Table of contents for No. 164 in GamesTM

GamesTM|No. 164

Editor

Lara Croft gets a lot of scrutiny, but then she is the most recognisable lead female character in gaming. As such, all of the questions and concerns about how women are depicted in games get directed at her first and foremost. Is she being objectified, is she being cast as the victim, is she self-actualised? All I know is that I find the rebooted Lara and the journey Crystal Dynamics is plotting for her far more compelling than those that came before. I think there are pluses and minuses for both versions of the character. I don’t think anyone would deny that Lara of old was a little over the top in her physical appearance for instance, but she had a no nonsense approach to adventuring, was unafraid, and dived…

Editor

GamesTM|No. 164

Reader Reaction

New characters Skins/clothing/hair styles Bonus modes Story expansions For a great example of DLC done well I give you Artorias Of The Abyss, expanded on Dark Souls beautifully. For a poor example, any game that charges for costume packs. Karl Renar I hate add-ons like weapons, armour, characters etc. I don't think they really add anything to a game, certainly not substantial enough to charge for it! If you want to add these, then make them free. They always feel like they were meant to be included with the original content but then got left out to make a bit of extra money. I don't mind paying for extra missions or story content, anything that extends the life of a game. Lankysi I believe that DLC has become a fundamental…

Reader Reaction

On Iwata’s tragic passing and the future of Nintendo

GamesTM|No. 164

On Iwata’s tragic passing and the future of Nintendo

As editor of a PlayStation magazine, you might assume that I couldn’t give two Moves what goes on in the House Of Mario. But you couldn’t be more wrong. For as long as I can remember, I’ve owned and enjoyed every major platform and been filled with joy thanks to developers from all around the globe. I’m not trying to make this about me here, rather offer a little context – even someone such as myself, whose very livelihood revolves around celebrating all things Sony, can easily appreciate and respect the impact a person like Satoru Iwata had on the global games industry, and be moved to tears by news of his passing. In a field that seems to be shifting more towards business than art as development costs spiral,…

Mad Max

GamesTM|No. 164

Mad Max

CONCEPT • Max was just trying to get some alone time when War Boys came and took his weapons, his car, his fuel. And that… well, that made him mad INFORMATION Details Format: PC, PS4, Xbox One Origin: Sweden Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Developer: Avalanche Studios Release: 1 September 2015 Players: 1 Developer Profile Founded in 2003 by brothers Linus and Viktor Blomberg alongside Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche is a game developer and game engine creator that specialises in making new IP within its own engines. Based across Stockholm and New York, the studio has a unique trans-Atlantic flavour. Developer History Just Cause 2006 [PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360] The Hunter 2009 [PC] Renegade Ops 2011 [PS3, PC, Xbox 360] Mad Max 2015 [PS4, Xbox One, PC] High Point Just Cause…

GamesTM|No. 164

Star Fox Zero

CONCEPT • Essentially a reboot of the Star Foxseries, Zero sees all the classic characters return with a host of new control schemes inspired by the Wii U GamePad INFORMATION Details Format: Wii U Origin: Japan Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 5, PlatinumGames Release: Q4 2015 Players: 1-2 Developer Profile Nintendo’s Group No. 5 team has to be one of its most commercially successful, having been the developers of the Wii Fit titles since the launch of the Wii. Since then it has also looked after the Steel Divers titles, but this is the first legacy title the studio has taken charge of for Nintendo. Developer History Wii Fit 2007 [Wii] Star Fox 64 3D 2011 [3DS] Wii Fit U 2013 [Wii U] Steel Diver: Sub Wars 2014…

TrackMania Turbo

GamesTM|No. 164

TrackMania Turbo

CONCEPT • High speed action racing that defies logic, physics and most car-based gaming conventions. TrackManiais insanity on four wheels INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One, PS4, PC Origin: France Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Nadeo Release: 27 November 2015 Players: 1-2 Developer Profile Founded in 2000 and bought by Ubisoft in 2009, Nadeo made its name with its frantic and logic-defying racing series TrackMania, offering intense solo action racing experiences. It also makes the Virtual Skipper series of simulators and has ventured out into ShootMania, an FPS, and upcoming QuestMania, an RPG. Developer History TrackMania 2003 [PC] TrackMania Sunrise 2005 [PC] Virtual Skipper 5: 32nd America’s Cup: The Game 2007 [PC] ShootMania Storm 2013 [PC] High Point TrackMania Sunrise is probably Nadeo’s best-rated game to date, but that was a decade ago.…

GamesTM|No. 164

SHOWCASE

CANCELLED – The Crossing (PC, Xbox 360) Announced seven years ago by Arkane Studios, the game has been a source of constant mystery… until this month when enterprising forum-goers unearthed its definite cancellation. DELAYED – Project X Zone 2 (3DS) We’re surprised this game even got a sequel – it’s not the most marketable thing in the world – but that hasn’t deterred Bandai Namco. It just means the release date’s been pushed to next Spring. THAT WHICH SLEEPS Format: PC Publisher: King Dinosaur Games Developer: In-house ETA: 2016 THAT WHICH Sleeps is a turn-based strategy game that puts the player in the shoes of an ancient being that was sealed away in ages past, returning to shape the world to its will. It’s a Cthulu simulator that wants to…

SHOWCASE

GamesTM|No. 164

THE FINE DETAILS

Carrying Scars Lara brought back quite a lot from Yamatai, including a newfound sense of purpose and courage, but she also picked up a few cuts and bruises. The level of detail in the skin on the new character models is pretty incredible. Dirt and hurt Clothing and skin have been getting wet and dirty in games for some time, but Crystal Dynamics has implemented a system that will see Lara’s model progressively build up detail, with blood and dirt accumulating on Lara. Weather effects As well as grime and gore, the detail on Lara’s model extends to snow too. It will also steadily build up and recede on her coat when surviving in the Siberian wastes, adding another small detail that helps to anchor Lara in the world.…

THE FINE DETAILS

GamesTM|No. 164

CAN WE STOP THE HACKERS?

Over Christmas 2014 a hacking attack brought down both PSN and Xbox Live, just as new console owners were looking to take their gifts online. The attack was credited to Lizard Squad. And it wasn’t the first or last time either service has been hacked. More and more we’re seeing attacks on gaming networks, most commonly through distributed denial of service, blocking up servers and making it hard for players to connect to games. But what are these hackers hoping to achieve, what is being done to stop them and what should we as gamers be doing to protect ourselves? “To me it’s always ‘What’s the motive?’” says Snoopwall CEO Gary Miliefsky, our guide through the world of hacking, as he gives us a little background on what might motivate…

CAN WE STOP THE HACKERS?

HALO 5 GUARDIANS

GamesTM|No. 164

HALO 5 GUARDIANS

There can be little argument that the dominant genre of the last console generation was the FPS. A year and a half into this generation, however, and we’ve yet to see a new FPS really take centre stage. Destiny has perhaps been the most notable, though its MMO/co-op leanings aren’t to everyone’s tastes, and while Titanfall was critically acclaimed at launch, its popularity has dropped with all the velocity of one of its titular mechs. With Halo 5: Guardians set to launch in October, 343 Industries is hopeful that it’ll be the studio responsible for the first must-have new-gen FPS, but given its disastrous Master Chief Collection launch, in order to achieve this accolade there’s a lot of trust to be regained. Fittingly, trust plays a part in the game’s…

GamesTM|No. 164

20 HARDWARE INNOVATIONS THAT REDEFINED GAMING

1 The first commercial console • Hardware: ZX81 • Year: 1981 • Company: Sinclair Research The computer that took British homes by storm in the early Eighties did so on account of its price - £49.95 in kit form, £69.95 assembled – and it couldn’t have achieved that without some incredibly innovative hardware design. The computer utilised a mere four silicon chips and no moving parts – even the keyboard was a plastic membrane model. The machine also leveraged household items, using your TV in lieu of a monitor and a cassette player for data storage. Not only did the ZX81 produce a generation of bedroom coders that provided the foundation of the British gaming industry, it set the stage for similarly affordable computers throughout the Eighties. 2 Backwards compatible…

20 HARDWARE INNOVATIONS THAT REDEFINED GAMING

WHY I LOVE... METROID

GamesTM|No. 164

WHY I LOVE... METROID

“Metroid has, through my entire life, been something I keep coming back to. Every time, it’s as enjoyable as the first time I played it. The music is insane, and it’s incredibly nostalgic for me – I cant even describe it, it’s like a mix of euphoria and… I don't know, it just does things to me. In Metroid, I love the isolation, the feeling of being totally alone. And that upgrade system – it’s been a huge game design thing that everyone’s since adopted. The sense of exploration is great, too… I even love having to grind: when you die and you come back to the main area, and you have to grind your energy tanks full… I even love that. If that was in a modern game, I’d…

Massive Chalice

GamesTM|No. 164

Massive Chalice

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PC ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Double Fine DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Strategy games have conditioned us to believe that mysterious species, superior firepower and unbreakable defences are the biggest threat to humanity’s ongoing survival. Massive Chalice baulks at the notion, instead forcing us to come to the horrible realisation that time, not aliens, is the biggest killer of all. When fighting the long war – as you’re trying to survive against an ancient enemy for 300 years – you’ll quickly discover that, while you can be the very best strategist in the world, none of that matters unless you can get your soldiers to sex you up some healthy bloodlines. And so Massive Chalice taught games™ two…

Rise Of Incarnates

GamesTM|No. 164

Rise Of Incarnates

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Bandai Namco Games DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: Free RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-4 MINIMUM SPEC: Intel Core i3 2.5GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 910, 4GB RAM, GeForce GT 630 / Radeon HD 5870, 10GB hard disk space ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Rise Of Incarnates bears all the hallmarks of a modern videogame – a free-to-play business model, online-focused design and a setting ripe for further commercial exploitation. Yet beneath these features, the core of the design goes back to the early days of 3D combat games. That’s not actually a bad thing though – Rise Of Incarnates borrows a lot from Sega’s Virtual On series, a fact that can be traced back to its roots as a Westernised take on Bandai Namco’s own Gundam Vs…

F1 2015

GamesTM|No. 164

F1 2015

DETAILS FORMAT: PlayStation 4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PC ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Codemasters DEVELOPER: Codemasters Birmingham PRICE: £54.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-16 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Spare a sympathetic thought for Codemasters, the developer of F1. Trying to make an enjoyable game from a sport that is arguably experiencing the most tiresome, predictable and cynically viewed period it has ever ‘enjoyed’ can be no easy task. Why would anyone that doesn’t classify himself or herself as a Formula 1 obsessive invest their cash in a digital edition of a motor sport in which there are only two cars with a legitimate chance of success? It’s a shame that this underwhelming period in the sport’s history has coincided with Codemasters’ F1 making its debut on the new(est) consoles. What should have…

Rocket League

GamesTM|No. 164

Rocket League

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PC ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: Psyonix DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-8 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes You’re sick of competitive multiplayer, right? These days it’s all headshots and killstreaks, stymied unlocks and capturing bases, and regardless of the shade of brown that is used it’s all feeling a little familiar. Irrespective of the machine gun you use, the only thing that seems to differ in competitive multiplayer these days is the particular language used to insult one another’s mothers. Enter Rocket League, football via rocket-powered cars… and your new favourite multiplayer game. It’s a simple concept but that simplicity makes it all the more absorbing to play. There’s the same level of strategy and depth that might come from a typical football game, but…

Steins;Gate

GamesTM|No. 164

Steins;Gate

DETAILS FORMAT: Vita OTHER FORMATS: Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, iOS, Android ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: PQube DEVELOPER: 5pb, Nitroplus PRICE: £31.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A The visual novel is an interesting style of game – an ostensibly Japanese curio that’s increasingly gaining traction in the mainstream (that is to say, outside of the hardcore JRPG/ anime audience). The terribly stylised Steins;Gate is a prime example of this – offering up enough of the genre’s bizarre storytelling whilst being accessible to anyone that isn’t really too au fait with the associated anime series, or visual novels in general. You are Rintaro Okabe, a would-be mad scientist. This character deconstructs the archetype for the better; Rintaro Okabe isn’t a wackily outrageous Back To The Future Doc or Krieger from…

Ronin

GamesTM|No. 164

Ronin

DETAILS FORMAT: PC OTHER FORMATS: PS4 (RELEASE DATE TBA) ORIGIN: Poland PUBLISHER: Devolver Digital DEVELOPER: Tomasz Waclawek PRICE: £9.99 RELEASE: 30 June 2015 PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, OpenGL 3.0 compliant video card, DirectX9, 300MB HDD space ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Anonymous masked ‘heroes’ fighting against a seemingly all-powerful entity is hardly a new videogaming idea. Indeed, its continued popularity perhaps serves to prove that, at least when it comes to bloodthirsty rampages, it offers just enough narrative uncertainly to develop audience interest without getting in the way of the action. Such a path is only respected, however, if the game in question manages to line it with something resembling fresh intrigue. It's here that Ronin immediately starts to struggle, the similarities with 2013’s Gunpoint being, at…

Game Of Thrones Episode 4: Sons Of Winter

GamesTM|No. 164

Game Of Thrones Episode 4: Sons Of Winter

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, iOS ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Telltale Games DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £4 / Season Pass £12 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A It’s difficult making the Game Of Thrones series feel in-line with the TV show. It’s the main point of the games – they use the same actors, timeline and universe as the TV version of George R. R. Martin’s fiction and serve as an expansion of the universe. Episode 4 seems to break out of the comfortable nook that the previous three episodes had carved out – this is the first time you meet Daenerys, except… she’s cold and she’s practically a dictator. It felt as if Telltale were using Daenerys more as a plot point,…

GamesTM|No. 164

MEGA MAN SPIN-OFFS

MEGA MAN’S SOCCER 1994 SNES If you thought a Mega Man football game was a terrible idea you’d be absolutely correct. There may be plenty of different gameplay modes to choose from, but the actual mechanics are pretty poor, thanks to clunky controls and some terrible AI on the opposing teams. We do like how you can add opposing robot players to your team as you defeat them, but that’s about it. MEGA MAN: THE POWER BATTLE 1995 ARCADE Mega Man’s first arcade outing is an odd one. It’s split into three stories that cover Mega Man 1-2, 3-6 and Mega Man 7. The stories themselves consist of battles between various bosses that are chosen via roulette. It’s decent enough, but there’s very little strategy to the actual battles due…

MEGA MAN SPIN-OFFS

GamesTM|No. 164

IT’S MAGIC!

FIREBALL • Sends a fiery, usually ineffective, missile at creatures and buildings. POSSESS • Needed in order to take charge of a ball of mana and generate power. ACCELERATE (FORWARDS) • Sends you moving rapidly ahead at 4x speed. CASTLE • To store mana, a castle needs to be created using a spell. HEAL • Damaged by the many monsters? It is time to mend thyself. REBOUND • To deflect incoming fire-based spells, and send them straight back. SHIELD • Reduces the amount of damage felt by being hit by a spell. INVISIBLE • When all else fails, hide for a short while with a spell of invisibility. EARTHQUAKE • A devastating but pretty effective ground-shattering spell. CRATER • Like Earthquake, but creates a hazardous hole in the ground. METEOR…

IT’S MAGIC!

GamesTM|No. 164

SMART AND CHEEKY

“WE FIRST MET back in about 1988 at Codemasters, when his small team Big Red were writing 8-bit games. He was smart, cheeky and very resourceful, always quick to see solutions where others only saw problems. He offered to produce several Dizzy games, seeing the sales potential and Richard and David gave him a producer role at Codemasters. He was quick to develop procedures to improve efficiencies and clarity for all departments. PHILIP OLIVER…

SMART AND CHEEKY

GamesTM|No. 164

THE ANATOMY OF SHENMUE

VIRTUA FIGHTER The game’s working title on the Sega Saturn was ‘ Virtua Fighter: Akira’s Story’ – intended to be a game about the fighting game’s hero. NINETIES RPGS In the research phase of the game, Suzuki played through practically all of the JRPGs from the Nineties, and was unimpressed by the scant interactivity he found there. EIGHTIES ADVENTURES After RPGs, Suzuki moved onto Eighties adventure games: he enjoyed world-building, but wanted to make something more player-focused.…

THE ANATOMY OF SHENMUE

GamesTM|No. 164

GAMING CLOTHING

ARKHAM KNIGHT JACKET • The closest you’re going to get to rocking Batman’s Arkham Knight gear, this limited edition jacket also has a quilted, padded black interior to keep you warm on those long nights of vigilantism. www.gamer-heaven.net ARKHAM KNIGHT HOODIE • If you’d rather go a bit more casual, and down the villainous route to boot, this hoodie might be for you. The hood even has the Knight’s antenna ‘ears’ on top (non-functioning, unfortunately). www.gamer-heaven.net ARKHAM KNIGHT BATMAN MASK • BuyCostumes has already managed to get a pretty good replica of Bats’ Arkham Knight mask on the shelves, so if you wanted to complete some cosplay or keep your Bat-impressions up to date, they’ve got you covered. www.BuyCostumes.com…

GAMING CLOTHING

GamesTM|No. 164

The Future Of DLC

It’s an argument that will never go away : the value of DLC. As we move foot by tentative foot into this brave new world of digital-focused content, DLC is becoming more and more a part of what a game is, how it’s kept alive and how it’s presented to consumers. Like all fledgling practices, there are companies that are doing right (CD Projekt Red) and there are companies that don’t do so well (looking at you, Bungie). Take Destiny’s upcoming expansion – The TakenKing releases 15 September, and will mark the one-year anniversary of Bungie/ Activision’s acclaimed shooter. Thing is, the DLC itself costs as much as the vanilla game, and requires you own that as well before you can even play it. Worse yet, for players in Europe,…

The Future Of DLC

How Rebuilding The Entire Game Kept Kingdom Hearts Alive

GamesTM|No. 164

How Rebuilding The Entire Game Kept Kingdom Hearts Alive

Disney is very franchise-oriented – we’ll never see the “final” Mickey Mouse story – is there a pressure to keep Kingdom Hearts going forever? The discussion of the end of Kingdom Hearts has never come up between me and Disney, so I don’t know what their intentions are. But while creating Kingdom Hearts, with each generation I think to myself “This should be something that can’t be accomplished by just Disney”. It has to be something uniquely Kingdom Hearts. So it’s a matter of how long can I keep creating for Kingdom Hearts! I don’t know if the fans would enjoy it as much if it was just Disney, if it wasn’t a combination of Disney and my own creativity. Has there been anything that Disney has stopped you from…

$17,659,704 and counting!

GamesTM|No. 164

$17,659,704 and counting!

By now we should all have recovered from our post-convention blues, the excitement of what the gaming gods have in store for us in the future has now been replaced with waiting. This lull is only compounded by the fact we are deep in the “summer season”, a time of year where gamers across the globe are forced to confront the great outdoors. Traditionally this would also mean that the off season would be upon us in the eSports industry as all the teams and players go recharge their batteries and party (read: ‘get real jobs/save up money’), but not this year. Especially not for anyone who plays Dota 2, as by the time you read this, 16 of the best Dota 2 teams from around the world will be…

Super Mario Maker

GamesTM|No. 164

Super Mario Maker

CONCEPT • As the Super Marioseries marks 30 years of existence, Nintendo celebrates by letting you create your own Mariolevels with interchangeable skins and themes INFORMATION Details Format: Wii U Origin: Japan Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 Release: 11 September 2015 Players: 1 Developer Profile As the home of the New Super Mario Bros. series, Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 was the only team that could bring the 2D platforming of the NES and SNES classics into the modern era. Headed by original Super Mario Bros. assistant director and designer Takashi Tezuka, this is a team steeped in experience with the series. Developer History Yoshi Touch & Go 2005 [Nintendo DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2006 [Nintendo DS] New Super Mario Bros. U 2012 [Wii U] Pikmin…

GamesTM|No. 164

The Legend Of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

CONCEPT • Nintendo attempts to bring multiplayer to the world of Zeldaonce again with a three-player experience that relies on co-op combat and puzzle-solving INFORMATION Details Format: 3DS Origin: Japan Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 3 Release: Q3 Genre: Puzzle adventure Players: 1-3 Developer Profile Eiji Aonuma’s Zeldateam is one of the most consistent at Nintendo, regularly delivering engaging and memorable adventures on Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS in the last decade. Tri Force Heroes feels like a return to its Four Swordsmultiplayer. Developer History The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass 2007 [DS] The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 2013 [3DS] High Point A Link Between Worlds was a tricky sequel to the beloved A Link To The Past, but it did a great job…

The Legend Of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

LEGO Worlds

GamesTM|No. 164

LEGO Worlds

CONCEPT • The original building blocks go full Minecraft, with all the creativity and intuitive systems you’d expect from the LEGOgames nowadays INFORMATION Details Format: PC Origin: UK Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Developer: TT Games Release: 2016 (full release) Players: 1 Developer Profile Operating since 1990, Traveller’s Tales (now TT Games) has proved itself as a master of the licensed game – in more recent years, though, the studio has carved out a niche for itself as the ‘LEGO’ studio. Developer History Puggsy 1993 [Amiga, Mega-CD, Mega Drive Sonic R 1998 [Sega Saturn LEGO Rock Band 2009 [PS3, 360, Wii, DS] LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2013 [Multi] High Point Despite some dodgy flying mechanics, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was one of the best child-friendly open-world games on the market…

THE RAIDER RETURNS

GamesTM|No. 164

THE RAIDER RETURNS

“We always begin with Lara and her journey,” says Rich Briggs, brand director at Crystal Dynamics. “It’s the central part of the experience and informs virtually every choice we make.” The same was true of the 2013 reboot: young Lara’s accidental descent into the Yamatai darkness penned a new chapter for the gutsy spelunker, and one that examined the human behind the idol, the woman behind those iconic guns and swinging ponytail. “We outlined the adventure and the locations that would support [the experience],” continues Briggs, explaining how the studio wanted to evolve Lara and keep this fledgling trajectory of her character’s origin alive and moving. “We looked at the harshest environments on Earth, with the premise that history’s secrets are hidden in these remote and dangerous locations. That’s why…

GamesTM|No. 164

5 THINGS You Need To Know About Kitezh, the Russian Atlantis

1 The first reference to Kitezh is believed to be in the Kitezh Chronicle; an anonymously written book with ties to the ‘Old Believers’, a Russian Orthodox separatist sect. 2 Maly and Bolshy Kitezh (translated to Little and Big Kitezh) were believed to have been built at the behest of Georgy II, Grand Prince of Vladimir on the Volga River and Lake Svetloyar. 3 Tales say that the towns were attacked by Mongols, only for them to find no fortification and the townspeople praying. Water began emerging from the ground and the town sank into the lake. 4 Werner Herzog made a documentary about the lost city in 1993 called Bells From The Deep, presumably inspired by the legend that you can hear bells from the…

5 THINGS You Need To Know About Kitezh, the Russian Atlantis

HOW DOES DDoS WORK?

GamesTM|No. 164

HOW DOES DDoS WORK?

1. HACKER • Rents a botnet (or has one set up themselves) giving them access to a large number of computers all of which they can control. The owners of these machines are unlikely to be aware they are being used. 2. ZOMBIE COMPUTERS • Infected computers that can be remotely accessed by a hacker, these computers can either start sending packets of data by the hundreds or thousands directly at a target or via a Reflector… 3. REFLECTORS • Even more computers receive a connection request from the zombie computers, but believe it’s from the eventual target of the DDoS attack, and proceed to send information to that address en masse. 4. TARGET • Gets bombarded with information, slowing down access for legitimate users or blocking it off almost…

GamesTM|No. 164

LOCKE AND LOAD

ALTHOUGH THE CAMPAIGN MODE IN GUARDIANS HAS PLAYERS ALTERNATING BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS (AND THEIR SUPPORTING FIRETEAMS), AGENT LOCKE AND MASTER CHIEF DON’T DIFFER TOO MUCH IN HOW THEY CONTROL. THE REASON FOR THIS IS OBVIOUS: 343 WANTS TO ENSURE AS SMOOTH A TRANSITION BETWEEN CHARACTERS AS POSSIBLE. “WE HAVE DELIBERATELY MAINTAINED A CONSISTENT SUITE OF GAMEPLAY ABILITIES FOR ALL SPARTANS SO THAT PLAYERS CAN SHIFT BETWEEN EACH CHARACTER AND TEAM WITHOUT HAVING TO RELEARN THE CONTROLS,” HOLMES TELLS US. THEY AREN’T COMPLETELY IDENTICAL, HOWEVER, BECAUSE LOCKE IS ARMED WITH AN EXTRA TOOL THAT SHOULD MAKE HIS STAGES PLAY A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY TO THOSE FEATURING MASTER CHIEF. “ONE EXCEPTION IS THE NEW TRACKING ABILITY THAT SPARTAN LOCKE AND HIS TEAM USE AS THEY HUNT THE MASTER CHIEF,” HOLMES EXPLAINS. “THE…

LOCKE AND LOAD

GamesTM|No. 164

THE UNLIKELY RETURN OF Shenmue III

THERE WERE TEARS shed. People lost their cool on live broadcasts. And fans who had been working for the last three years to bring their beloved Shenmue back from vapourware purgatory felt a sense of relief that the fight was finally over. “It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders after three and a half years of daily grind, trying to conduct the most uphill of all videogame campaigns from cliff tops and office toilets and hospital beds,” Team Yu community founder James Hamill tells us. “Yet I’m sure it was only a fraction of the relief felt by Suzukisan after fourteen long years of ‘Where’s Shenmue III? Are you making Shenmue III? When’s Shenmue IIIcoming out?’.” When Shenmue III’s Kickstarter campaign was announced on Sony’s…

THE UNLIKELY RETURN OF Shenmue III

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

GamesTM|No. 164

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PC, Xbox One ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: Bethesda DEVELOPER: ZeniMax Online Studios PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: Massively Multiplayer ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Just how much can adding a subtitle to a game make it new? Well, if you’ve continued to play Elder Scrolls Online after its launch last year then you’d have to admit that sticking ‘Tamriel Unlimited’ on the end hasn’t come with all that much, besides scrapping the monthly subscription fee, that is. You see, the console release – despite its grandiose name – is much the same as the original TESO, just with all the numerous patches, improvements and additions that have come along since its initially messy launch. In a way, it’s beneficial that the game has had that time to…

Infinifactory

GamesTM|No. 164

Infinifactory

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: Zachtronics Industries DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £18.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: 2GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 1.5GB HDD Space ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A It’s only in playing Infinifactory that we’ve realised just how stagnant the puzzle genre is. It’s a revelatory experience, one that leaves you wondering why all games of the genre can’t match this sense of freedom. For all the options available to gamers, puzzle games are more often than not very explicit about their solutions; and as rewarding as those solutions may be when you succeed, very few can match the sense of achievement in completing one of Infinifactory’s stages. See, this is a game that tasks you with designing and building a production line, combining core blocks together to match…

MotoGP 15

GamesTM|No. 164

MotoGP 15

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 ORIGIN: Italy PUBLISHER: Milestone DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-12 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Motorbike games suffer enormously across all platforms thanks to this medium’s default input devices. More so than even racing games featuring cars, the analogue stick is simply incapable of replicating – to any significant degree – the act of piloting a bike; holding the handlebars, leaning into corners, performing the most minute of touches to glide smoothly around shallow corners. Games such as MotoGP don’t have the luxury of a ‘racing wheel’ equivalent. This is a game that’s at a handicap before things have even begun, then. Not that we should necessarily feel sorry for it. After all, the MotoGP series has had plenty…

Kholat

GamesTM|No. 164

Kholat

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: Poland PUBLISHER: IMGN.PRO DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £14.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: GeForce GTX 470, 4GB RAM, Intel Core i3 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A With the PC gaming market saturated by first-person survival horror experiences these days, it would take something special to stand out. Kholat certainly fits that bill, but only in certain aspects. Based on a real-life incident in 1959 in which a group of hikers mysteriously died on a Russian mountain, Kholat sees you travelling to said mountain in an attempt to figure out exactly what happened. Armed with just a flashlight, a compass and a map with a list of co-ordinates scrawled on it, you’re tasked with heading to each location to see what you can find there. Naturally, it emerges…

GamesTM|No. 164

Godzilla

DETAILS FORMAT: PlayStation 4 OTHER FORMATS: PlayStation 3 ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Bandai Namco DEVELOPER: Natsume Atari Inc PRICE: £44.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-3 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes The monster’s initial appearance is impressive enough as it rises out of the ocean, but it’s all pretty much downhill from there. Despite its aggressive entrance, Godzilla decides to wait patiently while the voiceover explains that Japan harnessed G-Energy, the mysterious force that gives Godzilla its strength, to power the world following its first appearance. It’s not a great start. There have been a lot of Godzilla games, many to be only found in Japan, which means that there are inevitably going to be a few duds in such a long line of releases. Unfortunately, this offering is one of those duds. In…

Godzilla

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

GamesTM|No. 164

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox OneOTHER FORMATS: PS4ORIGIN: USPUBLISHER: EA SportsDEVELOPER: EA TiburonPRICE: £49.99RELEASE: Out nowPLAYERS: 1-4ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Is that it? What happened? Where did everything go? Those questions, and variants of them, are what you’ll mutter to yourself in confused exasperation as you click around Rory McIlroy PGA Tour’s menus for the first time. EA’s golfing series has taken a two-year vacation and returned without Tiger Woods and seemingly forgotten over half the luggage it left with too. The reason for the extended absence is that EA’s golf series now uses the Frostbite engine, and the new engine means no loading times, (barely) improved visuals and the introduction of some dazzling fantasy courses, the highlight being a flaming battleship which crashes onto the green. In the long-term, this will likely…

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess

GamesTM|No. 164

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PS3, Vita ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Tecmo Koei DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £34.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A If there is one thing that the Deception series does well, it’s making you feel fine with being bad. Its unique spin on the strategy RPG genre, by the way of using traps to kill enemies, makes Deception standoutasoneof the more inventive series on the market. Deception IV: Blood Ties was no exception to this; however, due to its incessant repetition of level design and objectives, not to mention a lack of expansion on the Deception formula, the game failed to achieve its potential. Enter a revised edition of Deception IV, named The NightmarePrincess. This updated version of the game contains theoriginal Blood Ties gamebutitalso features…

WHY I LOVE... HALF-LIFE

GamesTM|No. 164

WHY I LOVE... HALF-LIFE

“The most influential videogame of my life was Half-Life. It was mind-blowing. I think it was the first game that actually hired a writer, you know, to craft a story. It really immersed you – it’s hard to remember back then that it was just weird to look around a 3D environment; you had this dream-like sense of immersion. You’re Dr. Gordon Freeman and you’re just showing up for work, and the decision to never put a cutscene into that game – to always have your attention directed organically to where it needs to be… it makes you feel always in control, but always in a dream. You’re figuring out things as you go, and it’s all done so well, so, so well. Yeah, that game changed my life.” “It’s…

GamesTM|No. 164

AN INTERVIEW WITH REY JIMENEZ

So why focus on the first six Mega Man games and not the other four? The philosophy of the game of preservation is key to this project. The developer we’re working with has developed tech that can accurately reproduce the game from original content in a way that hasn’t been used before. This tech is currently focused on building from NES content and this is why the collection is of the first six games, all of which released on the NES. Will you be overhauling the original 8-bit graphics? Although we are still displaying 8-bit graphics, they are now being re-output in 1080 HD. This means that the sprites will be super crisp and cleaner than we’ve ever seen before. As a comparison, Mega Man Anniversary Collection was running 240p,…

AN INTERVIEW WITH REY JIMENEZ

PULLING THE RUG

GamesTM|No. 164

PULLING THE RUG

• IN APRIL 2012, some images appeared to have been found of an Amiga version of Magic Carpet. Screens were uploaded on to the English Amiga Board and it caused a mix of excitement and scepticism until Glenn Corpes put the record straight: the game was never earmarked for the Amiga, even though Bullfrog had long been an Amiga-first developer. Times were changing. “I suspect what happened is that a journalist [from CU Amiga magazine] visited the office and someone (possibly even me) implied that it might be possible on CD32 as it had a byte-per-pixel mode or a chunky to planer converter or something didn’t it?,” he told the forum. “My replies probably just made a few people sad,” he tells us. The game was later ported to the…

GamesTM|No. 164

SIXTH FORM CODERS

“PAUL AND MY brother, John, decided to write an adventure game together when they were both in sixth form. Me and Paul’s younger brother were both roped in to do the graphics (the junior position) while they designed the game and coded it. The game was set in ancient Babylon and they did a ton of research into Sumerian cuneiform script and stuff and had a brilliant design that involved a science facility sending someone back into the past to fix things. They basically invented Assassin’s Creed.” STE PICKFORD…

SIXTH FORM CODERS

GamesTM|No. 164

DATA STREAM

YAGER HAS BEEN DROPPED AS THE DEVELOPER OF DEAD ISLAND 2 BY DEEP SILVER JADE RAYMOND HAS JOINED EA TO LEAD NEW MOTIVE STUDIO AND VISCERAL STAR WARS PROJECT ROB MCELHENNEY, CREATOR OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, WILL DIRECT THE MINECRAFT MOVIE BETHESDA’S FREE GAME FALLOUT SHELTER MANAGED TO EARN $5.1 MILLION IN ITS FIRST TWO WEEKS ON SALE SPLATOON HAS BECOME NINTENDO’S LATEST 1 MILLION SELLING GAME AS WII U SALES HIT THE 10 MILLION MARK ANDROID CONSOLE OUYA HAS BEEN BOUGHT OUT BY RAZER, WITH STAFF MOVING TO THE HARDWARE FIRM…

GamesTM|No. 164

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

• Kingdom Hearts isn’t the most accessible franchise to get into – set over many Square Enix and Disney worlds, the characters are varied and the story threads plentiful. The initial pitch to Square Enix bosses was apparently met with scepticism. “When I first brought up the concept internally, even then people were very sceptical,” Nomura reveals to us, “and when we made the announcement people were unsure – but at the same time I didn’t understand why they didn’t get this was a really good game. It’s very difficult to distinguish what game is going to be good in the end, that’s my impression.”…

WHY I LOVE... AGE OF WONDERS

GamesTM|No. 164

WHY I LOVE... AGE OF WONDERS

“I love how the [Age Of Wonders] games really build an emergent world of rules and systems… you are affected by the world, and you can affect the world in turn. We have a studio credo here at Avalanche, and that is ‘If you see it, you can go there; if you poke it, it reacts.’ That’s the baseline for how we build sandboxes. The Age Of Wonders games really resonate with that, I myself have taken inspiration from that, and really tried to build on the systems that those games set out, all those years ago.” “You are affected by the world, and you can affect the world in turn ” EMIL KRAFTLING, SENIOR GAME DESIGNER, AVALANCHE STUDIOS…

Need For Speed

GamesTM|No. 164

Need For Speed

CONCEPT • Need For Speedis back after taking a two year break, as Ghost Games looks to combine everything fans have loved across the franchises’ impressive 20 year history INFORMATION Details Format: Xbox One, PS4, PC Origin: Sweden Publisher: EA Developer: Ghost Games Release: 3 November 2015 Players: TBC Developer Profile Comprised of over 80 per cent of ex-Criterion staff members, Ghost Games was formed to continue upholding the Need For Speedlegacy for EA after the legendary studio responsible for Burnout scaled back its operations to focus on smaller racing experiences back in 2013. Developer History Need For Speed: Rivals 2013 [Multi] Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2012 [Multi] Burnout Paradise 2008 [Multi] Burnout 3: Takedown [PS2, Xbox] High Point Need For Speed: Most Wanted essentially redesigned the open-world racing…

Dark Souls III

GamesTM|No. 164

Dark Souls III

CONCEPT • There are huge monsters that want to kill you. There are buildings that, somehow, want to kill you. The developer wants to kill you. This is Dark Souls. You will die INFORMATION Details Format: PS4, Xbox One, PC Origin: Japan Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment Developer: From Software Release: 2016 Players: TBC Developer Profile From Software is known for its work on the Souls series and spiritual successor to the brand, Bloodborne, but let’s not forget how the studio made its name – mostly working on the Armored Core series. Developer History King’s Field 1994 [PlayStation] Armored Core 1997 [PlayStation] Demon’s Souls 2009 [PS3] High Point Bloodborne proved to the world that the cult that had grown around Dark Souls was well-deserved, and that the ‘ultra hard’ gameplay translated…

Dirty Bomb

GamesTM|No. 164

Dirty Bomb

CONCEPT • It’s 2020 and London is a post-apocalyptic wasteland with no law and order – and you’ve been brought in to sort things out in this first-person shooter INFORMATION Details Format: PC Origin: UK Publisher: Nexon America Inc Developer: Splash Damage Release: 2015 Genre: First-person shooter Players: 1-20 Developer Profile Splash Damage has been around since 2001, its developers making a name for themselves by modding Quake 3 and providing in-game TV streaming solutions for broadcasting companies. Developer History Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory 2003 [PC, Mac] Enemy Territory: Quake Wars 2007 [PC, PS3, 360] Brink 2011 [PC, PS3, Xbox 360] High Point Brink might have released to a tepid review season, but the game behind the mediocrity was actually really enjoyable – some of the most satisfying class-based FPS gaming…

GamesTM|No. 164

LEADING THE PACK

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst Faith was introduced in 2006’s Mirror’s Edge, and she looks set to continue her kickass campaign in the game’s prequel, released next year. If Faith seems familiar it might be because both 2013 Lara and Faith were written by Rhianna Pratchett. Horizon: Zero Dawn An RPG set in a post-apocalyptic landscape where you play as Aloy, a hunter who needs to utilise tripwires, explosives, melee and stealth to take down giant robot dinosaurs. Aloy is as resourceful and lethal as they come, and her excellent design reflects this. ReCore From the mind of Keiji Inafune comes ReCore, a game centred around Joule and her robot dog. The game is being worked on by Armature Studio – the guys that worked on Metroid Prime 3 – they know…

LEADING THE PACK

GamesTM|No. 164

EXCLUSIVES SHOWDOWN

VOLUME 18 AUGUST UNTIL DAWN 25 AUGUST SOMA 22 SEPTEMBER UNCHARTED: TNDC 7 OCTOBER DISGAEA 5 9 OCTOBER PERSONA 5 TBC 2015 THE TOMORROW CHILDREN TBC 2015 GEARS OF WAR: ULTIMATE EDITION 25 AUGUST FORZA MOTORSPORT 6 15 SEPTEMBER FABLE LEGENDS 16 OCTOBER HALO 5: GUARDIANS 27 OCTOBER RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER 10 NOVEMBER BELOW TBC 2015 ELITE: DANGEROUS TBC 2015 In terms of brand name recognition Rise Of The Tomb Raider’s year-long headstart on Xbox One puts its lineup on top for the close of 2015. PS4 has the indie quality, but Forza, Halo, Fable and Lara Croft combined give it a significant edge. Not that PS4 fans will be complaining too much since they’ll likely be playing Fallout 4, released on the same day.…

EXCLUSIVES SHOWDOWN

GamesTM|No. 164

WHAT CAN GAMERS DO?

Since the power of DDoS attacks emanates from the large numbers of computers infected with malware and used as zombies in sending data to a target, we can play a part in diminishing their effectiveness according to Snoopwall’s Gary Miliefsky, but we should also be demanding more of our service providers. “Gamers should harden their own computers, smartphones, and tablets and make sure they’re not part of a botnet. That’s one thing that gamers should be doing. And maybe if they see these DoS attacks continue, demand more of Microsoft and Sony in return for the loss of a resource. It’s like utility right? If the power grid goes down, you don’t pay for electricity.”…

FEELING BLUE

GamesTM|No. 164

FEELING BLUE

LINDA-058 • LINDA PRAVDIN IS AN IMMENSELY SKILLED SNIPER, REPORTEDLY ABLE TO TAKE OUT BANSHEES WITH ONE SHOT BY SHOOTING THE PILOT THROUGH A TINY GAP ON THE VEHICLE’S BODY. SHE’S A BIT OF A LONE WOLF AND, OTHER THAN MASTER CHIEF, IS EASILY THE QUIETEST MEMBER OF BLUE TEAM. MASTER CHIEF ONCE CALLED HER THE “STRONGEST” SPARTAN, BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T NEED HELP FROM ANY OTHER MEMBER OF THE TEAM. KELLY-087 • KELLY IS NOT ONLY THE FASTEST OF THE SPARTANS, SHE’S ALSO THE FASTEST HUMAN WHO EVER LIVED, CAPABLE OF RUNNING AT SPEEDS OF UP TO 38MPH (BY CONTRAST, USAIN BOLT CAN ‘ONLY’ RUN 27MPH). SHE’S ALSO GOT A REMARKABLE TOLERANCE FOR PAIN AND IS THE BLUE TEAM’S WISECRACKER, OFTEN MAKING QUIPS WHEN THE TEAM’S IN A STICKY SITUATION.…

GamesTM|No. 164

LOOK WHO’S BACK

Yu Suzuki DIRECTOR/PRODUCER • THE CREATOR OF SHENMUE AS WELL AS THE PRODUCER OF SUCH CLASSICS AS VIRTUA FIGHTER AND VIRTUA COP, HE MADE HIS NAME IN THE EARLY DAYS ON SPACE HARRIER, OUT RUN AND AFTER BURNER. Tak Hirai CREATIVE DIRECTOR • LEAD PROGRAMMER ON THE SHENMUE SERIES, HE HAS SINCE FOUNDED HIS OWN STUDIO, NEILO, WHICH IS ASSISTING YS NET WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHENMUE III. HE’S ONE OF MANY FORMER DESIGNERS RETURNING. Masahiro Yoshimoto SCRIPTWRITER • THE ORIGINAL SCRIPTWRITER ON SHENMUE WILL BE COMING BACK FOR SHENMUE III. HE’S BEEN WORKING ON JAPANESE MOVIES AND TV FOR OVER 30 YEARS GIVING HIM AN INCREDIBLE BACKGROUND IN DRAMA. Kenji Miyawaki MAIN CHARACTER DESIGNER • SINCE HIS DAYS DESIGNING THE HEROES AND VILLAINS OF SHENMUE WITH SEGA, MIYAWAKI HAS…

LOOK WHO’S BACK

LEGO Jurassic World

GamesTM|No. 164

LEGO Jurassic World

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC, 3DS, Vita ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Warner Bros DEVELOPER: Traveller’s Tales PRICE: £39.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A The days of wretched licensed movie games are over, and it’s thanks to the marvellous LEGO franchise. The bar has been set so high by the likes of LEGO Marvel Super Heroes and LEGO Lord Of The Rings that sludge like the Pacific Rim gamejustaren’tacceptable any more. In raising that bar, though, Traveller’s Tales has also given itself a challenge. How can it translate less mechanically interesting properties than Star Wars and superheroes to its tried-and-tested formula? Well if LEGO Jurassic World is anything to go by, then it’s by sticking to that very formula vehemently and…

God Of War III Remastered

GamesTM|No. 164

God Of War III Remastered

DETAILS FORMAT: PlayStation 4 ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: Sony DEVELOPER: SCE Santa Monica Studio, Wholesale Algorithms PRICE: £29.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Sony’s customary mastery of its own hardware has resulted in some of contemporary gaming’s grandest watershed moments. Nobody sensible would dismiss the narrative or structural achievements of Shadow Of The Colossus or Uncharted’s first sequel, but those games were defined (initially, at least) by their transcendent technical showmanship. For some, Sony’s biggest tentpoles just don’t feel right unless the machine that’s running them appears to be buckling under their unparalleled technological weight, and returning to old blockbusters after half a decade expecting that same energising rush is a fool’s errand. But like the duo of aforementioned first-party collossi, God Of War III’s comprehensive quality, purely…

GamesTM|No. 164

Fallout Shelter

DETAILS FORMAT: iOS ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks DEVELOPER: Bethesda Game Studios PRICE: Free RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A The big takeaway from playing Fallout Shelter should probably be that you can slap this theme onto just about anything and it immediately becomes 50 per cent more fun. If this is the beginning of Bethesda spreading this IP around a little more, then we’re on board. We’ll lap up the Fallout card games, Fallout racers and Fallout FIFAs if that’s what’s on the way. We imagine they’ll be just as much fun as this is, even if they too aren't all that deep of an experience. At its core, this is a resource management game. You’re looking after your energy, water and food supplies as well as…

Fallout Shelter

Her Story

GamesTM|No. 164

Her Story

DETAILS FORMAT: iOS OTHER FORMATS: PC ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Sam Barlow DEVELOPER: in-house PRICE: £3.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Her Story burrowed into our brain and dug right in there, buried itself like a tic. It made us compulsively obsessed with small details, it made us listen intently to the sole character’s voice, replaying bytes of sound over and over again as we scanned for a crack in the voice, a change in pitch, a variance in intonation. It made us strain our eyes, scanning the Retina screen of the iPad we played it on pixel-by-pixel for anything we missed. Her Story got right into our brain, and we aren’t going to forget it anytime soon. You’re a fly on the wall, an unnamed character looking…

J-Stars Victory VS+

GamesTM|No. 164

J-Stars Victory VS+

DETAILS FORMAT: Playstation 4 OTHER FORMATS: Playstation 3, Playstation Vita ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Bandai Namco DEVELOPER: Spike Chunsoft PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-4 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes A breezy and mechanically simplistic offering that occasionally entertains almost despite itself, J-Stars Victory VS+ isfan service at its loosest and laziest. Part meandering, low-stakes adventure game and part rambunctious brawler, it’s an outing defined by its incessant stop-start nature; a facet that illustrates that its ideal home is probably the PlayStation Vita. The fighting game side of things offers up precisely the sort of chaotic slapstick antics one would expect, but the appeal wears off pretty hastily. This is principally because the hefty character roster (which includes folk from Bleach, Naruto, One Piece and Dragon Ball) is little more than a…

GamesTM|No. 164

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition

DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PlayStation 4 ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Capcom DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £19.99 RELEASE: Out now .PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Just when you thought Devil May Cry had gotten confusing enough, Capcom decides to re-release an instalment first seen in 2008. Two and a half years ago this entire series was rebooted with a new variation of the lead character, a new development studio and a seemingly new path to capturing to a wider audience. Why now decide to take what could be considered a step backwards by asking players to once again warm to the old guard? Whatever the reason, we’re not complaining about the ‘backwards’ step. Occupying once again the boots of original Dante serves as a stark reminder as to just how important…

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition

GamesTM|No. 164

Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 3: Catch A Ride

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, iOS ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Telltale Games DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £3.99 / Season Pass £13.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A This is one of the first times we’ve seen a modern Telltale game divert quite far away from the now-typical ‘have a couple of choices’ template it’s been relying on. Depending on what choices you made in Episode 2: Atlas Mugged, you’ll have an incredibly different experience in Catch A Ride – your timed, impulsive decision from last time will effectively dictate which character you play as for the bulk of the chapter. But the discrepancies don’t stop there – depending on what choices were made last time, your supporting cast of misfits and weirdos might…

Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 3: Catch A Ride

GamesTM|No. 164

THE RETRO GUIDE TO… MEGAMAN

MEGA MAN REMAINS one of Capcom’s biggest franchises, shifting over 30 million units since the first NES game was released in 1987. It’s easily the company’s most prolific franchise too, with over 100 titles, including sequels, spin-offs and remakes, but that also means it’s not really that successful as some of Capcom’s other franchises have smashed Mega Man’s sales with far fewer games. Despite an often ferocious difficulty level, the Mega Man series has constantly endured. So much so in fact that when Mega Man’s artist, Keiji Inafune announced a spiritual successor called Mighty No. 9 on Kickstarter it hit its target in just two days. Knowing we could never cover every game in detail in just six pages, we’ve instead focused on some of the most important. How many…

THE RETRO GUIDE TO… MEGAMAN

GamesTM|No. 164

BEHIND THE SCENES Magic Carpet™

Released: 1994 Format: DOS, PlayStation, Saturn Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: In-house Key Staff: Sean Cooper, lead programmer, Glenn Corpes, programmer, Barry Meade, level design, Alex Trowers, level design, Finlay McGechie, artist, Russell Shaw, music, Les Edgar, project manager WHAT COULD POSSIBLY surpass the joy of creating a graphically stunning open world? For those who worked on Magic Carpet – Bullfrog’s classic first person 3D rug-rider – it was seeing the game being enjoyed on the other side of the world. The game was featured in a few episodes of Australian soap opera Neighbours when character Karl Kennedy got the title. It may not have made for a gripping storyline but it certainly struck artist Fin McGechie. “I remember the excitement,” he says, tongue-firmly-in-cheek. “That’s when I knew we’d made it.”…

BEHIND THE SCENES Magic Carpet™

GamesTM|No. 164

RETRO INTERVIEW PAUL RANSON

SELECT GAMEOGRAPHY Dizzy: Prince Of The Yolkfolk (1991) Project director Wild West Seymour (1992) Producer Agassi Tennis (2002) Head of production When did games start to interest you? Oh, crikey, it’s a very long time ago now. My dad got me an Atari 2600 originally and me and my brothers played it to death. I loved Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Tanks and I also remember being influenced by the original version of Tron. I really wished I could get into them from that point on. To play cutting-edge games, you had to go down to the arcade and they were pretty grubby places at the time, but the console changed that. How did you learn to program? I really wanted a Spectrum but my dad thought I should have a…

RETRO INTERVIEW PAUL RANSON

GAME CHANGERS SHENMUE

GamesTM|No. 164

GAME CHANGERS SHENMUE

Released: 8 November, 2000 Publisher: Sega Developer: Sega AM2 System: Dreamcast SHENMUE WAS ORIGINALLY planned to be an extension of Sega’s esteemed Virtua Fighter series – an RPG addition to the fighting game’s world on the Sega Saturn. The source code of Shenmue still reflects this – right from the way the game was built to the character models and scripts they run on (protagonist Ryo is still referred to as ‘AKIR’ in the code, for example, harking back to his original form of Virtua Fighter’s Akira). As sales of the Sega Saturn began to wane in North America, it became clear to the Japanese branch of the publisher that something drastic needed to be done – the company had already sunk a considerable amount of budget into the title,…

8 OTHER GAMES WITH UTTERLY MENIAL JOBS

GamesTM|No. 164

8 OTHER GAMES WITH UTTERLY MENIAL JOBS

CHECKING PASSPORTS • THE ENTIRETY OF Papers, Please revolves around you – you lucky peasant! – after you’ve won a lottery and have the honour of protecting Arstozka’s borders from would-be immigrants or terrorists. It perfectly deconstructs the way games, well, gamify things and makes you really care about your job: if you get it wrong, or do it too well, your family won’t eat, you can’t afford medicine or rent, and you will die. Lovely. COLLECTING COCONUTS • IT’S HARD WORK, but someone’s got to do it, right? Although, do they…? It’s probably less strenuous than some of the other No More Heroes jobs – from minesweeping a beach to collecting cats, the game offered a bizarre slew of extra-curricular activities. What made it worse was doing these tasks…

THE VAULT

GamesTM|No. 164

THE VAULT

RETRO DUO PORTABLE SNES/NES GAME SYSTEM MANUFACTURER: RDP GAME SYSTEM PRICE: £65 BUTTON MASHING IS a lot more enjoyable than prodding a screen, right? The SNES/NES portable is an interesting beast – we imagine it isn’t officially licensed by Nintendo, but by the same token, it requires you owning the original game cartridges to play… therefore it doesn’t intrude on piracy laws and such. The device is as simple as it looks – you just plug in the cart, and you can play to your heart’s content (the box says it can last up to eight hours, but around five is much more realistic). Though the press shots show the game in use with a NTSC cart, the device will work with PAL games, too – just not all of…