Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i PLAY

“FIND OUT HOW TIME SPENT WITH MAD MAX’S GEORGE MILLER AFFECTED GOD OF WAR’S GAME DIRECTOR.” GAME OF THE MONTH Uncharted: The Lost Legacy FAVE BEARD Friendly mutton chops Speaking with God Of War’s Cory Barlog this month was revelatory. He’s channelled a career of Kratos creation and film work into the forthcoming return of the series on PlayStation 4, meaning this God Of War will be more cinematic, contextual, and emotionally rewarding than any that have gone before. Find out how time spent with Mad Max’s George Miller affected God Of War’s game director on p56. Speaking of film influences, Call Of Duty’s Nazi Zombies is coming back and has been given a Hollywood makeover. The voice cast looks fantastic, and includes ex-Doctor Who David Tennant, and Ving Rhames.…

WITCH COLOUR WORKS? The Witcher series is getting an adult colouring book, giving you a chance to bring your own artistic vision to Geralt’s adventures (and bathtub). You’ll be able to snag a copy from 14 November, with pre-orders already live on Amazon if you want an early idea for a Christmas present. CREEPY, CRAWLY Middle-earth: Shadow Of War is getting a (semi) recognisable villain, as the spider Shelob is joining the story. Except, in footage we see, the monster takes human form to show Talion a vision of what could happen to Middle-earth, even if Celebrimbor doesn’t look too pleased about enlisting her help. PS PLUS A LITTLE MORE The price of PS Plus is going up in the UK on 31 August. A yearly subscription will now cost…

“It’s about time for Kojima to make a comeback and kick Konami’s ass. Hurry up and release a game already.”WE GET THE FEELING TANGO NG’S EAGER TO PLAY DEATH STRANDING “Seriously… Stop dumbing it down for people.”DENNY FEIGHAN ON TURBINE-GATE “SPORTS GAMES TAKE JUST AS MUCH SKILL AS SHOOTERS AND ADVENTURE GAMES – THAT’S WHY ESPORTS EXIST.” Shmup shortage Why are there so few really good third-person shooters in this generation of consoles? Max Payne 3 was brilliant, but that was on PS3 and we’ve had nothing to match it on PS4. Surely a developer should have come up with one by now. How about one using PS4 Pro to the max? Carl Vaizey via email Ooops, you’ve just triggered one of the team’s regular arguments: Ian reckons Ghost…

What weapon should Kratos wield after his Norse axe? 25% said something rude. You utter smutbags. 22% wanted to see Kratos getting slap-happy with Thor’s hammer. 16% kept things simple, and thought he should just use his fists. 14% picked a katana. Mmmm, Kratos in Japan – there’s a thought. 21% chose sickle or scythe. Gotta love those blades! 2% said fidget spinner. We don’t think you’re taking this seriously. NEXT MONTH We love GTA – but which radio station has been your favourite?…

“IT’S TIME FOR PS VR TO OFFER US MORE THAN JUST GREAT GAMES – BRING US EXPERIENCES TOO.” Before PlayStation VR launched, I got a little impatient and bought a Samsung Gear VR. Because it was designed to be powered by a mobile phone – albeit a powerful one – and didn’t come with a controller as standard, it tended to offer ‘experiences’ and other interesting apps instead of loads of games. Most of these were fantastic despite the Gear VR’s limitations. Now that PlayStation VR is with us, it’s interesting to note that the opposite seems to be the case. If it’s games you’re looking for there’s a healthy selection to choose from, but if you fancy something different, things are still looking a little barren. Don’t get me…

“THE FIRST LINE OF THIS NEW CHAPTER IS ABOUT ONLINE RACING.” FORMAT PS4, PS VR / ETA 18 OCT PUB SONY / DEV POLYPHONY DIGITAL Veteran PlayStation racers will remember that as the tagline on billboards, placed near motorways throughout the country, to advertise the first Gran Turismo. It might have been a bit far-fetched to suggest the PS1 game was indistinguishable from reality, but it did chime with the game’s central appeal: it was closer to driving a car than we’d ever gone before in games. But in 2017, competitors across the industry have long since beaten Kazunori Yamauchi’s studio at its own game. Assetto Corsa handles more believably. Sunlight dances across bonnets more convincingly in Driveclub. Project Cars does all that while doing a handstand. The imminent Gran…

“THIS IS ACCURATE SCI-FI MEETS HP LOVECRAFT.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2018 / PUB ROCK POCKET GAMES / DEV ROCK POCKET GAMES What if Matt Damon hadn’t been alone when he was stranded on Mars growing poo-tatoes from his own excreta? Or rather, what if he’d thought he wasn’t alone, going paranoid between veg picking? That’s the premise of this hard sci-fi psychological horror that places you on a realistically created Mars, and then messes with your mind. Set 40 years in the near future and played in first person, Moons Of Madness places you in the snug booties of astronaut Shane Newehart as he attempts to make sense of the supernatural spookiness that’s plaguing the research station Trailblazer Alpha, the first scientific outpost on Mars. Weaving puzzle solving and…

1 From Cloud to Squall to Lightning and even a rumoured appearance from XV’s Noctis, this presents all your favourites in lovely PS4-o-vision. 2 You can summon the series’ most famous creatures to provide an edge in battle. They appear with an intro and obliterate your enemies. 3 New CG cutscenes have been created for the PS4 version, with a story designed to explain why these characters are all hanging out together.…

“YOUR AIM IS TO CLEAR OUT EVERY ROOM IN THE BUILDING, ALONE OR WITH A PARTNER.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2018 / PUB GROUND SHATTER / DEV GROUND SHATTER There’s one room left in the building we’re clearing out. In it are five or six heavily armed goons in thick armour. Our partner is waiting for us to give the signal to breach. We do it in the coolest way possible, knee-sliding through the door, ready to pump lead into our enemies. Slight problem. OPM accidentally goes too late and our teammate, director James Parker, is already bursting through a door on the other side of the room. This triggers the slo-mo effect that gives us a few precious seconds to get the drop on the crims waiting for us.…

“THERE’S MORE TO STRANGE BRIGADE THAN A RIPPING YARN.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB REBELLION / DEV REBELLION Just as we’re ransacking our demo level’s titular Stone Temple for all the gold and jewels we can lay our mitts on, so Rebellion is plundering the myths and legends of the world, piped through the high adventure of a Saturday matinee. We’re in the pulpy grip of escapist fun, its Heart Of Darkness beating to the steps of a mummified horde. A horde shooter dressed in end-of-empire comic-book visuals, our first playthrough of Strange Brigade matches our preconceptions. Choosing the brilliantly named Professor Archimedes de Quincey for his Kingsley Special sub-machine gun, we start taking apart the crowds of embalmed warriors lumbering our way. When cornered we hit u…

VIEWPOINT “IT LOOKS FANTASTIC, AND THE STORY GETS OFF TO A TERRIFIC START, BUT THE NEW WEAPON CATEGORIES AND LONGER RECHARGE TIMES MEAN FIGHTS CAN FEEL SAMEY.” FORMAT PS4 ETA 6 SEP 2017 PUB ACTIVISION DEV BUNGIE We only review finished games, so in Viewpoint we go hands-on with near-final code of a game that has just missed our review deadline. Dave Meikleham gets stuck in to Destiny 2’s beta to prepare himself for the game’s full launch and review next issue. Confession time: I’m a total Destiny noob. I’ve only played 450 hours of the first game. Truly shameful numbers, I know. Well, they are when you have a friend – who happens to be an ex-editor of this very mag – who’s pumped some…

Turning back the clocks to the beginning, the very beginning, Barlog reflects on his first days on the payroll at Santa Monica Studio creating the original God Of War, which back then was called Dark Odyssey. It was the challenge of a blank slate that caught his eye when it came to Kratos. “They just told me he was [Lethal Weapon’s] Martin Riggs meets Maximus from Gladiator, and I thought that was awesome.” Here was a game where “anything was possible” and that was addictive. “They’d been working on the game for two years but, animation-wise, they were still struggling and figuring out what does it feel like to play this game, and I think after about two weeks I had animated all of the r button moves, the w…

“GOW’S FIGHTING SYSTEM MERGES MASS-MARKET ACCESSIBILITY WITH EXQUISITE CRAFT.” FORMAT PS2 RELEASED 2005 PUB SONY DEV SONY Kratos is a horrible, horrible person. All right, technically he’s somewhere between ‘person’ and ‘indestructible, fallen deity’. Regardless of his level of mortality, the Ghost Of Sparta is one of the most unpleasant videogame characters ever created. Conversely, his games form one of the most enduring, celebrated series in PlayStation history. Go figure. Be under no illusion: Kratos doesn’t make God Of War, the brutally balletic action-adventure makes him. David Jaffe isn’t just the sweariest developer ever, at one time he was also a hugely canny game director, something he ably shows in this seminal Ancient Greek revenge quest. The original GOW is a supremely polished hack ‘n’ slasher…

KILLING THE HYDRA Who said opening levels had to be dull affairs? GOW kicks off in breathless style, as Kratos hops between storm-swept ships, the mythic multi-headed serpent constantly attacking. UNDERWORLD WOES At one point, Kratos is killed by the original God Of War, Ares – death isn’t that big a deal in this series. An epic escape from the Underworld follows, ghoulish hands clawing at Kratos every inch of his climb. COLOSSAL KRATOS After opening Pandora’s Box – the only item on Earth that harbours the power to kill a god – Kratos grows enormous, evening the odds on his scrap with Ares. A titanic sword battle ensues.…

PROMETHEUS This is actually a mercy killing. Kratos frees the Titan from Zeus’ torture… by dropping him in lava. EURYALE Medusa’s big sis is cranky at Kratos for taking her sibling’s head. Spoiler: the Big K also takes hers. BARBARIAN KING The brutal baldy made his pact with Ares to defeat this warrior. In GOW II, he kills him all over again. PERSEUS Kratos impales one of Zeus’ many children on a hook. A fitting fate for GOW II’s cheapest boss. ATHENA In fairness, this one’s an accident. K-man stabs his one godly ally by mistake while fighting Zeus.…

Throughout God Of War III, several Titans essentially act as giant, moving platform levels. As the game opens, Kratos clambers about earth goddess Gaia, slashing at skeletal warriors, and using the leafy behemoth’s mighty heft to get the better of the demonic Hippocampi. Later, the battle against Cronos sees Kratos evading his grandfather’s gaze by climbing all over his gigantic arms, shoulders, and neck. Throughout these sequences, the Spartan is little more than a barely visible speck of fury on their skins.…

“ASCENSION OFFERS THE MOST POLISHED, VARIED FIGHTS GOD OF WAR HAS TO OFFER.” FORMAT PS3 RELEASED 2013 PUB SONY DEV SONY All herds have a black sheep. In God Of War’s case, Ascension is very much the forlorn misbehaving mutton-in-waiting. It’s not that Kratos’ final PS3 adventure is a bad game, far from it. Yet in a series that has continually pushed the eviscerating envelope forward, both in terms of tech and spectacle, it’s hard not to feel this prequel is painting by (super bloody) numbers. Looking back on Ascension four years after its release, there’s little question this is the least memorable full-fat console release to come out of the franchise. After wringing out almost every major deity, beast, and hero from Greek mythology, this slightly underwhelming entry feels…

HEC ON THE CHEEK Ascension’s first boss is its most impressive: Aegeon The Hecatonchires. He was the first to betray the Furies, and as punishment, he was turned into a sprawling prison complex/kickass boss. CHAINED TO FATE There’s no denying Ascension has a couple of really enjoyable puzzles. Take the huge chain conundrum on Delos. Kratos must use the Amulet Of Uroborus to tinker with time and space to rebuild its links. FURIES FINALE Much of the middle section of the game is drably paced, but Ascension throws together a fun finale, where two of the Furies combine to transform into a seismic sea monster. Another ace GOW boss fight.…

FORMAT PS4 RELEASED 2015 PUB SONY DEV WHOLESALE ALGORITHMS You’d think we’d all be sick of HD do-overs by now, but when a redux is as beautifully handled as Kratos’ PS4 bow, it’s hard to grumble. Quite frankly, God Of War III: Remastered manages a titanic technical leap over the original game, breathing fresh life into a still stellar (if slightly ageing) classic. It’s testament to the quality of the original art assets that this remaster looks so damn handsome. Few of the PS3 game’s textures or models have been tweaked for this PS4 port, partly because they looked so ruddy good to begin with. Instead, Wholesale Algorithms concentrated on bumping the resolution to 1080p (up from 720p), and increasing the framerate to a buttery 60fps (the PS3 version is…

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. 4 BELOW AVERAGE Any bright ideas are drowning in a sea of bugs or mediocrity. 3 POOR A seriously flawed game with little merit on any level. 2 AWFUL Disgraceful: the disc would be more beneficial as a coaster. 1 HORRIFIC Own this and you’ll be swiftly, justifiably, exiled from…

“EVENTUALLY YOU’LL ACQUIRE THE STRENGTH TO RECRUIT AN ARMY OF DINOS.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB STUDIO WILDCARD DEV STUDIO WILDCARD Like a prehistoric Love Island, this game’s premise is a simple one: stranded on a mysterious island, you must use your wits and cunning to survive against all manner of perils, including maintaining basic food and heat supplies. Throw in dinosaurs, and servers thronging with individuals just as eager to tear you limb from limb, and you’ve got one of the most promising setups to ever grace videogames. Finding a soul mate amid the carnage, that’s optional. Sporting naught but a piece of cloth and bearing a strange artefact on your wrist, you set to work on your key (and basically only) objective – survival. While…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB VERTEX POP DEV VERTEX POP At its best, this makes you feel like a tightrope walker, deftly strutting the line of combat with a jar of sweets in one hand and a boombox pumping techno in the other. You zip a spaceship around colourful, side-scrolling levels, blasting away at baddies big and small. Some enemies try to ram you, some fire bullets at your ship. It all adds up to a frantic scramble through the hordes to reach the end of each level1 – and then you do it all over again to try for a high score, and bragging rights. It looks fantastic, all explosions of purple and yellow, but GEM’s real strength is the balance of its combat. You’ve got four…

“THE NEW STAGES LOOK AND FEEL EXACTLY LIKE PEAK SONIC 3-ERA SONIC TEAM.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SEGA DEV HEADCANNON/ PAGODAWEST GAMES By the Mania, for the Mania”. That’s what Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka said when he first saw Christian Whitehead’s pitch for this game, spawning its name and perfectly encapsulating its essence. It is Sonic fandom incarnate. And against all odds, after 23 years, ‘the Mania’ finally gets the Sonic game it’s been wanting since 1994’s Sonic & Knuckles. Incredible. Mind you, it will take an exceptionally devoted Sonic fan to notice and appreciate every morsel of fan service that’s been put in here. The Sonic Spinball shakedown, Game Gear sound effects at key moments, the grainy resolution of the team logos at the…

“HALF A VISUAL NOVEL, HALF A SPORT THAT RESEMBLES GOTHIC BASKETBALL.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SUPERGIANT GAMES DEV SUPERGIANT GAMES Unique’ is an over-used word, but feels apt for this intriguing concoction, half a visual novel about a quest to escape the purgatory you’re trapped in, half an invented sport that resembles gothic basketball. While it might sound esoteric on paper, once you start roving the richly coloured Downside and compete to earn the right to escape it, there really is nothing else like Pyre on PlayStation. More importantly, the invention doesn’t come at the cost of quality. There’s no time wasted establishing Pyre’s distinctive world. Your character is banished from their home in the Commonwealth to the peculiar Downside, where a group of three travellers…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB DOUBLE ELEVEN DEV COILWORKS Scared of heights? Look away now. Rocket-powered free-running on vertical walls is probably a nightmare for anyone with a healthy fear of going ‘splat’.1 Yet Super Cloudbuilt shows even the most vertigo-susceptible individual that being airborne is deliriously fun. Waking up in the ruins of an abandoned hospital, you discover you’re the amnesiac Demi,2 a super-soldier who runs and guns with astounding speed. The short but intriguing hub world tutorial piques just enough interest in Demi’s past, getting you hyped to tackle the massive levels filled with gravity-defying platforms. After finishing each one you’re rewarded with a titbit of backstory, which is the perfect incentive to get you to jump into the next level. Dashing up walls with the…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB MODE 7 DEV SMAC GAMES Walking around a city that decorates its streets with giant cat statues or mammoth-sized pills is hell for a photographer. Taking a picture when you’re gazing up at one of these monoliths from below like the tiny human you are is tricky. In the top-down assassination bonanza of Tokyo 42, however, it’s not an issue as you’re looking down on the action from far above. Too far above, in fact. Tokyo 42’s biggest problem is also why it looks so damn fantastic: everything is too small. From your minuscule assassin to the targets you’re meant to eliminate, just seeing what they’re doing and where you are is a nightmare. Despite the levels being beautiful enough to hang on…

WIPEOUT: OMEGA COLLECTION Milford Coppock flies back to the ‘90s Few remasters mean as much to me as WipEout, one of all my all-time favourite PlayStation series. Taking my Feisar out on the track reminds me it’s been a while since I committed the twists and turns of these courses to memory. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for my skills to return and I’m back on the podium. Nostalgia glands pumping, I realise I’ve lost my evening to the highlights of my past. The music isn’t quite as good as it used to be, but I’ll take eye-bleedingly sharp races over jagged polygons any day. DREADNOUGHT Ian Dean lands a cheap shot in Dreadnought I was lucky enough to visit Dreadnought dev Yager and play the game earlier this year,…

1 £6.49 VROG In this quirky old-school point scorer, you’re a frog (hence the punny title) whose job is to eat the flies dotted around your lily pad and avoid getting munched on by a heron. Sounds like an average Sunday for our slimy garden friends. It’s undemanding control-wise, as all you need to do is focus your gaze on the bug you want to eat or lily pad you want to move to. Okay, so frogs aren’t exactly topping my “animal I’d want to be in VR” wishlist, but at least this is a simple enough concept that anyone can grasp and get a few hours of fun with. A word of warning, though: while the visual and level design is pleasant enough, I can still feel my stomach…

THE PROMISE 4 SEP Batman and Poe Dameron vie for a dance instructor’s affections amid the Armenian Genocide in this politically conscious historical romance. THE GHOUL 4 SEP Psychological horror about a man investigating a double murder by becoming a psychotherapist’s patient, and slowly losing his marbles. THE BOY AND THE BEAST 4 SEP Mamoru Hosoda directs this anime about a human boy trained by a warrior bear in a beastly alternate world. Will make you ugly cry. MINDHORN 4 SEP Meta comedy about a washed-up actor asked to reprise his role as a truth-seeking TV detective when a real-life serial killer demands to speak to him. SNATCHED 11 SEP A conservative mother (Goldie Hawn) and her wild child (Amy Schumer) are kidnapped in a comedy that’s also had all…

Ben Tyrer GAMES EDITOR Ben became teary-eyed reviewing Last Day Of June (p89), but remember Ben, for every level of sadness there’s a tier of joy. GAME OF THE MONTH FIFA 18 FAVE BEARD Garibaldi David Meikleham GUEST WRITER Writer David is a VERY ANGRY MAN. Maybe it’s because he replayed every God Of War game for our retrospective (p64). GAME OF THE MONTH Destiny 2 FAVE BEARD Bandholz Miriam McDonald OPERATIONS EDITOR In the most bizarre games injury yet, Mim knackered her back playing Dragon Quest Heroes 2. She now fears binge gaming. GAME OF THE MONTH Strange Brigade FAVE BEARD Imperial Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR Disgust. The default emotion of all good art editors. Disgust at obtuse headers, low-res art, and bad puns. [We must try harder…

5,000,000 Total number of PlayStation 4 units sold in Japan to date. 05 Separate classes to choose from in Call Of Duty: WWII’s multiplayer. 1085.70 The size of August’s PS Plus freebie Just Cause 3, in km squared. 38 Characters in Tekken 7 after the Geese Howard DLC arrives this winter. 80,000,000 GTA V’s sales, which Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick says RDR2 won’t equal. 2018 When we’ll get Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season. 15 Gigabytes the Destiny 2 beta occupied on our hard drives. *sniff*…

“ULTIMATE WARRIOR, ANDRE THE GIANT AND RIC FLAIR ARE ALL TEASED FOR THE ROSTER.” 07 There aren’t many features you’d want 2K Games to excavate from WWE Smackdown Vs RAW 2007 when building a new grappling game – but wrestlers of yesteryear are a different story. That mid-tier outing was the last time bona-fide Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle appeared in the long-running smash-mouth series, but 11 years later he’s back in both the real-world WWE and its digital offshoot. Inevitably, there’s a small catch: Angle is initially only available as a pre-order bonus, although we expect him to be released as DLC for a couple of quid before Christmas. Also making the roster, this time without any small print, is cover star Seth Rollins, with legends Ultimate Warrior, Andre…

THAW, IT’S COMING Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Frozen Wilds DLC gets a release date. Mark down 7 November in your diary as the day you’ll see Aloy again. HELLO OLD FRIEND No Man’s Sky’s Atlas Rises, an origin story update, gave us a reason to launch back into its candy-coloured universe. You see, devs do listen. MIM’S THE WORD Our Mim’s been giddy with excitement as news of Dragon Quest Builders 2’s co-op broke her internet. Paragliding? Underwater exploring? Larger-looking environments? That does sound exciting. FOG AND AWE Hideo Kojima demoed 15 seconds of Death Stranding’s fog tech. There was a time when we moaned about fog in games – not now. We want more. Please? BREAKING BAD Lawbreakers missed the target. The highly anticipated release hit a hurdle as ‘hitching…

@ESCOBLADES I am biased, but this @OPM_UK cover is pretty! @THE_LIGHTNING My uncle still has Rock Band Beatles and it’s only been used once @LORDCYBERIUS2 Struggling to eat as always but buying mag today!!!!!!!! [Mate, buy food! – ed] @JOEROBINSON1977 I definitely can’t wait for the new Assassin’s Creed game Black Flag was my last one. @INTRONDEPOT Light bar stickers are cool but sadly suck if use VR :( @LOAF112 3 free gifts in this month’s magazine..? That is a pleasant surprise TROLL OF THE MONTH @MELIDODAS_D guys... nobody reads magazine’s, the info that’s in there will be online in a few days @LORDDIDYMUSS All I’ll ever wish for is another Valkyrie Profile @SOLM67 Best mag ever, well since @ONM ceased to exist @FURYAC3 none of them are a patch…

“EVEN IN A BIG OPEN WORLD, I WANT THE SENSE OF SOMEBODY BEING THERE, ORCHESTRATING MY ACTIONS TOWARDS A CONCLUSION.” Whenever I sit down in front of Netflix or Amazon Prime I find myself adrift. The amount of choice there is paralysing. It’s as if the station bosses have become so fed up trying to hold my attention they’ve sarcastically handed over all control. As I sit there, scrolling past one award-winning film after another, I wish someone would come back and tell me what to watch. I feel the same about open-world games. There is so much to do – so many gadgets, side-missions and customisation options – that I feel, rather than enthused or like I’m having fun, just lost. It might not seem it, but absolute…

1 ASSASSIN’S CREED Central to the labyrinthine AssCreed lore, Maysaf Castle has had more assassins come through its doors than a dinner party held by Mr and Mrs Smith. Make yourself at home, Ezio. Root around in the library like you own the place. The prawn cocktails will be coming out in just a minute. 2 CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW Look, Dracula was living in chilly, cobweb-filled stone constructions before it was cool: fact. It goes without saying that his humble abode in C:LOS, aptly named Dracula’s Castle, should make an appearance among PlayStation’s best and brightest. We simply couldn’t deny passage to a game that calls itself Castlevania, for crying out loud. 3 UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION After wandering the desert for… ooh, as long as five in-game minutes,…

1 Scapes features over 1,000 locations worldwide, so you can ‘pose’ your car in stunning HDR landscapes settings. Where to take our mechanical model? 2 Paris! Sony’s camera team actually captured all the lights in a location, so you’re certain of getting the most realistic highlights in your shot. 3 You’re free to position your car (including headlights and steering angle), and a new feature even enables you to add a sense of motion too. 4 You can adjust ‘camera’ settings like aperture (which affects DOF) and shutter speed, and apply filters such as Film Grain and Vignette.…

BLUE REFLECTION The Gender Pay Gap Wars have raged for decades, and two warriors have had enough – fight for your right for equal pay in co-op or solo in this epic anime struggle to get what’s owed to you. Features a unique QTE lawsuit mini-game. FORMAT PS4 ETA 29 SEP ELEX Stave off the encroaching black and white panels that threaten the world of Elex and bring colour to the land. Grab your big gun and sword and go toe-to-toe with design demons who think two-tone is classy. FORMAT PS4 ETA 17 OCT ROAD RAGE In Maidenhead no one can hear you scream… The rush hour ride to work gets serious in this open world vehicular combat game in which you rise the corporate ladder by taking names –…

“WE UNLEASH MOTHS, WHIPPING OUR ENEMIES INTO A FRENZY.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2018 / PUB THQ NORDIC / DEV EXPERIMENT 101 Think post-apocalypse, and your mind undoubtedly conjures up images of bleak, barren wastelands in every shade of grey and brown. With BioMutant, Swedish developer Experiment 101 is combating the stereotype that a prerequisite for a world gone to ruin is an abundance of bleak visuals and sombre tones. But its rich and vibrant colour palette isn’t the only thing that sets this open-world action RPG apart from the crowd. As we step into the adorable paws of a furry creature that could be Ratchet’s distant relative, we’re instantly impressed with the level of freedom on offer. Detailed customisation options allow you to tailor your character’s physical appearance. The…

“BORED OF THE ROAD? POP! YOU’RE A PLANE. THEN… POP! YOU’RE A BOAT.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2018 / PUB UBISOFT / DEV IVORY TOWER You know what would spice racing games up a bit? Planes. And throw some boats in there too. Actually, while you’re at it, let’s make it so you can magically transform between any of them as it takes your fancy. Bored of the road? POP! You’re a plane soaring above it all. Then… POP! You’re a boat, dropping out of the sky to hit the water and race off, spray flying out behind you. None of this vehicle changing makes sense. Especially when you add the Inception-style world-warping transitions where the ground folds like a sheet of paper. But, there comes a time where you…

“DETAILED DIMINUTIVE CHARACTERS ROLL AND STAB WITH ALL THE GUSTO OF A HARDENED SOULS SURVIVOR.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA EARLY 2018 PUB DEVOLVER DIGITAL / DEV ONEBITBEYOND What’s better than a 30-hour action RPG? How about a 30-hour action RPG split into easily digested chunks of loveliness? Every so often a hero (or two in co-op) is plucked from obscurity to save the island of Ditto from the evil Mormo. If they’re successful their actions are written into legend, affect the island, and set up the next saga, because like all good villains, Mormo will return. After multiple plays, as your short stories layer upon one another, a grander overarching narrative builds. And consider this: your actions affect the story even if you fail to defeat Mormo, your cute heroes…

VIEWPOINT “NAUGHTY DOG HASN’T LOST ITSELF IN THIS EXPANSE. THE LOST LEGACY IS STILL ABOUT PLACING BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS IN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.” FORMAT PS4 ETA 22 AUG PUB SONY DEV NAUGHTY DOG We only review finished games, so in Viewpoint we go hands-on with near-final code of a game that has just missed our review deadline. Ian Dean is an Uncharted fan, he’s followed Nathan Drake around the world, and this is his conclusive pre-release verdict. Returning to the Uncharted-verse is like welcoming back an old friend, only there’s a Nate-shaped hole in the world. But I don’t care, because the new partnership of Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross is as engaging as anything Naughty Dog has created in the past. It’s the dynamic between the two leads that holds everything…

I don’t think anyone would describe me as someone who has an idea of what can be done in the time frame,” jokes Cory Barlog. “I definitely maintain that comfortable ignorance of ‘whatever we can, get it in’.” This approach has come from experience. Having worked on multiple God Of War games, Barlog still has qualms about decisions he made. “There was some stuff that I put into GOW2, like Gaia the narrator, because we didn’t really introduce him early enough. I’m always checking against that to really make sure that the idea itself isn’t driving the game, but the execution and the relevance to the overarching experience is always thought of.” Barlog says he doesn’t spend time dwelling on things he got right: “I’m haunted by all the things…

One of God Of War’s coolest features centres around much of the game taking place on a living creature: Cronos the Titan. In his quest to obtain Pandora’s Box, Kratos crosses the Desert Of Lost Souls, eventually scaling his gargantuan grandad, as Cronos is forced to carry the Temple of Pandora. Considering GOW launched months before Shadow Of The Colossus, Kratos actually beat Team Ico’s classic game to the punch when it came to creating a moving platform level built on a (literally) titanic foe.…

“YOU’RE THROWN INTO THE CHAOS OF SIEGE WARFARE AS RHODES BURNS ALL AROUND YOU.” FORMAT PS2 RELEASED 2007 PUB SONY DEV SONY Bigger. Badder. Balder? Okay, so Kratos is exactly as short in the scalp department in this epic sequel as he was in his original Greek tale. Forget the Spartan’s lacking locks, though. When you can deliver an epic action-adventure that’s this effortlessly thrilling, wonderfully paced, and memorably murderous, no-one cares if you make Homer Simpson look like a Fun House-era Pat Sharp. That God Of War II is still so fondly remembered speaks volumes for its ability to conjure incredible set-piece spectacle quite unlike anything else on PS2. It’s even more impressive when you consider Sony Santa Monica’s sequel hit shelves on 13 March 2007, a mere ten…

RHODE WARRIOR The scrap against the Colossus Of Rhodes is a stellar, extended set-piece. For much of the opening level, the statue smashes things in the distance, and then he and Kratos get intimate in a huge, brass brawl. ENCOUNTERING ICARUS Poor Icarus. In Greek mythology, he flies too close to the sun, singes his homemade wings, then plummets to his death. In GOW II, Kratos rips his wings off… after punching him 180 times. Killer set-piece, mind. KRAKEN CRACKDOWN Unleash the Krake… oh, Kratos has already impaled the aquatic sod on an extendable, super-sharp bridge. The mythic sea beastie is a big deal in Clash Of The Titans, and it stars in a cracking GOW battle, too.…

POSEIDON Kratos opens GOW III by killing the God Of The Sea, and his hostile Hippocampi. Water way to go. CRONOS This Titan wanders the Pits of Tartarus… well, he did, until Kratos jammed a spike through his face. HERCULES The Spartan faces his half-brother in a epic face-off… which ends with Kratos taking Herc’s face off. GAIA The Titan and Kratos’ alliance ends on a brutal note when the Spartan destroys her heart. Literally. ZEUS The chrome-dome killer’s hateful revenge tale ends with him punching his dad into oblivion.…

The Oath Stone Of Orkos is one of the coolest items ever to pop up in God Of War. The precious rock elevates both combat and puzzles, and there are a couple of noodle-scratchers in Ascension that put it to great use. When activated, the Oath Stone allows Kratos to clone himself, useful for double-teaming foes during fights. It really comes into its own with certain switch conundrums, where the Spartan duplicates himself, using his doppelgänger to weight down pressure plates. Clever stuff.…

“CHAINS STARTS WITH A TRULY BELTING BATTLE AGAINST A BASILISK.” FORMAT PSP RELEASED 2008 PUB SONY DEV READY AT DAWN Kratos’ brand of hack ‘n’ slash slaughter really shouldn’t be able to fit onto PSP. You’d think all that grandiose set-piece flair and those spectacular battles against bosses the size of skyscrapers would rule the Spartan from ever setting up on the shores of Sony’s handheld. And yet, despite all the technical hurdles, Kratos arrived on PSP as a mini, maiming marvel. In the fullness of time, putting the series’ reputation on the line by trying to squeeze it onto the portable looks like much less of a risk than it must have appeared back in early 2008. Since churning out the superbly optimised Chains Of Olympus, Ready At Dawn…

The bump to resolution and framerate are obviously the big tech takeaways with this port, but Wholesale Algorithms has also included fresh visual tweaks. Anti-aliasing is much improved, with new multisampling MSAA lending Remastered a less jaggy look. Anisotropic filtering (stay with us) is also included, adding greater clarity to ground textures. It all looks better, and moves more smoothly. There’s a new photo mode, too. While you can’t move the camera as much as you’d probably like, at least you can zoom in on Kratos’ ludicrously hi-res model.…

“FOR THE FIRST FEW HOURS, INHABITING SENUA’S MIND IS A DISCONCERTING EXPERIENCE.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB NINJA THEORY DEV NINJA THEORY When was the last time you questioned what you’re seeing? Because for all its faults, Hellblade can conjure moments where reality feels like a loose concept. Perspective is the key to this frustrating Norse adventure, whether it’s trying to understand the fragmented psyche of the titular character or just figuring out which hulking Viking warrior is clubbing you from behind. At the centre of the story is Senua, who is on a journey into the mythological Norse land of Helheim, struggling to save the soul of her beloved. It’s a simple set-up made fascinating by the portrayal of her psychosis. In both obvious and subtle…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB PQUBE GAMES DEV ROI GAMES This remake of a Korean survival horror classic sees you playing as Hui-min Lee, a new student at Yeondoo High School, the last known location of a suspiciously high number of missing/dead students. Smitten by classmate So-Young, Lee returns after hours to leave her some chocolates. Turns out he’s not alone, and so begins this tale of hauntings and ungodly academic pressure. White Day’s magic lies in its complex storytelling. The dialogue trees impact on the story and which ending you get (yup, there are several), and the decisions you make have meaningful consequences to enjoy. The puzzles are smart and razor-sharp, if occasionally brutal1 – those timed events are not sympathetic to your plight. Graphics have been…

“IN VR, IT’S LIKE LIVING OUT AN ACTION MOVIE FANTASY, AND IT FEELS INCREDIBLE.” INFO FORMAT PS4, PS VR ETA OUT NOW PUB SUPERHOT TEAM DEV SUPERHOT TEAM Time moves when you move. It’s an idea so simple you’ll curse yourself for not having thought of it first, but in practice Superhot’s hook is a variant on a well-worn technique: bullet time. The Matrix’s groundbreaking use of slo-mo has inspired a slew of games since, though none have quite captured the thrill of bobbing and weaving between incoming projectiles – you guessed it – until now. The two versions play out surprisingly differently. In non-VR Superhot, you move slowly with the left thumbstick, edging around corners, refining your aim until you’re perfectly lined up to pull the trigger. Across…

“A HYBRID OF RHYTHM ACTION AND REAL-TIME STRATEGY… A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SONY INTERACTIVE DEV JAPAN STUDIO / ON-CORE SOFTWARE There really ought to be an earworm disclaimer in the opening titles of this PSP remaster, because Patapon’s onomatopoeic title and its associated rhythms are as infectiously catchy as game tunes have ever been. If you’re not brushing your teeth to a Pon-Pon-Pata-Pon rhythm after a late-night session of dictatorial drumming, then your ears are more impervious than mine to what I believe the kids call “sick beats”. For those who missed out on the 2008 classic, Patapon casts you as a deity guiding a tribe of personified eyeballs to victory through rhythmic drumming, and yes, it’s as brilliantly odd as it sounds.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV CARDBOARD UTOPIA Take a tactical role-playing game, such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Shining Force, blend it with Magic: The Gathering, and you’ll get a sense of what Children Of Zodiarcs has to offer. Turn-based battles play out on grid-based 3D plains, driven by a colourful narrative which sees your force, a band of three down-and-out kids, fending off against everyone from royal guards to rival gangs. Victory never depends solely on player tactics, as even the best-laid plans, conjured up by the most skilled of noggins, can be laid to waste by an unfortunate hand of cards or an unlucky dice roll. Cards determine what actions a character can take, including attacks (melee, ranged, and magic), healing, and special…

Business was booming for Tyrer’s Demolitions Co. last month, as Just Cause 3 parachuted into the Instant Games Collection and brought explosions, explosions, and – you got it – more explosions. While we were left in awe of all the destruction we’d wrought, Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry snuck in and carried on the tale of Black Flag’s Adéwalé. Mindless fun might not be the name of the game (it’s JUST CAUSE 3), but it was certainly the aim as Rico Rodriguez headed home to Medici and found out it had fallen under the dictatorship of General di Ravello. We brought liberation the only way we knew how: by blowing up everything in sight. We also got addicted to our parachute, and jumped off all the tall buildings we could find.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB CODEMASTERS DEV CODEMASTERS, JUST ADD WATER REVIEW #139, 6/10 What should be a fun addition to local play turns out to be more like cavorting in the attic on your own: it’s full of potential, but the reality is an empty space full of cobwebs and memories better forgotten. While much of the offline content is replicated for the online modes, every time we tried to get a game we were met with lobbies half-full of AI bots, which makes for incredibly tough contests. When AI bots are beating the human players, there’s something wrong somewhere. There’s not much variety either, with standard races, elimination, and battle modes all making an appearance, but none of them live up to the fun found playing offline and in…

MAFIA III – SIGN OF THE TIMES There’s a whiff of Resident Evil VII meets Max Payne to this DLC, which sees Lincoln taking on a drug-addled cultist group using slo-mo. SNIPER ELITE 4 – DEATHSTORM PART 3: OBLITERATION This grand finale to the three-part DLC campaign serves up all the Nazi nut-shots you could want. It’s a ballsy release. MINECRAFT: STORY MODE SEASON 2 – EPISODE 2, GIANT CONSEQUENCES Jesse and the team deal with some icy issues in this episode. Will you give it the cold shoulder? DIRT 4 – HYUNDAI R5 RALLY CAR We can’t help thinking paying a couple of quid for a car model is a bit steep, but if you want to test your nerves with a new motor, be our guest. DREADNOUGHT: THE…

Starring a talking tree and a weaponised racoon, and set in a far-flung corner of the Earth-bound MCU, it’s easy to forget that Guardians Of The Galaxy was once considered a colossal risk. Instead, Guardians turned out to be a joyous ensemble romp featuring a gang of lovable misfits, a dazzlingly colourful galaxy, and a killer soundtrack. By the end, we were all Groot. Cue Vol. 2. But it suffers from acute second album syndrome. After a mission goes awry, Quill and co. are intercepted by Ego (Kurt Russell), who reveals that not only is he a god-like living planet, he’s also Star-Lord’s father. But something’s off on Planet Ego, and it’s not long before the fate of the galaxy is at stake again. To writer/director James Gunn’s credit, Vol.…

INFO PUB ROCKSTAR GAMES DEV TEAM BONDI PRODUCTIONS RELEASED 2011 GET IT NOW CEX, £2 NEED TO KNOW 1 Some cases are based on actual period crimes. 2 Many of the cast featured in the TV show Mad Men. 3 First game shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. “SOLVE CRIMES FROM TRAFFIC OFFENCES TO MURDER AND EVEN ORGANISED CRIME.” Many videogames can claim to be like nothing you’ve ever played before, but this is that rare beast: one that lives up to the promise. Set in 1947 in the city of Los Angeles, it casts you in the role of beat cop Cole Phelps, a decorated World War 2 vet who’s now dedicated to cleaning up the streets back home. Released in 2011, hot on the heels of Red Dead…

1 “THE TOWNS THEMSELVES ARE FULL OF RAG-TAG DELINQUENTS FREQUENTING SALOONS.” 2 “IT DEFIES EASY COMPARISON, BUT ABSOLUTELY NAILS THE TENSION OF TRYING TO KEEP AN ELITE TEAM OF FRAGILE MEATSACKS ALIVE.” 3 “FOR EVERY WOODLAND AMBUSH FROM A PACK OF WOLVES THERE’S 20 SECONDS YOU SPEND WRESTLING THE CAMERA AWAY FROM THE TREE ABOVE YOU.” 4 “ITS STEALTH GAMEPLAY IS SO TENSE YOU CAN FIND YOURSELF TRAPPED, NERVES SHREDDED, IN THE SAME LOCKER FOR TEN MINUTES.”…

“WITTY ONE-LINERS PUNCTUATE HIS PUNCHES.” 04 Are you ready for some hot tag-team tussling? With less than a month to go before the characters of Capcom wage war with their Marvel counterparts, more characters are getting ready to join the impending battle royal, and they’re no C-tier chumps either. Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Gamora are the new Marvel heroes; Haggar from Final Fight, Dead Rising’s Frank West, and Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 make up the Capcom contingent. MIND THE STAMP Gamora was used to showcase the new Mind Infinity Stone. This gem enables fighters to perform grapple attacks that leave opponents dazed. Its ‘Infinity Storm’ means your Hype gauge will continuously fill during the bout for more special moves. Spidey is an agile fighter whose special attack webs up…

“YOU NEED TO BE CRUEL TO BE KIND WHEN IT COMES TO FIGHTING MERMAIDS.” Part fish and part woman, just what are mermaids? If you are a handsome prince looking for a good time you could choose a drier date – though I guess they’re cheap; a handful of whitebait and a shiny pebble would be fine. Taken one-versus-one mermaids are a pushover – Ariel can be defeated by telling her some bad news (I prepped for battle with a binge of Disney movies). “Eric cheated with Ursula,” should do it. However, like a Friday-night hen party in Cardiff, when mermaids get together they can cause large ‘scale’ havoc. I’d need to up my game. “Daryl Hannah was better!” That’s a win. “AS OPM’S PREMIER MISCHIEF MAKER, I WANT A…

“EPISODIC GAMES SHOULD BE WRITTEN TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FORMAT, NOT OUR WALLETS.” Episodic Hitman games are no more, after developer IO decided to revert to a traditional all-in-one release for future instalments. I think it’s the wrong move. Hideo Kojima, whose cut-scenes should come with an intermission (in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, one clocked in at 27 minutes), told one interviewer that “massive, long games will be a thing of the past”. And while I don’t think single-release games with the scope of Horizon: Zero Dawn or Mass Effect: Andromeda are going anywhere soon, Kojima is onto something. Take those taut Hitman episodes. With each outing a self-contained labyrinth of possibilities, piecemeal releases gave Agent 47 time to flex his fibre wire. Knowing that…

Minecraft None of the above roomy enough? Show them all up by building your own Game Of Thrones-inspired, stone abode. Shadow Of The Colossus The Desert Fortress plays host to your fight against Argus, the 15th Colossus in Team Ico’s celebrated giant-slaying sim. Ico Kiri No Shiro is built atop four rocky islands, and teeming with shadowy minions. Tough sell for an estate agent. Did we miss your favourite castle? Got a brilliant In The Mood For idea? Show and tell at twitter.com/opm_uk.…

“PIXAR REQUESTED A BRAND-NEW STORYLINE FOR THE GAME.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2018 / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV SQUARE ENIX Toy Story is in Kingdom Hearts III. The dream is real. But since 11 years have passed since Kingdom Hearts II, perhaps an explanation of what you’re looking at is in order. Kingdom Hearts is a Square Enix action RPG set in Disney-themed worlds, and you get to fight alongside Goofy and Donald freakin’ Duck. ‘Shut up and take our money’, yes? The production quality has always been superb, recreating the sights and sounds of famous Disney films in colourful, semi-open worlds you can explore at your leisure. But if the sight of Bambi rendered in full 3D was amazing in 2002, PS4’s graphics are nothing short of miraculous.…

“DISSIDIA IS A MELEE FIGHTING GAME WITH A DIFFERENCE.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA EARLY 2018 PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV TEAM NINJA The Dissidia games on PSP were among the best of Final Fantasy’s mixed bag of spin-offs. This one-on-one fighter brought all of the RPGs’ main heroes and villains together for a series of brawls, with an RPG-like story element linking them. Now this cult curio returns on PS4 in a far shinier form. Dissidia is a melee fighting game with a difference. Players have two health meters – a bravery bar and a HP bar. The first part of the fight is spent trying to bring the former down to zero, while the second part is spent trying to eliminate the latter. The bravery bar will then recharge…

“STRIKE FROM THE SHADOWS AND WEAPONISE THE WORLD.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 13 OCT PUB BETHESDA / DEV TANGO GAMEWORKS The Evil Within, the horror brainchild of Resident Evil’s Shinji Mikami, tested our patience as much as our nerves. We endured its poor visuals and confused narrative, and stayed for the tense combat and creative weapons. This sequel knows what worked (and what didn’t), and is doubling down on the good stuff – survival is key in this horror. Once again you’ll be in the gumshoes of detective Sebastian Castellanos as he returns to the STEM world three years after the original game’s events, to find his believed-to-be-dead daughter, Lily. Doing so means stealthily working your way through the decaying alter-world of Union by using the environment to your advantage…

1 The idea at the heart of The Crew 2 is that you can flip between cars, planes, and boats. Bored of your ride? Hit a button and choose a new option… 2 … and boom! Instead of roaring along in a car, you’re a plane flying above the road. Finding the best places to transition is half the fun. 3 The game also uses world-bending, Inception-style transitions to enter events. Don’t question it, there’s no reason: even Ubisoft admits it just looks cool. 4 Because it’s online, it means you and your friends racing everything and anything, swapping as the mood takes you. And mountains hang from the sky.…

QUBE 2 FORMAT PS VR ETA 2018 / PUB TOXIC GAMES DEV TOXIC GAMES It’s a case of The Witness meets Portal in Toxic Games’ puzzle sequel, and if that’s not enough to get your left brain firing then you need a medical checkup. Playing as British archaeologist Amelia Cross, you’re stranded on a mysterious alien world and need to find a way home… by solving ever-more perplexing environmental puzzles to escape the QUBE. We’re promised a richer, choice-laden story this time around, as well as brain-teasers that mix physics-based challenges, 3D jigsaws, and platforming – all of which can be solved in a variety of ways. You’d be a square to miss this. LOST SPHERE FORMAT PS4 / ETA 23 JAN 2018 / PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV TOKYO RPG…

HYDRA KING The biggest of the Hydra’s heads can heal its smaller chums. Good thing Kratos decapitates it. MEDUSA Kratos slays the most famous plasticine movie monster of all time in underwhelming fashion. Boo! SINGING SIRENS Found in the Desert Of The Lost Souls, Kratos slays these banshees while searching for Cronos. PANDORA’S GUARDIAN Theseus would be screwed if he saw this bionic bull. Kratos barely blinks while killing it. ARES This god tricked K-squared into killing his family. Kratos stabs him with a 300-foot sword as payback. Ouch.…

God Of War II is the only mainline entry that lets Kratos get acquainted with a certain mythical, stupendous stallion. The early Pegasus flight sections are superbly directed, full of dramatic camera cuts, mid-air murder, and kickass duels. Whether Kratos is dodging projectiles or leaping onto enemies’ griffins then garotting their riders, the Pegasus set-piece never lets up. Flying up God Of War III’s Chain Of Balance with the Icarus wings is fun, but it’s not a patch on its predecessor’s heroic airborne horsey bits.…

“THE ENTIRE GAME IS ESSENTIALLY ONE PROLONGED PIECE OF MURDERY MOUNTAINEERING.” FORMAT PS3 RELEASED 2010 PUB SONY DEV SONY Every God Of War entry seems to be made with one clear mission statement: make its predecessor look bad. Take the second game’s incredible Colossus Of Rhodes battle. Pretty impressive, huh? Not next to some of the seismic scraps Kratos gets into in his PS3 debut. Compared to the Titans the Spartan tackles in his quest to scale Mount Olympus, that brassed-off statue is little more than an irked garden gnome. Size really does matter when it comes to God Of War III. Hell, it’s everything. Scaling the largest mountain in the world in order to reach (and horribly murder) Zeus. Fighting your gargantuan grandad, who just happens to be a…

BALDY BALANCE Throughout his quest, Kratos uses the wings he ripped from Icarus to fly through the heart of Mount Olympus, sticking close to the colossal Chain Of Balance as he dodges all sorts of deadly debris mid-flight. LABYRINTH LOST Built by the master craftsman Daedalus, GOW III’s Labyrinth is a complex structure made from enormous rotating cubes. As he manipulates the maze into shape, Kratos meets (and murders) its creator. BUG OFF Skorpius, as the name suggests, is a big-ass scorpion, and one of the more satisfying boss fights. Kratos battles the beast as he’s navigating the Labyrinth, and quickly puts the pincered pest in its place.…

MEGAERA The game opens with Kratos being tortured by Megaera. He ends up gutting her. Call it even? TISIPHONE This Fury loves to get inside Kratos’ head, sometimes appearing as his dead wife. Spoiler: she bites it. ALECTO The Queen of the Furies meets her fate after morphing into an aquatic beastie… that Kratos offs. CASTOR This teleporting conjurer stars in the series’ most annoying boss fight. Kratos rips his chest open. POLLUX This poor wretch is Castor’s conjoined twin. After the Spartan rips him out of his bro, he curb stomps him.…

“BRINGS MYTHIC BEASTIES TO LIFE IN ADRENALINE-SOAKED STYLE.” FORMAT PSP RELEASED 2010 PUB SONY DEV READY AT DAWN Despite being a near-irredeemable berk with a monstrously ugly personality, your favourite mightily miffed Spartan stars in some outrageously pretty games. Indeed, Ready At Dawn’s second garotting Greek adventure is probably the best-looking title to ever pop up on PSP. Sure, Kratos is still as much of a brutish jerk as ever, but at least his drum-tight combat offers constant eye-arousing sights. Like its PSP predecessor, God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta tries to flesh out the furious soldier’s backstory, something it surprisingly nails. Kratos’ series will never rival the likes of The Last Of Us for pathos or carefully plotted storytelling chops, but the addition of the Spartan’s brother, Deimos, sheds…

SHOVEL KNIGHT CAMEO Who’s the boss now? FORMAT PS4 RELEASED 2014 PUB YACHT CLUB GAMES DEV YACHT CLUB GAMES Whether he’s being rendered from 5,000 polygons in GOW III or appearing as a pixelated ball of rage, Kratos is always hard. Take the latter example: the Spartan’s cutesy, punishing cameo as a secret boss in Shovel Knight. Survive this three-stage fight and the bald brute gives you a gold shovel. Um, cheers? TEARAWAY TAKES ON GOW From hard man to card man FORMAT PS4 RELEASED 2015 PUB SONY DEV MEDIA MOLECULE Kratos has quite the utterly adorable history with Media Molecule. His likeness has between recreated in many a cuddly Sackboy costume down the years, and in 2015, he appeared as a special DLC outfit in the studio’s papercraft charmer,…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB KALYPSO MEDIA DEV KITE GAMES You can’t help but admire the dedication to the source material found in this game. Great care has been taken to ensure the minute details of conflict have been recognised, which makes Sudden Strike 4 a mostly successful real-time strategy game, a rarity on PS4. With three campaigns, multiplayer, and an offline skirmish mode, there are plenty of games on offer, and it’s satisfyingly challenging. On normal difficulty you should expect to fail missions a few times, now and then. Whichever campaign you’re forging through, you’ll take control of different commanders. All have varying abilities, which play their part further into the game, especially on harder difficulties. It looks decent enough, and the sprinkled dialogue barked from winners…

“THE LITTLE IMPRESSIONISTIC TOUCHES REINFORCE THE SOFT MELANCHOLY.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA 31 AUG PUB 505 GAMES DEV OVOSONICO Rarely is the word ‘beautiful’ so apt. This time-bending puzzler is both a gorgeous painting in motion and a romance that gets you rooting for lead couple June and Carl before the title’s even come up. The kicker is, they aren’t together for long, as a fatal car crash kills June and leaves her partner a paraplegic. Yet this melancholic story continues to allure as you head back in time to try and save her life. What follows is a Butterfly-Effect-meets-Groundhog-Day narrative, as you recreate the fateful day from the perspective of four different characters who inhabit the small village where the couple lived. The puzzling is enjoyably straightforward in…

“SHIFTS FROM BORDERLINE-NONSENSICAL ACTION TO HEART-WRENCHING SCENES.” INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB SEGA, DEEP SILVER DEV SEGA When Goro Majima appears over your shoulder dressed as a policeman and wanting a ruck while smiling and shouting in his eccentric voice, you’ll understand what kind of game Yakuza Kiwami is: one that hard-shifts from borderline-nonsensical things (stab someone in a fight, watch them run away unharmed) to sincere, heart-wrenching scenes that show characters with real depths. It all means you’ll fall for this universe in a big way. A remake of the first Yakuza on PS2, Kiwami has so much heart. From the hefty runtime to the diverse characters, taking in difficult subject matter that isn’t often addressed along the way, it always comes back to the story.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB BADLAND GAMES DEV NOSEBLEED INTERACTIVE Out in the chilly vastness of space, there’s one thing to do. Not research, nor solve the mysteries of our universe. Nope, all you can do is make some cold, hard cash. That’s according to this galaxy-troubling twin-stick shooter anyway. As the new CEO of a company branching out into space, your greedy goal is to indulge in some profitable space capitalism. It’s a mix of the aforementioned twin-stick blasting and the clicker games popularised on mobile devices. For the most part, you’re flying around 2D space with the left stick while firing at alien baddies with the right stick. Once you’ve built up a cash reserve from killing aliens and destroying asteroids, fly down to a planet…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB DAEDELIC ENTERTAINMENT DEV MIMIMI PRODUCTIONS From Shinobi to Ninja Gaiden to Shadow Warrior, videogame ninja have too often displayed brute-force cool rather than stealthy cunning. But not here. Not only does Shadow Tactics’ sneak-minded experience blend immediate, stab-happy accessibility with delightfully open-ended strategy, but by focusing on squad commands rather than solo slashing, it does so while offering vast creative scope for delightfully malleable murder. Think of it as a more freeform, real-time XCOM, set in feudal Japan, where hiding the corpses is as important as making them. Shadow Tactics’ zoomed-out, isometric view might give it the appearance of a bloody board game, but this flowing, reactive sandbox thrives on stretching and bending the rules. Characters’ skills aren’t just here to complement one…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS DEV FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS REVIEW 139, 6/10 The best way to explore this immersive space-flight sim is when it’s teeming with others, and AI ships effortlessly intermingle with human craft to give the impression of a single shared universe. You can fight, strike up impromptu alliances, or completely ignore everyone. Us? We’ll often hang outside of spaceports asking for advice. People are always willing to help. Elite: Dangerous feels nicely cosy during these moments, but is intimidatingly massive outside of them. So during lonelier stretches you might as well be playing offline. That would certainly solve the random disconnections which happen every few hours. You also have to wait for other players to vacate landing pads before touching down, which is weird. VERDICT Other players…

CRASH BANDICOOT – STORMY ASCENT Are you a glutton for punishment? Then this unreleased level is a dream addition to the N. Sane Trilogy. Cut from the original Crash by Naughty Dog because it was deemed too hard, you can now suffer the agony in glorious 4K. TITANFALL 2 – OPERATION FRONTIER SHIELD Frontier Defence mode was only on the other *cough* console in the original Titanfall, making this DLC essential. Play four-player co-op and protect a Harvester from waves of enemies. Classic maps and a new Vanguard-class Titan add to the package. TEKKEN 7 – ELIZA Who’d have thought a character designed with narcolepsy would be so effective? This gothic catnapping vampiric ace who plays a little like Akuma – firing ground effect projectiles – is the latest character…