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Stampy Cat
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ISSUE 159

Uncharted' s plan to save

us from a generation
of " cross-gen ports"

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Weve got two of my favourite developers

squeezed into this issue. Naughty Dog and
Ninja Theory are really very similar in their
approach to making games. They both believe
in using motion capture, in the performances
of actors to convey their stories, and in
creating rich and detailed worlds for those
characters to inhabit.
These are two companies at the cutting
edge, but their paths are beginning to diverge.
While Naughty Dog continues the Uncharted
series and develops its ideas through titles
like The Last Of Us, Ninja Theory is looking to
find a new realm to play in. Its tried being a
triple-A developer with games like Heavenly
Sword, Enslaved and DmC: Devil May Cry
and that didnt play out like it should have. For
the record, I personally enjoyed all three of
those games, but the mass reaction to them
was mixed at best. Some early examples of
extreme fan culture and bandwagon-jumping
overtaking informed opinion.
So now we have Hellblade, a game Ninja
Theory is pitching as triple-A indie. Higher
budget than most indie games, but smaller
than whats been done by the studio before.
A couple of issues back, Ninja Theory told us
that only 300,000 copies would need to be sold
to break even. What that means is the creative
shackles of reaching mass market appeal
are off. And so we have two studios this issue
working at opposite ends of the creativity in
games spectrum. It was fascinating to hear
from them both.

Jonathan Gordon
EDITOR

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Contents
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www.gamestm.co.uk

159 | 15

DISCUSS
10 Has Triple-A Lost
Its Wow Factor?
games investigates a growing apathy in gaming

22

Final Fantasy XV

PREVIEWS
22 Final Fantasy XV
26 Rise Of The Tomb Raider
30 Rise Of Incarnates
32 RIDE
34 Code Name: STEAM
36 The Swindle
38 Xenoblade Chronicles
40 Dissidia Final Fantasy
Arcade

14 The Sounds Of
Final Fantasy
We find out what it means to recreate the classic
soundtracks with a full orchestra

16 Kongetsu
We get the latest news from Japan from our
resident Eastern expert

18 Room With A View

Another peek inside the mind of game developer
Dan Pinchbeck

88

The Order: 1886

FEATURES

44 Can Drake Save

Next-Gen?
We speak exclusively to Naughty Dog about its
plans for Nathan Drake

26

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

FAVOURITES
140 Essentials: Top 10
Game-Breaking
Multiplayer Exploits
Destroy the engine and win the match with these
awful tricks of the trade

142 The Vault

games sifts through the myriad accessories and
add-ons the industry offers so you dont have to

52 How YouTube Is Changing

Gaming Forever
Stampy Cat and more talk about the new front
line of gaming commentary

60 Hellblade Blown Open

REVIEWS
84 Resident Evil
Revelations 2
86 Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
88 The Order: 1886
90 Grow Home
92 Homeworld Remastered
94 OlliOlli 2:
Welcome To OlliWood
96 Monster Hunter 4
Ultimate
98 Hotline Miami 2:
Wrong Number
100 Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
102 Screamride
104 Elegy For A Dead World
105 Castle In The Darkness
106 The Deer God
108 Dynasty Warriors 8
Empires
109 Mario Vs Donkey Kong:
Tipping Stars
110 Unmechanical Extended
111 Pix The Cat/Baboon!
112 Apotheon
113 Pneuma: Breath Of Life

RETRO
118 Retro Guide:
Metal Slug

Ninja Theory welcomes games and talks up the

merits of game development with a tight team

Tracking the pixel art perfection of the SNK

Playmore series through the years

66 Rock Band Returns

124 Behind The Scenes:

Wip3out

Harmonix reveals all on its return to the

fantastically popular music game

72 Who Plays Dynasty

Warriors Anyway?
candid evaluation of Tecmo Koeis longunning series with the man behind it

We discover the amazing story of how one of the

best titles in the series was created

130 Retro Interview:

Bill Stealey
The co-founder of MicroProse on the early days
with Sid Meier, and his career in games

134 Game-Changers:
Devil May Cry
How a game that was supposed to be Resident
Evil set the bar for manic 3D action

09

138 Best Intro: Castlevania:

Rondo Of Blood

Mario Vs Donkey Kong

6

Only given a western release in 2010, this is still

one of the best Castlevanias you can play

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SU asav Turn

44 Feature

A THIEFS END
Naughty Dog reveals its plans to shake up
the generation with another classic game
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( T H E WA I T F OR I NNOVAT I ON )

Bringing the wow

factor back to triple-A
ook to the movies, and
the blockbuster is dying.
Check out sport, and footballs
showcase Premier League
isnt what it used to be. Think about triple-A
gaming, and the lustre seems to have faded
somewhat. Were living in a period of flux;
people are being drawn into the bombastic
and big of budget less and less. So in an
industry supported in the most part by these
hugely successful, hugely expensive games,
what does it mean for the future?
Last years biggest releases had none
of the pomp and ceremony around them
that weve become accustomed to over the

DATA STREAM
10

What is this generation about? The

enthusiasm for triple-A titles as they are
appears on the wane will indies rise to fill a
gap left by the death of mid-range publishers?
last five or so years. The hype was present,
no doubt, but when the likes of Call of Duty:
Advanced Warfare, Assassins Creed: Unity
and Destiny were actually released, the
reaction was a bit of a damp squib. The
same can be said for those titles were being
told to have enthusiasm for the likes of
Uncharted 4 and Halo 5 are getting more
of a half-interested shrug from some in the

Above Something like

Roundabout would never
have been released by a
triple-A company.

gaming community, rather than fevered

breathlessness as the next shiniest triple-A
title is revealed.
But the enthusiasm hasnt dulled its
moved elsewhere. No Mans Sky has half of
social media going into meltdown every time
more footage is released, while the relatively
low budget Bloodborne has countless
gamers salivating with the mere mention of
it. Below prompts more in-depth chattering
than the latest Battlefield game does. We still
want our games, but we seem to be bored
of those were being told to like those were
expected to buy. So what does this mean for
gaming? What can the triple-A market do to

SONY HAS EARMARKED 2016 AS THE YEAR FOR THE PROJECT MORPHEUS VR HEADSET
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Contents

For daily news

updates and
exclusive interviews

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14
16

Your guide to the essential stories

12

FINAL SYMPHONY
See what happened when the
London Symphony Orchestra played
the music of Final Fantasy
at Abbey Road.

KONGETSU
Theres a reason why the
PS Vita is one of the most vibrant
consoles to play on right now and it's
largely thanks to Japan.

fix it, if it indeed can be fixed? Just what is this

generation even about? It certainly isnt the
high-definition thing anymore.
Ninja Theorys Dominic Matthews puts
part of the issue down to standardised
somewhat archaic pricing structures for
big-name releases, with each coming in at
a recommended retail price of 55. They
cannot compete on price because of the
fixed retail cost, he said, This fixed price has
meant that titles have to compete on their
feature lists and as a result triple-A games
have got bigger and bigger. This need for
bigger games has resulted in ever-increasing
development costs and in turn ludicrously
high sales forecasts needed to justify the cost
of development. It is a vicious cycle that has
resulted in only a handful of genres being able
to survive in the triple-A space.
Its not the only problem this part of the
industry faces, but cost is an issue the

ROOM WITH A VIEW

The Chinese Rooms Dan
Pinchbeck casts his developer eye
over the undying trend of cutscenes
and QTEs in triple-A games.

backlash after The Order: 1886s playing

time was revealed (whether accurate or not)
shows there is a vocal audience out there
looking for value for money. Admittedly
thats something very much in the eye of the
beholder, but it cant be argued that gaming
as a pastime is an expensive one. People
want to think theyre getting enough bang for
their buck and if that bang was X last year,
they expect it to be X+1 next year. Otherwise it
isnt worth it.
Its not the death cry of the main
breadwinner for the industry, of course, and
there will be studios and publishers thriving
with triple-A products even in these changing
times. Matthews explained: Its still viable, but
only for the few game genres that can appeal
to a mass-audience. We now find ourselves in
a situation where triple-A games have to sell
in excess of five million units in order to make
their development cost back and there

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Inset Of course, none of this is to

say the more traditional indie darlings
like Spelunky will ever die out.
There are simply more strings on the
indie bow now.

This need for bigger games has

resulted in ever-increasing development
costs and in turn ludicrously high
sales forecasts

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11

Discuss

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THE NEW MIDDLE?

When THQ went, the last of the mid-level publishers was snuffed
out. Gaming has survived a few years now without this single-A
category, but it could be making a comeback thanks to the efforts of
developers on titles like these four games. Theyre growing into the
void left, but will they have the financial clout to survive and thrive?

HELLBLADE

BELOW

QAS DOMINIC MATTHEWS told us, Ninja Theory is

aiming for Hellblade to be an independent triple-A
game definitely one that looks like it could fill
the void left by the passing of THQ, Midway and co.
Theres definitely the track record from the studio,
with each of its releases greeted warmly though
some more than others. But it will remain to be
seen how Ninja Theory fares in this project
which takes inspiration from Celtic mythology as
this is its first full console game free of any direct
publisher deal.

QIT'S NOT BELOW S looks that gets pulses racing,

pretty as it is, nor is this a game with tens of
millions of dollars of talent behind it. It's a game
of exploration and adventure from Capy Games
its pretty much the archetypal indie release, by
the look of it, and that isnt meant disparagingly.
But what pushes Below into the uncharted
territory of the new middle is its backing, by
Microsoft the platform holder isnt just helping
Capy behind the scenes, its actively promoting the
game to the public every chance it gets.

NO MANS SKY

ELITE: DANGEROUS

QFOR THE PAST few big gaming shows, there's

been a lot of hype for the next game from the
studio that brought us Joe Danger, the platformer/
racing hybrid. If youd have told us this back
in 2010, we would have laughed you out of the
industry. But thats how it is No Mans Sky
has been showing us a colourful universe of
exploration and imagination; galaxies full of
possibility, and as it turns out exactly the kind
of thing that gamers the world over have been
waiting to get their hands on.

QIT MIGHT SEEM odd to double-down on

spacefaring titles in such a limited space, but
Elite: Dangerous is a great example of what can
be done in the independent scene with relatively
speaking not a lot of money. Just a few million
pounds went into (and continues to go into) the
creation of Frontiers long-awaited sequel, yet
for the price we get a(nother) whole universe to
explore. It's not a direct comparison, but put faceto-face with Star Citizens near-$100 million, it
makes Elite s achievements all the greater.

really arent many games that can do that.

Although gamers do get to play incredibly
well presented blockbuster triple-A games, I
do think it is a great shame that a lot of genres
havent been able to survive under the market
pressure, Matthews comments. There are a lot
of players that want highly creative games, but
many of these have been squeezed out by the
current triple-A model.
But not everyone thinks like this and
we dont just mean the Activisions, EAs and
Ubisofts of the world, as Dan Teasdale, of
indie developer No Goblin, pointed out: I
think triple-A is even more viable for this
generation compared to last gen! This is the
first generation that triple-A studios havent had
to throw out their entire workflow and pipeline
in order to ship on a new console. Taking into
consideration the cost of making games, rather
than people on the other side buying them, is
an interesting point to consider, as Teasdale
explained how costs have been shrinking in all
manner of ways. Robust tech, universal lighting
models that dont require tons of custom
shaders, bigger cuts of revenue from digital
sales, near instant iteration all of this makes it
easier to ship a successful game this generation
compared to last generation, he said.
But Teasdale did offer one particular criticism
of the big-game model and like Matthews
critique, it relates to rather old fashioned
practices from the industrys biggest names:
In a world where a developer can turn around
a fix for a game on Steam almost instantly,
he explains, it seems backwards to put them
through a week-plus certification and release
process for an identical fix on a console.
Theres another element to consider the
ever-growing influence of the indie market,
with publishers getting involved with creators
directly to release their games, and an audience
ever-growing, getting into gaming like never
before and in more ways than theyve been
able to before. With the death of mid-level
publishers like THQ and the decent-budget titles
it brought out, are we starting to see the indies
fill that gap? Matthews told us his thoughts: I
believe that we are approaching a new dawn
where studios can make triple-A quality games
for smaller audiences under an independent
model. Hellblade is being developed under
a new model that were calling independent
triple-A. Its an experiment to see if we can
deliver triple-A quality but under the restrictions
of an independent budget.
This experimentation and learning is
something Teasdale also spoke to games
about, pointing out that the growth of
independent channels and audiences has led to
small studios having to figure out elements like
marketing spend, platform fit and positioning:

THERES A NEW RADIO STATION COMING TO GTA V FROM THE ALCHEMIST AND OH NO, STARTING ON PC
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DISCUSS | HAS TRIPLE-A LOST ITS WOW FACTOR?

Inset This years release of Battlefield has met with

popularity, of course, but muted popularity. A similar
fate has befallen its main rival, too.

Its a pretty great sign that full time

independent
development is now in a stable
environment rather than a boom environment
Its no longer good enough to just ship a
great independent game if you need that
money to live, he says.
The once distinct line between developers
and publishers is becoming increasingly
blurred, agrees Matthews. With the
platforms holders working hard to help
independent studios to self-publish their
games, many studios have to very quickly
learn to become publishers. Small teams, like
our Hellblade team of 12 people, now have to
worry about PR, marketing, merchandising
and distribution, all areas that were once
handled by teams of people at publishers, he
said, It is daunting but incredibly exciting.
So what about this brave new world we
live in? The triple-A model wont die, but
will serve an engaged core, to use some
marketing-speak. Will indies continue to
fill the gap left in the middle, becoming
the new single-A? Matthews said yes:
Independent development will continue to
do well by serving niche audiences. For many
developers it is not about making millions.
It is about making games that they want to
make and that their fans want to play. I can
only see this dream becoming a reality for
more developers in the independent, digitally
distributed game space.
Teasdale was also positive about the
prospects for the smaller studios out there: I

think its a pretty great sign that full-time indie

development is now in a stable environment
rather than a boom environment. You cant
just do a cheap cash-in and make a chunk
of money; you have to spend time thinking
about how to distinguish and position your
games to be interesting to the people
who play on each platform.

Inset It's not intended as disparaging to refer to something as

mid-level Darksiders 2 was the archetypal mid-level game
relatively small budget, fairly niche appeal but it was excellent.

Inset It still sold fantastically

well, but 2014s Call Of Duty:
Advanced Warfare didn't make
the charts explode like its
predecessors did.

DARKSIDERS CREATOR JOE MADUREIRAS NEXT GAME BASED ON HIS OLD COMIC BATTLE CHASERS
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13

Discuss

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( M U S I C M A S T E R S P L AY F F )

The Beatles, U2, Radiohead

And Now Final Fantasy?
he London Symphony
Orchestra has just recorded
a selection of Final Fantasy
music at Londons Abbey
Road Studios, in the presence of original
composer Nobuo Uematsu; a once-in-alifetime production. We spoke to Thomas
Bcker producer of Final Symphony on
behalf of Merregnon Studios about the
impact this recording has on the shape of
games music, and gamings place amid the
classical music scene.

Could you tell us about your background?

Im a producer of videogame music concerts
and recordings, and have been for over ten
years. I started in 2003, when I produced the
very fist games music concert outside of
Japan, which was in Leipzig, Germany as part
of The Games Convention. Around that time,
Id basically produce a games music concert
once a year. Right now, though, Im producing
a concert tour called Final Symphony which
comprises of music from Final Fantasy VI,
VII and X. The tour is officially licensed by
Square Enix, and it started in Germany in
2013 and has [toured the world since]. Last
December, though, we recorded the concert
music at Abbey Road studios with the London
Symphony Orchestra with Nobuo Uematsu
in attendance.

You know you need to start taking

games music seriously when the London
Symphony Orchestra records a bespoke
album at Abbey Road Studios
How was it working with Nobuo
Uematsu on his music in a studio hes
stated is an inspiration to him?
Ah, well he attended my first concert
way back in 2003 I see him as kind of a
mentor, you know? Hes a really friendly
and really down-to-earth guy thats super
supportive this [has been] a highlight of
my career. As you said, hes a huge fan of
Elton John and The Beatles and Pink Floyd
and these rock groups and pop singers, so
hes always been interested in Abbey Road.
When I told Uematsu we were going to
record [the symphony] at Abbey Road
well, if I said he was freaking out, thats
not what a Japanese person would
typically do, but you know what I mean!
[laughs] He got very emotional and he got
very excited about it. He is an incredibly
busy person, and his schedule is very tight,
but when I told him this was happening, he
cleared his schedule, said I must go! and
made it possible to come and supervise
these recordings. I think, for the whole

Above Nobuo Uematsu

and Thomas Bcker
oversee the production
of Final Symphony at
Abbey Road Studios.

team, it was a very special experience for

myself, it was a dream coming true.
Does Japanese game music lend itself
well to symphonic arrangement?
When I was very young, I liked Japan quite a
lot and the whole culture has a special appeal
to me. I have a soft spot for Japanese roleplaying games because they have so many
different melodies and themes; you have
a whole range of different emotions in the
game that need to be covered by the music,
right? So you have the love themes, the
malaise themes, the battle themes all these
arrangements tell a story of their own. Its like
Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings, you know?
Where you have memorable themes you can
bring out when you need to. In my opinion,
Japanese composers are especially great at
creating these themes.
Are we right in thinking the musicians at
of the London Symphony Orchestra were
previously unfamiliar with game music?
I think so, yes. Most of them didnt really know
or play games, but generally the orchestras
Ive worked with over the years get newer and
younger members all the time, and as they
join, you notice more of them are gamers!
When I worked with the Royal Stockholm
Orchestra, I met one lady a violin player

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DISCUSS | THE BEATLES, U2, RADIOHEAD AND NOW FINAL FANTASY?

THE CREATOR
SPEAKS!

Above Merregnon Studios

enlisted virtuoso pianist
Katharina Treutler to
perform concerts based
on Final Fantasy X.

QI think whats really amazing is that

[this] music has survived for as long as 20
years. Its just wonderful that there are so
many people who like Final Fantasy music,
and its been arranged by such talented
people. Its hard to describe in one
sentence; I just feel so lucky to be born!

Thomas Bcker, Merregnon Studios

who is a big fan of Final Fantasy, for example,
or when we played some Super Mario Bros.,
the percussion guys were amazed that they
got to finally play that, rather than Beethoven
or Mozart. Im not saying they didnt like
those composers, but it was something
different for them they knew the games,
and they had an emotional connection, and
that [comes across] in the performance.
And how do your more traditional
audiences respond to the game music?
Our fans are more interested in the topics
we perform because in our concerts,
the audience is really quiet. Theyre even
quieter than in classical concerts. Our young
audience wants to hear every note, every
detail of the music, so theyre quiet and
really respectful which the musicians love.
But when the music stops, the crowd goes
crazy! [laughter]. Its like a rock concert; loud
and intense! Thats something a classical
orchestra has never experienced. One of
the London Symphony Orchestra musicians
wrote that the Final Fantasy fans were the
most attentive hes ever performed for, so I
think that says something.

see that a budget grew for orchestral

recordings, for example, and developers
started to care more for he audio part of the
games. What we also cant forget is that we
now have these composer superstars, like
Uematsu, who has his own fan club, who
gets to travel the world and wherever he
appears has a crowd giving him standing
ovations [laughter]. I guess thats special
this doesnt happen with graphic artists,
you know? Even film composers should be
jealous of game composers the attention
they get is unique, right? Even John
Williams is on the same level as Uematsu
when it comes to attention from the press
and passion from the fans.

Final Symphony is available now, in

mastered for iTunes format and
via other digital music retailers.

Below The most recent

in a long line of ground
breaking artists pose
outside the famous Abbey
Road Studios in London.
Artists such as The
Beatles, Muse and many
more have graced its
recording stage.

QThere are now so many people who

have studied music to be a game music
composer, I think the existence of a
concert like Final Symphony is inevitable.
I think its a natural process to have
concerts like this. And it offers something
really new. Although there are many game
music concerts nowadays, they tend to be
quite loyal to the style of game music. It
doesnt deviate too far, so it still feels like
game music, and its often arranged to be
easy to listen to. On the other hand, what
makes Final Symphony so different is that
its interpreted more freely, in an artistic
manner. There are even many aspects
that are closer to classical music. I find it
very interesting, that in Final Symphony,
entertainment music is shifting more
towards classical music. And I think thats
very new.

intuitive fotografie kln // Philippe Ramakers

Even film composers should be jealous

of game composers the attention they
get is unique

QIts like a dream come true! Nobuo

Uematsu told us when we asked him
what it was like to come to Abbey Road to
record the movements. I never imagined
20 years ago that I would be able to
work with London Symphony Orchestra
someday. The game industry wasnt very
big 20 years ago. I ended up making music
for games because I couldnt find a job
in music!

QIts not just for game fans; these are

superbly arranged scores played by
the London Symphony Orchestra. Those
who are not game fans might also start
listening. It offers the opportunity. I think
its done very well.

Do you think games OSTs have the

respect they deserve?
When I started 12 years ago, I think the
games music scene really didnt get much
respect at all. But over the years, you can

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WorldMags.net
KONGETSU
VITA = LIFE

How Japan Kept

The Vita Alive
Monster Hunter game to call its own, nor with a worthy successor. The
pretenders keep coming, and doing relatively well, but theres a new
challenger in the portable market these days. Visuals novels have long
been big business in Japan. Just wander around a few Akihabara stores
and youll likely find more shelf space devoted to these games than to other
entire platforms. The technical grunt of the Vita makes these glorified picture
books look amazing and where once players would look to turn G-rank
monsters into fancy hats on their commute (and in fact still do, thanks to 3DS
Monster Hunter ), interactive fiction is where its at right now and its been the
unlikely saviour of the Sony system.
Its starting to spread, too. Back in the day, these kinds of games were
vilified by a Western audience who got too hung up on words like dating and
romance to find the one word that actually mattered: relationships. With

Western audiences got too hung up

on words like dating and romance
to find the one word that actually
mattered: relationships

t was always going to happen no matter how many

trillions more units the 3DS shifted, the Vita was
always going to be fine. After the Monster Hunter
revolution on PSP, many series have laid foundations on
Sony platforms too lucrative to risk by changing sides,
and Japans relentless onslaught of new Vita releases
attests to this. Theres no GTA on Vitas horizon, nor
does it need one while it may have been designed to offer home gaming
experiences on the move, Sonys latest handheld has shifted into a decidedly
different role since its inception. Its goodbye triple-A and hello niche
however you look at it, but with no other console filling that role right now,
its hard to argue thats a bad thing.
Capcoms unsubtle affair with Nintendo has left Vita the follow-up
to the handheld that made the hunting genre without a main series

the likes of Telltale and Naughty Dog telling stories about pretend people
that we actually care about, though, a portion of the market is finally coming
around to the idea that we can form emotional connections and bonds with
characters, and all of a sudden that nonsense dating game lol from a few
years back doesnt seem quite so laughable. 999 and Danganronpa have
both done their bit for the genre in the Western world, and the localisations
keep coming. Here, Vita is largely a shelter for homeless indies, but thats
just a reflection of the same trend with a different genre in Japan, Vita is
largely a platform for telling stories in a more involving manner than books
or comics allow, while here its basically a platform that affords creative
freedom without having to break the bank, leading to an influx of smaller,
more experimental games. Both are awesome. And as much as Id rather
be knocking down G-Rank critters on my 3DS, I both respect and appreciate
those who like having the Vita tell them a story. Thanks, guys youre helping
to keep one of my favourite consoles alive.

Luke Albigs is Deputy Editor of Play magazine and

therefore probably shouldnt admit his 3DS Monster
Hunter addiction. It is bloody good, though

O Still looking for that true next-

IMPORT
WATCH
MAKAI SENKI DISGAEA 5
16

gen experience? Unsurprisingly,

you wont find it here Disgaea
has changed little in the jump
from PS3 to PS4, and thats a good
thing. Because what you will find
is an amusing SRPG with a level
of depth and wealth of content
that puts most modern games to
shame. Its still sprite-based, its
still packed with numbers way
higher than you can count and its
still awesome. Also, prinnies.

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WK0$5&+

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35(25'(5 12:

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WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
ROOM WITH
A VIEW
With The Chinese Rooms Dan Pinchbeck

Cut That Scene

So I missed the memo, right?
The one that said all was forgiven
and that its okay to ship games
that are 50 per cent cutscene.
That rather than trying to keep
developing the brilliant work
thats been done over the last couple of decades, we
should just take the easy route and slap in a cutscene
-or an interactive cutscene QTE because players are
too dumb to know the difference, right? every time
we want to do anything that involves story. And then
we can go ahead and crow about how were making
stuff with deep, rich narratives that push forwards
the boundaries of storytelling in games, yadda,
yadda, blah blah.
Garbage. Regular readers of this column will
know Im a grumpy old git, but that also means Ive
been around for long enough to have seen a bunch
of stuff come and go, like Full Motion Video, which
used to be the cutscene of choice. Worried that you
cant pack more emotional, narrative sophistication
into your game than youd find stuck to the bottom
of your shoe? No worries! Just grab a famous actor
or two and film em like its a movie, hell, just keep it
as a movie and embed it into the game. Dont worry
about integrating it into the action or anything, just set
the story up between the actual game. This is usually
called the string-of-pearls model, and it works,
sure. But its not actually embedding story into
the gameplay, and its twenty years old and weve
moved beyond it once already. Which is why its so
disappointing to see it still being used as the basic

Worried that you cant pack more emotional sophistication into

your game than youd find stuck to the bottom of your shoe?
Just grab a famous actor or two and film em like its a movie
model for most triple-A releases of the last year.
Weve been playing a lot recently, and Jessica Curry
(the brains behind The Chinese Room for those who
dont know) has been saying a lot of things like Have
you started playing yet? and Why are you putting
the controller down again? and But if I wanted to
watch a movie, Id watch a movie, and so on.
Heres the problem. Compared to most movies,
most games still have the narrative and emotional
sophistication of yoghurt. Were getting better for
sure, but there are reasons why we cant do things
movies can do, or at least, doing them is way harder
in an interactive medium. But we can also do things
movies cant and thats really important, and one
of those things is giving a player a sense of agency

QMetal Gears extended cutscenes have almost gone beyond the point of parody, with cuts of the games
available on YouTube with these scenes alone.

18

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within a story, and thats unique to games and

phenomenally powerful. In that way, even guff like
Far Cry (and anyone who knows me knows how
much I love Far Cry, but we cant pretend its anything
other than guff) is actually more sophisticated
in some ways than Citizen Kane (I can hear film
theorists soil themselves in fury as I write this). But
not in a straight film/cutscene comparison. Game
cutscenes are generally far worse at doing movie
stuff than even godawful hipster-bait like Francis
Ha, which should have been a whipping offence
for all involved. We cant compete on that level, and
its disappointing to see us try. Its a bit like trying
to compete with novels but refusing to use words
longer than two syllables.
There was a reason the cutscene went out of
fashion. It was a tool to do a job from an age when
other tools lacked the sophistication or capacity to do
it for them. Then things changed, and the cutscenes
started looking like a hangover we had games like
Half-Life that proved that with smart writing and
design, potent narrative and emotional cues could be
integrated into gameplay. We evolved. The current
fashion of cutscenes is a throwback. I spend more
time snarling go and make a movie at the screen
than I do actually doing gameplay, and its getting
old. Again. Time to learn from the past, bin QTEs and
cutscenes (interactive and non-interactive) for good,
and focus on the uniqueness of the medium.

Dan Pinchbeck is the creative director

at The Chinese Room, currently
working on Everybodys Gone To The
Rapture. His views arent necessarily
representative of games

NO.1 FOR
ALL
THINGS
XBOX
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www.XB1.co.uk

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WorldMags.net

WHY I

...

Grim Fandango
IAN MILHAM, CREATIVE DIRECTOR,
VISCERAL GAMES
Back when games were
two-dimensional, I was
playing a lot of mid-Nineties
JRPGs. They were fantastic,
but it felt like they were in a
pretty tight narrative box; that
you were playing the same
game over and over again. But
then, in 1998, Grim Fandango
came out. That game blew my
mind. It was basically the same
type of experience you know,
move your rudimentary 3D
character around a 2D painting
but it combined all these
influences into something fresh.
A combination of Mexican
Day of the Dead folklore with
hotrods and film noir? I found
it so inspirational and amazing
that I immediately applied to
LucasArts when I finished it. I
needed to work with the people
that made this game, so thats
what I did! And I worked for
Lucas Arts for the next
five years after that.

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I found it so inspirational and

amazing that I immediately applied to
LucasArts when I finished it
IAN MILHAM, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, VISCERAL GAMES
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For the main Final Fantasy games
we must appeal to a very wide and
mainstream audience, thats the biggest
challenge of all .
HAJIME TABATA, SQUARE ENIX

22

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PREVIEW | FINAL FANTASY XV | MULTI

Q Latest entry in the core Final Fantasy series and one that tells the story of
a worlds nations fighting over control of the last remaining crystal

Pushing the formula beyond the limit break

C
INFORMATION
Details
Format:
Xbox One, PS4
Origin:
Japan
Publisher:
Square Enix
Developer:
In-house
Release:
TBC
Players:
1

Developer Profile
Game director Hajime
Tabata is now in sole
charge of overseeing
Final Fantasy XV
following the departure
of co-director Tetsuya
Nomura who is now
working on Kingdom
Hearts III. Tabata made
his name creating
handheld games, most
notably in the form of
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy
VII and The 3rd Birthday.

Developer History
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
2008 [PSP]
Kingdoms Hearts: Coded
2008 [NDS]
The 3rd Birthday
2010 [PSP]
Final Fantasy Type-0
2011 [PSP]

High Point
One of the finest games
to grace the PSP, Crisis
Core blends Final
Fantasys traditional
RPG elements with
a combat system
that is action-packed
yet graceful.

learly, the powers overseeing

Final Fantasy XV are not afraid of
change. The project has changed
title, director, release platform and
overall scope. Most importantly it seems to
be throwing out the Final Fantasy rulebook,
developing an entirely new kind of experience.
The wide-reaching alterations have resulted in
a game that is shrouded in even more mystery
and anticipation than even this most venerable
of series usually enjoys. Failure to provide
something truly special will likely trigger a
serious bout of disappointment throughout a
fanbase that views the franchise in incredibly
high esteem.
Its not only those top-level aspects of FFXV s
development that are unafraid to embrace
change, however. A number of core design
choices demonstrates the abandonment of not
only what Final Fantasy has adhered to in the
past, but they disregard what the majority of
Japanese-made RPGs have historically relied
upon. Combat plays out in real time with you
in control of one character for the duration of
the game: Noctis. Damage is primarily dealt
by pressing and holding the standard attack
button in combinations of different timings and
speeds. A few swift taps back to back might
result in a flurry of light attacks, whereas a
single press and hold causes Noctis to store
his energy before charging in with a more
powerful blow. Mastering and managing these
different attacks is one key to victory, as is
identifying which type of combo works best on
which enemies.
Noctis has a number of weapons equipped
at any one time, with the D-pad (on PlayStation
4) used to switch between them in battle.
These come coupled with different stats
for attack strength and speed, as well as
a single special command that works as a
magic attack of sorts. This magic ranges
from the kind that deals significant damage,
shock wave-causing leaps from the sky or
long-range lunges, for instance, to those that
undermine your enemy in more subtle ways;
perhaps by draining their hit and/or magic
points over time.

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As a means of balancing these special

battle actions, Noctis MP gauge depletes
each time you use them. Should it empty
completely you enter a state of stasis that
sees movement speed and attack damage
greatly reduced. Your best bet here is to avoid
conflict for a while and wait for your MP to
gradually trickle back up again, which it does
slowly over time.
/// The speed of combat, in combination with
the number of enemies and allies on the
screen at any one time, adds an unpredictable
aura that initially feels unwieldy and unnatural
within a Final Fantasy context. When you
consider that Noctis can also dodge and jump,
the visuals and your inputs often resemble
that of a third-person action game more than
they do a JRPG.
For those wishing to play a more clandestine
and cerebral game, a stealth stance can be
activated at the press of a button. This causes
Noctis to move slower, but it also allows him
to parry attacks just as an enemy is about to
deal damage. In this stance, a button prompt
appears on the screen for a split second as
youre being attacked and, if you manage
to press the correct input quickly enough,
you can launch a killer blow upon weaker
enemies. Tougher enemies are able to stand
up to such tactics, although you will deal
considerably more damage than usual.
While youre dodging, parrying and
regaining your MP, your companions are
acting on their own accord by dealing damage
and hopping about the environment. Ignis
is a suave Brit with locks of bright blonde
hair, Gladiolus is the brutish warrior type and
Prompto is the long-range gunslinger. Theres
no getting over the sensation that not having
control over the entire group is an awkward
concept to immediately warm to, but after
youve experienced how frenetic combat can
be you begin to understand the design choice.
There is a level of essential interaction
between the group that must be adhered to,
however, not least when it comes to keeping
everyone healthy and in fighting shape. While

23

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PREVIEW | FINAL FANTASY XV | MULTIFORMAT

hiding in caves and dungeons during the day,

you can apply potions to yourself, it makes
a problem that becomes worse when you take
sense for you to keep slashing away while
into account that navigating solely by torchlight
someone else coats you in the health-reviving
makes it more difficult to avoid potentially
dust preventing you from having to delve into
dangerous skirmishes.
menu screens that feel unwelcome amidst
Finding and resting at camps causes the
the ferocity of action. By the same token,
clock to speed up and your party to awaken
responsibility sometimes falls on you to keep
at dawn, giving themselves plenty of daylight
track of your allies health and send potions
to operate under. Meals are consumed when
their way when necessary.
at camp, providing you with temporary stat
Beyond the battle arena things are equally
boasts depending on the constituents of your
diverse and complex. The enormous expanse
dinner. These ingredients can be sourced from
of the Duscae region (the only one weve played
hunting the local wildlife, thus encouraging you
thus far) takes full advantage of the processing
to engage in battle rather than simply avoid it.
power of the latest consoles to create a scene
Camps are also the only place in which you
that wouldnt feel out of place in Jurassic Park.
can level up your party, with all the experience
Green hills and valleys rise and dip far into the
points acquired during the day being banked
distance, giant reptilian beasts sip water from
around the fire and, possibly, resulting in your
shimmering lakes and rocky cliffs hide narrow
team waking up with new skills learned and
caves before flicking dramatically into clusters
better stats applied. Its presently unclear to
of evergreens.
what extent you can customise your partys
Within this environment youre free to act
levelling-up path, but we do know that new
and move however you wish, there are no
set routes forcing you down
a narrow path and attempting
to dictate the pace of play.
Our wider mission here is to
raise enough money to fix
our ailing vehicle, but how you
go about that is up to you.
Most obviously, you can hunt
a monster that has had
a bounty put on its head; HAJIME TABATA, SQUARE ENIX
conveniently, the bounty
gear, items and weapons can be equipped in
value is the precise amount required to fix
whatever combination you desire (so long as
the vehicle. Alternatively, you can ignore that
youve hit the appropriate character level/s).
altogether and simply see which side-quests
The caveat to everything mentioned here, of
and activities pop up as you explore.
course, is that much of what weve seen might
once again change before release; not least
/// Everything from chocobo ranches to
because no launch date has been announced,
random encounters against an ill-tempered
making it impossible to know just how much
military to collecting valuables adds to the
development time remains. Whatever the case,
tapestry of exploration, many of these leading
as an indicator for the aims and ambitions
to money in the form of the series traditional
of the project, time spent wandering around
Gil currency. The degree of choice placed
Duscae makes for an enlightening experience.
on your shoulders stands in stark contrast
Most striking is the willingness to abandon
to the often stifling linearity of Final Fantasy
many of those elements that weve come to
XIII, often to the point where you cant help
take for granted from Final Fantasy, replaced
but think the approach here has been crafted
as a direct counterpoint to criticism levelled
by design directions that would feel more at
at this game. Hopefully the reaction doesnt
home within the confines of a Western-made
push the structure of the game so far into the
RPG or action game.
open-world realm that FFXV loses that sense
Whether or not that sounds like a positive
or negative will wholly depend on your
of well-defined narrative that has become the
currently held viewpoint of Final Fantasy as
series most enduring legacy for many of us.
Its not only what you decide to do that
an enterprise. If youre a staunch supporter
matters, either, its also when. In the grandest
that wants to see a return to the systems
traditions of the likes of Grand Theft Auto and
of Final Fantasy VI and VII then youre likely
going to feel let down by whats on offer.
Skyrim, a full day/night cycle causes light to
However, if youre craving a modern twist on
turn to dark and new enemies come out to play.
the Final Fantasy formula then youve
Night hours sees the world populated by the
kinds of beasts that youre more likely to find
every reason to get excited.

Something like 30-40% of the

content is designed to please
those existing fans, but the
remaining content is about taking
things in new directions

24

Q Top: If youve access to a vehicle, you can

use these roads to travel quickly between
regions, presumably avoiding combat as you
do. Above: Battles against multiple enemies
can be difficult to manage given just how fast
combat plays out. Right: The day/night cycle
can create impressive conditions that cloak the
environment with a different personality.

Q Above: Post-battle stats detail the amount of experience youve earned

and damage taken, giving you incentive to improve your performance.

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PREVIEW | FINAL FANTASY XV | MULTI

WELCOME TO THE
RETRO FUTURE
FINAL FANTASY XV S visual signature
is a mix of past and future, the two
elements juxtaposing one another
to create an atmosphere that is
at once familiar and unusual. Scifi-style magic attacks, potions
and architecture blends with cars
and trucks that are distinctly oldfashioned in both shape and colour.
In truth, its not a far cry away from
the kind of visual language employed
by some of the earlier Final Fantasy
games; particularly those that have
embraced something akin to a
steampunk aesthetic. Of course, whats
on show here benefits from the higher
technical threshold made possible
thanks to the far greater performance
of the hardware being utilised.

Q Above: Some larger enemies have multiple areas of

their body that can be damaged. Targeting a certain
body part can result in a reduction of their speed
and/or attack power, giving you more tactical options
when it comes to tougher fights. Below: Shops
continue to act as your primary means of acquiring
the exact kinds of items youre looking for. Defeated
monsters drop items, of course, but theres little way
of predicting what youre going to get.

RANDOM EVENTS
AS YOU travel across the world
theres every chance that youre
going to experience events that
others wont. Magitek troops,
for example, hover over the
world in patrol patterns that
are unpredictable preventing
you from being able to label
certain areas of the map as
more dangerous than others.
If youre lucky the patrol ships
might simply fly overhead, but if
youre unlucky the troops might
decide to unload and scout
the vicinity youre travelling
through. Should this happen
then youve got a decision to
make; either stand and fight or
attempt to tiptoe around them
undetected. Avoiding trouble
might be the easy option, but at
some point youve got to earn
experience points to prevent
later challenges becoming
overly difficult.

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PREVIEW | RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER | MULTI

Q Lara is back from her adventures in Yamatai and ready to take on the
wilderness on the other side of the world in the frozen wilds of Siberia

Siberian Nights
INFORMATION
Details
Format:
Xbox 360, Xbox One
Origin:
USA
Publisher:
Square Enix
Developer:
Crystal Dynamics
Release:
Q4 2015
Players:
1

Developer Profile
Established in 1992 by a
group of Sega veterans,
Crystal Dynamics got off
to a good start in life by
appointing 20th Century
Foxs ex-president as
its head, whipping up
a media storm and
attracting investors left,
right and centre. Since
then, the studio proved
its worth by developing
the Legacy Of Kain and
Gex properties.

Developer History
Tomb Raider
2013 [Multi]
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
1999 [PSOne, PC,
Dreamcast]
Pandemonium
1996 [PSOne, Sega
Saturn]
Gex
1994 [3DO, Sega Saturn,
PSOne]

High Point
Legacy of Kain: Soul
Reaver remains a high
point of the series
fusing the uniquely
dilapidated, gothic
world design with Amy
Hennigs wonderful
storytelling.

26

stabbed, impaled, slapped, thrown around,

hat would you do if you were
nearly drowned and even laughed at. Yet,
forced to kill someone? What would
unlike the ship, she endures.
you do if you were forced into a corner,
And shes back for more. The once widelike an animal threatened, with nowhere to
eyed girl from somewhere in middle England
run, no way of escaping? Someone has defiled
is dead, and shes been replaced with a
you, taken away your right of flight, left you
practiced killer. Someone that, in the course
only with the need to fight. Youd kill them,
of the previous games action, probably killed
right? Its them or you; its logical, it makes
more humans than she could legally justify in
sense and thats before all that cortisone and
any court of law (good job Yamatai probably
adrenaline kicks in and turns you feral.
finds itself in international waters). This time,
Poor Lara was little more than a ball of
Laras got her sights set on Siberia on a
nerves running around, laced with every
grand stone city built by the Grand Duke of
survival chemical her body could muster,
Vladimir in the 13th century, no less. Hey the
back in 2013. The reboot seemed orchestrated
by some sadistic god
that wanted to use
Lara as little more
than a puppet in a
sick game of cat and
mouse. Like Bear
Grylls cast in one of
those uninspiring Saw
PRESS RELEASE SQUARE ENIX
films. And we're not
intrepid spelunkers archaeological hunches
just talking about the narrative disconnection
paid off the first time, right? Surely, theyd pay
here those death scenes youve seen play
out time and time again, no: were talking
off again
about the actual story.
Laras used to running into trouble on these
expeditions, now, though. So this time, she
Rhianna Pratchetts merciless arc saw
comes a bit more prepared. For a start, in all
Lara step out into the real world after
the gameplay weve seen, shes no longer
graduating with an archaeological studies
held together by tattered bits of burlap and
degree from a prestigious university (were
canvas her considerable wealth back
going to assume Oxford, because of the
home has kitted her out in the finest wintry
affected accent Lara sports throughout the
exploration gear money could buy: a nice red
game). Right off the bat, were taught that
waffle coat and a pair of gleaming red ice
Lara isnt going to have the simple expedition
picks. Perfect for taking out Russian spies.
she thought she would the ironically named
Endurance ship ruptures and spews its crew
onto the coast of Yamatai: an island in the
/// She also knows that shes not the only
Dragons Triangle area off the coast of Japan,
glory-hungry treasure hunter out there, and
subject to abnormally ferocious weather
has employed the assistance of Jonah Maiava
that batters at its inhabitants. From there,
who seems to have come a long way since
Lara gets captured, bitten, mauled, shot at,
his humble origins as a fisherman in the last

In the next chapter of her journey, Lara

must use her survival skills and wits,
learn to trust new friends, and ultimately
accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider

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WorldMags.net
Q Below: Has the crew been largely downsized
since Lara set out on the Endurance, or are
we going to be introduced to other characters
aside from the returning Jonah Maiava?

PREVIEW | RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER | MULTI

WHOLE LARA LOVE

WHEN YOUVE GOT a singular named protagonist like Lara Croft, one of the most difficult things to do is make her fully believable
fully human and understandable. To that end, Crystal Dynamics is using the same Crystal Engine that powered the last game
to motion capture Laras movements and voice actress Camilla Luddington is reprising her role. Were expecting the same kind of
clothing damage and cosmetic affects to be applied as you play through the game, too.

Q Below: Crystal Dynamics has promised that it wont just

be claustrophobic caves and crumbling cliff-faces that
youll be navigating; therell be industrial sections with
cranes and mechanical elements too.

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PREVIEW | RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER | MULTI

game. Maybe it was his brush in with the

esoteric and paranormal in the 2013 reboot
that primed him for this new trip with Lara
he was always a romantic at heart, after
all, and his encounters on Yamatai seemed
to bring him closer to Lara than, you know, a
non-supernatural adventure would. Hopefully
the rest of the cast will be a bit more human
and a little less misfit crew stereotype than
last time, though.
/// No adventure is complete without an
antagonistic force. Whilst the first game
had Lara contend with the samurai-like Oni
demons and the vicious advances of the
Solarii brotherhood, this game seems like it
will branch the opposing forces off into two
directions: Trinity and whatever ancient
evils lie dormant in the Lost City of Kitezh.
According to real-life myths, we can safely
assume the enemies Lara will encounter
will be of Mongolian descent potentially
drowned souls or something similar, since
the myth states the invisible city was sunk
deep into Lake Svetloyar along with the
maiden Fevroniya.
This leads us to Laras motivations for
heading out to Kitezh in the first place
according to a 1907 opera written by
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Kitezh was the
resting place for a the royal couple that
reigned over the doomed city. Apparently,
the aforementioned maiden Fevroniya had
healing powers she could use to soothe the
scabs her husband Peter suffered when he
slayed a snake that harassed the princess of
the kingdom. The two, bound to die together

(when the maiden can no longer heal Peter)

live out their days in the monasteries of
Kitezh, and are buried in separate graves.
However, whenever people check in on their
respective tombs, they find the bodies always
together, like the couple was bound by fate
So why is Lara travelling there, to this
semi-mystical invisible city? Weve already
seen her sat in a therapists room, recounting
the events of Yamatai and showing emotional
distress; could it be shes after the healing
powers of the invisible Russian city to calm
her mind, heal her broken psyche? Or is she
just addicted to the thrill of adventure now,
having been brought so violently into the
world of exploration a couple of years ago?
/// It remains to be seen, but regardless,
we meet Lara in the tundras of Siberia,
and it seems like she's in trouble. The gods
dictating her world (read: Rihanna Pratchett)
clearly havent let up on our poor protagonist
since last time we see Lara tumble down
a sheer cliff-face and barely manage to save
herself, before ambling aimlessly into the lair
of a massive Russian bear. From this, we can
assume the QTE-lite sections are back hit
button prompts at the right time, or watch
Lara suffer another one of those gruesome
Game Over animations.
It also means the survivalism elements
of the first game make a return whether
the same campfire hub mechanic returns
too remains to be seen, but it makes sense:
after all, if youre caught in the tundra, youre
going to need all the warmth you can get.
It also makes us wonder whether Crystal

SOME SIBERIAN FILMS

WHEN DEVELOPERS START
working on a game, they tend
to create virtual mood boards
handy tools for illuminating
the tone, feel and direction
of the games theyre making
to potential shareholders,
publishers or other members of
development staff. These mood
boards are called rippomatics.
And the rippomatic for Rise
Of The Tomb Raider has some
expected titles, and some rather
unexpected ones
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II: We
reckon this is included for the
way Sylvester Stallone tackles
his enemies the slinking
through the undergrowth.
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT
DAY: We can only assume the
similarities here come from
Sarah Connors character does
that mean were going to see a
more ruthless Lara?
THE EDGE: A pure surviving in
the wilderness romp, this 1997
classic even has a battle with a
bear in it.
HANNA: A young Finnish girl
learns to survive in the harsh
wilderness of her native country,
and she mostly does it with a
bow. Sound familiar?
THE GREY: A plane crashes in
Alaska and the surviving crew
need to learn to adapt to the
wild and fight off a pack of
wolves. Wolves in Rise Of The
Tomb Raider are confirmed.

Featuring epic, high-octane action moments, R ise Of

The Tomb Raider will take gamers to multiple locations
around the world filled with exploration spaces
x

PRESS RELEASE SQUARE ENIX

28

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Q Above: Are we going to have to

kill this bear, or run from it? Can
we skin it, can we wear its skin?
Can we distract it by leaving fish
somewhere and sneak around
it? There are so many questions
about Laras newly revamped
survival aptitude.
Right: That look of utter despair
on Laras face means something
terrible has happened off-camera.
Has Jonah been mauled by a bear?
Has she caused the collapse of a
1000 year old monastery? Did she
rip her parka?

WorldMags.net

PREVIEW | RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER | MULTI

Dynamics is going to flesh out that mechanic

a little bit more say, for example, theres a
blizzard covering the entrance to a cave you
need to explore. Does that mean you need
to kill that bear thats in the way first, skin its
fur to wear as extra warmth before braving
the snowstorm? Wed like to think so after
all, the 2013 reboot was more of a survival
sim than any other Tomb Raider game before
it, and its a trend wed like to see continue
through the series. Also, with Uncharted 4
hitting the PS4 later this year Tomb Raider is
going to want to do something a little different
to the Indiana Jones simulator thats likely
going to bulldoze the games press. Tomb
Raider will actually benefit from going a bit
more niche.
/// Of course, a game cant carry the
respectable Tomb Raider name without
architecturally-based puzzles, right? So what
can we expect from Laras newest adventure?
According to Crystal Dynamics, Kitezh will
feature more of a focus on puzzling than
Yamatai did whats the point of making an
invisible city if people can easily get around
it? and these puzzles will operate across a
spectrum of difficulty according to creative
director Noah Hughes. The new puzzles will
bring back the old Tomb Raider design trope
the developers like to call nested puzzles
modular-based physics puzzles with a focus

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on cause and effect, meaning you have to

work through puzzles one bit at a time, seeing
what effects what and how you can use those
changes to your advantage.
If that sounds a bit too much, don't worry;
these tombs will most likely be optional, as
they were in the 2013 game. But theyre worth
diving into Crystal Dynamics has hinted that
these tricksy tombs will contain better loot
and treasure, making it more worth your time
to explore and investigate your surroundings.
The development team stated it had listened
to feedback from fans regarding the difficulty
of the first game many said it was too easy
and was keen to challenge gamers more
with Laras second revamped adventure.
Crystal Dynamics has clearly taken
on-board the lessons learned from Laras
baptism of fire, and is keen on throwing her
right back into the fire with its first sequel.
The studio knows Lara, and knows her very
well the 2013 game proves that but her
narrative arc was sometimes lacking in
places, her actions versus her motivations
contradictory and vague. Now, Crystal
Dynamics has a chance to really make
something of Lara to redefine her as the
female action hero the games industry
is crying out for, to prove that the likes of
Naughty Dogs Nathan Drake and Ubisofts
Persian Prince dont have a monopoly
on the adventure genre.

29

PREVIEW | RISE OF INCARNATES | PC

WorldMags.net
Q Left: Awakened forms are powerful, and their ideal deployment will
be the subject of some debate. Is it better to save them to rescue a
partner in peril, or use them in order to finish off opponents?

INFORMATION
Details
Format:
PC
Origin:
Japan
Publisher:
Bandai Namco Games
Developer:
In-house
Release:
2015
Players:
1-4

Developer
Profile
Bandai Namco Games
has a strong history in the
fighting genre, and has
assembled a heavyweight
team of producers for
Rise Of Incarnates.
Daisuke Murano is best
known for his work on
the SoulCalibur series,
Michael Murray for Tekken
and Ryuichiro Baba for
Gundam Vs, on which this
game is based.

Developer
History
Soul Calibur IV
2008 [Xbox 360, PS3]
Mobile Suit Gundam:
Extreme Vs
2010 [Arcade, PS3]
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
2011 [Arcade, Xbox
360, PS3, Wii U]
SoulCalibur V
2012 [Xbox 360, PS3]

Q A two-on-two 3D arena fighting game, in which superhuman combatants

attempt to best each other with a mixture of projectile attacks and physical combos.

A new incarnation of an old formula as arena

battling looks to the world of MOBAs

ts been a long time since weve seen

anything like Rise Of Incarnates. Adapted
from the gameplay found in the Japanese
game Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs,
Rise Of Incarnates pits teams of Incarnates
against each other in open 3D arenas, with
both ranged weaponry and physical attacks at
their disposal. Ranged weapons require time
to recharge and physical attacks have limited
range, so much of your success will depend on
minimising dead time.
Rise Of Incarnates manages to include
a number of interesting additions to the
formula, many of which come from the
team-based battles. While the special

double-team attack is expected, as is the

general chaos which arises from adding
participants, the games approach to
character balance is interesting. Players
share a life bar, which depletes when
characters respawn. More powerful fighters
consume a lot of life, while weaker ones can
respawn more often. The differences are
tangible, and this extends to the fighters
each plays very differently, with remarkable
differences in agility, strength and strategic
application. Players will need to consider
QLike the comics that inspired it, Rise Of Incarnates
takes place in real world locations, such as London here.

High Point
Tekkens second foray
into tag-team action with
Tekken Tag Tournament
2 was Bandai Namcos
best effort in the genre
in years, revitalising the
series as its competitors
began to stagnate.

Rise of Incarnates is a mixed

discipline game where shooters, fighters,
MOBA game users can all bring their skills
DAISUKE MURANO BANDAI NAMCO GAMES

30

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character pairings carefully in order to

maximise their chances of winning.
The game seems to hold a great deal of
potential to hook players in for the long term.
For the players raised on the technicality of
similar games such as Virtual On, there's
ample room to explore mechanics, such
as dash cancels, custom combos and
each fighter's powerful awakened state, a
temporary power boost that transforms the
fighter and opens up new attacks. For those
who enjoy pre-battle strategy, a system of
ability upgrades allows you to tinker with
attributes, such as melee strength and postrespawn health in order to build the best
version of your Incarnate.
While Rise Of Incarnates displays plenty of
potential, some of it may be lost if the games
battle arenas arent made a little more
interesting at present, they are visually
appealing but offer few cover opportunities
or other distinguishing features. Additionally,
the free-to-play model may need refining.
Currency earned during gameplay could
only be used to purchase upgrades during
our test, with all other purchases requiring
real cash, including additional characters
an approach that may put off players who
come to enjoy multiple characters. Rise Of
Incarnates will undoubtedly provide some
valuable diversity within the free-to-play
market, but if these issues can be addressed,
it should snap the attention of a much
wider audience.

WorldMags.net
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PREVIEW | RIDE | MULTI

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WILD HOGS
HOW AUTHENTIC ARE RIDE s motorcycles?
Given Milestone was given the actual CAD
data to incorporate into the game, about as
close as it can be. We got a lot of the 3D
models manufacturers use to build the bikes
in reality, Basilio tells us. We start from that,
then we have all the data for the engines and
measurements for the bikes. Thats really good
because our game engine can use that data to
simulate the engine in the right way. We also
bring the physical bikes in and get the engine
roar right. Every bike sounds different because
they have the proper engine, he adds. There
you go the closest youll get to the real thing
without wearing a leather jumpsuit.

Q Above: The level of precision RIDE aims to offer in its customisation is

laudable, but the fact that none of this was actually playable has us somewhat
concerned. If these factors do noticeably impact play though, all the better.

Q Above: Horizontal street bikes are apparently a big deal in RIDE

according to the developer. Theyre going to take the MotoGP by storm
next season too.

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PREVIEW | RIDE | MULTI

INFORMATION
Details
Format:
PS4, PS3, Xbox One,
Xbox 360, PC
Origin:
Italy
Publisher:
Milestone
Developer:
In-house
Release:
Q2 2015
Players:
1-2 offline, 8 online
multiplayer

Developer Profile
Founded in 1994 as
Graffiti, the rapidly
re-named Milestone is
a studio committed to
automotive acceleration.
The Italian company
has produced almost
three dozen racers, and
with the MotoGP and
Superbike franchises, its
almost singularly kept
bike racers in the public
eye a great starting
position for its first
original racing IP.

Developer History
Screamer 2
1996 [PC]
SBK Generations
2012 [Multi]
WRC 4
2013 [Multi]
MotoGP 14
2014 [Multi]

High Point
No single standout, but
as long-time licence
holder for both MotoGP
and Superbike World
Championship, Milestone
has proven itself as a
developer of bike
racers, which bodes
well for RIDE.

Q RIDE exists for one bold, ambitious reason: to be the Gran Turismo of
bike games, with all the simulation and customisation aspects that entails

This is no Easy Rider

hen a rival overtakes you as youre

zooming along atop a precision
piece of two-wheeled engineering
genius, its hard not to think of Road Rash.
As tempting as it would be to lash out with a
well-placed length of chain, RIDE isnt that kind
of bike racer it has loftier ambitions. It wants
to do for motorbikes what Gran Turismo did for
cars and, in pure racing terms, its on track.
The game is the first original IP for developer
Milestone since 2007 (remember Super PickUps
for the Wii? No, thought not) and one born of
the teams desire to step out on their own. We
had great fun working on licensed games, but
we wanted to move to something with more
creative freedom and challenge, game designer
Andrea Basilio tells games. Its important
for us to create a game that is enjoyable for
the sort of player that knows everything about
bikes, how the physics work, but also give an
enjoyable game for players that like bikes but
arent hardcore into them.
Its certainly accessible for newcomers.
Basic racing experience will see you through
RIDE at its easiest press button, go fast, turn
to not leave track. It even has an auto-braking
option to help navigate those tricky corner
things, and a racing line thats pleasingly
simple to follow. Newcomers are definitely
well treated, the game slowly educating as
to its nuances as players progress. At the
hardcore end of the spectrum though, youll
need to consider the weight and position of the
rider and the impact that has on the physics of
a motorbike roaring along at insane speeds.

Many of the demands of high-level play

are communicated visually. Youll see the
rider react to the forces impacting them,
requiring subtle changes to your race style
to compensate. Youre also meant to be able
to feel changes in track conditions relayed
through the controllers vibration. At least,
thats the idea while playing, we didnt
experience any shifts in weather or anything
else that might alter the track that changed
the physical feedback.

included in the game and over 114 playable

motorcycles. The only absences are Harley
Davidson and Norton, whose bikes are not
quite right for this version of RIDE , according
to Basilio.
However, for a game wanting to be Gran
Turismo for bikes, its slightly worrying that
a component key to the success of Sonys
racing smash customisation, and lots of it
wasnt playable in a preview build mere weeks
before RIDEs release. The developer promises
great things though, with Basilio saying we
have twenty components on each bike you
can customise. Some are aesthetic, some
are performance, others are both. The aim
is to customise everything, using real aftermarket parts for the bikes and with over 100

/// Its nice to see the resurgence of splitscreen local multiplayer across the gaming
medium continue, with RIDE offering the
feature in its offline modes. It packs in all
the expected race types quick races, time
trials, drag races,
track days, oneon-one battles, and
endurance
tests

accompanying
a lengthy World
Tour career for solo
MARCO MICALLEF MILESTONE
players. Online, you
can look forward to single races or multi-track
accessories included for the racer. Exactly how
seasons, for up to 12 players.
this is implemented is impossible to predict as
Aesthetically, RIDE is phenomenal. Locations
of yet, though.
As a racing game, RIDE has its core attraction
and tracks 15 in total, including Magny-Cours
in France, Motegi in Japan, Sierra Nevada in
locked down. Its a fantastic motorbike racer,
the US, and Milestones native Milano are
potentially a contender for best ever thanks to its
all topologically mapped for accuracy, and
intuitive controls and phenomenal selection of
the lighting and texturing border on the
hogs and tracks. However, if the customisation
photorealistic. The bikes themselves offer plenty
suite proves even slightly lacking, itll fall
of variety, with a total of 14 manufacturers
far short of its four-wheeled inspiration.

We wanted to develop something that

would bring together all our expertise
with respect to motorcycling

Q Above: RIDE 's locations really are superb. It's a shame you can't forget that racing
nonsense and just motor about the countryside.

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33

PREVIEW | CODE NAME: STEAM | 3DS

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Below: Some attacks are standard point and aim affairs, but other weapons,
such as John Henrys bear grenade, instead have a firing arc to take into account.
While trickier to hit with, theyre useful because they can be fired over scenery.
Q Intelligent Systems new IP is a steampunk themed turn-based strategy game with
third-person shooter elements and a comic book art style

Steampunk is interesting when Nintendo does it

the literally uncharted territory around you.

learly not content with working
In true turn-based fashion, movement is
on the upcoming successor to the
limited per turn, with each unit powered by
critically acclaimed Fire Emblem
a steam gauge that depletes as they move
Awakening, as well as a crossover
forward, fire weapons or perform a physical
with Shin Megami Tensei studio Atlus,
action. While moving ahead will decrease
Intelligent Systems is also turning its
your steam, returning to your starting point
hand to a brand new IP that adds a
replenishes it: this gives a little scope for
third-person viewpoint to the studios
exploration and prevents you walking blindly
trademark turn-based strategy.
into an enemyfest with no means of going
Code Name: STEAM is set in a steampunk
whoops and quickly leaving.
version of London, one under attack by
Units can also end their turn with some
invading Lovecraftian aliens. Players take
steam left, allowing them to perform
control of Henry Fleming, a member of the
Unit STEAM combat force,
as he tries to end the alien
menace while encountering
and teaming up with likeminded soldiers on the way.
Fans of the Valkyria
PRESS RELEASE, INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
Chronicles games will be
immediately familiar with
overwatch attacks. Also seen in the XCOM
Code Name: STEAM s central mechanics.
The game essentially takes the grid-based
games, these give your unit the ability to fire
gameplay Intelligent Systems used in
their weapons during an enemys turn if it
comes within range. They can do the same
Advance Wars and Fire Emblem and moves
during your turn, however, meaning running
it to a third-person perspective, meaning
up to an alien head-on frequently results in
attacking your enemy becomes as much
them getting the first attack in. The games
about aiming precision as it is simply moving
general feel, then, is that of a more patient
your unit within range.
version of Gears Of War, in which each
What makes things interesting is the
lack of a top-down map view, meaning the
extraterrestrial enemy has to be stealthily
only way you can plan ahead is by actively
approached from out of sight and taken out
moving your units forward and exploring
before it has the chance to spot you.

To defeat aliens, they have to take

cover, set up ambushes and unleash
crossfires and counter-attacks

COINING IT IN
CODE NAME: STEAM differs from similar games of its ilk such as
XCOM and Valkyria Chronicles with the inclusion of medals. These
are collected when enemies are defeated and can also be found lying
around maps. Medals can be saved up and spent to promote characters
faster, which in turn leads to new sub-weapons. For the most part they
will be used during battles at one of the save points on each map. A
quick save is free but players can also spend extra medals while saving
to either restore their own health, or restore everyone on the squads
health (and reviving fallen allies). Its a system that helps inexperienced
players and rewards skilful ones who can resist spending mid-fight.

34

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PREVIEW | CODE NAME: STEAM | 3DS

INFORMATION
Details
Format:
3DS
Origin:
Japan
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer:
Intelligent Systems
Release:
15 May
Players:
1

Developer Profile
Intelligent Systems has
long been Nintendos
turn-based strategy
studio, and is best known
for the publishers two
best-loved strategy
series, Fire Emblem
and Advance Wars. Its
also known for more
light-hearted affairs,
particularly the quirky
WarioWare games. Its
currently working with
Atlus on crossover title
Shin Megami Tensei X
Fire Emblem.

Developer History
WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgames
2003 [GBA]
Paper Mario: The Thousand
Year Door
2004 [GameCube]
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
2005 [DS]
Fire Emblem Awakening
2012 [3DS]

High Point
The incredible Fire Emblem
Awakening on 3DS
ensured the go-ahead for
the upcoming fourteenth
game, Fire Emblem If.

This all takes place within a curious

aesthetic that certainly doesnt feel like
it comes from a Nintendo studio. That
steampunk has been overused over the
years is something of an understatement,
and its odd to see a first-party 3DS game
dishing out thick helpings of the greys and
browns non-Nintendo systems are often
criticised for placing too much emphasis
on. Its comic book style dialogue panels
and Lovecraftian enemy designs are more
pleasing to the eye though, and give the
game some much-needed character.
Given that Nintendos amiibo figures are
all the rage at the moment, its no surprise
that Code Name: STEAM is the latest game
to confirm support for its NFC characters.
Mario, Link and other common characters
will have to sit on the sidelines this time
though, with Intelligent Systems instead
choosing only to make the game compatible
with the four Fire Emblem amiibo. As a
result, anyone owning the Marth, Ike, Lucina
or Robin figures will be able to scan them
(only on the New 3DS for now) and unlock
them as playable squad members in the
game. Given that swords and magic rather
than gunplay are the order of the day in Fire
Emblem, adding these characters to the mix
should put an interesting spin on things.
With its steampunk setting Code Name:
STEAM may not have the most original
premise, but the proof is in the playing and
so far weve been impressed. The lack of
a map means there are often moments
during enemy phases where youre just
standing there often behind cover
staring at a wall while aliens you cant see
move around, but these awkward moments
aside, Intelligent Systems may very well
be onto another turn-based winner.

Q Above: Heres the Fire Emblem squad Marth, Ike, Lucina and Robin in all their glory. They can only be
unlocked with their respective amiibo figures, though Nintendo says cheaper NFC amiibo cards serving the
same purpose are planned.

Q Above: Since Marths more of a close quarters fighter, he has to run right up to enemies before he can engage
them in battle.

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35

PREVIEW | THE SWINDLE | MULTI

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Theres no backtracking, reloading, same

guards in the same place, no slightly
different approach; you deal with it
DAN MARSHALL SIZE FIVE GAMES

INFORMATION
Details
Q Stealth action thieving with an emphasis on pulling off perfect heists on
procedurally-generated levels, where steampunk security robots try to stop you

Spelunky meets Dishonored for a spot of burglary

he Swindle bridges a colossal

gap in modern game design.
Were talking about the gap between
roguelike gameplay and well, everything
else. You either get as many tries as you like
or you embrace the finality of permadeath
scenarios and start over again. The Swindle
is prepared to meet us halfway and not just
where videogame death is concerned.
Youre tasked with infiltrating a grubby,
steam-powered Victorian London. Scotland
Yard has built itself a rudimentary AI, which
they plan to plug into Londons security

network in 100 days, thus making any kind of

burglary or crime difficult. As a master thief,
youre keen to prevent that from happening.
Those 100 days represent 100 chances
for your band of sneaks to enter as many
buildings as possible, steal as much cash as
possible, and get some kind of plan in order
for the biggest heist of all at Scotland Yard.
Complete a level, thats a day gone. Die or
get caught, thats also a day gone.
Whats clever about The Swindle is how
it turns up the pressure. As those days tick
down, players are expected to be upgrading

Q The cash you nick can go towards upgrading

your thieves, your airship or buying more days
to work with.

Format:
PC, Xbox One, PS4, PS3,
PS Vita, Wii U
Origin:
UK
Publisher:
Curve Digital
Developer:
Size Five Games
Release:
Summer 2015
Players:
1

Developer Profile
Dan Marshall is
leading the charge on
development. Hes got
a varied list of games
to his name already,
including the foulmouthed adventure
games Ben There,
Dan That and Time
Gentlemen, Please!,
as well as the hilarious
sex-education game
Privates. The Swindle
is his first game with a
multiplatform release.

Developer History
Ben There, Dan That
2008 [PC]
Time Gentlemen, Please!
2009 [PC]
Privates
2010 [PC]
Gun Monkeys
2013 [PC]

High Point
Mr. Marshalls
endeavours to bring
the grotty realities of
sexually transmitted
diseases to teenage
minds in Privates won
him a BAFTA award in
2011, in the LearningSecondary category.

36

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Q The arm of the law is long indeed. Robotic cops

arent vulnerable to knock outs, though with certain
gadgets its possible to evade them and escape.

their gear and airship, and move through

Londons districts towards their ultimate
goal. There is a sense of urgency here that
we havent seen in many modern games.
The choice to include flexible stealth
action gameplay was brave, but it appears
to have been carefully balanced. There are
multiple systems at work, from gadgets that
let you blow up traps or hack robot guards,
to abilities that enable you to smash through
doors or hide yourself in a cloud of steam.
Everything is unlocked with cash, meaning
players will constantly ask themselves if
they ought to take the money theyve stolen
and run, or risk losing it all. Theres no cash
barrier to finishing a level; its up to you.
Each level is procedurally generated and
restarting is out of the question, an echo of
Spelunkys ruthlessness. On the other hand,
when players set off an alert this doesnt
instantly result in mission failure. It just
means you need to start running. Knock out
any robots in your way, hack the diminishing
cash supplies, then get out.
Every thief is unique and has a name. By
snatching 80 per cent or more cash in a level,
these characters can gain XP and potentially
nab even more loot in later missions. Once
theyre dead, however, theyre dead.
The Swindles complexity will be the
driving force behind its success. It
looks unique, exciting and replayable.

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PREVIEW | XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X | WII U

Xenoblade Chronicles X
Q A spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles X tasks you with
collecting ejected stasis pods scattered across Earth during an alien battle

Itll make you want to play with Dolls again

t might look like one of the most inaccessibly Japanese

games to grace our pages, but theres something to
be enjoyed by everyone in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Yes, there are giant mechs that carry starry-eyed anime
characters into battle with huge monsters, but theres strategy
too in line with the kind of light strategy that youd employ in
the Mass Effect games and theres exploration. Seamless,
totally open exploration. Think Dragon Age, think The
Witcher think Skyrim.

Xenoblade Chronicles was a resounding success on the

Wii; very few other games put the hardware through its paces
like Chronicles did. Chronicles X wants to build on that success
and use its predecessors foundations to push further into the
mainstream, showing the West that the Wii U is worth more
than its sales figure suggest. Chronicles X wants to validate
the Wii U the way its forebear validated the Wii. Thats a far
bigger task, though, as were sure youll agree. But if any
developer is up to the task, its Monolith Soft

INFORMATION

38

Details

Developer Profile

Developer History

High Point

Format: Wii U
Origin: Japan
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Monolith Soft
Release: TBC 2015
Genre: Action-RPG
Players: 1-4

Operating out of Tokyo, Japan since 1999,

Monolith Soft is most well-known for the Xeno
series of games, but has also worked on other
more notable licences Final Fantasy, Dragon
Ball Z and various Capcom properties included
(mostly in Project X Zone). The studio also
helps Nintendo with coding its Zelda games.

Namco X Capcom
2005 [PS2]
Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
2006 [PS2]
Xenoblade Chronicles
2010 [Wii]

After Bandai Namco sold its stake

of the developer to Nintendo,
Monolith has made some great
games, but it was Xenoblade
Chronicles that proved that the
Wii was just as valid for core
gamers as well as casuals.

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BY CREATING A WHOLE
NEW STORY

THINK OF XENOBLADE a bit

like youd think of Final Fantasy all
the games share a selection of tropes
and design choices, but each one
stands alone in terms of narrative
and characters. Chronicles X might
carry a slightly more confusing title
than the logically numbered Final
Fantasy games, but dont expect to
see Shulk, his trademark blade, or
any of the cast from Chronicles in
2015s Xenoblade offering. Instead,
were being treated to a story where
two alien forces are battling above the
skies of Earth, creating huge collateral
damage and forcing humans to flee to
other planets. We follow the events of
the White Whale an American ship
headed for the planet Mira.

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3

BLADE CHRONICLES X | WII U

4
5
Players can customize everything
about the main characters appearance,
including gender, shapes, height, skin
color, voice and tattoos
PRESS RELEASE MONOLITH SOFT

BY RETAINING ELEMENTS
THAT MADE PREVIOUS
GAMES A SUCCESS

ONE OF THE most widely praised

aspects of the original Xenoblade
Chronicles was its battle system a
real-time, action-based affair that
revolved around your manual actions
versus your teams automated
attacks. It was like the Gambit system
in Final Fantasy XII, but a bit more
in-depth. This system will be basically
the same one found in Chronicles
X, though Monolith has stated its
keen to incorporate fan-suggested
improvements into the system too.
The Wii U pad will also allow players
to have access to a map at all times,
as well as data about native flora
and fauna on Mira and an insta-warp
ability to make quick travel easier.

BY FILLING THE GAME

WITH HUGE MECHA
DOLLS

THE GAMES DIRECTOR, Tetsuya

Takahashi, has stated that after
15 years at Monolith Soft, he feels
hes finally managed to create a
satisfyingly deep and distinctive
sci-fi world one in which people
and robots co-exist, something he
says has been a vision of his since
childhood. This, it seems, has been
achieved via the dolls the mechas
that tower over humans in the
game, that are used as methods of
transportation, transforming into
tanks, motorcycles, or hovercrafts.
They have a consciousness of their
own, too, linked symbiotically to
their pilots Is this the Neon Genesis
Evangelion game weve dreamed of?

BY CREATING A
STUPIDLY IN-DEPTH
CHARACTER CREATION
MODE

SHULK MAY HAVE been the most

persistent thing to come out of
Chronicles, but it looks like the
spiritual sequel is doing away with
a defined character model. Instead,
youve got the option to create your
own character in Chronicles X in a
creator that feels similar to Phantasy
Star Onlines oft-celebrated tool.
Thing is, unlike most creation tools,
Chronicles Xs implants anime eyes
onto your characters face, and in the
3D art style the game is taking, it can
end up looking unnerving. With this
level of customisation, it seems the
online capabilities of the game might
end up being quite MMORPG-ish

WorldMags.net

BY CREATING THE
BIGGEST OPEN WORLD
AVAILABLE ON WII U

THE WORLD OF Xenoblade Chronicles

X is so extensive that Monolith Soft
was actually considering shipping the
game on two discs. Takahashi wants
to create the absolute biggest game
possible on the Wii U. In gameplay
weve seen players launch themselves
off cliff-faces as big as the ones youd
see in Monster Hunter or something,
nose-diving deep into a chasm thats
probably bigger than the whole
original Chronicles game. Okay, it
probably isnt, but the fact you have
open skies to fly in as well as huge
holes to jump into makes us think this
world is going to be more than just
size over substance. It could be
the best open world on Wii U.

39

WorldMags.net

PREVIEW | DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY | ARCADE

Q Below: While there are some nice textures in the game (Clouds
hair looks amazing), were a little underwhelmed by the overall
graphical quality. Still, if it plays well, it doesnt matter, right?

INFORMATION
Details
Format:
Arcade
Origin:
Japan
Publisher:
Square Enix
Developer:
In-house
Release:
TBA
Players:
2

Developer Profile
Square Enix started out
as a videogame developer
primarily focused on
the Japanese branch of
role-playing games, but
as the industry moved
into the new millennium,
the publisher/developer
changed tact, and began to
train up its Western arm,
whilst still maintaining
an incredibly strong
Japanese presence.

Developer History
Final Fantasy XIV: A
Realm Reborn
Multi [2013]
Kingdom Hearts 3D:
Dream Drop Distance
3DS [2012]
Tactics Ogre: Let Us
Cling Together
PSP [2010]
Final Fantasy X-2
PS2 [2003]

High Point
Final Fantasy XII diverges
wildly from the turnbased stat-mashing of
Final Fantasy X, and took
it in a more semi actionorientated direction,
upsetting many but
mastering the genre in
the process.

40

Q All the heroes of the various Final Fantasy worlds clash in epic battles that can
probably alter the shape of the world, or something. Therell be crystals involved

A tale of souls and swords (and crystals)

inal Fantasy is the only big gaming

franchise missing from the arcades,
isnt it? Everything else has got some
kind of branded cabinet repping the brand
amid some of the most lucrative walk-through
zones in gaming, so the only question we
were asking ourselves as we watched the
blistering nonsense of the Dissidia Final
Fantasy is why hasnt this come out sooner?
The Japanese
arcade fighting scene
has never died, per
se, but it lay quiet for
a while grabbing the
big hitters before their
console releases, but
rarely trying to innovate hugely. Then, recently,
something happened in the prefectures
around Tokyo, development companies have
been plotting and planning: weve seen Harada
take Pokmon to the arcade with Pokken
Tournament, ArkSys Persona 4 Arena has
erupted across Akihabara and Shibuya, and
Tekken 7 is getting a huge exclusivity window
in the Japanese arcades, too. Aside from
Tekken, its notable that the other two big
hitters are cross-overs taking non-fighting
game franchises into experimental territory
within the genre.
In light of this quiet resurrection, Square
Enix has taken advantage of a gap in the
fighting market with its previously-dormant
Dissidia IP: the game will feature three-onthree brawls which could, in theory, feature six
player action across a cabinet network. Being
able to play as literally every hero from the

games (spin-offs included) is a huge perk, too.

If the previous Dissidia games are anything to
go by, the cast of fighters is going to be huge.
Since Dissidia isnt a 2D game, but more
of an arena based fighter, its likely the threeon-three gameplay will get incredibly frenetic,
especially if the supporting magic comes back
from the previous games. Its interesting also
to consider how the balancing will work the

If the previous Dissidia games are

anything to go by, the cast of fighters
is going to be huge

PSP versions of the game were RPGs at their

core, revolving around stat building, levelling
up moves and equipping items. Unless Square
Enix introduces a system similar to Bandai
Namcos passports whereby you can
store your data from play-to-play, machineto-machine the RPG elements wont be
present which means each character will
have to specialise in a discipline: Cloud will
become an aggressive pressure builder, for
example, whereas Terra might focus instead
on support magic and zoning. Itll be a total
game-changer a genuine arcade innovation
in how the three-on-three bouts will operate.
There are no plans to bring the game
to console, for now, but we know how the
arcade genre works give it year or two and
therell inevitably be a port. Wed hope so, too,
because we cant imagine any cabinets
making their way to the UK in a hurry

Q Above: Were curious to see how the three-on-three mechanic plays out and how Square Enix has addressed the
RPG-lite systems that were the main point of the game in the PSP versions.

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PREVIEW | ROUND-UP | MULTIFORMAT

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SHOWCASE
MORE TITLES TO WATCH FOR ON THE GAMING HORIZON
STRENGTH OF THE SWORD
ULTIMATE

VICTOR VRAN

RENOIR

GOETIA

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PC/PS Vita
Ivent
In-house
Q3 2015

PC
Haemimont Games
In-house
Q2 2015

PC
SoulBound Games
In-house
Q4 2015

PC
Ynnis Interactive
In-house
Q3 2015

WHEN IT comes to successfully

funding a Kickstarter project, its all
about combining ambition with solid
mechanics and a killer art style. Ivent
managed this with Strength Of Sword
Ultimate, the enhanced version of its
PS3 fantasy brawler Strength Of The
Sword 3. More armour and weapons
are being introduced alongside new
game modes, such as co-operative and
competitive PvP action. It was great on
PS3, and itll be even better on PS Vita.

HAVE YOU been desperate to play a

crossover between Diablo, Torchlight
and Van Helsing? Well, thats a deal
that would likely only be struck by
the dark lord himself, so youll have
to make do with the next best thing,
Victor Vran. While a big departure
from Haemimonts traditional field of
expertise dictatorial simulation games
with the likes of Tropico it does look
fun if youve grown tired of grinding
through Blizzards action-RPG offering.

WHAT IS it about lingering melancholy

notes of a piano that scream gritty
noir adventure? Renoir is heading
to Kickstarter later in the year, but
SoulBound Games is already getting
its Unreal Engine 4-powered puzzleplatformer out there for the world
to see. While theres the promise of
original puzzles, these games live and
die by the writing and voice acting, so
heres to hoping it can bring in enough
cash to be sorted on both fronts.

THERES SOMETHING appealing

about the supernatural, especially
when its presented in such a unique
format. Goetia, set in the haunted
English Blackwood mansion during
WWII, is an adventure game that
charges players with the role of the
living-impaired. Thats right, you
play as a ghost looking to discover
what the Blackwoods did with its
fanatical experimentations. A demo
is available from the official site.

ARMY 21

BESIEGE

BATTLE FOR THE SUN

CHILDREN OF MORTA

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PC
Indiegama
In-house
2015

THERE ARE plenty of games out there

that let you take on the role of a soldier
in an army, but how about one that
truly lets you take the lead? Thats
the idea behind Army 21, a new indie
game that pits up to 60 players across
six teams in a procedurally generated
base attack and defend game of
military simulation. Its still early
days, but the early response is positive,
if not a little bewildering.

42

PC
Spiderling Games
In-house
2015

HAVE YOU ever wanted to conquer the

world? Well, you should probably start
by immediately seeking the proper
doctor-certified assistance. But while
youre waiting for the NHS to come pick
you up, give Besiege a try. Utilising a
smart physics engine and gorgeous art,
Besiege encourages you to construct
medieval siege engines and lay waste
to everything in sight or just mess
around with the robust physics engine.

PC, iOS, Android

Appsolutely Studios
In-house
2015

DO YOU recall Midways Area 51

series? Imagine that and youre on
the right path to wrapping your head
around Appsolutely Studios debut. It
can be tough for aspiring developers
in the FPS scene, but Battle For The
Sun has solid mechanics and AI
behind its somewhat underwhelming
graphical presentation. It recently
passed through Greenlight, so expect
it to be available soon enough.

WorldMags.net

PC, PS4, PS Vita

Dead Mage
In-house
Q3 2015

SOMETIMES ITS impossible not to

be drawn into new releases. Children
Of Morta has that instant appeal,
offering the most vibrant pixel art and
spellbinding presentation that weve
seen from an indie release in quite some
time. Its got more than looks behind
it though, as it blurs the lines between
narrative and rogue-like adventures
Sword & Sworcery meets Rogue
Legacy or Crawl, if you will.

WorldMags.net
CANCELLED Shadow Realms (PC)

CANCELLED Gone Home (Xbox One, PS4)

BioWare has only gone and cancelled Shadow Realms, its first all-new IP in just
about six years, and it sounds like the in-development Mass Effect 4 is largely to
blame. Let's hope Mass Effect 4 is worth it.

Sad times for console owners. Gone Home is no longer in development for
Xbox One and PS4, so keep those fingers crossed that Tacoma can make the
platform leap.

SUNSET

IMPACT WINTER

MEGATON RAINFALL

SHADOWRUN: HONG KONG

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PC
Tale Of Tales
In-house
Q1 2015

PC
Mojo Bones
In-house
2015

PC
Pentadimensional Games
In-house
2016

PC
Harebrained Schemes
In-house
2016

NARRATIVEDRIVEN first-person
videogames are so in vogue right now,
but that doesnt mean you shouldnt
take notice of the ones attempting to do
something different. Sunset, set in the
sun-soaked Seventies, drops you into
the shoes of a housekeeper. Will you
complete your mundane cleaning tasks
or rummage through the possessions
of your employer, a notorious dictator?
We both know the answer to that
now, where did we leave that mop?

COULD YOU survive for 30 days in a

desolate, frozen wasteland? Thats the
question Mojo Bones is asking as it gets
prepared to unleash Impact Winter, its
suave post-apocalyptic survival title
influenced by Dont Starve, The Thing
and Oregon Trail. Take lead of a small
band of survivors, hunt for supplies,
and try to keep it all together all while
trying to block out the amazingly tense
Mitch Murder soundtrack. Impact Winter
is crying out for a PS Vita release.

ARENT YOU tired of superhero

games with restrictions? We might
often control beings of immense
power, but we never get to unleash
it. Pentadimensional is looking to
change that as it begins development
on its first-person superhero game,
Megaton Rainfall. Its ambitious, as it
tries to transmit the sense of power
and freedom of Superman into your
hands, but whether it can be pulled off
remains to be seen.

THE RETURN of Shadowrun has

been one of the biggest Kickstarter
success stories, so its no surprise to
see Harebrained Schemes back with
another instalment. This is an all-new,
full-length standalone entry into the
cyberpunk tactical RPG this time
taking place in a magically awakened
Hong Kong in 2056. Thanks to its
ludicrous over-funding, theres even
going to be a host of side-quests, extra
missions and new weapons.

TERRARIA: OTHERWORLD

ELITE: DANGEROUS

GIGANTIC

ADVENTURES OF PIP

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PC, PS4, Xbox One

Engine Software
Re-Logic
Q3 2015

TERRARIA STRUGGLED to escape

the 2D Minecraft comparisons, but
developer Re-Logic is hoping to end
that with its not-a-sequel return to the
series, Terraria: Otherworld. Set in an
alternate dimension, it throws players
into a deadly struggle to restore order
to a world that has been overrun by
evil. It looks to have more structure
and RPG elements throughout than the
standard Terraria sandbox experience.

Xbox One
Frontier Developments
In-house
Q2 2015

ELITE: DANGEROUS on Xbox One

will be the complete and authentic
Elite: Dangerous experience. It will not
be dumbed down, revealed Frontier
founder David Braben, and that makes
us immensely excited. Elite: Dangerous
Frontiers incredible space-sim will
be making its console debut on Xbox
One, with the promise that gamers will
share the same overarching narrative
and galaxy state as PC players.

PC, Xbox One

Motiga
In-house
Q3 2015

MOTIGA IS looking to embrace the

MOBA push on consoles with Gigantic,
its five-on-five, third-person battle
arena game. As with all MOBAs, youll
be selecting a unique hero with an
array of powers and play styles, battling
towards the goal of toppling your
enemys guardian. Beautiful Legend
Of Zelda: Wind Waker-style cel-shaded
art and Windows 10 to Xbox One crossplay sets it apart from the pack.

WorldMags.net

PC, Xbox One, PS4, Wii U

Tic Toc Games
In-house
Q3 2015

ARE YOU feeling a little burnt out

on the deluge of retro-grade 2D
platformers released in recent years?
Well, stop being cynical and give
one more a look. Adventures Of Pip
tasks players with moving through
a dangerous world a hero that is
comprised of one pixel. As Pip evolves
into 8-bit and 16-bit versions, youll
be able to tackle some of the more
difficult monsters and puzzles.

43

WorldMags.net

C A N

D R A K E

S A V E
N E X T  G E N ?
AFTER SHOWING THE WORLD IT CAN SPIN MATURE, EMOTIONAL
STORYTELLING WITH THE LAST OF US, NAUGHTY DOG IS READY
TO RETURN TO THE STORY OF NATHAN DRAKE, AND MIX THAT
BOMBASTIC HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE MOVIE WITH THE NUANCE
AND CRAFT THE STUDIO HAS BECOME KNOWN FOR

44

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
D

o you think theres been a

game this generation that has
been a standard bearer for
what we can expect from this
new generation? we ask Josh Scherr
and Ricky Cambier writer and lead
designer of Uncharted 4, respectively.
Theres a pause. Eventually, Josh
says The Last Of Us Remastered?
Both Naughty Dog developers laugh
of course Scherr didnt mean it,
not really but the writers still got a
point: The Last Of Us is as much of a
current-gen game right now as youre
going to get. Graphically, it hits upon
all the expectations PS4 players have;
functionally, it experiments with new
ideas (the buddy mechanic with Ellie,
to illustrate); and narratively, it pushes
the boundaries of what weve seen
interactive fiction achieve. Scherrs
joke might not be so far from the truth.
The life cycles of these consoles
is incredible, to be fair, and its hard
to say where theyre going to go and
what trends are going to take off, he
continues, and thats for both fans
and the industry. Just look at the first
Uncharted compared to The Last Of Us
thats amazing, thats crazy.

O The Uncharted series has always been known for its focus on movie-like insistence on light peril.

Cambiers mention of The Order:

1886 intrigued us we conducted
this interview just after the game
launched, and the blogosphere
was still in the midst of its violent
response to Sony Santa Monicas
experimental short form game. We
asked Cambier if Naughty Dog saw the
gaming audience as a group that was
becoming harder to please, and harder
to target with specific games.

drags and gets boring. We dont want

to waste peoples time by artificially
inflating things. I think, really, what
people want is a good, quality
experience with good pacing and great
production values.
Surely that was the vision Sony
Santa Monica set out with taking
gamings obsession with cinema to its
logical conclusion? The Order was a
truly cinematic game, in the original

WHATS EXCITING IS THAT WERE STILL EARLY DAYS WITH THE

NEW SYSTEMS ITS ALL UP FROM HERE, AND THATS EXCITING
Were still early days with the
new systems, continues Cambier,
Uncharted 4s lead designer, and
obviously the first round of things that
came out, a lot of that was cross-gen
ports that just up-resolutioned their
assets for the PS4.
There were a few new titles like
Killzone: Shadow Fall, that were
pretty damn impressive looking for
a launch title. The Order: 1886 is one
of the best looking games Ive seen
on any system ever, too. But whats
exciting is that were still early days
[with the PS4]; if you look at the
first Uncharted and how that looked
versus how The Last Of Us looked
I have difficulty fathoming that well
have that kind of graphical leap in the
next several years. The reality is, we
probably will as we learn the systems
better, so its all up from here, and
thats exciting.

O Ricky Cambier, lead

O Josh Scherr,
designer on Uncharted 4. Uncharted 4 lead writer.

Were in this interesting space in

the market where youve got these
$60 games competing for space with
these 99c or even free games, and
then theres the smaller, independent
games, too, Cambier explains. So the
important thing for us is that we make
a quality entertainment experience
throughout wed rather make a ten
to twelve hour game thats positively
solid throughout than make a 40-hour
game thats padded out with filler that

WorldMags.net

sense of the word: it relied on miseen-scne, constant action, a three-act

structure. It even applied a thin layer of
film grain over its lens. It moved away
from this televisual idea of episodes
levels, if you will and did its own
thing. Yet, the gaming community
rounded on The Order.
Uncharted is cut from the same
cloth. A cinematic adventure, not one
of the three games lasts longer than 12
hours, and they all feature Hollywoodinspired action sequences, traditional
cinematographic framing techniques
and even the standard overarching
story arcs youll find in any successful
filmic trilogy. So how did Naughty Dog
react to The Order: 1886 did it panic
the studio, did it make the developers
question the games theyre making? Of
course it didnt.
On some level we pay attention
to the industry, I guess, but when
kk

45

WorldMags.net

O The jungle scenes are becoming a staple part of the Uncharted series its a good job Naughty Dog keeps finding ways to make the levels deeper, more realistic and more immersive.

kk were making our story we never

think Well, how long should this be?
explains Scherr. We focus more on the
character arc, where we need them to
get to, what story beats we need to hit,
what we need to hit them with, what
small arc do our characters have to
have right now, and what mechanics
can we use to sustain these beats and
make sure it all happens together.

ts a process thats natural to any

storyteller in any medium let
your characters do all the legwork,
dont cram them into boxes, dont
let the eight- or five- or three-point
story arc dominate the story thats
unfolding in front of you. Games are

us it all comes down to pacing, and

making sure every macro beat and
micro beat works exactly when its
supposed to, continues Scherr. Were
not trying to make anything last a
certain time we ask Is it working?,
Are we getting everything we can out
of it?, Can we expand it?, Can we
explore this more or better later
on in the game? For the narrative
side, I cant say it enough; its always
about how these narrative beats scale.
You have to make sure theyre on
point because thats how you get your
players to keep playing your game to
make them care.
It seems like a pattern of
development the studio got into back

O Combat in Uncharted 4 promises to be

more in line with the rest of the game's
design ethic focused on cinema.

YOU TAKE CONTROL AWAY FROM THE PLAYER AS LITTLE

AS POSSIBLE SO THEY FEEL AS ENGAGED AS THEY CAN
more complicated; you need to take
into account how your players are
going to explore, how theyre going
pace themselves. Traditional narrative
boundaries go out of the window.
Naughty Dog makes its own rules, and
thats why everyone else looks up to it.
No-one tells stories like Naughty Dog,
because no-one tries to the studio is
practically writing the rule book when it
comes to interactive fiction.
So weve got the major story arcs,
and all the other arcs in between for

46

when it was under the direction of

Amy Hennig and Richard Lemarchand
with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The
writer and design lead, respectively,
departed during The Last Of Us
production, but the development ethics
established during their tenure seem
deeply ingrained into Naughty Dogs
DNA, kept alive by creative director Neil
Druckmann and game director Bruce
Straley through Uncharted 3 and TLOU.
Every Uncharted game continues
to push for this sense of adventure and

O The setpieces Naughty Dog is known for

will be back in Uncharted 4, but will keep
you on the stick for more gameplay.

WorldMags.net

wonder its about exploring places,

right? Literally going off the map, going
uncharted, but keeping you on the stick,
Cambier tells us when we ask about
what the driving philosophy is behind
the game, and if Naughty Dogs work on
The Last Of Us altered their goals for the
project. We know [staying in control]
creates a sense of adventure in the
player you think of some of the biggest
moments in the franchises history,
like the train scene in Uncharted 2, the
airplane sequence [in Uncharted 3]. The
player gets to be hands-on with those
all the way through; thats something
thats fairly unique. So now, after three
games, weve got a taste for that,
especially after exploring the more
intimate side of adventure as a studio
with The Last Of Us. We want to get
those big moments and make them
a little bit more emotional, connected.
More personable.
Its a trend were seeing more and
more of now, in games that are driven
to committing the player to their worlds
over anything else Half-Life 2 planted
the seeds of player-reliant agency in the
minds of consumers and developers
alike, and now were seeing gamemakers really take advantage of how
they can give the end-user a narrative
experience that feels shaped by them,
the whole way through and not just
in the setpieces, and not just with QTEs
and button prompts, either. Remember
how cathartic it was to just play football

WorldMags.net
WHY YOU SHOULD
CARE ABOUT
UNCHARTED

30,000

O Number of energy drinks consumed

during Uncharted 2s development

$20 million
$20 million
$25 million
55
5
O Budget for Uncharteds development

O Budget for Uncharted 2s development

O Budget for Uncharted 3s development

O Amount of perfect review

scores the series has

received (via: Metacritic)

O The number of attempts

ES TOTAL 17
L
A
S
.41
L
BA

Hollywood has made at

turning the series into a lm

ION
L
L
MI

GLO

with some kids in a Tibetan village

after all the close calls and near-death
escapes in Uncharted 2 ? Expect to see
more of that kind of emergent contrast.
Ideally, you take control away from
the player as little as possible so they
feel as engaged as they can with whats
going on, reveals Scherr. That makes
us look really closely at our story beats
and think about how we can make
as much of each individual section
playable, rather than just have these
scenes be a passive experience. Thats
something weve gotten progressively
better with as weve gone on the first
Uncharted had some lovely moments,
but you werent really in control of
them, so for Uncharted 2 making them
available was a big goal.
Likewise, we took that even
further with The Last Of Us; the whole
sequence at the end with the hospital
was intended to be a cutscene, but
we realised it would be much more
powerful if it was on the stick, so we
made that change near the end of
production, and it improved the scene
so much more. Were always looking to
do stuff like that that merges story with
actual gameplay.
The standard discourse tends to
revolve around the new generation
of hardware increasing visual fidelity,
leading to games that pick away at
the borders of the uncanny valley,
trying to push into the realms of
photorealism. But Naughty Dog isnt
interested in that, no itd rather
innovate in areas closer to its heart:
storytelling. Cutting edge graphics
will only get usurped by some other
shinier, newer title in a couple of
years anyway, right? So why aim
for photorealism when you could
instead wrap your games visuals
around your story instead?
Scherr explains how graphics and
narrative can be married, beyond the kk

UNCHARTED: DRAKES FORTUNE

O Exploring the Island of Saint-Marie

is going to take its toll on Nate both
physically and emotionally.

4.72 MILLION
UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES 6.37 MILLION
UNCHARTED 3: DRAKES DECEPTION 6.32 MILLION

The Uncharted series is held in lo y regard by gaming

communities, but why? Weve got some handy numbers
to help you understand the facts behind the hype

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47

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THE

LE

SAINTEMARIE

AND WHAT DRAKES DOING THERE

The le Sainte-Marie is situated o the coast of Madagascar and its where the Uncharted 4 demo that Naughty Dog is parading around the internet
is set. Drake and his mysterious new brother, Sam, are on the island because of famed pirates Henry Avery and Olivier Levasseur, who sort of ran
the pirate colony of Libertalia. There are also three other islands just o from le Sainte-Marie that might hold clues as to Drakes presence there

48

RUNION

MAH

MAURITIUS

A French island with a population of over

800,000. Its also the site of the most valuable
heist in pirate history apparently Olivier
Levasseur raided the Portuguese Our Lady
Of The Cape ship, hid the treasure on Runion
and threw a cipher into the crowd when he was
executed, supposedly leading to the location of
his buried haul

A selection of carvings discovered on the island

in 1923 show a dog, snake, turtle, horse, y, a
keyhole, two conjoined hearts, a young woman
and a ballot box. Doesnt that sound like the
perfect set-up for a puzzle? These carvings
were supposedly made by pirates, too which
makes sense, considering the games apparent
obsession with the salty sea-dogs

Bernadin Nageon de LEstang (also known by the less

wordy moniker Le Butin) tricked a dying pirate captain
into divulging the locations of his treasures that were
spread across Mauritius. Le Butin apparently found a
whole horde of these treasures, but reportedly le four
behind when he died, leaving instructions to his nephew
who never actually carried out the work. Sounds mighty
tempting, right, Drake?

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WorldMags.net

kk superficial: In the Uncharted games,

weve always strived for something
thats more along the lines of a stylised
realism, he reveals. Trying to keep
in line with reality just isnt all that
interesting to us, so what we use
that stylistic approach for is, really,
storytelling rather than trying to
keep everything consistent to the real
worlds rules. What is the mood of the
story at this point in time?, What is the
mood we want the player to experience
here? Thats what we ask ourselves,
thats how we decide [how to create
the levels]. The nice thing about being
on PS4, too, is that we can push that
[stylisation] further than we could on the
older system.
Cambier more versed in the design
side of the game chimes in. Were
still trying to figure out exactly what
we can do with [the PS4] he admits.
From a design perspective, its given
us the opportunity to push the scale of
the environment so youve got choices

O Smarter AI means that Nate is going to come up against enemies that are far more adept at using their environments to their advantage.

IN THE LAST OF US, CHARACTERS HAD ABOUT 90 TO 100 BONES IN THEIR

FACES NOW, THE FACES HAVE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 300 AND 500
in the combat setups that are incredibly
vast. So we can put that in when we
want to. Like Josh points out, on the
design side, as well, we can really get
the player into a mood: so yeah, theres
still times well push the player into a
very intimate combat space if we want
to layer on extra pressure for an escape
sequence or something it just gives us
a wider variety of trees, density, variety,
foliage, background environments and
how vivid and detailed they are it gives
us all that to play with.

but thats because Naughty

proud of this cutting edge work
en doing after all, whats the
n creating a character-driven
without a character you can
hise with?
he new tech] lets us emote more,
l the bones we can put onto
cters faces] you pan round the
a to look at Nates face when hes
ng and you see him grimacing
this kind of stuff were pushing
tail on a macro and a micro level
hink people are really going to
nd to, Cabier explains.
e still do all the same sort of
we did with our previous games.
w, we can just have more of it,
r continues. For example, on
games, some of the animations
have been sampled at 10 or 15
s per second to save memory.
ould have just been interpolated
code [to run at 30 in-game].

B
Photography: iki www.photosbyiki.com

ut the PS4 doesnt just open

doors to the level designers;
cinematic directors and
character artists are also
creatively empowered. Its been the
centre of Naughty Dogs campaign
for the game so far weve seen
high-resolution renders of Nates face
bordering YouTube videos, on magazine
covers, being passed around on social

O Bruce Straley,
game director

O Christian Gyrling,
lead programmer

O Kurt Margenau,
lead game designer

O Neil Druckmann,
creative director

O Christophe Balestra,
Naughty Dog co-president

O Evan Wells,
Naughty Dog co-president

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While that looked fine, we can now

afford to record it at 30 frames per
second so that the animation looks that
much smoother.
And, as Ricky was pointing out
before, weve completely revamped our
facial animation systems the best way
to explain is to say, well the previous
Uncharted games, and in The Last Of
Us, the characters all had about 90 to
100 bones in their faces which we used
to moved the meshes around think
about that, about how detailed Joel
and Ellies pained facial expressions
were, how well the game captured the
respective actors Troy Baker and
Ashley Johnson seminal roles. All that
was achieved on the old tech.
Now, the faces have anywhere
between 300 and 500 bones, Scherr
continues. This lets us get much, much
more detail and fidelity in there, so you
can really empathise with what [the
characters] are saying, and it allows
kk

O Nolan North,
actor: Nathan Drake

O Troy Baker,
actor: Sam Drake

49

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O Naughty Dog has always been known for its ability to push the hardware its working on to its limit Uncharted 4 is no different.

kk us to hit certain poses that we couldnt

quite hit before it all allows us to
tell our stories better, to animate our
characters better we hope its going to
be something you all notice, rather than
just be a technical marvel; something
that really ties into the characters and
emotion in the game.
Another way the developer plays with
the presentation of story and the games

something, you get that sense of scale,

and you need to see that.
In The Last Of Us, though, youre
tight, the camera is brought way in on
Joel. Youre up close, theres the sense
that theres danger all around you. A
whole setpiece can just take place
around fighting in an old [supermarket].
Its intimate. Dangerous. Every bullet
counts. In Uncharted, youve got the

W
O Its going to be tough for Naughty Dog to
top The Last Of Us, but in going back to an
old IP, the studio seems confident enough.

I THINK THIRDPERSON IS A STRONGER MEDIUM FOR

GETTING YOU TO RELATE TO THE CHARACTER
inherent action is with camera the way
Nate is framed by the semi-dynamic
camera is very telling of the type of story
Naughty Dog wants to tell. Especially
since The Last Of Us defined the studio
in a certain light in some ways,
Uncharted 4s more gung-ho actionoriented approach to setpieces will be
the developers way of avoiding clich, of
not becoming a victim of its own tropes.
The difference between The Last
Of Us camera versus the Uncharted
camera is basically well, in the
Uncharted camera youre further
back, you can see all of Nate, Cambier
outlines. The Uncharted games are all
about Drakes mobility, and hes put in
dangerous situations whether hes
hanging from something or falling from

50

island we showed you in the demo

and its sense of scale, so youve got
this island and its pillars and its rope
swings and you need to see some of
that, but you still get the sense that
theres danger.
We go with the wider camera for
basic gameplay because the [series]
is about exploration and wide-open
spaces, Scherr continues. You
want to feel the grandeur of these
environments and have them pull
you in, versus The Last Of Us, which
is about danger lurking around every
corner. By restricting your view a little
bit, we forced the player to constantly
look over their shoulder, scouting for
threats. The camera choices alone add
to the tone of any game.

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e ask the developers

why they choose the
third-person approach
to their games; weve
read (and written) enough about why
the first-person perspective is typically
associated more with making a player
feel agency for their character seeing
the world through their eyes, living out
their actions and so on. So in a story
thats driven by its protagonists arc,
why does Naughty Dog always want to
go third-person?
For me personally, muses Cambier,
if I cant see the character well,
I want to know what theyre going
through, you know? Ive always felt
more connected to the protagonist in
third-person games because of that. If
Im playing a first-person game, I get to
a cutscene and the camera comes out

WorldMags.net
BROTHERS
IN ARMS
Naughty Dog has doubled down on its eorts to create believable
supporting AI since a few players complained about Ellies
wandering in The Last Of Us, as Ricky Cambier discusses
We knew [Ellies behavior] was a little bit of a trade-o in TLOU,
and its something weve wanted to address for a while. When
we wrap up a game, there are things we look at and know we
want to do better and make better, but youve got to distribute
your production time. Especially in a game like [TLOU ], it would
have been more frustrating if Ellie was just altering everyone.
You know, everyones always on about graphical delity, but
were doing the same amount of work on the same side with AI,
both in terms of the enemies you encounter and the capabilities
of the partners that are with you. This game is going to be a
big story about Nate and his brother, so its really important to
show how they react to each other, how they move around, how
they interact. The capabilities of the PS4 help us even further in
that regard, in terms of how much time we can spend on the AIs
decision-making, whether thats talking about the ally with you
or the enemies that youre ghting, who are forcing you to take
advantage of the full toolset that is Nathan Drake.
and I see my self and I think Oh yeah!
Thats what I look like! [laughs] For me,
that comes with a bit of a disconnect. I
think third-person is a stronger medium
for getting you to relate to the character
as a protagonist.
And isnt that what Uncharted is
all about? Remember back to the
Uncharted 2 reveal, how Nate suddenly
became the face of the PS3. We saw
a demo of him, up on that E3 stage,
and where before people had seen
Uncharted as a smaller addition to
the PS3 exclusives line-up, with that
showcase, with Drake leaping around,
his handsome adventurers face
scorched by the sun, cut with shrapnel,
we saw Drake transform into this new
action hero, the saviour of the PS3.
Sic Parvis Magna reads the
inscription in Drakes ring or greatness
from small beginnings. Looking back
to the reveal of that motto in Uncharted:
Drakes Fortune, it really feels like
Naughty Dog knew what it was doing
way back in 2007. It took the studio two
games to really carve out a place on the
PS3, but from what we learned from
Cambier and Scherr it looks like the
studio has figured out how to do it
in just one game this time around.

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WHY
PEWDIEPIE
IS MORE
POWERFUL
THAN
MIYAMOTO

COULD
STREAMING
HURT THE
INDUSTRY?

HOW
GAMES ARE
ADAPTING
TO YOUTUBE

HOW

Images: Gage Skidmore

Source: YouTube.com/markiplier (2 years of Markiplier!!)

IS CHANGING
GAMING FOREVER
WHAT THE
FUTURE
HOLDS
FOR VIDEO
STREAMING

52

REVEALING
THE NEXT
YOUTUBE
TREND
SETTERS

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WHO ARE
THESE NEW
GAMING
SUPERSTARS?

After all the fights over copyright infringement fell away,

one of the greatest forces in gaming today emerged, and
YouTube became dominated by gamers more popular than
the biggest music acts. What does it mean for the future of
gaming and how is the industry adapting?

hos more famous?

PewDiePie or Cliff
Bleszinski? Who is more
likely to be recognised
walking down the street by a
group of 14-year olds, Stampy or Hideo Kojima?
Only a couple of years ago such questions
would have been completely ridiculous and
even now they carry a faint aura of absurdity to
them. The answer feels like it should obviously
be the developer, but a shift has taken place in
the way we consume our games and theres a
generation of players who know their gaming
commentators better than the creators.
YouTube is changing gaming forever.
But dont take our word for it. When we
spoke to Cliff Bleszinski about this very topic,
he was the one who suggested younger gamers
dont know who he is any more. Weve been
visible, but never underestimate the amount
of ADD the world has, he warns us. There are
plenty of people out there who know who I am,
who Arjan [Brussee, Cliffs co-founder of Boss
Key Productions] is and some of the various
employees here, but does your 14-year old
whos watching PewDiePie on YouTube give a
shit? No. In many ways we have an established
legacy, but were very much starting over.
Is it about culturally having a short, easily
distracted attention span, though, or simply

I look for something I like to call

reaction value and that is Does
it seem to have enough things
throughout the game to make me
scared or laugh?

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the shifting sands of a fast-moving industry

thats quick to embrace new technology but
sometimes a little slow to fully understand
it? There is a new force and voice for gamers
building and its one that only a few developers
and publishers have successfully engaged
with. But success in the YouTube arena can
mean success beyond. Can there be any doubt
for instance that Minecrafts gigantic explosion
into the mainstream was aided and abetted by
streamers and Lets Players around the world?
Its nice to see that a lot of game publishers
realise the potential of YouTube gamers in
relation to marketing their games, YouTuber
LaurenzSide tells us. Usually they will send
you an email explaining a new game that
theyve released and give you an early access
code to get it for free with the hope that you
will play it on your channel to showcase it. Its
really a win-win for both sides, they should do
it more often!
Others, though, are perhaps a little more
cautious. We dont always do it, as we dont
want to flood the channel with advertisements,
but sometimes we do! JonTronShow presenter
Jon Jafari explains. Its actually rare that I hear
back from the actual developer of an old game,
but sometimes it happens.
And it is a growing concern that, while
in many ways YouTube content creators are
becoming the new front line for gamers to get
information and opinion on games, theres a
blurred line between genuine endorsement
and advertising. The parameters of what is
considered ethical in games journalism arent
necessarily as tidy for YouTube.
Its a tough area to get into because on one
hand, you want YouTube videos and creators to
retain that homemade video feel, which you
lose once you start working with companies, kk

53

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kk LaurenzSide admits. On the other hand, you
want to be truthful to your viewers to say
whether or not your opinion on a game is your
own and not a paid advertisement. I try to be
100 per cent transparent in saying, I got this
free from a company yes, but this is my honest
opinion on it. I personally have never accepted
being paid to say what they want to hear about
their game or company and I intend to keep it
that way.
Really up until fairly recently, the greatest
concern with regards to relationships with
game makers has been that they would
pressure videos to be taken down. Yes, that
has been and I think always will be a concern,
Jafari tells us. Its why I think this style of
video is extremely limited without huge legal
teams backing you up and talking directly to
the companies that made the games, and its
understandable. But I started doing it because
I wanted to try something new, and its been
worth it every step of the way!
Jafaris videos have tended to be reviews,
while LaurenzSide leans more towards Lets
Play style experiences. Both are likely to be
encountering far fewer copyright infringement
notices from publishers now as they embrace
video sharing. There are risks involved, but for
the most part getting your title seen by gamers
on YouTube can only prove to be beneficial.
Ubisoft is perhaps a good example in the last
year of a company that has felt the good and
bad of YouTube sharing. On the one hand, word

O Most YouTube successes are driven by strong, unique personalities or team dynamics.

got out pretty fast about issues with Assassins

Creed Unity and Watch Dogs, in large part
thanks to gamers posting their glitches and
bugs on YouTube. Conversely, though, Far Cry 4
had its fair share of odd in-game behaviour, but
sharing these moments only seemed to raise
the game in peoples estimations. It began to
reveal those hidden, emergent moments that
made the game worth playing.
The games that are going to appeal most to
YouTubers are the ones that they can describe
or talk about to their users, Bleszinski tells us.
Its going to create these YouTube moments
where people make it look easy. If you go to
the ballet or to an MMA event or a sports event
like the NFL and Drew Bries tosses that ball

while being threatened by 280lb guys He

makes it look easy. So, the more skill-based
and describable your game can be the more
likely you are to have these commentators
commenting on it.
Coffee Stain Studios Armin Ibrisagic,
creator of Goat Simulator, has a similar view. I
think a good place to start would be for game
designers to not just design games that are
fun, but to design games that are fun to watch
as well, he tells us. Now before people start
sending me anthrax in my mail and pipebombing my apartment Im not saying that
having a game thats fun to play versus being
fun to watch is mutually exclusive. I think its
very possible to do both, as long as you keep

Its odd to think of bugs as an asset and flaws

as something that can foster a fanbase

54

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FIFA 2.9 billion

BATTLEFIELD 3.5 billion

ORLD OF WARCRAFT 3.6 billion

EAGUE OF LEGENDS 3.7 billion

SUPER MARIO 4 billion

ALO 4.8 billion

ANGRY BIRDS 6 billion views

The franchises that dominate YouTube

LL OF DUTY 10.2 billion views

RAND THEFT AUTO 11.9 billion views

MINECRAFT 30.8 billion views

2014s most viewed games

WorldMags.net
YouTube Winners

Image: Gage Skidmore

it in the back of your head from the start.

Minecraft is an amazing example as its by far
the most popular game on YouTube, probably
because theres always something new to see
due to the randomly-generated world.
We got a similar analysis from Jafari. The
topic of discussion in the video, first off, has to
be relatable to a wide audience, he explains.
Take my recent episode on Barbie games for
an example: everyone knows who Barbie is
and therefore will have a point of reference
when viewing her games. The whole point
of the show is to point out the oddities and
absurdities that lie in these old games. I am not
usually only trying to show off a bad game, I am
trying to relate the crazy videogame logic back
to the real world, its funnier that way. Another
thing is if its possible to make a story arc out of
the whole thing. We like to start strong and end
strong, we dont want the episode to be trailing
off, you know. And thirdly, the most important
thing, youve got to look for that little bit of
indefinable magic. Cant put a price on that!
>> THERE ARE SOME other practical
elements worth considering, too. The age of
the game plays a big part in whether it will be
relevant in YouTube searches or subscribers
newsfeeds, says LaurenzSide. The length of
the game is important too as viewers tend to
lose interest over a long gameplay series, so
the shorter the better. I also look for something
I like to call reaction value and that is, does
it seem to have enough things throughout
the game to make me scared or laugh?
Thats probably the most important because
sometimes even the most seasoned gaming
commentator can have trouble improvising
jokes over a boring game.
For Ibrisagic it is also about embracing the
faults in your game and letting them become
an asset. Oh, absolutely, bugs are amazing,
he enthuses. Removing bugs that negatively
affect the gameplay, such as crash bugs, is
something that we prioritise very highly. But
in todays game industry where there are
so many triple-A games that are completely
scripted from start to end, I think a lot of people
welcome the surprise and unpredictability of
bugs. If you get hit by a car in Goat Simulator,
youll usually just ragdoll around like an idiot
and then get back on your legs again, but once
in a while the physics bug out and it sends you
flying across the map. Maybe youll land facefirst into a building and get stuck. Maybe youll
land on a bunch of explosive canisters.
Once, a player emailed me a screenshot of
his goat hanging in the air with its head stuck in
the sky after he had collected all the explosives
in the game in a single place and head-butted
them. It was awesome and hilarious, and I
think the unpredictability of bugs is something
truly magic that makes every players
experience different from someone elses. kk

The games that were

changed forever by
YouTube coverage

GOAT SIMULATOR
More or less born with YouTube in mind, Goat
Simulator hit all the right notes. It built on
the meme of simulation games seemingly
becoming more and more niche, it embraced
its ridiculous physics and it begged to be played
with and shared. Perfect fodder for YouTube.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDYS

This horror experience is built around classic
jump scares and creepy creatures. And that
means its perfect for reaction videos so that
commentators can play, make weird faces, and
delight their adoring subscribers. Five Nights At
Freddys is all over YouTube.

DAYZ

O Regularity is the key to success for

many channels as multiple videos a
week give viewers a reason to return.

The simple zombie apocalypse premise drew

in a lot of attention and while some may have
fallen away as it built to a nal product players
really wanted, YouTubers kept plugging away,
exploring every weird occurrence they could
nd, later getting deep into the game proper.

O For all the bad reviews, how many

gamers bought Assassins Creed Unity
just because of how weird and funny
they thought it looked on YouTube?

SKATE 3

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Several years aer its initial release, PewDiePie

featured Skate 3 in a series of videos and it got a
second wind. Others started streaming and then
Game had to ask EA to print more copies of this
four-year old game to meet demand. A pretty
amazing turnaround for an unsung classic.

55

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PEWDIEPIE

IGN ENTERTAINMENT

ROOSTER TEETH

STAMPYLONGHEAD

Subs: 34,963,509
Views: 8,038,700,762
The new face of gaming, the
voice of a new generation and
easily the most subscribed and
watched YouTuber, PewDiePie is a
real phenomenon. His humour and
approachable style has given him
massive appeal and his choice of
games is having a massive impact
on game sales.

Subs: 5,650,287
Views: 3,993,166,517
This gaming media enterprise
has been at the forefront of
internet games coverage for a
couple of decades now, so its no
surprise to see its video views
so high, but even this channel is
dwarfed in subscriptions by some
of the amateurs its competing
against in this growing market.

Subs: 8,111,806
Views: 3,662,171,911
Famously the team behind Red
Vs Blue, the animated show
that used Halo: Combat Evolved
for its actors, Rooster Teeth has
evolved into a massive gaming
channel with chat shows, podcasts
and the offshoot of Achievement
Hunter Lets Play videos that set a
standard for the form.

Subs: 5,238,161
Views: 3,019,779,629
Stampys commitment to
daily videos has to go a long
way to explaining his success
as he tapped into the Minecraft
fanbase and made himself a great
spokesperson for the community.
His friendly approach makes him
the perfect introduction to Mojangs
game for young fans.

10

BLUEXEPHOS
Subs: 7,258,224
Views: 2,993,817,120
This is the main channel for the
team better known as Yogscast,
which has also found massive
success from its series of Minecraft
Lets Plays and has continued to
branch out to new games as its
base has grown larger. It even
attempted to get its own game off
the ground.

Who are the forces shaping gaming today?

SKYDOESMINECRAFT
Subs: 10,871,631
Views: 2,481,020,366
Another supremely popular
Minecraft player with a massive
following, SkyDoesMinecraft, aka
Adam Dahlberg, and friends explore
the world of voxel-based mining
with big personalities and great
humour. Testing out all the mods
they can means theres always
something new happening.

THEDIAMONDMINECART

VANOSS GAMING

POPULAR MMOS

TOBYGAMES

Subs: 5,295,273
Views: 2,314,122,816
As another family-friendly
Minecraft channel with
daily videos, Daniel Middletons
TheDiamondMinecart continues
to get new viewers and taps into
that insatiable thirst for Minecraft
content that YouTube loves. Its
another indicator of how vital these
channels are to a new generation.

Subs: 11,337,417
Views: 2,235,499,020
Approaching his gaming
commentary from more of
a comedy angle than pure Lets
Play experience, Vanoss, aka Evan
Fong, has developed enough of
a following to branch out into
a number of different games.
Basically anything he can riff on is
worthy of a spot on his channel.

Subs: 3,533,006
Views: 1,913,355,758
Dont let the name fool you, this
is another channel dedicated to
the wonderful world of Minecraft
with a series of different shows
showing off various aspects of the
game. The regular Mob Battle show,
for example, pits in-game monsters
against one another. New games
and videos are added regularly.

Subs: 6,944,556
Views: 1,888,632,238
More easily identified as a
YouTube entertainer than
some in the gaming world, Toby
Turner is a growing force in this
list and has the kind of following
that means he can branch out
from Minecraft into whatever the
hot new releases may be such as
Evolve, Far Cry 4 and many others.

56

MOST VIEWED
GAMING
CHANNELS

WorldMags.net

10

WorldMags.net
>> ITS ODD TO think of bugs as an
asset and flaws as something that can foster
a fanbase. It runs counter to the polished
entertainment industry image that gaming has
been building for itself. And yet, to us, it touches
upon a classic gaming experience: playing
with friends. While the modern online gaming
experience is one of instant and constant
connection and feedback, we are also very
disconnected from real human interaction.
Were not even just talking about playing
multiplayer games, as this connected gaming
experience applies just as much as when we
would play a single-player game like Doom or
Super Metroid with friends, terrified of what was
hiding behind the next door. Or the exhilaration
of battling a final boss shared with someone in
the room with you. Its not as common these
days, but on YouTube you can watch it happen.
We get to see those reactions to players in P.T. or
see someone defeat the Ender Dragon and that
simple exchange is what builds camaraderie. Its
as oddly removed and voyeuristic at times, but
its close as weve come in this new online age.
People seem to love the horror genre
online! LaurenzSide reveals to us. Actually, my
top four videos at the moments are all horror
related videos. I think viewers like virtually

I think it brings them back to the old days of

kids watching other kids play games in arcades
having someone to play a scary game with as
it doesnt make it seem as scary and they can
actually enjoy it. However, she also drew a
parallel to the arcade scene. I think it brings
them back to the old days of kids watching other
kids play games in arcades. Youd stop and
watch someone whos either really good at a
game or being really funny playing it. Same thing
goes for YouTube, only on a much larger scale.
Its like hanging out with a friend at an arcade
or playing videogames with them in your living
room. In a sense, viewers have someone to
react with, laugh with, and be scared with.

O While Minecraft is the single biggest game on YouTube,

Mojang hasnt spent a single penny on video marketing.

And yet this still doesnt explain how

Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie is the most
followed and watched streamer on the site
(above Rihanna, One Direction, Katy Perry
and the official YouTube channel). A relatively
unassuming, charming Swedish gamer has
built an army of bros that makes him more
influential in the modern gaming landscape
than Shigeru Miyamoto.
Ah yes, we have come to the Pewds, says
LaurenzSide as we reach the unavoidable
subject of all gaming on YouTube discussions.
Im honestly baffled by PewDiePies success
and probably always will be. Not in the sense
that I dont think he deserves it, but for the
fact that I didnt think watching someone
play videogames would be that popular. He
definitely hit the YouTube lottery if there ever
was such a thing. I believe hes extremely
influential now, especially to other gaming
YouTubers like myself as well as prospective
videogame purchasers In short, hes
currently the face of YouTube gaming, whether
other users like it or not.
As an example, we refer you to the summer
of 2014 when PewDiePie featured Skate 3 in
some of his videos earlier that year. Not only
did it push the 2010 release into the UK top
40 for most of the year, it also lead to other

YouTubers checking the game out, hundreds

more videos appearing, Skate 3 leaping into
the top 20 during a dry summer of games, an
extra 32.9 per cent more units being sold in the
first half of 2014 compared to 2013 and retailer
Game requesting new copies of the game be
produced since it had been out of print.
But while we could analyse the traits
that have launched Felix Kjellberg into
megastardom and speculate as to the formula
he devised to create his success, attempting
to repeat it would be fruitless. People ask me
about PewDiePie all the time, Coffee Stain
Studios Ibrisagic tells us. I think he might be
one of the most influential people in gaming
today. I think hes a cool guy. But I also think
its crazy to ask people why PewDiePie is
so successful. If anyone knew, theyd do it
themselves too, right?
And so people like JonTron have looked
to find their own formula; a mixture of
honesty, openness and no small amount
of randomness. Its a really strange story,
honestly, says Jafari as he tells us about the
time he started to see his numbers rise to his
current 1.6 million subscribers. I was leaving
California to move to Texas to start the site
now known as NormalBoots.com with my
wonderful longtime friend Austin Hargrave
(known online as PeanutButterGamer), and I
decided on a spur of the moment that I hadnt
used enough of the California scenery in my
videos up until that point. About a day or two
before I left I decided to add me singing Katy
Perrys Firework on the nearby rocky sea
kk

O PewDiePie is far and

away the most popular
YouTuber around and his
rise is inspiring others.

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Source: YouTube.com/pewdiepie (Funny Montage #4)

kk

57

WorldMags.net
kk cliffs to the end of my DinoCity review for
pretty much no reason. I guess this struck a
chord with someone somewhere, because
the video got upvoted to the top of the front
page of Reddit back in 2011 with a title that was
something like, THIS is how you do a game
review. The rest is history. I think Im still in
shock from that one fateful moment.
Whatever a YouTubers route to individual
success, the success of the concept means
that were seeing game developers seemingly
making their games with social media in mind.
Goat Simulator, for example, must owe much
of its success to how its videos began to go
viral after it was announced. Whats more,
its very gameplay was inspired by watching
YouTube clips. The main inspiration from Goat
Simulator actually comes from me spending
a lot of my office hours watching YouTube
videos, admits Ibrisagic. For some reason

O We're beginning to see YouTube channels try out new formats to set themselves apart, but Minecraft remains pivotal.

A relatively unassuming, charming Swedish

gamer has built an army of bros that make
him more influential in the modern gaming
landscape than Shigeru Miyamoto
I started watching funny YouTube videos of
goats messing with people, head butting them,
and being a general menace. It made me think
Hey, this looks funny as hell, someone should
make a game out of this! After the third time
I pitched the idea to my co-workers, it finally
worked and they jumped on the project with
me. So I would definitely say that YouTube was
a big inspiration, but maybe not in the way that
people would think initially.
But what about really targeting the YouTube
market? Can that be achieved intentionally?
The game Five Nights At Freddys is a perfect
example of what can happen when YouTube
videos do well with a game, LaurenzSide
points out. That creators sales ended up going
through the roof and he even made a sequel
and two iPad games from its success! From my
personal experience I dont think big-name
developers make their games with YouTube
in mind just yet, but I could be wrong. Most
definitely do when it comes to marketing those
games though!

theyre losing a lot of good potential coverage,

was Ibrisagics assessment and looking at
which games are really breaking through, you
would have to admit its largely the community
driven, open, indie world thats finding greater
success these days.
As games channels have seen more success,
so new streamers have been drawn to the
service and new models have emerged. For
LaurenzSide who joined, left and then returned
to her channel, the shifts were easy to see.
The biggest change I noticed was YouTubers
having their channels seem much more like a
business, she reveals. Professional graphics,
professional video equipment, merchandise
shops, donation buttons, schedules, etc. None
of that existed back when I first joined YouTube!
The second biggest change I noticed was the

>> CERTAINLY THERES NO shortage

of official trailers and content from the big
publishers on YouTube, but a recent estimate
put the balance at 19:1 for community-created
content versus official promotional material.
I think a lot of the bigger companies are so
strict on their embargoes and keeping their
secrets and following their PR plans that

58

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huge rise of gamers on YouTube. Also, a lot of

the bigger YouTubers I used to watch had fallen
in popularity and some of the smaller YouTubers
I watched now had hundreds of thousands (even
millions) of subscribers! I kind of kick myself for
not staying with it when I first started because I
may have been further along at this point!
But as has been mentioned, that formula
is so elusive its a very tricky thing to predict
success, and its hard to predict how YouTube
might affect the industry in the coming years.
I think we can all agree that its going to have a
big impact, but in what way is very hard to say,
Ibrisagic tells us. The game industry changes
faster than any other industry I know. Six years
ago, everyone was making Facebook games
because of Zynga. Three years ago, roguelikes
and zombie survival games were in, and they
still are. I have no idea whatll happen in the
next three years, but Im sure itll be interesting
to follow.
Jafari is similarly flummoxed by the
question of where things will go next. Quite
honestly, I have no idea, he admits. This is
such a transient industry right now. Everyone
is trying to stage a foothold, and who knows
which stone or which crevice will keep? Its the
story of human history, time and time again!
Its the ancient struggle for land and power! Its
the gold rush! Its like that time you wished you
bought Amazon stocks in the mid Nineties!
Whats clear though is that developers are
adjusting to this new force and the industry
is taking note. The fears that YouTube videos
would hurt the games industry like some form
of soft piracy simply havent emerged and
instead we have a new generation of opinionmakers and trend-setters having their say on
what games will rise and fall. Its a fascinating
and ever-evolving new world. And,
thankfully, its quite entertaining too.

WorldMags.net
Stampy Cat explains it all
We discuss the rise of gaming on YouTube with one of the best in the
business, Joseph Garrett, aka Stampylonghead, aka Mr Stampy Cat
{kBk%kk'#k"k!""k%"k
k$!j
Well, I actually began trying to
become a gaming journalist. When
I first started doing videos I was doing reviews, I
ran a tournament, I was doing guides and top ten
countdowns of things, so that was the route I was
trying to get into. I did that for about a year and
a half and no one really watched it, but I still did
a video almost every single day, so that was my
beginning on YouTube.
{kFkk'#k!k'#k$%!kk!#!!k!j
When I switched from very serious scripted content
to Lets Play videos and that very much coincides
with when Minecraft came out on the consoles. I did
my first Minecraft video in May 2012, and it wasnt
immediate, but I noticed that instead of 20 views I
would get 100 views and then 150 views and then a
gradual slope leading up from there.
{k3k'#k!k'#!kksrkH#C#k
"'kk!"k!j
I guess its technically celebrity, but its a new kind
of celebrity. I dont think that you can deny that
YouTubers of a certain size have a big influence,
possibly even greater than traditional celebrities.
If you look back at Jonathan Ross when he was
presenting on the BBC, he had a huge audience, but
he couldnt really have full say over what he said. The
BBC could kind of control it; it was their programme.
The way were doing it, were just people and we
can say whatever we want and we have no one to
answer to.
Its really powerful and amazing, but also really
scary. It means you have a lot of responsibility. I think
its nice that were not perceived as normal celebrities
because that makes us a lot more relatable compared
to a TV host where theres that disconnect of
watching them on a TV. It kind of seems like another
world. Online you can directly message people and
theyll respond and it just seems like youre more of a
friend to people rather than a celebrity.
{kF"kk'#k!k"kk'#k!!"'k"k
'#k!j
I think its just keeping up trust. I mean, its different
for me compared to most YouTubers because my
audience is so young and Im constantly making sure
that my audience watching my videos trust me and
also their parents. If I started swearing in videos
thats probably not going put off too many children,
but it would put off the parents. I would have been
very conscious of that. Its just making sure you
remain genuine and theres going to be nothing iffy
about your content. Its something that I take very
seriously and I have a set of guidelines that I live by.
Mainly, you dont want to be exploiting an
audience. I think people know Im going to be pretty
squeaky clean in terms of the age rating for the
content, but you want to make sure that when there
are opportunities that come up when you have a

large audience, you want to make sure youre not

taking advantage of people who trust you and watch
your content.
{k7%k$k'#kkk%"kk
#!!k$k"k'!j
Well, Im partnered with a multi-channel network and
thats Maker Studios and any business opportunities
or any approaches from companies or publishers or
developers go through there, which means they can
kind of vet them and make sure theyre legit. A lot of
YouTubers can get exploited or underpaid and not
understand what theyre signing so having some kind
of management or representation helps.
Its tough as there are not many opportunities I
have because of my audience. Im not going to be
advertising a new phone or something in my videos.
Its really tied into gaming, and then the amount of
deals that are games relevant to my audience arent
many. Its something that Ive not done much of but its
out there. I think its a much bigger deal for YouTubers
that are a little smaller and are on the verge of
being able to do this as a career. That could be the
difference between them being able to work on
YouTube full time to it being a hobby. Those deals can

be a very big thing for them, but for me its not really
something thats on my radar.
{kH#k"k%"k"kk$k!k$kk
#"k'k"!k#"!k#!kk"k"k
$"kk'#k#j
Yes, exactly. It would be very obvious if someone took
a deal that wasnt a fit to their channel. If theyre
suddenly making a video that you would assume they
wouldnt normally make or not sound 100 per cent
genuine when theyre talking about something The
audiences arent dumb, they are going to pick up
on that.
I think its a bigger issue on the journalism side
rather than what Im doing because people arent
coming to me for a review. Theyre coming to me for
an entertaining video. If I produce a video for a game,
which I might not have done normally, but its still
entertaining, it doesnt matter so much because Im
not directly trying to influence what people are going
to purchase and people arent coming to me to find
out whether they should buy a game or not. People
are coming for 20 minutes of hopefully entertaining
content. So, its probably not as big a deal, but its
something that youve got to be very conscious of.

WorldMags.net

{k3k'#k"kH#C#k!kk%k$!k
kk"k!k!k"'k"""k"kk"k
""!kk;"!k?'!j
Yes, definitely. I think theres a very specific sort
of game. I can see a game now and I can see that
theyve made it hoping PewDiePie is going to play it.
And a lot of the times it works. A lot of these physicsbased games are funny to watch; its very obvious.
And I think its kind of nice, because even though
that is going to be exploited a little bit, because in
the early days of YouTube you would see a lot of
publishers seeing these videos on YouTube and going
Hey, theyre making money off my game, we need to
stop this. And they would go hard on copyright.
But then things like Minecraft come along and they
see how big Minecraft has become as a direct result
from YouTube I dont think anyone can argue with
that and they can see, Wait a minute, this is the
best free advertising we cold ever have. Rather than
spend hundreds of thousands of pounds producing a
trailer not many people are going see, if we just send
our games to people and they do videos about them
and are genuinely enthusiastic about it and people
are going to watch it, thats the best advertising
that you could have. Its taken a while and not every
publisher is there, but I like the fact that publishers
now understand the value of YouTube and theyre
encouraging it rather than trying to stamp it under
their boot.
{k7%kk'#k"k"!kk'k"k$$kk"k
k"!kk'!kkkkH#C#j
I think its hard to predict. I think more and more
youre going to see games trying to cater to
YouTubers. I think that there is going to be growth. I
think that a lot of people talk about gaming content
and YouTube Lets Plays and they make it out that its
going to be a bigger thing than it is. I think its not a
fad, its going to stick around, but I dont think its the
future of entertainment. Theres always going to be
an audience that wants to see that. Theres going to
be a successor to Minecraft thats going to capture
peoples imaginations the same way that it did and
its going to be huge. I have no idea what that is and
I dont think anyone does, but theres going to be
those big games that just work with YouTube.
I could play through any single-player game
and I could add my commentary, I could add jokes,
but theyre really not getting that different of an
experience than if they had played it themselves,
whereas Minecraft gives you nothing. Minecraft gives
you a blank canvas for you to tell a story and make
whatever you want in it. There are not many other
game like that, which is why its been so amazing for
me. Theres going to be another big game like that,
which is going to take off in a big way, but apart
from that, I think things are going to settle down for
a little bit. I think people are understanding YouTube
more now so its going to seem like less of a novelty,
but I dont think theres going to be another huge
revolution thats going to change it, at least
within the next five years, Id say.

59

WorldMags.net

A NEW THEORY
OF EVERYTHING
THERE ARE GAMES OUT THERE THAT HAVE
SOLD ABOUT FIVE MILLION UNITS, AND WERE
CONSIDERED FAILURES, SAYS DOMINIC MATTHEWS,
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NINJA AT NINJA THEORY,
TO GAMES. THATS RIDICULOUS. ABSOLUTELY
RIDICULOUS. ITS THAT UNFORTUNATE CYCLE
THATS LEAD TO A LOT OF DEVELOPMENT
TEAMS DISAPPEARING.

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es not wrong in 2015, so

far, weve seen layoffs hit
Sony Online Entertainments
recently rebranded Daybreak
Games, weve seen layoffs at
EA Montreal, Sega has shed considerable staff
during its restructuring and Elite: Dangerous
developer Frontier has made cuts too. Its
the peril of working on triple-A. If your game
doesnt shift enough units, the company has to
make some money back somewhere, and sadly,

WorldMags.net

NINJA THEORYS NEWEST PROJECT, HELLBLADE, IS

THROWING TRADITIONAL DEVELOPMENT METHODS
OUT THE WINDOW. ITS A TRIPLE-A GAME WITHOUT A
PUBLISHER. ITS BEING BUILT BY 12 PEOPLE, AND IT WANTS
TO CHANGE THE INDUSTRY

once it gets to that stage, the human value and

cost is replaced with nothing more than numbers
on a spreadsheet.
Weve created triple-A games for 15 years,
Matthews tells us when we ask him why Ninja
Theorys newest IP is forgoing the traditional
development pattern. Over the years, the pressure
on games to appeal to more and more people has
just gotten greater. Because the retail price point
is fixed at $60, games cant compete on price. That
means the checklist of features that games have

to have to compete, then, gets longer and longer.

As such, development teams get bigger, and
therefore budgets get bigger. This cycle results in
huge development budgets having to be justified by
publishers needing to sell millions and millions of
units. If youre a big triple-A game, you need to sell
five million+ units to be considered a success.
Cast your minds back to 2013 Ninja Theory was
working with Capcom on the Devil May Cry reboot, a
game that fans had been clamouring for, petitioning
for even. Ninja Theory delivered the game, and sold

WorldMags.net

1.6 million units something the publisher saw as

somewhat of a failure. Thing is, thats not bad. The
game wasnt bad, and those sales numbers werent
bad but Ninja Theory was considered as having
failed to deliver by Capcoms standards Capcoms
internationally-focused, public-facing standards.
This time, though, with Hellblade, Ninja Theory is
its own boss, and the 12-strong team of developers
is making the game they want to make. The studio
has gone independent but not really, not quite.
Matthews was very clear about where the studio kk

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A Picture is Wo
H

ellblades art direction ninja

style

he opt for portraiture to

Senua

him wearing more contemporary street clothes. You know, he could have picked
up his clothes in any high street edgy shop. I did a sketch with the red eyes and
dark hair and [Capcom] loved it so much that every time we tried to do it in 3D
and it wasnt the same, Capcom was like Oh no, thats not right, thats not like
the painting! In the end, the painting was superimposed over a 3D image to try
and copy the feeling of that picture! That was the super-early stages though

simple anyway, a few lines, no more than two key colours with a third for
ornament. Its important to give the character attitude more than define them
by what theyre wearing. So with Senua, we started with the Viking style, but
making a Viking is boring to me, so I had to add something special we are
what we come from, right?
The way we talk, the way we eat, our posture its all from our past.
Senua has been through Hell, so I think you should feel that, her history. So
Senuas [identity] is more about her look, her expressions, and her stance
more than any costumes. I started with her eyes, before anything else,
because you can get the intensity there, the expression. The rest comes out,
a
r

Dante

Monkey

Nariko

Straight out of legend

the studios first icon

Monkey was a fantasy the way he looked, the way he acted, the way he was
animated, it was all very stylised. He was a character that already existed,
you know, theres a lot about him out there already, but we werent interested
in making him the big strong man [you get in other games], it was more
important for us to style him out, and make him a real figure of the fantasy.

The very first image I did for Heavenly Sword was a portrait, and I looked at
all the master painters, and particularly Rembrandt, because he had a really
strong understanding of light and everything, so I painted Narikos face just
her face as a present for Andy Serkis when he came to the studio. After that
we started to think about the rest of the game, all from that starting point.

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net

kk saw itself in the Venn diagram of indie/triple-A that makes up

the two-horse race that is the modern games industry.
Weve been very careful not to call ourselves indie we
call ourselves independent-triple-A because we dont think
weve earned the indie label, he explains. People still want
triple-A production values from us, and so were trying to
prove we can still deliver that, but with all the benefits that
come with being an independent studio, too. We still want to
deliver on those triple-A qualities that we had in our previous
games well, better qualities, ideally but were doing it in a
way where were taking creative risks, where we dont have to
appeal to everyone.

hats the first thing that struck us about

Hellblade its a game that isnt ashamed of
being hardcore, that isnt trying to appeal to
the casual gamer and the hardcore gamer.
Ninja Theory isnt interested in diluting its
audience; its building a product for people that have dipped
their toes in the studios work before, and enjoyed whats
bitten them. Rather than trying to aim for everyone and only
hitting a few people, were kind of doing the opposite and only
aiming for a few people: making something thats only for a
small group of people, Matthews tells us. But were making
it really appealing to them; were really targeting that niche.
Im very comfortable in saying this game is for Ninja
Theory fans. Fans of combat games. Fans of engaging stories
and the characters and worlds we build. That isnt millions and
millions of people. Were pretty open about the numbers we
need to hit for Hellblade to break even: we need to sell about
300,000 units. Which, compared to five million, is far more
tangible. So Hellblade will drop you into its world naked, in
a gameplay sense. Youll have access Senuas full combat
capabilities right at the start of the game Matthews tells us
the team took its inspirations from fighting games: you get
Ryu and all his moves off the bat. Youve just got to learn to
kk
use them. Hellblade is the same, there are no skill trees or

Putti
into
Why Ninja Theory gutted its boardroom
Ninja Theory might be
targeting the triple-A/
indie niche, but that
doesn't mean its got the
budget to play around
with that youd find within
Ubisoft or EA. No, Ninja
Theory has to keep costs
down, and there are
various ways of doing
that keeping things
youd normally outsource

in-house, for example.

Instead of hiring out a
motion capture suite offsite somewhere, meaning
the small team would
have to break up and
travel across the country
to get the vital animations
for the game, Ninja
Theory opted to build a
suite itself by ripping
out the boardroom and

constructing it in there.
The team nipped to a
local hardware shop,
bought shelving struts
and supports, mounted
the cameras on the
custom scaffold, and
began filming Senuas
performance right next
to where the game
is being coded. Talk
about efficiency!

QOne of Senuas unique traits is her

altered perception This is communicated
by superimposing faces captured with
GoPros or Kinect into the environment.

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kk combo lists in sight. You drop into the world as Senua this
warrior descending into Hell and youre set free. Ninja
Theory doesnt want to hold your hand, it wants to chop it off.
We needed to make each fight feel meaningful, to make
every enemy you defeat feel significant, like in regular oneon-one fighters, Matthews says. In those kinds of games you
have to defeat your opponents over two rounds, or you fail.
Whether youre playing in Arcade mode or against another
person, fail twice and youve lost. Game over. We kind of want
that feeling with Hellblade: its life or death. Thats why we
keep the camera in a tight position, too; it makes you feel up
close to that fight, feel the pressure.
Theres no HUD, either Ninja Theory wants you to get
wrapped up in this earthy Viking world its creating. In combat,
exploration and cutscenes, theres only you and Senua.
You know the hardcore mode in other games the one
that strips the HUD back? well, thats the entire Hellblade
experience. We want people to be really invested in Senua

WE WANT PEOPLE TO
BE REALLY INVESTED
IN SENUA

The Rise of
the Valkyrie

Its much more fun to make a female

character, art direction ninja Taini
tells us when we ask if Hellblade was
always going to have a female lead, or
if it was something decided on later in
development. I think its much more
interesting to see a strong woman and
her story than to just see a strong,
muscle-man you know? Ive never been
interested in the stories of typical strong
men. You look at Senua, she looks super
strong and vicious, but actually shes
fragile its really interesting, because
straight away you want to know why,
you want to know about her past. And
we love that. It makes you care more.

DOMINIC MATTHEWS, NINJA THEORY

and her story, Matthews explains, and any elements that

are inherently game-y break that immersion, takes you out of
the experience. So were going completely HUD-less, and that
gives us challenges in how we communicate certain things
to the player. Health, for example how do we tell the player
Senua is low on health without any kind of bar or meter? At
the moment were looking at representing that in Senuas
state if shes wounded, she looks wounded, she animates
like a wounded person. If shes really low on health, shes in
a critical state, shes actually down on the floor, fighting for
her life.

n combining a combat system based on the oneon-one fighting games (that rely pretty heavily on
their health bars) with a completely naked game
screen, Ninja Theory is breaking new ground. Could
you imagine Activision or Ubisoft releasing a game
taking those kinds of risks? There is no game out there like
Hellblade, not quite: theres no formula for Ninja Theory to
base its work on. But why is the studio so insistent doing
this couldnt it have just made a spiritual successor to DmC
under its own IP?
We cant afford to be like any other games on the market,
really, Matthews says, bluntly. We need to take creative risks
here and hope that they pay off. If were just going to make
something thats treading the same path as another game,
then well lose. Other studios have 300 people on their project,
with a $100 million budget. We need to create something
thats smaller and deeply engaging but I think thats what
people want, right?
We cant help but agree you head to any gaming forum
or social media feed and youll see people lamenting the
triple-A model and its reliance on tried-but-tested mechanics
and genres. So, if youre not doing that if youre looking at
creating an experience that hasnt really been done before

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We didn't take any direct influences

when designing Senua, either, Taini
replies when we ask whether Suena was
inspired by any other characters. To
base her on someone like that makes it
a fantasy, you know? And this is about
emotions and realism. We wanted to
make some allusions to Heavenly Sword
because thats what our fans would
like but when I do a character, I just
feel it, you know? You watch a Miyazaki
movie and his characters look similar,
but thats because his hands are drawing
it its funny to see people comment
[that Senua] looks like previous
characters, but thats just my style.

WorldMags.net

QSenuas journey is taking her into Hell whether thats an actual

Hell or a personal Hell is yet to be determined, though. This image
certainly seems to suggest something edging towards a literal Hell

years and years and years. With Hellblade, were questioning

the way were developing the game, but it also gives us
the opportunity to question the way we look at marketing
and PR, too. But Ninja Theory doesnt just want to set a
precedent for themselves as a studio no, thats too small

then where do you go? What do you turn to for inspiration?

We look for references in unconventional places, says
Matthews. In movies, in classical art, in music videos, all that
stuff, rather than just looking at other games on the market.
Weve taken some design cues from a French performance

WOULDNT IT BE FANTASTIC TO HAVE TONS OF

MID-SIZE STUDIOS THAT CAN PRODUCE HIGH
QUALITY, REALLY CREATIVE GAMES?
DOMINIC MATTHEWS, NINJA THEORY

artist, for example, which is something you wouldnt expect

a game development studio say! Our attitude is that, well,
theres no point looking towards other games to see what
theyre doing, because, well, theyre already on the market!
Matthews is right we saw the performance artist in
question (Olivier de Sagazan) in action; he wore a latex mask,
smothered himself in tar, oil, paint, blood, then writhed
around. Hes the inspiration behind the enemy design the
cult-worshipping Vikings that Senua runs up against. We
havent seen that before in gaming, thats rare. Its not a
stretch to say that what Ninja Theory is doing runs parallel to
Sagazans wildly experimental routines, either.
This [method of production] is an experiment. A complete
experiment, Matthews admits. My hope is that we engage
players on a deeper level with what were doing here, going on
this development journey with Hellblade, seeing it evolve at
every stage. When it comes out, I want people to really know
whats gone into it, and almost feel like part of the team.
In development or PR, [with triple-A publishers], you cant
take risks. You kind of have to tread the tried and tested path
to success. The PR cycle is something thats been in place for

QThe concept art certainly points

towards something similar to DmC in
its violent body horror, but the team
assures us Hellblade is set in a much
more real world than its past games

a goal. When youre operating in the triple-A space (even

with the independent prefix attached), you take on broader
responsibilities you take on the position of role model, of
a peer, of a trailblazer. Ninja Theory wants to prove to itself
to the world that the way its practicing development is a
legitimate route forward for the whole industry; returning to
intimate teams of passionate people and a focused product.
This is the future for Ninja Theory were creating our
own IP and weve got creative control over our own games,
Matthews concludes. But we want other mid-size developers
to make games like this, as well. Because if we can show
this model is a success, or at least viable, then wouldnt it be
fantastic to live in a games industry where there are tons of
mid-size studios that can produce super high-quality, really
creative games?
This isnt about us making millions and millions of pounds;
this is about us making a living, making the games that we
want to make. If we can do that, well be happy. Its a lot of fun
doing this, making games. If we can deliver niche games to
fans that want them, then its a model that can work for
the players as much as it can work for us.

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F O R T H O S E
A B O U T T O

WHY H A R MONI X

T H I N K S I T S T I M E T O R E S U R R E C T T H E R H Y T H M AC T I O N G A M E

hen Rock Band 3 came out in 2010, there was a

fatigue around the genre people were beginning
to get tired of the onslaught on games that tried
their hardest to make you feel like a rock star. The bubble
burst plastic guitars and drums kits were relegated from
the living room to the closet, and people began to forget.
But with the release of Rock Band 3 s final piece of
DLC Tenacious Ds Rize Of The Fenix Harmonix made a
statement: its time to return. We caught up with the studios
producer, Daniel Sussman, about why now is the perfect time
for Rock Band 4 to rise up from the ashes and reclaim its
rhythm action throne

First and foremost, why is now the right

time to revive Rock Band ?
Well, we had some good down-time when we
were working on some other projects, but
its been really interesting to watch how the
[Harmonix] team has rallied around a game that a lot of us
have very deep experience with, and a real deep attachment
to including myself.
When we were starting to think about why we wanted
to bring Rock Band back, and why this right now might
be the right time, we had to go back to it. We went back and
started playing it, and played through it all. Rock Band, Rock
Band 2, Rock Band 3, The Beatles As we were playing
them, we realised there are quite a few things we had
learned, in terms of our relationship to Rock Band and also
our maturity and designers and developers.
So we were playing through them, and we could just see
all this stuff that we could improve, right? So when were
bringing them back to PS4 and Xbox One, were going to
be looking very closely at the foundational level of those
kk

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WorldMags.net

WE

O N LY WA N T T O M A K E S O M E T H I N G T H A T P U S H E S
T H E E N V E L O P E A N D C H A N G E S P E O P L E S P E R C E P T I O N S
A BOU T W H AT A BA N D SI M CA N BE

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kk platforms. Rock Band has a lot of elements that are pretty

simple, and the core fantasy its about is pretty easy to
explain theyre what I love about it the most. But that means
that Rock Band is elevated to have this evergreen quality:
its a fantasy, for me at least, that will not go away. If you like
music, you will like Rock Band.
Youve been away from the property for two and a half
years when did you actually start working on RB4?
Well, one of the elements of the studio thats unique this time
around is that we have a lot of things running in parallel
there are a few things that are part of our over-arching plan
that have been in the percolator for quite some time. So we
have these small, scrummy development teams working on
this feature or that feature and we dont exactly know where
these features will fit, but theyre fun and cool we never
would have taken [this approach] to development a few years
back, because so much of our team was wrapped up in Rock
Band 3 like 80 per cent of the company were committed to
it at the time.
So bits and pieces of the dev team have actually been
working for over a year on these features without any real
awareness of whether or not theyd end up being in Rock
Band. We were in the early stages of creative development
over [Summer 2014], but things really started to settle in
September. That was when we started asking ourselves,
yknow, What do we want to do here?, Whats the
platform?, Whats the audience opportunity?
Where we ended up, well we only wanted to make
something that was designed to push the envelope and
change peoples perceptions about what a band sim can
be. We absolutely have to innovate, and thats the thing that
rallied the team weve got some really interesting things
up our sleeve, and as were playing with the prototypes, its
already framing my relationship with the game. There are
things that were doing that I miss when I go back to check
out Rock Band 3. I cant talk about too much just yet, but
were doing some pretty neat stuff.

Q Harmonix has been closely examining telemetry from past games in order to understand fan expectation.

entitlements and Xbox One architecture we learned a lot! It

was nice to be able to apply those lessons to another project.
Its its been really fun going back to a brand that we all have a
ton of respect and appreciation for.
Do you think people still have an attachment to the game,
and to the songs they used to play?
You know, Rock Band has this huge legacy a back catalogue
thats got thousands of songs and its taken us about five
years to get there. So each of those songs has been tested,
authored, refined we really want to leverage a lot of that
content. So in terms of figuring out what to do going into this
game well, theres a lot we need to do to support that [old]
content, and that then frames a lot of the creative choices we
make. We dont want to invalidate the library, but its a lot of
work, propping that content up on the PS4 and the Xbox One.

Did you learn anything from the over-saturation of the

genre that reached its peak last generation?
Yeah, sort of. During our time down weve worked on some
very interesting games. Like Fantasia oh my goodness!
It was such an interesting game for us to work on we
learnt such a lot about the relationship between music and
gameplay. Even looking at the work we did on Dance Central
Spotlight, getting our heads wrapped around things like DLC

Q Were not sure exactly how much

the general look of the game will
change yet but expect it to be a
real shot in the arm for the brand.

Did you have any issues with the licensing from your back
catalogue we know some licenses have expired and
youve had to take track packs down before
We have over 90 per cent of our back catalogue intact. Theres
a constant communication with the [record labels] around the

SCHOOL OF ROCK
Harmonix has been busy since its
last foray into the console version
of Rock Band as Sussman told
us, its been the studios most
aggressively creative period.
We examined each of the titles
Harmonix has released since Rock
Band 3 to see how each could alter
the anatomy of the Xbox One/
PS4s rst rhythm action hit

68

DANCE CENTRAL
Over three games,
Harmonix has
proved its adept
at more than just
peripheral-based rhythm action the
Kinect-based dance game tracks over
650 dierent moves. Perhaps Rock
Band 4 will require band members to
get some choreography down as well.

DANCE CENTRAL
SPOTLIGHT
No Story Mode
and no minigames
made Spotlight a
more pared down
experience. If Rock Band 4 follows suit,
we could see a game that sets you onto
playlists, earning points, unlockables
and customisable avatars,

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ROCK BAND BLITZ

Blitz was a
game that relied
on a standard
controller, and
released in a digital-only capacity
which perhaps helped Harmonix
realise a distribution strategy when it
came to looking at how it would deal
with Rock Band 4s DLC packaging.

WorldMags.net
artists and songs we use. Weve got a great relationship with
them, and theyre psyched to go forward with this especially
since weve got a lot of new licences, too

Rock Band was responsible for vast segments of overall

music sales in each year of its release is that something
youve considered when constructing this games playlist?
[Laughs] Well, thats something weve considered during
development. You know, weve spoken to our fans and they
see Rock Band as their jukebox their entry point to music and
music discovery. We take a lot of pride in that; as we think about
the library of songs we have, with huge artists in there, theres
still a lot of stuff thats new to a lot of people. Thats what we
aim for with each disc we need to have some variety in terms
of what people know. Rock Band is a lot more fun when you
know a song, but its also a great way of getting to know songs
intimately. We wear our influences on our sleeve, and we want
to bring stuff in to peoples living rooms that maybe theyre not
expecting [laughs].
How does the team decide what to put in on the original
soundtrack do you have to fight to get your choices in?
We have a lot of really strong opinions that result in some of
the most amazing conversations you can have in a workplace

[laughter]. Like Steely Dan or Rush: discuss. Now, I cant

stand Steely Dan, but Greg [LoPiccolo, creative director] loves
him so we have that conversation, like, every day. I love the fact
we dont all agree it makes us really advocate for the stuff we
feel strongest about. That negotiation about what ends up in the
game is really fun, and makes for a soundtrack that trust me
is hard fought. Thats exactly what we want.
Did you do any data-mining on Rock Band 3 to see how
people played it and did that have any bearing on Rock
Band 4s development?
We collected a lot of data from Rock Band 3 where the
achievements were popping, what goals were completed,
whether people were playing socially or by themselves,
leaderboard action all that kind of stuff gave us this wealth
of data that we can look at and use to refine our efforts this
time around. One of the key words were using to apply to our
development is focus. We really want our work to hit as many
people as possible with that core Rock Band experience.
And all that falls in line with our own experience weve
worked on Rock Band for years and years, and weve been
playing it as fans for all that time, too. Thats true for me, thats
true for our folks on the publishing side, thats true for the
rest of the development team. Greg has played in bands he

WE A R E IN OU R CR E AT I V E
WEVE BEEN PUTTING OUT

P R I M E R I G H T N O W. TH E S T U F F
OV ER THE L AST FEW Y E A RS IS
T H E MO S T AG GR E S SI V E LY CR E AT I V E WOR K W E V E E V E R D ON E
understands the space were working in really well. Thats true
for him, for our audio director, for a lot of the folks in key roles
in the team. They understand the culture, they understand
the brand weve done our homework. Weve had two and a
half years down, away from this game, and thats let us come
back and play through the games with our eyes wide open and
understand what a powerful experience we created.

Q Harmonix wants to re-capture

that feeling of being in a band - the
dynamics, the presence, the excitement.

A CITY SLEEPS
Released for PC
and Mac only, A
City Sleeps took
on the bullet hell
genre think Geometry Wars with
a musical twist. Perhaps well see
something similar appear in Rock
Band 4 as a mini-game, or a way to gel
the Story Mode together?

FANTASIA: MUSIC
EVOLVED
Fantasia: Music
Evolved combines
dreamy backdrops
and intense
rhythmic action with Kinect-heavy
body tracking. Sussman says that he
wants to bring people together in the
room; were thinking full routines.

Do you intend to keep Rock Band 4 a live product a

release that will stay alive throughout this generation?
So weve got a great relationship with our community, and
we were emboldened to find there were still a lot of people
playing Rock Band 3, and the response to the Rock Band 3 DLC
we put out recently was phenomenal. So what that means is
that I think were in a great position to look at the life of Rock
Band 4 on the eighth-gen consoles whilst creating a dialogue
with our community that will define our decisions down
kk

AMPLITUDE
Thought its
not been
released yet,
the Kickstarter
project is a reboot of the hardcore
2003 game, due for launch in the
middle of 2015. We might even be
able to use tracks from the game
on Rock Band 4 at launch!

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kk the road. Its exciting; its something I feel is unique to this

generation of consoles.

So are there any plans for Rock Band 4 to take proper

advantage of all of this new-gen tech and connectivity?
It comes down to these foundational elements we were
talking about I cant say too much right now, but we
really want to make sure the features and the content are
well-designed and well-managed, complementary of one
another, supported by a really strong infrastructure. Just
getting to the point where weve got a playable game with
enough content, and having [all the tracks] scored, thats
a big deal, a fair amount of work. This version [and the
connectivity of the new consoles] means that we really
have to get that solid Rock Band 4 foundation worked out
[at launch].

ROCK BA ND

HAS THIS
E V E RGR E E N QUA L I T Y;
I T S A FA N TA S Y T H AT
W O N T G O AWA Y. I F Y O U
L I K E M USIC, YOU W I L L
L IK E ROCK BA ND
Are we right in thinking youre trying to make all the
old peripherals and hardware compatible with the
new-generation of consoles and games?
Absolutely, yes. Theres two things to talk about there
were developing a new selection of hardware with
Mad Catz, and were psyched to do that because theyve
got a long history with Harmonix and Rock Band. Working
with new stuff allows us to make some important
incremental refinements to some of the components
[in the hardware]: the tilt sensor, some of the button
architecture we can basically upgrade the guitars and
drums from the last gen.
At the same time, were consistently surprised by how
many people tell us that they still have their hardware the
old guitars and drums. As far as were concerned, thats
an investment theyve made in the franchise, and were
working as hard as we can to support that investment.
Its a very interesting bit of development work; we can do
things to help out the compatibility on the software side,
but theres a lot of heavy lifting on the first-party side, too.
Microsoft and Sony need to do some work to make this
possible, too.
Its more complicated on the Xbox One because theres
no way for the 360 controllers to talk directly to that
console. So were in the middle of all that right now, and
we are doing everything we can to support the legacy
controllers. Well be saying more about that going forward.

ROCK
BAND IN
NUMBERS

$175 million+
How much MTV paid to acquire
Harmonix in 2006

$50

The amount Harmonix reportedly

paid Viacom to go independent
in 2010

13 million

Total sales in the Rock Band

franchise

$1 billion+
The amount Rock Band has
made in sales

275

consecutive weeks that

Harmonix provided DLC for the
original trilogy

1692

In the time Harmonix has been out of the Rock Band

market, Rocksmith has stepped in and filled a few of
the gaps. Did you learn anything from Rocksmiths
educational format?
Well, were pretty proud of the work we did with Rock
Band 3 s Pro initiative in retrospect, though, I think that
feature would have been better as a standalone product. I
have a ton of respect for what Rocksmith has done, and I
feel theyre filling a niche thats really valuable in the music
games space. When I talk about focus as an approach for
us during development well, a lot of what we did in Rock
Band 3 increased the breadth of play, but that kind of broke
up our audience. The common rhetoric of Rock Band 3 was
so broad, and Im proud of that, but Rock Band 4 brings the
games emphasis back to what it is about Rock Band that is
really strong. The game is about four-player band simulation:
guitar, bass, drums, vocals. All of our innovations are hitting
that core demographic squarely.
So you want to get back to that party game feeling?
Absolutely! What were trying to do is manufacture fun. I love
the idea that some percentage of the people that play Rock
Band walk away with a greater understanding of music or the
relationship between the game and its cultural impact, but at
the same time, I think its more important for us to be honest
with ourselves about what were making its a simulation.
You dont need to know anything about music to play it, you
dont need to know how to play guitar to be able to have a
great time. As we were playing it was one of the things that
really stuck out to us; that accessibility is so on point, and we
really want to bring that back around.

The DLC tracks released

4000+
Playable tracks

230

DLC packs provided

Top 10 Best-Selling
Rock Band artists
The Beatles (29 songs)
The Who (14 songs)
Metallica (3 songs)
Boston (7 songs)
Disturbed (11 songs)
No Doubt (23 songs)
Foo Fighters (22 songs)
The Police (9 songs)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (18 songs)
Blink 182 (9 songs)

The studio must love its creative freedom after working

under publishers for so long?
Absolutely where we are now as a bona fide indie studio
just gives everyone here so much freedom and passion.
You know, we talk about the MTV years and by the time
Rock Band 3 rolled around, we were a big team and had a
tight relationship with our marketing department and our
retail partners but that just made it harder to be agile, you
know? The most interesting thing about our studio size right
now is that the space between idea and implementation is
incredibly small.
If we come up with ideas, we can get them into playtest
straight away and then we can develop. It reminds me, in fact,
of the approach we were taking in the early 2000s: theres a
ton of trust between every part of Harmonix now, and were a
really lean, agile studio. In fact, Id say we are in our creative
prime right now. The stuff weve been putting out over the last
few years is the most aggressively creative work weve ever
done, and that makes me feel that now, weve got some
muscles to flex. It feels really good.

Q A lot of staff in the studio actually play in live bands, so they have first-hand experience when it comes to communicating that experience to the player.

70

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How H a s Dy na st y

do feel that we have come to the point that we

need to change the game drastically. Its not
often you hear statements from developers
that serve as both dramatic statement and
unintentional punchline, but thats what Dynasty
Warriors producer Akihiro Suzuki has just
provided. After all, we know the joke by now.
Dynasty Warriors games are all the same! All you
do is bash buttons until you win! Right?
It depends, as these sorts of questions often
do, on who you ask. Dynasty Warriors fans have
often defended the series as fun, strategic and
interesting. Theres an element of button-bashing

72

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but the games are more about map management

and learning to prioritise different tasks to
succeed. On Chaos difficulty, theres a higher level
of play involved that is rarely discussed outside of
hardcore fan communities: learning how many
frames of invincibility there are on the best moves
for a character, safe attack strings, attacks with
quick start-up and so on.
Detractors point to the endless churn of
Dynasty Warriors games through the mainline
titles, the Xtreme Legends and Empires
instalments and the spin-offs. The gameplay never
changes in any significant way and the constant

WorldMags.net

F U N . B O R I N G . S A F E . E X C I T I N G . B L A N D . C H E E S Y.
D Y N A S T Y WA R R I O R S

IS MANY THINGS

TO MANY PEOPLE AS IT HAS ALSO BECOME ONE OF THE

LONGEST-RUNNING SER IES IN GA MING.

PRODUCER A KIHIRO SUZUKI

HOW?

SPILLS THE SECRETS

Wa r r i o r s L a s t e d S o L o n g ?
stream of releases has diluted the impact and
appeal. The next release, Bladestorm Nightmares,
had a dev cycle of about a year according to
Suzuki, which highlights how quickly Omega
Force can crank these games out. Even the 1 versus
1,000 aspect isnt unique anymore, thanks to the
likes of Dead Rising and Kingdom Under Fire.
But regardless, this is a series that has endured
for over 15 years and has seen almost 50 games
released under the musou umbrella at developer
Omega Force. How has the Dynasty Warriors
series been going for so long? What has the secret
been? Today, were not asking fans nor detractors.

Were asking the producer. And Suzuki feels that

its the familiarity of the series that has been the
key to its success.
We are really grateful for the fans that have
supported us throughout this long franchise, so
big thanks to them, starts Suzuki. The reason we
feel that this franchise has been going for so long
and so well for us is that we havent changed the
core essence, but what we have done is we have
made sure that there is always something new
for every instalment. It could have been a minor
change but we made sure whether it was on the
action side, on the character side, or on the story

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side, we just made sure we are tweaking in the

right way so that the next instalment will see the
franchise that it will be something better than
the previous instalment.
Theres been a slow decline in sales since the
days of Dynasty Warriors on PlayStation 2, when
the series saw releases break the million sales
mark, and thats something that has led the studio
to tinker with the formula to try and bring those
fans back into the fold.
Obviously looking at the fans, some fans do
leave every now and then, thats just a fact, Suzuki
continues. But we try to create something new to kk

73

WorldMags.net

kk bring those fans back as well. So again, the core

essence and core foundation hasnt changed that
much and maybe thats one of the reasons the
franchise has done so well. We have the right
balance of the core foundation of the game while
were making sure certain areas are enhanced
every now and then.
Then comes the admission we werent quite
expecting to hear.
The Dynasty Warriors franchise hasnt
changed the core foundation of the game itself,
but being a producer, I do feel that we have come
to the point that we need to change the game
drastically to give it a new boost, in terms of
energy. Obviously the core concept of 1 versus
1000, that wont change. The exhilarating feel
of 1 versus 1000 action, that wont change

QHyrule Warriors saw Omega Force mash up Zelda characters with its traditional musou
gameplay, introducing a new audience to its brand of 1 versus 1,000 battling.

FOR

T H E C O M I N G D Y N A S T Y WA R R I O R S F R A N C H I S E
TITLES, WE ARE LOOKING INTO MAKING MA JOR OR
DR ASTIC CH A NGES IN TER MS OF THE GA MEPL AY

either. But yes, we do feel that we have reached

the stage for the coming Dynasty Warriors
franchise titles, we are looking into making
major or drastic changes in terms of the
gameplay to bring new life into the franchise.

esides the trademark musou

gameplay, something else has
defined Dynasty Warriors since
its birth: the huge disparity between what the
media think of the series and what the fans
think. Although some games have fared better
than others, and although sales have remained
healthy despite a general decline, Dynasty
Warriors has never reached any sort of critical
acclaim. The most recent outing in the series,
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, scrambled its way
to a 70 score on Metacritic and thats the highest
score the series has received in years. More often
it lurks around the 60 range, dragged down by
complaints about how all Dynasty Warriors
games are the same and tired jokes about
bashing the buttons until your thumbs gives up.

But Suzuki is keenly aware that theres some

truth behind the jibes and while media scrutiny
appears to be softening (see Dynasty Warriors 8:
Empires), fan feedback seems to be harsher.
Obviously we understand where the media is
coming from in terms of criticism of our games,
Suzuki explains. However, there are two
aspects to this, we feel one is the cultural side
and one is the action side. Maybe the repetitive
gameplay is a negative point but looking at it
from the cultural point of view, for an average
Japanese games player, its quite normal for
them to say, for example, shooting games FPS
games look the same and feel the same, every
time we see a numbered title come out. Having
said that, we do feel that looking at the controls
and action of the Dynasty Warriors games
in detail, it does lack depth. We have a lot
of characters you can play with and a lot
of character variation, but there are so
many characters and so many visuals to
recreate, the team feels
Theres a slight pause.

QThe Dynasty Warriors formula

has been applied to a wide range of
IP over the years, but is often best
when it mashes them up together.

THE BIG QUESTION

Whatever happened to Kessen?
Around the same time
Dynasty Warriors 2 created
a well, a gaming dynasty,
Koei launched another
Asian war series alongside
it: Kessen. We know which
series thrived but it was
Kessen that was favoured
at the time, as Suzuki tells
us: When PS2 came about,
there were two major projects
running at the time. Dynasty
Warriors 2 and Kessen.

74

Kessen was supervised by

the CEO whereas Dynasty
Warriors had its own separate
line. As Kessen was the one
under the CEOs order, there
was heavier promotion and
stang. At one stage, the CEO
said is Dynasty Warriors even
that good? Or words to that
eect. So the team was really
up for the challenge of beating
Kessen. Kessen was a launch
title but Dynasty Warriors

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was delayed slightly aer the

hardware launch, and due to
the lack of promotion initial
sales werent good. It was a
slow starter, but the game
had a great reputation once it
came out. Kessen struggled
whereas Dynasty Warriors
2 went really well and had
a longer run. Sales gures
reached about 400,000 at the
time and it surpassed Kessen
easily. So it was a good time!

DY NAST Y
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WA R R I O R S
TIMELINE
(Japanese release dates)
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
February 1997
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 2
August 2000
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 3
September 2001
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
3: XTREME
LEGENDS
January 2003
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 4
February 2003
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
4: XTREME
LEGENDS
November 2003
SAMURAI
WARRIORS
February 2004
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 4:
EMPIRES
August 2004
SAMURAI
WARRIORS:
XTREME
LEGENDS
November 2004
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 5
February 2005
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
ADVANCE
March 2005
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 4:
HYPER
April 2005
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
5: XTREME
LEGENDS
September 2005
SAMURAI
WARRIORS:
STATE OF WAR
December 2005
SAMURAI
WARRIORS 2
February 2006
DYNASTY
WARRIORS VOL.
2 March 2006
 DYNASTY
WARRIORS 5:
EMPIRES
March 2006

DYNASTY
WARRIORS
ONLINE
April 2006
SAMURAI
WARRIORS
2 EMPIRES
November 2006
SAMURAI
WARRIORS
2: XTREME
LEGENDS
August 2007
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 6
November 2007
WARRIORS
OROCHI
March 2007
DYNASTY
WARRIORS:
GUNDAM
March 2007
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
DS: FIGHTERS
BATTLE
April 2007
BLADESTORM:
THE HUNDRED
YEARS WAR
August 2007

DYNASTY
WARRIORS 7
March 2011
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
7: XTREME
LEGENDS
September 2011
DYNASTY
WARRIORS
NEXT
December 2011
WARRIORS:
LEGENDS OF
TROY May 2011
SAMURAI
WARRIORS
3: XTREME
LEGENDS
February 2011
SAMURAI
WARRIORS 3:
EMPIRES
August 2011
WARRIORS
OROCHI 3
December 2011
SAMURAI
WARRIORS 3 Z:
SPECIAL
February 2012

WARRIORS
OROCHI 2
April 2008

DYNASTY
WARRIORS
7: EMPIRES
November 2012

DYNASTY
WARRIORS 6:
SPECIAL
October 2008

FIST OF THE
NORTH STAR:
KENS RAGE 2
December 2012

DYNASTY
WARRIORS:
GUNDAM 2
December 2008

DYNASTY
WARRIORS 8
February 2013

DYNASTY
WARRIORS:
STRIKEFORCE
February 2009
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 6:
EMPIRES
May 2009
SAMURAI
WARRIORS 3
December 2009
FIST OF THE
NORTH STAR:
KENS RAGE
March 2010
 DYNASTY
WARRIORS:
GUNDAM 3
December 2010

DYNASTY
WARRIORS
8: XTREME
LEGENDS
November 2013
DYNASTY
WARRIORS:
GUNDAM
REBORN
December 2013
DYNASTY
WARRIORS 8:
EMPIRES
November 2014
HYRULE
WARRIORS
August 2014
 BLADESTORM:
NIGHTMARE
March 2015

WorldMags.net

QDo not pursue Lu Bu! has become a catchphrase of

the series, referencing the overpowered character often
slotted in as a villain, particularly in the earlier games.

They havent neglected it but in terms of the

pure volume required, they havent been able
to fine tune all the individual actions of those
characters. So the lack of depth, in terms of the
actions that the players can do in those games is
definitely one of the points that the team knows
requires a crucial fix. So as we said, we are
looking into drastically changing the gameplay
of the franchise. So thats one area were looking
into and hopefully well be able to achieve the
right balance in terms of providing the right
gameplay, not just for this next-gen cycle but for
the overall experience as well.
Its not just Western audiences who are
making their opinions known either, as Japanese
fans also share the same worries with regards to
the Dynasty Warriors gameplay.
Looking at the feedback from Japan and
Asian customer surveys, the fans are voicing
concerns over the lack of depth in terms of the
action side of the gameplay, Suzuki tells us.
Thats one area we often hear. Having said
that, looking at this from the cultural side again,
we feel the Japanese and Asian audiences are
much more familiar with what the games are
about in terms of the plot and the storyline of
the Dynasty Warriors series, Romance Of The
Three Kingdoms for example. So every time
we bring out a new character for the franchise,
people understand, to a certain extent, what the
character is about and what that character is
associated with. So theres a cultural background
in terms of the differences between the West
and East and what they know about history in
general. So again, its a difficult thing in terms
of the cultural differences and the education of
the Western and Eastern audiences. In terms of
the feedback, the action side is similar but the
cultural backgrounds are different.
Having had fans for so long brings in a new
problem altogether fan expectations. When
Omega Force makes Dynasty Warriors, its
kk
criticised for making the same game over and

75

WorldMags.net

kk over again. When they try and make something

new, as they have done with Bladestorm
Nightmare - its more a troop action-strategy
game, so its totally different gameplay in terms
of what youre required to do, explains Suzuki
fans complain because its not what they
expected. Its a tricky catch-22.
There were a lot of players who bought
Bladestorm who used to play the Dynasty
Warriors to start with and there was a lot of
feedback from fans that they felt that it was really
different to the Dynasty Warriors games, recalls
Suzuki. Actually there were some complaints
that it wasnt a Dynasty Warriors game. But it
wasnt supposed to be a Dynasty Warriors game!
So maybe it was the way it was brought to the
market that didnt quite work out in terms of the
message we were trying to get across. So a lot of
Dynasty Warriors fans bought Bladestorm but
at the same time, the message didnt get across
that it was supposed to be something different.
We feel that in terms of the franchise and the

QOne Piece: Pirate Warriors is one of the more

successful spin-offs in the Omega Force back catalogue,
the light anime proving a perfect match for the gameplay.

TH E

L ACK OF DEPTH, IN TERMS OF THE ACTIONS

TH AT THE PL AY ERS CA N DO IN OUR GA MES, IS
DE F IN I T E LY ON E OF T H E POIN TS T H AT T H E T E A M
KNOWS REQUIRES A CRUCI A L FIX

gameplay that is associated with the franchise,

we feel that its now established, so I think people
know Bladestorm is different in terms of what
the gameplay provides and the experience. We
feel that unlike the previous Bladestorm game,
we are sending out the correct message to the
correct audience.

ow Bladestorm Nightmares is
received by fans is yet to be seen
and itll be an interesting case
study for Omega Force, given it is following
on eight years after its predecessor rolled out
on Xbox 360 and PS3 as a mild and mostly
inoffensive curio. But regardless, were now
at the point where the series needs to change
drastically. Weve been here before, of course
Dynasty Warriors actually started life as a

1-vs-1 fighting before fresh PS2 hardware specs

and a declining Japanese fighting games market
convinced the team to switch to its now trademark
open battlefield gameplay for Dynasty Warriors 2.
Can we expect something that dramatic again?
Suzuki laughs to himself and pauses for
thought, as though hes hesitant to commit himself
to promising something too big.
The team is looking into different options and
variations but as we mentioned previously, the
concept of the game, of 1 vs 1000, that shouldnt
change. We also dont plan to change the historical
plot of the game itself. So those will be kept the
same. But we are weighing up the different options
that we could take in terms of the gameplay
itself. We dont have anything to share at this
point obviously, but well bring out such
information in the future.

THE BIG QUESTION

Why the squealing guitar rock?
Its become one of the
hallmarks of Dynasty
Warriors. Youll charge
forward, see the rst enemies
on the horizon and then rock
music crashes in straight
from the Eighties, playing
hair-raising guitar solos as
you charge into battle. How is
the music recorded? Is there
one man at Omega Force who
plays endless guitar ris and
you just record him every now

76

and then? Suzuki bellows with

laughter when he hears the
question: Very interesting
question! Obviously we do
record it properly. Its been
recorded based on a concept
we have for the game and we
get the artists and composers
to come up with the tunes
every time. Its suited more
for the Japanese audience in
that sense and maybe thats
why Western audiences feel

WorldMags.net

it isnt the right music to use.

If it sounds that bad for the
Western audience, do let
us know! Some people like
it, some dont. We get a lot
of feedback from Western
audiences and they dont
really like the music. Thats
an area the team will look into
for future games. Perhaps the
end result isnt as suitable for
the Western audience as it is
for the Japanese audience.

THE STORIES, STRATEGIES, HEROES & MACHINES

www.historyanswers.co.uk
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WHY I

...

The Madden
series

STEVE PAPOUTSIS, GENERAL MANAGER,

VISCERAL GAMES
One of the games I used
to get really excited
about when I was younger was
Madden. Before I worked at
EA, I used to drive up here to
the EA campus (Ive lived in the
Bay area my whole life) and
call the shipping room and talk
to this guy, a day or two before
the general release of a Madden
game, and hed come and meet
me at the reception and let me
buy the game. Its quite different
then than it is today, but thats
how much I love Madden,
yknow? It was so influential to
me that I would drive, like, 25
miles from my house, go to this
cool videogames studio and pick
up a game. It was that moment
I thought, like, Wow, maybe I
can make videogames
at some point

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WorldMags.net

It was so influential to me that I

would drive 25 miles from my house,
go to this cool videogames studio, and
pick up the game
STEVE PAPOUTSIS, GENERAL MANAGER, VISCERAL GAMES

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Reviews
84 Resident Evil Revelations 2
PS4, Xbox One, PC, 360, PS3, Vita

86 Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
3DS

88 The Order: 1886

PS4

90 Grow Home
PC

92 Homeworld Remastered
PC

94 OlliOlli 2:
Welcome To Olliwood
PS4, Vita

96 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

3DS

98 Hotline Miami 2: Wrong

Number
PS4, PS3, Vita, PC, Mac, Linux

100 Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

PS4, Xbox One

102 Screamride
Xbox One, 360

104 Elegy For A Dead World

PC, Mac, Linux

105 Castle In The Darkness

PC

106 The Deer God

PC, Mac, Linux

108 Dynasty Warriors 8

Empires
PS4, Xbox One, PS3

109 Mario Vs Donkey Kong:

Tipping Stars
Wii U

110 Unmechanical Extended

Xbox One, PS4, PS3

111 Pix The Cat

PC, PS4

111 Baboon!
Vita

112 Apotheon
PS4, PC

113 Pneuma: Breath Of Life

Xbox One, PC

82

84

RESIDENT EVIL
REVELATIONS 2

Has Capcoms experiment with episodic

gaming finally delivered the innovative
Resi weve been waiting for?
WorldMags.net

THE AVERAGE

WorldMags.net
Three of the numbers in a ten-point scale are of greater importance
than the others: five, seven, and of course, ten. Some publications would
fool you into believing that a 7/10 game is average, but that just doesnt
make sense to us. games reviews videogames on their entertainment
value, and so any title that simply performs to an adequate standard will
receive a 5/10. Simple. The elusive ten is reserved for games of incredible,
irrefutable quality, but please be aware that a score of ten in no way
professes to mean perfection. Perfection is an unattainable goal, and on a
ten-point scale nothing should be unattainable. Again, simple. Our reviews
are not a checklist of technical features with points knocked off for flaws,
neither are they a PR-pressured fluff-fest wed never let that happen,
and besides youd smell it a mile off. And finally, the reviews you find
within these pages are most certainly not statements of fact, they are the
opinions of schooled, knowledgeable videogame journalists, designed to
enlighten, inform, and engage. The gospel according to games.

86

88

92
100

108
112

AGREE/DISAGREE?
games is always right. But that doesn't stop some
people disagreeing. Think we've got a review horribly
wrong? Or did we nail it?

Let us know through the following channels:

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WorldMags.net

83

REVIEW RESIDENT EVIL REVELATIONS 2 PS4

WorldMags.net

NOPE, ITS DEFINITELY NOT CHRISS BLOOD

Resident Evil Revelations 2

Episodes 1-4
Capcom has genuinely been
listening to fans of the Resident
Evil series for years now, but it hasnt
been until Resident Evil Revelations 2
that this has become startlingly apparent.
The obvious additions like an ability to
actually move strafing, crouching and so
on have been around a few years now, the
inclusion of cult favourite Barry Burton as
a main character is a great nod to fans, and
the constant, wilful silliness of the game and
its references are testament to a game thats
been made with far more of a self-referential
spin than any other previous Resi title. Best of
all, this fan service mostly works.
Following the story of Claire Redfield
and Moira Burton Barrys daughter who
have been kidnapped and forced to try and
survive on a remote island full of well, nasty

84

DETAILS
FORMAT: PS4
OTHER FORMATS: Xbox
One, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Capcom
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 19.99 (or 4.99
per episode)
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-2
ONLINE REVIEWED: No

former people in one half, Revelations 2 also

puts players in the shoes of Burton Snr and
a mysterious young girl, Natalia in a sixmonth-later timeline covering many of the
same areas. This is, in turn, split up between
four separate episodes each can be bought
independently of the others, but we see little
reason why anyone would. But thats neither
here nor there.
This double-duo team dynamic is core
to Revelations 2 s appeal Claire and Barry
carry guns and are tough, to differing degrees,

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WEVE

EVER LAUGHED AT A RESI GAME
AND FELT LIKE WE WERE MEANT TO

WorldMags.net

Above: Revelations 2 is another

example of Capcom showcasing
all it has learned over the
years of crafting survival horror
experiences. It just turns out
that a lot of what it has learned
is things weve seen a dozen
times before.

while Moira and Natalia dont carry firearms

just a crowbar and a brick, respectively. While
this could easily degenerate into endlessly
having to save your useless partner, each of
the non-gun-wielding partners has their own
skills that are absolutely necessary in order to
survive this particular horror.
Moira carries with her a flashlight, capable
of both discovering hidden items and when
trained on the eyes of an enemy able to
blind them, leaving them open for Claire to get
in a free attack. Natalias brick, meanwhile,
is a basic stun/smash lock item, with her
main talent being pointing which becomes
seriously useful as of the second episode
and the ability, like in The Last of Us, to sense
enemies before you are able to see them.
Along similar lines, Moiras crowbar is also

WorldMags.net
Below: You may be nimble in combat, able to strafe, dodge and sprint with
the best of them, but your enemies are often just as nimble as you with the
added bonus of being able to duck and dodge while running towards you.

FAQs
Q. HOW LONG IS IT?
Four episodes of varying length,
each with two stories to play
through roughly 12 hours
in total.

Q. MULTIPLAYER OR AI?
Multiplayer is the way to play if
you can, but the AI works. Its not
Resi 5-era terrible, at least.

Q. BARRY BURTON?
Barry! Well ignore the Game
Boy title you could play as him
in this is the first time Bazzas
had a proper role for the player.
Wonderful.

Below: Working together

with your partner is key
when the AI does this job,
it works just about. When
youre with another player,
though, things are much
more in keeping with how
they should be.

the only thing that can open certain doors and

straightforward, with the aforementioned
item crates, while Natalias small hands can
differing timelines of each duos adventures
open certain boxes Barrys meaty man-hands
adding a little of interest, this is the first time
cannot. Each partner is absolutely necessary
weve ever laughed at a Resident Evil game
far more than just a side attraction and
and felt like we were meant to. Callbacks
something were surprised to be saying will
aplenty, wilful silliness and even, would you
be genuinely tempting for some people to
believe it, jokes (Claire works for Terrasave
play as in co-operative mode.
because terr doesnt always have to end
Its all very well balanced, and unlike
with orist). It feels like Capcom, rather
in other games where working as a team
than making schlocky, silly horror stories
seems like an optional thing, in Revelations 2
by accident has actually gone and done it
by design this time. Though admittedly we
it is absolutely necessary to make any
dont remember punching any boulders in
progress. This is partly down to the symbiotic
relationship between each duo, but also
Revelations 2.
because thankfully Revelations 2 provides
We really cant see fans of the series being
let down in any real way
quite the challenge
by Revelations 2 its
at times. Its not on
good fun, has some
Resident Evil 4 s level
intense
of panic-inducement I M P R O V I N G O N T H E O R I G I N A L genuinely
sequences, plays with
when it comes to the CONTROL YOU: Resident Evils of the past are
dead; long live the new Resident Evils. You can
inevitable tons of strafe, crouch, stealth kill, sprint and more the tank its own history in a
pleasing fashion and
enemies swarming controls are well and truly dead.
doesnt outstay its
you events, but after
welcome. Newcomers might be confused
your second or third outright failure in these
when it comes to certain series hallmarks
sections youll begin to realise that you really
and archaic design elements that those in the
do need to think, as well as pay attention to
know take for granted, but its definitely one
your item stocks. Yes, we once again have a
of the friendliest introductions to the series
Resident Evil thats stingy with its supplies
a non-Resi player could have. Even if it does,
and once again it works in the games favour.
As you progress through Revelations 2s
as said, get quite a bit more difficult as of the
second episode.
episodes you will begin to feel a slight sense
But there is an overall feeling of Okay,
of trudgery, it has to be said. While many
whats next? when its over. Revelations 2
elements are refined and improved on Resis
past, this is still a specific formula weve seen
wont stick with you for long, barring its
many times in the past and not just from
extra minigames, and while it encourages
this series. Its in that respect that the peculiar
speedruns and searching out hidden items,
episodic structure does actually help, as the
there isnt much to draw most players back
game is forcefully broken up into chunks you
in once its finished. Its absolutely on the right
can take on at your leisure. Still, its not a giant
track and gives us great hopes for Resident
leap forward for the series, even if it does
Evil 7, but what we have here, right now, in
show off some great progress from Capcoms
Resident Evil Revelations 2, is merely a pretty
near two decade old franchise.
decent game. Which, to be fair, is better than
some might have expected.
One area that cant help but raise a smile
for more than one reason is the story.
While the overarching narrative is pretty
WHILE NOT QUITE THERE, RESIS BACK ON TRACK

ENHANCED

RESIDENT EVIL
REVELATIONS

WORSE THAN

There are bountiful extras to be found in

Revelations 2 once youre done with the main
campaign. A lot of them cosmetic changes,
weapons and so on are paid-for DLC, but those
picking up the full season digitally do get a
few extra missions and modes to muck about
in. Easily the best extra is the RPG-like Raid
mode the natural evolution of the much-loved
Mercenaries mode from Resis past. Its a solid
extra on top of a solid game. One question we
do have right now though: will all the content be
included on-disc with the boxed release?

BETTER THAN

EXTRA, EXTRA!

RESIDENT EVIL 4

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

85

REVIEW XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3D 3DS

WorldMags.net

CHRONICLES OF EUPHORIA

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

86

FOR THOSE PUTTING OFF BUYING A NEW

3DS UNTIL THE RELEASE OF A MUST-HAVE
TITLE, THAT TIME MAY HAVE COME
chooses whether to engage, or can avoid
battle simply by staying out of eyesight.
Battles themselves are fast-paced realtime affairs, with your party members
automatically dishing out basic attacks while
special attacks (called Arts) build up and
can then be triggered at will. Being able to
freely run around the combat arena, avoiding
enemy attacks and dishing out commands
to your CPU-controlled teammates gives a
refreshing feeling of dynamism to fights,
leading to the unthinkable: a game that
actually makes you want to grind because
battling is such good fun.
And if it all goes wrong and an enemy gets
the better of you, you arent stripped of your
money or your items or anything similarly
frustrating that makes you think twice about

MONSTER HUNTER 4
ULTIMATE

AS GOOD AS

Meanwhile, while fetch quests are indeed

still present, players no longer have to travel
all the way across the games massive map to
deliver the goods: once located and collected,
the quest is automatically completed.
Random encounters are mainly in the hands
of the player too: creatures freely roam the
environment and often the player either

DETAILS
FORMAT: 3DS
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
DEVELOPER: Monster Games
PRICE: 39.99
RELEASE: 2 April
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

Barely
anything
has
been
compromised
in
Xenoblade
Chronicles journey to handheld.
Xenoblade Chronicles didnt quite enjoy the
enormous success many believed it deserved
on Wii. Despite improving the RPG genre
in numerous ways and offering arguably
the finest role-playing adventure of its
generation, lukewarm sales meant Monolith
Softs gem instead had to settle for cult
status. Nintendo is no doubt hopeful, then,
that this 3DS port of the game will attract a
new audience of gamers who missed it the
first time around. Thankfully, theyll get the
full experience too.
For the uninitiated, the game tells the story
of Shulk, an 18-year-old living in a world set
atop the ancient remains of two enormous
giants. When the mechanical life forms
that reside on one half of the world invade
Shulks half, he grabs the mythical Monado
sword and teams up with his friends to stop
the invasion.
What makes the game such a joy to play
isnt its plot however, but the way it completely
rewrites the RPG rule book, flat out refusing
to conform to the typical gameplay tropes
and standards set by countless other games
in the genre. The irritating aspects of many
RPGs random encounters, fetch quests,
forgettable NPCs are often accepted with
a sigh and thats just the way it is, but
Xenoblade instead questions why this is so
and offers alternatives which are frequently
better than the status quo.
The NPCs dotted around the world map
are not generic quest and chat providers,
but form the games interesting Affinity
Chart feature, where the more you gain each
characters trust the more you find out about
them and their relationships with certain
other NPCs. Over time, youll end up creating
a massive chart connecting everyone
in the game, lending the world a sense of
personality rarely found in the genre.

Below: Scattered across the map are a number of heartto-heart icons. When encountered with the right party
members with strong enough affinity, these trigger special
cutscenes that reveal more about the heroes relationships.

XENOBLADE
CHRONICLES WII

WorldMags.net

taking on the challenge again. Youre simply

sent to the nearest major landmark on the
map, fully powered-up and ready to go again.
This is a game that celebrates gung-ho
bravery, rather than punishing it.
The happy accident that comes as a result
of this streamlined, slog-reduced gameplay
is that Xenoblade Chronicles is not just a
great console game but also perfectly suited
for handheld gaming. Players can get a lot
of action out of a 20-minute session on the
bus, and the Story Memo feature, activated
by pressing the R button while the menu is
up, reminds you whats going on so you dont
suffer that all too common RPG nightmare
of loading up a game save after a little time
away and completely forgetting what you
were supposed to do next.
The port itself is as good as could be
expected given the 3DSs lack of power
compared to the Wii. Indeed, this is the first
game that is only playable on the New 3DS
hardware, its improved CPU speed providing
the extra horsepower needed to handle

WorldMags.net
A MODEL EXAMPLE

FAQs

New to the 3DS version is Collection mode, which lets you unlock character
models and music from the game. You do this by spending tokens: one token gets
you a random selection, whereas spending three will guarantee you get one you
dont already have. Tokens can be earned in three ways: either by spending Play
Coins earned by walking with the system (at a price of five Play Coins per token),
by StreetPassing other players with the game, or by using the Shulk amiibo figure.
To ensure those with hundreds of amassed Play Coins dont rinse Collection
mode dry right away, the models and music tracks you can win are progressively
unlocked as you play through the games main story.

Q. HOWS THE MUSIC?

Incredible. Pop headphones in and
the orchestral music is amazing
until the characters talk over it.

Q. WHAT ABOUT STANDARD

3DS?
Sorry, this is New 3DS only.
Nintendo will be selling the game
in a snazzy black box to avoid
confusion.

Q. DOES IT SUPPORT
AMIIBO?
Only the Shulk one, which is
frustrating because its incredibly
rare. It doesnt do much though
(see A Model Example to the left).

Left: The textures may

tend to be low-res but
theres no denying the
landscapes still look
positively breathtaking
at times.
Above: Although its an impressive port of the Wii game, the texture quality is
visibly low-res at times. This isnt a big problem, however: the smaller size of
the 3DS screen (particularly the non-XL model) means this is barely noticeable.

the port. Handled by Monster Games (the

shonky, with characters The Only Way Is
same studio responsible for the 3DS port
Chelsea accents and cringeworthy battle
of Wii title Donkey Kong Country Returns),
quips (Man, what a bunch of jokers) already
the target of numerous internet memes
the differences between the console and
following the Wii versions release.
handheld versions are only really noticeable
This relatively minor annoyance aside,
when you sit the two side-by-side, and even
everything else about Xenoblade Chronicles
then the 3DS port only suffers from slightly
reduced texture quality.
3D remains as incredible
To all intents and
as when it originally
purposes, this is pretty
came to the Wii. A few
much the Wii game on W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E years on it still remains
a handheld, running THE 3D: Despite being part of the title, Xenoblades
one of the finest RPGs
just as smoothly and 3D is underwhelming, and only really noticeable when money can buy, and
subtitles and icons float above the action. Given the
featuring
almost New 3DSs improved 3D, this is a shame.
the move to handheld
everything that the
only serves to further
console version does.
highlight the way its fast-paced gameplay
We say almost because theres a single
breathes new life into a flatlining genre. For
element missing in the 3DS version that may
anyone who had been putting off upgrading
upset some fans of the game. Presumably for
their 3DS hardware until the release of an
storage purposes, the option to play the game
essential New 3DS-only title would make it
with its original Japanese language track
a necessity, that time may have come much
has been removed, leaving players with only
sooner than you thought.
the English language dialogue instead. We
can easily see how this could be an irritation
to some as the English dub is notoriously
THE FIRST MAJOR REASON TO OWN A NEW 3DS

MISSING LINK

VERDICT / 10

Above: While the Circle Pad controls your character, special combat attacks can be selected
on the fly mid-battle using the D-Pad.

WorldMags.net

87

REVIEW THE ORDER: 1886 PS4

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LOOKS WILL ONLY GET YOU SO FAR

The Order: 1886

A shattered promise is worse than
no promise at all. The Order: 1886s
near-complete lack of intrigue, energy and
entertainment is an act of emotional sabotage in
the face of its pre-release hype and guarantees.
What was billed as an evolution of narrative
complexity and delivery within the videogame
space has revealed itself to be little more than a
blueprint on how to get everything from character
development to basic interaction wrong. A
palpable, sour, distasteful disconnect exists
between the promotional gusto underpinning
this project and its eventually realised form.
Where there was supposed to be the breaking
of new ground is a stretch of turf so well-trodden
that it contains no definition whatsoever, a flat,
monochromatic space so predictable that it
immediately feels more caricature than serious.
If youve been playing games with any kind of
regularity over the past decade then you will have
already seen everything The Order has to offer.
Whats more, youll have already experienced
it to a higher quality. A tired, awkwardly-paced
and awfully-written campaign is held feebly aloft
by a scaffold of quick-time events, aimless (and
enforced) swooning over graphical fidelity and
shooting gallery sequences of distinct mediocrity.
More often than not this is a game that feels
like a vanity project, an exercise in stuffing
every last pixel and polygon into every hair of
drearily rendered moustache. Such a focus on
extraneous makeup is simply inexcusable in the
face of such limp game design.
You play as Galahad, a knight of The Order and
a strong-minded individual intent on seeking out
the truth despite his peers reluctance to act out
of turn. As he romps his way around an alternate,
steampunk-inspired vision of Victorian London
he uncovers the supposedly secret realities
responsible for an increasingly powerful peasant
rebellion and a string of mysterious murders.
Only, its not a secret at all. Given the clumsy
writing and direction, the vast bulk of mystery
can be laid bare with marginal cerebral activity
within the first few of the included 16 chapters.
For a game aimed at adults, the plot, dialogue
and personalities on show are patronising to
say the least. If the only book youve ever read
is Wheres Wally?, theres a chance you might
be impressed by the storytelling. Otherwise, set
your expectations to zero.
Question marks over the leading characters
believability within their realm are raised

88

Right: Our hero, Galahad, a man

of honour and reputation, of
moustache and mutton chops. If
only being him was as enjoyable
as the idea of being him.

DETAILS
FORMAT: PS4
ORIGIN: USA
PUBLISHER: Sony
DEVELOPER: Ready At Dawn
PRICE: 54.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

Above: In this sequence you must look at the apple until Galahad holds it at the exact angle required to trigger a button prompt, at
which point he throws it as a distraction. That isnt a joke, you really do have to look over an apple until the angle is perfect...

consistently and from the off. Galahad,

accompanied by Lafayette, a French knight so
clichd you cant help but envision the Tricolore
underwear he must be sporting, must embark
on a mission to quietly infiltrate the slum-like
Whitechapel area thought to be the epicentre of
the rebellion. Immediately youre suspicious of
the pairs suitability for the job. Instead of carefully
traversing a set of wooden planks pinned across
a passage leading to the district, Lafayette simply
crashes through them, shoulder first. Hes proud
of his accomplishment, whereas the player cant
help but think hes an idiot for doing such a thing

Right: On a technical
level, the visual
quality is undeniable.
Characters move
believably and
skylines look
suitably dramatic,
which makes the
inferior writing and
actions that bit more
difficult to swallow.

IF YOUVE BEEN PLAYING GAMES WITH ANY KIND OF

REGULARITY OVER THE PAST DECADE THEN YOU WILL HAVE
ALREADY SEEN EVERYTHING THE ORDER HAS TO OFFER

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WorldMags.net
BETTER THAN

ALIENS COLONIAL
MARINES

WORSE THAN

BIOSHOCK

FAQs
Q. ANY FORM OF
MULTIPLAYER?
No. All development efforts have
gone into making The Order:
1886 a polished single-player
experience.

Q. IS IT AN ADULT
EXPERIENCE?
In terms of blood, nudity and
language: yes. In terms of
narrative intelligence: no.

Q. WILL IT APPEAL TO CALL

OF DUTY FANS?
This is a completely different kind
of shooter, a story-driven affair
with ambitions to be closer to the
likes of BioShock and Metro 2033.

A KNIGHTS ARSENAL
The available weapons range from standard shotguns and
sub-machine guns to more extravagant devices designed
and produced by The Orders imagining of Nikola Tesla,
acting here as Q from James Bond. Teslas inventions range
from a gun that can shoot branches of electricity and zap
multiple targets to one that fires gas clouds into enemy
positions and subsequently ignites them. Interesting they
are, well-implemented they are not. As with the rest of the
game, youre limited so severely that only a few moments
arise in which you can legitimately puts such devices
to good use. The result is that you feel teased, shown
something interesting only to have it snatched away again.

character as Galahad and believe that youre a

knight on a quest for truth and justice. Instead,
youre dragged through proceedings and told
what to do, what to look at, what to feel. This
would be perfectly acceptable rollercoaster if
the writing, acting and directing were on a par
with even the most questionable of Michael Bay
offerings, but its simply not.
The Order clearly sees itself as some sort of
bridge between the world of games and cinema,
but it fails miserably to create the essence, tones
or rewards offered by either medium. Its only
saving grace is that it offers so little by way of
Were told that these are great men, heroes of
new ideas that you feel
their time and champions
immediately safe in the
of their environment.
knowledge that its not
Clearly, theyre not. The
overarching idea of a W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E going to suddenly ask
Victorian London beset THE AWFUL STORY: The writing is terrible, despite you to do something that
claims of heightened storytelling and
youve not done hundreds
by fantastical problems is developer
narrative intrigue. For The Order to fail to provide a
of times before. You dont
an interesting one, but the decent script is, for this type of game, unforgivable.
need to worry about how
lens through which you
to play or what to do, you can simply slump into a
see the tale is so amateurishly constructed that
mild coma and have at it.
you can only laugh at the action as it stumbles
Other than that, it looks technical impressively.
drunkenly around in front of you.
On an art design level it could better frame its
Even worse is that youre given no freedom
world, but the graphical output does admittedly
to even temporarily remove yourself from the
do a fine job of demonstrating what this
tedium. Cutscene rolls into quick-time event,
hardware is capable of. The likelihood, given
which rolls into cutscene and into shooting and
the relative youth of the PS4, is that things are
back again. Sprinkled across this predictable
only going to get better. If nothing else, then, The
formula are some of the most ill-conceived
moments of enforced stealth youre ever likely to
Order: 1886 makes us excited for the kinds of
experience and mini-games (lock-picking, circuit
visuals we can expect in the future from other,
overloading) that, like everything else, favour
better games. Thats something, at least.
visuals over quality of interaction.
The design presents you with such a narrow
A CASE OF EXTREME HYPE AND ZERO REWARD
beam of focus that you never once slip into
on a shut-up-and-stay-in-the-shadows mission.
Minutes later, after dealing with a grunt that failed
to notice your deafening home improvements,
the bumbling buddies try to blend into a crowd
gathered to listen to a rousing speech on the
corruption of Londons ruling classes. The
knights are spotted, to their surprise, and make
a hasty getaway. Seemingly, theyve neglected
to realise that their gaudy, expensive clothes
couldnt possibly stand out any more obviously
amongst the poverty stricken masses.

MISSING LINK

VERDICT / 10

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89

REVIEW GROW HOME PC

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MORE ACORN THAN OAK

Grow Home
DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
ORIGIN: UK
PUBLISHER: Ubisoft
DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Reflections
PRICE: 5.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
MINIMUM SPEC: Intel Core Duo
2.5 GHz, 2GB RAM, 1GB GPU,
1GB HDD Space
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

JAZZPUNK

WORSE THAN

ETHER ONE

90

Its easy to look at smaller, digital

games from behemoth publishers
with an unfair sense of cynicism. Theres
a certain appeal that attaches itself to the
word indie, a sort of inexplicable resistance
against the supposed greed of corporations.
So when Ubisoft releases a colourful, simple
digital title all the while distancing itself from
the process and flinging Ubisoft Reflections
into the spotlight well, thats when the
furrowed brows start appearing. When big
business starts getting involved, thats where
the questions start getting asked. There are no
pitchforks here, however; whatever the motive,
Grow Home is a pleasant couple of hours.
You play as B.U.D, the flailing-armed robot
whose sole task is to nurture a star flower for
no other reason than youve been told to. That
alone is a refreshing approach gameplay
for the sake of it and it needs nothing more
than its vague and loose storyline to pin it
all together. Your goal is to plug the flowers
phallic offshoots into nearby floating rocks,

guiding the ever-growing branch into its

ultimate destination. Of course its not quite
as simple as that, since you first need to reach
the budding flowers to activate its sudden
growth spurt. As a result youll spend much
of the game left-click, right-clicking as you
guide the robot hand-by-hand carefully up
the side of rockfaces, flora and even the thick
trunk of the star flower itself. Its an unusual
system, one whose very action adds an extra
sense of tactility to the gameplay. It creates
an enduring sense of personal growth across
Grow Homes short runtime, an idea that
as you become better at manipulating the
awkward animations of B.U.D. youve gone
through a similar journey to the flower itself.
Sadly its not quite perfect, and ultimately
the very control system will cause you to
slip, fail and sometimes can become a point
of frustration as youre forced to repeat a
particularly arduous navigational challenge.
Aside from the required objective, theres
an unforced set of optional alternatives, too.

WorldMags.net

Above: Youll find a couple of items you can use as safety

nets should you accidentally fall, but if you do you may be
better forcing a death and a respawn instead.
Below: Once you get to grips with the unique controls you can
find yourself having a bit of fun just navigating the colourful
world. Its just a shame there isnt more to do in the game itself
to enforce this kind of gameplay.

WorldMags.net
FAQs
Q. HOW LONG?
Start to finish? Roughly two
hours, but a couple more if
you want to do absolutely
everything.

Q. A LOT OF
COLLECTIBLES?
Not really, and those that are
there arent really emphasised
by the game itself.

Q. ANY UPGRADES?
As you collect crystals youll
gain some better functions, but
nothing to get excited about.

Below: Struggling to pull

a sheep one-handed up
the side of a hill might
not sound like the most
entertaining form of
gaming in the world, but
theres a satisfying thrill
to achieving the selfset goal.

GROW HOME IS NOT A SUCCESS IN A

MECHANICAL FASHION, BUT INSTEAD
IN A CONTEMPLATIVE ONE
The first is a set of 100 crystals embedded
Its almost as if Grow Home is imitating
within the landscape; collect enough of these
the concept of a modern indie game those
and at periodic milestones youll be rewarded
exploratory, sensory experiences we see so
with a minor but helpful upgrade. The
much of rather than actually understanding
second is a database of fauna and flora that
what makes such a title appeal to gamers.
inhabit this colourful environment, a database
There needs to be more to do and see to feed
that can only be compiled by dragging each
the inquisitive mind, more to give outside of
undocumented item to one of only a handful of
itself. Each milestone in the flowers growth
teleporters. These become a puzzle in and of
adds renewed vigour, providing another
themselves, the reward in the very completion
platform from which to wander off and search
of the act rather than any tangible benefit
for these optional extras proof that Grow
from the game itself. Disappointingly, it does
Homes success is in aimlessness, a contrast
mean that without any recompense for the
to the very direct nature of plugging those
considerable challenge doing so can pose
branches into their various power sources.
theres no sense of drive to actually attempt to
There just isnt enough superfluous extras
carry these items to the teleporters, ultimately
to maintain your interest, and thats where
making this side venture
Grow Home could have
a thankless task not
succeeded the most.
worth the willpower
required to complete W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E
In spite of all this, it
it. Animals will resist, WHERE IN THE WORLD: Grow Home doesnt
does manage to offer
foster a sense of exploration, but its unique design
for example, and some and quirky controls enable a sense of fascination
an experience worthy
will even attack you Ubisoft needed to enhance that side of things.
of its admittedly low
suffering the stress for
cost. Its a serene sort
nothing other than personal achievement just
of game, a tranquil, uncomplicated few hours
isnt worthwhile.
of exploration. The combination of unique,
polygonal art style and hushed audio and
sound effects make for a relaxing, peaceful
And in a way thats the biggest problem with
title and once its over there is more to do
Grow Home. The very act of climbing to the top
in the form of collectibles and even a new,
of the world is, in itself, enjoyable enough to
post-ending task but its largely unrequited.
see you through to the end, but even before its
couple of hours are over, your interest begins
Grow Home, after all, is not a success in
to wane. The sense of exploration is drawn
a mechanical fashion, but instead in a
upon from the crystals, the challenge from
contemplative one and once youve achieved
the database; but nothing in the core game
that main goal theres not really much more
matches that sense of exploration. Theres a
desire to continue.
twee enjoyment in creating arbitrarily spiralled
And thats fine; it would be unfair to
stems, but it quickly becomes an irritant when
expect more from something that isnt
youre required to use more than one branch
looking to offer it. Though comparisons to
to connect to a power source wasteful
thatgamecompanys Journey or, perhaps
spiralling is too easily forgotten for the sake
more fittingly, Flower are abundant here,
of the job.
Grow Home simply doesnt impart the same
scale of emotion. It is pleasing, not passionate;
calming, not compelling. In that theres an
argument, perhaps, that the sentiment was
lost in the corporate machine, but to suggest
so would discredit Ubisoft Reflections work
here. Grow Home isnt the masterpiece youll
hang on the wall, its the vase of tulips on the
coffee table appreciated at the time, but
forgotten once they wither.

MISSING LINK

GET OVER HERE

The challenge of taking flora and fauna to teleportation points
in particular, the few animals youll meet adds a greater layer
of emergent puzzle solving that Grow Home just doesnt have
inherently in its game design. It almost makes us wish that Ubisoft
Reflections had focused on scanning the various elements of this
new world as the main objective of the game, added much more
disparate creatures and plants to find and provided a greater reward
upon completion of each new scan. Itd help bolster the sense of
exploration that Grow Home doesnt empower nearly enough, and
would make each new discovery much more personally elating.

VERDICT / 10

QUAINT SUNDAY AFTERNOON GAMING, AND NOT MUCH ELSE

WorldMags.net

91

REVIEW HOMEWORLD REMASTERED COLLECTION PC

WorldMags.net

NOSTALGIA JUNKIES REJOICE

Homeworld Remastered Collection

Amongst the spate of remasters,
remakes and rehashes of the
last few years, Homeworld is more
worthwhile than others. While the worst
examples have been cynical attempts to
cash-in with a casual re-skin or improved
texture pack, the best have added genuine
value to the original proposition. Happily,
the Homeworld Remastered Collection falls
into the latter camp, with new franchise
custodian, Gearbox Software, even taking
the opportunity to make small adjustments
to improve the underlying game based on
wisdom drawn from careful retrospection and
a vocal fan base.
Its a testament to the strengths of the
1999 original and its 2003 sequel that this
space-based RTS is worth re-introducing
into the 2015 PC game market at all.
Homeworld was a revelation when it was
originally released, offering epic space

92

DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
ORIGIN: US
PUBLISHER: Gearbox
Software
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 26.99
RELEASE: Out now
MINIMUM SPEC: Windows
Vista, 2.2GHz Dual Core
Processor, 1 GB RAM,
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
(512MB) / ATI Radeon
HD4800 (512MB), 20 GB
available space
ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes

combat in a three-dimensional environment

and while commanding dozens of units and
simultaneously manipulating multiple axes has
become second nature to todays audience,
Homeworld still has much that shines with
which to dazzle.
Its narrative beats to an evocative score and
its story is a space opera of the highest order
that sees a beleaguered race left homeless
aboard a giant mothership; its planet destroyed
in retaliation for the unwitting contravention
of a four-thousand-year-old covenant. What
follows is part-revenge, part-relocation effort
as you guide the Kushan against the ruthless

PLAYING THROUGH THIS IS AS

ENGAGING AS A WEEKEND SPENT
WATCHING BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

WorldMags.net

Taiidan empire with the story unfolding via

in-game chatter and stylised, hand-drawn
cut-scenes that bookend each of the games
sixteen missions. With another fifteen missions
making up Homeworld 2, the two games
are best viewed as two halves of one grand
tale that make playing through both titles as
engaging as a marathon weekend session
spent watching Battlestar Galactica on Blu-ray.
Reinforcing Homeworld s storytelling is its
persistent structure, which sees all units and
resources from one level carried over to the
next. As such, its possible to grow attached
to groups of units that have performed
particularly well, despite there being no explicit
progression system or experience trees for
them to gain meaningful veterancy. Instead,
researching new technologies enables you to
build new ships but its reassuring to know
that the early scouts and interceptors still have

WorldMags.net
Left: Effective use of 3D space is necessary to exploit some enemy
unit weaknesses and later missions require canny use of waypoints
and formation flying to maximise weaker ships potential.

FAQs
Q. AS COMPLICATED AS IT
LOOKS?
No, not really. The tutorial does
a good job of introducing the
basics and the difficulty curve
is reasonable even for RTS
newbies.

Q. WHERES HOMEWORLD:
CATACLYSM?
Rumours abound that the source
code has been lost, although
former Homeworld devs have
suggested that a remake could
still be possible.

Q. ARE SPACESHIPS COOL

AGAIN?
The number of high-profile
releases lined-up for 2015
certainly suggests so.

Right: Resource gathering is

key to the resupply of your
armada, which often means
mining must continue even as
war wages all around.
Below: The ability to target
specific ship elements opens
up several tactical options,
although they are easy to
overlook in the heat of battle.

a place in your fleet even after the hulking

being pulverised by the larger prey that they are
destroyers and heavy cruisers enter the fray.
meant to be harrying.
In practice, its you that grows in power and
experience as you develop new tactics and a
Homeworld s campaign missions constitute
greater understanding of the advantages of the
a worthwhile saga in their own right and the
grouping and formation systems. By mixing
original versions of Homeworld and its sequel
the nimble but poorly armoured fighter units
are also included for those who want to turn
with heavier frigates and cruisers, you create
back the years. Nonetheless, there is an
numbered groups that specialise against rival
additional option present in the game launcher
ships vulnerabilities or can run interception
should you wish to test your mettle against rival
patterns when your
captains. Homeworlds
mothership or resource
multiplayer is in beta,
gatherers come under
which carries with it the
fire. The action is most I M P R O V I N G O N T H E O R I G I N A L associated caveats about
spectacular up close, SWEET SIXTEEN: By taking the time to consider
being a work in progress,
best to present a game from the late Nineties,
although its often most how
but it deftly blends
Gearbox has shown it is capable of updating a
practical to view it from beloved IP in an appropriate manner.
together the remastered
afar in order to react to
versions and their
new threats, particularly when your handful of
associated factions for both co-op and versus
units swells to a fully fledged armada
play. The former also introduces a simple
Straightforward but versatile ship abilities
but welcome competitive element by tasking
further enhance your ability to react to an
cooperative partners with researching, building
unexpected turn of events. The lowly salvage
or mining a certain number of techs, ships or
corvette remains a favourite right to the end
resource units before their teammates.
for while it lacks firepower, its ability to hustle
There are some balancing issues stemming
lone enemy ships and drag them back to base
mainly from the fact that it incorporates all four
for conversion and redeployment against their
factions from both Homeworld titles that were
former masters is a trick that never gets old
theoretically never meant to meet. However,
and one that actually becomes essential later
Gearbox appears committed to improving this
in the game. Despite the healthy variation in
element of the game and if it shows the same
the five basic ship models and the fact that
care and attention that its shown elsewhere
a number of the later levels prove incredibly
in the remastering then the multiplayer should
challenging, the game does well to empower
grow to become a great deal more robust in the
you with its systems, rather than leaving you
coming weeks and months.
feeling lost in space.
This Remastered Collection represents a
However, while most of the minor changes
genuinely valuable and worthwhile reworking
that Gearbox has elected to make ultimately
of beloved franchise that has been out of the
enhance Homeworld such as dropping the
spotlight for many years. It looks fantastic and
boasts a story worth telling, but perhaps the
necessity to manage fuel as a resource and
most satisfying thing about this update is that
removing the requirement to mine resources
it offers both long-term fans and new recruits
at the end of each mission or lose them
the same thing: a solid, rewarding and relevant
a scant few appear less successful and so
space RTS that belies its significant age.
ships can be more frequently caught out of
formation and pulverised than in the original
Homeworld. As such, manual intervention is
sometimes required to prevent errant units
THE WAY REMASTERS SHOULD BE MADE

ENHANCED

MODDABLE SPACE
BETTER THAN

TOTAL WAR: ROME 2

AS GOOD AS

The Homeworld community never really went

away, it just had to find alternative ways to enjoy
its beloved franchise long after official support
dried-up. That might explain why there are
already scores of mods available for Homeworld
Remastered via Steam Workshop. From those
that rebalance the remastered versions difficulty
levels or tweak the AI and UI to those that restore
classic movement and formation patterns, theres
a multitude of ways to enhance this enhanced
version still further. You can even turn a certain
legendary starship into a giant grizzly bear

ELITE: DANGEROUS

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

93

REVIEW OLLIOLLI 2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD PS4

WorldMags.net

THIS IS HOW YOU ROLL NOW

OlliOlli 2:
Welcome To
Olliwood
If the original OlliOlli could very
broadly be described as a 2D version
of EA Black Boxs Skate, then its sequel
is essentially a 2D version of Neversofts
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3. Any semblance of
realism has been unceremoniously kickflipped
to the curb, and the ludicrous gameplay is
augmented by a newly garish visual style and a
universe of ghoulish theme parks and futuristic
cityscapes. The modest visuals of the original
have been overhauled completely, and not only
is there a more fluid sense of momentum here,
but also unassuming-but-effective pyrotechnics
like fireworks and lens flare. This doesnt feel
like a 16-bit relic, but a scaled-down port of
the most sophisticated skateboarding game
ever made; with everything curtailed except for
the gameplay.
Tony Hawks 3 was all about linking lengthy
grinds together via manuals and reverts, and
so is OlliOlli 2. In a bona fide masterstroke, Roll7
has vividly colour-coded almost every applicable
surface. In the Carnival of the Dead area, the
ground is a bright baby blue and grind rails are
blazing hot pink, while in the Multi Platform
Development zone theyre sky blue and fiery
orange respectively. This gives the gameplay
a very visceral kind of immediacy; although
the supremely difficult later levels virtually
demand that you learn them before youre able
to earn respectable high scores, you can swoop
through the first half of the game entirely by
the seat of your pants. Those first few levels
occasionally feel like theyve been torn straight
out of a rhythm action game, and the timingbased demands when youre trying to nail
pitch perfect landings and grinds have been

DETAILS
FORMAT: Playstation 4
OTHER FORMATS:
Playstation Vita
ORIGIN: UK
PUBLISHER: Roll7
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 9.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

FAQs
Q. IS IT DIFFICULT?
Its definitely tough later on, but
this is a much more accessible
game than the first one was.

Q. ANY OTHER FORMATS?

Nothing has been announced
officially, but you can probably
expect OlliOlli 2 to appear
elsewhere at some point.

Q. IS THERE CO-OP?
Not at launch, but Roll7 has
promised that four-player local
multiplayer modes are well on
their way.

THIS DOESNT FEEL LIKE A 16-BIT RELIC, BUT A

SCALED-DOWN PORT OF THE MOST SOPHISTICATED
SKATEBOARDING GAME EVER MADE

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WorldMags.net
Left: Big tricks result in big momentum: a formula that will prove
invaluable when youre furiously trying to gather a bit of speed.
Being conservative with your tricks does not help in the long run.

Left: If you played the

original game on the
Playstation Vita and
recall the alternately
skittish and laggy
touchscreen menus, you
can rest easy: theyve
been scrapped. OlliOlli 2
on Vita is a polished
carbon copy of the PS4
version.

ever-so-slightly slackened. It would be only a

minor understatement to suggest that OlliOlli 2s
opening makes the beginning of its predecessor
look like the final stretch of Super Meat Boy.

suffered terribly because of the first games

somewhat fudged launch. Online leaderboard
support was desperately faulty for almost a
full month after OlliOlli debuted on Vita, but
there doesnt appear to be any such issues
here. If you ever need reminding that the Daily
Grind is an excellent excuse for you to switch on
OlliOlli 2 during your honeymoon period, a daily
countdown timer is perpetually housed as
it was previously in the
top left corner of the level
select menu.

But purists neednt worry. As in the first game,

buried underneath the Amateur levels are some
deeply challenging Pro re-skins, which in turn
are superseded by the ludicrously tough Rad
mode iterations. While
Rad mode has been
created expressly for the
harder-than-hardcore, I M P R O V I N G O N T H E O R I G I N A L
the Pro levels are far BRISK TUTORIAL: It could be argued that the
The bite-sized Spots
OlliOlli had a rather obtuse tutorial. No such
more palatable than original
mode returns too, and
complaints will be made this time. The learning curve
their counterparts in here is very slight in comparison.
because of the wealth
the first game. Around
of new weapons (read:
half of them need to be studied and involve a
tricks) that are available to you, its even more
hefty amount of trial and error, but the other
compelling than it was last time. Every last spot
half can be buzzed through relatively painlessly.
course has leaderboard support, and theres
You wont complete any of the applicable Pro
even a leaderboard for each players overall
challenges without a fight, but this neat fifty-fifty
mode tally. When youre competing against
split is a very gracious way of making nonfriends, Spots continues to be a diabolical time
obsessives feel welcome for longer.
sink, and the only disappointment involves the
Because of the sheer intravenous excitement
lack of a Trials Evolution -style replay lobby.
that it provides, Grind Switching is the smartest
Replays are most sorely missed on the later
new gameplay mechanic by some distance. It
tracks that contain multiple pathways; the
allows you to pivot 180 degrees during a grind,
alternate routes almost always feel completely
and because the game knows how tempting
balanced, but its often very difficult not to
(and rewarding) those manoeuvres are to
wonder why your high score isnt quite bothering
execute, hardly any grind-able surfaces in the
the leaderboards upper echelons. Despite the
campaign are lengthy enough for you to be
relish of the games more secretive fanatics,
able to do so comfortably. When youre on the
the appearance of a communal replay system
hunt for high scores, this system turns every
whether it be at a later date or in a sequel is all
grind into a tense gamble, primarily because
but guaranteed.
tricking too soon after a grind switch results
OlliOlli 2 is polished and thrilling in ways that
in an instantaneous bail. Its quite easy to
its predecessor was not. The original game
ignore grind switching at first, but once youve
was all about honing a series of perfect little
started dabbling you wont be able to leave it
moments, and the sequel demands that you
alone; a situation that will coincide with the
now string them seamlessly together. Whether
demolition of the scores of any friends who
you tackle it on Playstation 4 or Playstation
havent taken a similar plunge. Disappointingly,
Vita, it is a glorious stronghold of scintillating
the revert system, bountiful as it often appears
craftsmanship and ingenious design. Bigger
to be in terms of points, is something of a hollow
games will launch on both systems this year;
inclusion in comparison.
whether any of them are finer than this remains
The Daily Grind, in which online players have
to be seen.
24 hours (and one attempt, not including practice
runs) to post a high score to a specific track
section, was a genius idea from the get-go, but
A DAZZLING BLAST OF NEAR-PERFECTION

ENHANCED

BETTER THAN

OLLIOLLI

WORSE THAN

TONY HAWKS
PRO SKATER 3

POP? SHOVE IT.

The original OlliOlli s soundtrack was praised for its quality as well as
for how brilliantly unusual it was, and the sequel is happy to continue in
that tradition. OlliOlli 2 features tracks from jazz performer Mike Slott, electro
specialist Troy Gunner, Ninja Tune luminary Slugabed and the American multiinstrumentalist StarRo. The sequels initial status as an off-kilter rhythm action
game wouldnt exist if the soundtrack wasnt this good, and the team at Roll7
clearly collated these tracks very carefully indeed. Sadly though, there is
currently no way of buying (digitally or otherwise) a soundtrack album for this
game or its predecessor. That said, there is a full track listing available in the
Music section of the credits menu for those wishing to adopt a DIY approach.

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

95

REVIEW MONSTER HUNTER 4 ULTIMATE 3DS

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Left: Monster Hunter
has always been best
when played with friends
and the fourth game is
no exception. Teaming
up with up to three
others is the best way to
take on the games bigger
beasts, such as elder
dragon Teostra.

NEWCOMERS, THE HUNT FOR AN ENTRY POINT IS OVER

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

DETAILS
FORMAT: 3DS
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Capcom
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 39.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-4
ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes

BETTER THAN

MONSTER HUNTER 3
ULTIMATE

WORSE THAN

From its opening scene, which

forces you into a naval battle against
a massive sea beast and sees you crawling
on its back at one point, its clear that
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is trying to offer
something different to its predecessors.
Granted, its underlying aim remains the same:
as the titular monster hunter, the player must
embark on numerous quests to slay various
enormous beasts. This time, however, narrative
takes more of a central role, giving more reason
to what youre doing and introducing a storyline
eventually involving a virus that turns relatively
weak monsters into ruthless beasts.
Its also far more welcoming to newcomers
this time around, its wealth of optional tutorial
quests making it the best jump-in point for
those curious about the series but intimidated
by the third games unspoken You know what
youre doing, well let you get on with it tone.
Battles make more use of verticality this
time, with players able to gain higher ground
and use it to leap on top of monsters from
above, performing stronger attacks and even
mounting them at times to allow for numerous

POKEMON X & Y

control provided by the Circle Pad Pro or

strikes. This is reflected in the landscapes
New 3DS, and though theres an option to
which are more complex than those in the third
lock the camera to the beast youre currently
game, offering numerous ledges and cliffs and
fighting there can still be times where it feels
generally making the environment feel more
awkward. Meanwhile, while co-op quests are
like a real world to be explored rather than
a treat when played locally, the lack of voice
elaborately disguised battle arenas.
chat when playing them
Capcom
has
online means they can
clearly taken on board
feel like oddly lonely
feedback from fans
of the series, which I M P R O V I N G O N T H E O R I G I N A L experiences even when
joined by three other
would go some way EXPEDITIONS: These drop you in a randomlygenerated area with random monsters to fight. You
friends, making local
to explaining why can then generate a quest based on your discovery
the way to go if possible.
underwater combat, and send it to other players to take on.
These problems
despised by many, has
aside, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is probably
thankfully been removed from this latest entry.
It hasnt completely answered all our prayers,
the best game in the series to date. Though
however: for example, the often infuriating eggthere are still some who will be intimidated
carrying quests in which players have to
by its scale and put off by its deliberately
capture monster eggs and transport them to
slow, momentum-based combat style, its as
a different area, with the very real likelihood
accessible as its ever been and should be a
that theyll be dropped at some point make an
positive step forward in Capcoms quest for
unwelcome return.
widespread Monster Hunter love in the west.
The game isnt without other niggles too.
Controlling the camera can be a bit fiddly if you
NOT WITHOUT ISSUES, BUT THE BEST ENTRY YET
dont have the benefit of a second analogue

ENHANCED

Above: Each monster requires a specific strategy to defeat it. Sand dragon Dahren Mohran is
easiest to beat by firing cannonballs at it from your ship to weaken it and ideally break its
arms, rendering it incapable of performing some attacks.

96

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

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REVIEW HOTLINE MIAMI 2: WRONG NUMBER PC

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HOTLINE MIAMI 2 ELEGANTLY DESTROYS THE

NAYSAYERS CLAIMING PIXEL ART HAS KILLED
ITSELF THROUGH CLICH AND SATURATION

YOUR OWN PERSONAL SLAUGHTER

Currently in alpha, Hotline Miami 2 will
eventually include a full level editor within
which you can create your own arenas to
shot and stab your way through. A simple grid
system allows you to place floor tiles, doors,
walls, enemies, stairs and weapons wherever
you see fit. The editor is currently in a bare
bones state, but it works beautifully once youve
got to grips with its quirks of presentation.
If youre the masochistic type that thinks the
main game doesnt hold enough challenge, then
youve all the tools you need here to raise the
difficulty. Anyone care to place a wager on
how long itll be before someone knocks up
a Star Wars-inspired level? And that it will be
absolutely brutal?
Above: As in the original, different masks provide you different abilities
and, sometimes, limitations. Tony, for instance, can kill with his fists but
he cant wield any weapons whatsoever. Once youve gotten to grips with
the playing style, its one of the more rewarding masks to wear.

98

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WorldMags.net

Above: The content on offer

here is most certainly not
suitable for kids, the visual
style often resulting in an
unnerving juxtaposition
between extreme violence and
rainbow-chromatic gaudiness.
Most certainly, there are
scenes more graphic than
those shown here.

HOTLINE MIAMI

Hotline Miami 2:
Wrong Number
The difficult second album problem
applies not only to music. In the realm of
videogames, plenty of revered games and creators
have been undermined by an inability to provide
a sequel that is anywhere near the quality of the
original. But from the challenging content to the
arresting visuals, from the achingly cool music to
the ferocious difficulty, everything that made Hotline
Miami great is served up once again here.
Dont think the similarities undermine the
experience, though. A range of initially subtle
changes to the formula eventually reveal
themselves as impactful and welcome alterations
and additions. Most immediate is the greater
diversity. Where the first game saw you ransack a
number of buildings that featured uniformly similar
shades of pink floors, white walls and brown doors,
here youre quickly moved between interior and
exterior locations, gang hideouts and film sets,
forests and night clubs. Its a glorious diversification
of a focused visual style and one that elegantly
destroys the naysayers claiming pixel art has killed
itself through clich and saturation.

WORSE THAN

FORMAT: PC
OTHER FORMATS: PS3, PS4,
PS Vita, Mac, Linux
ORIGIN: Sweden
PUBLISHER: Devolver
Digital
DEVELOPER: Dennaton
Games
PRICE: 10.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
MINIMUM SPEC: Windows
XP/Vista/7, 1.2GHz
processor, 1GB RAM,
DirectX 8-compatible
graphics card with
at least 32MB of
video memory
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

INTO A HEART OF DARKNESS

BETTER THAN

DETAILS

GTA V

FAQs
Q. DO I NEED TO PLAY THE
ORIGINAL?
The narrative continues on from
the first game, so a level of
familiarity certainly helps.

Q. IS THERE ANY FORM OF

MULTIPLAYER?
No, as with the original this is a
strictly single-player only game.

Q. MORE HOTLINE AFTER

THIS?
Dennaton has previously stated
that this will be the final game
in the series.

Above: Narrative moments such as this, in which a movie star is being interviewed for TV in
front of a live audience, are carriers for the themes and messages that Hotline Miami 2 is so
skilled at communicating.

level that tests very specific skills, something that,

in hindsight, the original lacked once youd reached
a certain degree of competence. Brutally, there are
missions that refuse you the right to use firearms
at all and yet take great pleasure in throwing what
can seem like an endless stream of enemies your
way. Remaining open to experimentation is key
to progression given this consistent changing of
The broader range of colour schemes and
the rules. The player doomed to failure is the one
layouts is mirrored in the varying scale of levels,
that stubbornly sticks to methods that have seen
with the long-winded and exhausting transitioning
success in the past, with
into the short and sharp,
certain levels here going
and back again. Pleasingly,
so far as to switch which
this prevents the campaign
feeling like a chore. I M P R O V I N G O N T H E O R I G I N A L character youre in control
of partway through
Just as fatigue over the GREATER VARIETY: Everything from the visuals to
the challenges to the characters have been diversified.
impenetrability is beginning RUNNING TIME: Its bigger than the original, requiring sometimes multiple times.
to set in youre given a you to spend more hours reaching its conclusion.
decidedly easier task to
Its eye-opening to see
overcome, allowing you to regain your composure
just how much a slight change in your available
before being thrown back to the sharks.
actions change the experience. This stands as
Understandably buoyed by the plaudits it has
testament to how well honed Hotline Miami s
received, Dennaton has branched out into more
underlying principles really are, with every
complex mission design to fill these expansive
slight deviation resulting in a clear and obvious
spaces. A new type of difficulty is thrown at you
modification and effect. The emphasis on using
in the form of strict loadout limits, with certain
different characters and being forced to master
missions asking you to select a weapon and forcing
different abilities makes sense when viewed
you to stick with it until completion. This flies in the
through the narrative. Set primarily after the events
face of one of Hotline Miami s core building blocks:
of Hotline Miami 1, the story encapsulates the
the ability to pick up and throw away any weapon
personal lives of many more characters. Before the
you come across.
finale youre given access to the eyes of a troubled
These weapon-limiting missions stick out in the
actor, a soldier, a detective, a journalist and more.
mind as expertly balanced examples. The very fact
Themes centre around political and social
that designer Jonatan Soderstrom knows which
unrest, with emphasis on the effect that horror,
weapon youre holding allows him to better craft a
gore and violence as depicted in the media has

ENHANCED

had, and might continue to have, on civilisation

as a whole. The journalist embodies this idea
with particular elegance, his seemingly neutral
facade able to be corrupted by the player should
you so desire. By presenting this content via the
different viewpoints and experiences held by the
cast, Dennaton has managed to both expand its
narrative horizons and lay waste to the idea that
its particular brand of controversial bloodshed is
nothing more than gratuitous self-publicity. There
will, of course, be those that venomously object to
the content here (its already banned in Australia),
but a deeper reading of the subject matter reveals a
message that stands in protest to certain elements
of our present reality. Its a message written in
the language of that which it stands in opposition
against. What better way to get your point across?
Everything here, from the narrative to the
gameplay, is completely devoid of hand-holding
and patronisation. What can be learned and
understood takes time to uncover and master, a
tack that sets Hotline Miami 2 apart from modern
mainstream game design and its obsessing over
players never feeling stuck or frustrated. It takes
effort to receive your rewards here and, as a result,
success is all the more satisfying. It is, therefore,
worth playing through everything included multiple
times to fully appreciate the goals that Dennaton
has aimed for and the results it has achieved. This
is not merely a sequel worth playing, its one worth
consuming again and again until its every secret
has been revealed.

VERDICT / 10

ONE OF THE BEST GAMES OF 2015 SO FAR

WorldMags.net

99

REVIEW FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 HD PS4

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THEY HAVE ARRIVED

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Lets be honest, what weve played
of Final Fantasys Fabula Nova
Crystallis series hasnt been great. So
far, it consists of a polarising mainline Final
Fantasy title, a poor sequel to that game, and
some gratuitous Lightning fan service. So, its
actually a relief to see something different
(ie something that doesnt have XIII in the
title) in this new tale of the crystal, even if
it has taken three and a half years to reach
our shores.
Final Fantasy Type-0 has transcended
its PSP origins and has made a new highdefinition home on the PS4 and Xbox One,
courtesy of developers, HexaDrive, who
previously worked on remasters of Okami
for PS3 and The Wind Waker for the WiiU. A
lot of Type-0s original praise was focussed
on its core systems, approach to combat
and presentation, and that praise somewhat
translates to the HD version, albeit diluted.

100

DETAILS
FORMAT: PlayStation 4
OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Square Enix
DEVELOPER: HexaDrive
PRICE: 49.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

From the off, it is clear that Type-0 HD

is a glorified PSP game and, to be fair, no
attempt has been made to hide that fact.
Environments are small, cutscenes are
sparse, and the game has a handheld-friendly
mission-based approach to its story. Textures
and models have been updated and are up to
scratch with the last generation, but the PS4
and Xbox One arent exactly going to strain
when handling this. Its pretty baffling, then,
that weve heard no murmurs of a PS3, 360
or even PSVita release, because they can

TYPE-0 HDS OBVIOUS STRENGTH IS

IN ITS COMBAT SYSTEM. THE GAMES
COMBAT PLAYS OUT LIKE A MUCH
MORE FLUENT KINGDOM HEARTS

WorldMags.net

all likely bear the brunt of this lightweight

title. Dont let this put you off, though,
because if you are willing to see past this,
you will be rewarded with a gem of a Final
Fantasy title.
The game spins a tale of war, where a
nation that can only be described as evil
just because invades its neighbours using
unprecedented and brutal methods. Class
Zero, a band of elite cadets (and your playable
characters) has been charged with the
liberation of its home country. This then leads
to covert missions that will affect the outcome
of the war. This is rather a basic concept for a
game that bears the Final Fantasy moniker,
as anyone whos played any of them will
know. However, credit where it is due, Type-0
HD approaches its story in a well-executed
dark tone. In one of the opening scenes a
stoic, likeable character and his Chocobo

WorldMags.net
Left: The games story is one of war, and the dark presentation reflects
that. There are times where you feel uncomfortable with what you are
watching, and, for a Final Fantasy game, thats something new.

FAQs
Q. DO SUMMONS RETURN?
Yes, your party leader holds the
ability to summon an Eidolon,
however, at the cost of their life.

Q. WHAT ABOUT LIMIT

BREAKS?
Kind of. You can execute a Triad
where each member of your
squad performs a special attack.

Q. WHATS THE CRYSTAL

THEME?
Like all Final Fantasys, Type-0
HD has a theme surrounding
crystals. This time, crystals are
kind of like gods or falCies.

Below: Without a doubt, Ace is

the most versatile character
and is one that new players
should pick up first. He has a
teleport and a mix of ranged
and melee attacks, which
makes him ideal for exploiting
weaknesses.

gets gunned down and is left crying out for

has their own level and ability tree, not to
his mother while he slowly bleeds out next to
mention their own weapon and armour slots.
his feathered steed as they perish together.
Managing an entire roster can bring out the
This is the darkest Final Fantasy title we have
inner schoolteacher in you: obviously you
have your favourites, but you have to toil away
seen, and that is by far not the worst thing
to bring everyone up to scratch, even the ones
that happens.
you hate were looking at you, Machina. A
Type-0 HD s obvious strength is in its
combat system. The games combat plays out
lot of the time you will find your downtime in
like a much more fluent Kingdom Hearts. You
between the games missions grinding levels
and ability points by triggering random battles
control one of three party members (although
in the Overworld to even out everyones level.
you are able to switch between them),
Thats right: the Overworld. That system
who can move freely in the battle area whilst
which we havent seen since FFIX has finally
firing off attacks, abilities, or performing
dodge-rolls and short-range teleports.
made a welcome return. Not only has it
Enemies have unique attack patterns, and,
returned, but it has been made better with
if you are observant
the added inclusion
enough, you can trigger
of monsters you can
a
killsight
(read:
encounter on the field
instakill) when an enemy W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E alongside the classic
is exposed after they REMASTERED CONTROLS: Aside from an extra
random battles that we
analogue stick, the remaster doesnt use the extra buttons
miss an attack. The that were absent on the PSP. Some functions require
are familiar with.
combat, then, opens up multiple button presses that couldve easily been remapped.
But Type-0 HDs
an element of kiting, and
excellent gameplay
mixing of abilities and attacks to achieve the
and systems are somewhat marred by some,
best results; its extremely fluent.
quite frankly, antiquated problems. The game
has a temperamental and jolty camera
which leads, to some frustrating moments
Supporting this combat system is Type-0s
where you either cant see where you are
cast of 15 playable characters. Wed forgive
going or who you are targeting. There is also
you for thinking that due to such a large
no way to tweak your allys AI meaning they
number, some of these characters will be
will run blindly into battle. This is particularly
duffs, forever consigned to the forgotten part
problematic in sequences where you are
of your party list where the cobwebs grow.
supposed to run from powerful foes and you
This is not the case. Each character feels
see your team Leeroy Jenkins themselves
different and there is so much variety that
to death.
you will find someone who suits your style.
If you are willing to look past its issues,
Do you like the sound of the aforementioned
then Type-0 is definitely worth your time, and
kiting, and exploiting of weaknesses? Ace is
your guy. How about Lancers and Dragoons,
it is far better than some of the other games in
theyre the badasses, right? Pick Nine. What if
the Crystallis series. If we had to choose any
you only exclusively play Ivy from SoulCalibur
Final Fantasy game that acts as the harbinger
for the messiah that is Final Fantasy XV,
and hate everyone else? Well now you also
play as Seven. The variance is staggering
then it would be this one, purely thanks to its
and its a feat to achieve this on a current-gen
markedly similar and stellar combat system.
level, let alone on a PSP back in 2011.
With such a large cast comes an inevitable
amount of micromanagement. Each character
A GOOD PLACEHOLDER FOR FINAL FANTASY XV

MISSING LINK

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
AS GOOD AS

CRISIS CORE:
FINAL FANTASY VIII

WORSE THAN

Similar to the Persona series, the game gives

you a set amount of downtime in between story
missions which you can spend as you like. Your
allotted time can range from mere hours to days,
and each activity consumes a set amount time.
You can take part in lectures to enhance earn a
roster-wide experience boost. You can also take
to the games Overworld and explore towns or
caverns and complete tasks supplied by the various
denizens of the world. If you cant be bothered with
all that, you can simply report to the war room and
speak with an officer to fast-forward time.

FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD

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VERDICT / 10

101

REVIEW SCREAMRIDE XBOX ONE

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LAST COAST ON THE LEFT

Screamride
Weve always had something of a
disconnect with rollercoaster games.
As enjoyable and satisfying as it is to craft
a rail-runner that would make The Big One
look like the little one, it all feels a little bit
pointless. Hitting the button to actually ride
your creation just amplifies the difference
between videogames and real life theres
no real thrill to watching a rollercoaster ride
through a television screen. Screamrides
mission is to rectify this long-standing issue,
by empowering you to actually control the car
as it careens over the rails. Yes, you might
not be able to change direction or drift around
corners, but Screamride lets you determine
how hard you want to take a bend, how quickly
youre going, and even lets you push it to the
absolute limit or suffer the consequences
your car flying off the rails and crashing into
the surrounding scenery, smashing it to pieces
in the process.
Frontiers latest is actually divided into three
distinct sections. The aforementioned railriding is your introduction to this oddly anodyne
world of faceless robot people and gurning
thrill-seekers, but its not the only way to fly.
You can, of course, build your own coaster, in
the finest Frontier tradition, and the game sets
you a series of specific construction missions
in order to learn the intricacies of what is
a very accessible toolset. Rounding up the
trio is, aptly, the option to shatter everything
into dust. Destruction challenges let you fire
a group of hapless Screamride testers out
of a trebuchet, into a building, and watch
as it comes collapsing to earth in a most
satisfying fashion.
This is definitely a more varied theme
park than weve had in recent years, although
dont expect any sort of broad management
overview Screamride is, quite simply, all
about rollercoasters. Build, ride, destroy.
Quite why its set in a universe that seems to
be part Portal and part Remember Me, with
robots that also look like fencers, is anyones
guess. Given, then, that the game insists on
splitting things into threes, it makes sense for
us to do the same. Riding the rails is probably
the most interesting aspect of Screamride
because it genuinely feels new. Obviously
weve had plenty of fast-paced racing games
that let you spin through loops and leap over
massive gaps before, from F-Zero to Extreme
G, but rarely have they been truly on-rails.

102

DETAILS
FORMAT: Xbox One
OTHER FORMATS: Xbox 360
ORIGIN: UK
PUBLISHER: Microsoft
DEVELOPER: Frontier
PRICE: 29.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

Above: While the surrounding areas are barren and lifeless, the actual rollercoasters gleam in
pristine orange and the game moves quickly and smoothly even when you have your thumb
jammed on the turbo.

BUILD A SCARE
Once youre done with Screamrides career mode, youre free to build whatever you
want in Sandbox. This lets you loose with the games comprehensive toolkit, allowing you
to build increasingly complex structures to either test your driving skills, or to see what
sort of damage you can create. Theres impressive depth once you get past standard
rails too, with launchers and switches letting you create all manner of death-defying
(or death-bringing) devices to the weird, futuristic land of Screamride. Anyone brought
up on Frontiers rollercoaster games will be in heaven toying with such a complete
toolkit, and with the opportunity to share your creations online, theres no limit to your
rollercoasting ambitions.

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
BETTER THAN

FUZION FRENZY 2

screams-per-second by building structures

Screamride makes up for this relative lack
so grand and terrifying that no sane human
of interaction by allowing you to lean into
being would ever dare ride them. And not
bends, shifting the cars weight up onto two
just because theyre likely to fly off into a
wheels and gaining the maximum amount
nearby building, although thats probably a lot
of lateral G-force before you topple over and
of the reason.
send your poor crew into
Anything you can
the ocean below.
build can be destroyed.
Also, sections of the
tracks are highlighted, WHAT MAKES THIS GAME UNIQUE Destruction mode sits
somewhere between
and give you a turbo RIDE OR DIE: These rollercoasters are made to be
ridden, and you can do just that.
boost if you can time THEN BREAK IT DOWN: When youre fed up of
Angry Birds and shortan X button press creating, you can just start destroying.
lived Kinect effort
just as youre about to
Wreckateer. You can aim
exit them. Build up your boost and you can
a sort of spinning trebuchet at the buildings
shave seconds off your time, but go too fast
ahead of you, then control its rotational speed
and, once again, youll be in the drink. Its a
before lining up your shot and letting go. A
surprisingly enjoyable and speedy experience,
little bit of aftertouch brings to mind Burnout s
somewhere between a racer and a rhythm
crash mode, but basically this is a mode about
action game without ever reaching the heights
slinging a ball into a building and watching it
of either genre. Still, theres something to
fall down.
be said about actually riding a rollercoaster
you built yourself in Sandbox mode. Plus, the
The physics are a little iffy buildings tend to
building itself is very slick. Early construction
crumble at the slightest nudge but who cares
missions charge you with simply completing
when its so enjoyable to watch it all come
small sections of track (with the freedom
crashing down. This is probably the slenderest
to shape them how you wish), but as you
of Screamrides trifecta of rollercoaster action,
progress youll learn how to maximise your
but its undeniably enjoyable. Perhaps best of

FINGERPRINT

WORSE THAN

THEME PARK

FAQs
Q. CAN YOU BUILD ROLLERCOASTERS?
You certainly can, and the toolkit
available is very easy to use .

Q. HOWS THE DRIVING?

Simple but speedy and surprisingly
unique. Its charms quickly wear
off, but its an exhilarating couple
of hours.

Q. WHY IS EVERYONE A
ROBOT?
This is a question for everyone at
Frontier. Maybe theyve all been
playing too much Elite Dangerous.

FIRE A GROUP OF HAPLESS SCREAMRIDE TESTERS

OUT OF A TREBUCHET INTO A BUILDING AND WATCH
AS IT COMES COLLAPSING TO EARTH
all is the combination of all three elements.
Building a deliberately dangerous coaster,
riding it into oblivion, then controlling your
free-flying car as it crushes a shiny structure,
genuinely fun stuff. Sadly, its nothing that can
sustain your attention for much time.
Unless youre a true rollercoaster
obsessive and the thought of architecturally
challenging yourself to build the best and most
beautiful rides in history really does it for you,
Screamrides a game that will burn brightly
and then quickly flicker out. It feels like a great
fit for a younger audience in fact, the kind
who obsess over Minecraft secrets and still
get a kick out of the simpler things in life
building stuff up just to watch it all fall down.
Screamride will likely enjoy a core audience
and although its always a bit ugly to say
it probably make for an excellent Games
With Gold addition later on in the year. Its not
the type of mainstream-breaking breakout
hit like Theme Park once was this satisfies
a curious and very specific niche. Well-made,
enjoyable, and completely forgettable. Kind of
like a rollercoaster.

Above: Finally, you can live out your fantasy of chucking a bunch of idiots at a building from a
high-powered vehicle. Left: Screamride feels like a solid game for a younger audience. Those
who spend their after-school hours on Minecraft may get more enjoyment out of this simple
construction set than a jaded adult.

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

ENJOYABLE AND WELL MADE, BUT SHORT-LIVED

103

REVIEW ELEGY FOR A DEAD WORLD PC

WorldMags.net

SO YOU THINK YOU COULD WRITE A GAME?

DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
OTHER FORMATS: Mac
ORIGIN: USA
PUBLISHER: Dejobaan
Games
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 10.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
MINIMUM SPEC:
Windows XP, Dual Core,
1 GB RAM, 512MB 3D
card, 2 GB HDD space

BETTER THAN

LEARN WITH POKMON:

TYPING ADVENTURE

WORSE THAN
THE TYPING OF THE DEAD

If you thought BioWare

games gave you the power to
write your own story through their
adventures, then Elegy For The Dead
puts it to shame. Planting you on a
series of abandoned worlds, you have to
Above: Elegy For A Dead World has an illustrative style that is a great backdrop for sparking your imagination as
write your thoughts on the desolation,
you concoct your own tale in this world. It gives you a great deal to draw from as you write your masterpiece.
flexing the kind of story-telling muscles
that some modern games boil down to
binary choices. No, this is more than just
a choose-your-own-adventure game. Its a
full-on story-writing tutorial.
And yet it lacks the trappings and solid
foundations of such an experience. It lacks
much of what would make it a good game.
The Elegy For A Dead world has little in the
way of interactive elements or traditional
gaming challenges. You move from left to
right, hovering with a jetpack from time to
time to speed up your progress, but there
are no dangers to avoid or obstacles to
overcome. There are huts and buildings
you can enter, but nothing to interact
with. All you have are
writing prompts for
you to spin your yarns.
Yet thats not W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E
necessarily a terrible WRITE OR FLIGHT: The distinct lack of interactivity easily infect your
developer and a series of grammar tests
with this game means that while it has plenty to fire
thing. With a selection off the imagination, it has little to engage the gaming writing and has
that asks you to correct the work you
of writing prompts for heart of its players.
read, adding in proper punctuation and
lead to some rather
each planet, filling in
switching out incorrect words. Its just a
dark and reflective
the blanks of these stories and building
shame we couldnt find any official scoring
work from other players, some of which
your own interpretation of the beautifullyon how well we had done with those.
you can read for yourself.
realised 2D worlds you explore can be a
Which perhaps gets back to the key
Whats more, it has some intelligent
lot of fun. The art style is wonderful and
issue, that Elegy For A Dead World lacks
additional modes like a free-writing
music very engaging. It sets a melancholy
setting that lets you type away your
the traditional trappings of a game and
tone to the whole experience that can
own story without the prompts of the
therefore fails to give you the depth of
motivation or content to keep you coming
back. With only three planets to explore
and between 13 to 15 segments to write
in per planet, theres not a mass to do with
this game. Reading and recommending
other peoples work has its merit, but
since everyone is working from the same
outlines, theres little variation.
If you love the look of this setting and
enjoy writing to prepared concepts it
certainly has its benefits, but theres just
not much of a game here.

MISSING LINK

Above: Writing varies from short entries to longer prose. Theres no limit to how much you add to the text, but brevity tends to work better.

104

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

A NOVEL IDEA, LACKING IN CONTENT

REVIEW CASTLE IN THE DARKNESS

WorldMags.net

PC

Below: There are tons of videogame references throughout the game some overt, others not so
much but it ends up feeling forced, as though its trying to win players over through familiarity.

SHADOW WARRIOR

Castle In The Darkness

DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
ORIGIN: US
PUBLISHER: Nicalis
DEVELOPER: Matt Kap
PRICE: 4.79
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
MINIMUM SPEC: Pentium 4
CPU, 1GB RAM, 256MB GPU,
120MB HDD space
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL

AS GOOD AS

Everyones experienced the

headshake. Its a subtle thing, a
sharp sometimes even unnoticeable
sidewards shift of the head, a gentle snort
of air exhaling from the nostrils, a quick
glance downwards and a knowing smirk.
Its the gesture that every gamer has
enacted at some point, a sign of almost
humorous failure as the game youre
trying to beat has, in fact, beaten you once
more. Most recently Dark Souls will have
drawn such humbled admissions of defeat,
but give Castle In The Darkness a try and
youll be sure to suffer it more than once.
This is how Nicalis latest retro throwback
draws you in: its in the accidental misstep
into a passing enemy, the failed reaction
time for that all-important double jump
or the unfairly positioned roof spike that
drops in the exact spot you chose to stand
when activating that switch. Itd be right
to call Castle In The Darkness difficult,
perhaps even cruel, but so finely tuned it
is that it never borders into anger territory.

SHOVEL KNIGHT

a character to revisit, a place you can now

Its the sort of praise lumped on the
access or even the niggling feeling that
already-mentioned Dark Souls before,
you mightve missed something early on
but where Castle In The Darkness often
gives you a secondary compulsion. Its
employs equally nefarious tricks to force
an intriguing approach to such a familiar
your death, it doesnt suffer as the Souls
sort of game, where the linear desire to
series can for feeling cheap. Checkpoints
move onwards and
are
common
destroy bosses is
(though sometimes
equalled by the more
your
desperation
may make it feel W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E adventurous belief
that there could be
like theyre never CASTLE MANIA: This game isnt looking to change
about the tried-and-tested formula, but it
more to see.
common enough), anything
could do more than coast along on the success of
Your selection of
and the gameplay so the past to make it a true progenitor.
weapons and spells
quick that replaying
will affect the way you play, and there are
a section with your newfound knowledge
times when youll hit a brick wall trying to
takes a matter of seconds; its a subtle
overcome a certain set of obstacles only
shake of the head, a click of the retry
to discover that a change in equipment
button and off you go once again.
will help matters vastly. And as the
It doesnt make quite as much use of
surprisingly long runtime rolls on, youll
its varied items and equipment as youd
find the game continues to offer up more
like to hope from start to finish there is
interesting challenges and varied boss
rarely much to necessitate backtracking
battles; that, in itself, should be cherished.
but that just makes the game all the
Truthfully, though, Castle In The Darkness
more fulfilling. Remembering there was
doesnt offer much in the way of originality,
and its only going to appeal to a nostalgiariddled audience looking to relive the glory
days of 16-bit sidescrollers but its super
slick mechanics are reminiscent of an era
where perfecting the gameplay was all
that mattered, and in that sense this game
cant be beaten.

MISSING LINK

VERDICT / 10

PROOF THAT NOT ALL GAMES NEED TO INNOVATE TO BE WORTH IT

WorldMags.net

105

REVIEW THE DEER GOD

PC

WorldMags.net

Right: Those spikes, red from the blood of their victims, are ubiquitous and irritating, but can be useful. If
swarmed by too many predators, its often most effective to run and let them chase you until they inevitably fall.

DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
OTHER FORMATS: Mac, Linux
ORIGIN: USA
PUBLISHER: Crescent Moon
Games
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 10.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-2 Online
MINIMUM SPEC: 1.4 GHZ
Dual Core, 1 GB RAM, Intel HD
Graphics 4000
ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes

BETTER THAN

FUNK OF TITANS

WORSE THAN

TOKYO JUNGLE

SAVE US

The Deer God

The Deer God is unfortunate
proof that whats true for
books and covers also goes for games
and graphics. Its pixel art is gorgeous,
naturalistic environments in parallax layers
with light streaming through the treetops.
Its stunning. But, aside from that and the
music, the only real reason to recommend
The Deer God is its premise: youre a dead
deer hunter reincarnated by the Deer God
as a deer.
While the idea of experiencing life as
ones victims is powerful, unfortunately, thats
not really what The Deer God is going for.
The normal deer-like activities running,
jumping, eating, growing, even reproducin
are the most enjoyable, and a game that
conveyed a message through those could
have been stronger, but The Deer God
suffers from wanting to be A Real Game
and has subsequently ended up a real mess.

(except hunters; kill those), usually with

Because this is a 2D platformer, its
fetch quests. You run and jump right
filled with traditional platformer features:
through repeated chunks of environment
crumbling platforms, spikes, lava. Real
until you find an NPC, briefly interact, and
Games have combat, you see, so an
then continue on to the next. Its just dull,
inordinate amount of predators want to kill
especially given how
you on sight. You
likely you are to miss
can fight, initially by
a jump because of a
charging and then
later with abilities T A K I N G G A M I N G O N L I N E passing tree in the
foreground and fall to
unlocked by solving DEER FRIEND: Online co-op is similar to singlebut with two deer instead of one. You cant
your death.
simple
block- player,
really work together, so its more about how long you
pushing puzzles, can play before both die.
The Deer God
but success depends
attempts to give
more on your current size than on skill.
meaning to death but fails to deliver. A
The inventory system is mostly pointless.
karma system punishes you for killing
Selecting these single-use items, like one
friendly animals with reincarnation as
that releases bees to attack foes, is too fiddly
something weak, which is interesting
for a tight spot. Only the bouncy toadstools
in theory but in practice just leaves you
are really useful, for obstacles too high to
as a porcupine stuck in a hole, waiting to
jump over when only a fawn, but you cant
die of starvation. Usually, you come back
guarantee youll have one. Your general
as a fawn, either one youve created with
goal is to
a passing doe (if you managed to reach
help other
adulthood) or unless playing in Hardcore
deer and
mode at a checkpoint.
humans
So its difficult to know exactly what
message The Deer God is trying to convey
with these systems. It seems somewhat
hypocritical to punish you for killing deer by
encouraging you to kill other animals, even
if they are predators. What about the circle
of life? Perhaps the point is to make you
feel sorry for the deer, by showing you how
rubbish it is to be one. In that, if in little else,
it succeeds.

WORLDWIDE

AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF PREDATORS

WANT TO KILL YOU ON SIGHT

VERDICT / 10

BEAUTIFUL BUT BORING, A FAILED EXPERIMENT

106

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REVIEW DYNASTY WARRIORS 8: EMPIRES PS4

WorldMags.net

STEADY AS A ROCK

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires

Below: Local and online co-op now appears to be customary, and both work admirably well.

DETAILS
FORMAT: Playstation 4
OTHER FORMATS: PC,
Playstation 3, Xbox One
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Koei Tecmo
DEVELOPER: Omega Force
PRICE: 39.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-2
ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes

the game, whereas now, if your people

flame and lightning-based disasters
choose to orchestrate a violent revolution,
turn the tides for you, but they can also
its almost entirely because you opted to
buffer the effects of some of your less
be lazy. The Fame system also, thankfully,
fundamental attack stratagems. This
no longer dictates
certainly isnt the first
which ending you
videogame to allow
get upon completion
you to blend lightning
with aqua, but if any E X P A N D I N G T H E G A M E P L A Y of the campaign.
The
generous
series could benefit KNOW YOUR PLACE: You can no longer command
that are higher in the chain of command
customisation suite
from a brand new officers
than you are. A wise adjustment to an irritating and
now allows you to
contingency-based ludicrous system.
tinker with minions,
skirmish system, its
banners and horses, and while the rather
Empires. The outcomes of such bouts are
elementary Scenario Creator allows you
often totally thrilling.
to share your creations online, it is a mite
The perpetually fluctuating Fame
tokenistic. In the end, significant alterations
mechanic from DW7: Empires has wisely
may be minor, but Dynasty Warriors 8:
been axed in favour of a much more
traditional levelling system. This may
Empires is yet another canny elaboration
sound like a regressive ploy, but its simply
of what continues to be a deeply beloved
an issue of control. The random nature of
series of videogames.
the Fame system meant that your status
as principal supervisor was constantly
being kneecapped by the algorithms of
A MINOR EVOLUTION, BUT A HIGHLY ENJOYABLE ONE

CONNECTED

BETTER THAN

DYNASTY WARRIORS 7:
EMPIRES

AS GOOD AS

Solely on a technical level,

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is
a step backwards. Last years Samurai
Warriors 4 set a new benchmark for
Omega Forces Musou excursions but in
small bursts at the very least this latest
Empires spinoff calls the seriously slack
Wii U port of Warriors Orochi 3 to mind.
That said, if you can stomach the return of
outmoded pop-in and slowdown, youre in
for a minor treat.
Empire Mode remains the centrepiece,
and it still sees you slowly attempting to
gain control of every single region of China
through strategic invasion. The action
sequences continue to deliver precisely
what fans demand, but as in previous
iterations of Empires, the real fun is had
on the sidelines of battle. In addition to
recruiting troops, building facilities and
manipulating the people you govern,
the Marriage system has now been
embellished to allow you to conceive a
single child with your partner. The child
inherits a blend of its parents' abilities, and
it only takes a couple of seconds to realise
what an utterly genius concept it is; if only
because it invites die-hards to fixate even
more obsessively on future iterations.
The freshly spiffed battleground
stratagems are probably the games most
enjoyable refinement, allowing you to
wreak Battlefield 4-style environmental
havoc on your foes. Not only can flood,

SAMURAI WARRIORS 4

Above: The traditional in-game Encyclopaedia is as rigorously researched as fans have come to expect, featuring details of historic
battles, a comprehensive glossary and a detailed timeline of the significant births, deaths and military crusades of the period.

108

WorldMags.net

VERDICT / 10

REVIEW MARIO VS DONKEY KONG: TIPPING STARS 3DS

WorldMags.net

Left: The new look is sure

to appeal to a young
audience, and features
the characters as windup toys with hands that
resemble those of a very
famous brand of plastic
construction toys

A CLASSIC BATTLE WITH A MODERN TOUCH

Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars

DETAILS
FORMAT: 3DS
OTHER FORMATS: Wii U
ORIGIN: Japan
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 12.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

MARIO GOLF
WORLD TOUR

WORSE THAN

Mario is back and this time, the

most recognisable character
in gaming has been redesigned and
transformed into an unstoppable wind-up
toy. He needs to be guided across treacherous
platforms, ranging from factory floors to
sizzling deserts. In a familiar scenario, its up
to you to save poor Mario, Peach, Toadstool
and Pauline from spikes, evil monkeys, and
of course fire-spewing flowers. Collect
coins and companions to make it through
and be rewarded with one, two or three stars
depending on how fast you finish the level and
the amount of coins. The more stars you gain,
the more bonus levels you can unlock all
rather familiar really.
Despite being the sixth title in the Mario
Vs. Donkey Kong series, Tipping Stars marks
the first time a Nintendo game is available
as a (eShop only) cross-buy as well as a
cross-play. In an age of cloud storage and
mobile gaming, this function is an excellent
new step, and likely to make playing on Wii U
more appealing. Available for download, its
an economical 2-for-1. Its an interesting move

SUPER SMASH
BROS. 3DS

consolation prize in the form of the function to

from Nintendo, and a curious choice of game
scroll through levels when they extend beyond
for it. Despite the Mario series being Nintendos
the screens borders. With all these functions
undefeated crown jewel, this offering is hardly
going unused, gameplay seems to be geared
a huge release, signifying Nintendo might
more towards the Wii U player.
simply be dipping its toe in the waters of crossHowever, despite the limited gameplay,
platform gaming, using this instalment in as a
this game has more
careful experiment.
to offer than meets
The
shared
the eye. What would
platform approach
might also be why the E X P A N D I N G T H E G A M E P L A Y otherwise be a pretty
developers decided CROSSPLAY: This is the first Nintendo game made bog standard platform
available as a cross-buy and cross-play, meaning
game is elevated by
to forego adding 3D users purchasing the 3DS game can download it on
elements to the game, their Wii U, and save their progress to both consoles. the workshop option,
where players can
which is a shame.
modify and create their own levels. You can
Despite being the feature that sets Nintendos
choose to build from a pre-made template or
handheld apart, the 3D functionality doesnt
to start from scratch. This, along with the price
make an appearance. The platform style and
and the community section (where players
cartoonish design would have allowed for
can share levels, and scores), is where the
some experimentation in terms of 3D layering,
game begins to redeem itself, and offers a
and the timing couldn't have been better with
little more than yet another instalment in a the
the new 3DS XL just out. Additionally, the
controls for the 3DS version are rather limited,
Mario Vs Donkey Kong series.
relying solely on the touch screen (which gets
fiddly at times) and rendering all other buttons
LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY, BUT STILL PLENTY OF FUN
practically useless. The trackpad gets a

CONNECTED

VERDICT / 10

Above: The Workshop feature lets users make their own levels, adding an interactive
layer and making the game a lot more interesting.

WorldMags.net

109

REVIEW UNMECHANICAL EXTENDED XBOX ONE

WorldMags.net

A PUZZLER WITH A SHORT LIFE SPAN

Above: The art style is nice enough, but the gritty mechanical look doesnt work as well in 2.5D in this world as
it does in Machinariums flat 2D version, which seems like a clear inspiration to this game.

DETAILS
FORMAT: Xbox One
OTHER FORMATS: PS3,
PS4, Vita
ORIGIN: Czech Republic
PUBLISHER: Grip Games,
Talawa Games
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 7.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

AS GOOD AS

UNDERTOW

WORSE THAN

Its nice to pay homage

sometimes, to reflect on great
experiences and pay tribute to them
with a new creative endeavour, but it
doesnt necessarily make for a great
game. Unmechanical could hardly be
called a clone or rip-off that would be
entirely unfair but it doesnt shy away
from making it apparent what games it
was inspired by. And while its distillation of
those ideas is entirely inoffensive, it doesnt
make for anything all that inspiring.
As you work your way through this 2.5D
world there are lots of really great games
that come to mind. The structure has some
of that classic metroidvania feel as you
unlock new areas and backtrack through
old. The use of lasers and energy ports
as well as the decrepit landscape brings
to mind Portal. And the art style feels
very heavily influenced by Machinarium.
All great games, packed with character
and details, but Unmechanical isnt these

games. It takes from them, but lacks their

robot attains and shortly thereafter the
depth, personality or genuine challenge.
games over anyway. You could easily blitz
Purely on a genre level, it doesnt
through this in under an hour, which is
make for much of a puzzle game. As
no great shame, but Unmechanical feels
you hover around the world grabbing
like its teasing and promising so much by
objects and unlocking areas, theres not
drawing from other great titles, you spend
a single brainteaser there that offers any
the entire time waiting for it to kick into the
great resistance. It
next gear.
all just seems rather
Which
doesnt
apparent and that
come. What you
might be okay if W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E get instead is an
the solving of these WHERES THE CHALLENGE?: Without really strong unsatisfying splittissue to make you want to get through
puzzles was driven connecting
ending decision to
the game, it needed its puzzles to be smarter or more
by some strong involved. Moving orbs around gets old pretty fast.
make and its all over.
narrative component
Unmechanical nods
or an immediate threat like Portal did
its head at deeper meaning and metaphor,
but doesnt offer any in the end. The
so well, but thats not there. Its just the
Extended part of this version is an extra
puzzles and a run-down world.
20 to 30 minutes of additional campaign
And the simplicity of it all wouldnt be so
that carries a little more emotional
bad either, if it at least escalated over time
impact, intimating at a robotic parent-child
or really mixed things up with new abilities
relationship, but its over rather quickly. Nice
or tricks as the game went on. That almost
enough, but not exactly groundbreaking.
appears to have been acknowledged
as you do unlock the ability to move
underwater at one point, but thats it. Thats
A BUNDLE OF HOMAGES TO BETTER PRODUCTS
the one significant upgrade your hovering

MISSING LINK

Below: The puzzles simply dont offer the level of challenge thats needed to keep you
engaged. It either needed a tougher challenge or a more obvious narrative to keep you
pushing through this world.

110

VERDICT / 10

INSANELY TWISTED
SHADOW PLANET

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REVIEWS

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VERY COOL RUNNINGS

Pix The Cat

DETAILS
FORMAT: PC
OTHER FORMATS: PS4, Vita
ORIGIN: France
PUBLISHER: Pastagames
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 6.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-4
MINIMUM SPEC: Processor: AMD/
INTEL DUAL-CORE 2.2 GHZ
Memory: 2048 MB RAM

AS GOOD AS

PAC-MAN
CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION

AS GOOD AS

TETRIS DS

When a game transforms your

minutes into hours without you
realising, you know youre onto a
winner. Pix The Cat is a high-score title
that does exactly that, luring you in with its
brightly coloured levels and funky music,
before trapping you in its vibrant world.
Playing as the feline Pix, the games major
appeal comes from its Arcade mode, the
place where high-score dreams are both
made and broken, the premise being to
first collect all the eggs, before dropping the
hatched ducks into the target holes.
Choosing from the three Grids or the
Daily, youll go deeper and deeper into the
nested levels as you play, with combos and
perfect scores gaining you more points and
a quicker Pix. The faster he goes, the harder
getting it right is and with enemies trying
to block you and the ducklings piling up the
space, Arcade quickly becomes a testing
examination of your reflex skills. Continually
challenging, Arcade taps into your desire to

Above: Fever Time is your reward for getting big combos and perfect scores, but when it hits, it hardly feels like a
prize. Causing Pix to run at lightning speed, controlling him at this time is a difficult but profitable task.

be the best, while also offering you rewards

for continually beating your previous scores,
such as new modes, ghosts and voices.
Of the other two single-player modes,
Laboratory provides the most interesting
challenge, the aim being to drop the cells
into the holes within a set number of
moves. Testing your forward-thinking skills,
Laboratory is a welcome change from the
fast pace of Arcade, while Nostalgia, with
its egg-count goal, is fun to play for a while,
but doesnt quite manage to sustain the
same long periods of captivity as the other

BANANAS IN THE MIDST

DETAILS

BETTER THAN

CUT THE ROPE 2

WORSE THAN

SUPER MEAT BOY

VERDICT

8/ 10

HIGH-SCORE FUN AT ITS BEST

Below: Using bombs to defuse the danger of your

surroundings is a method that youll need to
keep using if you want to survive. Ice bombs are
particularly useful against lava ledges, ensuring
your monkey friend keeps his fur intact.

BABOON!
FORMAT: PS Vita
ORIGIN: Spain
PUBLISHER: Relevo Videogames
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 7.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

two modes. A local multiplayer option also

injects some competitive play to the game,
but the objective it houses becomes boring.
Pix The Cats vivacious style and addictive
substance makes it a high-score game to be
played over and over again. A cross between
Pac-Man and Snake, if youre looking for
a some old-school arcade fun wrapped in
new ideas then Pix The Cat is the one for
you. Just be sure not to play before bed time.

Frustratingly addictive is the best

way to describe Baboon!, a puzzle
platformer with a Japanese-inspired
aesthetic and hidden depth beyond the
cute smiles of furry protagonist Tumbili.
Playing as the little monkey, you are sent on
a quest to save your island Bananaville from
the dastardly Pirate Baboon, gathering all the
bananas he has suspended in the air in the
process. On paper the game sounds simple,
even childish, but dont be fooled, as Baboon! is
a challenging yet rewarding experience.
Traversing through the games seven
worlds via a Mario-inspired timeline, in order
to complete Baboon!s 60 levels, you must
reach each ones goal line, avoiding enemies
and obstacles as you go. A feat that must be
achieved unconventionally, projecting Tumbili
anywhere but his immediate level is done by
placing and detonating a bomb at his feet, the
angle at which you place it determining where
he ends up. On its own, this need for directional
foresight is hard enough, but when put in a
timed and ultimately dangerous environment
which you continually are, as well as an often

moving one this skill becomes much more

difficult to master.
Leading to mistakes and many deaths,
you find yourself back where you started
more than once, quitting often looking like
an inviting prospect. A game filled with both
annoyance and great level design, in order to
really appreciate it, Baboon! needs a player
willing to persevere; someone willing to keep
playing despite the setbacks. For those who
keep going, the rewards are great. From
the satisfaction of your bombs, to the joy of
reigning in the Sonic The Hedgehog-style boss
battles, Baboon! can be very gratifying.

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Featuring side-quests, unlockables, secrets

and quirky characters, Baboon! has more
dimensions to it then meets the eye, and
even though some side quests are tedious
and the story is well presented but not greatly
compelling, the creativity of this games other
aspects is impossible to ignore, as is its ability
to constantly surprise you. An animalistic trip
with a vibrant, nostalgia-laden style, Baboon!
ticks a whole lot of our boxes.

VERDICT / 10

REWARDINGLY FUN BUT NOT FOR THE EASILY FRUSTRATED

111

REVIEW APOTHEON PS4

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CALL THE ACROPOLIS

DETAILS
FORMAT: PS4
OTHER FORMATS: PC
ORIGIN: Canada
PUBLISHER: Alientrap
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 8.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1-2
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

TESLAGRAD

WORSE THAN
GUACAMELEE

Theres a very simple way of

putting this: Apotheon is God
Of War in 2D. With that, any effort
we mightve expunged detailing its
intricacies can be saved, letting you bask
in knowledge with only the smallest of
sentences. That change in perspective
hasnt done much to alter the gameplay,
either; though it might not match the same
Above: A games art style should never be the sole reason to play it, but Apotheon has such a clever combination
over-the-top gore that Kratos embodies,
of setting and visuals that its at least enough to draw you in. Its a surprise it hasnt been done before.
it still maintains a similar form. Youll
tackle a string of deities their levels each
themed on the powers that they control
ultimately taking their prized belongings
and adding that strength to your own.
Those upgrades dont translate into
complete new abilities or weapons,
however, because thats where Apotheon
does differ. Each weapon has its own
damage, style and durability, so youll be
improvising often and claiming a lot of your
equipment on the fly. Theres an unusual
physics system tying the combat together,
too, a sort of puppet show battle arena
that has enemies elaborately crumpling
under the weight of a heavy mace or
flinging
backwards
after the poke of a
spear. Its finicky to
control, making the WHAT MAKES THIS GAME UNIQUE
game all the more ITS ALL GREEK: It might be obvious to point to the of individuality
need to hunt down certain enemies, defeat
striking art style of Apotheon as its standout feature,
original in that regard, but get to grips with the unique combat mechanics
them and in most cases collect an item
in a genre that
but it will take a little and youll find thats what keeps you hooked.
they drop. There isnt much imagination
is so commonly
practise to learn to play
to the varying tasks youll be handling,
painted in pixels.
to its very specific tune. In truth it adds a
and a sad side-effect of its ragdoll combat
Sadly Apotheon does lack the varied
little extra to Apotheons identity, which
means most boss fights will be fought
abilities common to the genre required to
in the same fashion as the last. While it
unlock new areas previously barred in
makes it all the more compelling when
never quite becomes a slog since the core
fact, the only restrictions on access is the
paired with its unique art style; though the
gameplay does remain inventive enough
lack of lockpicks or keys and each area
Greek vase-painting style only ever really
to see you through to the end, it is an
follows the exact same template. Youll
differs in hue, its enough to create a sense
oversight that couldve made Apotheon a
truly standout title.
In the end, the positives do make it
stand out, and as you begin to master
the unique mechanics youll find yourself
inexplicably driven on. For Apotheon its
enough to have a supply of creatures,
godly guardians and major deities to
batter, and while our hero Nikandros may
not have the rage of Sonys god of war, he
at least has the Olympian strength to carry
the weight of the comparison.

FINGERPRINT

Above: Theres a handful of boss fights throughout and they do differ in themes and mechanics, but your actions never really change.

112

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VERDICT

8 / 10

AN INVENTIVE 2D BRAWLER THAT JUST OOZES PERSONALITY

REVIEW PNEUMA: BREATH OF LIFE XBOX ONE

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Left: The environments

are visually striking
throughout, and some
of the games most
impressive moments
involve watching the
world take shape around
your actions and shifting
perspectives. By simply
moving around slowly,
you can reveal hidden
staircases, pathways and
even floors.

A BREATH OF CRECHE AIR

Pneuma: Breath Of Life

DETAILS
FORMAT: Xbox One
OTHER FORMATS: PC
ORIGIN: UK
PUBLISHER: Bevel Studios,
Deco Digital
DEVELOPER: In-house
PRICE: 15.99
RELEASE: Out now
PLAYERS: 1
ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A

BETTER THAN

MAGRUNNER:
DARK PULSE

WORSE THAN

Puzzle games, like perhaps no

other genre, truly benefit from
a sense of conceptual coherence, and
Pneuma is a game that throws nothing
but relentless curve balls at you.
Simple switch puzzles are superseded by
complex spatial awareness hoodwinkers,
which in turn are followed by elaborate
environmental riddles. Its a project made
by a team of people clearly enamoured
by the deeply flexible world theyve
created, but the experience is tantamount
to chasing a bunch of hyperactive
children around. Every time a ruleset is
established, it is almost instantaneously
discarded again.
Pneumas
introductory
status
as an Xbox One exclusive is a curious
one, if only because the game has
clearly been constructed around the
forthcoming PC versions Oculus Rift
support. The gameplay isnt exactly lost
in translation without it, but a desire to
relentlessly explore your environment
isnt automatically a given. But your deep

PORTAL

person? Or some sort of playful deity?

involvement is crucial: indispensable clues
Whatever you may be, this is a story that
are contained in hidden corners of the
features so many questions that its lack of
world and in the meandering philosophical
answers wont come as a great surprise,
meditations of the script. Letting a clue
and the hurried climax feels like a timid
slip past you sometimes makes it feel as
cop out. This isnt a journey to a specific
if youve been abruptly slammed into an
destination but an enigmatic daydream.
impenetrable brick wall. When the solution
Any desire to not
to a puzzle involves
judge it too harshly
nothing
more
is hindered by the fact
complicated than
staring at an object W H A T W E W O U L D C H A N G E that you arent able
to just ignore the
for a specific period CONSTANT BANTER: Until you get stuck, the
titular characters voiceover basically doesnt stop.
dialogue altogether.
of time its very A lot of whats said is clearly nonsense, but that
Ultimately
the
easy to construe doesnt mean that it doesnt get exhausting.
haphazardness of
that confounding
juxtaposition as poor design. The clues
Pneuma makes it difficult to fully engage
are always there, however, and if youre
with, though the unapologetic style of it is
ever truly stuck, restarting at a previous
certain to resonate with some audiences,
checkpoint may be your smartest option.
especially during an era in which puzzle
The games vague and benign narrative
games are petrified of being too taxing.
plays out via an almost ceaseless
Breath of Life will have its fervent
monologue; a bombardment of abstract
champions, but it wont go supernova.
metaphysical musings thats often
brazenly nonsensical. Are you embodying
IMPERFECT BUT OCCASIONALLY THRILLING
the wandering imagination of a dead

MISSING LINK

VERDICT / 10

Above: Although it hasnt been officially confirmed yet, Playstation 4 owners can probably
expect to see Pneuma arrive on their consoles at some point later in the year.

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113

WorldMags.net
Red Dead Redemption is what
I think of when I consider how
games interpret freedom

RALPH FULTON, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PLAYGROUND GAMES

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WorldMags.net

WHY I

...

RED DEAD
REDEMPTION
RALPH FULTON, CREATIVE DIRECTOR,
PLAYGROUND GAMES

Red Dead Redemption

is one of my favourite
games of last gen. I know
that sounds mad with GTA V
coming out and all that, but
for me Red Dead Redemption is
what I think of when I consider
how games interpret freedom.
We looked to that game [whilst
developing Forza Horizon 2]
to make sure we were getting
it right, giving the player the
freedom we wanted to give
them. I love the universe, I
love the characters, I love the
gameplay. Im sure there will
be another one, and when
there is, Ill be the first
in line.

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WorldMags.net
Welcome
back to
the golden age

Revisit the games, films, shows and hardware that defined

entertainment for a generation

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY

Print edition available at www.imagineshop.co.uk

Digital edition available at www.greatdigitalmags.com
Available on the following platforms

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WorldMags.net
NO.159

BEHIND THE SCENES

124 WIP3OUT
Find out how the best
in the series pushed the
PlayStation to its limit

ETRO INTERVIEW

30 BILL STEALEY
The co-founder of
MicroProse on the early
days with Sid Meier and
his career in games

AME-CHANGERS

34 DEVIL MAY
CRY
How a game that was
supposed to be Resident
Evil set the bar for intensely
furious 3D action

118
THE RETRO GUIDE TO

METAL
SLUG

EST INTRO

38 CASTLEVANIA:
RONDO OF
BLOOD

Tracking the pixel art perfection of the

SNK Playmore series through the years

DISCUSS

We celebrate one of the

best Castlevania games

www.gamestm.co.uk/forum

Have your say on all things

retro on our dedicated
forum
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WorldMags.net
THE

GUIDE TO

Although it wasnt the rst to popularise the run-and-gun

genre, Metal Slug still plays a signicant part in its evolution
and deservedly so. games revisits the popular series,
charting its many hits and occasional misses

118

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THE RETRO GUIDE TO METAL SLUG

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KONAMI MAY WELL
have invented the idea
of the run-and-gun
with its excellent Contra series,
but it was Nazca Corporation
that arguably put the fun into
it. Created by a team of ex-Irem
programmers, Metal Slug made
its debut in the arcades in 1996,
utilising the same technology
that powered SNKs powerful
Neo Geo AES system. Such was
its popularity that the series
would have bi-annual sequels
and run through a number
of different developers in the
process. Unlike many other
popular game franchises, Metal

Slug has rarely made dynamic

changes to its core gameplay,
seemingly content to concentrate
on running-and-gunning while
delivering the most sumptuous
graphics and animation around.
Thats not to say that the odd
game wouldnt deviate from the
tried and tested formula, but
for the most part it has always
remained consistent, which is
part of the reason why it has
such a loyal fan base within the
Neo Geo community. So join us,
then, as we look at every single
game in the main series and its
numerous spin-offs and updates.
How many have you played?

METAL SLUG 2 1998

SYSTEM: NEO GEO
This was the first game to be developed by SNK and its a bit of an
odd one if were honest. Graphically its extremely similar to Metal Slug
(hardly surprising due to being on the same hardware) but its plagued
by large amounts of slowdown.
This is a great shame because it greatly detracts from the sheer
amount of extra goodies that SNK threw into its first standalone Slug
game. Several new weapons have been added, including lethal lasers
and crushingly powerful firebombs, while the Metal Slug has been joined
by a number of other useful contraptions. The Slug Flyer is a VTOL jet
fighter that will allow another player to fight from its wings, while the
Slugnoid is an armoured monstrosity thats superb at jumping. Best of
all however is the Camel Slug, which is amazing because its basically a
camel with giant Vulcan cannons mounted to it.
Metal Slug 2 swells the player roster to four by introducing Fio Germi
and Eri Kasamoto and introduces a pair of characters who will help
out players at certain sections of a level. There are also transformation
effects that either turn you into a mummy or make you obese. While the
rgely useless, being turned into a zombie allows you to attack
y throwing your head at them, which is rather handy. It also
a bonkers plot with General Morden forming an alliance with
aliens.

METAL SLUG 1996

SYSTEM: VARIOUS
Theres a good reason why the original Neo Geo AES versi
Slug typically sells online for over 1,000. Even the most cynic
would be hard pushed to not enjoy Metal Slug when they see
amount of love and care thats been poured into it. Players ta
either Captain Marco Rossi or Lieutenant Tarma Roving, two
the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force who have been tasked with
General Morden and his rebel army. Its a flimsy premise, sur
not the story thats the focus of Metal Slug its the sheer am
pyrotechnics that take place as you storm through the games
Although they start off with standard side pistols and a k
melee attacks the pair soon gain access to some devastatin
that ranges from heavy machine guns to brutal, soldier-disint
shotguns. Power-ups are received by freeing the POWs that a
throughout each level, with additional bonus points being sco
end of the level for any POWs still intact at the end. While the
are suitably over-the-top, the star of the game is the titular Me
dumpy looking jumping weapon of mass destruction thats as
as it is cute to look at.
Despite the sheer amount of carnage that is unleashed in
Slug, its immensely funny to play due to the staggering anim
that is used to breathe life into every single enemy that you k
Watching them vaporise in flames or comically dive off sinkin
ships is hilarious and it gives Metal Slug a personality that
few other games possess. Its all polished off with some
ridiculously brutal bosses and incredibly detailed destructibl
environments. Oh and before we forget, the Saturn and
PlayStation versions featured an additional mode called
Combat School that allowed you to revisit previous mission
but with brand new objectives.

AL SLUG X 1999
EM: NEO GEO
ing that it had done fans a disservice with Metal Slug 2,
mixed the game, effectively creating a directors cut that fixed
slowdown problems found in the 1998 original. While its
ly the same game, it introduces a large number of differences
nge from changing the time of day that some levels take
in to offering upgraded variations of the games weapons.
king of weapons, a number of new ones are also introduced,
ing one that fires mechanical exploding creatures at your
ents. Bosses have also been upgraded and are far more
nging. Players can become obese on every level of the game
of just in the single level from Metal Slug 2, while there are a
er of new enemies in the game as well. The general layout of
mies and environmental destruction has also been switched
ound, ensuring the game feels completely fresh, even if youve
locked the original countless times.

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119

WorldMags.net
METAL SLUG 1ST MISSION 1999
SYSTEM: NEO GEO POCKET
The first portable Metal Slug game is a cracking spin-off that
proved the series could work equally well on SNKs less powerful
handheld. Unlike the home versions, its only single-player, and the
graphics have been greatly toned down (although they still exhibit
much of the franchises humour). You also have a life bar, which
makes things much easier as 1st Mission is surprisingly tough in
places. Its also far less linear than other games in the series, with
numerous missions that alternate between battling on foot and more
conventional shoot-em-up levels, thus ensuring the gameplay never
gets boring. The selection of available weapons is satisfying, but
there are far less vehicles than in previous games. It may feel scaled
down in some aspects, but the sheer amount of multiple routes to
uncover and a second player to unlock ensures that 1st Mission has
plenty of replay value.

METAL SLUG 3 2000

SYSTEM: VARIOUS
Metal Slug 3 is widely regarded as the best game in the series, an
accolade it clearly deserves. It takes the hardcore action of the earlier
games, but expands on it, following the design ethos that more is
definitely better. The plot is still incredibly nonsensical, and sees Marco
and Tarma (who have both been promoted) teaming up with Morden to
defeat the aliens who were introduced in Metal Slug 2.
There are an insane number of new slugs in 3, including an elephant,
ostrich and Slug Copter. The weapons have also been overhauled,
and now include a couple of secret weapons, like a nanobots-powered
thunder cloud and a deadly mobile satellite. Marco and Tarma can
transform into a number of new forms, allowing them to tackle water
and even space, while branching levels ensure that there are plenty of
reasons to return to the game once you finally complete it.
Metal Slug 3 s success saw it ported to numerous systems over the
years, but the PS2 and Xbox versions are particularly notable as they
both include two additional mini-levels, Storming The UFO Mothership
and the rather brilliant Far Island that sees you trying to consume as
much food as possible. Its the last main Metal Slug game from SNK and
its rather telling that later games never managed to emulate its success.
Oh and did we mention you can rescue an ape that wields double heavy
machines guns? Well you can.

UG 2ND MISSION 2000

GEO POCKET COLOR

THERE ARE AN INSANE NUMBER OF

NEW SLUGS IN 3 INCLUDING AN
ELEPHANT AND SLUG COPTER

120

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Everything about SNKs miniature

sequel dramatically improves on
the already enjoyable original.
Graphically, its superb, with slick
animation and far better sprites
than 1st Mission. It adds the Sub
Slug, introduces new characters
and boasts far slicker presentation
that mirrors the earlier Combat
School mode found in the various
Metal Slug home conversions. It
adds additional weapons, including
the spread gun and flamethrower
and adds the aliens that were so
important to Metal Slug 3 s plot.
Theres little thats truly new, but its
a substantially bigger game than its
predecessor, and once again proves
that the Neo Geo Pocket Color was
a perfectly capable handheld in the
right hands.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO METAL SLUG

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MOBILE SLUGS
As with many classic
franchises, a number of Metal
Slug games have been released
on mobile phones over the
years. Metal Slug Mobile is
nothing more than a cut-down
version of the original Neo Geo
Pocket game and was followed
by numerous sequels. While
they look nice, the animation is
woefully poor and the controls
are a nightmare. Games
like Metal Slug Warriors and

Metal Slug Gaiden introduce

new characters, but all suffer
from the same fiddly controls,
something that Metal Slug:
Mars Panic is also hampered by.
The first three games along with
Metal Slug X have also been
ported to iOS and Android, but
again, they suffer the same
control issues, even though they
are nigh-on identical to the
arcade originals. Touch controls
are a tricky business.

METAL SLUG 5

2003
THE STORY LOSES THE WACKINESS
OF PAST GAMES REVOLVING AROUND SYSTEM: VARIOUS
Although Morden and his army
A PLOT ABOUT A MAD SCIENTIST
are nowhere to be seen, Metal

METAL SLUG 4 2002

SYSTEM: VARIOUS
If Metal Slug 3 is the best game in the main series, then this

Slug 5 is a far more conventional

Metal Slug game. There are no
aliens or undead, the fun combo
system from 4 has been removed,
while there are very little reused
graphics from earlier games. New
to the series is a rather handy slidedash, which makes certain sections
of the game far easier to manage.
Branching paths make their return
although only on stages one and
three while a number of new
vehicles have been added, with the
many-legged Spider Slug being
a particular favourite. Although it
features stunning looking locations
and some really impressive
animation, it still lacks the punch of
the early games.

disappointing effort from Mega Enterprise is arguably the weakest.

Tarma and Eri are replaced by two new characters, Nadia and Trevor.
Trevor is best avoided as he stops moving during melee attacks
momentarily, which becomes more than a little annoying, particularly
when the action picks up.
The story loses the wackiness of past games, revolving around a bland
plot concerning a mad scientist, while the new weapons are limited
to just a double heavy machine gun (although it is satisfying to use).
Interestingly, several enemy vehicles from past games are now usable,
while certain stages see you transform into a monkey whos blessed with
better jumping abilities, but can only use a weedy gun.
The most interesting addition to the game is a new combo system
that gives you a set amount of time (based on the emblem you picked
up) to score as many points as possible. It adds a much-needed layer of
strategy to the series, but doesnt excuse the recycled ideas and visuals
that have been used throughout the game.

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METAL SLUG
ADVANCE 2004
SYSTEM: GAME BOY ADVANCE
Metal Slug Advance introduces
two new characters, recruits Walter
Ryan and Tyra Elson and a number
of new gameplay mechanics. Like
Metal Slug 1st Mission, Advance
uses a life bar, which can be refilled
by picking up pieces of food. It also
adds card collecting into the mix.
Although some will simply give you
info on items and characters in the
game, others will enhance your
characters stats and even unlock
new Slugs. It does a great job of
capturing the style of the earlier
games, but animation is stilted
and the small screen means its too
easy to take unwanted hits. Its also
lacking in stages, with only five in
total. The card collecting admittedly
adds some longevity, but it lacks the
depth of the Neo Geo Pocket games.

121

WorldMags.net
AN INTERVIEW
WITH KAZUMA KUJO
almost half of the background
graphic because it ended up
not matching our direction as
development progressed.
Where did you get inspiration
for art style?
Oh, there were definitely other
influences. We were very much
inspired by Hayao Miyazakis
book, Daydream Note.

METAL SLUG 6 2006

SYSTEM: ARCADE, PLAYSTATION 2
Metal Slug 6 was something of a return to form as it saw SNK
Playmore again creating the game for arcades. As a result it shares
more in common with Metal Slug 3 than the previous games, while still
adding plenty of new features. One of the biggest changes is that there
are now six characters to choose from, with Ralf Steel and Clarke Jones
joining the fray. Interestingly, both characters are from Ikari Warriors, one
of SNKs earlier run-and-gun games from the Eighties. Each character
is also notably different from the rest, and can now carry and swap
between two weapons, which adds an additional layer of strategy to
proceedings. Its also possible to throw away a weapon in order to give it
to another player and get ahold of a powerful new sword, which greatly
enhances a characters melee attacks. The plot is still batshit crazy, and
sees our heroic troop teaming up with both Mordon and the aliens to
defeat a new threat of underground creatures. Graphically, Metal Slug 6
is something of a mixed bag. While the bosses and characters benefit
from the extra graphical grunt of the Atomiswave hardware, the actual
level design is rather bland and boring and it lacks the character of the
first three games.

So, tell us about Metal

Slug s origins.
The plan to make a shooting
game had already been
decided, but also, at the same
time, I had decided to make
a game for two people who
could play simultaneously.
However, I did not like that
in shooting games there was
forced scrolling, so the screen
would just keep on moving
even if one of the players was
out of the game. Also, most
shooting games were set in outer
space, and I wanted to make
something different.
Was anything dropped from
the final game?
In order to create and release
one game, tons of ideas or
designs are born and destroyed.
In the first title, there was a stage
[on which] we had to redraw

METAL SLUG 3D 2006

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 2
Metal Slug 3D hasnt got the greatest of reputations, which is a
shame as its nowhere near as bad as people think. Yes theres no
denying that the polygon models lack the timeless appeal of the
earlier sprites, but theyre still well animated and do at least capture
the essence of the earlier games.
It introduces several new things to the series, including cute
cutscenes (which are all in English) and a third-person viewpoint.
Most of the included weapons will automatically lock on to nearby
enemies, which at least allows it to capture the satisfying gunplay
of the earlier games. Less impressive, however, are the levels
themselves, which are often too big and devoid of the pace found
in the 2D games. Another new addition to the series are on-rail
sections for when you are in vehicles. They work fairly well but add
little substance to the already sluggish gameplay. By far the biggest
issue with Metal Slug 3D is its difficulty, which is hard even for a
Metal Slug game. Stick with it for a great challenge.

122

WorldMags.net

Why did you focus on the Neo

Geo AES system?
We were making games for
game centres or arcades, as
you call them when we were
in Irem. So that is why we made
games for Neo Geo at Nazca,
since that was the hardware of
game centres.
How long did it take to create
the gorgeous sprites?
Our artists took quite a long time
and worked very hard to make
the graphic designs. However,
we made the 2D animations for
those graphics at a menacing
speed. We needed a lot of energy
to make them, but we made
those graphics much quicker
than you imagine.
What particular thing do you
like about Metal Slug?
I like the fact that the central
characters, the soldiers, can
only shoot directly upward
and not diagonally. We spent
a lot of thought on this, and I
believe this is the way to do an
action shooter!

THE RETRO GUIDE TO METAL SLUG

WorldMags.net
METAL SLUG XX
2009

METAL SLUG 7 2008

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

SYSTEM: PSP

Metal Slug 7 is the first main game in the series to not receive
an arcade port first. Its also the first main Metal Slug game to not
support a second player, which is rather baffling when you consider
Contra 4 managed it perfectly well on the same system.
Despite this odd omission, Metal Slug 7 remains an enjoyable
addition to the series and while it lacks the sheer playability of the
first three games, it dramatically improves upon entries 4 and 5.
There are a number of difficulty levels (including one that starts you
off with a heavy machine gun) the Combat School returns and all
six characters from Metal Slug 6 are available. The DSs second
screen utilises a map feature to show where items are, while three
new Slugs make an appearance. The bosses may lack the punch of
earlier mayors, but they are still well designed, while the animation
throughout is up to the typical standard of the series. Its slowly
going up in price as well, so may be worth tracking down.

Like Metal Slug X, Metal Slug

XX is another directors cut, this
time of Metal Slug 7. Released
originally for PSP, and later
on Xbox Live Arcade, the most
obvious difference is the much
welcome addition of multiplayer.
Theres plenty more to discover
though, including the addition of
Leona Heidern as a downloadable
character, new Combat School
missions, alternate and hidden
routes, a higher difficulty level and
infinite continues.

METAL SLUG
TOUCH 2009
SYSTEM: iOS
Metal Slug Touch was only
released in Japan and its already
been withdrawn from the App
Store, meaning many wont have
had a chance to experience it. Its
a pretty poor effort due to the use
of touch controls and its lacking
in levels, with only four available.
Its also the first game in the series
where you only ever control the
Metal Slug or the Slug Flyer. Its a
highly disappointing release that
lacks many of the elements that
make the Slug games so good.

METAL SLUG DEFENCE 2014

SYSTEM: iOS
Ironically, the most successful Metal Slug game 20 million
downloads and counting isnt a traditional Metal Slug game at
all Finally realising the touch-based systems werent suitable for
Playmore has instead created a free-toe that combines all the humour and slick
ith lots of odious micro-transactions. The
rprisingly playable with the aim being to
ts bunker before they destroy yours. AP
ch you can then use to unlock a variety of
s. When they turn blue you can tap on them
s and even summon a Metal Slug that will
hing it hits. Like many free-to-play games
t on stumping money upfront, but you can
nt of progress if you dont mind grinding.
its success stops SNK from making a proper

WorldMags.net

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124

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BEHIND THE SCENES WIP3OUT

WorldMags.net
BEHIND THE SCENES

WIP3OUT

It ma not have flown off the shelves

but Wip3out was the best of the ames
in the franchise to hit the Pla Station.
ames discovers how it was made

Released: 1999
Format: PlayStation
Publisher: Psygnosis
Key Staff: David Jefferies
(programmer), Wayne Imlach
(lead design), Nicky Wescott
(lead graphics), Gary McKill
(music and sound), Alan
Raistrick (producer)

WHAT IS IN A NAME? Quite a lot, if

that name happens to be WipEout, the fastmoving, futuristic racer that had hearts
pulsating and fingers twitching upon its debut in
1995. Canny marketing by The Designers Republic
and its unique in-game styling produced a game that
transcended a still-young, nerd-labelled industry. In
doing so, it put WipEout centre stage in bleeding-edge
nightclubs and the rave-infested underground culture,
ensuring the game pulled in sackfuls of dollars.
In 1999, some three years after the sequel WipEout
2097, developer Psygnosis, which was by now under
Sony ownership, decided to revisit the game as a
PlayStation exclusive. It fiddled with the name by
reversing the letter E to produce a number 3 for the
European version thus creating Wip3out but the
game wasn't the third in the series. It was the fourth.
The third had been a Nintendo 64 exclusive put out a
year earlier called Wipeout 64. It was seen as more
of a hybrid of WipEout & WipEout 2097 rather than a
standalone in its own right, even though it introduced
a bunch of game features unique to the N64 version,
which found themselves used in later iterations, says
Wip3out lead designer Wayne Imlach.

The success of Wipeout 64 showed how popular the

franchise had remained among gamers but the team
working on Wip3out at Psygnosis' Leeds studio was
afforded very few luxuries. It was hit with both a tight
schedule and a small budget because Sony needed
the game to be released before gamers gave up on
the PlayStation and moved to the PS2. But for many of
those involved, the opportunity was too good to pass
and so they threw themselves into the task in hand
with great focus.
As if to underline how tight the schedule was, the
team had just nine months to get the game on to shop
shelves (it was sold as WipEout 3 in the US). It was a
very quick turnaround for a game, even considering
that we had a solid foundation to start with in the
previous title, 2097, says Imlach. Because of this, we
had to be careful about features anything too new
or untried would be high risk and we couldn't afford
to slip much. So the innovations were small, and the
focus was put on refining what already existed. The
team was also quite small relative to other games.
The first task for the team was to identify any
niggles that had emerged with past games in the
franchise and right them. The main problem with the
very first game was its difficulty, an issue that saw
a great many gamer fail to progress further than a
couple of tracks before throwing their joypad down in
anger at yet another stalled run. The first game was
seminal and groundbreaking, but a little rough round
the edges particularly with unforgiving ship handling,
says programmer David Jefferies. To address this,
Imlach says the game balance was evened up, giving
it a shallower progression than the previous games,
Yet retaining the insane skill requirements at the
highest levels.
Rather than write the game from scratch, the team
took WipEout 2097 as its starting point, pulling out
a development version of that game so that it had
something to work on almost immediately. Imlach
headed up a team of three level designers and his
job was to redesign the game's basic elements and
manage the circuit design and optimisation of the

Q As always, the tracks would not only go straight along

but corkscrew down at a blistering speed for added coolness.

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125

WorldMags.net
ISTEN UP

J Sasha seized control of the music on Wip3out

THE WIPEOUT SERIES had already
gained a reputation for its musical
excellence, drawing upon the
underground rave culture, which gripped
the UK at that time.
With Wip3out, DJ Sasha was asked to
oversee the soundtrack and, so confident
was the game's developer that people
would want to listen to the tunes, the

game's CD could even be played in a

standard CD player. The music was
more cohesive I think getting a single
individual to mix and direct the various
compositions gave the game a more
focused track list, without sacrificing the
techno/club soundtrack that defined the
series, says lead designer Wayne Imlach
on this revolutionary decision.

PAUL VAN DYK

(8%)

THE CHEMICAL
BROTHERS
(8%)
PROPELLERHEADS
(8%)
ORBITAL
(8%)

SASHA
(46%)

UNDERWORLD
(8%)
MKL
(15%)

 SASHA Sasha

was the musical director

on Wip3out and he
dominated the game's
audio, contributing no
fewer than six of the 13
tracks including FEISAR,
Icarus, Auricom, Goteki
45, Pirhana and Xpander.
He also headlined a
club tour of the USA
sponsored by developer
Psygnosis. He told music
paper NME at the time:
The series has always
had a huge underground
following I'm certain that
the crossover between
the people who listen to
my music and those who
enjoy games like WipEout
is enormous.

 MKL With two dance

tunes Surrender and
Control MKL's decision
to switch from being a
drummer to the producer
of electronic music
certainly paid off.

126

 UNDERWORLD

This British electronic

group had its origins in
the Eighties, but it was
hugely popular in the
mid-Nineties thanks to the
success of Born Slippy, a
tune made famous thanks
to the Danny Boyle classic
movie Trainspotting.
Underground contributed
Kittens to Wip3out.

 ORBITAL Brothers

Phil and Paul Hartnoll

made up the dance
music duo Orbital, which
recorded Know Where
To Run for Wip3out. Paul
must have been struck by
the opportunity because,
following the break-up
of Orbital, he went on to
record tracks for the 2005
game Wipeout Pure on
the PSP.

 PROPELLERHEADS
This big-beat musical
ensemble had already
included the song Bang

On! for Wipeout 64, so

giving Lethal Cut to
Wip3out was something of
a natural progression.

 THE CHEMICAL

BROTHERS No strangers
to the WipEout franchise,
The Chemical Brothers
had allowed Chemical
Beats to be used on the
first game. Wip3out saw
the inclusion of the tune
Influence as well.

 PAUL VAN DYK

German electronic dance
music DJ Paul van Dyk is
no stranger to videogames
today, having produced
tunes for FIFA, Need For
Speed, DJ Hero, Grand
Slam Tennis, Mirror's
Edge and more, but his
first taste of a gaming
soundtrack came with
Avenue on Wip3out.

game. His team was not only able to make

use of a set of recently released PlayStation
code optimisation utilities, but they were also able to
draw on years of experience that had given them a
strong insight into how far they could potentially take
the PSOne.
We felt we could really push the technical
envelope of what was possible on the PlayStation,
adding some features that were missing, giving the
visuals a complete overhaul from The Designers
Republic but keeping to the values of the franchise
so that fans of the previous games wouldnt feel
alienated by the new game, says Jefferies. Imlach
agrees. One of the advantages of developing for
a mature system is the refinement that comes from
knowing the hardware inside out, hence the hi-res
without a sacrifice of frame rate which is something
that wasn't possible with the earlier iterations.
QQQ As with the previous versions of WipEout,
the game was written first and foremost for PAL
PlayStations running at 25 frames per second. It
was then converted for a NTSC audience at 30fps.
A side effect of this, says Jefferies, was that the
NTSC versions of the game ran a little quicker at
the expense of slightly lower resolution, but because
the game didnt perform any timing conversions, the
race clock ran faster on the NTSC version. This
explains why your race times are 20 per cent faster
than your American friends, he exclaims.
But the team was also keen on using aspects
of the PlayStation that development teams had
previously avoided. One of our priorities was using
the PlayStation's hi-def and widescreen mode which,
up to that point, had been considered unusable
by development teams, explains Jefferies. By
optimising the renderer we were able to increase the
resolution of the game from the standard 256 x 240
to 512 x 256, which made for a much crisper image.
An interesting side effect of running the game
in a widescreen 512 x 256 was that the technique
allowed for the rendering of two perfectly square
split screens side-by-side rather than the usual top
and bottom. Each split screen was therefore 256 x
256, Or to put it another way, they were both the
same resolution as single screen Wipeout 2097 and
running on the same hardware. Impressive stuff,
enthuses Jefferies.
The split-screen functionality allowed for one-TV
multiplayer, an advance on the original version that
required players to connect two PlayStations via

Q The graphical boundaries of the PlayStation were pushed

with Wip3out, producing a game that was both high-res and fast.

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BEHIND THE SCENES WIP3OUT

WorldMags.net

Q It was possible to view the game from a first-person perspective,

which actually made getting around the tracks much easier for many.

a serial cable in order to play against friends. The

drawback with the old system was that you needed
two tellies, two PlayStations and two copies of the
game all in one room, which limited the number of
people who could experience it, especially given the
weight of old CRT tellies back then they were not
easy to carry around your friends house, Jefferies
exclaims humorously.

WipEout 3 is the
most difficult
and intense
racing game
I've played. A
powerful effort
from Psygnosis'
Leeds studio
Gamers' Republic,
1999

it discarded any notion of depth and perspective and

rasterised the triangles as 2D textures, he says.
It was this that caused the textures to swim
unconvincingly as they approached the camera.
These artefacts were compounded by the hardwares
inability to clip polygons as they approach the camera
clip plane. This caused polygons to flick off and

WE FELT WE COULD
REALLY PUSH THE
TECHNICAL ENVELOPE
OF WHAT WAS POSSIBLE
ON THE PLAYSTATION

QQQ But bringing this mode to the game

posed problems of its own. Taking a game
that wasnt designed for split screen and
adding it is a major undertaking because the
console needs to render two views when the
game is optimised to run at exactly 30fps in
one view. With split-screen the game is still
rasterising the same number of pixels as a
single screen but it needs to transform twice
the number of polygons into 3D space before
doing the rasterising, says Jefferies.
Yet the Wip3out team managed to crack the issue
with a few optimisation tricks to improve the speed.
Ships in the distance would be rendered at a lower
polygon resolution than ones nearby, Jefferies adds.
Seeing as the polygon count of the ships was fairly
small anyway, this meant they turned into little wedges
of cheese in the mid-distance but with all the carnage
going on you rarely noticed.
The team was also able to refine the rasteriser to
eliminate the polygon clipping and seaming issues
that had plagued PlayStation games. According
to Jefferies, many of these issues were due to the
PlayStation having a 2D rasteriser and not a 3D
rasteriser as was commonly assumed. It had
some hardware that would transform
the polygon vertices into 3D
space, but when it came
to rasterise the polygons,

disappear when they got too close to the

camera. Texturing and clipping problems were
particularly bad for racing games because having
a low-down camera travelling down a track at speed
exacerbated these issues. Our rendering engineer
Pete Bratcher did a great job in rewriting the renderer
that came with the Sony libraries to clip polygons
correctly and adjust for the lack of perspective in the
texture mapper.
While
the
programming

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127

WorldMags.net
STAYING ON TRACK
From 20 to 8: how the Wip3out designers chose the best courses
QTRACK DESIGN is one of
the key elements to absolutely
any racing game, so it comes
as no surprise to learn that
the Wip3out team took it very
seriously. The artists produced
around 20 tracks in total, but
just eight of those were chosen
for the main game, a process

which entailed much playtesting by the team to ensure

that the tracks were as perfect
as reasonably possible.
According to lead designer
Wayne Imlach, the criteria for
selection was not only down
to overall skill requirements,
But to provide advantages

and disadvantages to the

different craft manufacturers
with tighter tracks favouring
the slower yet nimbler ships.
Once the tracks were chosen,
They were worked up into the
final tracks with environment
and buildings and spot effects
and so on, continues Jefferies.

team got to grips with the engine, the audio

crew began amassing the tunes. Wip3out took
a slightly different approach to the music and it
enlisted the superstar trance DJ Sasha to be the music
director. Why? Well, 1999 was the year of trance after
all, says Jefferies. He produced a selection of great
tracks for us to use in the game, including Xpander,
which did pretty well in the charts at the time. It was
great working with him and he came to Leeds and met
the team and got very involved. He went on a Global
Underground tour where he projected videos of the
game playing behind him as he DJed and there were
some great times going to see Sasha play his Wip3out
gig at Creamfields. Some of us even made it over to
see him play Space in Ibiza.

From the
tastefully
minimalist frontend graphics
(laden with
Designers
Republic
intervention
as in the rest
of the game)
to the flawless
injectionmoulded
smoothness
of the tracks,
supremacy of
construction
is in evidence
everywhere
PLAY, 1999

128

QQQMeanwhile, the art and design crew worked on

a new set of tracks. Nicky Wescott was the head artist
and she had been team leader on the first two titles.
Her boyfriend, who later became her husband, was
Mike Place who worked at The Designers Republic
and carried out the graphic design of the game. So
right from the beginning it was like DR was
on the team, which was massively important,
adds Jefferies.
The levels were initially built with no dressing
whatsoever just basic polygon tracks floating
in space. The artists started by lofting a racing
line in SoftImage and exporting it into the game
engine, says Jefferies, of a drafting technique
that allows for the generation of curved lines.
You could race the tracks at this point but, visually,
they looked like a ribbon of track going through space
with no background.
This was done because the team felt it was
important to get the racing aspect feeling right before
spending any time on set dressing, as changes to the
layout would be expensive once scenery was built.
We spent quite a bit of time analysing the tracks
from the earlier games and we derived a short track

Q The visual style was similar to the previous WipEout games,

producing a cool, underground, almost Japanese feel to the tracks.

design bible that highlighted the pros and cons of all

the various track features you could include, including
items, such as the width of the track, angle of corners,
altitude changes, everything, recalls Imlach. If you
put something into the track design, there was an
expectation of knowing to some degree how it might

THE TEAM HAD JUST

NINE MONTHS TO GET
THE GAME INTO SHOPS
affect the game before you tested it. We didn't
have time for random design. You needed to know
what you were doing and have a reason for every
corner, curve and crossover.
The artists distinguished the game from WipEout
2097 by using a different palette and cleaner lines,
helped by the hi-res mode, but the game still conveyed
the futuristic cityscapes and environments that defined
the look of the game. I think it felt a little more mature
in terms of art style, which was appropriate as it was
the last of the series to come out on the generation of
consoles it was originally created on, says Imlach.
As a bonus, four more unlockable test tracks were
produced late in development using the vector art
style as a cheap way to introduce more tracks
without the art overhead, Imlach adds.
Wip3out was also given a replay function
because the team believed that the high-speed
races deserved to be viewed from different camera
angles. Jefferies says the technical concept behind

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BEHIND THE SCENES WIP3OUT

WorldMags.net

> A GAMING EVOLUTION

With its styling,
club music
and fast-paced
action, WipEouts
futuristic
spacecrafts and
insane difficulty
became iconic.

replays on the PlayStation was simple you recorded

each button that the user pressed on each frame and
then, for the replay, you simply played back each
button press and the race would unfold exactly the
same as it did the first time round but, in practise,
retro-fitting replays to a game that didnt support them
proved to be an immensely fiddly and frustrating task.
All of the physics, artificial intelligence and random
number generation had to be exactly deterministic,
which is never the case, he recalls. If you feed
the same values into an AI system twice then you
might expect it to give you the same result each
time but, in practise, AI and physics systems have a
degree of randomness built into them to make them
unpredictable, so when you try and replay a race
it looks different to first time around. When you add
to this the fact that extensive randomness is used
throughout the particle systems which are different
depending on camera angle (and of course camera
angle is different in a replay) then it becomes a huge
spaghetti mess that you have to untangle to achieve
this feature.
QQQ Not that the end result suffered. Indeed, replays
looked great and the process was so efficient that the
team was able to use some of the spare processing
time to put some flare and trail effects on the ships.
The look and feel of the game was stunning with
the futuristic graphic design championed by The
Designers Republic and a render engine displayed
to its full potential. The whole package ended up
working very well together and consequently the
game came away with the Best Design award at
BAFTA for 1999, says Jefferies proudly.
The game coincided with the advent of the analogue
controller and so, for the first time, the series was
able to benefit from added support for these sticks.
It had proven to be a popular control method and,
given Sony's influence on Wip3out, it was something
the coding team could not afford to dismiss. Even
so, it was a controversial inclusion. The nature
of analogue input is very different to digital input
and it ended up making the racing easier because
analogue controls afforded the player more control
over the input, admits Jefferies. This upset some
traditionalists who didnt like us releasing a version
of the game where better times could be gained by
using the DualShock.
But it wasn't as if the game was easy. It did have
a difficult learning curve and this went down well
with reviewers who raved over the game in both the
specialist and national press which also praised the
title for its graphics, split screen, new weapons
and soundtrack. And yet sales of the game

WipEout > Wip3out > G-Surfers

G-Surfers had
undisputed
parallels
with Wip3out
including a
two-player split
screen mode and
modern craft.

were sluggish. Not even a special edition released in

Europe in 2000 could make it into an overwhelming
success despite bringing different craft physics, older
courses and four-person multiplayer to the table. The
problem, says Jefferies, was the European-centric
nature of the franchise and also because attention
was switching to other, more advanced machines.
WipEout was always a very European and UK
series and so the relatively low sales compared to
titles that sold across the world wasnt that surprising,
Jefferies says. It didn't help, he continues passionately,
that Wip3out was the first PlayStation title to ship
with a new form of copy protection that meant even
legitimate copies of the game would not play on a
modded Playstation. People who had modded their
console had no choice but to acquire a pirated version
of the game, which had the copy protection stripped
from it, he says. I don't know if this meant that we lost
lots of potential sales but later titles no longer used
that form of copy protection.
Of course, Wip3out wasn't the end of the franchise.
It became Sony's baby, spawning more sequels
including WipEout Fusion, WipEout Pure, WipEout
Pulse, WipEout HD and WipEout 2048. WipEout games
have since appeared on the PS2, the PSP, the PS3
and the PS Vita and it will, we are sure, come to
the PS4 in due course, even taking into account the
closure of developer Sony Studio Liverpool before
the console launched. Everyone loved WipEout,
says Jefferies. The slickness, the visuals, the graphic
design, the music and the club culture had
perfectly captured the PlayStation generation.

WorldMags.net

Q The overall look and feel of Wip3out

was of a PlayStation 2 game. This was
important, however, in order to sell copies
at the end of the PSOne's life.

129

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INTERVIEW

WILD BILL
STEALEY

Created on the back of bravado, MicroProse became one

of gamings most respected companies of the Eighties and
Nineties. Co-founder Wild Bill Stealey tells us more
John Wilbur Stealey Sr
better known as Wild Bill
co-founded the highly
successful games company
MicroProse in 1982 after
pairing up with acclaimed
programmer and designer
Sid Meier. Stealey ran the
publisher and developer for
more than a decade, drawing
on his background as a United
States Air Force lieutenant
colonel to influence a string of
acclaimed military simulations.
Now, 33 years later, he is the
CEO of the online gaming firm,
iEntertainment Network, which
is set to launch a new series
of mobile outdoor action sims,
starting with BowHunter2015,
as well as a fresh version
of WarBirds. Has much
changed? Its all the same
really, Stealey says. Only
I dont need to stand in front
of GameStop and laugh and
dance and show off games on
the Commodore 64 anymore.
We can use social media.

130

What was your first experience

with gaming concepts?
When I was 16, I won a National
Science Foundation competition and got
to go to the Army Signal Research and
Development Laboratories in New Jersey.
I programmed helicopter sims, which got
me interested in simulation. But
my competitive nature came when
I went to the Air Force Academy
and I did what all air force guys
do: pretend to shoot everybody else
down and compete at everything.

XSIM. I built a financial model, which took

me 20 all-nighters and created a simulation
of the businesses we were consulting for.
When did you buy your first computer?
I was working at General Instrument as
director of strategic planning and there

I'M A SMART, LAZY

PERSON SO I FOUND A
TIMESHARING LANGUAGE
CALLED XSIM

Was programming and gaming in

your mind at that time?
Not at that point. I graduated from the
United States Air Force Academy as a
lieutenant in the Air Force and trained to
become a jet pilot. After seven years on
active military duty, I went to the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania
to learn about finance. I got a job as a
management consultant at McKinsey &
Company in New York. As a Wharton grad,
my employers wanted me to do incomes,
statements, balance sheets and all that
boring stuff. But Im a smart, lazy person
so I found a timesharing language called

was a spreadsheet program called

VisiCalc. I went to a shop to see a
TRS-80, knowing it ran the software. Next
to it was a machine making all of these
gun noises, and I said, What is that, and
the computer sales assistant said, Oh,
thats just a toy computer. I [asked if] it
did VisiCalc and he said, Yeah. It was an
Atari 800 and I bought it.
Did you play games on it?
Id already played a game called Star
Raiders and Id played a Star Trek game at

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INTERVIEW WILD BILL STEALEY

WorldMags.net

EARLY SALES TA

CTICS

QQQWHEN WE
MADE Hellcat
Ace, I called comp
uter stores
and asked to buy
the game.
When they said the
y didnt have it, Id
yell
at them and be an
irate customer, sa
ying
things like, Wha
t kind of compute
r
store is this, befor
e hanging up. Th
ree
weeks later Id ca
ll again and say,
This
is MicroProse an
d we have a game
called Hellcat Ac
e. They would sa
y,
Weve been gettin
g a lot of calls ab
out
that. I sold $200,00
0 of software
with that oh-so-so
phisticated
marketing approa
ch.

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WorldMags.net
When did you leave your regular job?
About a year into it. I walked to my boss
and said I have a little business on the side
and he said, Oh I heard. That was in 1984.
Sid went full time a year later.
Did Sid like making the flight sims that
MicroProse was so famous for?
Flight sims were not Sids passion. They
were mine. He made Hellcat Ace because
I said I could sell it. He made Chopper
Rescue, but only because he wanted it use
two joysticks to play and it had never been
done before. He wanted to find things he
could do differently on computers. He also
made Floyd Of The
Jungle, which was a
climb-the-ladder kind
QQQWE THOUGHT
of game using four
CIVILIZATION was a terrific game joysticks on the Atari
Q Rex Nebular And The Cosmic Gender Bender was created to keep up
but we shipped 15,000 copies and 800. My three kids and
with Sierra, says Bill. The guys were tired of doing my military games got 14,00
0 back internally. The problem
I loved [it], but it never
but while the game was very good, it didnt make as much money.
was, we could go to Sids office and
gained any traction.
ask,
What do we do next?. We were
getting
75,000 points.
the Air Force Academy, so I figured
tips and the public wasnt. I brought
it back He also made Solo
Sid sat down
I could use VisiCalc on the Atari 800
in and got my marketing people toge
ther.
Flight in 1984, right?
and scored
and play games. How cool is that? Thats
And, ding, the light went off: I said
we
Thats because he
150,000 points.
when I met Sid Meier who shared my
need to put Sid in the box. We put
had learned to line
I was pissed. I
growing interest in software. But he was
science and military advisors in
draw better. He was
asked Sid how
borrowing games and I said, Sid, you cant
the game and it took off.
looking for techniques
he beat me so
borrow software, and he said, Well, Im
to improve what he was
bad. Sid said, I
not selling them or anything, Im just looking
doing
and
he was learning as he
memorised the algorithms while you were
at them. And I said, They want you to pay
went along. Solo Flight competed with
flying and knew where the enemy was
to look at them. I decided not to join Meiers
Microsoft Flight Simulator, but whereas
going to come up on the screen! Sid said
group at the time.
Microsoft was putting out $49 products
to me, I could write a better game in a
and insisting retailers pay $44, I walked in
How did you and Sid go into business?
week, and I said, If you could, Id sell it.
with a $29.95 product that I was willing to
Three months later we were at a sales
Fighter pilots dont like to be out-bragged.
sell for $14.57. The retailers bought 25,000
meeting in Las Vegas. I was the only
copies. In 1985, we also made a combat
What game did he create?
finance guy and Sid was the only engineer.
Hellcat Ace. When he finished it, I wrote
flight simulator, F-15 Strike Eagle, because
The salesmen had been telling us how cool
a four-page memo saying it sucked and it
Id always wanted to fly the F15. A couple of
they used to be and how good they were
wasnt really about flying. He came back a
guys converted it to the Commodore 64 and
going to be the next day and Sid says,
week later with all of those things fixed and
thats when things really jumped off.
Bill, I know where there are some games,
reminded me I had said I could sell it.
lets get out of here. We were at the MGM
F-15 Strike Eagle, in all its versions, sold
Grand and there was a game room in the
more than four million copies, worldwide.
Was it an easy passage into games, then?
basement full of coin-op games. As we
Gunship did extremely even better. Former
I did have to hock my car, my Volvo for
played, Sid kicked my butt at every game,
Commodore president Thomas Rattigan
$15,000 in the summer of 1984 to pay for the
but there was a Red Baron game there and
since I was flying A-37B Dragonfly attack
gave MicroProse an award for that game
three employees I had. I took it to a pawn
aircraft for the Pennsylvania National
because Commodore determined that the
shop and the guy gave me $15,000. It took
Guard, I said, Come on Meier, I will kick
me two months to get it back.
your butt at this flying game. I scored
Had you always been a gambler?
Wait, I am a fighter pilot! Every time you
go against somebody in the air, its a
challenge. Scary, fun, and challenging
every time and you cannot be shy.

SID IN THE BOX

Q Hellcat Ace was created as a mutual challenge between Bill

Stealey and Sid Meier and it kickstarted MicroProse for the pair.

132

How exactly did the MicroProse

partnership work?
Sid was good at what he was doing,
though I couldn't get him off the Atari 800
for about four years. I was enthusiastic
about selling his games and making a
real company out of MicroProse Software.

on
by Core Design, but it was released
Q Rick Dangerous was developed
rose had a UK label, MicroStyle.
MicroProses US label, MicroPlay. MicroP

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INTERVIEW WILD BILL STEALEY

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game Gunship sold more Commodore 64
computers than any other game they knew
about. Gunship probably had twice as
many pirated copies.
You used to wear flight suits during your
early days at MicroProse. Why was that?
I was the marketing guy. Who remembers
John the MBA? Very few, but they do
remember Wild Bill the Fighter Pilot. We
got great press, everyone knew what kinds
of games we did, and most MicroProse
customers bought every one of our flight
simulators for many years. I loved going to
trade shows to display our flying games on
giant screen TVs wearing my flight suit. The
free press was great.

buyer was busy. I said to the secretary, Is

this your top-ten list, pointing to the wall.
She said it was. I said, The top eight of
your top ten games are mine and if your
buyer wants to sell these tomorrow, he had
better talk to me. The buyer was aghast. He
had no idea they were MicroProse products
because they all said US Gold. We decided
to set up our own UK office, which occurred
about one year later.
Did you ever consider selling MicroProse?
I had a long meeting with Richard Branson
in 1988 or 1989 before he started Virgin
Interactive and I was pretty sure we were
meeting to sell MicroProse to him. I was

SID WAS MY FRIEND. I

WAS NOT GOING TO PULL
A WOZNIAK ON HIM

You and Sid stuck together. Why?

Sid was my friend and the guy I
started first with. I was not going to
pull a Wozniak on him. He was never
comfortable with the business side
of things, though. One time I asked
him to come and see investment bankers
in New York and put on a suit because all
I had ever seen him in was tennis shoes,
jeans, and a Michigan sweatshirt. Im in my
best three-piece suit and spit-shine shoes;
hes in his tennis shoes, jeans, white shirt
and black striped tie on a hanger and his
Michigan sweatshirt. I said, Sid, leave it
here were going to New York, youre the
geek, Ill be the businessman, lets go. We
still raised money. Hes my friend.
You also worked with other companies
such as US Gold in the UK
[Founder] Geoff Brown said, Bill, I want to
ship your products for you in the UK, and I
agreed. But I went to the UK to talk to Boots
about our products shortly after and the

such a dumb bunny that I didnt say

yes. I could have retired and started
taking real golf lessons. But I loved
being an entrepreneur even though it has
probably given me my three heart attacks.
How did Pirates come about?
After Gunship, Sid looked around and did
other things. Sid is a giant history buff. I
gave him a book about the American Civil
War for Christmas one year and gave me
it me back six days later. I said, Sid, didnt
you like the book? He said, I loved the
book, but I memorised it already and I dont
need it. Thats how brilliant Sid was. Even
though we started doing a lot of games that
he didnt participate in, we knew Sid could
come in and made them better in the end.

Q Gunship got us big in Europe, says Bill. One employee said

he was told [EA founder] Trip Hawkins said, Anyone could sell
Gunship. We had a great product!

Q Sid Meier was so integral to MicroProses success

his name appeared on the box of Pirates! and Civilization.

Sid eventually left. Did it leave a hole?

Around nine years in, he said he didnt
want to be a partner any more but we
remain friends to this day I go and play
golf with him every few years in Maryland.
You took time off too, didnt you?
Id taken MicroProse public and the board
said, Bill, youve been doing this for ten
years and youre a micromanager, so take
a year off. Id raised $30 million and I had
hired a president for the US and a new MD
to head up the UK. I went to make speeches
in colleges about entrepreneurship and I
played golf at all of these cool places. I was
gone from January 1992 to September 1992.
Was it odd returning after a long period?
I came back to a different firm. MicroProse
was always about cash bonuses for good
work. If you got your game out on time and
on budget, we put 25 per cent of profits
aside for the teams that accomplished that
hard job. Artists and programmers humped
80 to 100 hours a week towards a projects
end to make the deadline. I came back and
asked management what games we had
ready and there were none. They had taken
away my bonus programme, so the teams
were not dedicated to finishing anything.
We launched one US game in 1992 F-15
Strike Eagle III. I went to Spectrum Holobyte
in 1993 and it bought enough stock to take
control of the company. It was a big mistake
to take a sabbatical.
You eventually left and set up Interactive
Magic. Why was that?
I was bored I had a 250 mile, three-year
non-compete clause after MicroProse was
sold, but when that the company needed
my signature on some legal documents,
the three-year went out the window. I set up
again and figured wed do those sims once
more. We made Capitalism and published
military sims. We bought the WarBirds
franchise and got the company up to about
$25 million in sales.
The company has since become the
iEntertainment Network and we are
looking for beta testers at
www.BowHunter2015.com.

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GAME CHANGERS

DEVIL MAY CRY

Released: 23 August 2001 Publisher: Capcom Developer: In-house System: PS2

Dantes
name from the
t Evil
original Residen
n still be
ca
,
ny
To
n,
tio
itera
his trademark
seen engraved on ls, Ebony
pisto
pair of versatile
ey help him
Th
y.
or
and Iv
en
juggle emies.

A curious mix of puzzle-solving, platforming and some of the most

in-depth combat games seen back in 2001, Devil May Cry shot and
slashed its way onto the PS2 from nowhere and changed the way
action games worked forever
WE SIMPLY WOULDNT have the modern
3D hack-and-slash games if it werent for
Devil May Cry. Hideki Kamiya might be most
famous nowadays for his ridiculous antics on Twitter,
but back in 2001, his approach to game-making was
the main reason for his notoriety. The game takes its
cues from Capcoms older games you can see that
in the camera works, and in the intentionally Resident
Evil-esque environments you ght through but it only
took a couple of seconds on the pad to realise that
there was nothing else quite like Devil May Cry out
there when it launched.
For a start, protagonist Dante was a breath of
fresh air compared to the other sullen and mopey
Japanese protagonists of his time. This is likely some
of Kamiyas inuence coming through, to be honest
the developer is known for his rebellious attitude
and tendency to say exactly what hes thinking. Dante
mimics this, with an additional cartoon veneer: the
white-haired half-man, half-demon is one of the most

134

unapologetically mouthy characters weve seen in

gaming, sometimes to the point of comedy, often to
the point of aggravation.
QQQDevil May Cry began its life when Shinji
Mikami asked Kamiya to make a new Resident Evil
game something more action-orientated than
previous iterations of the survival horror franchise
had been. Working with Resident Evil veteran
Noboru Suigmora, Hideki Kamiya pitched a game
where Tony an invincible and ridiculously smart
soldier, enhanced with biotechnology would ght
an isolated zombie outbreak on an island off the
coast of some European country. As the premise
took shape, Kamiya concluded that Tonys coolness
wouldnt come through if you could only see him
and experience his actions from behind, and so
decided to drop the pre-rendered backgrounds from
the game. Kamiya opted instead for a fully 3D and
dynamic camera.

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GAME-CHANGERS DEVIL MAY CRY

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THE ANATOMY OF DEVIL MAY CRY
DANTES INTRODUCTION IS AN ODD MASH-UP OF STYLES AND CONCEPTS
WHEN YOU BEGIN TO BREAK IT ALL DOWN

SPANISH ARCHITECTURE
+When the team was still working on the
soon-to-be-retitled Resident Evil game, they
took inspiration from European architecture
most notably, Spanish archictecture.
You can see examples of this in the gothic
construction of Mallet Island, which is the
rst setting of Devil May Cry.

ONIMUSHA: WARLORDS
+It was a glitch in the original Onimusha:
Warlords game (also developed and
published by Capcom, back in early 2001)
and that inspired Kamiya to experiment
with giving Dante the ability to juggle his
many enemies with his guns and vicious
aerial attacks.

Mikami then weighed in, deciding this new ultraquick and cool direction just wasnt in keeping with
what Resident Evil was all about, and decided to
scrap the idea. He convinced Kamiya, his team,
and Capcom to carry on the project, though, under
its own title. So Kamiya renamed Tony to Dante,
swapped the zombies for demons and doubled down
on the combat.
Thats when Devil May Crys trademark combat
really began to take shape during a test of the
game, Kamiya was fascinated by how Dante could
keep enemies in the air if he jumped and attacked
at the right time. He decided to make this a core
mechanic in the game, adding a gunplay mechanic
that would keep enemies in the air once launched so
you could chain combos and do it in style.
The whole game was wrangled to t around
Dante and his new uid, dance-like combat. Moves
were created to allow him more mobility around
the battleeld lunges, parries, ips, area-of-effect
bullet blasts; he was shaped into a nely-tuned
killing machine. As a result, the game morphed

IT WAS THE START

OF THE DYNAMIC
CAMERA THAT
WOULD COME TO
DEFINE THE PS2S
3D-BASED OUTPUT

DANTE ALIGHIERI

KEY
FACTS
Q The PS2 version
of Devil May Cry
has sold over 2.2
million copies
worldwide, making
it one of Capcoms
best-selling new
IPs of all time.
Q The series
name comes from
the shop Dante
runs his demon
hunting business
from, which was
revealed to have
come from Lady
saying even a
devil may cry
because of Dantes
might during the
third game.
Q Dantes
personality was
based on the
character Cobra
from a manga
series with the
same name.

+ Surprising no-one, the lore of the entire

series is heavily inspired by The Divine
Comedy, the seminal poetic work of Dante
Alighieri. The names of most of the games
characters were lifted directly from his work,
such as Virgil and Trish, and the pattern
continues in the sequels.

into a mission-based structure, too, with each level

rewarding you for style, overall damage and speed of
completion. The open-ended structure of the Resident
Evil games was deemed unsuitable for what Kamiya
wanted to achieve with Devil May Cry he wanted
to be a sadist, to judge the gamers that bought his
game. Critics argued the game was too hard on
release and Kamiya basically laughed at that.
QQQThere were 3D action games before Devil May
Cry, sure, but none of them had the focus on style and
uidity that Capcoms left-eld release did. It showed
what the PS2 was capable of early on in the consoles
life, and initiated a new trend of action gaming that
relied more on skill and timing like a rhythm action
game rather than the plodding, considered pace of
the action games of the time.
It was also the start of the dynamic camera that
would come to dene a lot of the PS2s 3D-based
output. It might have been a fairly clunky camera
system in the rst game, but it was slowly improved
throughout the series life on the console and, if
nothing else, worked as a fantastic proof of concept
for the loose camera in a high-octane action game
like that.
Without Devil May Cry, we wouldnt have
Bayonetta. The Ninja Gaiden games wouldnt have
been shaped the way they have. From Software
wouldnt have made the ridiculous (but amazing)
Ninja Blade. Its arguable that Demon Souls took
inspiration from Capcoms action game masterpiece,
too, and Resident Evil 4 certainly wouldnt be the
game that it is today without the development team
cutting its teeth on Devil May Cry and Mallet Island.

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GAME CHANGERS

8 MORE GAMES
THAT STARTED LIFE
AS SOMETHING
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT

DEVIL MAY CRYS JOURNEY FROM A RESIDENT EVIL GAME TO A

COMPLETELY ALTERED BEAST IS PRETTY COMMON KNOWLEDGE,
BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT A LOT OF OTHER GAMES ACTUALLY
CHANGED DRASTICALLY DURING DEVELOPMENT TOO?

136

STAR FOX ADVENTURES USED TO BE

DINOSAUR PLANET

THE CANNED SABREMAN STAMPEDE

USED TO BE DONKEY KONG RACING

QDINOSAUR PLANET WAS in development around early 2000.

Rare were developing the title for the Nintendo 64 when Miyamoto
visited. He noticed how similar the game was to the Star Fox series
and asked the developer to alter the assets into Star Fox 64.

QANOTHER RARE GAME, another twisting development When

Microsoft purchased Rare, it had to rejig a lot of its then-current
projects to exorcise Nintendo characters. Donkey Kong was replaced
with the studio's character, Sabreman, but the game was cancelled.

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GAME-CHANGERS DEVIL MAY CRY

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DR ROBOTNIKS MEAN BEAN MACHINE

IS A REBADGED PUYO PUYO GAME

GOLDENEYE 007 STARTED LIFE AS AN

ON-RAILS LIGHT GUN GAME

QSONIC THE HEDGEHOG is an internationally recognised symbol.

The Puyo Puyo games well, not so much. As such, Sega rebranded
the game with the exact same gameplay as Dr. Robotniks Mean
Bean Machine for its release in PAL and NTSC regions.

QGOLDENEYE 007S DEVELOPMENT was a harried affair. The

game was pitched as a side-scrolling platformer, but studio heads
wanted to take a more Virtua Cop route. Over two years later, the
semi-sandbox game released an entirely different beast.

FINAL FIGHT BEGAN LIFE AS STREET

FIGHTER 89

SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 IS A RE-SKINNED

YUME KOJO: DOKI DOKI PANIC

QSTREET FIGHTER SOLD so well that Capcoms nancial arm

asked developers to refer to the in-development Final Fight as a
Street Fighter game and it was going to release with Street Fighter
branding until late into development.

QWHILE THE JAPANESE arm of Nintendo was developing a

platformer based on Fuji Televisions Yume Kojo mascots, America was
obsessing over Mario. For the American release, the main characters
were altered to Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach. The rest is history.

THRILL KILL WAS CANCELLED AND

WU-TANG: TASTE THE PAIN WAS BORN

SLEEPING DOGS WAS SUPPOSED TO

BE TRUE CRIME: HONG KONG

QTHE 3D FIGHTING game was built using practically all the same
assets and engine architecture of Thrill Kill. Rifng off the popular
Mortal Kombat, Thrill Kill pushed the violence a bit too far and
funding was pulled. Activision swooped in, resurrecting the game.

QIT STARTED LIFE when Activision funded United Front Games

to create an open world game, tentatively called Black Lotus. But
Activision wanted the True Crime moniker. Delays and budget
issues lead to United Front signing its game to Square Enix.

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ASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD

C ENGINE CD 1993
ONDO OF BLOOD never saw a Western release on the PC Engine CD the
arliest we saw it was on a Virtual Console release in 2010. And thats a damn
hame, because the game was one of the better Castlevania games released in
the early Nineties. The intro weve printed here is actually three stages of animated
pening showing the 19-year-old protagonist, Richter Belmont, hurl his chained Vampire
iller whip at a skeleton under Draculas control. Its a great way of showing you that Rondo
Of Blood is abiding to some key Castlevania tropes mainly that the main character is a
elmont, that he has a whip, and that youll be battling the undead in a side-scrolling adventure.
ts also a showcase of the gorgeous colours and sharp edges the CD was capable of rendering.

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CHEAPEST
MULTIPLAYER
EXPLOITS

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ESSENTIALS 10
Q In the wake of Evolves launch and the balancing issues that came
with it, weve been thinking about multiplayer games and the difficulties
that come in making them impenetrable. For every well-constructed
game, theres another out there riddled with glitches. Sometimes, these
glitches are patched sharpish, but other times they work their way into
gaming infamy, to be collated as part of a list in games magazine

5
4

2
Skywalking
Game: Left4Dead 2
Year: 2009

Roll Cancelling
Game: Capcom Vs. SNK 2
Year: 2001

Subterranean Camping
Game: Call Of Duty: World At
War Year: 2008

Right On (My) Cue

Game: Virtual Pool 64
Year: 1998

BXR
Game: Halo 2
Year: 2004

1
Q

One of the most famous

glitches in a fighting
game released to date, Roll
Cancelling was basically
a glitch that allowed you to
pull off special moves with
invincibility added to any
other properties they had
in Capcom Vs. SNK 2. This
happened because youd
cancel a roll in the first three
frames, but the game would
still think the roll was active,
giving you invincibility for
approximately 21 frames
the length of most supers.
This glitch was exploited to its
fullest, though, and the whole
high level play of Capcom Vs.
SNK 2 ended up revolving
around who could exploit it
the most. And thus another
competitive fighter lost its
edge as a result.

Two of the maps in Call

Of Duty: World At War
are subject to a glitch that
allows you to fall underneath
the readily rendered ground,
into a small limbo area of
absolute nothingness below.
When youre down there, you
can view various items and
assets in the world above
almost like looking up
through a glass ceiling. For
whatever reason, the impact
that would stop your bullets
passing through from above
is discarded when looking
up through the ground, so it
means any players passing
through your sneaky hidey
hole in either the Upheaval
or Castle levels are going
to get (cheaply) pumped full
of lead. Good for you, bad
for them.

After youve lined up

your shot in Virtual
Pool 64, taken a pop at the
ball and seen whatever
balls youve potted go in,
you can hit the R button
on your Nintendo 64 pad
and switch to an overhead
view of the pool table. From
here, you can then actually
move over the opponents
cue and rotate it at will.
This is you guessed it
ridiculous. Game-breaking,
in fact. We played it in the
office a little to test this out,
and all you end up doing is
skewing your opponents
cue its like walking into a
bar and grabbing the end of
their cue as theyre trying to
take a shot. Fortunately, the
game featured no head butt
opponent button.

5
Q

Skywalking was a
glitch in Left 4 Dead
that allowed you to travel
above the typical combat
zones and sometimes skip
encounters altogether. It
was triggered by throwing
a pipe bomb at your feet
near a precipice, then
interrupting the throw-back
animation with weapon
switches. Keep switching,
and eventually youll walk
across to another platform
somewhere. It was actually
incredibly frustrating when
playing as a zombie because
it meant that a whole team
of survivors could potentially
bypass you altogether, and
youd have practically no
chance at taking them down,
which meant forfeiting a
match altogether. Not great.

140

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Also known as melee

fire, BXR was a
common glitch in the PvP
sections of Halo 2 and, to a
lesser extent, Halo 3. The
exploit enabled players
to melee and fire almost
simultaneously by hitting
the B, X and R buttons at the
same time insta-killing
anyone that got in your way
if you pulled it off just right.
Though it was an exploit, it
came to be a pretty integral
part of competitive Halo play
in a 1v2 situation, it would
give you a fighting chance
of getting away on top. We
were actually disappointed
it wasnt in The Master Chief
Collection, but ultimately
it's the kind of unintended
gameplay mechanic that
was bound to be lost in time.

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6

10

Fire, Walk With Me

Game: Dark Souls 2
Year: 2014

Death Javelin
Game: Call Of Duty: Modern
Warfare 2 Year: 2009

Ghosts of War
Game: Gears Of War 2
Year: 2008

Super Bubbles
Game: Destiny
Year: 2014

Keyboard Warriors
Game: Tony Hawks American
Wasteland Year: 2005

6
Q

7
Q

8
Q

9
Q

The Tony Hawk games

were famous during
the pre-online console era for
creating and maintaining a
pretty solid fanbase that was
so dedicated, it had tens upon
tens of online forums and
active communities. During
the PS2 era, it was possible
to connect to other games
via Ethernet, and American
Wasteland took advantage
of this for online games.
Thing is, if you plugged in
a USB keyboard and sent a
message to someone via that,
it would bypass any character
limitations meaning you
could send a message of
brackets and exclamation
marks to someone, and they
wouldnt even have to open
it just getting it in their inbox
would crash their game.

The PvP element

of Dark Souls has
enough potential for trolling
without some cheap exploits
(ever been cornered by a
guy holding two man-sized
shields for two hours? We
have). But enter the Iron
Keep, build your character
to have 1,000 or higher
defence and you can walk on
lava to your hearts content.
Trigger a Summon Stone,
wait for some poor shmuck
to enter your game, and
camp on a boulder in the
midst of flaming lava. They
cant get to you from the
spawn, but youre sat there,
prepared with a greatbow,
and can pick them off like
fish in a barrel. As if trolling
players in this game wasnt
satisfying enough already.

There was an uproar

back in 2009 as the
most popular online game
of the year, Call Of Duty:
Modern Warfare, was being
crippled by a cheap exploit
that allowed players to
arm their javelin launchers
by cooking a semtex
grenade and stow them
back in their packs, which
would then explode upon
death. The game locked
the action once the weapon
was stowed, priming it as
you ran off and shot other
players. This meant that
your corpse was effectively
a one-hit kill machine, and
if you bolstered up your
build with any other perks,
you could effectively turn
yourself into a team-wiping
suicide bomber.

Go up to a wall in the
second Gears Of War,
hold down the reload button
and roadie run into the wall.
If youve pulled it off right,
youll know straight away:
itll look like youve instigated
lag on your own game. The
engine will try and catch up
to you when you run out of
the glitch, but your enemies
will see you still stuck in a
wall. This basically makes
you a ghost, and you can run
around the map practically
unseen, free to pick off your
human prey in any way you
wish. This was mostly used
for boosting the Seriously
2.0 achievement, as well
as the individual weapontype kill medals that the
game offered players. It was
frustratingly cheap.

Destinys PvP
balancing revolves
around three core tenets
your Super meter, your
abilities and your heavy
ammo. Take away any one
of these, or alter them in
any way, any match will hit
a nosedive. So a glitch that
means infinite super for the
most deadly class at range
(Warlock) means an instant
win, or if youre on the
opposing team, a crushing
defeat. Get four Titans with
the Alpha Lupi chest piece,
and two Warlocks with
Obsidian Mind, and you can
set up an impenetrable
fortress in the middle of the
map from which Warlocks
or Hunters can spam super
kills to on anyone that dares
come near.

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A P PA R E L

GADGETS

BOOKS

FROM BEDROOMS
TO BILLIONS
DIRECTED BY: NICOLA AND ANTHONY CAULFIELD PRICE: 30  50
ITS ONLY REALLY when you take a step
back from it that you can appreciate what an
extraordinary rise the games industry has had
from its earliest days in the UK. Thats exactly
what this new documentary from Nicola and
Anthony Caulfield looks to explore as it charts
the birth of game development in the bedrooms
of game-makers like Jeff Minter and David
Braben, to the massive titles that influence
gaming today like LittleBigPlanet.
Originally a Kickstarter project launched
in 2012, the making of this documentary has
been drawn out, but its meant a great number
of UK gaming luminaries have been added to
the interview list. The likes of Peter Molyneux,
Ian Livingstone and David Perry all make an

142

appearance and really with the context such

developers provide, the amazing journey theyve
all been on really gains new perspective.
Available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray,
the special editions offer extended behind the
scenes videos on the making of games like
Elite, Manic Miner and another 150 minutes of
interview recordings for you to enjoy. You can
also watch a piece on what it was like making
music on the C64 with Rub Hubbard and Fred
Grey. Its basically a retro gaming fans dream,
packed full of big names with many interesting
stories to tell. As far as gaming documentaries
go, its really up there with some of the best
weve seen and its been a bumper crop in
recent years.

JACKET PRO F/Z

TIGHTS POWEL

JACKET SUZI

QThis surprisingly warm, but super thin sports

jacket from Bjorn Borg is actually part of a collection
tied into a new PC and Mac game called First Person
Lover. All the clothing in the game is available on
its site.
www.bjornborg.com

QMore fitness gear from the Bjorn Borg collection,

this time in the form of fitness tights, made from
Hyrdo-Pro material so theyre perfect for getting a
little exercise without sweating buckets. Also good
for lounging around the flat.
www.bjornborg.com

QThis isnt a mens only collection. Male and female

avatars are available in the game, so the clothing is
too. Like this rather fetching bomber jacket that has
its perfect match in the game. Its all a bit odd, but
were kind of into it.
www.bjornborg.com

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WorldMags.net
GAMING BIOSHOCK
CLOTHING

INFINITE
SKY-HOOK

SOLD BY: FORBIDDEN PLANET PRICE: 7

BLACK MESA
EXPLORER
QTheres no sign of a Half-Life
sequel, but so long as we keep
buying gear perhaps Valve will
see we mean business. Or just
continue to dodge the question.
www.musterbrand.com

VIDEOGAME WEAPON REPLICAS

have become insanely detailed and this
recreation of the iconic BioShock Infinite
Sky-Hook is one of the best examples
of the craft. Bookers primary mode of
transportation around Columbia really felt like
a natural extension of the character by the
end and leaping into the air as we decimated
our enemies became second nature. The
steampunk style of Irrationals creation
shines through on this replica and makes it a
standout piece.
www.forbiddenplanet.com

MASS
EFFECT
M-3
SOLD BY: BIG BAD TOY STORE
PRICE: $319.99
A GREAT DEAL of the
pon design in Citadel space is about
ss efficiency and clean, stark
ome of the angular firearms
n Mass Effect were really
memorable as a result, and if you
started out as a heavy tech or biotic
user you will be accustomed to using
pistols like this M-3. This replica has
some lovely texture work so you can
really appreciate this weapon up close.
www.bigbadtoystore.com

NOT A PIPE
QChronicling an important
lesson for Mario that not all
pipes should be explored, this
shirt is also a reminder that the
legendary Mario should not be
our hero in terms of body image.
www.threadless.com

MISS MOXXIS BAD TOUCH

SOLD BY: GEARBOX PRICE: $

SUN BROS
QThis homage to the most co-op
friendly of Dark Souls Covenants,
the Warrior Of Sunlight group
(affectionately known as Sun
Bros), is the best way to declare
your undying allegiance to playerfriendly gaming.
www.insertcoinclothing.com

WERE EXPECTING
for these to be massive and s
Gearbox, which is taking dep
of $175 to reserve one of the
high-detail replicas of the m
Maliwan Venom SMG mad
famous by Borderlands M
That said, there are only 5
made available so if you
deposit down fast, it ma
for very long. And why
out? Because Borderla
and this is going to be
passionate Moxxi cosplayers
around the world.
www.shopgearbox.com

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UWorldMags.net
T

A PPA R E L

GADGETS

BOOKS

Imagine Publishing Ltd

Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ
 +44 (0) 1202 586200
Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk
www.gamestm.co.uk
www.greatdigitalmags.com

Magazine team

THE ART OF
NAUGHTY
DOG

Editor Jonathan Gordon

 01202 586213
Editor In Chief Ryan King
Staff Writer Dom Peppiatt
Production Editor Rebecca Richards
Senior Art Editor Andy Downes
Assistant Designer Kym Winters
Photographer James Sheppard
Publishing Director Aaron Asadi
Head of Design Ross Andrews

PUBLISHER: DARK HORSE

FROM CRASH BANDICOOT to
Uncharted 4 and a couple of projects
that didnt even see the light of day,
this collection spans the full life of
Naughty Dog to date. With concept
designs, renders and cover art
variants abound, you get a pretty
intimate look behind the scenes
of one of the most creative and
innovative studios around. Theres
also plenty of comment all the way
through the book from the Naughty
Dog team, recounting tales of the
development process, how things
changed and why certain decisions
were made. On the whole wed say
it leans a little towards the older
games like Crash and Jak, with
comparatively less on the Uncharted
titles. Then again, there are plenty
of dedicated art books available
for Nathan Drakes adventures, so
references to original designs for
Drake and Elena not featured in this

Contributors
Luke Albigs, Adam Barnes, David Crookes, Sanne de Boer,
Jon Denton, Ian Dransfield, Philippa Grafton, Stace Harman,
Darran Jones, Matt Kamen, Alex Lemcovich, Dan Pinchbeck,
Emma Quinlan, John Robertson, Chet Roivas, Chris Scullion,
Drew Sleep, Nick Thorpe, Jordan Erica Webber, Josh West,
Hannah Westlake

Cover Image
8QFKDUWHG$7KLHIV(QG6RQ\&RPSXWHU(QWHUWDLQPHQW
America LLC. All rights reserved

Advertising
Digital or printed media packs are available on request.
Head of Sales Hang Deretz

 01202 586442

hang.deretz@imagine-publishing.co.uk
Account Manager $QWKRQ\*RGVHOO 01202 586420
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book can likely be found in those.

Likewise, The Last Of Us doesnt get a
comprehensive treatment, but it has a
book of its own available. Perhaps the
most interesting segment is the one
on projects that didnt make it, such
as a much more realistic looking Jak
4, which may have been a little too
creepy, considered before production
on The Last Of Us, and an untitled scifi game with mechs and androids.

The book wraps up with a peek

at Uncharted 4, although weve seen
plenty more from this title since, and
then a very nice collection of fan art.
Its a nice touch at the end, actually,
that wed like to see more collections
like this adopt.
www.darkhorse.com

VERDICT /10

International
games is available for licensing. Contact the International
department to discuss partnership opportunities.
Head of International Licensing &DWK\%ODFNPDQ
 +44 (0) 1202 586401 licensing@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Subscriptions
For subscription enquiries email:
gamestm@servicehelpline.co.uk
 UK 0844 848 8429
Overseas +44 1795 592 864
13 issue subscription UK 52.00
13 issue subscription Europe 70.00
13 issue subscription ROW 80.00

Circulation
Head of Circulation Darren Pearce

 01202 586200

Production
Production Director Jane Hawkins

 01202 586200

Founder
Group Managing Director Damian Butt

Printing & Distribution

Printed by 6RXWKHUQSULQW/WG)DFWRU\5RDG8SWRQ,QG
Estate, Poole, Dorset, BH16 5SN

 01202 628 300

Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by
Marketforce, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London,
SE1 0SU

 0203 148 3300

www.marketforce.co.uk
Distributed in Australia by Network Services (a division of
Bauer Media Group), Level 21 Civic Tower, 66-68 Goulburn

THE ART OF EVOLVE

QTurtle Rock went through many
iterations to land on its merry band
of hunters and less merry band of
monsters for Evolve and you can
see all its thinking laid out in this
collection. There may even be some
clues as to where future DLC may go
in terms of new characters, creatures
and locations.
www.forbiddenplanet.com

144

VIDEO GAME
STORYTELLING

THE SKYRIM LIBRARY:

VOLUME 1

QThis instructional text aims

to give developers a basis in
story theory, how to construct
and maintain a narrative across
departments and structure a tale
to work in a game. There are a few
game-makers out there who could
do with reading a book like this.
www.forbiddenplanet.com

QThis is the first in a collection of

texts that gathers all the writing
found in The Elder Scrolls V:
Skyrim. Remember those pages of
books you grabbed? Now you can
read them IRL. Volumes on Man,
Mer and Beast and The Arcane are
also on the way too.
www.forbiddenplanet.com

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6WUHHW6\GQH\1HZ6RXWK:DOHV$XVWUDOLD

 +61 2 8667 5288

Disclaimer
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged
in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this
magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the
publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism
and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct
at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent
and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit
material to Imagine Publishing via post, email, social network or any other means, you
automatically grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free license to
use the materials across its entire portfolio, in print, online and digital, and to deliver the
materials to existing and future clients, including but not limited to international licensees
for reproduction in international, licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you
submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Imagine Publishing
nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage.
Imagine Publishing Ltd 2015

ISSN 1478-5889

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