Gamesmaster March 2018

What an honour it is to stand at the helm of this fine publication as it celebrates 25 years of top-quality coverage, expert verdicts, and absolutely criminal puns. In this age of YouTube, blogs, and various other things we don’t understand, it’s a joy to still be able to bring you 100 pages of honest-to-goodness gaming magazine every month. We couldn’t just take this as an excuse to harp on about ourselves, though – head over to our massive cover feature, and you’ll find not just egotistical self-congratulation, but also our tribute to gaming as a whole over the last quarter-century. Our birthday isn’t the only thing to make this a historic issue, either. After 327 issues, this month we’re giving out our first-ever 100% score. Flick to the reviews section to…

THE MOST DEDICATED TEAM IN THE BUSINESS The 2018 GamesMaster crew, standing by to make another 25 years of the best gaming magazine around. By then we’ll probably be cyborgs in flying cars, so that’s something to look forward to. Robin Valentine Our editor’s been lost in the archives for half of this issue, digging up lost nuggets of GM history. In the process he’s also turned up a Nokia N-Gage, a John Woo-branded Xbox, and a couple of old staff members we’d forgotten about… Favourite gaming moment of the last 25 years: Thattwist in Bioshock Sam Greer In just her second issue, our plucky staff writer’s managed to argue her way to giving out GM’s first 100% score – and not just because we’re all scared of her battering us at Gang Beasts again. Which…

I’m a father of two, and have been gaming for 30+ years. When I first saw the Switch, I thought, “Meh, it’s for Nintendo fan-boys” and dismissed it. However, my nine-year-old autistic son wanted one, and I said he could have it for Christmas. I was still not won over, but my son repeatedly asked me to play, so when we go out, we play Mario Kart. His friends at school play Minecraft with him, and at New Year, during a family get-together, we had a huge 1-2 Switch quick draw competition which was an absolute riot. When the kids went to bed, I played through Zelda and Mario Odyssey and had a blast. My son downloaded Sonic Mania, and we relived my gaming youth together. And while at first I…

Making history What’s been your favourite gaming moment of the last 25 years? That first time a zombie turned its head around and came after me in Resident Evil… legged it! True fear! Ciarán Coughlan, Facebook Seeing Mario leap out of that pipe in full 3D in Super Mario 64, thus beginning my love affair with Nintendo! Eoin O’ Callaghan, Facebook Playing through Journey for the first time blew me away. I had never really thought of videogames as an artform until then, and it completely changed my perspective on games. The ending gives me goosebumps every time! Rory, @Schnurrburt_ I’d have to say borrowing my brother’s original PlayStation and playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time. And consequently lying to him by saying I didn’t cry when Aerith died, because I didn’t want to sound like…

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 Format PS4, XO ETA 26 October Another delay? To late October?! At this point, we’re wondering if Rockstar is just seeing how long it can keep a game at the top of our Most Wanted list… SPIDER-MAN Format PS4 ETASummer Every month you vote this into the top five is a month we sit here for an hour trying to think of new spider puns. This game really has legs. Eh? Eh?! YAKUZA 6: THE SONG OF LIFE Format PS4 ETA 20 March Not to be confused with ‘J’Accuse Ya’, an upcoming French courtroom drama game that doesn’t exist. Read our huge hands-on starting on p38. GOD OF WAR Format PS4 ETA 20 April Gaming’s most furious Greek returns to our screens on the most chilled-out day of the year. We’re expecting high…

If anyone remembers, I did a reader review of the original Moon, I found it to be a little disappointing, but overall an okay game So what’s changed? To be honest, not much. I get the feeling that this game was what Game Freak wanted the original game to be, as it only has a few new additions, Most noticeable is the story. It features bosses from previous regions (yay) and a new trial. Only downside is It takes forever, to get anything done! I personally like a story in a game, but this is basically a repeat of the original game with a few additions. Other features? Well you can ride Mantine, and there’s a gimmicky photo club. Apart from that… Not much. And if, like me, you own an old 2DS, then…