Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i PLAY

“NAUGHTY DOG STARTED MY PLAYSTATION JOURNEY, AND IT’S STILL INSPIRING ME TO THIS DAY.” GAME OF THE MONTH Ghost Recon Wildlands FAVE VIDEOGAME ANIMAL Pey’j One of the first games I ever reviewed was Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, and 19 years later Sony’s mascot, and Naughty Dog, are still making headlines. In Crash’s case, he’s never looked better. I wonder if I could get remade with improved fur and a winning smile? Picking up the pad this month and playing Crash again reminded me just why I love games: the humour, the challenge, the invention. This issue’s fuzzy nostalgia doesn’t end at Crash, as we take a closer look at the remakes, remasters and reboots heading to PS3 and Pro this year. If the return of Final Fantasy VII, PaRappa…

SONIC DELAYED (SLIGHTLY) Sega’s hog revival has been given a new ‘summer’ release date. Sega squeezed out some new info on the game’s content with the reveal of a Green Hill Zone Act 2, which showcased the ability to burn your bridges – literally. Sonic can now set fire to bridges to unlock new areas ripe for ring collection. NUTRI NINJA Need a new Doom-like fix? Then first-person ninja sim Shadow Warrior 2 could be the ticket. Featuring fast, old-school gameplay combined with open-ended missions, customisable weapons and a slicing system that enables you to cut up enemies slimmer than a New York deli, this is an FPS to watch. DROP IT LIKE IT’S SHOT New to Season Four of everyone’s favourite car-soccer mashup is Dropshot, in which you smash…

“A RETURN TO THE NOUGHTIES WOULD SHOOT SONY TO SUCCESS.” IAN DEAN EDITOR Syphon Filter was Sony’s shot at noughties adult gaming, and Gabe Logan was the poster boy for brooding M-for-Mature gunplay. A return is a must. I want the anti-Drake on my PS4, developed by Quantic Dream. Who could resist playing an aging, alcoholic Gabe Logan, broken from a life soundtracked by Mark Snow and dealing with Escher-esque conspiracy layered upon conspiracy? I’d turn David Cage’s poetic dialogue and QTEs on Gabe and watch him go full John Wick on his handlers. Even Quantic’s notorious plot holes couldn’t ruin Gabe’s return. Syphon Filter was built on plot holes. Gabe loves’em. “IT’S FRY TIME WE GOT A PS4 COOKING SIM – HOSTED BY CASTLEVANIA’S ALUCARD, NATCH.” JEN SIMPKINS GAMES…

My buddy and I have a problem we’re hoping you can help solve. We live a few hundred miles away and online gaming works as a way of staying in touch and keeping the bromance alive! But we’re struggling to find good two-player online games to tackle. Could you throw us a couple of less-well-known ideas in your letters page? Kieran Westbrook via email Challenge accepted! ‘Raptor sim’ Eagle Flight has fun multiplayer dogfights. Rise Of The Tomb Raider’s Endurance mode is great in co-op, as you and your mate will have to keep each other alive. Don’t overlook Watch Dogs 2; you can either complete missions together or go free-roaming. And you’ve won a year’s subscription to OPM, so you can keep your eye out for great new two-player…

“ASKING PLAYERS TO FILL IN THE BLANKS ISN’T LAZINESS ON THE PART OF DEVS – IT CAN SERVE AS A MECHANIC IN ITS OWN RIGHT.” There’s no game – and no PlayStation – without play. Despite us all now being pretty used to ‘play’ meaning ‘hammer on buttons until exciting stuff happens’, the truth is, play is quite an abstract thing. Remember being a kid and getting a cool new action figure? It wasn’t always about the actual toy. It was about dreaming up what to do with it. For me, imagination was the key to everything – and it still is. I get the most kicks out of projecting fantasies onto the given material. When I was nine, it was using elastic to make Kermit a bungie-jumping stuntphibian or…

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ‘Cut here’. Talk about a deliciously dark tatt. Of course, this is Trevor Phillips you’re dealing with. GTA V’s resident psycho dresses so scruffily, and has such disdain for his appearance, he makes hobos look like catwalk models. It’s no surprise his neck art is so brazenly nihilistic. Need a hug, Trev? 2 YAKUZA If you’re going to earn a nickname based on your tatts, you’d better make them kickass. Luckily for ‘The Dragon of the Dojima Family’, he got a fiery serpent plastered on his back, rather than, say, a sausage dog. Much as we love Kaz Kiryu, ‘The Dachshund of the Dojima Family’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. 3 INFAMOUS: SECOND SON Delsin Rowe is such a tool. Yes, you…

“A BIZARRE STORY, BODY-HOPPING BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS.” i FORMAT PS4 / ETA JULY / PUB TERRIBLE TOYBOX / DEV TERRIBLE TOYBOX Well, aren’t we just as happy as a circus clown with a packet of smokes? The creators of this charmingly designed, neo-noir point-and-click title – who were the people behind both Maniac Mansion and The Secret Of Monkey Island – will be bringing their latest title to PS4 after all. Prepare to puzzle, pixel-hunt and perspective-switch your way through its curious locale. The eponymous town just so happens to be nestled cosily next to the site of a recent murder. Ripe for the investigating, then. That’s exactly what Agents Ray and Reyes – a Mulder and Scully-esque pair – must do, guided by your pinpoint-sharp eye for clues and…

“YOU CAN, FOR INSTANCE, CHOOSE THE MORE DEVILISH ‘HUMILIATE’ OPTION.” i FORMAT PS4 / ETA 25 AUGUST PUB WARNER BROS / DEV MONOLITH The Nemesis system: truly the crowning achievement of the first PS4 Tolkien tie-in, Shadow Of Mordor. It’s back in the clever action-RPG’s sequel – and somehow more impressive than ever. Sitting through a 16-minute slice of gameplay gives us a glimpse of Shadow of War’s upgraded Nemesis system in action. In the heat of battle, Talion is confronted by Orcs who, thanks to the system, hold a grudge. Like WWE wrestlers, they bellow about just why Talion deserves a good kicking. The monologuing is heaps of fun, adding personality to the slaughter. Next up, we see two of Talion’s allies join forces: a Marauder Beast Mount and…

“DIG DEEP DOWN INTO YOUR CHEAT CODE TO TRIGGER THE MULTI-DASH.”  FORMAT PS4 / ETA SUMMER / PUB DEVOLVER DIGITAL / DEV REIKON GAMES The world loves a pretty face. But you hate the world. The year is 2091, and Rengkok City is a purgatory for trapped souls. The HEAVEN corporation controls lives and hacks minds, in the business of bending innocents to its will. It lies to you. It uses you. And just in case you get any ideas about not doing exactly as you’re told, it kidnaps your brother. HEAVEN – and the world – can go to hell. So put on your mask, and raise your weapon. All that need for vengeance boiling in your blood and circuits has to go somewhere. Top-down shooter Ruiner simply…

Starting in the temple, Crash bobs invitingly, then we’re off… Using a slide-jump technique, a glitch in the original game, enables Crash to jump higher and faster. The DualShock control means we can jump diagonally across platforms. Landing on the green platform takes us to the Bonus stage… we slide-spin for speed. The slide-jump can often send Crash veering off a ledge, but it’s fast. Heading deeper into the level, we ride the Blue Gem platform to discover a new route. Slide-jumping across the hippo, we spin and collect a whole bunch of wumpa fruit, then we need to jump the green nitro crates. One misstep and it all goes boom! Back on the jet board, holding q to speed up, Crash has more nitro crates to avoid. More…

Spinning that Final Fantasy VII disc for the first time back in 1997 was a moment to remember. Back then, RPGs simply didn’t do 3D graphics, let alone FMV. You wanted a roleplayer, you put up with cute sprites. But here was a game that sung PlayStation’s tune – literally, it made great use of the ‘new’ 24-channel sound Sony’s grey box could deliver. While the original took only a year to develop the PS4 remake has already been in development for two years, with director Nomura Tetsuya keen to refresh the familiar turn-based gameplay. Speaking in Monaco at the The Magic 2017 event, Tetsuya revealed Final Fantasy VII Remake will feature a new cover mechanic, and the original random encounters system is now gone, he said: “This is because…

The thought of heading back to Raccoon City’s police HQ and going toe-to-tongue with an HD Licker fills us with joyous dread. Considered the Godfather 2 of videogames, it was a class act that clawed its way out of the original’s haunted house trappings and offered so much more. It was also our first run-in with videogame bad girl and soundbite villain, Ada Wong. Playing as either Claire Redfield or Leon S. Kennedy, the game offers two different storylines, and your actions in each game affect the story of the next (in total there are four scenarios to unlock). On replay actions you perform on your first play-through remain intact, so items found and used by Claire will be missing for Leon, or characters react differently. Memories of tackling the…

IAN EDITOR GRIP If WipEout was the Ibiza superclub of ’90s racing games, all foam parties and tans, Rollcage was its underground kid brother. It was raw, brutal and fast… very fast. And it looks like Grip is the closest I’ll get to my driving-on-the-ceiling physics-based racing fix on PS4, and I’m happy with that. Just leave Fatboy Slim off the guest list. MILFORD ART EDITOR WIPEOUT OMEGA COLLECTION In my eyes, WipEout is PlayStation. It was the game I bought with my PS1 all those years ago, and this remastered collection of PS3’s WipEout HD & Fury DLC, along with the Vita’s 2048, is going to be an essential purchase for me. Super smooth, 4K racing is going to make this slicker than a greased greyhound. MIM OPERATIONS EDITOR…

Rollcage was a revelation back in 1999 as its grippy cars enabled you to race on ceilings, flip, and spin in mid-air. Now it’s back, as some of the original team pay homage with Grip. OPM: How did Rollcage come about? Dave Perryman: It was one of those ideas that evolved over time, rather than popping into existence all at once. It started as a technical demo on moving polygons through PSX faster and more efficiently than anyone had seen before. Which suggested a racing game. With the rendering sorted, we had loads more space to fit other things in: physics, weapons, effects and falling buildings. Crazy speed and downforce were in there from the beginning. But, perhaps surprisingly, not the oversized wheels. They were introduced a few months into…

“THESE ARE ENVIRONMENTS OF A SCALE THAT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE IN THE N64 ERA.” The two-and-a-bit-million-pound question: is Yooka-Laylee a joyous echo of the past, or a reminder that games have moved on since the late ’90s? Predictably, it’s a little bit of both. Playtonic’s spirited debut certainly owes a debt to the past of its many ex-Rare staff, but in successfully evoking the feel of those early 3D platformers, it brings with it a few unwelcome holdovers and some rough edges besides. That isn’t to say Playtonic has treated the genre’s history with undue reverence, nor that it hasn’t attempted to modernise the old-school 3D platformer. And the benefits of revisiting the genre with current tech are soon obvious. It’s there in the early moments of the hub…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB BIGBEN INTERACTIVE DEV KYLOTONN Ain’t it grand when games are fun? Not highbrow, not envelope-pushing, just a refreshingly silly good time. That’s what Flatout 4 presents: a daft racer that exists to slap a smile on your face. Who needs Gran Turismo’s photorealistic dashes when you can catapult a driver into a gigantic toy castle of Jenga blocks? This is a lovely big picnic of a racer. A meaty serving of 16 traditional cups is backed up by the delicious treats of the titular Flatout mode – an assortment of deathmatch and stunts events – before a generous eight-player online suite1 of skirmishes finishes a spread any petrolhead army of ants would be delighted to devour. What separates it from the racing game…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB BIGBEN INTERACTIVE DEV GLOOMYWOOD You don’t see too many retro stealth-survival horror titles with adventure game inventories ported to console these days. 2Dark exists – in a cruel sort of way – to show us exactly why that is.1 The story of Smith – a man whose family was torn apart, somewhat literally, when his wife was decapitated and his children abducted while he obliviously swore at a tent – should be at least engaging. Helmed by Frédérick Raynal, creator of 1992’s Alone In The Dark (and, by extension, most of the survival horror genre), it should also be good. Sadly, what we have is a game which mixes squat voxel art with top-down backdrops to spectacularly ugly effect; which asks you to…

SNIPER ELITE 4 Ben Tyrer accidentally creates co-op chaos There’s nothing more cathartic than watching Nazis’ nuts explode, but what happens when you add another person to the equation? I hop online to try out the San Cellini opening mission with a rando. As we start, we both sprint forward like Usain Bolt. Before you can say “communication is key” we’re blazing our own trails in separate directions and blowing holes into every soldier in our vicinity. Alarms blare, but we make surprising headway… until we cross paths, giving our enemies two easy targets. Thank god the war doesn’t hinge on our efforts. GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS Ian Dean ventures into the big country I can’t follow orders, or so I’m told, so online tactical team-based shooters aren’t usually my thing.…

DOCTOR PLAYSTATION Our console medic fixes your tech woes with actual science THE PROBLEM Too. Many. Games. 2017’s ridiculously chocca lineup is pushing your PS4’s hard drive to the limit – and what to do about the ever-multiplying Horizon screenshots? The Doc’s got the cure. STEP 1 BOOST YOUR STORAGE AND POWER Normally, I make a point of only ever praying to deities at least 50% of the way through surgery. Nevertheless, let’s all drop to our knees for a quiet moment to thank whatever’s up there for the latest firmware update’s external HDD support. Yep, it’s all the Doc’s nefarious dreams come true: extra space in which to stick random junk that probably doesn’t even need to be there. Up to 8TB, in fact. Simply grab your hard drive…

1 “THERE’S HEAPS OF FUN TO BE HAD JUST POKING AROUND WITH STUFF TO SEE HOW IT ALL WORKS.” 2 “BY THE GAME’S END YOU’LL LIKELY HAVE ENOUGH GOODIES TO MAKE YOURSELF A HOSPITAL WING’S WORTH OF PAINKILLERS.” 3 “LIKE THE STONES, IT’S NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE. STILL, ON THE PLUS SIDE, IT’S UNLIKELY TO TAKE DRUGS IN YOUR KITCHEN OR SLEEP WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND.” 4 “IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS YOU’RE BETTER OFF SPENDING A FEW HOURS READING WIKIPEDIA.”…

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…

Jen Simpkins GAMES EDITOR Jen’s time with Night In The Woods (p97) sent her into a Millennial spin; she’s so down even her student debt has depreciation. GAME OF THE MONTH Night In The Woods FAVE VIDEOGAME ANIMAL Trico Ben Tyrer STAFF WRITER Playing Mass Effect (p82) sent our Ben crazy, but a new pet cat and a dose of Feliway calmed him. Who wants to tickle his tummy? GAME OF THE MONTH Mass Effect Andromeda FAVE VIDEOGAME ANIMAL Croc (from Croc 2) Miriam McDonald OPERATIONS EDITOR Mim spent a week away from OPM sanding her floorboards and ironing; that pile of unsubbed OPM pages never looked better. GAME OF THE MONTH Lego Worlds FAVE VIDEOGAME ANIMAL Dragon Quest Dracky Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR Milf can’t wait for the…

51cm Height of the limited edition Lady Maria Bloodborne statue on sale in Japan. 06 Remastered retro games in the Disney Afternoon Collection – out 18 April. 2,600,000+ Copies of Horizon Zero Dawn sold in just two weeks. 2% Monthly cashback you can get shopping the PS Store with a Sony Bank card. £4.33bn The record amount that the UK games market was worth in 2016. Cha-ching! 7000 How much in-game “steel” For Honor’s new emotes cost. Waaaaay too pricy. 2.9 Size, in GB, of the digital version of Yooka-Laylee. (Our review’s on p76.)…

“PLAYSTATION 4’S DOMINANCE OF 2017 IS LED BY ASIA. WHY? JAPAN DARES TO BE DIFFERENT.” PlayStation 4 has been commanding the console war in 2017’s early months. If Xbox One were a face, PS4 would be a Yakuza’s impeccably polished loafer, stomping on it forever. It has been a non-stop barrage of distinct videogames, all exclusive to PS4. Even my PC gaming friends have bought Sony’s console, such is the power of its library. Whether you’ve been coaxing Trico up a ledge in The Last Guardian, mastering the timing of a Ki Pulse in Nioh, churning through machines in Nier: Automata, teaching a dominatrix to be assertive in Yakuza 0, or flipping between school and the subconscious in Persona 5, PS4 has been providing a quality 2017 – all built…

“A MISFIT CAST OF 12 IS MADE TO BE MIXED UP INTO STRIKE TEAMS.” i FORMAT PS4 / ETA 18 AUG PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV VOLITION Dying to play a generic, grizzled army dude with a semi-automatic rifle and a dark past? Fill your boots: there are plenty of them shuffling about in PS4’s shooters. But if you fancy piloting a different sort of bullet-sponge – say, a roller derby player with a minigun and anger issues – then Volition’s new third-person shooter has you covered. In our latest hands-on, we’re skating an extremely hungover Piper Andrews (codename Daisy) around the acid-bright, open-world city of Seoul. Our mission? To find out what in the whole hell we got up to last night. Mercifully, there’s no tiger in the bathtub,…

“THE CARNAGE ACTS AS A YUCKY BREADCRUMB TRAIL.” i FORMAT PS4 / ETA 9 MAY / PUB DEVOLVER DIGITAL / DEV PIXEL TITANS The routine goes thusly: walk forward. Grab shotgun. Climb stairs. Through the doors, launch forward into the blue teleporting pad and… well, exactly what happens next is at the mercy of the code. We might sprint left then left again into a room crawling with acid-spewing aliens, or straight into a narrow corridor where we’re rushed by swarms of swipe-happy demons. But there is one constant in this procedurally generated retro FPS – blood. It’s squirting out of neck stumps and covering the walls, dripping from the ceiling and pooling around stampeding feet. Gratuitous? Far from it. Strafe’s never-ending showers of viscera serve far more than your…

“THE MURMUR OF HIDDEN HORRORS SETS US ON EDGE.” FORMAT PS VR / ETA SUMMER PUB FIRESPRITE / DEV FIRESPRITE Waking on board the spaceship Persistence we, begin to explore our surroundings. A soothing female voice welcomes us. Family photos suggest comfort, toys and cutlery fill the nearby shelves. Then we notice the blood splatters, the scattered furniture, and a sense of dread takes over. The cold of space enters our bloodstream. We’re light years from help on board a stranded science vessel caught in the pull of a black hole. And, it would seem, we’re not alone. Like a resurrected Dead Space, Firesprite’s new game feels familiar, but the weight of the PS VR headset reminds us The Persistence is something new. The world is tangible and solid,…

“THE STANDARD BEARER FOR PUNISHINGLY MOREISH RACING.” The halogen whirl of the Anti-Gravity Racing League is PlayStation through and through. From developing precise muscle memory for every track to an entrancing electro soundtrack to drinking in the console-pushing visuals, it’s always been the standard bearer for punishingly moreish futuristic racing. It also means that a new WipEout is a showcase for what a PlayStation console can do. A remaster might feel at odds with that, but Sony XDev Producer Mark O’Connor explains how 4K graphics push the series forward, “We’ve got a mix of textures in there now, we’ve got full-screen bloom, we’ve got better anti-aliasing, we have heat haze on the back of the ships. There’s just little things that we can add now that kind of are subtle…

Did you own this one when it first released on PSP? Chances are, you only need read the words (word?) LocoRoco for your brain/mouth to immediately burst into one of its joyous nonsense songs. Completely unique, colourful and surprisingly complex, the platformer has you rolling blob-beings across varied puzzle-worlds by tilting the world with the shoulder buttons, splitting up and reforming their merry mass using to clear each level’s obstacles. It’s a genius, feel-good, ray of sunshine of a game that’s set to come into its own on PS4 via upgraded visuals, the addition of DualShock motion controls (that can be switched on and off on the fly) and the lovely touch of LocoRoco occasionally singing to you via the controller’s speaker. Awww. INFO ORIGINAL: PSP, 2006 DEV SONY JAPAN…

Slicing monsters in half is a timeless and oft-used concept, but Santa Monica’s spectacular hack-and-slash is a stellar example of making the old feel new again. Devil May Cry, Onimusha and Ray Harryhausen are all clear touchstones, but the melting pot they’re thrown into doesn’t feel lazy and even manages to surpass them. Chaining combos with a fluency few games can match, there is a sense of grand scale that is peerless on PS2, and even tricky puzzles that give the game a captivating ebb and flow. Stitching all together is the undeniably fun Kratos, a man so focused on revenge, nobody is safe from getting a bare-handed dissection in his brooding quest. Alright, the Blades of Hades are still rageinducingly difficult, but it just made getting past them all…

FRANKIE MOONEY DESTRUCTION DERBY I’d love to see Destruction Derby return, rebooted and remastered for PS4. A long overdue return to The Bowl is in order, wreckin’ races and a never to be forgotten soundbite of “Your radiator’s blown!” Online multiplayer would top off a most long-awaited return on PS4. MARTYN BOWELL SOUL REAVER Soul Reaver. The story was great and that shifting mechanic was stunning. Raziel was pretty badass too with that glowing blade. The idea of swapping between the real and spectral worlds to freeze falling items and create platforms was great. Add in a nice (optional) VR section and you have a winner on your hands. Can you start a petition to make this happen? KURTIS SIMPSON BLOODY ROAR The possibility of a reboot to the Bloody…

Back in 1993, things weren’t going so well for game developers Rand and Robyn Miller. Then they released a highly ambitious project – first-person adventure title Myst – onto the Macintosh and into the wild. Everything changed. Praised by critics and gamers alike for its ability to immerse players in its curious puzzle island, the brothers’ project spawned four sequels, a handful of spin-offs, plenty of opportunistic ‘clones’, and was ported to PlayStation in 1996. Twenty-three years on, the game’s still spoken of in reverent tones. Now Rand Miller has struck out on his own with a spiritual successor to Myst and its sequel Riven, named Obduction. On its way to PS4 and PS VR, Obduction’s alien worlds and tough puzzles are set to make us all, er, Mysty-eyed. OPM…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB BRAINSEED FACTORY DEV BRAINSEED FACTORY Words are powerful things; when used correctly they are beneficial, but the wrong ones can lead to disaster. Developer Brainseed Factory has cleverly crafted this concept into a videogame. The result is an experience akin to playing a 2D platformer and a game of Scrabble at the same time. There are no weapons or fancy moves here. Your only power is your ability to manipulate letters to create words in order to progress. Sometimes this is a simple case of pushing existing letters together and reordering them; at other times you’ll be faced with a selection of letters and have to find and create a useful word.1 Which word is needed depends on the situation. Can’t get past…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB MAXIMUM GAMES DEV SPIRAL HOUSE The concept for Troll & I is an awfully familiar one – a young boy exploring a mystical land with the aid of a giant creature. Sadly, this is where the similarities between this and The Last Guardian end. While the latter is a carefully crafted masterpiece boasting an extraordinary story and gaming’s greatest furry friend, Troll & I is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. It’s instantly clear that the budget for the game couldn’t accommodate the developer’s imagination. What’s emerged from that overreaching ambition is not only unpolished but, at times, unplayable. Unresponsive enemies and getting stuck outside the map are only the tip of the iceberg of inexcusable bugs. One of the game’s most intriguing…

@itsJenSim Spring has sprung (kind of. It’s slightly warmer outside) and, appropriately, plenty of lively types popped up in this month’s PS Plus lineup. A papercraft must-own, a brand-new Frisbee-flinging multiplayer title and one of PS Vita’s very best – and all were as free as a baby bird busting its merry way out of an eggy prison. Mmm, delicious eggy prison. On toast, maybe. Got to stop writing this column before lunch. So, anyway – videogames. A fun surprise came in the form of DISC JAM (PS4), a fast-paced, air hockey-esque competitive Frisbee sports game. School your friends with powerful abilities, perfect shots and look back-flipping rad while doing so. (Check out our full review on p100.) But updated for PS4 and eternally lovely, it was original PS Vita…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB REBELLION DEV REBELLION REVIEW #134, 7/10 While Karl Fairburne’s single-player adventure suffers a little from content overload, heading onto the online battlegrounds is where a comprehensive suite of modes pays off. There’s the heart-rate-troubling competitive multiplayer, where one-shot kills are a frequent punishment to impatient players, and modes like No Cross, where an area of no-man’s-land forces teams to go for long-distance kills. There’s also the co-op, where you can replay story missions with a pal, and Survival, which gets you to fight with four others to repel waves of Nazi soldiers. Nothing is revolutionary, but there’s plenty of variety that pushes the game’s mechanics in entertaining ways. Just leave the run-and-gun game plans in the lobby. VERDICT While the delayed gratification won’t be to everyone’s…

THE ARK OF TIME – RAVEN’S CHOICE Gravity Rush 2’s free DLC story finally puts you in control of tough lass Raven, as she fights to rescue her friends from the Ark of Time. BEYOND THE WALLS Homefront: The Revolution gets one final story DLC, where you head off to Pennsylvania, which thankfully draws this less-than-stellar saga to an end. FASTER BABY! Mafia III’s first story DLC adds a new town to explore. Sinclair Parish is less idyllic than it sounds, as Lincoln investigates the murder of a civil rights leader. HORIZON ZERO DAWN COSTUME PACK LittleBigPlanet 3’s latest round of costumes brings in adorable skins of Aloy, Rost, a Watcher and Grazer to choose from. All together now: aww! ABOVE THE LAW The Walking Dead: A New Frontier’s third…

The world may never live to see a great videogame movie, but Assassin’s Creed comes closer than any film since Silent Hill. Sniffy reviews unfairly pegged Michael Fassbender’s historical stab-’em-up as a disaster of Assassin’s Creed III proportions. Though it’s unlikely to be the Apple of anyone’s eye, the big-screen Creed isn’t far off Full Synchronisation. Taking its cue from the first game, Fassbender stars as death row inmate Callum Lynch, who is ‘saved’ by the shady Abstergo and hooked up to a snazzy new Animus. In the past, Callum explores the memories of his ancestor – 15th-century Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha (also Fassbender) – unwittingly leading the shady Templars to the all-powerful Apple Of Eden. Steadfast in its faithfulness to the games, it’s difficult to imagine a more…

“PART DARK SCHOOL DRAMA, PART SLICK DUNGEON-CRAWLER, IT’S DELIGHTING FANS – AND WINNING OVER SERIES NEWCOMERS.” It took four years, but as our 10/10 review last issue proves, some things are worth waiting for. April 4 has arrived, and Persona 5’s Phantom Thieves are pilfering hearts on PS3 and PS4. Part dark school drama, part slick dungeon-crawler, it’s delighting fans – and winning over series newbies. We ask game director Katsura Hashino: how do you reach a global audience? “We knew we had to find a theme that would resonate with everyone,” Hashino-san tells us. “Whether they think, ‘Maybe this has something to do with me’ as they play. These days, people of all ages navigate social media in their everyday lives. “When I see people refusing to change their…

Star Wars: Rivals has been trademarked by Lucasarts, which could be a potential game name. Our sources tell us that after work is finished on Halo Wars 2, a new Alien game may start development over at Alien Isolation dev Creative Assembly. An alleged shot of the next Assassin’s Creed again hints at Egypt. Could Zombies be coming to Battlefield 1? Moans can be heard coming from the latest DLC… Leaked images suggest that the first two DLC fighters in For Honor will be the Ninja and the Centurion.…

NOW PLAYING Make some space, PS3 titles – PS4 games are finally joining them on the PlayStation Now streaming service. Oooh, that’s a lot of good rental titles. FINAL DESTINY-ATION Destiny’s final update, The Age Of Triumph, has players hopping back into The Vault Of Glass et al to say farewell ahead of the imminent sequel… CENTAUR DE FORCE Overwatch’s 24th hero has officially arrived. Orisa is a strangely adorable, multi-limbed tank boasting protective barriers and a team-damage-boosting Ultimate. YAY OR NEIGH? This year’s PAX East saw a special joke card added to The Witcher spin-off game Gwent… Glitchy Roach. Sounds like he won’t be staying, though. We’re sad. OUTLAST 2 X-RATED Red Barrels’ first-person survival horror almost made Australia’s banned list due to its implied sexual violence. The uncut…

@DISCIPLEOFREN Persona 5 just looks like so much fun @ANIMATEDANT It’s all about #CrashBandicoot for me right now... Even booked a day off work to play it! @PUERTOROCK77 I just didn’t didn’t get it. Technically still don’t. 3 person = The Last of us?? Huh? @TOADSANIME My favourite games are imperfect (hello, NieR:Automata). @STLTHRIOT Trico’s behavior definitely reminds me of my cat :D @ZACATTACK_ Words cannot describe how much I want my own little Elcor. @STEVE04K #Persona5 is not 10/10 especially when you give the outstanding #Horizon ZeroDown 9/10?? @TCRUTE88 well I’m sold you can’t have a mass effect game without space hamster!!! @KYLAELENA It’s no space hamster, but I’ll accept this small and adorable replacement =<3 @SCAWTEH this is the most hideous thing i have ever seen [Not a…

What’s your favourite PlayStation pairing? 27% Love the platonic pairing of The Last Of Us’ Joel and Ellie. 17% Believe a Lombax and robot buddy – Ratchet and Clank – is the best pairing. 15% Are loopy enough to think Snake and Otacon are a double act. 8% Reckon Jak and Daxter are the best buds on PlayStation. 25% Think that Uncharted Nate and Elena’s marital bliss is tops. 8% Can’t seem to get enough of the friendship between Trico and the boy. NEXT MONTH Unleash your inner Clarkson – what’s your favourite car on PlayStation? It doesn’t have to be in a racing game.…

“ A BESPOKE SCORE ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE MEMORIES TO GO ALONG WITH THE MUSIC YOU LISTEN TO.” You wouldn’t think a five-year-old music score to a barely remembered PS3 shooter is essential listening in 2017. Yet here I am, blasting the Max Payne 3 soundtrack down my eager earholes almost every day in the office, reminiscing about slow-mo dives and a bald pessimist. It’s the perfect example of how an original soundtrack can help a game outlive its usual sell-by date. The usual conversation about songs in games tends to focus on licensed tracks. Billie Jean in Vice City and Goldfinger’s Superman in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater are two classic examples of songs that go on to define memories of the games they’re in. But MJ’s classic plays on…

1 Colombia-born sky pirate Fortune is best mates with a little drone named Glory. Her Mayhem ability is an AoE attack that stuns all enemies in the vicinity. 2 TV star, PR guy, and flasher of pearly whites, Hollywood’s super attack sets off action movie explosions, ups his rate of fire and triggers unlimited ammo. 3 Sailor Hardtack believes in mine over matter. Specifically, up to 12 of them – shot all over the shop, and detonated all at once by thumping the bumpers again. 4 Immunologist archer Rama’s Mayhem ability creates a toxic cloud that spreads and infects enemies, forcing them to take damage over time. She’s poison……

GET EVEN This deeply weird puzzle title has you play a lady trying to ‘even’ out the missing side of her face with household items. Toasters! Dinner plates! Coat hangers! Cheese! Points awarded for ‘beauty’, ‘innovation’, or ‘flammability’. FORMAT PS4 ETA 26 MAY FINAL FANTASY XII: THE ZODIAC AGE The apocalypse is here. Fight invaders – 100-foot black letters come to visit their rage upon the blank white void that is now our world. They also happen to spell ‘Final Fantasy XII’. Huh. FORMAT PS4 ETA 11 JUL RIME A couch co-op game in which player one controls a little boy’s hunt for magical string that player two – a giant disembodied hand – must thread through the world’s biggest needle. Tense stuff, and darn fun. FORMAT PS4 ETA 26…

1 As you progress through the Persistence you’ll uncover new details on why your company, Erubus, sent you on a fatal mission to an unstable black hole. 2 It’s a VR shooter, so scale plays a huge role in exploring the Persistence’s corridors. That means don’t forget to look up and take in the wonderful sights. 3 Coming from the art team behind the original WipEout, the environments in the game are great to play in. You’ll believe these places exist, which is handy for VR. 4 Taking time out from being hunted to search the ship’s crew quarters for video logs will reap rewards; you’ll either unlock new story details, DNA, or schematics.…

IMPACT WINTER FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC PUB BANDAI NAMCO DEV MOJO BONES Before you roll your eyes at another post-apocalyptic survival experience to pit yourself against, Mojo Bones’ Day After Tomorrowesque winter wasteland is an interesting twist on the genre. You’re stepping into the fur-lined boots of Jacob Solomon, who discovers a church, buried under snow, that’s full of survivors. With help arriving in 30 days, you’ll have to work together to survive. That means venturing out to complete missions, managing resources and settling disputes. Fans of The Flame in the Flood’s structural survival should prepare for winter. STAR TREK: BRIDGE CREW FORMAT PS VR ETA 30 MAY / PUB UBISOFT DEV RED STORM Being part of a four-person crew and working together to complete a rescue mission in…

OPM: What are your personal memories of the first Crash Bandicoot game? DT: The game, at release, was a technological marvel but beyond that it was just a beautiful game to look at. I feel bad saying this for other PS1 games, but hardly any other PS1 games could compete when Crash came out. It was just stunning to look at, and when you picked up and played it, it felt as if you were playing a cartoon. Really, I don’t know if that had truly been achieved before. It was very important to us that this game would also feel very impressive. From a visual point of view, from an audio point of view, certainly it won’t ever recapture that technological marvel standing that the original Crash had but…

REZ INFINITE PS VR support is the main draw for revisiting Mizuguchi’s surreally excellent rhythm action game. Being fully subsumed in the pulsating environments means that no matter how many times you played the original Rez, this new version still feels stunningly fresh. The addition of Area X, an entirely new level, is also a massive sweetener. TOMB RAIDER (2013) By going into full-on survivor mode, Lara became a PlayStation icon all over again. Her origin story is a gory and claustrophobic ordeal, but one that pushed the genre forward with a mix of Uncharted-esque set-pieces and large levels, which you explore rather than trot through. While there is a paucity of actual tombs, the ones you do find are suitably imposing. GTA V How could Rockstar manage to turn…

We caught up with some of the biggest names in the industry and asked them: If you could take a classic game or franchise and reimagine it for the PS4 era, what would it be? FOREST DOWLING LEAD LEVEL DESIGNER: BIOSHOCK INFINITE At this point, I probably would choose something like Ratchet & Clank – just something really different. The idea of working in more bright, fun worlds than I’ve worked in in the past I think could be really appealing. I like the idea that a title like Ratchet & Clank has such broad appeal across ages, you know? I think I’m done with the grim dark for a while! I was thinking of other PlayStation IP or franchises, like Socom or Guerrilla Games stuff, Killzone – it’s so…

SCOT AMOS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER Tomb Raider was on the original PlayStation 20 years ago, so I’m already doing it! You’re seeing it on screen right now. In 2013 with Tomb Raider, we got not only yelled at but actually scolded by some, like ‘What the hell are you thinking?’ and ‘Why the hell would you do that?’. So we’ve done that, we’ve actually gone in saying ‘This is now ours’. We wanted to do something that’s like, Batman Begins, Casino Royale, a retake and refresh – so we’ve actually done that. OPM: There are a lot of requests for Soul Reaver to come back… SA [joking] Soul Reaver? Is that a game? Never heard of it! [laughing] Yeah, we have so many fans, and so…

RAND MILLER CREATOR: MYST, RIVEN, OBDUCTION I’m not as motivated to shape other IPs as I am to make my own, which is weird maybe – something odd about me. But there were a few games in my history that kind of shaped me. And what I liked, Tomb Raider – at the time I would have loved to take that IP and take out the bad guys and the dogs that I had to kill, because it felt like after I got that friction out of the way, there were these worlds that were intriguing to me and that I could explore, and the friction changed. Instead of a confrontational, antagonistic friction, I got more of an exploratory friction and I had to figure out how to climb up…

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.…

WHAT YOU DO IN… LEGO WORLDS 30% Opening chests in the hunt for those elusive, essential, gold bricks. 18% Flicking through randomly generated worlds to find one you like. 14% Running around copying everything so you can spawn it at will. 10% Getting annoyed as the simplistic combat system makes you fail quests. 12% Attempting to build something using the clunky interface. 16% Putting up with hard crashes, multiplayer sync issues and more annoying bugs. HOW TO… EXPLORE THE OCEAN FLOOR Copying and spawning one of the submarine vehicles is one way to explore under water, but those can’t open chests. Unlocking the deep sea diver minifig is an obvious choice, but the skeleton can also breathe indefinitely and stand on the ocean floor. THE FIRST FIVE HOURS… 1 You…

INFO FORMAT PS VR ETA OUT NOW PUB OASIS GAMES DEV OASIS GAMES Let me fess up: escape rooms terrify me. I won’t get in a lift, let alone an elaborate bunker that stays magically locked until you solve a series of convoluted conundrums. On the surface, this should make me a strange person to review a horror game set around a set of escape rooms… virtual reality escape rooms. *gulp* But it’s not my hatred of small spaces that ruins Dying: Reborn. No, it’s because this is a laughably low-budget, infuriatingly obtuse experience.1 Audio levels are cringingly uneven, moving around in 45° increments is a chore, and puzzles make no sense. I may not be a Mensa member, but I got through Portal 2 without this much trouble. After…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB EUROVIDEO MEDIEN DEV WEAPPY Jack Boyd – police chief and jazz aficionado1 – has got style, but the more we see of him, the less substance we realise he has. Just like his game. This Is The Police takes place across a scale model of the town of Freeburg, a prettily low-poly America-in-microcosm caught in the grip of identity politics, civil rights protests, organised crime, and the occasional flasher.2 Your role – Jack’s role – isn’t to fix anything, really. You’re just keeping everything running, while pocketing enough money (made through legitimate bonuses, corruption-based brown envelopes, or both) to retire with a bulging nest egg. You do this through a real-time management game, responding to crimes with your rotating staff of varyingly talented…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB HIGH HORSE ENTERTAINMENT DEV HIGH HORSE ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW N/A This blisteringly fast mix of ultimate Frisbee and tennis should be multiplayer heaven, but finicky controls and a paucity of modes currently keep this arcade sports curio from greatness. Matches are short bursts of action that demand simple controls with hidden depths, but it’s just a little too complex to consistently hit that sweet spot. For instance, you can curve the disc’s flight by twirling the left stick immediately after your throw, but the timing window is so small, getting a precise arc feels more like magic than science. It’s a good enough premise that there’s some enjoyment to be had from long rallies and tense matches, but with only singles and doubles matches to pick between,…

COD: MODERN WARFARE REMASTERED – VARIETY MAP PACK Now even DLC is getting a lick of paint. You get four maps with this add-on: the huge Creek; the TV station abattoir of Broadcast; the neon hum of Chinatown; and the cramped Killhouse. TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION – LAST STAND Time to head back into the Dark Zone with this latest expansion, as teams of eight Division agents have to fend off rogue agents who are fighting for control of relay points. There’s also a new incursion, Stolen Signal, to keep you busy. DARK SOULS III – THE RINGED CITY The last hurrah for Miyazaki’s peerless series sees you journeying to the titular city, chasing after the Slave Knight Gael (last seen at the start of the previous DLC) at the…

THE BIRTH OF A NATION 17 APR Nate Parker’s controversial drama about Nat Turner – the literate slave preacher who led a bloody rebellion – hits hard, but lacks subtlety. MINE 17 APR A soldier (Armie Hammer) steps on a mine and can’t take his foot off for 52 hours until help arrives. With a concept like that it sounds like da bomb. THE VOID 24 APR Horror about a gateway to hell that opens inside a hospital. Creepy creatures, but nowhere near as much fun without heavy metal and a BFG. CATFIGHT 24 APR Two estranged college friends get their claws out for a catfight when a chance encounter at a party brings unresolved hostilities to the surface. WHY HIM? 1 MAY Bryan Cranston’s overprotective dad battles his daughter’s…

“YOU’LL CHANGE A BABY’S NAPPY, THEN STRIP FOR A SLEAZY CLUB OWNER.” INFO PUB SONY DEV QUANTIC DREAM PRODUCTIONS RELEASED PS3, 2010 GET IT NOW PSN, £24.99 NEED TO KNOW 1 It debuted at E3 2006 with ‘The Casting’ demo. 2 Cage claims Sony made $100m on the game. 3 A PS Move edition was introduced in late 2010. Some weather we’ve been having lately, huh? And what about all that precipitation. Why, you could almost say it was downright weighty… and also a bit French. Very, very French. We mean that in the nicest way possible, too. After all, what would ‘interactive drama’ and, by extension, this playable mystery thriller, be without the distinctly Gallic sensibilities of one Mr David Cage? When it first launched in 2010,…

INFO PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV SQUARE ENIX RELEASED 2016 GET IT NOW GAMESEEK, £32.35 WHAT? Square Enix’s magnum opus, a sprawling game that started development all the way back in 2006 and over the following decade transformed into the ultimate buddy movie – with the addition of giant yellow ride-on birds. WHO? Louise Blain’s Final Fantasy knowledge goes as far as being able to pick a Chocobo out of a police line up. She also wears as much black as Noctis and co., but will it help? “I ASKED FOR A WEAPON, NOT AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET.” Full disclosure: the last time I played a Final Fantasy game was for this column. Corridors, boredom and an exceptionally strong hair game are my lasting memories of XIII-2 – seriously, who gives sequels…

“ I GET COCKY AND DIE. AND DIE AGAIN. I REALISE I’LL NEVER PERFECT DODGE ROLL.” PICK #1 FURI Twitch-based being Jen Simpkins is mad about the creepy cyberpunk boss battler As anyone can tell from both my game library and my dating history, I’m an enthusiast bullet-dodger. An all-bosses, all-bullets PS Plus freebie was a lovely surprise. Less lovely? Its precise, painful, palm-slickening demands. But for every failure, there’s a flicker of euphoria as my dodges sync with the throbbing tunes and another Jailer falls. A stylish, ominous, pulse-challenging play. PICK #2 ENTER THE GUNGEON Always keen to avoid a fight, Ian Dean loves dodge-rolling in the Gungeon The Gungeon team loved the dodge roll move so much they named the studio after it. It places survival front and…

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…