Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2015 i PC Gamer (US Edition)

READ ME DEVELOPER Avalanche PUBLISHER Square Enix LINK www.justcause.com Having attached a grappling hook from my military helicopter to a tractor, I’m about to try to take off. In my head, this will be, at worst, mildly entertaining. A tractor dangling in mid-air while I fly around Just Cause 3’s pretty and massive Mediterranean world. Maybe I’ll drop it on some of the game’s extremely fragile explosive canisters in a military base—a tractor bomb! It doesn’t quite work out that way. I take off and spin in the air for about 20 seconds, anchored to the ground by the heavy tractor. Rather than lifting the thing, I accidentally drag it off a cliff and it tumbles into the ocean, dragging me down with it. The helicopter blows up on contact…

READ ME DEVELOPER Firaxis PUBLISHER 2K Games LINK www.civilization.com Civilization is more of a platform than a series these days. Since Civ IV and particularly with V, the expansions tend to rewrite the rules of the base game in a way that makes them essential. Rising Tide concerns Civ at sea, and brings with it new units, four more factions, hybrid versions of the affinities from the base game and a totally revamped diplomacy system. This is Beyond Earth’s first step towards becoming a complete experience, as Civ V eventually did. “We had three affinity tracks in the first game,” David McDonough, co-lead designer, tells me. “And a lot of players who tried to multiclass—going down two tracks instead of just one—found themselves not able to access some of the…

READ ME DEVELOPER Epic Games Poland PUBLISHER Epic Games LINK www.epicgames.com The best way I can explain Fortnite is to call it a sandbox tower defense game that uses low-key Minecraft as its opening act. Fortnite will feature PvP, but in the cooperative session I played, my three teammates and I spawned into procedurally generated maps, took our sweet time gathering resources, then, after laying walls and traps to our satisfaction, triggered a horde mode-style fight against varieties of cartoony undead, some of them airborne. One of the immediate things I enjoyed about Fortnite co-op is the way that structure separates preparation and fighting entirely, allowing me to enjoy both sides of it equally. I liked the mixture of socializing and strategizing during the prep phase: my three teammates and…

FIRST LOOK A wasteland rebuilt. READ ME DEVELOPER Bethesda PUBLISHER In-house LINK www.fallout4.com This was the reveal that won E3 for me. Fallout 4 is set both before and after the nukes strike mainland America, and this time you get to explore a desolated Boston. This is your character’s home—the scenario frames your protagonist as a parent, female or male, who survives the nuclear blast in Vault 111. Under circumstances that haven’t been revealed by Bethesda yet, you then emerge 200 years later. It still looks like Fallout. You can play in first or third-person and VATS adds a turn-based element to real-time combat. There’s a lot of new stuff to be excited about, though. Customizable weapons and power armor, BioWare-style cinematic dialogue, even the ability to shoot down Brotherhood…

READ ME DEVELOPER Ubisoft Paris PUBLISHER Ubisoft LINK www.ubisoft.com Every year Ubisoft does something to get people talking. This year it’s the return of Ghost Recon as a gigantic third-person open-world cooperative shooter where players can steal any vehicle, jump out of aircraft and put together their own strategies for completing objectives on the fly. Imagine Tom Clancy’s Just Cause and you won’t be too far off, though the plot—which sees the Ghosts going behind enemy lines to take down a Bolivian drug cartel—is far more grounded. We’ll have more on Wildlands next issue.…

READ ME DEVELOPER From Software PUBLISHER Bandai Namco LINK www.bandainamcoent.com That was fast. Dark Souls III was described in a press release as the ‘final episode’ in the series of hardcore cult action RPGs. Shortly before we went to press, Namco confirmed that Dark Souls creator (and recent director of the similarly-angled Bloodborne for PS4) Hidetaka Miyazaki would be directing the game after being absent for Dark Souls II. Both of these snippets will reassure long-term fans worried about the onset of sequelitis, but it’d be wise to hold out for more concrete details before we prematurely praise the sun.…

READ ME DEVELOPER Arkane Studios PUBLISHER Bethesda LINK www.dishonored.com This was the E3 of welcome sequels, and while Dishonored II’s reveal took the form of a CGI trailer we learned a lot about the direction the series is moving in. The new game is set 15 years on and you can play as either Corvo or Emily—daughter of the Empress Corvo failed to save in the original. A new conspiracy brings the pair to a southern city called Karnaca. If the first game borrowed from 19th century industrial Britain, this one borrows from the Raj. We see pith-helmeted guardsmen executing dissidents in a disease-ridden tropical township. Emily’s powers include a tentaclegrapple, exploding crossbow bolts, electricity mines and—intriguingly —the power to turn into a prowling smoke beast. Pure stealth, no-kill playthroughs…

Need to know What is it? An accessible lane-pushing game starring a variety of Blizzard characters. Influenced by Dota 2, League of Legends Reviewed on Intel i5-2500K, 16Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 970 Alternatively Smite, 86% Copy protection Battle.net “The most accessible MOBA I’ve ever played:” Heroes of the Storm is not just another MOBA. It’s a comment on the MOBA by the company whose games inspired the genre. With it, Blizzard steps into territory that is both deeply familiar and deeply alien for the company: a world of chunky characters and competitive strategy that it embraces alongside a world of fathomless homebrew complexity that it doesn’t. This is a studio that has always valorized accessibility and has lately had that belief galvanized by the striking success of Hearthstone. Heroes of…

Need to know What is it? A story exploration game set during a revolution. Influenced by Gone Home, Dear Esther Reviewed on Windows 7, Core i7 @ 3.47GHz, 12GB RAM, Radeon R7 260X Alternatively Gone Home, 85% Copy protection None Angela is a young African American engineering graduate and activist who becomes stuck in a fictional South American city during a US-backed military coup. She makes ends meet housekeeping for wealthy art collector and bureaucrat Gabriel Ortega, whom she never meets in person. Sunset explores their relationship, how they relate to each other and the unrest outside, and how that divides and connects them. Once a week as Angela I wander Ortega’s penthouse while he’s out, completing chores by clicking on things and poking through his belongings. Most things I…

Need to know What is it? A roguelike exploration and adventure game set in the 19th century. Influenced by Indiana Jones, disastrous 19th century expeditions Reviewed on Windows 7, Intel i7 x980 3.33GHz, 6GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Alternatively Darkest Dungeon, not reviewed Copy protection Steam The expedition is going well. Gerald Lafond has begun talking to no one, Theodore-Chauncey Hurst starts screaming anytime a butterfly gets too close to him, and Marie Curie, leader of the party, has set half the forest alight due to a careless campfire and caused the other half to erupt with volcanoes after stealing a forbidden idol from an ancient shrine. After we narrowly escape fire on one side and lava on the other, a tiger attacks, sinking his fangs into Madame Curie’s…

READ ME RELEASED April 2015 OUR REVIEW PCG 279 (UK), 67% BUY IT $25 MORE wwe.2k.com BEN GRIFFIN This month Angered the wrestling gods. Also the gods of human decency. Also Played Remember Me, The Witcher 3, FIFA 16 Making his way to the ring, standing 5ft 6 inches tall, weighing 425 pounds, and hailing from Uganda... The Good Wrestler! [Deafening boos]. My first custom character isn’t wowing them, so it’s time to duck back behind the curtain and revise him. These people want spectacle, and they’re going to get it. While 2K15 axes several features from its vast creative suite, its create-asuperstar mode is as strong as ever and this is where The Good Wrestler is reborn. First, pick the proportions. I like the idea of a super heavyweight dwarf…

1 PED RIOT MOD PANIC ON THE STREETS OF LOS SANTOS Explosions can be seen throughout Los Santos. For once, it’s not Grand Theft Auto V’s three protagonists causing them. It’s the pedestrians, thanks to the Ped Riot mod. It mirrors the classic pedestrian riot cheats of Grand Theft Auto III through to San Andreas. Rockstar hasn’t incorporated them into the last two GTA games, but modders have found a way to again incense the populace. It’s a brilliant way to play the game. It arms GTA’s civilians, and makes each eager to use their new weapons. Driving through Los Santos becomes a battle for survival as you dodge bulletfire and RPG rounds. There are a few ways to play thanks to an included configuration file. By default, the mod…

DICTIONARY DPI > Also known ascountsperinch (CPI), DPI is most easily understood asa reflection of the mouse'ssensltlvlty. A higher DPI means more counts per Inch of physical movement, taking thecursorfurther across thescreen. Polling rate / report rate > The number of times the PC will query the mouse to find where the cursor should be, measured In hertz. Ask most gamers if their mouse is wireless and they’ll scoff—wireless mice are laggy garbage! Everyone knows that. Wired mice are the only option. But these days, that universal truth isn’t quite so universal. With a good wireless mouse in your hand, you won’t even notice the difference. They don’t have lag issues? Most 2.4GHz wireless mice now communicate without a hint of input lag, especially if you put the receiver on…

At a special event, Oculus finally revealed the first consumer version of its Rift VR headset. The new model is “really lightweight,” according to Oculus. “You’re going to put it on like a baseball cap.” It’s also said to better accommodate glasses, which has been a problem for some people. The Rift will feature a custom display and optics, which Oculus has been working on for years, and a separate tracking sensor on a stand. It will include integrated headphones, but these will be removable if you want to use your own. The Rift itself is lighter than the bulky DK2 and wrapped in fabric, and adjusted to better fit a variety of faces. As with the development kits, a constellation tracking system determines your position in space while you’re…

READ ME DEVELOPER Avalanche Studios PUBLISHER Warner Bros. LINK www.madmaxgame.com Avalanche Studios calls cold, snowdrowned Sweden home, which might seem a strange fit for a developer making a massive, open-world desert game. Then again, if Mad Max wasn’t in Avalanche’s hands, it probably wouldn’t have moments of tether-based physical comedy to lighten what’s otherwise a dour apocalypse. Minutes into my hands-on, I hook a wasteland raider with the harpoon gun mounted on my speeding car and drag them over the desert. The body bounces over the dunes like a comatose water-skier until I jam on the brakes and reel in the tether, slingshotting the corpse over the top of my apoco-car and out of sight. This tether weapon and the tech that drives it is one overlap between Mad Max…

READ ME DEVELOPER Ocelot Society PUBLISHER In-house LINK www.event0game.com I’m on a spaceship that’s broken down somewhere near Jupiter. I’m the only survivor, but I’m not alone. Something has gone wrong with the ship’s computer and it seems to have developed a complex. It doesn’t want me to leave. It seems scared. I talk to it by typing into terminals scattered around the ship. It replies in an eerie, broken mechanical voice. I ask it who it is. “I am an AI program designed to make you comfortable,” it replies. “Are you alive?” I ask. “Programs don’t live. They run.” I ask if it’s human. “I compute, therefore I am.” This goes on for some time. The computer has an answer to almost everything I type in. It tells me…

READ ME DEVELOPER Gearbox Software PUBLISHER 2K Games LINK www.battleborn.com If you’ve always admired the sparky eccentricity of Gearbox’s weapon and ability concepts, but resented the time needed to unlock them, Battleborn may be the FPS for you. While comparable to Borderlands in many respects—the co-op emphasis and ’toon aesthetic, the violent sense of humor—the new game is no 100-hour quest for a talking shotgun. It’s an open-air buffet of silly, spectacular ways to hurt things, most of which are yours for the wielding within moments of picking a class. As in the PvP multiplayer we sampled last year, Battleborn’s heroes begin each halfhour campaign chapter at level zero and rank up at lightspeed, unlocking an ultimate ability at level five on top of two starting specials. Every time you…

READ ME DEVELOPER BioWare PUBLISHER EA LINK www.masseffect.com We won’t be playing it for another 18 months, but the long-awaited fourth Mass Effect game finally has a name. It’s set in an enitrely new galaxy—likely Andromeda, based on the name—and will star a human character of either gender, as in the original trilogy. A souped-up version of the Mako tank will help with planetary exploration, as will a new jetpack. There’s a glimpse of a krogan squadmate in the reveal trailer, but your foe remains a mystery. Alien spires rising from the ground suggest another pesky precursor race.…

READ ME DEVELOPER Ubisoft PUBLISHER In-house LINK www.thefracturedbutwhole.com Last year’s simplistic but very funny South Park RPG gets a sequel, this time with Cartman and company ditching swords and sorcery for superheroes. It’s a pastiche fashioned around the characters’ Coon and Friends alter egos from the TV series, with Butters as the villain. You’ll return as the New Kid, with the change in theme placing new emphasis on your origin story. Obsidian isn’t making this one, sadly, but with Parker and Stone at the helm the script—the original game’s best feature—is in safe hands.…

READ ME DEVELOPER DICE PUBLISHER EA LINK www.mirrorsedge.com Part prequel, part reboot, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst swaps the original’s rigidly linear levels for something that’s supposedly completely freeform. It’s set in an open-world city without levels or loading screens, instead focusing on missions, puzzles and races that happen within the world itself. How that plays out over many hours remains to be seen, but the rhythm of the original’s movement and its impressive minimalist art direction remain intact. It’s notably more futuristic, too, with cyberpunk megacorps playing a central role.…

READ ME DEVELOPER Firaxis PUBLISHER 2K Games LINK www.xcom.com XCOM 2 recontextualizes the invasion in the original as a brief skirmish ahead of an outright occupation of Earth. All that’s left is a resistance movement that strikes at the heart of an alien-run dystopia. It means XCOM 2 feels more urgent from moment-tomoment: you’re not poking in the dark looking for aliens in familiar human territory like bug hunters, you’re landing on the aliens’ turf, hitting hard, then getting out again. The first demo I saw tasked you with blowing up a statue, which functioned as a piece of pro-alien propaganda, before being airlifted out again. Despite the new angle, this really does feel like XCOM. A lot of the UI elements are the same, and none of the additions…

Need to know What is it? A huge, tangential action-RPG in a dark fantasy setting. Influenced by Skyrim, the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski Reviewed on Windows 8.1 (64-bit), Intel Core i7-4720HQ, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 3GB GDDR Alternatively Dragon Age: Inquisitiwon, 87% Copy protection Steam “The worst way to play The Witcher 3 is quickly” A powerful daughterfigure requires saving from an entourage of black-draped spectre horsemen. Dangerous supernatural powers are at risk of falling into their hands. There’s an overwhelming sense of urgency, but there I am in some Velen slum village, tying off sacks for peasants. I spent several hours completing odd jobs for them and killing beasts. It wasn’t because I savored the fantasy of being a hero to peasants, or that I wanted to…

Need to know What is it? A multi-character adventure set in the near future. Influenced by Blade Runner, William Gibson Reviewed on GeForce GTX 970, Intel i5-3570K @ 3.4GHz, 16GB RAM Alternatively Gemini Rue, 81% Copy protection Steam In this neon-drenched vision of the future, connecting to the internet whisks you away to a virtual world called the Trance. It’s where Latha, one of Technobabylon’s protagonists, is happiest. In ‘meatspace’ she lives in a dilapidated government apartment, wearing printed overalls, eating grey nutrient slop from a food machine. In the Trance she looks like an extra from The Matrix and spends her days in a dazzling cyber-world. I don’t blame her. Regis, another playable character, is an old-school cop who doesn’t trust this fancy new technological world, which is governed…

Need to know What is it? A top-down co-op sorcery adventure. Influenced by Wizardly battles, CGI Reviewed on Windows 8, Core i5, 8GB RAM, GTX 970 Alternatively Magicka, 69% Copy protection Steam “It’s a change that will upset a lot of the fans” If you loved Magicka and can’t wait for more, here is a oneparagraph review for you: Magicka 2 is faster, slimmeddown, and just as brutal. Changes to the spell system rob the advanced spells of their most potent powers, but make them easier to wield. It is absolutely unplayable as a singleplayer game, but two friends can blow through the main story in an afternoon. Now go play it. If you’ve never played Magicka, you’re missing out on an irreverent, slapstick wizard adventure grafted onto one of…

HOW WE TESTED Subjective gaming performance > Each mouse was judged for its performance in classic Unreal Tournament 2004 Instagib deathmatch, with close attention paid to lag and responsiveness. Design > How’s the click? Are the buttons wellpositioned? Does the plastic discourage sweat and offer a firm grip? Day-to-day > For wireless mice, battery life is a crucial metric. How long does it last? Is it rechargeable? Does it have a smart, battery-saving sleep mode? Finally, is the mouse comfortable for use outside of gaming? The Logitech G602 isn’t just the best wireless gaming mouse I’ve tested—it’s one of the most comfortable gaming mice I’ve used, period. Its shape is a familiar Logitech design, and the device feels great in my hand: comfortable, but easy to grip for faster-paced gaming…

The Ouroboros is expensive, and looks like a premium mouse too: sleek and angular. Its side pieces can be swapped out so you can comfortably grip with either left or right hand. The device works wirelessly and switches to wired mode when it’s plugged in. Unfortunately, it ends up feeling like a mouse overengineered for form rather than function. Installing the Ouroboros’s single AA battery requires unscrewing part of the mouse, sliding off the palmrest, and opening a hatch, then reassembling it. I also found that the battery didn’t last long. Razer claims 12 hours of continuous gaming, and says you can always ‘hot swap’ with another AA battery to keep gaming. I don’t think using a tiny screwdriver to remove a panel and access a hatch constitutes hot swapping.…

READ ME DEVELOPER Eidos Montreal PUBLISHER Square Enix LINK www.deusex.com Adam Jensen’s body is packed full of neat, robotically augmented tricks. He can run faster than you, hit harder than you, and can even pull off the legendarily tricky cycling-shades-and-casual-wear combo without breaking a sweat. And in this latest outing, Mankind Divided, he’s going one step further by pilfering Lara Croft’s hair conditioner (otherwise known as TressFX, AMD and Crystal Dynamics’ powerful hair simulation tech). Presumably in order to ensure his coiffure is as much a talking point at parties as the blades which shoot out of his hollow, metal arms. Eidos Montreal is particularly proud of Jensen’s hair, in fact, and has worked with AMD to improve the system. The studio’s executive art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête even tells me…

READ ME DEVELOPER Ninja Theory PUBLISHER In-house LINK www.hellblade.com You play a lone warrior, a Celt called Senua, in a third-person action game with heavy narrative leanings. Senua experiences hell as a corruption of the world around her, a little like Dante’s sojourns into limbo in DmC. I came to Hellblade expecting slick multi-man melees, combo meters and probably a mo-capped Andy Serkis. That’s not what I found. The demo opened in a dark forest in a storm, as Senua shivered and argued with the voices in her head. One is younger, female, and possibly representative of Senua in her youth. The other is male, stern and older, possibly Andy Serkis and—more importantly— representative of her fear and self-doubt. Haunted anti-heroes are far from unprecedented, but what struck me was…

READ ME DEVELOPER Kojima Productions PUBLISHER Konami LINK www.konami.jp/mgs5 After spending two full days with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, playing through the story missions and tinkering with its myriad menus, it’s hard to shrug off the feeling that Hideo Kojima’s final entry in the celebrated stealth series is a game of contradictions. It’s simultaneously the most self-indulgent game in Kojima’s catalog— packed full of the humorous quirks and microscopic touches for which he’s most revered—and also the most alien experience of the series to date. Echoes of past staples flare up only infrequently, like the onset of phantom limb pain, before disappearing again for hours at a time. It’s a game desperate to tell the biggest story of the saga—Big Boss’s transition from the series’ biggest hero…

READ ME DEVELOPER The Fulbright Company PUBLISHER In-house LINK www.tacomagame.com The creators of Gone Home are heading to the stars. Tacoma is set on a mysteriously deserted space station, and in your attempt to determine the fate of the crew you encounter the station’s unhelpful AI, ODIN. Despite occupying more familiar territory than its predecessor, Tacoma looks to be retaining the same gentle pace and focus on environmental storytelling—albeit with holographic ‘ghosts’ inserting a human element into what was previously an lonely affair. Echoes of 2001: A Space Odyssey abound.…

READ ME DEVELOPER Rare PUBLISHER Microsoft LINK www.rare.co.uk Microsoft’s increasingly positive approach to PC gaming may be oddly unnerving, but it’s yielding results. Sea of Thieves from Rare, British developer of such console games as Banjo Kazooie, is a pirate game that lets you and a few friends manage a ship and explore together. It looks pretty raw right now, but also like a lot of fun—somewhere between a Bethesda RPG, Black Flag’s boat combat and an MMO. The best part is forcing a friend to walk the plank, into waters below filled with deadly sealife. Why did nobody do that sooner?…

READ ME DEVELOPER Related Designs/Blue Byte PUBLISHER Ubisoft LINK anno-game.ubi.com Ubisoft’s city builder and trading sim reaches even further into the future with this new, surprisingly gorgeous-looking sci-fi installment. In Anno 2205, you can set up bases on the Moon as well as colonizing Earth in search of resources. It’s a far more expansive-looking game than Anno 2070, and not just in terms of its translunar scale. Cities are larger and more varied, mountain ranges stretch off into the distance, rocket launchpads jut out of glittering azure seas. Finally! A vision of the future that might actually be nice to live in.…

READ ME RELEASED May 2015 OUR REVIEW September 2015, 92% BUY IT $60 MORE www.thewitcher.com CHRIS LIVINGSTON This month Dared to look below the surface of reality. Saw things that can never be unseen. Also Played Westerado Despite its recent release, mods have already begun to appear for The Witcher 3. One of them unlocks the debug console, enabling players to enter commands (much like in Skyrim). The same mod also adds a free camera, so that players are able to unshackle their view from Geralt’s back and fly their eyeballs away from the titular Witcher. I decided to use this free camera to spy on NPCs. When Geralt is around, minor characters always appear busy: doing chores, fishing, chatting, and walking around town. What do they do when Geralt leaves?…

The wired Sensei Raw is a great ambidextrous gaming mouse: small, light, elegantly simple. The Sensei Wireless retains the shape but is much heavier at 120g. It has potentially great specs: up to 8200DPI and a 1000Hz polling rate option—but I had nothing but trouble with it. Even after updating it to the latest firmware, it would frequently and consistently hang. This happened in and out of games every one or two minutes. I think my hitching problems with the Sensei Wireless were unusual issues, but even if the mouse performed well, it would be tough to recommend. It’s far too expensive, and even though it’s lighter than many other wireless gaming mice, it doesn’t quite have the elegant weightlessness I felt with the Raw. The weight isn’t a dealbreaker,…

This is far nicer than a mouse this cheap should be. I wouldn’t advise anyone to buy a cheap mouse over the Logitech G602, but if you don’t have the money and just want something dirt cheap, it’s hard to argue against. It has three DPI options, 500,1000 and 750, and a nicely narrow ambidextrous design. The left and right buttons cradle your fingers and have a fast, firm click action. The thumb buttons have a softer click, but are well positioned and firm enough to lay your thumb on top of without accidentally clicking. I got better gaming performance out of the Cobra than much more expensive gaming mice. No wireless lag and no issues with the report rate. There are, of course, downsides to such a budget mouse.…

This may not come as any sort of a surprise once you’ve seen the photo on the right, but the Mad Catz R.A.T. 9 is a confusing mouse. It’s almost impossible to recommend on price alone, but some thoughtful aspects of its design do help justify that price. Two rechargeable batteries that can be swapped out in a handful of seconds, an extensible palm rest that helps fit the mouse to your hand, and some other smart engineering choices, like the way the tool used to adjust the mouse fits into the design (something Razer should take note of for the Ouroboros). But then there are the issues: a power button so mushy it’s hard to tell if it’s on or off, a battery compartment that seems to click into…