Table of contents for No. 181 in GamesTM

What actually is the difference between the Wii U and Switch? It’s the question I’ve been batting around for a few weeks now, just trying to get the heart of why this new Nintendo machine feels so much more impressive and exciting than its predecessor. I’d like to hope by now we all appreciate that the Wii U has some of the best titles to have ever graced a Nintendo console, but there’s no denying that it failed to set the world on fire. Perhaps one of the bigger differences, although it is a rather aesthetic one, is that the vision for Switch is much more clearly defined than it was when the Wii U was announced. We may be a little light on tech specifications, but we know that…

1 A REASON TO ROOT For fans trying to get into eSports, one of the tougher challenges can be coming up with a reason to support a particular team over another. Being a fan of the game itself is fine on its own, but being able to really root for a side in competition makes everything more exciting. The Overwatch League plans to have teams based in major cities around the world, giving you a local reason to pick one team over another and to stick with that team regardless of who plays for them. 2 REGIONAL PLAY As an extension of there being city-based teams, the Overwatch League will feature locally held LAN matches as part of league play in front of live audiences. That means that big competitive…

“One of our biggest ambitions is to give players an unprecedented level of freedom for a ME experience – where you’ll go, how you’ll get there and how you’ll play” AARON FLYNN BIOWARE CONCEPT • A third-person shooter and action-RPG mashup set in a grand open-world-style universe full of worlds to explore and relationships to pursue. INFORMATION Details Format: PS4/Xbox One/PC Origin: Canada Publisher: EA Developer: Bioware Release: Spring 2017 Players: 1+ (multiplayer confirmed) Developer Profile Established way back when in 1995, Bioware has been a powerhouse in role-playing games ever since the brilliant Baldur’s Gate arrived in 1998. Its back catalogue reads like a genre best of, including Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, theDragon Age series and the Mass Effect trilogy. Developer History Baldur’s Gate PC [1998]…

“ For us, this kind of theme and how it looks are what we wanted to achieve. It may look simple, but players may find it more interesting than they expected” KATSURA HASHINO ATLUS CONCEPT • A JRPG with a social aspect and one that won’t waste your time – a game that meaningfully ties character relationships together and zips by at a brisk pace. INFORMATION Details Format: PS3, PS4 Origin: Japan Publisher: Deep Silver Developer: Atlus Release: 14 February 2017 Players: 1 Developer Profile One of the most storied RPG developers in Japan, Atlus has been creating games since the mid-1980s, though it was 2008’s Persona 4 that put the developer’s flagship Shin Megami Tensei franchise, and notably its Persona sub-series, on the Western map. Developer History Persona 4…

Finally we have a name for the console known as NX and the rumours were true; this isn’t just a new handheld or a next-gen home console. It’s both. The Nintendo Switch is the missing link between the parallel arms of its creator, bringing together over 30 years of console making and nearly 30 years of handheld devices into one sleek, versatile and seemingly rather powerful machine. The Switch is promising experiences like the biggest Zelda game ever made that you can enjoy on your sofa as well as on the bus to work. Where once mobile games were compromised by power and processing, we can now dream of experiencing home-console quality, hardcore titles on the move. Nintendo is putting triple-A gaming in the palm of your hand and that,…

Nvidia isn’t just providing the chips powering the Nintendo Switch, the company also announced that it has been involved in the creation of the “algorithms, computer architecture, system design, system software, APIs, game engines and peripherals.” At the heart of it all is the Nvidia Tegra, a high-performance mobile gaming chip that was famously used to power Nvidia’s own mobile gaming hardware line, Shield. Shield always felt like it was on the precipice of something greater – essentially offering PC gaming away from the desktop – and that same concept looks to have been realised within the Nintendo Switch. The Tegra chip has already proven it is capable of running last-gen games at 1080p and 60fps, of producing high-quality emulation (hello revitalised Virtual Console), can support media playback and deliver…

“IT’S A POSITIVE MOVE FOR NINTENDO TO GET MORE DEVELOPERS INVOLVED EARLIER THAN IT HAS DONE IN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS.” OUR PANEL When we talked about NX a while back we talked about hopes for what the new console would offer and additional power was at the top of most lists. Do you get the impression the Switch is offering more power for developers to tap into? KIRK: At the moment, the Nintendo Switch does not appear to be about system horsepower or technology that takes consoles to new heights. Rather, Nintendo is positioning the device as a home console that can be taken on the go, providing a gaming experience that can continue without interruption. While the technology available to do that is already readily available, Nintendo does have a…

Halo Wars was always regarded as a bit of an oddity; a curious attempt to bring about the resurgence of the RTS, on a platform that had always struggled to manage the minutiae of the genre. Microsoft had, after all, become a slave to the 14-buttons bound to the chassis of an Xbox controller; some degree of friction was to be expected in its endeavour to make the game a success. It’s the state of affairs surrounding input control that inevitably produces a gap in competency and complexity with strategy games. A gap, in fact, that’s perhaps even wider than the one encountered perpetually by those that wield a controller over a mouse in first-person shooters. The transition of the RTS to console has had a tendency to end about…

DEVELOPER INFINITY WARD SEEMS TO BE SUFFOCATED BY THE FORMULA THAT IT ITSELF HELPED DEFINE DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One/PC ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Activision DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward PRICE: £46.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 (2-18 Online) ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes For years Call Of Duty has promoted an indulgence in adolescent fantasies regarding saving the world from cookie cutter evil, shooting first and asking questions later and engaging in unquestioned competition with our fellow man. It’s a dream for those seeking to enter into a simplistically comforting, crass, conventional vision of good versus evil. COD’s primary reason for existing is to provide an instantly understandable and non-threatening form of escapism in which shooting and killing override any need to think. And, over the years, franchise…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PS3, PS Vita ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Square Enix DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £49.99 (£29.99 Vita) RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Some of us can’t just open a box of Lego and build a masterpiece, and the things we do build are often an incoherent mess. Sometimes we need blueprints, direction and sometimes we just want to be told how to build the Millennium Falcon. The same problem can translate to Minecraft, the Lego of videogames, and this is where Dragon Quest Builders comes bounding over the horizon, with the Mojang playbook in one hand and a hefty list of instructions in the other to help us out. It works, too. DQB brings many thoughtful quality-of-life changes to the Minecraft formula: crafting recipes are…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PS3, X360, Wii U ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Activision DEVELOPER: Toys For Bob PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: No Skylanders has quietly become one of the most dependable series in the industry. For kids, it’s the gateway game, a twist on the classic Diablo formula that presents itself with a smile instead of a snarl. For parents, well, they can once again depend on it being engaging enough to empty out the bank account the wrong side of Christmas. But that’s Skylanders for you: another year, another gimmick, another cast of purchasable characters and, of course, another game that’s difficult to ignore. On the surface, Imaginators should be a fairly standard action-platformer, especially when held up against the…

“I’ve always been a big fan of MMOs but World Of Warcraft just has a personality and character to it that draws me in like no other MMO ever has ” DAVID PELLAS, STUDIO DIRECTOR, RAVEN SOFTWARE “My favourite game of all time is World Of Warcraft , it engages me like no other game. I’ve always been a big fan of MMOs but World Of Warcraft just has a personality and character to it that draws me in like no other MMO ever has. "It also helps that our studio head, Brian Raffle, is also a big World Of Warcraft fan. We play a lot together, and obviously we work very closely together anyway, but it’s…

“ Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. ” Rockstar, press release Like a posse of gunslingers for hire fresh from a victory over an oppressive landowner who is squashing the creativity and freedom of the townsfolk, Rockstar is riding to the rescue, bringing its unique brand of open-world heroics and violence to our current generation. Or perhaps that’s just how the GTA developer thinks of itself in such situations, we really don’t know. What we do know is that Red Dead Redemption 2 is launching in the Autumn of 2017 and we’ve had our first glimpse of what this third game in the Red Dead series will be offering.…

“I got to play them with my sons and see it through their eyes, I think that’s the reason they are some of my favourites ” NOLAN NORTH, VOICE ACTOR “I’m going to go all dad on you here, because one game series that I always enjoyed playing were the Lego games. You know, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones , because I played with my sons. Whether it’s the music, just jumping around, looking for things or collecting coins… it doesn’t matter, because I got to play them with my sons and see it through their eyes, I think that’s the reason they are some of my favourites. I’ve actually gotten to voice a couple…

“Our priority when working on the PS4 Pro was to take the game that we have today and make it look great in 4K” MICHAEL FERRON UBISOFT MONTREAL CONCEPT • Sword-fighting focused action game set in the medieval period and featuring a blend of Vikings, samurai and European knights. Can be played in both single and multiplayer. INFORMATION Details Format: PS4, Xbox One, PC Origin: Canada Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Release: 14 February 2017 Players: 1-8 Developer Profile While its output is more diverse than that of other studios, Ubisoft Montreal’s recent designs have been focused on the creation of open worlds. Watch Dogs, as well as the latest editions of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, have arrived from its design team, making the studio one of the most…

CONCEPT • The bone-crunching sniper series reaches a new generation of consoles as co-op and competitive multiplayer join the fray. INFORMATION Details Format: PS4, Xbox One, PC Origin: UK Publisher: Rebellion Developments Developer: In-house Release: 14 February 2017 Players: 1-2 Developer Profile Rebellion has been doing its thing since 1992, making it one of the longer running UK studios from its Oxford base. Having expanded into books and comics from 2000 onwards, Rebellion is something of a multimedia player these days, but games remain its key interest. High Point This year’s release of Battlezone has to be a highlight for the studio, offering a strong launch experience for shooter fans while also resurrecting a great retro brand. Developer History Rogue Trooper 2006 [Multi] NeverDead 2012 [PS3, 360] Sniper Elite III…

With the Switch, Nintendo is taking perhaps its biggest gamble yet. As the company attempts to add the mobility of a handheld to the power of a home console system, all we are able to do is sit back and speculate as to how well this endeavour will actually play out. Is the Switch born out of a sense of hyper creativity for Nintendo, or a stubborn desire to veer away from the road well travelled? It’s difficult to say, but one thing we do know for certain is that Switch will not be competing with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in terms of raw processing power and graphical fidelity, let alone the PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio. Nintendo is going its own way, hedging its bets on a…

Seeing the Nintendo Switch being used to bridge the gap between handheld and console gaming is an amazing thing, but in a way Nintendo has been trying to achieve this integration for years, albeit in a relatively simple way. On three previous occasions it has released connectivity tech for its Game Boy line to link with the consoles it had on the market. While Intelligent Systems worked on a series of devices across various Nintendo generations, the first in-house attempt was the Super Game Boy, released in 1994. With this cartridge you could play Game Boy games on your TV through a SNES or Super Famicom and using a SNES controller. Some games were released with additional sound functionality if played through the device. In 2000 it would be followed…

INFANTRY BEATS… • If you find yourself under siege from aerial assaults, you’ll want to bolster your infantry numbers. Whether it’s UNSC soldiers, ODST fighters or Spartans, get troops on the ground to help delay an overwhelming assault from the sky. GROUND VEHICLES BEAT… • Ground vehicles might be weak against aircraft, but they sure do rip holes in infantry lines and structures. If you see your foe has filled his population cap with basic soldiers, get some ground vehicles deployed immediately. They will be cut down before they even know what hit ‘em. AIRCRAFT BEATS… • If there’s a huge wave of ground vehicles – Warthogs, Ghosts and Scorpion tanks – coming your way, they are best combated with aircrafts. Ground vehicles struggle against high-flying craft and will quickly…

“GARD HATED HAVING NO SAY IN HOW THE GAME SHOULD BE MARKETED” When Tomb Raider made its debut on the Sega Saturn back in 1996, the first thing that many people noticed was the box art. With her gun-toting arms straight, her body turned slightly to one side, staring down the viewer, daring them to make a move. “Who is she?” gasped those drawn to the image. The answer was at the bottom. “Featuring Lara Croft,” it said. “Who?” came the reply. Today, we know exactly who: Lara Croft. And we can trot out some of the many things that everyone thinks of when they discuss the first lady of videogames: her appearances in the Sunday supplements, her place on the cover of influential magazine The Face, the real-life models…

IF YOU LOOK BEYOND THE SPECTACLE OF BATTLEFIELD 1’S SENSATIONAL SOUND AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN YOU’LL FIND A CONFLICTED GAME DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PS4, PC ORIGIN: Sweden PUBLISHER: EA DEVELOPER: DICE PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-64 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Battlefield 1 is a beautifully excruciating reflection on the First World War. In many respects it’s a true achievement for the medium, but in others it’s a painful reminder as to why this era has been kept so isolated from interactive entertainment. Battlefield 1 dances haphazardly between exhilaration and frustration in its sprawling multiplayer and limited campaign offering, with developer DICE creating what is bound to be one of the most divisive entries to the series to date. DICE has finally found the confidence to…

THERE’S ENOUGH FAMILIAR THAT IT WON’T TAKE MUCH EFFORT TO GET INVOLVED, BUT THERE ARE MANY SUBTLE TWEAKS DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: 2K Games DEVELOPER: Firaxis Games PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-8 MINIMUM SPEC: Windows 7 64-bit, 2.5 GHz quad core CPU, 4GB RAM, 1GB GPU, 12GB HDD space ONLINE REVIEWED: No There’s a rule, which you’ll likely have heard in the run up to Civilization VI’s release, that each new game in the series must be one third new, one third improved and one third old. It’s a noble idea, ensuring that the series – whose high-level gameplay concept hasn’t really changed since its inception – is constantly improving beyond the aesthetic. It means we can always anticipate new mechanics, new…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC OTHER FORMATS: Mac, Linux ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: Sega DEVELOPER: Sports Interactive PRICE: £34.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC: 2.2GHz CPU or higher, Windows Vista/Mac OS X 10.7.5 or newer, 2GB RAM, GPU with 2GB VRAM, 3GB free storage for install ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes As is to be expected at this point, buying Football Manager 2017 represents you essentially taking on a full-time job for no pay, let alone annual leave or other benefits. If you happen to have a job already or be in full-time education, sacrifices are going to have to be made. Managing a football club (digitally, in this case) will creep up and consume you swiftly, and before you know it you’ve chalked up 500 hours of deliciously…

THE SUCCESS OF the Commodore and Spectrum saw other companies take note and it wasn’t long before Amstrad entered the market with its own range of computers. Unlike their competitors, they typically launched with green or coloured monitors and built-in cassette decks, giving them quite an advantage due to many people only having a single television in the household. Although it had a massive following in France, and the UK, lazy Spectrum ports and a lack of killer exclusives meant that Amstrad’s machine trailed behind its competitors and it went on to sell just over three million units across its entire range. We’re focusing on the original tape-based CPC 464 here and focusing on those titles that really made the machine sing. How many of the following classics did you…

“The foundation of combat in Horizon: Zero Dawn is built upon the speed and cunning of Aloy versus the raw strength and size of the machines ” PRESS RELEASE GUERRILLA GAMES CONCEPT • Horizon: Zero Dawn picks up 1,000 years after a post-apocalyptic event, with Aloy venturing out of her settlement and into foreboding outback territory to find a world ravaged by technology. INFORMATION Details Format: PS4 Origin: Netherlands Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Developer: Guerrilla Games Release: 3 March 2017 Players: 1 Developer Profile Founded in 2000, Guerrilla Games is best known for its work on PlayStation exclusive Killzone. Touted as Sony's answer to Bungie and Halo, Killzone would be used a technical showcase for three generations of hardware and, later, a proving ground for Sony’s ever-evolving online systems. Developer…

“GT Sport, and all future GT titles, are going to be supporting 4K, 60HZ, HDR, Wide Color and VR ” KAZ YAMAUCHI POLYPHONY DIGITAL CONCEPT • Focused on competition, Gran Turismo Sport aims to make you a better driver before asking you to test yourself against others. INFORMATION Details Format: PS4 Origin: Japan Publisher: Sony Developer: Polyphony Digital Release: 2017 Players: 1-TBC Developer Profile CEO of Polyphony and lead designer on the Gran Turismo series, Kaz Yamauchi is a man who has dedicated his life to cars and the digital recreation of them. He has led his company since 1995, channelling his passion for driving into the building of Gran Turismo and making it one of the most respected driving game franchises of all time. Developer History Gran Turismo 6…

1 LOST EMBER Format: PC, PS4, Xbox One Publisher: Mooneye Studios Developer: In-house ETA: March 2018 We were introduced to Lost Ember early in 2015 when we sat down with former Rockstar music director Craig Conner. He was beginning work on the project with his new company, Audioworks. A successful Kickstarter campaign means this exploration game where you play as a mystical wolf who can possess other creatures should be released in 2018. The art style is gorgeous, the particle effects enticing and the overall tease of discovering a world full of mystery promises a great deal. With the ability to prowl the countryside as a wolf and then leap into the air as a bird, there’s a fair amount going on in this ambitious indie. 2 MAIA Format: PC…

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD PUBLISHER: Nintendo DEVELOPER: Nintendo EPD CONFIRMED: Yes The one Switch game we know more about than any other is also the one that we are far and away the most excited about. The Legend Of Zelda has always been Nintendo’s most prestigious series and the idea that it could lead out the charge of Switch titles is fantastic news (although the rumour mill has been grinding a little that it might actually release after the console launch). The fact that it might be the most ambitious Zelda game in years only sweetens the deal. What we’re beginning to get a sense of now with Breath Of The Wild is not just the bright spectacle and action of this new Link adventure, but…

1 UPPER HAND These cards are your available units, which can be played once you have the required amount of energy, as denoted in the top left-hand corner. You can recycle a card out of your hand for 50 energy, though it’s random what you’ll receive in its place. 2 CONTROL POINT Three control points are located on the map, and you’ll need to maintain presence in each of them to continue earning points. Having a single unit will be enough, though you’ll want strong resistance waiting for any contesting enemy units that may appear. 3 ENERGY BOOST These canisters appear on the map at random and can be used to boost your energy reserves. Energy recharges over time, but it is possible to have your entire army wiped in…

Lara Croft was born into an era of lads mags at a time when gaming was still perceived as a predominately male hobby. That wasn’t necessarily the driving motivation behind Toby Gard’s design for Lara. The famous story is that the dimensions of her figure were an accident that was never corrected. Still, it led to accusations that the game was objectifying women, and Core Design didn’t want to cause offence. Even though much of the games marketing was based on the character’s physical appeal, there were limits to what Core would accept, including legal action against mods that changed her appearance in the game. Numerous models have played Lara over the years, but Natalie Cook was the first official lookalike. Eidos apparently advertised the role looking for an athletic-looking…

TITANFALL 2 STOPS BEING AN FPS GAME AND TRANSFORMS INTO A FIRST-PERSON PUZZLE PLATFORMER DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One ORIGIN: PS4, PC ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: EA DEVELOPER: Respawn Entertainment PRICE: £44.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-8 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Titanfall 2 is at its weakest when it resembles anything close to traditional. Like any good developer, Respawn Entertainment has used its opportunity to create a sequel to smooth out some of the gameplay quirks and respond to some of the criticism it faced the first time around. The online-campaign experiment is the first casualty of iteration, left by the wayside in favour of a structure far more traditional, though the benefits aren’t immediately clear. The AI grunts and spectres always had their place in multiplayer, in modes such as Attrition and…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC OTHER FORMATS: PlayStation 4, Xbox One ORIGIN: Poland PUBLISHER: Devolver Digital DEVELOPER: Flying Wild Hog PRICE: £34.99 RELEASE: Out now (PC) Q1 2017 (console) PLAYERS: 1-4 MINIMUM SPEC: Windows 7/8/8.1/10 x64, Intel Core i3-6300 (2 * 3800) or AMD A10-5800K APU (4 * 3800) or equivalent, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 560Ti (1GB) or Radeon HD 6850 (1GB) or better ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes In the nicest way possible, Shadow Warrior 2 is a shooter frozen in time. Full of macho characters, cheesy one-liners and relentlessly fast-paced action, this game is unapologetically stupid. Channelling the ghost of Nineties shooter’s past, Devolver Digital’s latest picks up where its predecessor left off, putting you back in the shoes of everyone’s favourite walking dick joke, Lo Wang. After…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Vita ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Square Enix DEVELOPER: Tose/ Square Enix PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes As was always going to be the case with something like this that brings together so many popular characters, it’s the newcomers that let the side down. The brother-and-sister duo of Lann and Reynn are moulded out of pure cliché, a headstrong buffoon and a reluctant know-it-all out to… do something. While not quite Kingdom Hearts levels of convoluted, the story is a bit of a mess. A simpler narrative would have helped, as it’s hard to care about these two generic protagonists when every peak moment of excitement is related to the arrival of a familiar face, which is why the standalone Intervention missions…

DETAILS FORMAT: iOS OTHER FORMATS: Android ORIGIN: UK PUBLISHER: I Fight Bears, tea&cheese DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: Free RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A If nothing else, Maximum Car manages to ride the fine line between annoying and exhilarating rather well on a number of fronts. Inspired by the classic action racing feel of Burnout, squeezed through the lens of voxelart design, it keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek with its adrenaline-fuelled racing and gruff announcer feedback, but it can still frustrate. It’s not helped by the longevity of its in-app purchase model. As a free download you can enjoy the endless racer mode as much as you want, drifting around corners, using missiles against cars and boosting your way between oncoming traffic for…

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GAMES TO USE PRE-RENDERED 3D GRAPHICS Released: 21 November 1994 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Rare System: SNES DONKEY KONG ARRIVED on the scene just as Nintendo needed him to; Mario’s greatest adversary does, after all, have a habit of kidnapping the attention of the masses as successfully as he does damsels in distress. The SNES was rapidly approaching the danger zone, the 16-bit success story was about to be surpassed technologically by the dawn of the 32-bit era and Nintendo was at something of a loss. The Sega Saturn and PlayStation were on the horizon, the N64 was years from release, threatening to leave Nintendo looking behind the times – that, as far as common state of affairs go, was difficult to swallow…

DONKEY KONG 64 •Donkey Kong 64may not have been as successful as The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time or Super Mario 64 with regard to the conversion to full 3D, but this under-appreciated gem not only brought a huge open world to the fore, but it also delivered one of the most wonderfully stupid videogame tunes in the form of the Donkey Kong Rap. Say what you will about the game, but that awkwardly rhyming track will forever stand the test of time. DONKEY KONGA • Nintendo is known for its weird games and unconventional peripherals,but Donkey Konga may have introduced one of our favourites. It came packaged with a conga drum peripheral, a bongo of sorts, and threw DK into a rhythm game where you’d have to tap,…