Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i PLAY

“IT’S BEEN AN UNBELIEVABLE THRILL. I CAN’T WAIT TO SIT BACK AND READ THE MAG AS A FAN ONCE AGAIN.” GAME OF THE MONTH Resident Evil VII: Biohazard FAVE DINOSAUR GAME Dino Crisis There’s no shortage of amazing games due in the next year (you knew that already, yeah?), but I can honestly say Horizon Zero Dawn currently eclipses absolutely all of them. Guerrilla Games needs no introduction, of course – the Killzone developer is famed for crafting some of the most jaw-dropping experiences in Team PlayStation’s history – yet with PS4 the Dutch studio has reached dizzying new heights. Before you do anything else, turn all the way to p56 for a dino-sized look at Sony’s biggest exclusive of 2017. So far… But you’re probably wondering about that ever-so-slightly-scary…

THIS IS 4D PLAYERS For the bravest of gamers, Numskull Designs has released a 4D candle for Resident Evil VII, designed to enhance your VR experience. It brings the smells of the Baker mansion into your living room for an extra layer of immersion… and an extra five minutes in the shower to wash the stench off. SEE YOU IN JUNE, KAZAMA At long last, 3D fighting title Tekken 7 has a UK release date: 2 June. And Heihachi and co will hit doubly hard thanks to exclusive content, as Jukebox Mode allows you to create playlists of iconic series tunes to scrap to, in costumes available only on PS4. We cannot wait. Street Fighter V beware. THE WHITE STUFF A brand-new Glacier White slim PS4 is now on shelves,…

“THINGS WILL BE HEATING UP… IN OVERCOOKED’S UNDERSTAFFED KITCHENS.” MATTHEW PELLETT EDITOR After seven years of marriage, sparks will definitely still be flying in my house this Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately it may be because between me washing plates and the wife chopping lettuce in Team17’s crazy culinary co-op comedy, we’ll both forget about the burger patties on the stove until towering flames have engulfed half our kitchen and probably a few of the diners, too. (Serves them right for taking their dates out for burgers on Valentine’s – why not some spicy pizza action, guys?) Sorry neighbours, there will be loud cries of “GRAB THE BUNS!” through our walls. Now, which way’s the oven? “THE LAST GUARDIAN WILL GIVE ME THE PETTING EXPERIENCE I’VE BEEN WAITING AGES FOR.” BEN TYRER…

@TAYLORSON Arrived today. Thank you very very much @OPM_UK It’s gorgeous. Even the paper is nice! @GAMERSSDELIGHT I have @OPM_UK to thank for how rad my room looks. @MIKROFILM03 Thanks for all of these posters. My wall is closely filled up. @ADAMJT74 Where do I start? Prey, Mass Effect, Elite, RDR2?? Oh no! My wife has just spotted Sonic… @HI_MAHOU An #Aibo designed to look like #Trico would be great. @DAZFINK I got VR for Xmas! I’m going to play it forever! *plays Kitchen* I’m never gaming ever again. @PLAYSLAV3 Don’t like the (OPM subs cover) artwork much. Seems a bit amateur. @GRAPHURE Soundtrack selection disc on a magazine… just like the old days. @BYRONB1986 A CD! How many readers of a certain age will be asking where in the…

“GIVE ME AN IMPERFECT GAME THAT SPARKS AN EMOTIONAL REACTION OVER SOMETHING POLISHED BUT FAMILIAR ANY DAY.” WRITER BIO Outgoing editor Matthew Pellett never gave any game a 10/10 during his three years on OPM, but fully agrees with our perfect TLG mark. He *should* have given the Big Score to his favourite PS4 title, The Witness, and will forever regret not reaching for double digits. Games are not vacuum cleaners. That seems like an incredibly obvious thing to point out, but in the wake of The Last Guardian’s launch I found myself thinking long and hard about why certain reviewers and players had such extreme reactions at both ends of the spectrum – and concluded that not everyone agrees. My experience of The Last Guardian was, admittedly, different to…

1 DARK SOULS II Sweet Shalquoir. Damn, that’s a badass moniker. Dark Souls II’s friendly feline shopkeeper resides in Majula, and sells all manner of mystical rings to help your Hollow one out. She’s one of the few beings in FromSoftware’s sequel who doesn’t want to murder the hell out of you, although her steep prices will slash your stash of souls. 2 FAR CRY PRIMAL Here at OPM, we’re all about celebrating cats of all sizes, whether they’re the dinky household variety that snuggle at your feet, or 600lb extinct brutes with fangs the size of prehistoric bananas. Primal’s sabre-toothed tigers prove to be ass-kicking allies once tamed, none more so than the legendary Bloodfang version. 3 DEAD RISING 2 The WWF must be livid with Ted Smith. Dead…

“OUR STOMACH PALPABLY DROPS AS WE HURTLE OVER THE WAVES.” i FORMAT PS4/PS VR / ETA 2017 / PUB BANDAI NAMCO / DEV PROJECT ACES We probably shouldn’t be piloting a fighter jet. For one thing, we haven’t had a lick of formal training. For another, we’ve just remembered we hate heights. Yes, thanks to the immersive magic of PlayStation VR, it really does feel as though we’re flying a very real, very dangerous metal cylinder. This is the “true” way to play the latest instalment of the flight sim series – at least according to producer Kazutoki Kono – so we’d best grip the sticks a little tighter and wing it. Fortunately, Ace Combat 7 makes us feel at home (and far more qualified to pilot a…

“THE GOVERNMENT TURNS A BLIND EYE TO THE CARTEL’S COCAINE EMPIRE.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 7 MAR PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT PARIS Santa Blanca is the most feared drug cartel in South America, and has all but taken control of Bolivia. The collapsing government has turned a blind eye to the cartel’s vast cocaine empire, and it’s grown to the size of a small army – a situation the US is, understandably, a teeny tiny bit concerned about. A DEA agent is sent to investigate, but his cover’s blown and the cold, merciless leader of Santa Blanca, El Sueño, orders his assassination. A crude bomb is detonated in the American embassy – the flashpoint that triggers the events of Wildlands. Cleaning up the mess? Special Forces team Ghost…

Elite Dangerous: Horizons changed forever on 5 January. Before then, the PC and Xbox One sci-fi simulator was a deep-space adventure filled with inter-player wranglings, political flashpoints and only small hints at there being something larger at play. But on 5 January a major event occurred: Commander DP Sayre was ripped out of a hyperspace jump and his ship was temporarily stripped of power as a massive alien Thargoids ship made first contact. It was a game-redefining moment to kick off what’s set to become the biggest year yet for Elite’s newest form: the alien invasion has been years in the making, and to top it off Frontier Developments’ celebrated space saga will finally make its PS4 debut in a few months’ time. So we caught up with the man…

OPM: How did you approach designing the ecotopes, and how will they affect gameplay in Horizon Zero Dawn? Mathijs de Jong: I think in general we have a very elaborate weather system, which is way more sophisticated than you would think when you first see it. For example, we have a very advanced cloud rendering system as well as a day/night cycle and dynamic weather, which are very smooth in a way. But it doesn’t necessarily directly impact gameplay other than visually… The weather system is more [about the] impairing of vision; for example, at night, robots can be harder to see but also can have lots of light and sparks when you shoot at them, so there’s a bit of a balance there. In general, things feel more dangerous…

OPM: When it came to designing Aloy’s character, what were the influences? Jan-Bart van Beek: That changed over time. When we initially started… we’re all dudes, so our references are things like Terminator with Sarah Connor, and Ripley. Those are our big heroines from the ’80s and ’90s, and as we were developing, other tones also come across. Maybe there are certain other characters… I guess Katniss was somewhat inspirational, and there was a little bit of Ygritte in there. Those things happen as things start developing. You start seeing certain traits in new female characters, that maybe sometimes work and sometimes don’t work. Ultimately the main thing was making sure that she was her own unique character and not necessarily clearly borrowed from somewhere else, but had her own…

GOLD AWARD Awarded to a game that’s brilliantly executed on every level, combining significant innovation, near-flawless gameplay, great graphics and lasting appeal. EDITOR’S AWARD Not at the very highest echelon, but this is a game that deserves recognition and special praise based on its ambition, innovation or other notable achievement. 10 INCREDIBLE The kind of phenomenal experience rarely seen in a console generation. 9 OUTSTANDING Unreservedly brilliant – this should be in every collection. 8 VERY GOOD A truly excellent game, marred by just a few minor issues. 7 GOOD A great concept unfulfilled or the familiar done well, but still well worth playing. 6 DECENT Fun in parts, flawed in others, but more right than wrong. 5 AVERAGE What you expect and little more, this is for devotees only.…

“EVEN IN ITS WEAKEST MOMENTS, THERE’S A RICH MYSTERY TO THIS WORLD.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB CURVE DIGITAL DEV THE MOLASSES FLOOD @bentyrer Death can come slowly or quickly, but you’ll rarely escape it. That’s what you learn as you travel through an unusually serene, post-apocalyptic America. Good planning and careful resource management might save you from starvation, but it won’t mean a lot if you get on the wrong side of a rampaging bear. Happily, there are plenty of reasons to head back out on your journey after the Grizzly Reaper comes calling. You play as Scout, a young girl who has nothing but the clothes on her back until her new doggy friend, Aesop, drags a bag and radio to her. It’s the start…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV BULKHEAD INTERACTIVE The test from which this sci-fi puzzle game gets its name1 is designed to be passed by humans and failed by machines. For example, question one: do you dream of electric sheep? Question two: do you also dream of playing a game like Portal, but with less originality and no jokes? Then greetings, robot! Thanks for taking the time out from the machine uprising to read about the other sci-fi puzzle game. Yeah, the one crucially not developed by Valve. That might sound harsh, but it’s tough not to be. Portal raised the bar so high that any pretender with a female protagonist, suspicious AI ‘helper’2 and challenges that involve ‘testing’ you in increasingly fiendish conundrum chambers is…

@itsjensim How’s everybody getting on with their New Year’s resolutions? Personally, I’m finding my promise to “share more” to be… challenging (get your FILTHY PAWS off my limited-edition DualShock). But PS Plus set a stellar example for me last month, with freebies sharing the love across PS4 and PS Vita alike. Warmed my cold little heart, it did. Yes, compatibility with Cross-Play meant that DAY OF THE TENTACLE REMASTERED wrapped its feelers – or, rather, feeler – around both consoles. As irreverently rib-tickling as it ever was on ye olde MS-DOS back in 1993, the point-and-click’s lick of graphical paint and eternally ingenious puzzles were a welcome New Year gift. But we were suckers for a good sob story with second headliner THIS WAR OF MINE: THE LITTLE ONES…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB GUNGHO ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT DEV GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE REVIEW ISSUE #132, 8/10 Grasshopper games hold the attention. This one’s no different, its savagely clever, always-online PvP system ensuring you’re perpetually on edge. Downed fighters transform into Haters, then go walkies around others’ games. Icing foul-mouthed enemies yields exclusive items. (Smacking your buddy’s minion in the face with an iron is the epitome of satisfaction.) Tokyo Death Metro’s auto-raids trigger the true chaos. Met creepy robot Tetsuo? Your freezer-dwelling fighters can now target friends’ Waiting Rooms, holding people to ransom in toilets and climbing ranks. It’s not funny when it’s happening to you – and recovering’s pricey if you buy currency – but it’s a real incentive to stay frosty… and keep playing. VERDICT An unashamedly clunky hack-’n’- slasher,…

ADRENALINE PACK Head back to Steep’s Alpine slopes with three new night riding challenges and some cool gear to deck your rider in. Sure to get your heart racing, eh? FUTURE TONE BUNDLE Free rhythm action game Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone Prelude only gives you two songs. You’ll need this bundle, which unlocks 220 songs, if you like that taster. DB SUPER PACK 1 Rejoice Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 fans, because two new characters are dropping into the action. Cabbe and Frost arrive, along with three new Parallel quests. PAYDAY PACK Goat Simulator continues its quest to be the quirkiest game of all time. This brings new missions, masks and animals to fling around, including a dolphin in a wheelchair. AUGMENTED COVERT AGENT PACK Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s…

Serving as an introduction to the mystical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange is a movie at odds with itself: visually adventurous, but narratively conservative. Though the story of Stephen Strange’s walk on the weird side may be superhero origin 101, it still has a few tricks up its sleeve. After his hands are mangled in an accident, neurosurgeon Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) travels to Nepal in a last-ditch attempt to find a cure. There he meets The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), who opens Strange’s mind to a new plane of existence, and enlists him in her quest to protect Earth from interdimensional terrors and their acolytes, including Mads “Death Stranding” Mikkelsen’s Kaecilius. More successful as an introduction to a new corner of the MCU than a standalone tale,…

INFO PUB SONY DEV CAMBRIDGE STUDIO RELEASED 2006 GET IT NOW AMAZON, £5.49 WHAT? A tie-in to the TV show where CTU Agent Jack Bauer must keep the free world safe from terrorists by shouting “Damn it” constantly and torturing anyone he can get his hands on – if he hasn’t already shot them. WHO? Spending far too much of his youth devouring 24 boxsets means Ben Tyrer has happier memories of this game than most. But is his nostalgia misplaced? “I’M RIGHT TO WORRY: THE VISUALS ARE FUZZIER THAN A MOULDY ORANGE.” Despite everyone in the office telling me how wrong I am, I have a strange appreciation for Jack Bauer’s PS2 outing. Maybe it’s the fact I want to know what happens between seasons two and three of…

1 REZ INFINITE Fifteen years after the original’s release, the psychedelic rhythm rail shooter has achieved its final form. In PS VR, creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s vision becomes reality, the glittering polygonal trance-world and pounding techno inspiring total synaesthesia within you. Its crowning achievement? New level Area X, powerful enough to bring players to tears. Deserving of its name, this is a truly timeless title. 2 THUMPER Make no mistake: the brave chrome beetle gave Rez a run for its money for our top spot. Hurtling down a violently kaleidoscopic track, pounding notes and scraping round corners is exquisitely tough – and the manic magic is enhanced and perfected in PS VR. 3 KEEP TALKING AND NOBODY EXPLODES Who knew bombs could bring people together? With one headsetted Defuser, and as…

1 TEARAWAY Peerless crafty platforming from Media Molecule, this time using PS Vita’s raft of touchscreen/ touchpad controls to surprise and delight you in new ways for hours on end. Full of whimsy, charm and enough personality to put most games to shame, Tearaway’s papercraft world remains Vita’s most vibrant title. 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 RAYMAN LEGENDS Rather than losing its lustre on the move to PS Vita, Ray’s second slice of sumptuous side-scrolling is even better on handheld. Touchscreen gestures make this fine platformer all the sweeter. 4 VELOCITY 2X A ludicrously enjoyable puzzle/platformer hybrid that should come…

Jen Simpkins GAMES EDITOR Rollerskating madness saw Jen shatter her wrist and attempt to play games with one hand. It’s what Gal*Gun was made for. GAME OF THE MONTH Yakuza 0 FAVE DINOSAUR GAME Warpath: Jurassic Park Ben Tyrer STAFF WRITER To get in the mood for his Horizon trip, Ben cosplayed as a T-rex. It backfired when his tiny arms couldn’t reach the pad. P45 time. GAME OF THE MONTH Resident Evil VII: Biohazard FAVE DINOSAUR GAME Lego Jurassic World Miriam McDonald OPERATIONS EDITOR In fact, Horizon has put dinosaurs on the brain of the full team. Word queen Mim’s determined to make everyone study Thesaurus. GAME OF THE MONTH Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 FAVE DINOSAUR GAME Robinson: The Journey Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR And then there’s OPSM1…

8:47:49” The time it took editor Matt to finish Resident Evil VII on Normal. 224 Number of people who braved the real-life Resident Evil VII Experience. $7,000,000 A grant given to Witcher developer CD Projekt RED by the Polish government. 63 The height in inches of a limited-edition statue of Kojima Productions’ mascot. 8,700,000 The staggering number of copies of Uncharted 4 that Sony sold in 2016. 225 The number of days TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan survived on the PSN store. #1 Rocket League tops the list for most downloads of a game on PSN in 2016. 16/05 Want a good Batman vs Superman? Injustice 2 launches on this date.…

“IT'S TIME FOR IN-GAME COLLECTIBLES TO FINALLY GIVE US SOMETHING WORTH HUNTING FOR.” WRITER BIO Chris Scullion dreams of a day where games reward him with 3D printer files of their characters and vehicles so he can make little toy versions. Essentially, what he really wants is a tiny PaRappa he can share his secrets with. Has there ever been a less exhilarating message in gaming than “concept art 63 unlocked”? Call me a fuddy-duddy but after I’ve trekked halfway across a needlessly large world map to find a well-hidden shiny thing, a lo-res sketch of a random enemy isn’t really the sort of thing that will make me happily sit back and contemplate a quest well done. This has to end. We have to take a stand. No more…

“IT’S AN UNFOLDING POP-UP BOOK FROM THE SEXIEST CIRCLE OF HELL.” i FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 4 APR PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV ATLUS Eyeballing the latest entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series, you’ll believe a graphic novel can come to life. Pause for breath? Impossible. Hit Options, and the protagonist whirls round, menu in tow, slamming his hand into your screen. Crimson swathes, stark monochrome details – it’s an ever-unfolding pop-up book from the sexiest circle of hell, like a mangaka’s dipped his magnum opus in acid jazz and battered you across the face with it. (And… yep, it turns out that’s your, er, thing.) Persona 5 is holding nothing back. After its essential PS Vita predecessor, it can’t afford to. Persona 4 Golden was many players’…

GHOST RECON WILDLANDS The Ghosts must take down Ray Mears’ evil empire. Dropped into a forest, your team will have to make fire, kill and eat enemies, and fight off the hungry bear attracted by the Snickers some twit left in his pocket. FORMAT PS4 ETA 7 MAR SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE Beat-’em-up featuring the residents of South Park – but with superpowers. Can you kick the Mr Hankey out of Spider-Kenny? Finish him – you bastards. FORMAT PS4 ETA 31 MAR NIER: AUTOMATA Platformer in which you switch between three saucy witches – one digs, one fights, one flies on a broomstick – in order to reach Macbeth and persuade him to kill the end of level king-boss. FORMAT PS4 ETA 7 MAR…

1 In the first Ghost Recon game, the Ghosts travel to Georgia to intervene in a separatist uprising, angering Russia and almost triggering World War 3. 2 Ghost Recon 2 has the team head to North Korea to deal with a power-hungry general staging a coup and threatening to nuke the United States. 3 Advanced Warfighter sees the Ghosts dealing with another coup in Mexico City, not to mention rescuing the American and Canadian Presidents. 4 Future Soldier takes the Ghosts to the deserts of Zambia as they attempt to assassinate a local warlord involved in a terrorist plot.…

1984 ELITE Co-developed with fellow University of Cambridge student Ian Bell, Braben becomes one of the biggest names in the industry thanks to the monumental impact of the first Elite. The Acorn and BBC Micro sim inspires dozens of games, spawns three sequels and makes a full generation of gamers terrified of docking. 2003 WALLACE & GROMIT IN PROJECT ZOO Frontier Developments is established in 1994, and the studio initially works on a series of action titles. But the opportunity to make the first Wallace & Gromit game for PS2 sees the developer branch into new areas. 2004 DOG’S LIFE Jake the labrador is the star of this underrated PS2 adventure that sees players smelling their way through brightly coloured locations. 2006 THRILLVILLE Having developed RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 on PC,…

OPM: You’ve had to design two different versions of the future, one in the far future and one in 2066. How did you approach that? John Gonzalez: One of the things that really attracted me to the project was this kind of idea. How exactly did this world, that has a juxtaposition of elements that you normally wouldn’t expect to occur together, evolve? How do you end up having people who are living at a tribal level alongside these high-tech beasts? Why is it that they do not have high tech themselves? And so that’s where we actually began – in the ancient past. The ancient past of these characters, of course, is actually in our future. So that was really interesting, imagining our world from where we are now,…

OPM: Horizon’s been in development for six or seven years now. How has it changed over time? Michiel van der Leeuw: I don’t think it has changed, but there were so many unanswered questions when we started. I mean: how much RPG? How much action? How are we going to balance these things? How are we going to build these things into one world? Because the juxtaposition of the future, sci-fi element and the beauty of this open world are difficult to get into one concept that makes it believable. I think it was more like, there’s a thousand knobs we have to tweak to get something that feels like it’s a coherent whole. So I don’t think it has changed much. It’s more like implementing the vision was really,…

1 Seyda Neen Still the Gateway to Morrowind Here’s a sight that should be instantly familiar to anyone who played The Elder Scrolls III a full 15 years ago: Seyda Neen is the first place you visit when you step off the boat. The same is true in The Elder Scrolls Online’s take on Morrowind, too: after a tutorial zone elsewhere (Zenimax Online Studios isn’t saying where just yet), the port town also introduces you to the island of Vvardenfell – and is home to the ancestor of a familiar character who tries to welcome you in exactly the same manner… 2 Balmora Lose yourself in Vvardenfell’s stone forest The second largest town in Vvardenfell, the city of Balmora is bisected by the Odai River and has four main districts.…

INFO FORMAT PS VR ETA OUT NOW PUB SOLUS GAMES DEV SOLUS GAMES Be wary of neck strain and fatigue,” the main menu warns. “Not to worry, Starship Disco – my neck is as sturdy as a century-old oak tree,” I think. What a fool. Zip ahead 25 minutes after firing up this jaunty take on Guitar Hero meets Rez Infinite, and I’m begging for a neck brace. Blame it on my terminal lack of rhythm, but I find keeping up with Starship Disco’s brand of breakneck intergalactic shooting bloody hard. All right, ‘shooting’ isn’t the most accurate term. Technically, you do blast a load of spaceships as they come hurtling at you down a virtual reality wormhole, but lining up shots depends more on musical timing than it does…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB UBISOFT DEV UBISOFT ANNECY REVIEW ISSUE #132, 6/10 Rule one of an always-online game should be that the permanent connection is absolutely necessary. Sadly, this open-world winter sports simulator can’t even manage that. The idea is that nearly every rider you see in the world is a real person who you can team up with, but the problems start with the eerie lack of people to play alongside – and when you do find someone, the action’s sterile. You don’t race directly against each other, but compete to top leaderboards for events your group does together. Yet because you can restart events at any point, it just ends up feeling aimless and no different from playing the game alone. Given how empty the servers are already,…

OVERWATCH – OASIS It’s off to the Middle East for Blizz’s latest freebie, a Control map that’s one of the best yet. Be wary of the motorway that runs next to sections of the map (games of chicken are deadly, kids) and prepare for some gymnastic, new jump pad-powered POTGs… CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE – SABOTAGE This first update brings four new maps and a new Zombies level, Rave In The Redwoods. The pick of the bunch is Dominion, an adaption of Modern Warfare 2’s Afghan set in the future. Sadly, none of the maps is named after the Beastie Boys. YOOKA-LAYLEE – TOYBOX There’s still time to get an early sample of Playtonic’s platformer as a pre-order bonus. This is a demo world, made up of basic level…

KING KONG VS GODZILLA 20 FEB The English-language version of the 1962 Japanese cult classic: the kidnapped ape and defrosted dino do battle. INFERNO 20 FEB This Dan Brown adaptation sees Tom Hanks’ crime-solving symbologist and Felicity Jones track down a virus that could wipe out mankind. It’s bobbins. I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER 20 FEB Christopher “Doc Brown” Lloyd stars in this indie horror about a homicidal teen (Max Records) who hunts a supernatural killer. FREE STATE OF JONES 20 FEB Matthew McConaughey stars as a Confederate soldier who joins in a rebellion alongside slaves after being branded a deserter. AMERICAN HONEY 20 FEB Road movie about American teens selling magazines door-to-door by day and partying by night. Foolishly, they don’t stock OPM. PERSONA 3: MOVIE 2 27…

“SNAKE IS BASICALLY JOHN MCCLANE SHOVED INTO A SKINTIGHT SNEAKING SUIT.” INFO PUB KONAMI DEV KCEJ PRODUCTIONS RELEASED 1999, PS1 GET IT NOW PS3/PS VITA STORE, £7.99 NEED TO KNOW 1 The game was originally designed for the 3DO. 2 A SWAT team gave KCEJ advice on MGS’s guns. 3 Christopher Walken inspired Snake’s face. How the hell has it taken us this long to choose Snake’s PlayStation debut for Classic Game?! Truly, the OPM Goat Of Shame is burning holes into all of our faces – and has threatened to do so continuously for a good few months yet. All we can say is that the iconic stature of Metal Gear Solid almost made it too obvious a choice for these pages before now. Almost. Hideo Kojima’s espionage…

1 UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END Nathan Drake’s swansong is a daring evolution. It combines series-defining set-pieces, quietly devastating storytelling beats and sprawling levels that make you feel like a real-life explorer. This franchise finale retains its signature charm, with the wisecracks flowing as fast as the bullets, while the new characters each justify their inclusion. With an astonishing attention to detail, it’s Naughty Dog’s best yet. 2 THE LAST GUARDIAN After a decade in development, Ueda’s PS4 debut is both a technical marvel and emotionally devastating. Trico’s mannerisms make it feel like a real creature – one we truly care about – while escaping The Nest is a captivating test. Some things are worth waiting for. 3 METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN While retaining that distinct storytelling…

“THAT’S WHY I LIKE VIDEOGAME MUSIC - THERE ARE NO RULES.” Classical music scholars, hold onto your mortar boards: the videogames are coming. Awesome orchestral versions of famous gaming themes are big business lately, with live concerts celebrating Skyrim and Tomb Raider popping up at the end of 2016, and 12 videogame tracks breaking into Classic FM’s 2015 Hall of Fame. Tina Guo, an internationally renowned cellist, has been gracing game soundtracks for some time, playing cello on Journey, Diablo III and Call Of Duty: Black Ops II – and now she’s striking out on her own by releasing and performing her new album of videogame music, Game On. OPM met up with her in London to chat about how she got into the, er, game. “With Journey, my…

Devil May Cry 2 director Hideaki Itsuno’s tweet about revealing a new game in 2017 has set the rumour mill abuzz. Is it a new DMC? Dragon’s Dogma 2? Rival Schools? Green Goblin to be the main villain in PS4’s Spider-Man game? IMDB says so, at least. Whispers hint that you’ll be able to customise Sora in Kingdom Hearts 3. A leaked cutscene on COD: Infinite Warfare’s Reddit seems to show a new mission team named “Blood Anvil”. Shuhei Yoshida has told Dengeki PlayStation that Sony’s working on “unannounced titles.” Please be Bloodborne 2.…

THOR BLIMEY! Shocker: Tomb Raider dev Crystal Dynamics and Deus Ex team Eidos Montreal are making a Marvel’s Avengers game! We’ll need to wait ‘til 2018 to see it, mind. VIRTUAL RIPLEY In the living room, everyone will hear you scream – the VR experience for Alien Covenant is due to hit PS4’s headset later in the year. Eeek! HACK FRIDAY Haven’t given Watch Dogs 2 a chance yet? A trial is now live on PSN and it hands you the first three hours of the game for free. We highly recommend it. GOOD KNIGHT Sad news – RIGS and MediEvil dev Guerrilla Cambridge has closed. We’re gutted: the former is one of PS VR’s best titles. Our hearts go out to everyone affected. FACE THE MUSIC A year and…

Naughty Dog’s addition of an accessibility option for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was the greatest leap forward for me as it removed the QTE problem which ruins games, as I cannot press keys quick enough due to my medical condition (ataxia). Today I have had to abandon Tomb Raider and Batman: Arkham City. I think all developers need to take a steer from Naughty Dog. Martin Birnie via email Different games have different sorts of accessibility options – we’ve seen visual cues for deaf gamers, overlays for colour-blind players, one-button modes and so on. But we’d love to see more games incorporating as many as possible – and better ways of advertising those options. Games for all! And, for you, a free year’s subscription to OPM!…

What’s the greatest dinosaur game in PlayStation history? 45% Loved the Resi-style survival thrills of Dino Crisis. 15% Think Tomb Raider’s a dinosaur game. Lara’s not that old. (Oh, you meant the T-rex…) 15% Enjoyed hunting human enemies across PS3 Turok’s dinoinfested landscape. 12% Liked the arcadey action of Dino Crisis 2 best. 9% Would rather tame the ’saurs in Ark: Survival Evolved. 4% Kept it old-skool, opting for reptile fights in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. NEXT MONTH We’re thinking about spaceships in videogames – which one would you like to join the crew of?…

“SEX IN VIDEOGAMES IS RUBBISH IN PRETTY MUCH EVERY WAY, AND IT SHOULD BE BETTER.” WRITER BIO Kim Richards is an old hack games journo and corrupt YouTuber. She’d like to assure you she’s a well-fulfilled person who isn’t always thinking about sex. Her most famous YouTube Let’s Play? A Minecraft series called Flux Buddies. Ahem. February is the month of love, so let’s talk about sex. Specifically, why sex in videogames is so awful. I’m not against titillation, but for all the boasts of ‘most realistic graphics yet’ and the rise of emotive storylines, sex is still depicted as soulless mannequins lifelessly rubbing their downstairs bits together, interchanged with lovingly rendered nipples and the classic fade-to-black transition. Maybe I’m still traumatised by David ‘I don’t like game mechanics’ Cage’s…

1 St Hermelin High students fought demons in utopian city Mikage-cho in Revelations: Persona, which hit PS1 in 1996 but took ’til 2009 to arrive on UK PSPs. 2 Not one, but two Persona 2s – Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment – were ported to PSP, with stories centring on powerful, reality-altering rumours. 3 PS2’s Persona 3 brought serious edge. Characters summoned Personas by firing guns (Evokers) at their heads, and all could be controlled in battle. 4 Originally on PS2 but bolstered by Western fans, Persona 4 went Golden on PS Vita with new content. Polish and charm makes it the best entry – for now……

“ONE MISPLACED STEP CAN TURN A ROUTINE EXERCISE INTO A WAR.” i FORMAT PS4 / ETA 4 APR / PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV CI GAMES The third Sniper: Ghost Warrior game is a blatant testament to the sales success of its predecessors. Clearly benefitting from a greater investment than any other entry in the series, the big selling point this time around is the wide open world that’s there for the exploring before you make your nest and start popping enemy skulls. While the PS3 prequels found an audience thanks to their utter dedication to the art of sniping, the shift in world design for Sniper’s leap to PS4 is a clear indication that CI Games is training its sights on a new suite of players. Also:…

SURF WORLD SERIES FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC PUB VISION GAMES PUBLISHING / DEV CLIMAX STUDIOS There’s yet to be a PlayStation game that really captures the thrill of surfing, so this arcade offering could make waves. Like old-skool Tony Hawk’s games, the aim is to master the art of surfing by pulling off tricks. Taking in five locations around the world, including the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, you have the choice of honing your skills in single-player or challenging up to 15 other players online. While the animation looks stiff at the moment, our insatiable appetite for extreme sports games means this has still unhinged our Jaws. DEATH SQUARED FORMAT PS4 / ETA SPRING PUB SMG STUDIO / DEV SMG STUDIO Fancy discovering how strong your friendships are? This…

MAJOR VILLAIN No, Guerrilla hasn’t got lazy when it comes to names, it's just being very quiet when pressed about this terrifying bloke. He’s the leader of an unnamed tribe which has access to Focus Devices like Aloy’s, and he plays a role in the corruption that is currently affecting the machines. He’s got his monologuing game down too, hissing: “From the depths, I will raise an army. A storm of shadows to take back what’s ours!” SILENS During our tour of the Amsterdam studio, we spy concept art for this character that names him as “Silens.” We don't know if he's actually deadly, but he is a curious figure who pays close attention to Aloy’s adventures. “You’ve come a long way since the Citadel,” he tells her via a…

“OBLIVION WAS OUR STANDARD. BUT SKYRIM CHANGED EVERYTHING.” OPM: Morrowind is such a big part of The Elder Scrolls’ history – do you feel added pressure now you’re bringing it back? Matt Firor: There’s always a lot of pressure when making any new content in any Elder Scrolls game. We’ve been dealing with this ever since we launched TESO: we have Cyrodiil in the game and we have areas that haven’t been in Elder Scrolls games since 1994. That it’s set 700-1000 years in the past gives us some leeway, but it also lets us do cool nostalgic things because we can go back and revisit areas that people are familiar with but then tell slightly different stories. That distance makes us able to do our own thing but have…

INFO FORMAT PS VR ETA OUT NOW PUB HALFBRICK TEAM DEV HALFBRICK TEAM This slice of papaya-pummelling action may be the least complicated game I’ve ever played. And y’know what? That’s not entirely a complaint. Yes, this is a one-note experience that’ll have greengrocers across the land wincing, but at least it does feature the most satisfying berry-butchering you’ll ever witness. Fruit Ninja VR first started out life on mobile devices, and the seed-stuffed core of the initial finger-tapping action translates seamlessly onto PlayStation VR. Of course, hitting your phone or PS Vita’s screen with smudgy digits to duff up fruit can’t match the accuracy of dicing watermelons with a pair of PS Move controllers. Thanks to spot-on motion tracking, destroying some farmer’s juicy produce with a pair of on-screen…

OVERWATCH Matthew Pellett falls madly in love with a certain Korean Starcraft player It’s 2am and my lounge is filled with cries of “Nerf this!” again. I usually can’t stand people sharing their gaming pics and videos on Twitter, but D.Va and her exploding bunny Ultimate is turning me into my own worst enemy – no matter how hard I try to hold back I find myself hopping onto Twitter to share every single Play Of The Game and rabbit on about it. My greatest success? An early morning moment of mushrooming mech mayhem that sees me muller a total of eight players and turrets in one big bang. “Game Over!” FIFA 17 Some extra salt for Ben Tyrer’s wounds My Ultimate Team wears Everton’s 84/85 kit and plays at…

DOCTOR PLAYSTATION Our console medic fixes your tech woes with actual science THE PROBLEM You bought a newfangled, official third-party pad, but you’re inexplicably still not an eSports superstar. Forget all that “practice” nonsense – just tweak things to your advantage. STEP 1 MAKE SURE YOUR PAD’S IN TIP-TOP SHAPE You’re among friends. Admit it. You’ve felt the urge. And take it from your trustworthy pal the Doc – there’s no feeling like ripping apart something perfectly healthy. Your brand-new, officially-licensed Razer Raiju pro pad, you say? Well, that wasn’t what I meant. You say “tomato”, I say “career-endangering felony.” To get the most out of your £149.99 peripheral, you should customise it to fit what your mum calls your, er, “unique” playstyle. Aww. First, get the thing working. Pulling…

1 “YOU’LL BE PROPERLY STEAMING WHEN, SEVEN HOURS IN, YOU STILL HAVEN’T EXHAUSTED THE TUTORIALS.” 2 “THE EVENTUAL CONCLUSION YOU’VE FOUGHT SO VALIANTLY TO REACH DELIVERS MORE LOOSE ENDS THAN A LOST SEASON FINALE.” 3 “THERE’S ENOUGH GORE-SPILLAGE HERE TO SATISFY THAT JAPANESE HORROR HARDCORE. JUST WATCH OUT FOR THE SEVERED HEAD IN THE GOODY BAG.” 4 “PLAYING AGAINST AI CHARACTERS IS… ESSENTIALLY PRACTICE FOR THE ONGOING, LIMITLESS CHALLENGE OF TAKING ON REAL PEOPLE.”…

PICK #1 STARDEW VALLEY Bonkers bachelorette Jen Simpkins on why 16-bit rural romance is this RPG’s heart In real life I may be hopelessly – I mean blissfully – unattached, but in this farm sim, I’m a regular Casanova. Ahem. Thanks to realistically written personalities, trying to win the affections of NPCs (via gift-giving and careful dialogue choices) feels far more real than seducing Harvest Moon’s twee anime tropes. The down side? Getting rejected at the Flower Dance properly stings. *stifled sob* PICK #2 THE LAST OF US: LEFT BEHIND Single shut-in Jen Simpkins diversifies the dating pool with Ellie’s coming-of-age tale And if there’s a better way to kick me while I’m down than this bittersweet add-on, I can’t think of it. Although not technically a dating sim, or…