Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i PLAY

“I’M CONFIDENT YOU WILL DISCOVER A NEW FUTURE FAVOURITE OR TWO.” We’re doing something a little different this month. With a couple of exceptions, this issue’s Previews section is home to games that many of you won’t have heard of before. Fear not, we’re not shying away from the Triple-A titles. (Far from it, in fact – next issue’s crammed with them.) But with PlayStation the home of blockbusters and indie games, we wanted to shine a light on some of the incredible ‘smaller’ projects on their way to your PS4 and PS Vita. I’m confident you’ll discover a new future favourite or two starting on p31. Of course, Final Fantasy VII Remake needs no introduction. On p54 we’ve got the first shots of it in action, along with the…

TELLTALE US A JOKE Like one of the thugs who pollutes the streets of Gotham, we were caught completely unaware by this Batman reveal. Telltale will be the next studio to take on the Dark Knight and, considering its track record – The Walking Dead, anyone? – this will be an episodic adventure to get very excited about. RETURN OF THE SHAQ Prepare yourself for a reimagining of the universally loathed Shaq-Fu, a Mega Drive fighting game of legendary guffness. Debut footage introduced at The Game Awards shows it’ll be a side-scrolling beat-’em-up rather than 1vs1 traditional fighter, and it’ll be slamming onto PS4 and PS3 in 2016. XENO, WARRIOR PRINCESS If you ever looked at Mortal Kombat X and thought “needs more guts,” then you’ll be getting your wish.…

“ITS STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST WILL GIVE LARA A RUN FOR HER MONEY.” ANDREW WESTBROOK PRODUCTION EDITOR What will be 2016’s Witcher? It has to be action-RPG (and PS4-exclusive) Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy – its strong, likeable female protagonist – will give Lara a run for her money, while its huge open world and post-apocalyptic setting with a difference looks certain to ensnare all who enter. Forget the desolate Mad Max meets Fallout wastelands, Horizon’s lush landscapes and robo-saurs are more Jurassic Park meets Terminator, with a side of Planet Of The Apes. Besides hints of an engaging story, its hunting gameplay and sumptuous scenery look the perfect vehicle for current-gen wizardry. “NOTHING WILL TRUMP FIRST CONTACT WITH A NEVER-EXPLORED UNIVERSE.” JEN SIMPKINS STAFF WRITER Buckle up, boys and girls: No…

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT GRINDING GEAR: FOR ME, DESTINY IS SKYPE WITH ADDED ALIEN MURDER.” WRITER BIO Ex-OPM news editor Dave Meikleham enjoys drinking rum while shooting pretend aliens. He’s now amassed so many Strange Coins that if you could sell them on for real human money, he’d be able to retire. Since September 2014, I’ve clocked 259 hours and 14 minutes inside a certain MMO/shooter hybrid. No, I’m not Destiny Rain Man. I’m just a dude who looks at his stats on bungie.net  more than I should. Over that time, I’ve levelled three different Guardians to 290-plus Light levels and completed so many Strikes that I suffer daily night terrors about Sepkis Prime teabagging me in my sleep. I may have a Destiny problem. Yet weirdly, I’m…

“IT’S ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GAMES OF THE ENTIRE YEAR.” Nothing can quite prepare you for how good Campo Santo’s first game truly is. A story about a man from Colorado named Henry, who, to escape his failing marriage, treks into Wyoming’s wilderness to work as a fire lookout (a park ranger, effectively, with a focus on spotting and stopping forest fires), this is poised to become one of the most important games of the entire year. The talent behind this first-person adventure should give you an idea as to why this is the case. Leads Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin are responsible for one of 2012’s best games: Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Also on board is celebrated film artist Olly Moss, whose iconic 2D creations are brought to…

“YOU MIGHT NOT BE THE WORLD’S GREATEST SPY, BUT YOU SURE ARE THE FUNNIEST.” This former PC indie darling might not cast you as the world’s greatest spy, but it sure does put you into the boots of the funniest. Our hands-on with the first-person adventure packs us off to a Soviet consulate, where we must infiltrate the building and steal a data cartridge. And it’s a good job the game doesn’t react to noises coming through the microphone, otherwise our snorts would bring the KGB running to the scene in seconds. Our first job drops us into a small city environment. Getting into the Soviet building isn’t actually that tough (window cleaners take their lunch at noon, so changing the hands of the clock in reception lets us hijack…

“LIKE A ‘WHEN YOU SEE IT’ MEME, IT CAN TAKE A LITTLE WHILE FOR IT TO CLICK.” Ah, ASCII. Once the backbone of web encoding, since being usurped by UTF-8, you’re best known for helping us to send middle fingers to our boss via email. But there’s life for you yet thanks to Scottish developer Stormcloud, which has put a deliciously old-school spin on a modern dungeon crawler. Like one of those ‘WHEN YOU SEE IT’ memes, it takes a while for it all to click. But look again at the screens on these pages and you’ll see that everything in this roguelike is made out of ASCII characters. Across 26 levels of dungeoneering you’ll play as heroes built from ASCII, fight monsters built from ASCII, open treasure chests built…

ARSLAN: THE WARRIORS OF LEGEND A JRPG adaptation of Twilight fan fiction, in which you play as expressionless Bella driven close to insanity by a crafty, manipulative eagle, who stands between her and her two lovers. FORMAT PS4/PS3 ETA 12 FEB FAR CRY PRIMAL Play as lovable mammoth Melvin, cheeky sabre-toothed tiger Sally or Neanderthal man Nigel in this open-world Nellie The Elephant prequel, recruiting other creatures to join the first circus in history. FORMAT PS4 ETA 23 FEB TRACKMANIA TURBO The flying pig is the clue – anything is possible in this rollercoaster racer. Ride in a kart, order in a single-seater via helicopter, or build your own shortcut. FORMAT PS4 ETA Q1 2016…

If you took Asteroids and gave it, um, steroids, it might look a little like Dead Star, Armature’s 10v10 multiplayer space shoot’em-up. Taking place in an area of space called The Wastes – we’re guessing it’s not somewhere that does well with tourists – two teams aim to dominate the map, while a third team of five occasionally warps in on board an extra-valuable Capital Ship, which must be protected/destroyed depending on your colours. Add in customisable craft and procedurally generated maps with randomised scenarios and Dead Star’s online community will be anything but dead.…

Like the only sober person on New Year’s Eve, this upcoming indie release is as no-nonsense as you can get. Just Shapes & Beats does indeed have shapes. And yes – stay with us now – it also includes beats. A rhythmic bullet-hell game, the idea is to avoid any part of the screen that’s pink (and that tends to be a lot of it), while more obstacles appear in time with the music. Thanks to a dash mechanic that gives you a brief period of invincibility, you can at least zip about the screen with enough speed to ensure you find the 5% of it that doesn’t actually kill you.…

1998 STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 • Ono’s first Street Fighter role is as sound manager on the celebrated Alpha 3 arcade game. It’s also the debut of R Mika, who quickly becomes Ono’s favourite Street Fighter character. 2004 CAPCOM FIGHTING JAM • After working on the Dino Crisis, Onimusha and Resident Evil Outbreak series, Ono returns to the realm of fighters to produce this mash-up of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers worlds. Alas, the dream combo doesn’t quite live up to the promise. 2008 STREET FIGHTER IV • As much as Capcom billed Street Fighter’s return as a big deal, nobody could have predicted quite how massive Ono’s new take on the series would become. Super and Ultra versions would soon follow.…

While Final Fantasy XV runs on Square Enix’s in-house Luminous technology, VII Remake will run on Epic’s Unreal Engine 4. Given XV’s protracted development, we can’t help but wonder if the reasoning was one of ease of having the tech side of things handled externally. After all, during Remake’s reveal, Kitase praised Epic’s role in helping the project: “Working with the team at Epic and having their support throughout this process was invaluable and we’re excited to bring the product of that collaboration to long-time fans and newcomers to the series.”…

One neat little Easter egg spotted in the E3 trailer is a picture of Aya Brea – protagonist of the Parasite Eve games – on the side of a building in Midgar. For those unaware, Parasite Eve was an RPG/survival horror hybrid series that started on PS1 with Tetsuya Nomura character designs, and later continued on PSP as a shooter with The 3rd Birthday. What could it possibly mean? That Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy VII share the same universe? That it’s a neat little Easter egg and nothing more? The last one.…

FANTAVISION A launch title that does for videogame fireworks what Jaws did for big toothy fish. What was once a mere tech demo designed to show off PS2’s graphical grunt soon evolved into an absorbing puzzler in which you chain together flares to set off spectacular light shows in the night sky. That 1080p up-renderer should be real kind to those explosions. ARC THE LAD: TWILIGHT OF THE SPIRITS Now this is an interesting choice. Chances are you don’t remember Sony’s subversive RPG of men and half-demons living together in a magical fantasy kingdom. We’d have rather seen Final Fantasy XII get the emulation treatment, but Arc is nothing if not meaty – it’s more than 60 hours long and contains 14 different characters to play as in its tactical…

“NEW WEAPONS ALWAYS STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN AMMO AND FIREPOWER.” Let’s begin by getting out of the way all the people that Nuclear Throne is not for. Ready? Right. Bowlers. Harpists. Harpsichordists. Typists. People who write Macramé instruction books. Especially if they type them. If you depend at all on maintaining a twitching semblance of dexterity in your fingers to put bread on the table (or you make bread, or tables for that matter) then Nuclear Throne is awful. Just the worst. But as this is not, respectively, Bowling, Harping, Typing or Macramé Monthly, Nuclear Throne is great. So what if we’ve got fingers like the talons of a dead eagle after hammering the triggers like they disgraced our sister? This is a game about pain…

War is hell – that’s what the poets say. But now we’ve sent dozens of little cartoon men on side-scrolling marches towards death, we can say with authority that the poets were wrong. War is not hell. It’s just a bit dull. And full of microtransactions. Dull ones, at that. At the start of each mission in the free-to-play RTS-lite Guns Up!, you’re given a truck and a choice of soldiers to buy with in-game currency. You pick your soldiers, then they hop out of the back of the truck and set off bravely towards the enemy camp, stumbling through fire and blowing up defences until they reach the HQ. Destroy this, and the day is yours. The trick is to build the right combinations of soldiers to overwhelm the…

Look, I’m normally 100% against double-dipping (back away from the salsa). But with 13 issues of OPM a year, and a pre-Xmas deadline before Jan’s lineup has been set, what’s a girl to do? Dunk back into the PS Plus library, of course, and round up the free titles that are worth plunging into all over again. We’ve had some brilliant experiences on Sony’s 2015 dime: METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES, VALIANT HEARTS: THE GREAT WAR and TRANSISTOR, too. Standout games – and not just because they’re in bold font. They’re the kind of quality titles that ask nicely to be revisited, while sipping tea and impressing your mum. Then come the titles that kick down your door and demand to be replayed, fresher than a mint choc chip…

Siege had a rocky pre-launch Beta, but online performance is stable right now, give or take a few matchmaking problems and infrequent rubber-band latency during rounds. It’s also, in my experience, home to a player community of uncommon patience and politeness, with much less of the sweary ballyhooing you get in a straight deathmatch-driven shooter. This stems from the focus on co-operation – it’s near-on impossible to win a match on your own against a halfway-organised team, and even slain players can help with recon, so dying isn’t quite as deflating as in other games. There’s a sharper-than-usual split, however, between players who use mics and those who don’t. If you do without, expect to be called out on it by teammates eventually. VERDICT If you’re tired of trashtalk online,…

DISNEY INFINITY 3.0: THE FORCE AWAKENS Relive that Star Wars movie thing with a pair of playable The Force Awakens figurines for your toys-to-life title. Finn and Rey unlock a new campaign, but you’ll have to pick up Kylo Ren separately to swing a crossguard saber. JUST CAUSE 3: AIR, LAND & SEA Medici just got bigger. This add-on includes three DLC packs: Sky Fortress, Mech Land Assault and Bavarium Sea Heist. They’re stuffed with new missions, weapons, enemies, gadgets and vehicles, but the best addition is that awesome Flame Wingsuit. KING’S QUEST: EPISODE 2 Played the first episode free on PS Plus? Then why not return to the kingdom of Daventry? (Not the real life town in Northants, obviously.) Graham is now king and is ready for new tests,…

AAAAAAAAH! 18 JAN Bananas British satire set in a contemporary London where everyone looks human, but behaves like sex-mad, poo-flinging apes. Nothing new then. EVEREST 18 JAN True story based on two simultaneous attempts to scale Mount Everest that are beset by tragedy. Best viewed on a screen bigger than a house. MOMENTUM 18 JAN Thriller, which made a pitiful £46 during its opening weekend in the UK, about a thief who gets caught up in a terrorist plot. Take from that what you will. SOLACE 18 JAN Anthony Hopkins’ soothsayer is enlisted by the FBI to find Colin Farrell’s similarly psychic serial killer. A less-exciting-than-it-sounds battle of brainwaves. LEGEND 25 JAN Tom Hardy pulls double duty as Ronnie and Reggie Kray in this romanticised retelling of the British gangsters’…

DOCTOR PLAYSTATION Our console medic fixes your tech woes with actual science THE PROBLEM Joining a PS4 Community isn’t exactly smooth. So instead of fishing around the murky guts of update 3.00’s menus, allow me to show the way to OPM’s virtual clubhouse. STEP 1 OPEN FRIENDS TAB, SEARCH OUR PSN ID Alright, ‘fess up. Who gave update 3.00 all those hallucinogenics? First of all, those were from my personal breakfast supply, so we can kiss goodbye to that three-day ‘no deaths’ streak. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. Just look at the state of the PS4 Community system! It’s utterly incomprehensible. Right. A coffee, a swift backhand and an easy workaround should sober it up. To begin, scroll over to your Friends tab and open it up. The first…

1 “CALL ME NAÏVE, BUT I’D LIKE TO THINK THAT ‘TRACTOR PLUS HEFTY TRAILER’ BEATS ‘CAR’ IN A CASE OF ON-ROAD ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.” 2 “ PLAYS LIKE IT’S BEEN PROGRAMMED ONTO A COMMODORE 64 BY THE SINISTER IT TEACHER WHO ALWAYS HAS A DISTINCT WHIFF OF GIN AND TONIC. ” 3 “ PREPARE TO FEEL STUPID AND SCREAM AT THE SCREEN. PREPARE TO CRAFT YOUR OWN DUNCE HAT OUT OF BACK ISSUES OF OPM. ” 4 “ TO CALL IT OLD-FASHIONED IS LIKE REVIEWING A DOG AND SAYING, ‘IT’S A BRILLIANT DOG, BUT DOES IT MIAOW?’ IT’S SO NEARLY A 10. ”…

1 METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN Konami might try and scrub Hideo Kojima’s name from the ultimate in tactical espionage action, but it’ll never remove his fingerprints. While retaining that distinct storytelling and sense of wonder that defines an MGS title, MGS V offers a level of freedom and creativity unheard of in any sandbox. Grand, majestic and bittersweet, this is an instant classic. 2 GRAND THEFT AUTO V Laughing in the face of other cross-gen ports, GTA V on PS4 is more than just a mere HD remaster. Upped to a glorious 1080p, it weaves everything that made the PS3 original great, with new music, more dynamic weather and a game-changing FPS mode. 3 BLOODBORNE With the finest third-person melee combat in gaming drool-worthy art design and…

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…

Ben Tyrer STAFF WRITER Final Fantasy fanatic Ben is hyperventilating over FFVII Remake. “Midgar will send me loopy,” he squeals, “but after that I’ll Kalm down.” GAME OF THE MONTH Amplitude DREAM REMAKE TimeSplitters 2 Jen Simpkins STAFF WRITER Fighting fan Jen swears she’ll be the office Street Fighter V champion once all the DLC is here. The Juri’s still out on that one. GAME OF THE MONTH Rainbow Six Siege DREAM REMAKE GTA Vice City Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR OPSM1 veteran Milf loves the rideable tigers in Far Cry Primal. He’s always got time for those who are similarly long in the tooth. GAME OF THE MONTH Star Wars Battlefront DREAM REMAKE Castlevania: SOTN Goat Of Shame SHAMING EDITOR Naysayers claim he’s a One Piece toy, but the…

18 Time, in minutes, of part one of the Psychonauts documentary. Memories! 12/02 Straighten that tie – the pre-order Hitman Beta starts on this date. 20,000 The number of commanders in free-to-play military strategy title Guns Up! 36.3 Number, in millions, of AT-ATs brought down in Star Wars Battlefront. £24.99 Price of the Street Fighter V season pass, which unlocks all characters. 1.5 Piddling gigabytes that the emulated GTA III takes up on your PS4. 1997 Original year of release for soon-to-be-remade JRPG Final Fantasy VII. Price for a camping visit to Whispering $10,000 Rock for Psychonauts 2’s Fig funding.…

“ MY MAIN FALLOUT 4 TOWN FEELS LIKE A PURGATORY FOR WAYWARD AI. ” WRITER BIO Edwin Evans-Thirlwell wanted to be an albatross as a kid, then a fighter pilot, then a cleaner, then a telepath, then a sci-fi novelist. When you combine all of these aspirations, videogame journalist is apparently what you end up with. So, I’ve managed to build Silent Hill in Fallout 4. I’m not sure how. I was aiming for a sort of post-apocalyptic Butlins, complete with a wildlife walk (current highlights: Bloatfly organs and a basketball). But somewhere along the line, my innocent desire to found a settlement genteel enough to retire to has led me into tricky metaphysical territory. The other day, for instance, I threw together this amazing house. It had all the…

1 When we spot some nuisance fireworks, we head west to find the source, pausing to unlock a supply box (the code’s 1234, says Delilah) for some rope. 2 Argh! Disaster. The frayed rope snaps as we abseil down a slope. Luckily we’re unharmed, but we’ll have to find a different way back to the tower. 3 Following a trail of beer bottles, pieces of strewn clothing and music from a beat box, we find those responsible and confiscate their fireworks. 4 Our journey back takes us through a canyon as a storm approaches, then into a cave system and an encounter with a mysterious stranger……

“AN ENGROSSING, UNFLINCHING LOOK AT THE TRUE COSTS OF CONFLICT.” The survival genre has exploded in recent years, but few use it to explore the dark subjects of This War Of Mine, and even fewer manage it as soulbruisingly effectively as this. Based on civilian experiences of the Bosnian war, it puts you in charge of a shelter occupied not by soldiers or mercenaries, but innocent people just trying to survive another day. Each day starts with you building beds, heaters and defences, then rationing out meagre supplies to keep everyone fed and healthy. It won’t last. Supplies end quicker than The Order: 1886’s campaign, and each night you’re forced to send one lucky settler out into the war zone. The tension of scavenging for food, only to realise you’re…

1 Sporting less health than the others, the Mage’s magic staff deals powerful ranged attacks that use mana, and doubles as a handy stick for close-up twattage. 2 The strongest of the selection, the Warrior has lots of health and inflicts the most damage when unarmed, but is slower and less manoeuvrable in a pinch. 3 A good all-rounder, the Amazon’s kicking attacks mean she has great melee reach. She can also wield heavy weapons and enchant them, too. 4 Similar stats to the Amazon, the Ranger fights at a much closer range, but also starts off with the archer skill unlocked for bow-and-arrow fun.…

“IT’S THE WEIRDEST THING WE’VE TESTED IN AGES BUT WE LOVE WHAT WE PLAY.” Giving Jazzpunk ( p38 ) a run for its money in the comedy stakes is a role-player that smashes together Persona’s adventuring, Zelda’s dungeons and WarioWare’s mini-games. It’s an interesting range of influences, but YIIK blends them brilliantly – and throws in heaps of unexpected hilarity on top. When a video of a girl disappearing from an elevator by supernatural forces begins circulating on internet forums, Alex Eggleston recognises the victim and begins investigating her disappearance. He travels to her hometown of Windy City, and in a mechanic that feels torn out of the Pokémon games, pretty much everybody he encounters is eager to fight. Classic JRPG battling with added mini-games ensues (see ‘A fight to…

We’ve been patiently tapping our feet, checking our watches and staring into the inky-black night sky waiting for more news on Kerbal Space Program. It’s the indie smash our PC cousins have been raving about for a year (‘Game Of The Year’ terminology was even thrown around), and has you building your own space centre and experimenting with rocket designs (read: trialling and failing). Playable at PSX, Kerbal’s not the most natural of fits on PS4 but it’s great to see it trying to make the leap from PC. And how’s this for a kerveball? Launch is due very soon.…

Bad news, you’ve kicked the bucket. Good news, that’s just the start of the game. Developer White Lotus’ debut is a sedate adventure game that focuses on puzzles as you travel the land between the living and the dead. Experimentation in this purgatory will be a key part of the experience, as co-founder and developer Koriel Kruer says: “On your journey, you will discover ways to control the environments themselves by controlling the elements like rain and snow.” No word yet on a cameo for Bill and Ted, but we assume they’ll be battling Death somewhere in the background.…

CLOUD From boulder hands and purple clothes to a more detailed figure in line with the Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts versions, Cloud’s hair and shoulders are the most consistent elements. The new iteration is noticeably gaunt, too. BARRET The sunglasses are new, but the key feature is the AVALANCHE leader’s gun hand, which is still here. Barret’s design is more or less faithful, and has been significantly revamped from his look in the Advent Children sequel movie. BIGGS Remember what happens to AVALANCHE? They all die! Biggs and the other members of Barret’s terrorist cell all look oddly similar to their basic PS1 character models in hair and clothing – just how we remember them. WEDGE Wedge’s revamped character design really underlines how tough it was to make certain…

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.…

“IT’S A GAME OF MASTERFUL SUSPENSE PUNCTURED BY RAW-KNUCKLE SHOOTING.” Talk about changing the tempo. Ubisoft Montreal is best-known for exotic open environments and shatter-proof period architecture – but its latest work, Rainbow Six Siege, is all about the thrill of cramped domestic interiors that can be inventively destroyed for tactical gain. While cloaked in Clancy jargon, the premise is straightforward: a bunch of terrorists, human or AI-controlled, are holed up in the level, and a team of operatives must either neutralise them, free their hostage or disarm the bomb they’re guarding. It seems a sketchy basis for a full-priced release, and indeed, if you’re all about single-player, Siege simply isn’t worth the investment. Nuanced terrain deformation and some brilliant system design, however, does make this a teamplay endeavour with…

Over the last 12 months we’ve been wowed by the strides made in videogame narrative, the fidelity of lush open worlds, and the increasing nuance and complexity of systems-led game design. So arriving at the start of a fresh year of promise, a third-person shooter in which you mow down wave after wave of oversized creepy-crawlies seems almost aggressively dim. But it isn’t just EDF 4.1’s premise that’s bunkum – this is a game that’s dumb in the details, too. Its four playable classes are unbalanced, for starters, begging the question of who in their right mind would choose a ponderous pongo over a laser-spewing rocketeer. Your squadmates, meanwhile, incessantly trade non sequiturs in broken English, screaming in terror one moment, calmly contemplating the weather the next. The Shadow Of…

Did you grow up wishing you were a Knight of the Round Table, charging into battle and lopping off heads as if necks were made of papier mâché? Prepare thyself for this medieval online multiplayerfocused first/third-person slasher.1 Before games, you choose from four classes, each providing a different playstyle. There’s the slow but powerful Knight at one end of the spectrum, and an incredibly nippy Archer at the other. You’re encouraged to experiment with all four, but the Knight is soon my favourite, mainly because I separate a lot more appendages with his axe. Once on the battlefield, you attack by swiping, stabbing or slashing overhead, and block with p. It’s simple enough to grasp quickly, but implementing the intricacies, such as comboing or faking attacks to open up your…

Now it’s possible to play The Old Hunters offline, but that misses the point of this brutish expansion to Bloodborne. Miyazaki wants you to get help. The new covenant, The League, offers bonuses for co-operative hunting – it’s the game reminding you that assistance is only a tinkling bell away. It’s not a traditional online experience, though, and you’ll often have to wait before help arrives. Don’t expect to romp through every level, hand-in-gauntlet with fellow players, either. You can also find echoes of players who came before – notes left to guide you around the world, and ominous red phantoms where other players died. By rationing online help, it feels like a precious resource, and it makes Bloodborne unlike anything outside the Souls series. VERDICT The Old Hunters offers…

SLIME WEAPON SET There are nine (count ‘em!) fine weapons lurking malevolently in this pack, and also two bonus maps for Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe And The Blight Below. CHAOS RUN Add two Battle-Cars – Ripper and Grog – to your Rocket League roster. You’ll get plenty of other customisation options here, too. Our fave is the toothy decal. TWELFTH DOCTOR COSTUME PACK Sure, you could buy these LittleBigPlanet 3 costumes individually, but what would the Time Lord be without the impossible girl by his side? CONCEPT CAR S This exclusive WRC 5 motor looks electric in iconic colour scheme of the great racing series. Oh, it’s also proper fast, like. Use it in Quick Rally and Quick Stage. NEW MOVES PACK Thirty new moves, outta nowhere!…

INFO PUB SONY DEV SUMO DIGITAL RELEASED 2014, PS4/PS3 GET IT NOW SMYTHS, £14.99 (PS4) WHAT? Taking creativity to its cutesiest extreme, the much-loved PS3 and PS Vita puzzleplatformer makes its current-gen debut. Cuddly-tastic hessian hero Sackboy is back, and this time he’s brought a few friends to join the action.…

PICK #1 THE WALKING DEAD: SEASON 2 Staff writer Ben Tyrer’s making the hard calls with gaming’s most tenacious teen Telltale’s writing is the best it’s ever been in its follow-up to Lee and Clem’s original story. Yes, there is less exploring, but there’s a confidence in the narrative that keeps you QTEing through to its impactful ending. The cast is more than a match for Season 1 – flawed, but never useless… unlike waste of oxygen Ben. Arguably the best Walking Dead experience you can have. “THIS WILL INTRODUCE YOU TO A WORLD YOU’VE NOT ENCOUNTERED BEFORE.” PICK #2 THE WOLF AMONG US Matthew Pellett runs to the comic store after finishing Telltale’s twisted adventure Though Telltale’s output has been overshadowed by Dontnod’s Life Is Strange (over there at…

“IN 2018, WE’RE OFF TO PSYCHONAUTS HQ HAVING BAGGED RAZ HIS DREAM JOB.” The years of wishing are finally over: Psychonauts is coming back to PlayStation. Adventure game specialist Double Fine has confirmed not just one, but two new Psychonauts games, and that’s just the beginning of the blessings that Tim Schafer is showering on PS4. Let’s start with the big one. Psychonauts 2 is the sequel to 2005’s much-loved PS2 action-adventure 3D platformer, and is being brought to life thanks in part to Double Fine’s crowdfunding site Fig (think Kickstarter, but with investment opportunities that could make you money depending on the game’s sales). At the time of writing, the $3.3 million target has almost been toppled with weeks to spare, meaning that in 2018, we’re off to Psychonauts…

A PEGI rating has been leaked for PS2 classic Max Payne. Will it be emulated on PS4? Sony’s been busily current-gen-ing other Rockstar faves (see p74), so why not Max? An IMDB listing implies we’ll soon be able to play as Yoda in Star Wars Battlefront. LucasArts could be looking to further develop Star Wars 1313. MGS V and Silent Hill voice actress Donna Burke tweeted a pic of a new horror game script. Hmm, is it with Koj? There are whispers about CD Projekt RED releasing Cyberpunk 2077 this year. We’re not convinced!…

HOMEWARD BOUND Indie sensation Gone Home is out now and the delightfully foreboding adventure deserves a playthrough. You only need an evening to uncover the secrets. STREETS APART Looks like Namco is hitting the Street for a fighter: SF’s Akuma is in Fated Retribution, Tekken 7’s arcade version. Here’s hoping he makes it to console. COLOSSAL JOB Sony’s indie champion and long time Shadow Of The Colossus fan Nick Suttner has penned the latest Boss Fights Books output, digging deep into Team Ico’s classic. FLEW AWAY The Destiny Sparrow Racing League should be cause for celebration, but it’s already over! Bungie might bring it back if we ask nicely. YAKUZ-ATIONS Yes, Yakuza Zero is coming to the west (currently just the US, but we’re hopeful for a Euro launch). But…

@HERESTHEBEAR I’ve become obsessed with Night in the Woods and Firewatch; 2016 is going to be good. @PSNKLAIR88 Think I’m playing too much Battlefront. I now believe my 6 week old baby girl is Force Sensitive. @SAIKOCAT Wow. Until Dawn is special. Basically a David Cage game that doesn’t go wonky. Love love love. @COUNT_ELMDOR The next couple of games I think are must haves are The Witness (Jan) and Firewatch (Feb). @ZGNOUD Goddamn F.A.N.G looks heaps sick. Definitely the little finger of Street Fighter :o @JDA81 I thought Street Fighter 3 had weird characters, but F.A.N.G is obscure 16-bit fighter era-weird. @CODINGLEGEND If you ever watch a video from a larger gaming mag, you know these people have no idea about games. @LOOKAS Writing song and I end up…

“BUTTON-MASHING GETS A BAD RAP, BUT QTEs HAVE EVOLVED INTO SOME OF THE MOST IMMERSIVE ELEMENTS OF GAMING.” WRITER BIO Jen Simpkins has a perfectly circular divot in her right thumb thanks to years of mindlessly obeying QTEs. She absolutely hasn’t been brainwashed by shower-scene visionary David Cage, praise be unto him. Instead of dead people, she sees button prompts. Before you press to slap some sense into me, hear me out. Sure, it’s easy to complain about quick-time events – endless slogs of lazily executed button prompts don’t endear themselves to gamers. But when integrated with creative flair and contextual sensitivity, QTEs make games truly memorable – and combined with new tech, they could become the cornerstone of the future’s most impactful experiences. Mash-happy stalwarts Shenmue and Resident Evil…

1 FALLOUT 3 What’s the purpose of a lighthouse? To help ships navigate scary night-times? Nonsense – it’s for stashing loads of tasty loot, as Fallout 3 showed us. You might have to leapfrog a few smugglers in Point Lookout Lighthouse, but it’s worth fighting down to that basement for those rare Mesmetron power cells. Don’t forget to light her up. 2 SPLINTER CELL CHAOS THEORY The game’s first solo campaign, Lighthouse, is a cheery little stealth jaunt involving crate-scanning and a man being tortured with jumper cables. No, wait! Honestly, it’s a delight. Wait long enough for that grumpy welder bloke to finish his job, and he exposes a zipline that’ll speed you straight inside. Wheeeeeee! 3 GTA V Trevor finally wiggles out of that sassy pink number and…

“TAKKAR ISN’T A NEWCOMER – HE’S A BEASTMASTER AND SEASONED HUNTER.” The Stone Age isn’t an obvious choice of setting for first-person shooter series Far Cry. The clue is in the name: stone. That means no guns, no vehicles and no swanky purple suits. Instead, Far Cry Primal takes us back 12,000 years, to a time when mankind was still getting the hang of how best to murder one another. Don’t fret, though. There are still plenty of ways to bring an end to your enemies. Instead of an STG-90 assault rifle, you can use a slingshot. Instead of a grenade, you can use a ‘sting bomb’ – that’s a compact, throwable hornet’s nest. Instead of a bow, you can… actually, you can still use a bow. In fact, playing…

“IT’LL SHINE ON PS VITA – WE CAN’T WAIT TO MUMBLE MANICALLY OVER OUR DINKY MURDER DIORAMAS ON THE DAILY COMMUTE.” Expect to see Agent 47’s doll-sized domepiece on PS Vita as well as PS4 this year. Square Enix has decided one Hitman game clearly isn’t enough and is therefore porting its celebrated turn-based, tabletop-style strategy title over to PlayStation. Originally on iOS, the murderous stylings of your miniature assassin play out on gridded game boards. You move one space per turn in order to navigate the 91 gorgeous, minimalist levels (some inspired by missions from Hitman 2 and Blood Money), figuring out how best to avoid guard pieces and reach your victim. Pickups such as tennis balls and rocks serve as tactical tools, while assassination itself is as simple…

“IT’S THE STUFF NOT INVOLVING BIG SÉB THAT HAS OUR ENGINES REVVING.” Rallying might be a well-covered racing game niche, but specialist developer Milestone’s latest manages to find a bit of track that’s yet to be covered. It might not be the definitive multi-surface racer, but it’s undoubtedly the definitive experience if you’re a fan of nine-years-running WRC winner Sébastien Loeb – its Career mode featuring deep conversations with the man himself, along with the chance to get behind the wheel and relive some of his most famous races. The game may be based around big Séb, but it’s the stuff that doesn’t involve him that has our engines revving. Chiefly, it’s the developer’s slavish adherence to realism. Milestone visited the locations used in the game to get the feel…

“IT’S ONE OF THOSE GOD THINGS WHEN YOU HAVE A BABY BECAUSE OF GOD.” Mae daydreams about burning herself in her room and spending her days as a ghost, haunting the residents of her dull hometown Possum Springs. The 20-year-old cat shares her thoughts with her best bud Gregg, who’s rather taken with her plan. “RAWR ASSBITE!” he yells, as the pair chuckle about annoying the townsfolk they most dislike. This offbeat 2D adventure’s been in the works for a couple of years now, and – despite its cast of cats, foxes, crocodiles and birds – Night In The Woods manages to capture what it’s like to be a human and grow up in a small town with frightening accuracy. College dropout Mae’s forever being lectured by her mum about…

With the return of Guitar Hero, Rez and Amplitude, the resurgence of rhythm-action games is right on time. Sentris is attempting something different, however, putting the emphasis on music creation instead of simply following a beat. As you drop blocks into a constantly looping circular zone, you’re coaxed into composing your song. There’s also a puzzle mode, which has you finding the right instrument and pitch to match the gems that fill your musical sheet. Our PSX hands-on is confusing but intriguing, and mostly hits the right notes.…

One year after the game’s announcement, Street Fighter V has its complete, 16-strong roster at last. So, who is that final, mystery combatant? It is brand new star F.A.N.G – an assassin boasting poison attacks and a position behind only M Bison as second-in-command of Shadaloo, the series’ bad guys. That poison isn’t just a visual effect, either. His V-Skill, Nishodoku, unleashes a slow-moving poison projectile, and if it strikes an opponent, it’ll chip away at health until they’re either hit again or the poison runs its course. V-Trigger Dokunomu, meanwhile, surrounds F.A.N.G in a poison cloud that harms close-up attackers. The gaunt villain isn’t the only slice of Street Fighter V news this month. We already knew six more characters are due to join the roster in the game’s…

“JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU CLAP EYES ON WHAT SONY DOES TO THESE PS2 HITS.” Oh yes, the 128-bit era is back! And it’s never been sexier. Though PS4 backwards compatibility remains off the table, the recent spate of emulated PS2 games storming PSN – as we first revealed last month – is breathing new life into the console’s classic catalogue of retro delights. Thought those vintage Star Wars games in EA’s special Battlefront bundle looked saucily spruced-up? Just wait until you clap your eyes on what PS4 does to the nine PS2 hits over these pages. Announced just ahead of the PlayStation Experience back in early December, Sony is keen to shout about PS2 emulation on PS4. And so it should be. Each game sports pin-sharp 1080p up-rendering and full…

“IT QUICKLY HITS THE RHYTHM GAME SWEET SPOT – YOU’RE PULLING OFF ACTIONS WITHOUT EVEN THINKING.” Concept albums are tricky to nail. Usually made at the height of a band’s power (or ego), the best are impressively grand and worthy of your full attention. Or they’re nonsensically all over the shop. So the fact that Harmonix has created one for its return to its debut series is a major gamble, but one that fortunately enhances its charms. The original Amplitude, released on PS2 in 2003, is the predecessor to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, both of which borrowed its ‘notes fly at you’ gameplay. You play songs by piloting a ship down a multi-laned course, with each lane focusing on a single instrument or vocal track – imagine switching between…

Cheerful, bright and decidedly old-fashioned, Shantae’s PS4 debut is never quite as interesting as its off-kilter premise (shape-shifting genie battles a pirate named Risky Boots using her ponytail as a weapon) would seem to suggest. It’s an action-adventure that borrows liberally from the Castlevania template, if the Belmonts had preferred the great outdoors and belly-dancer outfits rather than moping about Gothic castles battling the undead. In other words, you’re sent hither and thither, collecting various doodads and steadily powering yourself up.1 Backtracking is easier than in the Nintendo original thanks to a revamped warp mechanic, though it serves only to streamline a game that was already fairly slight. And therein lies the rub. Risky’s Revenge was designed for Nintendo’s DSi, and a game built for handheld devices feels rather stretched…

Have you ever gorged on an entire cake in lieu of a proper dinner? It’s an experience that’s almost identical to playing Fat Princess Adventures – sickly sweet, quickly monotonous and lacking any actual substance. At least you’ll get a good anecdote out of the cake; it’s more than can be said for this disappointing spin-off. The original Fat Princess was an overlooked gem – a class-based multiplayer with oodles of charm, cake and cartilage. Fat Princess Adventures is the 99p Victoria sponge to the original’s lush Red Velvet. Princess-abducting PvP is out in favour of an isometric co-op hack and slash in which the red and blue kingdoms are united in a war against the Bitter Queen and her gobbling army. EGGS AND SOLDIERS There are four classes –…

GTA ONLINE Jen Simpkins discovers that her fellow auto thieves aren’t All Saints The sassy, satirical in-game radio is the perfect GTA V soundtrack, so when I start a Job, I forgo the “Your Mum” State Choir on voice chat in favour of Non-Stop-Pop FM. Weaving wildly against the flow of traffic to evade cops, Pure Shores by All Saints comes on. It’s such an absolute banger that I momentarily forget how to drive, belting out “TAKE ME TO MY BEEEACH” and crashing into an 18-wheeler. Worth it – and I’m still alive! Until a passing player pops me in the back of the head with a .50 calibre. STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT Milford Coppock feels the Force while getting his Endor way It seems that Battlefront has been laser targeted…

Shakespeare’s Scottish play is not short of big screen adaptations, but this umpteenth version, from Australian film-maker Justin Kurzel, might be the best take on the Bard’s Highland tragedy yet. Future Assassin Michael Fassbender stars as the Scottish thane who murders his way to the crown, spurred on by the calculating whispers of his Machiavellian wife (Marion Cotillard). Where it differs from previous adaptations is how earthy and historically grounded it feels – less Olivier, more Braveheart, with ferocious battles captured with a mythical lens by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. The language is resolutely Shakespeare’s, but this Macbeth often strives to tell its story with images, not words, making it remarkably easy to follow. The leads, meanwhile, are perfectly cast. Fassbender plays Macbeth as a guilt-ridden warrior whose fragile mental state…

“ IT’S ABSURDLY REPLAYABLE – EACH LEVEL LENDS ITSELF TO EXPERIMENTATION. ” Sequels regularly get a bad rap – and often for good reason – but a pleasing exception to the rule is Hitman: Blood Money. Indeed, it took four attempts for developer IO Interactive to perfect its Hitman formula – years of iteration culminating in one of the best stealth games ever made. By Blood Money, the series had been honed to an impeccable standard, creating a near-perfect representation of life as a homicidal bald man in an expensive suit. More than a cash-in, each successive Hitman was a chance to fundamentally enhance not just the abilities of protagonist Agent 47, but also the way the world responded to his actions. Key to the Hitman series is that they…

“ I DIDN’T DRESS UP DOLLS AS A KID, AND I’VE NO CRAVING TO START NOW. ” Andrew Westbrook understands cute. He likes cute. But he spends a lot of time with a toddler (don’t worry, he’s his) and that cute quota gets used up. He prefers his games cynical and slightly raging. Awww!” they coo. “Sackboy’s sooo adorable!” Followed generally by, “It’s practically limitless! You can create anything you want – it’s sooo cool!” I don’t doubt these things, I just don’t really care. I didn’t dress up dolls as a kid, and I’ve no craving to start now. And if I were gagging to decorate a room, I’d paint my bedroom. Which all means I start the disc spinning with trepidation. I’m expecting time to start passing very…

1 THE LAST OF US PS3’s premier developer proves a misbehaving pooch can learn new tricks in this extraordinary adventure. In true Naughty Dog fashion, the Californian studio subverts everything from zombie and post-apocalyptic tropes to the gameplay beats of its own back catalogue. Effortlessly blending stealth, horror and action with a script destined to break your heart, TLOU is interactive storytelling at its finest. 2 GRAND THEFT AUTO V The largest entry in the series is also one of the most ambitious games ever, but its fusion of thrilling missions, entertaining characters and scathing satire looks effortless. There can be no better way to bring a generation to a close than this. 3 UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES The game that sparked a million mancrushes, with a perfectly pitched script,…

World Of Tanks may be a free-to-play game, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a pay-to-win monstrosity. It is, however, a bit bloomin’ complicated, so listen close. There are two separate currencies in World Of Tanks – silver and gold. The perceptive among you may have already deduced that gold is the more valuable, and is only available by splashing real cash. Gold can be used to purchase exclusive, premium tanks, or to get your mitts on regular tanks sooner. The thing is, the premium tanks aren’t the terrifying super-weapons you might be expecting, so there’s no need to shell out to stay competitive. Of course, it all gets a little grindy after you’ve opened up a couple of tiers on the tank tech tree, and the optional modules that…