Tabla de contenidos para November 2016 en Gamesmaster

Microsoft’s latest model, the Xbox One S, isn’t as big a leap as PS4 Pro, but it’s more substantial than the casing shrink and storage boost traditionally mandated by a ‘slim’ update. Although it looks a lot slinkier, with an internal power supply and 40 per cent mass reduction over the original, it’s also got a slightly meatier processor, HDR support, and 4K upscaling. Present and future games will look and run a bitbetter. Compared to PS4 Pro’s native 4K output, though, this isn’t on the same level. For a true competitor you’ll need to wait for Microsoft’s Project Scorpio to drop late next year, which gives developers vastly more power to play with, and renders 2160p resolutions without breaking a sweat. The problem is upcoming…

“THE PS4 PRO IS JUST A HIGH-END VERSION OF A MACHINE YOU ALREADY HAVE” There’s a perfect world in which I’m playing games in 4K. I’m marvelling over strands of hair in a For Honor viking’s beard, my pupils dilating at lustrous neon effects in Infamous: First Light, my dinner pushed queasily away after watching Hannibal in eye-searing quality. In that perfect world I’ve got £650 spare in my back pocket to make it all happen, and probably a house made of purest gold. In the real world, I sadly have none of this. The PS4 Pro isn’t a new hardware generation. It’s a high-end version of a machine you already have, playing games you already play, doing everything you already expect it to do, only at an admittedly lusher…

“IT’S ALL VERY MUCH INSPIRED BY AMERICAN HORROR, WITH OBVIOUS SHADES OF FILMS SUCH AS THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE” Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ETA 24 January 2017 The classic horror series shifted to a first-person perspective in a house with no zombies (yet) might sound a million miles away from its roots, but remember: the last time Resident Evil tried something new, we got Resi 4. That alone should raise a few horror fan eyebrows, but the proof really is in the (blood) pudding. If we’re honest this latest entry doesn’t quite feel like a Resi game yet, because it is so different. That’s not a bad thing though, because it does feel like a very good horror game – something that’s learned from recent first-person…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Bandai Namco Developer The Farm 51 ETA Summer 2017 As with most good psychological horror, this spooky adventure lulls you into a false sense of security before violently upending your assessment of the situation. Polish developer The Farm 51’s game appears at first to be yet another first-person exploration effort, placing you in an empty building with nothing but a phone for company. Things soon take a dark turn. That phone happens to be loaded with all sorts of apps: a map, a handy tool that tells you when evidence lurks nearby, a UV light for seeking out bodily fluids, and a heat sensitive camera that can spot electrical and steam systems behind walls. All very useful, but protagonist Cole Black can’t remember why he’s…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Activision Developer Infinity Ward ETA 4 November We know that Infinity Ward’s divisive shooter boasts a single-player campaign that’s proving to be a cleverly subtle reinvention for the series, but we’re willing to bet on Captain Price’s firm ’tache that a fair few of you will never play it. You’re here for the quick-fire carnage of multiplayer. As we launch into team deathmatch on the craggy rocks of Frost, despite all the new systems and changes, it’s a reliably familiar continuation of everything the series has become since Advanced Warfare. Don’t mistake that for stagnation. Yes, there’ll be double-jumps, wall-running, and swearing blind that your last death was because of the lag, but Infinity Ward is introducing a huge amount of new unlocks and systems…

Format PS4, XO, Wii U, PC Publisher Team 17 Developer Playtonic Games ETA Spring 2017 Déjà vu rarely feels as pleasant as the first steps you take with this beaming chameleon and his bat best mate. So many are desperate for that Rare treat, a modern platformer that’s as good as the greats of the past. As we hare off into the Triblestacks Tropics for our hands-on, it’s clear Playtonic is gliding in the right direction. This is the first level, a lush jungle brimming with secrets to discover. Fortunately, a few moves are already available for us to play with – in the final game, you’ll need to unlock them as you go. We hold down RT and Yooka rolls – a little like Sonic – up a hill,…

CHAPTER 1 JUST CHIN TIME Far from a simple trip to the shops, the story of Final Fantasy XV is set to span a full decade of time. Our huge hands-on, then, is barely a sampling of the winding tale yet to be spun out. Nevertheless, we are given a brief look at the operatic-scale story beef to come, thanks to an ominous prologue sequence. A bearded Noctis (swoon) and friends are shown assaulting the throne of a fiery king, with blasts of flame battering against them. As we control him, Noctis is knocked to the ground in a ‘to be continued’ set up which has us immediately hooked. BREAK IT DOWN In the present, Noctis’ kingly dad starts doling out ominous advice and then we’re off, sent out on…

Q How do you begin to craft an identity for the locations, themes and characters within your music for the game? A I create things based upon a lot of different reference material. Some of it is concept art, other times it’s just text descriptions of what [we] want. I get descriptions of “ok, this is what’s going to happen, this is what this character is like in battle”. Obviously, I go to everyone else for as much information and reference as possible when creating things, but there are a lot of different things it could be based on. Q There’s a lot of travel involved in the game. Did you yourself do a lot of travelling to get into that mindset for real? A [laughs] I haven’t gone on…

“FIREBALLS, METEORS, LIGHTNING, AND SHIELD POWER-UPS” Format PC Developer Studio Canvas ETA October Web http://bit.ly/gmgoatpunks Goats just don’t often get a good rep in the games world. The most famous one we can think of is the furious beast from 1996’s Broken Sword: Shadow Of The Templars, who had his own really tough puzzle (sometimes known as The Infamous Goat Puzzle). It’s now time for goats to become the hero, not the laughing stock of games like Goat Simulator. So here’s the answer to all our horned problems; a multiplayer king of the hill fest just about our bearded friends. Couch multiplayer seems to be the new ‘craft ’em up to survive’ genre, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Goatpunks sees you taking on up to three other players…

“A CORDIAL CHAT WITH A SHY GUY DEMONSTRATES THAT EVEN BAD GUYS HAVE HOPES AND DREAMS” Format Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Intelligent Systems ETA Out now Players 1 Well, we didn’t see this coming. This latest entry in the long-running series looked for all the world like the kind of game that gets punted out late in a console’s life to keep the fanbase sweet while the format holder focuses its attention on the next piece of hardware. Only in this case, the fans weren’t so happy with what seemed to be a quick and dirty sequel to the fun but flawed Sticker Star. Color Splash doesn’t fix all the problems of the 3DS game, but if some baffling design choices make for a journey that’s occasionally frustrating, it’s…

“IT MANAGES AT TIMES TO BE POWERFULLY SAD WITHOUT RESORTING TO SAPPINESS” Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Plastic Studios ETA Out now Players 1 Heard in the right context, a single word can signify a lot. It might suggest a joyous leap or point to a journey’s destination. It may represent a constricting force or a powerful connection. It could denote a link to a particular place or even a limitation or boundary. Plastic Studio’s balletic platformer is appropriately named, then, because it somehow manages to be about all of these things at once. And if all of that sounds a bit pretentious, that might well be appropriate too, because Bound is a very earnest game that attempts to tackle some serious subject matter. But mechanically, at least, it’s all…

“THE TOMORROW CHILDREN SEEMS TO DELIGHT IN MAKING YOU PERFORM HUMDRUM TASKS” Format PS4 Publisher SCEE Developer Q-Games ETA Out now Players 1 This could easily be the strangest game you’ll play this year. Developed by Pixeljunk creators Q-Games, it’s an odd hodgepodge of Soviet-era Russia, Minecraft, Kaiju films, tower-defense games, and SimCity – all wrapped up in a free-to-play title. In basic terms, it’s a game about working together to protect and expand a city under siege. Your settlement exists in an endless void, the result of a Cold War experiment gone awry, and from this emptiness come huge monsters, the Izverg, out to destroy you. As a result, your most basic aim is to stop everything getting wrecked, primarily by building turrets and firing on the beasties. It’s…

Format Mobile Pub Crescent Moon Dev Crescent Moon ETA Out now Players 1 We feel compelled to report early in this review that despite the hero wielding a rod and line – and the game’s title suggesting piscine-related content – this mobile game is far more exciting than actual fishing. Skyfish is a puzzle game. You use your fishing rod as a sort of grappling hook –very similar to the hookshot in the Legend Of Zelda series – to pull yourself across watery little islands. You also use this rod to attack enemies, both in a ranged manner (pulling them towards you from a distance, stunned) and more direct (whacking them in the face with great violence). Beyond the rod, you push blocks onto buttons to open gates, or switch…

“1998 WAS THE YEAR THAT FIRMLY ESTABLISHED THE TEMPLATE FOR STEALTH GAMING AS WE KNOW IT”  Developer Looking Glass Studios Publisher Eidos Interactive Released 1998 Format PC Get it Steam, GOG.com It’s sort of appropriate, really, that stealth mechanics have slowly infiltrated almost every genre of videogame around. The ability to catch an enemy unawares, to use your cunning and guile to get the drop on a group of grunts, isn’t the sole preserve of slow-paced sneaking sims – it’s central to creating the illusion of artificially intelligent enemies. But this wasn’t always the case, and at the start of 1998, stealth was still lurking in the shadows, waiting for its time to strike. The origins To say that Thief was nearly a very different game would be a…

This month Robin enjoys a murky decanter of The Jackbox Party Pack This innovative compilation should be the core of everyone’s party game collection. From trivia quiz-meets-lying contest Fibbage to absurdist MS Paint-style drawing game Drawful, the activities within are hilarious, inherently social, and brilliantly universal – and thanks to the slick integration of phones as controllers, anyone can join in with just the devices they’ve already got in their pockets. It’s the perfect accompaniment to almost any gathering. Er, well, maybe not a funeral……

THE MOST DEDICATED TEAM IN THE BUSINESS Matt might be off to pastures new from next month, but he’s set up an intricate series of Rube Goldberg machines around the office to ensure things stay on track. Well, he put some cricket bats on strings. Rob Crossland There’s only been one game on art ed Rob’s radar this month, and it’s bayonet-charging WWI shooter Battlefield 1. At least that’s what we assume he was up to during the open beta when he took some days off. Feeling a little horse, apparently. If you had a limit break, what would it be? The Keys-In-Fist Windmill Strike Ben Griffin Ben’s been a busy little games journalist over in our reviews section this month, specifically having his hands full with irate Russian bums,…

Madcap giant lizard fighting game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee was a great local multiplayer game with a great title. Time for a reboot, I say. Robin Valentine, Production Editor Goldeneye… so long as they remove Oddjob. Or just make him normal size. 5’6 is not that short! Barry Jarvis, @MrBarryJarvis The Weakest Link, spent hours on that game in local multiplayer with mates, picking on each other for being stupid. Classic The Geektrovert, @RawFear27 Diddy Kong Racing. My childhood was lost to that! Alex Shute, Facebook Battlestations: Midway. Best game ever for epic battles. Barrybarfly, @barrybarfly Timesplitters. Not even up for debate. Jon Gates, Facebook…

“MANY PREVIOUSLY RELEASED TITLES WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PS4 PRO FEATURES” The future is here with PS4 Pro, Sony’s high-end PS4 that outputs 4K graphics, supports smoother framerates, shows off games in high dynamic range (HDR), and streams video at resolutions far exceeding 1080p, all for £350. As a technologically upgraded model within the same hardware generation, it could also represent a new direction for the industry. Somewhat ironically for a game console promising unparalleled clarity, though, the messaging around PS4 Pro is a little… confusing. Don’t worry – let GamesMaster clear things up for you. So exactly how excited should you be? That depends entirely on your current setup – and whether you’re willing to spend money improving it. See, PS4 Pro’s primary role is prodding us impatiently into…

“SONY HAS DONE WELL TO SQUEEZE SO MUCH CLEVER TECH INTO SUCH A COMPETITIVELY PRICED BOX” I’m a madman. Correction: I’m exactly thesort of madman Sony is targeting with PlayStation 4 Pro. I love being on the bleeding technological edge. I’m fixated on frame rates and resolution. Oh, and I’ve bought and returned more TVs for ludicrously small, OCD-endorsed reasons over the last three years than I have fingers and toes on my wrong-headed carcass. Clearly I’m the obsessive poster child for the niche market Sony is currently chasing with its beefed-up PS4. 4K – or 2160p to us Terminator-eyed ultra HD savants – isn’t the future to me; it’s the present. I’ve been playing games at four times the pixel density of 1080p on my uber powerful PC for…

Farming’s easy, right? Get some animals, put them in a pen, and feed them until they become something useful like handbags or sandwiches. We may have skipped a few steps there. Maybe we should get a finer grasp on agriculture – and what better way than by sending our reporter Leon into Slime Rancher, a Steam Early Access game where you raise slimes for fun and profit? 5 MINUTES It’s probably best to mention up front that Slime Rancher is all about sh… poops. Or ‘Plorts’ as the game chooses to call them. I don’t know what slimes are made of, or how their slightly transparent insides work, but whatever comes out the end that isn’t smiling is worth cold hard cash. So the first few minutes of the game…

Format PS4, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Red Storm Entertainment ETA 29 November No Star Trek crew gets through an episode without at least a little teamwork, and this multiplayer VR game is similarly social, seeing you and three others man (and woman) the bridge of Federation ship, the USS Aegis. Your assignment is finding a new homeworld for the Vulcans, a mission which takes you through a dangerous sector of space known as The Trench and into direct conflict with the wrinkly-foreheaded Klingon Empire. To escape intact, four specific roles need filling by dedicated Starfleet operatives: tacticians scan for targets, position weapons, and fire on enemies, for example, while engineers channel power to charge those weapons. The captain must communicate mission specifics and keep people on the same page, while…

Q Can you tell us a little about what the team is currently working on as it finishes off the game? A The main tasks at the moment are debugging and optimization. The reason we felt that we needed to do more tuning on the game all comes down to the standard of quality that the team are aiming for. Q What was the reasoning behind your choice of a more realistic setting for Final Fantasy XV? A By starting the game in a world that is close to the real one, I felt we could make it easier for players who had never experienced Final Fantasy before to naturally become immersed in that world. I also think that basing the world on our reality made it easier to depict…

“EVERY TIME YOU BLINK YOU SEE THE CLOCK SHOOTING FORWARD – WHICH ONE WILL BE YOUR LAST?” Format PC Developer Goodbye World ETA February 2017 Web http://bit.ly/gmcloseyour How many times have you blinked since you turned to this page? Once? Twice? Three times? Now you’re thinking about it, you can’t stop. There you go again, blinking as if you have no control over your eyelids. Well, the truth is, of course, you don’t and that’s exactly what the devs of this curious indie game are banking on. “The idea first came up many years ago talking with my friend John – ‘Total hypothetical, what would you do if we made a game where blinking was the input?’,” explains director Will Hellwarth. “We didn’t think it was possible, or we’d have…

“YOU’LL HAVE TO CAREFULLY JUMP, DASH, AND CIRCLE-STRAFE AROUND ENEMY FIRE TO SURVIVE” Format XO (reviewed), PC Publisher Microsoft Studios Developer Armature Studios, Comcept ETA Out now Players 1 For someone who’s had to make do without any human company for most of her life, Joule has managed to keep herself admirably busy. She’s a crack shot with her rifle, for starters, although you’d expect nothing less from a videogame protagonist in 2016. She’s also adopted a rigorous exercise regime, if the arc of her lofty double-jump is any indication. And the industrious so-and-so is a dab hand with electronics, too, manufacturing a pair of dandy rocket boots for dashing speedily across the desert sands of her otherwise uninhabited homeworld. Because ReCore takes place entirely on Far Eden, a dusty…

Core blimey Somewhat confusingly, it seems as though almost every significant item in ReCore is referred to as some kind of core, but the big crystalline kind is perhaps the most important. These Prismatic Cores are found in dungeons, in the overworld, and on boss baddies, and you’ll need a certain number to open each of the game’s dungeon entrances. Vanilla extract The glowing spheres powering almost every enemy in the game are also referred to as cores, and these too can be collected. Weaken your adversary enough with gunfire, and you’ll be able to initiate an extraction, prompting Joule to toss out her tether at that shiny gewgaw. Pull at the line and you’ll rip it free for your own use. His Master’s Voice Enemy cores can then be…

“MURDERS ARE SOLVED BY VIEWING THE MOMENT OF DEATH THROUGH THE VICTIM’S EYES” Format 3DS Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ETA Out now Players 1 This is a game about passing the torch. Yes, it’s also about magicians, ceremonial daggers, and death by noodles, but it’s primarily about stepping out from our predecessors’ shadows. Throughout its five cases we meet children and protégés struggling to impress their crusty forebears; it’s the most coherent theme an Ace Attorney game has had since the original trilogy. And it’s the work of a team out to prove its own worth: original creator Shu Takumi left after Apollo Justice and the series never regained its spark. Until now, that is. The action is the same as it ever was: cartoonish weirdoes lob dubious claims across…

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WIN HEARTS AND MINDS WITH A FACE THAT ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE” Format PS4 Publisher Deep Silver Developer SNK ETA Out now Players 1-6 The previous entry in this long-running fighting game series was a beauty to behold, its 2D fighters evoking the genre’s golden age. This latest instalment? Not so much… Its move to 3D models after predecessor KOFXIII’s sumptuous sprites is an understandable one to a degree – SNK are clearly on a budget, and hand-animating all of KOFXIV’s impressive 50-strong launch cast would have been quite a bit of work. But it’s hard to deny that ‘clearly on a budget’ is not exactly the best look for any game. It’s especially disappointing because SNK has been open in its ambition for The…

“YOUR FIRST FEW HOURS ARE LIKELY TO BE CHARACTERISED BY BEWILDERED CONFUSION” Format PS4 (reviewed), PC Publisher M2H Developer M2H, Blackmill Games ETA Out now Players 1-32 It may seem hard to believe now, but there was a time when Call Of Duty’s key selling point was that it placed you in the uncomfortable shoes of an ordinary soldier caught in the clamour of global conflict. You didn’t play as a super soldier in a parkour exoskeleton or the commander of Earth’s space navy – you were just a grunt in a warzone fighting for your life. In a sense, that’s the same niche that M2H and Blackmill Games’ multiplayer shooter is trying to fill, but this is no tub-thumping jingoism sim. It’s a networked recreation of the Great War’s…

“FILL THE SYRINGE WITH GLOWING GREEN LIQUID, AND PLUG YOUR VEINS TO GO BERSERK” Format PS4, PC (reviewed) Publisher Devolver Digital Developer Le Cartel ETA Out now Players 1-4 You fight tattooed prisoners in this sidescrolling beat-’em-up. You fight bums wielding dirty needles. You fight fat bouncers whose gut punches induce vomiting. You even fight some German Shepherds. Why, then, does it always feel the same? Sameness certainly doesn’t come from the locations. Your escape from shady government forces who snatch you from a Romany camp to road test experimental drugs on you winds hypnotically through dank jails, seedy discos, underground fight clubs, riot-gripped streets, and, at one point, the top of a speeding train. Everything is rendered in thick murky pixels that give the impression that they’re blurring out…

You’ll find modifications for your mech tucked away within missions, usually behind obstacles that you can remove with charged shots or missiles of the appropriate elemental type, or as a prize for defeating tough opponents. By the time you’ve earned 19 medals, you can equip three at once, and collectively they can make a surprising difference. In some stages you’re better off increasing the payload of your cache of super missiles, while on others you might choose the auto-revive option that essentially gives you an extra life, or armour that reduces the damage you take by 20%. Eventually you’ll be spoilt for choice, and yet some missions present the kind of threat that guides you towards specific mods that offer the most tangible benefits to your loadout. Not that you’ll…

“VICTORY COMES FROM DEPLOYING EACH FIGHTER AT THE RIGHT TIME AGAINST THE RIGHT OPPONENTS” Format PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Blue Byte ETA Out now Players 1 Take one successful, popular genre. Mix it with yet another successful, popular genre. Then, finally, sit back and watch the money roll in. That’s the theory, at least, though the risk is that you’ll end up making a game that’s a jack of all trades and a master of none. Indeed, if Champions Of Anteria had to be summed up in one rather clichéd figure of speech, then that would be it. What’s on offer in Ubisoft’s latest is part-RPG, part-RTS, but the game’s desire to be everything at once means neither element is given a chance to fully form, with Anteria instead…

Format PS4 (reviewed), PC Publisher Shift Developer Bandai Namco ETA Out now Players 1-4 The most impressive thing about this action-RPG is that it simultaneously manages to be both dauntingly deep and entirely throwaway. There’s an intimidating mass of menus to explore before you set off on Monster Hunter-esque missions to carve up and harvest ferocious beasties. Your weapon is confusing enough, with three main forms (melee, ranged, and shield), each with subcategories, and oodles of individual variants. That’s not to mention bullet types and elemental effects, Blood Arts, Blood Rage, upgrade parts, Link-Supports, crafting, personal skills, team-building, consumables – you get the idea. For the most part, though, it’s possible to ignore it all, dabbling in whatever takes your fancy. Battles are usually team affairs, and your squad is…

1 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (PC – 1992) Looking Glass’ action RPG was truly ahead of its time, offering a non-linear multi-level dungeon for players to traverse in full 3D. Real-time combat further enhanced the sense of presence and spectacle, but it was probably the game’s emergent elements that had the greatest impact, influencing developers as diverse as Bethesda and Cliffy B along the way. 2 Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth Of Worlds (PC – 1993) This sequel may have come together in just nine months, but it was still deeply ambitious. Its gameworld was far larger than The Stygian Abyss, its sim elements more fully-formed, and its RPG systems more balanced. But the strain of such a quick turnaround left Looking Glass ready to move on from fantasy for…

We’ve been here before, the cusp of a new tech movement Sony wants you buying into, but this isn’t a failed venture like 3D, EyeToy, or PlayStation TV. PS4 Pro is ready to take advantage of an inevitable wave: 4K displays. The screens are getting cheaper, the resolution more popular among game and film makers, and joining in the fun? Ever tempting. Developers aren’t begrudgingly bolting an extra innovation onto their games, but rather rendering existing material at higher resolutions, so it’s unsurprising there are plenty of excellent games coming. Next year you’ll be seeing each rubber ridge on Peter Parker’s suit in Spider-Man, bathe in Days Gone’s gorgeously luminous sun thanks to fresh HDR techniques, and pick out crisp robot dinosaurs in Horizon: Zero Dawn, all of them platform…

“SUPER MARIO RUN IS DESIGNED TO ALLOW AS MANY PEOPLE ASPOSSIBLE TO ENJOY MARIO” We never thought we’d see the day: Mario’s coming to iPhones across the globe this December. Miyamoto himself took to the stage at the latest Apple Event to announce Super Mario Run, a simplified, autorunning version of the New Super Mario Bros style of platformer that can be played with just one hand. Despite the fact that we’ve already seen Pokèmon making the transition to smartphones, it’s still a huge landmark for Nintendo to place its most iconic hero on hardware that’s not its own. As Miyamoto put it during the conference: “For the past 30 years, every time Mario has encountered a new platform, he has evolved and continued running towards a new goal.…

Format PC Developer Ebb Software Publisher Ebb Software ETA Spring 2017 Anyone who’s ever had the misfortune of peeking inside a body knows how disgusting they are, and Ebb Software’s first-person horror/puzzler draws from the same well of placeless grotesquerie (a well which is probably also made out of meat and sinew and stuff. Gross). It’s HR Giger meets Cronenberg in a butcher shop, and they get on so well together they decide to build themselves a flat made out of whatever they find in the bins out back. It grants Scorn’s world a seriously unique look. The walls? Gristle and bone. The weapons? Skin crisscrossed with veins. Arty furnishings? Piles of flesh. “The most important thing about the environments is that they are meaningful when you look at them…

It can be a song. A lilting melody played out as green star motes fade in and out of a black night sky. It can be a moment. Two lovers embracing in the cold harshness of space, the rest of the world hundreds of miles away. It can be a person. A dying boy corresponding with his best friends in the moments before he peacefully passes on. Whatever they are, most gamers have one: an abiding memory, a piece of the Final Fantasy series which has nailed itself into our consciousness and stuck there. After a few hours playing from the beginning of the fifteenth mainline entry in the series, we just got ourselves several new ones. With its real-time combat system, massive open world, and relatively follow-able road trip…

Q At what point during the course of development did you become involved with Final Fantasy XV, and what major artistic changes have been implemented since then? A I have been a part of the project right from the start when it was previously Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I put together the very first planning document for Versus XIII way back in 2003, while we were still working on Kingdom Hearts 2. Then in 2012 we switched the hardware the game was to be on and other major changes were made as it switched to being Final Fantasy XV. At that point we became able to use all kinds of new technology and alongside the visuals becoming more real, we decided to re-assess and bring up the reality line for…

Format PC Developer Happiest Dark Corner ETA Winter Web http://bit.ly/gmacatsmanor When most people teach themselves to code, the result is a ball bouncing between some platforms. It’s fine. From little acorns and all that. We say “most people” because others go and create Steam Greenlight successes about gothic cats with hands for tails exploring creepy houses. This unsettling puzzler is a jaunt through a mansion where visitors don’t seem welcome, and it turns out that lone developer Tariq Mukhttar did it because he was sick of waiting for a certain indie sequel “I draw heavily from my admiration of the works of Tim Burton. Beetlejuice is a stellar example. More recently Studio Laika films, with their amazing Coraline,” he says. “Their work is so visually striking and their material and…

You can only bring two CoreBots into the field with you, but if one exhausts all its attacks, it only takes a button-press to deploy your reserve. You lock onto enemies by holding the left trigger, so aiming is no concern. Instead, you’ll need to worry about dodging their elemental attacks. To deal the highest amount of damage, you’ll want to match your ammo type to the colour of the enemy you’re facing. Keep piling on the pressure and you’ll build up a combo meter which offers hefty boosts to your damage output and XP payout as it grows.…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS3, 360 Publisher Konami Developer PES Productions ETA Out now Players 1-4 If you have any kind of ill-feeling for Barcelona, any discontent for their tippy-tappy, tika-taka style of play, then Konami’s latest attempt to dethrone FIFA is something of a worst nightmare. At times, what’s contained within feels like a game solely dedicated to the Catalan giants. From the opening cut-scenes showcasing Barcelona’s stars pulling off a series of faultless moves (most of them, bizarrely, against a hapless Arsenal) through to the impressive replication of the Nou Camp, PES 2017 most definitely makes the most of its license. It would be remiss not to note that, in terms of likeness, Konami’s team have captured Barcelona’s squad like no other game in history, right down…

“HAVE THE WRITERS SPENT SO LONG IN THEIR FICTION THAT THEY FEAR INFLAMED PASSIONS?” Format PS4 (reviewed), PS Vita Publisher NIS America Developer 5pb ETA Out now Players 1 Working at GamesMaster is to know the cruel sting of mandatory happiness. Editor Matt fervently enforces it with a range of cricket bats, random bee attacks, and trips to ‘the Hole’. Do not make us speak of ‘the Hole’: this is a family magazine. And even so, we find this reign of terror preferable to Psycho-Pass – a game where enjoyment is in short supply. Spawned from the hit anime show, Psycho-Pass is set in a grim dystopia where people are managed based on their psychological profile, as dictated by a vast AI overseer. This system decides your job and, more…

“THIS BASIC QUEST TOAST IS PLASTERED WITH A DIZZYING AMOUNT OF SWEET VARIETY JAM” Format PC Publisher Blizzard Developer Blizzard ETA Out now Players 1 While millions still play it, Blizzard’s MMO isn’t the behemoth it once was. Its ageing engine is incapable of the beauty of Final Fantasy XIV; its rigid combat system has seen the likes of Wildstar and The Elder Scrolls Online, despite not being perfect, chip away at it; and when it comes to the bread and butter of any MMO, the questing, Guild Wars 2’s dynamic events and Living Story updates make Blizzard’s lacklustre support for Warcraft post-Warlords Of Draenor look like the last wheezing gasps of a mortally wounded giant. Legion feels like the most direct and obvious answer to all of these criticisms…

“ONE EMAIL CHAIN DETAILS THE DISCOVERY OF AN ALIEN VIRUS THAT POTENTIALLY CURES AGEING” Format XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher Square Enix Developer Bulkhead Interactive ETA Out now Players 1 The test from which this philosophically-minded sci-fi puzzler gets its name was designed by mathematician Alan Turing to sort man from machine. Both human and robot answer a series of questions, and if the evaluator can’t tell which is made of meat, the non-meat one passes and receives a party and a cake. That historical link’s all very nice, but it doesn’t explain why your International Space Agency engineer, who’s sent to investigate a crippled research station on Jupiter’s moon Europa, is made to solve a series of riddle rooms about firing balls of plasma into receptacles with her gun so…

“IF YOU’RE REALLY IN A MOOD TO SHOOT BALLS, YOU’RE BETTER OFF WITH SNIPER ELITE” Format 3DS Publisher Nintendo Developer Next Level Games ETA Out now Players 1-4 It was, let’s face it, a dire miscalculation. Celebrating 30 years of a beloved single-player series renowned for its rich atmosphere and intricate, layered exploration by releasing a multiplayer shooter with compact, linear missions and a chibi art style was never likely to go down well with Metroid’s passionate, vocal fanbase. After such a long absence, this wasn’t the comeback anyone imagined – or wanted – and the internet collectively made sure Nintendo knew about it. It’s difficult to ignore the expectations when considering the reality – but if you can set aside your preconceptions, this isn’t a bad game. Though it…

“IT’S ODDLY GRIPPING IN WAYS THAT USUALLY ONLY DREAMS (OR NIGHTMARES) CAN BE” Format PS4, XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher 505 Games Developer Variable State ETA Out now Players 1 Director David Lynch creates divisive films. People love them or hate them, but that’s part of their charm. Anyone who picks up Variable State’s love letter to ’90s TV dramas will probably fall into one of those camps as well. Much like Lynch’s Twin Peaks or Mulholland Drive, it’s dreamy, unnerving, and downright confusing. But it’s also a masterful attempt at weaving cinematography with adventure game styling that ends up subverting police procedural tropes in a big way. Devoid of dialogue, traditional gameplay, or instructions, it’s concerned only with ensuring its story unfolds on itstime, not yours, as it leads you…

Format Mobile Pub DS/FishLabs Dev DS/FishLabs ETA Out now Players 1 This space-faring series has been around on mobile devices for many years. We remember fondly playing the first game way back in 2009, and the breathless excitement of experiencing the sublime Galaxy On Fire 2 on an iPhone for the first time. Since then, DS/FishLabs released a slew of DLC for GOF2, and branched into the world of in-app purchases with the online strategy game GOF: Alliances. GOF3 is meant to be a mix of GOF2’s space piloting action and Alliances’ more online experience (you need a constant connection to play). It also includes the ever more common in-app purchases. You know the drill: spend real money to speed up progress in the game. The microtransactions don’t impact massively…

The citizens of Azeroth really just can’t catch a break. As if the constant bickering between Alliance and Horde wasn’t bad enough, the Burning Legion is now on their doorsteps, threatening the destruction of all creation and probably ruining their flowerbeds, too. Fortunately, Azeroth is host to more than its share of heroic types, and World Of Warcraft’s latest expansion lets players wield devastating Artifact weapons against the demonic hordes, as well as pushing that all-important level cap up to 110. There’s a powerful new class, too, as the once-exiled Demon Hunters have been hurriedly brought back into the fold in this time of need. There’s no finer way to experience all this cataclysmic new content than by way of Legion’s swanky Collector’s Edition – an imposingly big box that…

SLY COOPER Sly Raccoon (PS2 – 2002) This nimble-fingered racoon refuses to steal from anyone other than criminals. That soundsnoble, sure, but if he’s interested in holding evildoers to account, why not join the police? Answer: he steals for the psycho-sexual thrill. THE GRAY FOX The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC, PS3, 360 – 2006) The leader of Tamriel’s Thieves Guild, the Gray Fox wears the Gray Cowl Of Nocturnal as a badge of office. Legend states that the first Gray Fox stole this magical hood from the Daedric Night Mistress. Nutter. LARA CROFT Tomb Raider (PC, PS1, Saturn – 1996) Lara Croft’s videogame debut was not only a plan to steal an object of archaeological importance, it was also punctuated by the callous slaughter of many endangered species. Interpol…

“THE GJALLARHORN WAS CHALLENGING... I ONLY HAD TWO WEEKS TO BUILD IT!” Well, that didn’t take long. One look at Eric Newgard’s Destiny work and we want our own version of SUROS Regime and the rest of the cosplay to match. Anyone got a spare bit of Hunter armour? Where’s the Cryptarch when you need him? We’ve popped a Three Of Coins and everything. There are plenty of prop builders out there, but few come close to the heady Light-filled heights of Newgard’s work with his company Impact Props. Based in the Bay area of San Francisco, he’s a master of Destiny weapon building. We thought we’d let Newgard have the first and, err, Last Word on the matter. “In my first year of high school I watched a Backyard…