PLAY October 2021

welcome

With all the military shooters I’ve played in my lifetime, I’ve been in more virtual warzones than I can count on my fingers and toes. For anyone who’s seen them all come and go, it can be exhausting. Yet Battlefield 2042, with its Battlefield Portal, represents a new attitude that’s exciting and genuinely fresh. It almost makes the case for dropping the campaign mode on its own. We look at Battlefield Portal as we speak with Ripple Effect Studios (p50). The developer’s dedication to putting easy-to-use scripting tools in the hands of players is quite simply delightful – not only because it’ll lead to creative game modes we’ve never seen before, but because it’ll help inspire a new generation of programmers to code. “BATTLEFIELD PORTAL REPRESENTS A NEW ATTITUDE THAT’S EXCITING AND…

this month’s portal hoppers

Malindy Hetfeld CONTRIBUTOR Arising to the challenge, Malindy’s years of Tales experience finally pay off. Want more? You’ll have to activate her skit first. GAME OF THE MONTH Hades BEST RULEBREAKER Balthier (FFXII) Jess Kinghorn GAMES EDITOR Sporting Shibuya fashion, Jess has been eating curry daily “to increase her attack points”. GAME OF THE MONTH Neo: The World Ends With You BEST RULEBREAKER Goro Majima (Yakuza) Miriam McDonald OPERATIONS EDITOR Swirling her wine like Van Zeiks, Mim has been shouting “objection!” more than usual this month. GAME OF THE MONTH The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles BEST RULEBREAKER Sully (Uncharted) Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR Staring down iron sights and squeezing the mouse in Photoshop, Milf blasts incendiary images for your eyes this month. GAME OF THE MONTH Hades BEST RULEBREAKER Psycho Mantis (MGS1)…

cats, memories, robots, and more

“This cat can cut a path through by solving puzzles in a way only a kitty could.” Publisher Annapurna Interactive knows how to leave a strong impression. Its very first showcase opened with a montage of all its successes to date, including The Pathless and Sayonara Wild Hearts, before focussing on the future. Leading that charge was a feline many are already hoping to make fast furry friends with. The moments we’ve seen from the game’s opening hours are far from comforting. Falling into an apparently abandoned city, our cat protagonist limps through the opening act of this science-fantasy adventure. Survival takes top priority, and as the injured kitty hobbles through the ruins, there are signs of life – though not as you’d know it. Something unfriendly is lurking in the dark. Thankfully,…

fantasy tradition

Comments made by Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida during a recent livestream for FFXIV (on which he’s director and producer) reveal work on the latest numbered entry is going well. It seems to be that rather than teasing players over a drawn-out period, the development team have been focussed on getting everything well underway ahead of time. Specifically, some aspects of the story are already almost finished, and this time the English-language version has come first. Or, to be more exact, the British English version, bucking the trend for entries to favour American for vocal performances. But it makes sense when you consider XVI shares a lot of staff with XIV, which has featured a lot of actors from our side of the pond. Ever a fantasy trope, we can’t…

taylor-made news

Last month, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard over various labour issues, including discrimination and sexual harrassment – a seriously heavy read. The suit unstoppered several more allegations, and relit ones centred on Ubisoft, as well as other major publishers and developers. This kind of power imbalance is rife throughout games, even in the indie space, but everything trickles down from the top. Big employers and market leaders need to set a good example, and the stuff coming to light through these allegations is as far from that as you can get. It casts a shadow over the great employees who just want to make games. So, why cover it here? Because it makes us uncomfortable to read, and it’s important to know what goes into the games…

pes is dead

“This fresh version of Konami’s long-running football series is free for everyone, and digital only.” With the eFootball title sneaking onto PES a couple of years ago, and the last edition of the game being a stripped-back update rather than a full release, it was clear change was coming. Yet this full rebrand, and the dedication to free-to-play as an evolving experience, is a bolder move than expected. Based on PES, the game has been rebuilt to use Unreal Engine (which we dove deeper into back in PLAY #2). The new tech has been used to enhance the expressions of players on the pitch, with Motion Matching merging movement to give extra detail, with four times the animation allowing for more precise control in matches. It’s taking things in a similar direction…