Hyper Issue 263

I watched E3 from the outside this year, and it appears my experience was a little different from those who went to America's biggest gaming expo. People on the ground said the show felt a little subdued and smaller than in previous years, but from the outside looking in, it was one of the best years in memory thanks to the huge number of new IPs (and of course sequels and remakes) announced at the show. For me, there were a few real standouts. The ballet themed PS4 platformer Bound has me entranced. I want to cut off cyborg limbs to improve my gear in The Surge. I can't wait to see if the crying koala makes a return appearance in South Park: The Fractured But Whole and I long…

DEVELOPER Eidos Montreal PUBLISHER Square Enix PLATFORM PS4, Xbone, PC RELEASE DATE 23 August, 2016 Human Revolution, Deus Ex's most recent offering, was predominantly a game about hope. Adam Jensen, enigmatic protagonist, found himself coming to terms with mechanical augmentations applied to his body and engaging with that most striking of cyberpunk questions: what does it mean to be human in an increasingly mechanised, digital world? Most of the answers were optimistic regarding cross-pollination between humans and machines. How times change. Events at the end of Human Revolution saw the cyborg dream come crashing down and the populace begin to treat augmented Homo sapiens with fear and suspicion. The Renaissance was over; a world of division was born. It's this that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided takes as its narrative entry…

 DEVELOPER The Coalition “IT’S A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT TO THE GEARS OF THE PAST WHERE YOU WERE DROPPED INTO THE MIDDLE OF WAR. IT'S MORE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS” PUBLISHER Microsoft Studios PLATFORM Win10, Xbone RELEASE DATE 11 October, 2016 A lot has changed with shooters since Gears of War first hit the scene. So the big question is: how does developer The Coalition evolve the series and keep Gears of War 4 relevant without losing its personality? Easy. By not doing too much of anything. “At The Coalition we talked about doing it right before we do it different,” says Matt Searcy, Lead Campaign Designer. “We went 25 years after the end of Gears 3 in order to give ourselves space and have new characters, new settings, a new conflict…

“THE ZODIAC AGE GIVES FFXII A WELL-DESERVED HD MAKEOVER, REDOING ALL OF THE VISUALS DOWN TO TINY DETAILS, INCLUDING THE DISPLAY FONTS” DEVELOPER Square Enix PUBLISHER Square Enix PLATFORM PS4, Xbone RELEASE DATE TBA 2017 Final Fantasy XII is perhaps one of the more overlooked instalments of the storied saga. Many factors contributed to the game not getting quite as much attention: its protracted development time, general JRPG fatigue among the public beginning to set in, and perhaps most importantly, the English language version’s 2006 launch being next to the debut of not one but two consoles. No matter how good a game is, it’s hard to keep excitement high in the face of shiny new hardware. The fans that did play through FFXII, however, found a superbly crafted RPG…

“A COMPELLING EXPERIENCE FOR BOTH CASUAL AND HARDCORE GAMERS ALIKE, THERE'S A “GIANT PUZZLE” WOVEN INTO THE GAME” DEVELOPER Plastic Studios/Santa Monica Studios PUBLISHER Sony Interactive Entertainment PLATFORM PS4 RELEASE DATE August 2016 When you think of SIE Santa Monica, you probably think of big, angry bald men eviscerating various mythological beings in a shower of blood and frothing rage. You probably don’t recall the multitude of various PlayStation exclusives the studio has helped out on, though… and you most assuredly don’t think of dainty ballerinas prancing their way through colourful, abstract environments. Right? So you might be surprised to hear that, alongside the new God of War, Sony Santa Monica is currently helping developer Plastic wrap up development on Bound, a stunningly beautiful platform adventure game designed around the…

DEVELOPER Infinity Ward PUBLISHER Activision PLATFORM PC, PS4, Xbone RELEASE DATE 4 November, 2016 Set in the distant future, and in its own separate Call of Duty universe, Infinite Warfare portrays an Earth stripped of its natural resources, relying on the newly formed United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) for survival and to handle off-planet colonisation. Now, a militant group known as the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) has declared war on the UNSA and killed the captain of the space-faring warship, the Retribution. It’s up to Lieutenant Nick Reyes to step up, take control of the Retribution, defend Earth, and yeah you get the picture. It’s Call of Duty, not Tolstoy. Clichéd storyline aside, right now Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's biggest problem is its uphill battle against swarms of haters…