to faze-out your opponent while not passing out. Steady… FORMAT PS4 ETA 29 MAY SYBERIA: COMPLETE COLLECTION Think weather forecasting is a breeze? Dust off your PS Eye Camera (or EyeToy if you’re super kitsch) and point out snowy spells with a chance of mammoths. FORMAT PS3 ETA 28 APR HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA U: ACTION UNLEASHED Learn to cut hair with the official Tron Summer Swimwear Convention tie-in game. The catch? You only packed a sword… Uh oh… FORMAT PS VITA ETA 22 MAY…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 26 MAY PUB PARADOX INTERACTIVE DEV PIECES INTERACTIVE Do you like to cast your spells in a group? Prefer a four-way conjuration? Well, pop on your best robes and grab your Doctorate of Magic from the Unseen University because co-op wizarding sim Magicka 2 is set to arrive next month. That nod to the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett isn’t used lightly – in keeping with the foundations laid by its PC-based predecessor, Magicka 2 is just as heavy on the referential humour (including its Game Of Thrones spoofing trailer). If its balance of magic combos with co-operative gameplay works as well as the first Magicka, PS4 owners are in for a spellbinding treat.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 PUB NEPTUNE INTERACTIVE INC DEV NEPTUNE INTERACTIVE INC Okay, it’s hardly rocking the most sexy or evocative of monikers, but this medieval strategy romp from the Toronto-based Neptune Interactive Inc does at least look like a good way to brush up on your Middle Age military tactics. It’s the studio’s first console game (it’s previously only worked on iOS titles), but it’s aiming to bring that addictive mobile gaming magic to PS4 with this cartoonish RTS tower defender. The big selling point here is the ability to manage your forces (including archers, mages, traps and mazes) from a first-person perspective.…

FORMAT PS4/PS VITA / ETA 2016 / PUB ALONSO MARTIN DEV ALONSO MARTIN With a super successful Kickstarter under his belt ($232,635 from a $60,000 goal is nothing to sniff at), one man dev team Alonso Martin is preparing to bring his story-driven, Metroidvaniacourting platformer to the PlayStation masses. Said crowdfunding campaign was so bountiful Martin even attracted the help of acclaimed Mega Man/Mighty No 9 composer Manami Matsumae, who’s lending a hand to the soundtrack. This one reminds us of the superb PlayStation Plus one-man-indie-game Dust: An Elysian Tail, which is high praise indeed……

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT MASSIVE/UBISOFT RED STORM/ UBISOFT REFLECTIONS Thinking about picking up the latest addition to the Clancy-verse? Best watch out for The Cleaners then… No, we don’t mean the people who have to clean up all your desk filth – rather the newly-revealed flamethrower-toting faction that you’ll cross paths with in Ubisoft’s pathogen apocalypse. Unlike many of the game’s groups, The Cleaners aren’t to be taken on head-to-head advises lead level designer Victor Krengel. “It’s a good move to ambush them while they tangle with another faction, but often it’s best just to run.” *gulp*…

David Jaffe is one of the PlayStation greats. The mastermind behind iconic games Twisted Metal and God Of War, Jaffe now works for the incredibly-named The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, where he’s directing the team’s first title, PS4 arena shooter Drawn To Death. Announced back at December’s PSX event, attendees were invited to play the game and then sit down with Jaffe and the dev team to discuss what they liked and what they didn’t. In the middle of the throng at the PlayStation Experience, we caught up with Jaffe to discuss his latest game, its striking look, crowd-sourcing feedback and the fall of Twisted Metal. As is usually the case with Jaffe’s interviews, be prepared for some bad language… OPM: Drawn To Death isn’t the type of game…

OPM: Sony has tried peripheral hardware before. Why will Morpheus succeed where other tech has failed? Richard Marks: Well Morpheus isn’t the same thing as a peripheral – it’s a platform in itself. Sure, it works with PS4, but it gives you an experience unlike anything else you can have. So this is what makes it strong and compelling when you try it for the first time. OPM: Are there any current games you want to see on Morpheus? Shuhei Yoshida: Well, we always say to developers, “Don’t try to port your game – you need to approach it from the ground up for VR.” That said, I’d personally like to see a game like PT working with Morpheus… something really, really scary. RM: What we’ve found is that some…

Here in the UK, Netflix and Amazon Prime are two on-demand programming services landing body blows to traditional television suppliers in the TV programming war. You probably even use their apps on your PS4 and PS3. But Sony has television desires of its own, and PlayStation-exclusive programming has lifted off. After more than a decade in development hell, Powers has finally found its place to air: PlayStation, where it’s free on PlayStation Plus for PS4 and PS3 owners. The ten episode TV show based on the celebrated comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis is PlayStation Network’s first original programme, and while a UK air date is yet to be confirmed at the time of writing the series is well underway in the US. Our stateside cousins can even watch…

INFO  FORMAT PS4 (DOWNLOAD ONLY) ETA OUT NOW PUB BREAKFALL DEV BREAKFALL Okay, technically anarwhal isn’t a porpoise, but when did a keen understanding of marine life ever get in the way of a good pun? In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll call your curvaceous avatar a lot worse in the first few hours of play – most of which we can’t print here. This 2D joust-athon will test you. Its controls may look simple,1 but learning how to control your ’whal is just the tip of the iceberg. Learning to master the balance between its low gravity physics, your weight and the power of your thrust is a whole other kettle of plankton. But once you nail it you’ll be shattering hearts in no time. Both solo and…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS VITA ETA OUT NOW PUB SONY DEV ROLL7 Thought the original OlliOlli was tough? It was skateboarding with extra training wheels compared with its sequel. Forget the ‘Welcome To Olliwood’ subheader, Roll7 should probably have considered a more truthful ‘Olliwood Will Smash Your Face In If You Dare Enter, Alright?’ title instead.1 In OlliOlli’s case, this is a good thing. A 2D left-to-right arcade skateboarding score-chaser, the sequel’s added difficulty comes in the shape of more tricks and key abilities. You can now tether together entire levels in a single, giant combo thanks to new moves such as reverts (a quick spin when you land) and manuals, with points totals in the millions as a result. Switch-grinding rails2 and turbo-boosting off ramps, meanwhile, separates…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB REBELLION DEV REBELLION Nazis and zombies: the strawberries and cream of videogame enemies. Rebellion recognises that and is singular in its purpose here, turning the bad boys of WWII undead, carrying over the likeable sniping mechanics from its Sniper Elite series1 and letting you run amok on the war-torn streets of Berlin in groups of up to four. It won’t win David Cage’s approval, but there’s a purity to the experience that ensures you’ll still end up enjoying yourself. Over three campaigns and 15 missions, the game takes on the spirit of that beloved PS2 classic you never got round to. Technically it feels as rough and ready as they come – aside from the wonderful sniping itself – but there’s something about…

Y’know what ROYALLY CHAFES AT MY HATE GLANDS? Well, apart from sunshine, laughing children and any sign of life within 600m of Stamford Bridge. That’s right: game delays. Oh Uncharted 4 (see p19), how you sting me so. But what bothers me even more than waiting another few months for Nate’s PS4 cheekbones? All those SOUR-FACED SODS moaning about delays. Wait a minute… This has all gone a teensy bit meta, hasn’t it? Still, the point stands: SIMPERING FOOLS who complain about their most wanted PS4 titles being held back NEED TO BE SHOT OUT OF A CANNON INTO THE SUN. Here’s a newsflash – game developers owe you nothing. Their commitments lie with making the best title possible and servicing the odd super evil shareholder. Store that self-entitlement back…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB KOEI TECMO DEV TEAM NINJA REVIEW #108, 6/10 My day was genuinely brightened the first time I delved into DOA5:LR’s online community and found people going out of their way to cover up Ayane and co. Scanty costumes may exist in their droves, but you’d hardly know of their existence by spectating on a ranked match. Good show. My own personal favourite, Gen Fu in a Santa outfit, usually goes down a storm, too. I digress. Matches are prone to lag, particularly if you’re playing behind a strict NAT setting (do have stern words with your router if so), but at least it slows the game to a crawl for both parties in the name of fairness. That aside it’s your usual ranked/casual setup, with a…

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH EXE: LATE To be honest we’re only mentioning this PS3 game for its baffling name, which has clearly been translated back and forth until all meaning died. HTOL#NIQ: THE FIREFLY DIARY No. Sorry, no. You’re simply not allowed to call your game that. From now on you’re called William. William the PS Vita adventure game. ACES OF THE LUFTWAFFE Takes a confusingly reverent naming approach to the Nazi air force, and melds Luftrausers with crazy bullet hell gameplay. SHIFTLINGS Worth a look, this puzzle/ platformer. It takes the Toggle character concept from LittleBigPlanet 3 and extends it to two personas in solo or co-op, across 50 levels. SNIPER ELITE III ULTIMATE EDITION We got our fill of long-range bullet-flinging from Nazi Zombie Trilogy this month, but if…

KON-TIKI 13 APR Oscar-nominated, seafaring tale of explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s 4,300-mile Pacific crossing gets a UK release, years after debuting in Norway. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS 13 APR Vampires struggle to deal with the realities of modern life in this Kiwi mock doc, starring Flight Of The Conchords alumni. BLACK SEA 13 APR Jude Law acquires a band of mercenaries, a questionable Aberdonian accent and a rickety sub in search of lost gold. Safe to say things get messy. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB 13 APR Old and new exhibits come together in a globe-trotting quest to squeeze some quids from the franchise. DUMB & DUMBER TO 20 APR Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are educationally subnormal, but thanks to slack legislature, legally allowed to…

STEP 1 MEET THE RIGHT TREE AND MAKE RAMUH YOUR SUMMON Emergency! The doc’s seeing a pandemic of people missing out on Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae’s best bits, so he’s going to bump Spotify’s appointment and operate immediately on Noctis. Your first job should be getting Ramuh on your side as a Summon. Holy damn, he’s strong. And you can make the job very easy on yourself. First, level-up. Lots. Trust me, it’s been more than two months since I lost a patient – that’s an impressive record. Then have your first painful encounter with Deadeye. Did you run away scared like the time I drilled the wrong brain-part during cranial surgery? You’re supposed to. Now, pay attention. When it’s time to visit the goblin cave, buy garula sirloin…

1 "LIVELIER SHOOTOUTS ARE BOOSTED BY A HEFT THAT MAKES USING YOUR MOTION CONTROLLER MORE TACTILE. WELL, AS TACTILE AS A HARRY POTTER TRIBUTE." 2 "STILL NOT INTERESTED, HUH? WELL HOW ABOUT BEING MENTORED THROUGH THE GAME BY A CARTOON UNICORN CALLED BJORN. BAM! NOW YOU’RE IN." 3 "THIS GAME WILL GUARANTEE THAT WE’LL NEVER SEE MR MOTIVATOR, OR A GYM, EVER AGAIN." 4 "YOU PLAY AS A MAN WHOSE WIFE EMOTIONALLY BLACKMAILS HIM INTO A SUICIDE MISSION. I NEED A HUG ALREADY AND IT’S STILL THE TUTORIAL LEVEL."…

Team OPM DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS Role-playing rapscallion Phil Iwaniuk recalls his own Origin(s) story Sometimes the videogame stars just align. Not only was this was the first game I ever reviewed in a professional capacity (back when God was a boy), it was also a reimagining of the Black Isle games (Baldur’s Gate, the original Fallouts, etc) I grew up playing, reading about and consequently deciding it might be fun to write about games for a living. A perfect choice then. Reader DEAD SPACE 2 Visceral’s horror sequel is all about the thrill of the Chase – Nathan Chase that is Never since has a game embraced me to a point where I literally couldn’t put down the controller; to a point where reaching the next save point was paramount…

04 Isn’t this a cracking little surprise? It’s not been too long since we eviscerated half of a parallel universe Nazi Germany, and here bounces Blazkowicz again, ready to lay another democratic smackdown on some swastikas in this prequel. IN WITH THE OLD Due for a standalone digital release on 6 May, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood takes Blaz back to 1946; before the events of last year’s surprisingly super The New Order. Priced at £14.99, this new adventure spans eight chapters, covering two interconnected stories which tie into last year’s full-fat Wolfey. Rudi Jäger And The Den Of Wolves (the first part of the prequel) focuses on your favourite Nazi arse-kicker’s battles against a crazed prison warden. Heading to the pokey seems like an ideal fit for the set-piece style…

BRING IT ON HOME Grow Home, the charming and wonderfully tactile platformer that’s currently being met with huge grins and high scores on PC, could come to PS4. Jack Couvela, the game’s art director, said the cheerful robot jaunt could hit consoles if it sells well enough. Let’s hope it does. Its brand of beanstalk-climbing is ace. DOES X MARK THE SPOT? Although the PS4 version of the impressive Mortal Kombat X launches 14 April, the PS3 version has worryingly been bumped to ‘summer’. In better news, season pass owners will unlock Friday The 13th star Jason Voorhees as a surprise kombatant. We’ll have our full review next issue, out 8 May. ALIEN NOT SO ISOLATED Creative Assembly has revealed it’s working on, “another multi-platform AAA blockbuster.” The long-time Total…

FORCE = UNLEASHED In the middle of a giddy Bloodborne session we learned we’re set to be among the first to see Star Wars Battlefront in action. Next issue’s out 8 May – you really can’t afford to miss it. JOE DANGEROUS Cracking PC space explorer Elite: Dangerous is headed to PS4 after its XO exclusivity period ends. DO LOOK NOW PlayStation Now is finally coming to the UK this spring; albeit as a closed Beta. PS Plus members will get a chance to register for the Beta first, which includes Uncharted 2 and The Last Of Us. FUT THAT DOOR Your FIFA FUT addiction is about to get worse. EA has introduced new Price Ranges that make high-rated players easier to buy. Yelp! BYE OF THE TIGER Poor old…

@MICHAELGOMES OMG the Just Cause 3 trailer looks awesome. I can’t wait! @KDBUTLER9 I just saw the new trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight. It looks incredible! Take my money now! @THEJOSEPHMESSER Holy. Sh*t. @yosp in Super Time Force Ultra on PS4 and Vita? :D @XHERENOEVILX Crota is going down! Roll on House Of Wolves. #destiny #houseofwolves @RICHOSUAVE77 I keep watching No Man’s Sky videos and now my hype is 1,000,000. It looks SOOOO awesome. @REZZERDUDE Oh Squeenix, you tempt me with a Final Fantasy XV demo. I must buy Final Fantasy Type-0 to get it. TROLL OF THE MONTH @SPEEDYBLUEDUDE Cheer up PS4 owners. The Order may be a terrible game, but it’s still better than Ryse: Son Of Rome… @THEDCD It’s funny how Rock Band 4 can dominate #paxeast…

Firing up Dying Light the other night, I didn’t expect to be impressed. I’d quite enjoyed it at a few preview events over the last year, but was never convinced it would deliver more than a couple of weekends’ goofy, undemanding, zombie-smashing fun upon release. But then it booted up. And I heard something. And I got really, really excited. Dying Light’s soundtrack delivers something special. Not the same generic, orchestral bombast I’ve long-since become bored of hearing and insta-forgetting, but an understated, all-pervading wave of pulsing, ambient synth. And not just any synth. 100% authentic, genuine imitation ’80’s John Carpenter. A particular brand of minimal, affecting, cold, ungodly moody electronica à la Escape From New York. SCHLOCKY HORROR Far from dating Carpenter’s films, it makes them timeless, the unique…

We love a good team deathmatch here at OPM. But let’s face facts; unless you’re part of a super-organised clan, it can be difficult to see the bigger picture when you’re in the middle of a skirmish. Not so with Rainbow Six Siege. A methodical, tactical shooter, Siege makes sure each and every member of the team is held to account – from the moment they choose their loadout, to long after they kick the proverbial bucket. Siege’s cornerstone multiplayer mode, also called Siege (are you still following us?) was first revealed to the world at E3 2014, and the general premise of it hasn’t changed much between then and our new hands-on session with the game. It’s an asymmetrical affair where groups of five wage war over a hostage…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB 34BIGTHINGS / DEV 34BIGTHINGS With Formula Fusion, the new anti-gravity racer from the ex-WipEout devs at R8 Games, not due until March 2016 (and even then a PS4 version’s ‘part of the plans’ and not 100% confirmed) there’s a gap in the market for something fast, floaty and fun. It’s a gap Italian team 34BigThings intends to fill. The team behind the game cites WipEout and F-Zero among its influences, but that should be patently obvious from just a cursory glance at the screenshots on this page. Indeed, on first inspection it’s hard to distinguish 34BigThings’ effort from Studio Liverpool’s classic series, but this isn’t the wholesale lifting it initially appears to be. For a start, Redout sports a distinctive aesthetic that blends…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 17 JUL PUB SONY / DEV SONY SANTA MONICA God Of War III has, without question, the best use of the L3 and R3 buttons of any game ever. And now you’re going to be able to experience this ultraviolent thrill on your PlayStation 4, as the grand finale to Kratos’ quest for vengeance is getting the familiar last-gen-to-current-gen treatment. As per the HD remaster manifesto, this PS3 port shakes off the cobwebs with a lovely 1080p upgrade, as well as a brand new Photo mode (much like the ones found in The Last Of Us Remastered and inFamous: Second Son). You’ll be able to freeze the deity-decapitating action at any time to set up a perfect shot, cutting about the viscera like an invisible paparazzo…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 / PUB ICEBERG INTERACTIVE / DEV TRIPWIRE As selling points go a, “proprietary, high-powered persistent blood system,” certainly snags the attention. “I hope PS4 players won’t start up-chucking their breakfast,” Alan Wilson tells us. The vice president of developer Tripwire is pleased as punch with the gore system in his old-school shooter which, “is done with some cunning coding,” to ensure all that claret doesn’t cause performance hits. Welcome to the blood buffet. In this age of the progressive FPS, with its RPG trappings and episodic narrative aspirations, Killing Floor 2 is as refreshingly no-nonsense as a chainsaw to the face. And God is it gory. It’s also a frenetic shooter where you slay armies of mutated abominations – either on your lonesome or with…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC PUB MILKBAG GAMES DEV MILKBAG GAMES If OlliOlli and Trials Fusion got drunk and had a one night stand, we’re pretty certain oddball racer FutureGrind would pop out nine months later. We’ve not thrown those two leaderboard-focused names into the mix for funsies, either – indie developer Milkbag Games cites both as major influences on its uniracing prodigy. As with everything difficult, the premise is simple: guide a spinning bike from one end of a 2.5D course to the other. Each track is lined with blue and pink rails, and only the wheel with the corresponding colour is allowed to touch its respective line.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA SUMMER PUB VERSUS EVIL DEV REDACTED STUDIOS *SPOILERS!* Just in case you were going to play it for some reason, 2009 hack-and-slash Afro Samurai ends with our hairy hero booting his bro Kuma off a cliff. *END SPOILERS!* In the sequel you control this teddy-bear-headed man in full-on revenge mode. Whereas the last game spread its blood-spewing combat across multiple buttons, ROK uses just one. Tactical depth comes from Kuma’s cybernetically enhanced bonce, which learns new fighting styles he can use on the fly. RZA returns on music duties.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015 PUB EA / DEV DICE With The Force Awakens already raising our excitement to dangerous levels, we’re now having to joggle our rabid Star Wars love on the gaming front, too. A rabid love made all the more… well, rabid, by news of a private retail partner event held by EA which just so happened to screen some of the first gameplay footage from the new Battlefront. Footage that received a, “super ovation,” from the crowd according to EA’s COO Peter Moore. Details are still pretty thin on the ground regarding DICE’s reboot, but Joe Public need stamp their feet in frustration no longer. We’ll be at this month’s Star Wars Celebration event to see the game in action and will report back next issue.…

FORMAT PS3/PS VITA ETA SUMMER / PUB NIS AMERICA / DEV LANCARSE The West may well be an afterthought when it comes to the release of obscure JRPGs, but when they’re as intriguing as this, we can forgive them for their eternal tardiness. Take Lost Dimension – its bland-looking sci-fi setting won’t set the industry alight, but its central ‘traitor in our midst’ conceit aims to offer a long-term goal alongside its turn-based combat. Turns out someone in your team is working for the enemy – before you face the final boss you need to root out the turncoat by chatting to your party after battles. Get it wrong and that fight will be a lot harder.…

1994 MICKEY MANIA • Former game tester gets his break as a designer on this classic multiformat Disney game. It would eventually work its way to PlayStation, where it would become known here as Mickey’s Wild Adventure. 1995 TWISTED METAL • Now developing for the original PlayStation, Jaffe directs vehicular combat game Twisted Metal. It becomes a cult favourite, prompting Jaffe to work on sequels Twisted Metal 2 (1996), PS2’s Twisted Metal: Black (2001) and PS3’s Twisted Metal (2012). 2005 GOD OF WAR • With the first three Twisted Metal games under his belt, Jaffe turns his gaze to the Greek mythology action game, God Of War. It’s released to universal praise, and will go down in history as a true PlayStation icon and a key reason to own a…

When it comes to controllers, it’s usually a case of ‘go official or go home. And with DualShock 4 comfortably winning the award for the best PlayStation pad ever made, this generation isn’t crying out for third-party control alternatives. But what about a specialist device designed to complement – not replace – PS4’s pad of choice? That’s what Grifta, the ‘morphing gamepad’ that successfully met its Kickstarter target this month, is aiming to be. The baby of inventor Paul Weatherstone, it’s a multi-format control system (compatible with PS4 thanks to the existing XIM4 adapter, which already lets you use keyboards and mice) designed to give you choices. With three different handle sizes (plus the mix for a fourth so you can create a custom grip), and the ability to switch…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW PUB PQUBE DEV MILESTONE Everyone knows that falling off a motorbike is far, far easier than staying on it, which normally makes any bike sim a gruelling catalogue of repeated failure. But Ride isn't like that. Even with all the assists switched off, the first bikes are a doddle to control (in other words: two-wheeled fun from the get-go). Well, maybe ‘fun’ isn't the right word. This is dignified gaming.1 The core movement is a thing of beauty. Smooth, weighty and precise. Activating all the manual controls (independent brakes, tuck and gears) is massively rewarding, making for distilled riding; just you versus the road. Races, however, aren't as hot. Many events are unevenly balanced, as some AI bikes are significantly faster…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW PUB BANDAI NAMCO DEV FROM SOFTWARE Please, make the pain stop. Imagine you sat down after finishing your trip to Drangleic on PS3 and made notes of what you’d like to see from a PS4 version. What would you have asked for? Full 1080p presentation? Good shout. An oil slick-smooth jump to 60 frames per second? You’ve got great taste, pal. Make almost every area in the game exponentially harder, by stuffing in larger groups of tougher enemies? Woah! What? Are you losing the plot? If Dark Souls II on PS3 was akin to fighting a lion with naught but a slab of gazelle meat and a feather, then this current-gen redux is the equivalent of scrapping against that same beast……

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW PUB KOEI TECMO DEV OMEGA FORCE AMusou game1 set in the Hundred Years’ War – admit it, you’re a bit interested. The amalgamation of half-forgotten secondary school history lessons and magical anime warriors is a rock-solid foundation for a videogame in my book, and as someone who struggles to maintain more than a passing interest in the Dynasty Warriors games, I’m surprised by how engaged I am with Bladestorm Nightmare’s many complicated screens and systems. Rather than take to the battlefield as one superhuman capable of culling entire armies, here you control squads of swordsmen, cavalry, archers, pikemen and the like in real-time, the end result feeling akin to a hack ‘n’ slash Total War2 game. There’s a broader strategic element…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB ACTIVISION DEV OSOME STUDIO Harnessing gaming fear is a bit like trying to grab the dry ice that repeatedly floods horror graveyards. What is it that causes white knuckles around a DualShock? OSome Studio is taking a good stab at it by simply turning off the lights. Think Sin City novels without the splashes of O negative and you’ve got a grasp of the striking visuals of this 1930s noir puzzler-meets-survival horror. A grizzled detective thinks he’s hit a girl with his car and, despite the graveyard in the garden, ends up entering a spooky residence to find her. Light is your only weapon in this haunted house of darkness. Striking a wavering match delivers a pool of warmth that enables you to…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB WARNER BROS DEV TECHLAND REVIEW #108, 7/10 There are two ways to smash together Dying Light and the information superhighway for your enjoyment: meat-and-potatoes co-op, and the more bespoke competitive Be The Zombie mode. Continuing the game’s befuddling distribution model, the latter’s now available to all as a free bonus content having begun as pre-order DLC. It offers an asymmetrical fight vaguely similar to Evolve’s, with one player taking control of a powerful Night Hunter zomb and trying to kill their human opponents ten times before they destroy a certain number of nests. It’s… fine, fundamentally, but unlikely to distract you from either the base game’s activities or the many superior online experiences out there. Stick to stable, reliable old co-op if you must go online.…

LORDS OF THE FALLEN – ANCIENT LABYRINTH DLC The eponymous maze accounts for roughly 30 minutes of pathfindingthemed new content, requiring the offing of a few skeleton archers and the pulling of levers, finally culminating in a boss fight with The Keeper. Value much? THE CREW – VINTAGE CAR DLC Want some more cars, do you? Ubi’s got you covered. The third of four DLC drops adds the Corvette C2 and C3 from Chevrolet, and kind-of-grotesque-if-you-ask-us Spyker C8 Aileron. It’s a season pass add-on, but each car’s purchasable on its own if you so please. ALIEN ISOLATION – THE TRIGGER DLC You’re in Ricardo’s shoes in our 2014 GOTY winner’s fifth DLC pack, braving it out across three new Survivor mode maps set before the main game’s story in what…

INFO PUB SONY DEV HOUSEMARQUE RELEASED 2013, PS4 GET IT NOW PSN, £9.99 WHAT? A trippy twin-stick shooter and PS4 launch title in which you have to save the green man – and all his identical brothers – from a load of knockoff Star Wars toys. WHO? Joel Gregory spent four years chained to the desks at OPM Towers, in that time reviewing more games than anyone in the mag’s history. As a result, he now hates everything. Including you. Keepers detected.” Cool, thanks. “Multiplier lost.” Brilliant. “Human lost.” Yeah, I had noticed. “You are a failure in the eyes of your peers and parents.” If I really wanted a constant stream of chatter about my inadequacies, I’d just shut off my iPod and listen to my own internal monologue…

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO V No game could live up to the pre-release hype that surrounded Rockstar’s latest open-world effort, and yet somehow expectations were surpassed by the phenomenal final product. The largest entry in the series is also one of the most ambitious games ever, but its fusion of thrilling missions, entertaining characters and scathing satire looks effortless. There can be no better way to bring a generation to a close. 2 UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES The game that sparked a million mancrushes, with a perfectly pitched script, crunchy combat and set-pieces like no other. In three words: unprecedented. Unequalled. Uncharted. 3 RED DEAD REDEMPTION A near-perfect open-world fusion of engaging storytelling, truly compelling characters and a living environment ripe for experimentation. No sandbox since has got us quite…