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ISSUE 103 DECEMBER 2014 £5.99
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FIRST
LOOK
FINAL
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Witness the shock rebirth
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25
UNMISSABLE
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DESTINY
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BORDERLANDS, ALIEN, FIFA 15,
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ISSUE 103 / DECEMBER 2014
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Freeze!
GAME OF THE MONTH
Alien: Isolation
FAVOURITE ASSASSIN
Martin Q Blank
“I’M BOTH VERY
EXCITED AND
EXTREMELY
SORRY TO SAY
THAT IT’S GOING
TO BE A VERY
EXPENSIVE
HOLIDAY.”
Before you start reading, have a quick
flick through this issue. Don’t worry, I’ll
still be here when you come back.
Done? It looks fantastic, right? The smallest
of PS Vita titles… The biggest PS4 games on
the horizon… That gorgeous, gorgeous
Naughty Dog artwork… We’ve rammed this
issue full of visual treats, and once again
proved that PlayStation’s the undisputed
champion of all things gaming.
But why am I made of ice this month, you
ask? You can blame Borderlands’ freeze
guns for that. With winter on the horizon
we’ve got the first wave of Christmas
games in our Reviews section, and I’m both
very excited and extremely sorry to say that
it’s going to be an expensive holiday for us
gamers – there’s a ridiculous wealth of
quality titles coming in the next few weeks.
So to help save those pennies we’re going
to save you some cash for the
second month in a row. Turn to
p28 to grab a free digi version
of OPM, or one of our sister
titles. Enjoy the issue(s)!
Matthew Pellett
EDITOR
matthew.pellett@futurenet.com
@Pelloki
003
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Dave Meikleham
NEWS EDITOR
Arsenal-mad Meiks tackles
FIFA this issue. Having
played with him in our fivea-side
league, we’re sure
it’s a studs-up leg-breaker.
GAME OF THE MONTH
Alien: Isolation
FAVOURITE ASSASSIN
Vincent (Collateral)
Phil Iwaniuk
GAMES EDITOR
On p84 our Sam Rockwellwannabe
heads up to the
Moon for his Borderlands
review. He’s promised to
tread Caerphilly.
GAME OF THE MONTH
Driveclub
FAVOURITE ASSASSIN
Ivan Basso
Milford Coppock
MANAGING ART EDITOR
Not just PhotoShop wizard,
Milf’s in line to be crowned
OPM’s pun king. His Unity
title rescued you from the
dire ‘Beret St Deadmans’.
GAME OF THE MONTH
Driveclub
FAVOURITE ASSASSIN
Léon
Louise Blain
GUEST WRITER
OPM’s Creed expert
travelled to Paris for a
lengthy sesh with Unity.
She now insists we call her
The Louvre. (We won’t.)
GAME OF THE MONTH
Destiny
FAVOURITE ASSASSIN
Ezio Auditore da Firenze

HIGHLIGHTS
The big 10
006 THE FUTURE IS
BRIGHT FOR PS VITA
We take a look at the fleet of incoming games
poised to revitalise Sony’s handheld progeny.
pREVIEW
030 BATTLEBORN
The studio that sired Borderlands gives rise to a
new shooter-RPG with a taste for the MOBA.
feature
046 ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
Alongside our coverage of Assassin’s Creed
Rogue, we parkour-up and -down Ubisoft
Montreal’s new-gen-exclusive instalment.
featurE
064 GRAND THEFT AUTO V
New music! New weapons! New… foliage?
Discover why Los Santos is poised to
become PS4’s number one vacation hotspot.
review
076 DRIVECLUB
Now that the delays are in its rear-view mirror,
can Driveclub power through to a podium finish?
review
090 ALIEN: ISOLATION
The xenomorph returns to PlayStation – and all
without a colonial marine or plasma rifle in sight.
retrostation
106 MONKEY ISLAND 2:
LECHUCK’S REVENGE
This month’s Classic Game is a treasure chest
full of witty gags and adventurey goodness.

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THE
BIG 10
All the hottest news
034
105
019
080
PREVIEWS
Latest info, screens
and playtests
SECTIONS AT A GLANCE
FEATURES
To-the-point,
detailed analysis
REVIEWS
In-depth verdicts on
every big new game
NETWORK
Max out your PS4,
online and off
RETRO
STATION
Classics revisited
006 029 046 075 097
106
030
040
099
090
038
044
042
THE Games index
090 ALIEN: ISOLATION
046 ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
030 BATTLEBORN
014 BLOODBORNE
114 BIOSHOCK INFINITE
084 BORDERLANDS:
THE PRE-SEQUEL
034 CALL OF DUTY:
ADVANCED WARFARE
036 DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION
045 DEEP DOWN
087 DEFENSE GRID 2
019 DESTINY
083 DISNEY INFINITY 2.0
076 DRIVECLUB
094 DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL
020 EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1
038 FAR CRY 4
080 FIFA 15
016 FINAL FANTASY XV
087 FLOCKERS
095 FROZEN SYNAPSE PRIME
006 GALAK-Z: THE DIMENSIONAL
064 GRAND THEFT AUTO V
045 HELLRAID
006 HOTLINE MIAMI 2: WN
045 LITTLEBIGPLANET 3
044 LORDS OF THE FALLEN
010 METAL GEAR SOLID V:
THE PHANTOM PAIN
088 MIDDLE-EARTH:
SHADOW OF MORDOR
106 MONKEY ISLAND 2:
LECHUCK’S REVENGE
083 NHL 15
006 PAPERS, PLEASE
011 PES 2015
099 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES:
GARDEN WARFARE
040 PROJECT CARS
018 RESIDENT EVIL
REVELATIONS 2
087 SHERLOCK HOLMES:
CRIMES & PUNISHMENTS
083 SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM
094 SLEEPING DOGS:
DEFINITIVE EDITION
094 SLENDER: THE ARRIVAL
105 SURGEON SIMULATOR:
ANNIVERSARY EDITION
045 TALES OF HEARTS R
044 TINY TROOPERS: JOINT OPS
006 TITAN SOULS
012 TYPOMAN
006 VOLUME
045 WWE 2K15
005

Titan Souls on PS Vita
may be the closest you
ever get to a 2D Shadow
Of The Colossus.
006
CAST A CURSORY
GLANCE INTO PS VITA’S
FUTURE AND YOU’LL SEE
HOW BRIGHT IT IS.

10 JUNGLE BUNGLE
MGS V footage ups the foliage.
12 SPELLING BEE
Indie gem Typoman gets wordy.
19 INTO DARKNESS
Destiny’s DLC future revealed.
TheBig10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
PS Vita finds its
Soulsmate as
great games flow
Handheld hits new heights with a flood
of brilliant upcoming portable pleasures
007
Reports of
01
your little
pal’s demise
have been
greatly
exaggerated.
Sony’s
E3 and
Gamescom conferences bizarrely
brushed PS Vita’s bright future
under the shag rug like the creepy,
Scotch-swigging uncle who never
gets invited to Christmas dinner.
We’re here to put that right. Cast a
cursory glance into the palm-friendly
system’s upcoming release schedule
and you’ll see the floodgates are
about to open on a wave of exciting,
often brilliantly subversive new
games that the dearly departed
PSP would have axe murdered for.
You think we’re hopping on the
Exaggeration Express, don’t you?
Fine, let us answer such doubt by
spending the rest of this paragraph
listing PS Vita games we’re
genuinely and justifiably pumped
for. Here goes… Hotline Miami
2: Wrong Number; Volume; Titan
Souls; Papers, Please; Nidhogg; Pix
The Cat; Flame Over; Hyper Light
Drifter; Minecraft: PS Vita Edition;
Forget Me Not; Risk Of Rain; and, of
course, Super Exploding Zoo. No –
we didn’t make that last one up (see
We Blew Up A Zoo over the page).
PORTABLE OPS
“It’s really a pretty great device,”
says Acid Nerve’s Mark Foster; one
of the main creators of upcoming
indie, Titan Souls. A granite-hard
adventure equally inspired by
Shadow Of The Colossus and
Demon’s Souls, the game’s 16-bit
influenced art assets look gorgeous
on a certain OLED/LED screen.
“Titan Souls is going to be a perfect
fit for PS Vita,” Foster tells us. “It’s
possibly the best platform for it to
be on. The game has bursts of really
tense gameplay that you can pick up
and play quickly. It will look awesome
on PS Vita’s screen.” No doubt…
just steel yourself for all the death.
One of the game’s main draws
is its one-hit kill system. Cast
in the role of a teeny pixelated
archer, Titan Souls conjures toasty
memories of Towerfall Ascension,

TheBig10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
WE BLEW UP A ZOO
It’s the suicidal wildlife game you’ve
been waiting for. From the team behind
Hohokum, Super Exploding Zoo sees
you tackling an alien menace by sliding
exploding animals next to them in a
darkly funny take on tower defence.
008
as you repeatedly retrieve your
single arrow. Like Matt Thorson’s
local multiplayer sensation, your
pointy projectile packs a punch –
hit a boss’ weak spot and they’ll
go down quicker than Arjen Robben
after running into a light breeze.
Of course, like Team Ico’s
monster-garotting classic, finding
these vulnerable areas is quite the
challenge – especially when your
screen-filling foes can also off you
with a single hit. Thankfully, Foster
found porting the game to PS Vita
a far less searingly tough prospect.
“It’s relatively straightforward
developing for the device, especially
compared to previous hardware
generations.” You can look forward
to Titan Souls boarding the HMS
Vita early in 2015.
Hungry for more tasty handheld
dishes? Step right this way, you
insatiable portable enthusiasts.
We’ll start sir/madam off with a
delicious nibble on Hotline Miami
2: Wrong Number. The sequel to
Dennaton Games’ Florida-based, 2D
machete romp slips you back into
the Piggsy mask of Jacket, fresh
from the hitman wiping out the
entire Russian mob. Now seen as
an icy veined serial killer, the bathappy
antihero has been labelled
the ‘Pig Butcher’; attracting a cabal
of copycats called the Fans who
are eager to follow the trail of his
homicidal boots.
Gameplay-wise, you’re still in
fiendishly fast stealth territory, with
every death acting as a trial and
error primer to nailing sociopathic
speedruns – perfect for fast and
furious sessions. Though publisher
Devolver Digital confirmed to us
no release date has been set for
Wrong Number as of yet, at least
there’s the enticing prospect of a
new level editor to look forward to.
Oh, plus the addition of duel wielding
to tackle those ever-aggressive
attack mutts. Stay down, Rover!
RAIN OVER ME
There are promising PC indie ports
headed to PS Vita as well. Risk Of
Rain and Papers, Please haven’t had
official release dates set, but they
should both rock your size-conscious
world when they hit your handheld.
The former is a delightfully
twisted, procedurally generated
action-platformer, while you’ve
surely heard of the red tapeobsessed
escapades of Papers,
Please. If not, it’s a gloriously
subversive puzzler, following the
degradation of an immigration
Ten future PS
Vita games set
for greatness
Poltergeist:
A Pixelated Horror
Forget Me Not
Nuclear Throne
Jungle Rumble
The Hungry Horde
Final Horizon
Nom Nom Galaxy
Nova-111
Broforce
Axiom Verge
USING REMOTE PLAY
TO PLAY PS4 TITLES IS A
REVELATION – NEW-GEN
GAMES ON THE GO!
officer’s soul as he decides who
gets over the border. Trust us:
bureaucracy has never been so fun.
But wait: we’re not done. There’s
the ‘almost too pretty’ Galak-Z: The
Dimensional; a strikingly attractive
twin-stick shooter that secured a
PS Vita release after its studio 17-
Bit saw the success of Spelunky’s
handheld treatment. Expect to
shoot its many attractive ships to
smithereens before the year is out.
PUMP UP THE VOLUME
Volume, Mike Bithell’s ode to MGS, is
also headed to a shiny 8-inch screen
near you. The Thomas Was Alone
creator told us he hasn’t yet started
porting it to PS Vita, so it will most
likely release after the PS4 version
in 2015. Still, those delicious Tron
visuals have us very excited.
Don’t forget about the strength
of the hardware, either. It may get
forgotten about, but using Remote
Play to experience PS4 games is
a revelation – Destiny on the go!
PlayStation TV, which launches 14
November for £84.99, also proves
your fave portable titles can be
lookers even when blown to big
screen proportions. With such a
glut of top games headed PS Vita’s
way, now really is the time to holler
about your handheld.
For more good PS Vita vibes, read our
review of Frozen Synapse over on p95.
When you find a boss’
weak point in Titan Souls,
you can down it with
a single hit. Kaboosh!
Galak-Z is unique in that it’s a twin
stick shooter with plenty of stealth.
Pix The Cat is heavily influenced by
industry great Pac-Man. Waka waka…

Hotline Miami 2 is still
inspired by Drive’s
‘80s-fuelled love for
colours and violence.
009
Games such as Nova-111, with its turn-based battling, and Poltergeist: A Pixelated Horror (part Ghostbusters/part Cluedo) are charmingly creative.
The Binding Of Isaac is
exactly as disturbed as
it looks and hits your
PS Vita on 4 November.

That hand appears to
differ from the red mitt
seen at Gamescom.
Also, crack climbing!
010
Snake gets ready
to jungle boogie
MGS V hits the bush as Kojima confirms 2015 release
02
Welcome
to a Guns
‘N’ Roses track. The
momentous MGS
milestones keep on
a comin’, with Hideo
Kojima revealing
an amazing new environment for
The Phantom Pain at the Tokyo
Games Show, just a month after
wowing the world
with Mother Base
multiplayer. The
visionary developer
also confirmed
his baby would be
released at some
point next year.
Too. Much. Excite. What next: a naked
Raiden statue ‘balls cupped MGS2
style’ as a 12-inch pre-order bonus?
Finally, after a year of seeing
nothing but (admittedly gorgeous)
FOX Engine desert, Snake says
sayonara to sand with the first
SNAKE SAYS
SAYONARA TO
SAND IN MGS V’S
NEW JUNGLE.
unveiling of MGS V’s new jungle.
Thought to be set in Africa, the
sweltering, lushly rendered foliage
immediately invites comparisons
with MGS3: Snake Eater; arguably
the series high watermark. The
scale is something else, as sweeping
canyons dominate the beginning of
a fresh and lengthy real-time demo,
while a canopy
of trees stretches
as far as the eye
patch can see.
Konami also
unleashed a
separate story
trailer, revealing
a surprising side to The Phantom
Pain’s seemingly mute sniper, Quiet.
While many presumed she would
be yet another mad Metal Gear
antagonist, perhaps cast in a Sniper
Wolf-style mould, it now appears
she’s actually an ally of Big Boss.
dev talk
“Seeking reality
in the video world,
the next [stage is]
framerate, not only
resolution. Just like
Douglas Trumbull's
‘Showscan’, which
only [James] Cameron
understands. On that
point, the games
industry is moving
ahead. That’s why
we’re so obsessed
with 60fps.”
Hideo Kojima
Game director,
Kojima Productions
Watch the trailer and you see
a hint of the Boss/Naked Snake
dynamic, as the legendary soldier
protects Quiet from his Mother Base
troops. She could still do with putting
a few more layers on, of course. But
it’s pleasing to see Koj go down a
less obvious route for her character.
SNIPE DOWN
You can call the slinky shooter in
as sniper support or even adopt
an orphan wolf pup, cutely named
Diamond Dog. The bundle of fur
eventually grows into a full-sized
White Fang wannabe, complete with
eye patch. D’awwww. Other new
features revealed at TGS include:
an Active Decoy that creates a
Snake blow-up doll; a golden hand
that zaps baddies; and using a
cardboard box as a changing room
after a shirtless Big Boss Fultons
in a new Sneaking Suit. All that, plus

FANTASTIC MR FOX
Most PES improvements courtesy
of FOX Engine are, “unseen,” says
Konami’s Adam Bhatti. “FOX allows
us to tweak key parts without the
entire game needing to be
rewritten.” Shirt sponsors, say..?
TheBig10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Gareth Bale’s €100m
likeness is spot on, along
with many other amazing
hand-drawn stars.
Can PES finally
rake FIFA’s shins?
Konami’s kickabout aims to reclaim its trophy
011
the delights of ‘crack climbing’ with
Snake now able to scale rock faces.
The fact FOX Engine generates
such detailed worlds and still hits
60fps is testament to the strength
of Konami’s tech. Our MGS
excitement is growing to new,
unhealthy obsessions every month.
With desert and jungle now both
out in the wild, we can’t help but
fantasise where Hideo may jet us
off to next. We’ve still got our robot
fingers crossed for Big Boss’ Outer
Haven stronghold, to bring the three
decade-spanning plot full circle.
If there’s a concern, it’s that this
globe-trotting could make the story
unfocused – a common criticism
of MGS4. Right now, though, Snake
looks the hero to beat on PS4. Come
at him if you dare, Drake.
Check out youtube.com/user/
metalgearsolid for the latest MGS videos.
03
Football
in 2014
has been absurd.
Man Utd suck.
Brazil suck harder.
Wenger actually
wins a trophy.
Taken in that context, the idea PES
may finally fell FIFA isn’t unthinkable.
Indeed, Konami’s debut PS4 footy
feast already plays a crisper game
than any of
the PS3 titles.
From our
hands-on with an
advanced preview
build of PES 2015,
we’re happy to
report the race
for this season’s
PS4 Paint Trophy
could go to the wire. PES is unlikely
to play in the same sales division as
EA’s Goliath – how could it when FIFA
15’s marketing budget is funded
by a conglomerate of Richie Rich,
Donald Trump and Mr Burns?
But there are areas on the pitch
where it tackles its rival to the turf.
For one, Konami’s shooting and
passing models are more nuanced
than FIFA 15. Unlike last year, you
THE LIKENESS
OF EACH PLAYER
WAS DRAWN IN-
ENGINE BY A TEAM
OF ARTISTS.
can truly feel the benefit of the FOX
Engine. Animations have been
significantly improved and look more
natural. Players also feel more
individual than in FIFA, both visually
and to control; top stars such as
Ronaldo sport bespoke animations.
And while FIFA may have scanned
hundreds of pros’ faces this year,
PES’ best likenesses are in a league
of their own. Quite
the feat seeing
as PES European
brand manager
Adam Bhatti
confirmed to
us, “they are all
drawn in-engine
by our artists.”
Admittedly, the
new MyClub twist on Master League,
which supports microtransactions
to buy better players, is a bit of a
worry. The licensing gap is also
cavernous in FIFA 15’s favour (read
our review on p78). Yet there’s a
reason the cult of PES persists: it’s
still a damn good football game.
PES 2015 is out 13 Nov for PS4/PS3
and will be reviewed in #104, out 21 Nov.

SEND A ‘D’ CAREERING
INTO THE WORD ‘RAIN’ TO
DRAIN A POOL OF WATER
BLOCKING YOUR PATH.

HERO’S QUEST
You begin the gramatically correct
adventure as a rolling ‘O’. Shortly
after bumbling past the word
‘EVOLVE’, your sentient letter
merges with an ‘H’, ‘E’ and ‘R’ to
fittingly form the game’s hero.
TheBig10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
This trap puzzle was created as an
homage to Limbo’s snapping spider.
Platforming sections have a distinctly
heavy yet pleasing sense of momentum.
Typoman has the
last word on PS4
Speling mistaks meat Limbo phor indee treet
013
This is the
04
game Carol
Vorderman
would have
given all
her vowels
for back in
Countdown’s
heyday. If you challenged Limbo’s
arachnid a-hole to Scrabble, the
resulting wonderful mess of hairey
legs, devilish platform puzzles and
jumbled words would no doubt
resemble indie creator Bilal Chbib’s
extraordinary new project. Now, can
anyone spare us a ‘Q’ or two?
ALWAYS BE SPELLING
The influence of Playdead’s
Purgatory quest can be felt in
every R-rated swing of Typoman’s
arms (literally: they’re formed
by Jonathan Ross’ most hated
consonant). As you jump on, yank,
or throw letters together to create
contraptions or environmental
actions that help you traverse
the game’s 2D levels, a sense of
weighted inertia follows every action.
Swaying from letters attached to
rope swings also owes much to
Limbo’s playfull physics challenges.
At one point, you send a ‘D’
careering into ‘RAIN’ to drain a pool
of water that’s blocking your path.
TYPO CAST
Typoman is really bloody clever, then.
Its wordplay is darkly funny – we
‘accidentally’ spell a swear related to
genitalia early on in our demo
(nothing happens, just so you know)
– and don’t underestimate just how
disarming seeing words form in
‘ta-da!’ moments can be. We grin like
an inebriated Cheshire Cat while
joining an ‘S’ to an aggressive,
snapping ‘TRAP’ to forge a helpful
lasso. Mr Marston would approve.
In just 15 minutes, the evocative
wordsmith showcases numerous
epihnany moments with its letters,
and its three-to-four hour journey is
sure to be filled with clever puzzles
that’ll have you reaching for the
dictionary. It’s a road we, Carol and
Big Bird can’t wait to travel down.
Pop quiz: there’re four hidden typos on
this page. Tweet @OPM_UK the answers!

the big shot
eagle-eyed analysis
Attack the
block… button
Bloodborne Alpha nixes shields
014
Ye olde Dark
05
Souls fans are
gaming folk of
the sturdiest
resolve. Granite
thumbs; Jedi
reflexes; nerves of steel… What
do you mean Hidetaka Miyazaki
has taken away the block button?
It’s only become fully clear with
the advent of Bloodborne’s recent
online Alpha, but the PS4-only title
radically redefines the combat of
its spiritual predecessors. If you
were lucky enough to nab a code
to sample the murdery Victorian
delights of Yharnam, you’ll notice
blocking (and seemingly shields
in general) have been dropped in
favour of an evasive roll. Ruh-roh.
The changes don’t stop there.
Player messages are now
delivered by skeletons that
scuttle from the ground, while
that iconic soul-gathering system
has apparently been cut. Fret not,
though: despite the shake-up,
Bloodborne’s combat remains
exemplary. Hurry up, February.
Bloodborne hits the UK on 6 Feb,
just a day after the Japanese release.
The Alpha had four
character classes:
Standard, Heavy, Sword &
heavy attack, and Agile.
Your warrior sports a
torch boasting a limitless
flame, which can be drawn
with a dab of 4. Burny.

With tough foes such as
this chap, using the Regain
system to win back health
via timed attacks is key.
You can summon up to
three other players for
online co-op. Sessions end
when you kill area bosses.
Certain weapons go
through transformations,
such as a hammer that
swings into a sword.
number game
we do the maths
$1m
Amount of free GTA Online coin you’ll
100
rake in for pre-ordering GTA V on PS4.
Max number of Crucible or Vanguard
Marks earnable per week in Destiny.
02/06/15
Batman: Arkham Knight’s latest release
date. Please Bats, no more delays.
210015
Weight in grams of your DualShock 4.
That’s 18g heavier than PS3’s pad.
25,404
Capacity of Hull’s KC Stadium, one of 12
17%
new EPL grounds to feature in FIFA 15.
PS4 owners who didn’t own a last-gen
console, according to Sony reports.
1.82m
Height of Sigourney Weaver. Kick xeno
ass with her in Alien: Isolation’s DLC.
8,386
Converted figure Italian jeweller Gatti is
selling solid gold PS4s for in Dubai.

Yes, the ‘boyband in a car’
vibe makes us feel weird.
Yes, it’s already spawned
multiple online memes.
016
FFXV hits top
gear for 2015
Get ready to test drive Final Fantasy XV’s cars next year
06
Are
you ready for
some Junctioning
of a different kind?
After more than a
year off the radar,
Final Fantasy XV
has raced back into our lives with
news that a voucher code for a
playable demo, entitled Final Fantasy
XV: Episode
Duscae, is on its
way. Want in? Then
you’ll need to pick
up the PlayStation
4 HD remaster of
PSP game Final
Fantasy Type-0,
due out 20 March.
It’s been a long and very winding
road for the project, so it’s great to
have the chequered flag in sight at
last. Once known as Final Fantasy
Versus XIII when it was announced
more than eight years ago in 2006
FFXV WAS
ANNOUNCED IN
2006 – BEFORE
PS3 LAUNCHED
IN JAPAN.
(let’s put that in context – this was
before PS3 launched in Japan, even),
Final Fantasy XV has undergone
multiple development changes while
parked in the Square Enix garage.
The latest in a long line of under-thehood
adjustments sees previous
director Tetsuya Nomura removed
from the project and moved onto
Kingdom Hearts
III, leaving Type-0
director Hajime
Tabata to take
the wheel for
the game’s
final stretch
of development.
The reason for
all the car puns? Well we haven’t
gone mad: in a move that will upset
some Final Fantasy purists, the
15th core entry is aiming to, um,
accelerate [sigh, that’s enough – ed]
the transition from tactical battler to
dev talk
“We have decided to
assign Hajime Tabata
as the new director
for Final Fantasy XV.
Tabata and the entire
development team
are working,
whole-heartedly,
towards completing
the production of
Final Fantasy XV and
ensuring the delivery
of the highest quality
Final Fantasy title
to date.”
Yosuke Matsuda
CEO,
Square Enix
all-out action eyeball-assaulter by
featuring full-on driving sections.
Yep, Final Fantasy XV is one long
road trip through monster-infested
lands, starring lone playable star
Noctis and his NPC buddies. You can
assume control of the vehicle to
steer the plot forward, or sit in the
back seat and relax as your AI
companions take you for a ride. At
Tokyo Games Show 2014, director
Tabata explained how the car is like
a party member all on its own, and
how you can use it to explore XV’s
open-world at your leisure.
FASTER THAN LIGHTNING
Welcome back to the words
‘open-world’, by the way. How we’ve
missed you so. The Final Fantasy XIII
saga did terrible things for the
franchise, so we’re relieved
to discover that XV is smashing
through the barriers from the off.

TYPE-0 TO HERO
The PS4 remake of Final
Fantasy Type-0 is more than
just a way to grab the FFXV
demo. Many consider 2011’s
Japan-only PSP hit to be one
of the best FFs in years.
ORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
info patches
update your brain
The demo’s set in FFXV’s ‘Duscae’
region and has 3-4 hours of gameplay.
we’ve ever seen – in an extended
TGS demo we watch Tabata spin
the camera around characters so
gorgeous it’s hard to believe they’re
in-engine models and not simply
parts of a pre-rendered cutscene.
Individual raindrops falling in
the scene soak our future friends,
wetting their hair and dampening
their clothes before pooling in
puddles that evaporate when the
sun comes out. And is that… Is that
a tiny frog we see emerge in the
rain to splash about on the sodden
ground? Yes, yes it is. Ribbit.
HUNGRY AND HOME-LESS
The awkward digital dancing news just
keeps on getting worse. Following on from
last month’s announcement of PS Home’s
impending Japanese closure in this very slot,
Sony has confirmed the service will be shut
down globally next March. From 12 November,
no new content will be posted on Home.
017
Here at OPM we’re big fans
of classic Fant’ combat. Give us
turn-based scrapping any day and
we’ll be happy. Final Fantasy XV
doesn’t do that. Actually, it makes
it more action-y than ever with you
seamlessly drifting in and out of
scraps whenever you want. You’ll
have full, real-time control of Noctis’
every move, rather than queueing
up attacks Lightning-style.
So why aren’t our alarms blaring?
Because this system transforms
combat into sequences that could
have been taken directly out of a
Kingdom Hearts. It may not be true
to the pre-XII Final Fantasy titles, but
if the series must continue to evolve
in the combat space, making it more
like Kingdom Hearts is no bad thing.
Mercifully, it looks every part the
new-gen proposition, too. There’s no
PS3 hangover in sight for what’s one
of the most visually arresting games
ONE FOR THE ROAD
The thought of crossing the world
via a motor with an all-male party,
hopping out and adventuring
whenever we choose, is so far
removed from what we’re used
to from the series that we’re sure
it’s not for every FF fan out there.
Do we pine for a return to the old
formula or, dare we say it, the longrumoured
VII remake? Of course.
But after more failed starts than
the average RAC worker fixes in
a morning, FFXV’s final stretch is
something to be celebrated. Doubly
so because it looks ruddy brilliant.
We’ll have much more on Final Fantasy
Type-0 HD in OPM 104 out 21 November.
Though you can grab the voucher on
20 March, the demo date itself is TBC.
PUT YOUR FOOT IN IT
Throw those Converse in the bin – we’ve just
found you the must-have footwear of 2014.
A designer called John Barry has made ten
pairs of limited edition ‘PS4 Air Jordans’.
Aside from rocking your favourite console’s
logo, the trainers come with a sodding HDMI
port in the heels. To you, ‘guv? A mere $950.
WATCH (DOGS) THIS SPACE
You may still have the sting of 7/10 in your
nostrils from Pearce’s first peeping quest,
but Ubisoft already has plans for Watch Dogs
2. Speaking to Digital Spy, creative director
Jonathan Morin admits he wants Aiden’s
Profiler expanded to help tell more emergent
tales that could, “push the industry forward.”

Jill sarnies out,
blue cheese in
Revelations 2 revives the one-liner
07
”What
in the COCK
did I just see?”
That is, in case
you’re wondering,
your new favourite
line of gaming
dialogue. Since 1996, Resident Evil
has been the king of cheesy speech
with the likes of, “Stop! [loading
pause] Don’t. Open. That. Door,”
and, “Jill, here’s a lockpick. It might
come in handy if
you, the master of
unlocking, take it
with you.” But 20
years after the
original, the series’
newest outing –
Resident Evil
Revelations 2 – is
aiming to recapture
the lost art of one-liners.
REV ALL ABOUT IT
Or will it? Our poultry line comes
courtesy of Barry Burton’s
daughter Moira, a teenager with
a seriously foul (fowl?) mouth.
When she and Claire Redfield are
first attached by the zombie-like
Afflicted, Moira drops the c-bomb.
At least, she does in our early
preview code. But it might not
THE INFAMOUS
LINE COMES FROM
BARRY’S FOUL-
MOUTHED
DAUGHTER.
make the final game: we’ve been
warned that Capcom’s R&D team
might change the line to something
less fruity, despite other blue lines
– such as the delightful corker
that is, “Where in a moist barrel
of f***s are we?” – staying as is.
So consider this a plea from
OPM to Capcom to preserve
history and #saveourcocks. Join
us on Twitter to help fight the good
fight and keep
Resi’s dialogue as
cheesy as can be.
BRACE YOURSELF
Our new handson
demo did
more than reveal
hilarious swears,
however. In a new
area we also discover that the
bracelets Claire and Moira wear
aren’t virus indicators but fear
detectors. Green = calm; red =
scared. It seems more a narrative
device than a gameplay mechanic,
and right now the DualShock 4
lightbar doesn’t mirror the colours.
That, we hope, is changed by R&D.
Join the fight to save the classic line by
tweeting #saveourcocks to @RE_Games.
“The demo features text
& VO that was not 100%
representative of the final
game,” says Capcom.
the rumour machine
our sources understand…
Hollywood tittle-tattle
says the Assassin’s
Creed film has been
delayed until 2016.
Guerrilla is reportedly
working on an openworld
RPG called Horizon.
Supposed leaked art
shows the game’s female
hero battling robot dinos.
Oh. Hells. Yes.
Sony Bend is
said to being
making an
openworld
PS4
horror.
An HD remake of
PS1 town-builder
Constructor
has been
listed on
GAME’s
website.
The Wall Street
Journal reports
Sony is launching
an internet TV
service which will
broadcast shows
to its consoles.

BREAK THE CODE
Want two more emblem codes?
Here goes… X9F-GMA-H6D and
N3L-XN6-PXF. To claim ‘em, head
over to Bungie.net, sign in, then
hit ‘Redeem Code’. Collect them
from the Special Orders Vendor.
PlayStation
voices
the month in
mouthing off
The Dark Below will
send you back to the
Moon to see off a
rising Hive threat.
“The WWE 2K15
trailer is finally
here, and yours
truly is laying it
down in
high def.”
John Cena
proving
that
the
chump
is still
here.
Hitting Dark Below
the belt in Destiny
Leaked DLC plans lift the lid on upcoming expansions
More Destiny,
08
we say! MORE!
Good news for
Guardians hungry
for fresh content:
Bungie’s DLC plans
have hit the interwebs. While we
already knew two expansions were
on the horizon, an in-game bug has
given overt details on the packs.
Due out in December, The Dark
Below is Destiny’s first major postlaunch
DLC, and features timed
PlayStation-exclusive content.
The House Of Wolves hits at a later
date, with the leak suggesting the
packs house four story missions,
two Strikes and a fresh Raid each –
we’ve not even *gulp* got through
the Vault Of Glass’ front door yet…
Bungie responded to the leak via
a short statement, refuting reports
both DLC packs were already on
the disc. “Neither of the expansion
packs we’ve announced are
finished,” reads the post. Still, it’s
great to know a fresh serving of
Destiny is due down PSN’s pipes.
While you wait for the DLC, join
our Official PlayStation Mag group
on Bungie.net. Destiny currently
caps clan members at 100, but
we’re looking to rotate new
Guardians in so that more of you
can play with us. If you think you’re
worthy of joining our 100, tell us
why you deserve to be in our clan.
“Great to play
(and win)
against Olly
Murs at the EA
Sports FIFA
15 launch last
night.” Eden
Hazard gives
the abject X
Factor act
a beating.
“If you’re lucky
enough to own
a PS4, buy TLOU
Remastered.
It’s a miracle.”
Peter
Serafinowicz
hearts
Joel.
019
The first DLC sees those undead-aping
ETs merging around the Hellmouth again.
To join our ‘Official PlayStation Mag’
Destiny group, go to bit.ly/TeamOPM.

instant
opinion
strong vs
wrong
020
HOUSE IN THE HOUSE
Stephen Fry’s been
blessing LittleBigPlanet
with his soothing tones
since day one, but we
can finally reveal that
his comedy partner in
crime, Hugh Laurie, will
also star in LBP3 – as
villain Newton, no less.
RIBBON A WHILE
At. last. Vib Ribbon is
back. Announced on our
deadline day, the PS1
rhythm-action game is
out now on PS3 and PS
Vita, with a PS4 version
in the works. We’ll have
the review next issue.
A NEW BOW
Lara and Prophet’s
school of archery is
so passé. We’re all
about Far Cry 4’s
(p38) sexily silent
Auto-Crossbow.
DAMNED UNITED
Has Ubisoft broken
the Creed? Although
Black Flag ran at
1080p on PS4, Unity
drops to 900p in
the same year Xbox
gets exclusive content…
EVIL WITHOUT
Japan gets all the best
stuff. To celebrate
the release of The Evil
Within (or Psycho Break
as it’s known out there),
SCEJ’s releasing two
PS4s rocking engraved
horror houses. Where
are ours, eh?
PLUS SIZED
Bad news for South
African PS4 gamers: PS
Plus will now cost you
roughly £12 per month
after a 51% price hike.
You can hop in Balam’s
mighty mech chassis
with a deft prod of the
DualShock 4’s touchpad.
Mech-on-monster
action hits PS4
EDF goes all Pacific Rim for new-gen debut
09
Giant
Robots!
Godzilla’s slightly
emaciated second
cousin! Guillermo
del Toro-inspired
fisticuffs! Lordy,
we’re having a pleasure overload
here. Just when you thought it was
safe to scuttle past the humongous
ant colony, EDF crashes PS4’s
party, throwing skyscraper-sized
mechs into a sizeable insect soirée.
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The
Shadow Of New Despair (sexy!)
marks the first
time the campy
alien bug-blasting
series has hit PS4.
Due out next year
in Japan, with a
Western release
Those ever-enthused ants will still
swarm your thundering ‘bot en masse.
SHOWDOWNS
ARE CAPABLE OF
LEVELLING THE
GAME’S CITIES.
still to be confirmed, it drops a
colossal ‘bot called ‘Mobile Fortress
Balam’ into the schlocky fray.
Still, what’s a preposterously
proportioned droid without a good
B movie beastie? Enter Huge
Monster Erginus. The fights with
this scaly leviathan appear to form
the core of EDF’s new standout setpieces,
with the monster-on-mech
showdowns capable of levelling the
game’s entirely smashable cities.
We’ve always had a squidgy spot
for Sandlot’s scrappy series at
OPM Towers, but
it’s hard to deny
the last few entries
have been a bit…
buggy. There’s
no faster way
into our tickers
than skyscrapersized
fights, though. And with
PS4 hopefully bringing an extra
layer of technical sheen to the
ant-annihilating action (the longtime
‘framerate’ enemy has been
significantly improved), EDF 4.1
could crawl its way out of ‘bargain
bin curio’ territory yet. Now, let’s all
close our eyes and dream of sweet,
sweet Pacific Rim pummelling.
Are you a diehard EDFer who can’t wait
for 4.1? Tweet @OPM_UK to let us know.

NO. ONE WITH A BULLET
The top selling PlayStation game
in the UK during Xmas week last
year was (and try not to faint)
COD: Ghosts. Folk clearly love
that dog: the FPS sold 363,718
copies on PS3 that week alone.
TheBig 10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
10
just one more question…
the team debate this month’s burning issue
Is the traditional ‘Winter Rush’
good for the games industry?
MATTHEW PELLETT
EDITOR
PHIL IWANIUK
GAMES EDITOR
DAVE MEIKLEHAM
NEWS EDITOR
DOM RESEIGH-LINCOLN
PRODUCTION EDITOR
021
FOR GAMERS, THE
XMAS RUSH IS FAB.
FOR THE INDUSTRY…
NOT SO MUCH.
FESTIVE ROMANCE
ASIDE, IT’S HURTING
ONLINE DISTRIBUTION
PLATFORMS.
DECEMBER WITHOUT
A SANTA’S SACK OF
GAMES WOULD BE
HO-HO-HORRIBLE.
STOP CLUMPING THE
BEST RELEASES
TOGETHER FOR MY
WALLET’S SAKE.
Every year there’s always
a deluge of games from
September onwards –
a period we’ve come
to know as the ‘Winter
Rush’. And every year
there are casualties.
Good games big and
small are released on the
same day as a new Grand
Theft Auto or the latest
Assassin’s Creed and are
just killed in the sales war.
Many a studio’s been
shuttered because of it.
Personally, I love the thrill
of the Christmas run-in,
but more even releases
through the year would
end those drought
months and help more
studios make money.
Anyway, isn’t this moot?
Bloodborne, The Order,
The Witcher 3… isn’t Feb
the new ‘Winter Rush’?
There was a time when
I’d defend the winter
smörgåsbord of
big-hitters with my very
life, so voluminous are
my festive memories with
those anticipated games.
However: it’s an outdated
concept. The Winter Rush
exists because in the
olden days everyone
bought their games
from shops. More people
visited those shops in the
run up to Christmas, so
publishers deployed their
games at the opportune
moment. But online
distribution platforms
are stunted due to this
continuing practice –
we’re all online 24/7,
perpetually one click away
from buying a game, and
publishers haven’t quite
adjusted to that yet.
What’s the best thing
about Christmas? Well,
aside from eating enough
selection boxes to put
you into a sugar coma?
That’s right: ignoring all
friends, family and festive
well-wishers to tuck into
those new PS4 games
Kris Kringle and his merry
bag just unloaded under
your tree. Some of my
favourite ever Xmas
memories centre around
shunning carols for
console time. If publishers
start spacing out game
releases over a more
even annual schedule,
giving me fewer winter
PlayStation treats, I may
actually be forced to talk
to my nan this Crimbo.
God, she’s going to make
me watch an Eastenders
double bill, isn’t she?
Anyone who knows me
will almost certainly dread
my sickening love for
all things Christmas.
Yet even my rabid Noel
affection takes a kick to
the baubles when I see
the crowded, cashchewing
release schedule
that comes as part and
parcel of the bell-jingling
season. Far Cry 4? That’ll
be 50 quid. Dragon Age:
Inquisition? Another half
ton gone. Two Assassin’s
Creeds in one day? 100
sheets, my good man.
Such a high concentration
of big titles crammed
into one itty-bitty launch
window does nothing but
alienate those of us who
can only afford to pick
one (if any) in an already
expensive season. Spare
some change, guv?

REPLIES
F facebook.com/OfficialPlayStationMagazine T @OPM_UK W officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk E opm@futurenet.com
022
Last-gen lover
I’ve been a reader of the
mag for a while now and
I was worried that once
PS4 was released OPM
would focus all of its
energies on PS4, and PS3
and its faithful owners
would be left behind,
feeling obsolete. But
OPM is better than ever
– there’s something for
everyone! Whether it’s the
Hall Of Fame or the Room
101 feature in issue 101,
I can honestly say that
while its new-gen brother
is getting the attention it
deserves, the trusty PS3
hasn’t been forgotten.
Thanks OPM for providing
a magazine for the PS
gaming masses.
Stacey Jenkins via email
#102 30 Games Only
On PlayStation, Destiny
and R Revelations
Thanks Stacey, we’re
getting all the feels.
PS4 is certainly leading
the charge, but PS Vita
and PS3 are far from
forgotten here at OPM.
Pole position
I wrote to you a few
issues ago complaining
about PS4 failing to
deliver on its promises
and a lack of new games.
I then made a rather rash
purchase and bought an
Xbox One. Wow, have I
changed my tune. PS4
is so user friendly by
comparison and the
graphical fidelity of the
console exclusives is
light-years ahead. The
final insult, however, is
Kinect. That thing is simply
awful. No wonder it was
removed. The only thing
that the XO has over the
PS4 is the fact it has
a great racing game –
and with the arrival of
Driveclub that’s hopefully
not an issue any more. If
anyone is left wondering
whether they made the
right choice by choosing
PS4, trust me, you did.
Abe Stocker via email
Who says we’re not a
forgiving bunch, eh?
Come on back into the
fold Abe and bathe in the
warm, welcoming glow
of PS4. Mmmm, toasty.
Rural rage
Why on Earth do Sony
keep coming up with
awesome ideas such
as PlayStation Now
and PS Vita Remote
Play in countries that
IF ANYONE IS WONDERING
WHETHER THEY MADE THE
RIGHT CHOICE BY GOING WITH
PS4, TRUST ME, YOU DID.
Star letter Habitual guardian
Is it possible to sue Bungie? Since Destiny came out
I’ve poured at least six hours a day into its magnificent
sci-fi universe. It’s just so addictive. I find myself
endlessly grinding through thousands of enemies to try
and grab those Legendary Engrams. I stay up ‘til 3am
in the morning sometimes and even get up early on the
days I have work just so I can squeeze an extra hour
or two. Wherever I am, all I want to do is go home and
play Destiny. Damn you, Bungie.
Daniel Gosling via Facebook
Psst, can you keep a secret? We’re addicted, too.
We should start a help group because Lord knows
there aren’t enough hours in the day to satisfy our
Destiny cravings. While you’re waiting, have a year’s
subscription to OPM. It’s good for what ails ya.
don’t have the internet
infrastructure to deal with
them? I live in a rural area
and I struggle to download
the monthly indies, never
mind stream a multiplayer
match from my PS4 to
my PS Vita while I’m at it.
I guess this isn’t really a
moan at Sony, but rather
the state of the net here
in the UK. Sort it out!
Rebecca Hall via email
Net infrastructures are
a sore point for many,
but your future-proofed
PS4 will happily wait for
your ISP to catch up.
troll of the month
CAN I GET A RT?
Tweet gold (and one troll) from
this month’s @OPM_UK timeline
@Baltes
Bought my little bro a PS4
and Destiny as an early
birthday gift. First thing
he did was take a selfie.
@ms_heartattack
I’m playing Destiny so
much that I dream about
going Bladedancer Super
Saiyan on enemies…
@sambadude
So now I’ve got AC Unity,
WWE 2K15, Far Cry 4 and
GTA V all for November.
I need a job… And a life.
@FuturLab
For those that actually
open their eyes and look,
PS Vita is where it’s at.
@AndyEaston95
Oh @SuckerPunchProd
you make me happy
#InfamousFirstLight
#PS4
@PM94YNWA
Just watching videos on
Metal Gear Solid V and it’s
going to be amazing!
@JackDacreBrown
FIFA because I love money
grabbing companies and
scripted gameplay! I also
get broken mechanics!!!!!!!!
@TimmyShire
So much bloody good
stuff from TGS this year:
Bloodborne, Final Fantasy
15, MGS V. All awesome.
@amboyes
I’m committed to getting
a Legendary item in
#Destiny tonight. Let the
Engram angels bless me!
@Shinogu
I want to play Destiny so
bad, I might even try PS
Vita Remote Play.

est comments from facebook.com/officialplaystationmagazine
“Destiny has so many options to choose
from. Every time I load it up there are
Strikes, Raids, the Crucible and more.”
Sean Kenway embraces his Destiny… then shoots it for engrams
“So… does his
horse get to use a
helicopter as well?”
Luke Roberts trolls Snake
READERS’ MOST WANTED
Which games are bleeping loudest on your radar?
Uncharted 4:
A Thief’s End
While Naughty Dog is keeping the
dirty deets on Nate’s latest tightly
under wraps, it did release some
sexy new concept art – flick back
to p26-27 and soak it all in.
No wonder Uncharted 4
has pilfered first place.
FORMAT PS4
ETA 2015
Bloodborne
What a difference a
date makes, eh? With
a February release
pencilled in and a tidal
wave of gameplay vids
making their way online
following this year’s
Tokyo Game Show, it’s
pretty obvious From
Software’s new project
has bagged your hearts
(and your souls).
FORMAT PS4
ETA 6 FEB 2015
Metal Gear Solid V:
The Phantom Pain
We all gorged on a buffet of Snake at TGS 2014,
with Metal Gear overlord Hideo Kojima showering
us with new footage of Big Boss in da jungle (read
p10 for more info) and an actual Diamond Dog.
FORMAT PS4/PS3
ETA 2015
VOTE
NOW!
Tell us the five games
you can’t wait to play at
opm@futurenet.com.
Grand Theft
Auto V
What’s this? A PS4-
powered GTA V not
adorning the top spot?
Have you lost the run of
yourselves? Well, we’ll
forgive you just this once
as this month’s list is a
huge fleet of new-gen
heavyweights. Now turn
to p64 and check out our
GTA V on PS4 feature.
FORMAT PS4
ETA 18 NOV
Assassin’s
Creed Unity
The Fassbender-starring
AC film may have slipped
on its robes into 2016,
but the first new-gen-only
‘Sass is still set to clamber
up your PS4 in Nov. In the
meantime, check out our
huge AC feature on p46.
FORMAT PS4
ETA 13 NOV
023
EXIT
POLL
Our Facebook
fans answer a
final question
Which game or
franchise would
you like to see
get a reboot?
26% Would take
to the new-gen
skies for a
reimagined
Warhawk.
15% Are all
giddy at the
thought of a PS4
Timesplitters.
28%
Want to see
Naughty Dog’s
PS1 mascot
Crash return.
8% Dream
a dream of a
revitalised Jak
& Daxter.
10% Have a
hankering for a
brand new take
on Syphon Filter.
13% Feel their
pulses quicken at
the thought of a
new Soul Reaver.
NEXT
MONTH
Tell us what you
made of PS Vita’s
upcoming library
of games and
whether Driveclub
lived up to all that
tyre-burning hype.

OPINION
Ben Wilson
THE WIFE WOULD ATTEND
BABY GROUPS FROM 10 ’TIL 12
ON A FRIDAY, AND THAT SHORT
WINDOW BECAME FRANKLIN,
MICHAEL AND TREVOR TIME.
How rationing GTA V transformed Ben’s gaming attitude
024
Shortly before the birth
of my daughter, a close
friend confided that I
was to be ordained into
a very select group. Its
name? Daddy Gamers.
It was, he explained, a secret society
built upon two important rules: thy
gaming will be limited to the hours
of 10pm until 1am (in order that
baby remain safe from nightmares
about Kane & Lynch), and thou shalt
never finish anything longer than
12 hours. (Because Daddy Years pass
just as hurriedly as Dog Years, only
with more yelping.)
Apologies to papas everywhere,
then, because I long ago flouted both
of these sacrosanct regulations.
As soon as the critical
father-daughter placentasnipping
pleasantries (‘love
your fellow humans, hate
Brighton & Hove Albion’)
had been completed,
Wilson Jr and I agreed
a simple pact: in
exchange for being
lavished with Disney
Infinity figures on
her third birthday,
I’d be given
sufficient time
during her formative
years to finish Grand
Theft Auto V. With a
high-pitched ‘goo goo
ga ga’ the deal was
sealed. As I recall, she
made happy noises, too.
Trouble was, the little
lady turned out to be
one hell of a horrendous
sleeper, and those late
WRITER BIO
Former OPM veteran Ben Wilson is a
father-of-one who earlier this year swapped
Meiks’ FIFA tantrums for his daughter’s wet
nappy ones. He wants no one to know that
he retconned his GTA V save after regretting
Trevor’s fate in Ending A. So we won’t… oops.
evening hours quickly became her
most boisterous. There was no
chance of me packing the missus
off to sort a wailing newborn while
I cavorted through Vinewood in
nowt but Y-fronts. So having
already flouted the rule
about not playing lengthy
games, I was forced
to break the other
one as well. Every
week, the wife would
interrupt my daddy
day care ritual from
ten ’til 12 on a Friday
so she could take the
nipper to an NCT
group. And that
short window
became an
uninterrupted
hangout with
Michael, Franklin and Trev.
A year and a half later, I’ve only just
completed it. And you know what?
It was the perfect way to enjoy
Rockstar’s greatest game yet. Playing
in such short bursts enabled me to
fully absorb the story developments
once each session was over, yet
feel refreshed and raring to go when
the following week rolled around.
Critically, it also enabled me to
imagine relationships between the
three main characters evolving in real
time – so Franklin’s camaraderie with
Michael felt like something that grew
organically while the console was
switched off, rather than expedited
for the sake of the story.
TO BE FRANKLIN
As a means to luxuriating in a bespoke
world, this was such a revelation that
I’ve now committed to playing all
story-based games in the same way.
Sure, I manage the odd FIFA match
in the evenings, but Watch Dogs and
COD Ghosts have been enjoyed in that
Friday morn spot alone – and when
either does something glitchy, I have a
full week to cool off and regenerate my
interest. The slow-burn experience has
also made me regret rushing through
numerous earlier PS classics: so much
of GTA V has lingered in my memory
in a way even the Uncharteds never
did, simply because I raced through
them at breakneck, instantly-forgethalf-of-what-you’re-doing
speed.
That won’t happen again. Few
games coming in 2015 look as enticing
as A Thief’s End, and I’m excited
beyond words about picking it up on
day one. Tell you what I’m even more
pumped for, though? Finishing it at
the back-end of 2016.

OPINION
Dom Reseigh-Lincoln
IT’S TIME TO GIVE UP THE
SHENMUE GHOST AND PLEDGE
YOUR HEART TO ANOTHER
EASTERN ADVENTURE.
Quit your bellyaching and show its spiritual
successor Yakuza some OPM love
Phil Iwaniuk
WHO’D REALLY SUFFER
IF FIFA HAD A THREE-YEAR
RELEASE CYCLE? NOT THE
GAMER, BUT EA.
The yearly cadence of sports franchises is so
ingrained now we no longer question it
Alright, I’ll admit it: I
really wish Shenmue
III was a thing. I’d
even give a couple of
semi-important organs just
to get my dirty mitts on an
HD collection of the first
two. But deep down there’s
a little voice that whispers a
painful truth: “It’s probably
never going to happen,
kiddo. It’s time to let it go.”
That’s the thing about
hope; it’s a powerful
aphrodisiac, especially when it
comes to a franchise you’ve
loved since you were young.
But even series creator Yu
Suzuki has stressed that Sega
isn’t interested in making
a new Shenmue. Hell, even
Kickstarter was considered,
but with the rights remaining
with the publisher its chances
have never looked bleaker.
YAKETY YAK
Thing is, Shenmue might be
resigned to gaming’s past, but
its legacy – the open-world
setting, QTEs, the recreation
of the mundane alongside
huge cinematic moments –
lives on in a series that’s been
building on those foundations
for almost a decade. One that
blends RPGs, beat-’em-ups
and melodrama and pulls it all
off so damn well just writing
this makes me want to play
one of them again. So why am
I frowning? Because good ol’
Yakuza has become a strictly
Japan-only affair.
Why? Simple: money. In an
interview with Edge last year,
creator Toshiniro Nagoshi
stressed that with such a
small team at his disposal,
he only has the resources to
either localise an entry for
the West or focus his team’s
energy on a new instalment.
Sure, I get the desire to always
press forward, but is prepping
a Western version really that
big a job? If certain pubs
release a slew of bland JRPGs
every year and still deem it
financially viable, then is one
gangster sim really such a
risk? With Sega once again
blanking the West with
upcoming prequel Yakuza
Zero, the chance to enjoy
these amazing games is
getting slimmer by the day.
So come all ye Shenmue
faithful, put down your
pitchforks and step away from
that online petition. Put those
keyboards to good use and
start showing Yakuza some
love. Go buy a copy, shout
about it on Twitter and do
whatever it takes to make
Sega realise Western fans
shouldn’t be an afterthought.
The argument’s
so passé now, it’s
embarrassing to even
raise it. Years ago
there was still a conversation
to be had about the merit
of publishers releasing a new
FIFA, PES, Madden and the
like every year. Were the kit
updates and occasional
changes to through ball
passing weight sufficient
to justify a new game? And
why does Modric look like a
finely polished turnip now?
Today you can go ahead and
include that patter in your
stand-up routine alongside
plane food and long lines at
the post office, because such
words have lost all meaning.
The autumn influx of familiar
sports games bearing next
year’s date in their title has
become such a fact of life that
you might as well question
the necessity of the changing
of the seasons themselves.
YEAR ZERO
They’d never admit it, but
the developers who make
them must wish this practice
never became de rigueur.
Imagine the wild dreams they
harbour for their annualised
series, perpetually unable to
code them into being because
Ultimate Team needs better
safeguarding this year. It’s
an absolute miracle that NBA
2K14 studio Visual Concepts
expanded its MyCareer mode
so far within one release cycle
– an absolute highlight in
sports gaming that devs
elsewhere in the genre would
need similar miraculous
conditions to replicate.
Unfashionable as it may
be then, I feel the need to
ask the old question again
– whose feathers would be
ruffled if FIFA had, say, a
three-year release cycle, with
DLC kit updates and gameplay
tweaks available to season
pass holders? Not the gamer,
but the publisher who relies
on hitting certain numbers
in certain months of
each financial year, and the
shareholders whose dividends
depend on those numbers.
As an obsessive of third
kits, fiddler of rosters and
peruser of DLC sneakers I
think we’re not asking enough
of the franchises we show
such devotion to. I don’t
want a game that matches last
year’s quality, I want a game
that feels more like baseball
and ice hockey than anything
I’ve played before. And I’m
prepared to wait years for
that. Are you? Then let’s have
our wallets do the talking.
025
WRITER BIO
When prod ed Dom Reseigh-Lincoln was fresh out of uni, he booked a week off
from a new job just to play Yakuza 2. He then locked himself in his room with his
DualShock 2, lots of bad food and a ton of Dr Pep. The room never recovered.
WRITER BIO
Phil Iwaniuk loves updated team jerseys as much as the next man – probably
more than the next man, actually. How many hours have you spent teaching
yourself image editing just to make your own, next man? Exactly. *rests case*

NAUGHTY DOG
1
Naughty
Dog
Celebrating 30 years of elf-eared,
treasure-hunting, Infected-offing magic
2
026
1 ANNIVERSARY
ART ATTACK
Break out the spine-bruising
bumps: it’s time to celebrate
Naughty Dog’s 30th birthday.
PlayStation’s premier studio
recently held an exhibit to
honour its history, filled with
tribute art commemorating
its games; including this
TLOU piece by artist Jose
Emroca Flores, which was
being sold for ‘just’ $1,800.
2 REALLY OLD MUTT,
NEW TRICKS
The developer was formed
in 1984 by Andy Gavin and
Jason Rubin. Though both
co-founders left in 2004,
they’d be proud of an exhibit
that featured over 60 pieces
of production work and
prints from ten artists who
appeared in the recent The
Art Of Naughty Dog book.
3 NAUGHTY DOGS
PLAYING POKER
Read ‘em and weep,
Joel. This homage to CM
Coolidge’s series of pooch
paintings was designed by
artist ‘Pandamusk’. Some
royal flush and Sully-loving
punter nabbed it for $500.
4 CORDYCEPS
AND THE CITY
Nothing says ‘fine art’ quite
like a devastating pandemic.
Anthony Wu’s ‘Nature,
Human’ shows what would
have happened if Ellie wasn’t
immune to the Cordyceps
Brain Infection in The Last
Of Us. The savagely striking
work went for a song –
a song that cost $300.
5 NEW-GEN NATE
It wasn’t all just artisans
drooling over sexy oil
paintings at the event. There
were also TVs set up that
just, oh, happened to show
PS4-rendered Nathan Drake.
Uncharted 4 lead game
designer Kurt Margenau
even tweeted a pic of the
fortune hunter, who now
looks more like Nolan North…
6 THE HARE
NECESSITIES
Turns out, the apocalypse
makes for some damn purdy
pictures. Just take this piece
by Teegan White, depicting
the poor critter Ellie arrows
in TLOU’s Winter chapter.
Someone send a condolence
card to the March Hare.
7 ONE LAST TIME
FOR UNCHARTED
It’s Uncharted 4! In $250
poster form! This sexy print
by Cory Schmitz and Irene
Koh reiterates A Thief’s
End’s 2015 release. It also
contains a passage from the
King James Bible’s Book Of
Luke. Could Nate be chasing
a religious artefact? Please
let it be the Nazi-melting Ark
Of The Covenant.
8 RIGHT JAK TO
THE BEGINNING
Jak & Daxter statues and
trinkets also adorned the
exhibit, which was held in
Alhambra, just outside LA.
The artistic extravaganza
ran between 27 Sep and
12 Oct. God, we miss that
adorable elf and ottsel duo.
9 GET IN THE HOLE
Among the gallery’s treasure
trove of gems lay concept
art for an undeveloped
project – a game, “centred
around a city that had been
built up around a giant hole,”
according to the studio’s
30th anniversary art book.
Maybe ND will return to this
‘Holey’ Grail after Uncharted.
3
AND THE LATEST UNCHARTED 4 NEWS…
No Rose as sweet
Speaking in SFX #254, Emily
Rose said, “I can’t say whether
I’ll be returning to play Elena
Fisher… I can say I hope so.”
Life’s a beach
Dark Horse’s The Art Of
Naughty Dog has U4 concept
art showcasing moody flooded
ruins and stormy beaches.
Show boat
Those concept drawings also
reveal Nate in a dinghy – ah,
memories of Uncharted 1’s
choppy water Jet Ski rides…
What are your favourite Naughty Dog memories? Raid your brain banks and tell us at twitter.com/opm_uk.

4
7
5
6
027
8
9

Specialist magazine
of the year
Digital Magazine Awards 2013
Try two free issues of our iPad edition
today – search “Edge” in the App Store
You will receive two free issues (the current issue and the next issue) when you
start a no-obligation trial subscription. Available to new subscribers only.
iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc, registered in the US and other countries.
App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

38 FAR CRY 4
The peak of the PlayStation FPS? Join
us in the mountains for a hands-on
blast through Ubisoft Montreal’s
colourful safari.
029
|
CONTENTS
BATTLEBORN 30 | CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE 34 | DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION 36
FAR CRY 4 38 | PROJECT CARS 40 | THE CREW 42 | LORDS OF THE FALLEN 44
DEEP DOWN 45 | HELLRAID 45 | LITTLEBIGPLANET 3 45 | WWE 2K15 45

PREVIEW
030

PREVIEW
“THE VARELSI HAVE
EXTINGUISHED ALL
THE STARS IN THE
SKY – EXCEPT ONE.”
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015
PUB 2K GAMES / DEV GEARBOX SOFTWARE
BATTLEBORN
Where the midwives earn
danger money for their troubles
031
A new Gearbox Software game.
Brand new. No numbers following
the title, or any nonsensical
subtitles – oh, hey Borderlands:
The Pre-Sequel, didn’t see
you there. This is a completely
blank slate for the Texan developer, a chance
to flex its creative muscles and pursue a vision
without worrying about upsetting existing fans.
The result? A five-player co-op/competitive
multiplayer RPG/MOBA/shooter by the name
of Battleborn. And not a Claptrap in sight.
You’re confused. How would such a barrage of genres
play as one experience? Is it like Borderlands? What
in cel-shaded Hades is a MOBA? In that order,
and briefly: we don’t know yet, a little bit, and
Multiplayer Online Battle Arena – a scaled-down
strategy game in which you control just one character
working in a small team. What we do know is that
in amongst that divisive art style that seems to be
targeting a youngish demographic is a game with
some exciting ideas that’s still, at heart, a shooter.
The setup: the distant future. Terrible, nasty
idiots known as the Varelsi have extinguished all but
one star in the universe for reasons best known to
themselves. With almost all organic life eradicated,
heroic types from across the galaxy gather in the last
habitable corner of space and join forces against the
Varelsi, hoping to stop them before they snuff out
the last star, Solus. They are… *turns dramatically
to face the camera* …the Battleborn.

PREVIEW
Left All the co-op gameplay
we’ve seen so far pits you
against these almost cute
robo-types, by the hundred.
Right Each character’s
silhouette is immediately
distinct, and there’s a lot of
colour-coding at work, too.
Never, ever suggest his
head might be a wee bit
on the small side. He has
a thing about it.
Lights, camera, faction
The different species fighting for good
1Peacekeepers such as manmountain
Montana here are
your common ‘hooah’ army
parody. Lots of hollering, chestbeating
and starred regalia.
2
The Last Light Consortium
(LLC) are sharp-dressed
robots who see the war purely
as an opportunity for profit, and
carry weaponised canes.
3
Rath here is reppin’ the
Jennerit Empire, a civilisation
who value power above all
else. They’re kinda the bad guys,
but no-one’s squeaky clean here.
4
Eldrid = elves. Nature lovers,
love a good longbow, always
harping on about maintaining
balance in the universe. An old RPG
trope in a new universe.

PREVIEW
Above Well, no one’s going to accuse it of being just another brown
shooter. Even the most brutal of fights looks oddly cheerful here.
“RATHER THAN WIDE
OPEN SPACES, THE
ACTUAL BATTLES
THEMSELVES TAKE
PLACE IN BIG ARENAS.”
Above Those pesky Varelsi. The bastard children of twigs
and ink splatters, out to extinguish all light from the universe.
Above Miko’s manner and moves are inspired by martial arts
movies. Because how else to humanise a mushroom?
FACTRICK
1. MINUTE MAN
Over the course of a 20-40
minute co-op scenario, your
character levels up roughly
every 60 seconds.
2. DEADLY DIY
You can build turrets on
fixed locations in every
map, enabling you to fortify
your overall defence.
3. FINE LUPINE
The Black Wolf, an end-of
level boss we glimpsed, is of
almost Dark Souls-level
physical stature. Erk.
Okay, it’s safe to say Gearbox isn’t trying to
out-Dickens Dickens with this game, but the
backstory does at least tee up one of Battleborn’s
most important elements: its massive roster of
playable characters. We’ve seen just a handful so far:
Rath the quasi-vampire, walking bicep depository
Montana, and Marquis the gentleman death-bot
join a mushroom, a combat droid, and an elfish lady
with a thing for bows in this pre-pre-alpha version.
While all characters have broadly the same combat
options – one primary attack and a couple of
specials – the variation between attack types and
equipment is huge. Montana is shamelessly lifted
(presumably using an industrial crane) from Team
Fortress 2 and its Heavy, carrying with him a
minigun the size of King Kong’s pepper mill. He’s
packing Hailstorm ammo for a special attack that
slows enemies, and has an ultimate ability called
Mansformation which transforms him into a
hulking great juggernaut for close-range damage.
Conversely, the aforementioned mushroom Miko’s
attacks are largely spore-based, either sending out a
spray of toxic fungus or deploying healing mushroom
matter to help out allies. His ultimate ability, Fungus
Among Us, does both simultaneously. Each of the
other characters is as different again, which makes
combat in Battleborn resemble a hybrid of Valve’s
TF2 and BASEketball. Weaponised objects
of varying absurdity fly this way and that,
abilities form domes over their affected
areas… it’s quite something to behold.
MARRIED TO THE MOBA
Rather than the wide open spaces of
Borderlands, Battleborn’s actual battles
take place in arenas, connected in the larger
game world via corridors that allow time
for a spot of banter between teammates.
And as you might expect from Gearbox
at this point, the banter is right on the
mark. It’s hard to be genuinely funny in a
videogame, and Battleborn does it without
coming across as try-hard. But its unique
approach to level design, along with the
pacing of enemy appearances, is markedly different
to PlayStation’s current crop of shooters, and it’ll
take many hours of play to determine whether this
experimental blending of FPS and MOBA genuinely
works to create something better than both.
Battleborn’s combination of long-term and midround
character levelling will also play a big part in
that experiment. In every battle you gain points to
spend in the Helix Menu, offering a binary choice
between more ammo or faster running speed active
for that one skirmish. Above that there’s a deeper,
persistent upgrade path to chip away at long-term,
and above that there’s a long game to be played in
upgrading yourself, the holder of all these characters,
to get perks that benefit all your Battleborn.
We’re not really sure who this game is for right
now – there’s a suggestion of depth and strategy
that’ll appeal to the hardcore, but a danger they
could be turned off by the Pixar-esque art direction
(we’re 50/50 in the office) and the fact that they’re
throwing a mechanical owl at a fighting mushroom.
It’s very early days for the project, and there’s plenty
of time for it to find its footing as Borderlands did
over a protracted development period. Gearbox’s last
game might have disappointed (hi, Aliens), but this
has so many new ideas we’re hopeful it’ll shine.
033

PREVIEW
FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 3 NOV / PUB ACTIVISION / DEV SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES
CALL OF DUTY:
ADVANCED WARFARE
Three years in the making, an invigorated COD aims to impress
034
FACTRICK
1. BIG BANG THEORY
A teleporting grenade was
cut because it broke COD:
AW’s big rule: science fact,
not science fiction.
2. MITCHELL MAN
Rather than flitting between
unrelatable randomers, the
campaign focuses on one
protagonist throughout.
3. FACE TIME
Wondering why Spacey
looks ace? It’s because COD:
AW uses the same facial
animation tech as Avatar 2.
The prime minister of Nigeria
needs your help. Could this be
another email scam? If it is,
Private Jack Mitchell is going to
be really pissed off. Working for
military corporation Atlus, he’s
neck-deep in Lagos with a hostage rescue force.
The level is Traffic, and it’s a first act corker.
A video feed crackles into Mitchell’s left eye. Why,
it’s Kevin Spacey – sorry, Atlus president Jonathan
Irons. “Get him alive,” he smarms through gritted
teeth. “A handshake from me is enough to turn
this entire region around.” The exosuited Mitchell
boots a door with super strength and bursts into an
alley. The wall ahead presents no problems for his
magnetic gloves, and after climbing onto
the roof, neither do the goons in the room
below. With a mute charge to muffle sound,
Mitchell drops through the skylight for
a vertical twist on the traditional slowmo
breach. In the far corner he plants
a harmonic pulse that reads biodensity
through walls then blasts the fuzzy figures
without so much as a ‘Hey, how’s it going?’
SPACEY RACE
Inside it turns out this was all a diversion;
the hostages are being spirited away. A
squadmate peels off a portion of fence
overlooking the motorway. “It’s now or
never,” he grins, jumping onto a speeding
bus. This is where the magnetic grip again
comes into play, Mitchell clinging desperately
onto the side as a bunch of black SUVs give chase.
The hostage van pulls away, so Mitchell and his
mate use their exosuits to hop between buses like
heavily armoured Froggers. Finally, after another
gorgeous slow-motion breach-and-clear on the
vehicle – which on reflection probably wasn’t
the smartest move – it plunges into the harbour.
While heavily scripted (superhuman abilities such
as double-jumping and wall-climbing are contained
within specially designated sections), the sci-fi
structure allows Sledgehammer to tightly craft what’s
essentially another explosive seven-hour action flick.
They’ve had time too. Advanced
Warfare has been three years in the
making. “We were given carte blanche,”
says Sledgehammer founder Glen
Schofield. “It gave us the opportunity
to go through the entire game, from
the HUD system to the cinematics…
We iterated the crap out of [the
exosuit]. The height of the jump, the
distance of the jump, the speed, down
to the inches. It changes Call Of Duty,
but it still feels like Call Of Duty.”
EXOSUITS YOU, SIR
Now it’s time to test Schofield’s
theory in multiplayer. Alongside
returning modes Hardpoint and Kill
Confirmed stands the brand new
Uplink – a frantic and slightly silly
sports-type game in which opposing
teams grab a drone and chuck it
through a circular hologram. There’s
also the four-player co-op mode Exo
Survival – think traditional wavebased
holdouts but with exosuits. Both
co-op and multiplayer are enlivened by
human augmentation, even if the focus
is still very much on run-and-gun.
Maps are also more interactive, each
one with a unique dynamic element.
Some are triggered by you, such as the
defence system in a Baghdad prison.
Some are natural, such as a tidal
wave under the Golden Gate Bridge.
“They don’t always have to be violent,”
says Schofield. Indeed, one features
a crane that alters choke points. “It
was a conscious effort to have more
animation, and to have things within
the world that would normally happen
within that world.” Albeit, rarely.
The COD coaster isn’t coming off
the rails any time soon. But before
fatigue can set in, Advanced Warfare
has picked it up and dropped it into an
exciting and, for once, fresh world.

PREVIEW
To account for your invigorating sense of augmented mobility, some of the multiplayer arenas took a staggering two years to design and perfect.
“YOU LEAP ONTO A
SPEEDING BUS AS
A BUNCH OF BLACK
SUVS GIVE CHASE.”
035
A redesigned HUD shows
ammo counters, threat
detectors and health as
holographic projections.
Above The new exosuit enables you to cloak,
dodge, hover, double-jump, scale walls, use car
doors as shields and look badass on box art.

PREVIEW
Bigger baddies in
multiplayer will require
special team moves to fell
quickly. Go for the shins!
“STAY FOR ONE OF
THE MOST DETAILED
CHARACTER
CREATOR SUITES
YOU’VE EVER SEEN.”
FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 18 NOV / PUB EA / DEV BIOWARE
DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION
A breath of fresh (and flaming) air for EA’s action-RPG
Come for the slaying of Smaug’s
fiery chums, stay for one of the most
detailed character creators you’ve ever
seen. Bioware has really gone above
and beyond this time out. Thought your custom
Commander Shepard was all that? Just wait
until you see a system that lets you tailor your
Inquisitor right down to his/her ocular diaphragm.
That’s right: Dragon Age: Inquisition enables
you to tweak both the outer and inner colour of
your character’s iris. Hot! Granted, that’s not exactly
one for the boxart quote (though feel free to prove
us wrong, EA), but its endemic of the panoply of
options at play in Bioware’s grand action-RPG.
Double chins; Adam’s apples; lip liners – you’re very
much in Yuke’s/WWE territory here, fantasy fans.
Detail and choice seem to be the unifying qualities
of Inquisition headed into the final straight before
the game hits shelves on 18 Nov. With four different
races (Human, Elf, Dwarf and Qunari) and multiple
class types, which you can always respec if you get
bored, this is a game in seriously accommodating
mood. Good. Because after the slightly shonky
Dragon Age II, Inquisition should be looking to make
amends. We could use a back rub, Smaug old buddy.
New enemy types have also
surfaced thanks to a recent trailer.
Fresh from the Big Book Of Game
Antagonist Clichés comes The
Elder One; Inquisition’s chief evil
doer, who’s described as extremely
arrogant. There’s also a brief glimpse
at something called an Envy Demon –
imagine if a xenomorph and a skinless
ostrich with six arms drunkenly
stumbled into a Motel 6 and the
resulting abomination would just
about be on the money.
AGE AND WISDOM
All going well, we’ll have a review
of Inquisition next month. Already,
we’re confident this won’t be a repeat
of its disappointing predecessor. The
intervention of Frostbite 3.0 means
you’re dealing with a seriously pretty
addition to PS4’s winter line-up, while
the four-player dungeon-crawling coop
mode appears to be a worthwhile
addition. Here’s hoping Inquisition
taps into Origins’ excellent spirit.
Above Here’s the Envy
Demon. Handsome chap,
huh? Truly a face… And rib
cage… And overly boney
pelvis only a mum could love.

PREVIEW
The Himalayan range isn’t all mountains, snow and tundra. Prepare to travel through dense forests, open meadows and more on your way from peak to peak.
038
“OUR TRUSTY KNIFE
EXPLODES THROUGH
THEBAREFLESHOF
EACH POOR VICTIM.”
As you complete missions
in Shangri-La you unlock
new skills for Ghale to
use in the main game.
Above In the modern setting characters refer
to the history of Kyrat. Exploring Shangri-La will
shed light on the legends you hear on your travels.

PREVIEW
FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 18 NOV / PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT MONTREAL
FAR CRY 4
Staring into the eye of the tiger in Shangri-La
FACTRICK
1. MAXIMUS CHAOS
Ubisoft has revealed an
Arena mode, which sees you
face off against animals and
humans Gladiator-style.
2. WINGING IT
You won’t have to wait long
to access the returning
wingsuit: a good job if you
consider Kyrat’s verticality.
3. MATE’S RATES
Playing in co-op pauses the
solo campaign. You still get
to liberate bases, but Ubi
calls the story “sacred.”
You may have followed Nathan
Drake here once upon a time,
but the Shangri-La of Ubisoft’s
Himalayan excursion is like
nothing you’ve seen before. Ajay
Ghale, the Kyrat native protagonist
of this first-person open-worlder, discards his
gadgetry and contemporary weaponry whenever
he meditates over one of five traditional weavings
(known as Thangkas) found throughout the world
of Far Cry 4. The frigid bright skies and the
dipping valleys vanish as we’re whisked into the
skin of an ancient warrior, Kalinag.
A golden hue soaks this bizarre new landscape as
trees shed blood-red leaves which float ethereally
through the air. A great white tiger, bedecked with
a ludicrous golden crown, stalks through the sward
beside us. You could pause at any moment during
these Shangri-La sequences and end up
with a screen full of artistry akin to a
Zhang Yimou movie or some alluring,
alien world splashed onto canvas.
To progress we need to ring the Bell
Of Enlightenment, which is perched
somewhere beyond a series of sky islands.
En route, masked bowmen, nearly naked
from the face down, patrol with skinand-bone
dogs bounding at their sides.
The occasional flame-throwing Scorcher
shows up for some en-flambé action as
well. When things get hairy, we call upon
our adorned tiger friend to lend a paw,
commanding him to rip out the throats
of stunned foes, or to distract the arrowsponge
Scorchers while we sneak past.
IT’S GRRRRRRREAT
As good as this all looks, once you get down to
business there’s something dirty about Shangri-La.
The fiends you fight here have clearly been up to no
good; the remnants of sacrificial rituals are scattered
all over. Fighting these foes involves getting close
and personal as our knife explodes through the
bare flesh of unsuspecting victims with sickening
squelches. We’re told that experiences in Far Cry 4’s
Shangri-La will inform the story at large throughout
the main game. If that’s the case, expect Ghale’s
excursions to take us to some pretty dark places.
Speaking of which, our final handson
before next month’s review isn’t
all set in this otherworldly locale. We
also get to tackle one of the returning
mission types from Far Cry 3: a knife
assassination. After wingsuiting our
way across a cloud-filled chasm, we’re
clambering up into a base riddled with
guards and told the chap right at the
back needs a good skewering.
We’re able to take several stabs
at this mission (ahem) and so give a
few different approaches a go. Our
über-stealth attempt goes satisfyingly
swimmingly. We use our old pal the
digital camera to mark enemies, which
is especially important in the middle
of a raging snow storm that whitesout
much of area. We time our breaks
from cover perfectly and take down
our target fairly sharpish. *cough*
GHALE AND HEARTY
During our second playthrough we
rocket though the base with guns
blazing. Weapons have a wonderful
habit of running out of ammo really
quickly, so there’s always a sense that
you have to make each shot count.
There’s no such thing as spray and
pray, it seems, as you wantonly charge
into the corpses of recently killed
guards in order to grab their justdropped
guns for ready-to-go use.
The third attempt… well, we
try to speed-run the base, only to
unexpectedly run into a snow leopard.
We’re forced to take the beast down as
it leaps at our facemeat, only to alert
a gaggle of nearby guards. Cue a seven
minute-long escalation of chaos, which
admittedly culminates in our death,
that leaves us gasping.
Far Cry 3 told a hundred stories
every time you picked up the pad.
Before release this sequel has already
gifted us dozens more, only now
they’re tinged with more mystery and
breadth than we ever dared hope.
039

Pro tip: if your view looks
like this, you’ve fallen out
of your car and are in
immediate danger.
“IT’S CURRENTLY
FLOUNDERING
FORASENSEOF
PERSONALITY.”
040
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 21 NOV / PUB BANDAI NAMCO / DEV SLIGHTLY MAD
PROJECT CARS
Will the PS4 port be a console-ation prize?
FACTRICK
1. THE STIG LEAGUE
Former Top Gear Stig Ben
Collins has given his input,
along with Lewis’ little bro
Nic Hamilton.
2. DEMAND MORPH
Sony’s Morpheus VR
headset will be supported
– whenever it’s actually
released over here.
3. MARATHON MAN
Don’t tell GT5 24-hour race
vet Phil, but there’s talk of a
24-hour race of Le Mans in
this game, too.
What we have here is a true
anomaly on PlayStation: an
uncompromising PC racing
simulation, delivered in undiluted
form to your PS4. It’s the kind
of proposition that, theoretically,
hardcore driving game fans dream about. But
as OPM’s latest hands-on with the sim reveals,
there’s a reason few developers have offered this
type of experience on consoles before.
To give the game its dues, we must acknowledge
another platform: PC. Development began as early as
2011 with the mighty beige box the game’s
only intended platform, and consequently
it looks tremendous on home turf. Really
incredible stuff. The console-centric
versions of the game simply weren’t part
of the original plan, and it really shows.
Not just in the disappointing and
washed-out visuals on PS4 – which
are admittedly capable of taking some
phenomenal screens under the right
lighting conditions and external camera
views, but do little to set the pulse racing
when the game’s actually in motion. No, it’s
also the ethos of the game that jars with
the PS4 experience.
Because Project CARS is designed
for hardcore racers, and hardcore racers
use steering wheels, not gamepads. Connecting a
DualShock 4 to control your vehicular experience
is tantamount to asking for a knife and fork in
Wagamama, so a considerable amount of Project
CARS’ hugely detailed physics
simulation is simply lost in digital
translation from wheel to controller.
GET A GRIP
That’s important, because the handling
itself is absolutely central to this
game’s appeal. And sure – there’s a
chance you actually have a steering
wheel for PS4. But with the market
much smaller and less abundant with
quality force feedback devices, it’s
a slim possibility at that.
Pad control itself works fine, but
it doesn’t feel wildly different to
previous Slightly Mad games such
as Shift 2 Unleashed and Test Drive
Ferrari Racing Legends – whereas
it feels transformatively better when
using a steering wheel.
All this boils down to a game that’s
destined for greatness elsewhere, but
is currently floundering for a sense
of purpose or personality on PS4. We
can but hope Slightly Mad’s keeping
a massive Gran Turismo-esque career
mode under wraps, and is capable
of turning up the sexy a bit in visual
terms before release. It’d be a shame
for the enormous collection of over 70
cars and 80+ track layouts, and indeed
Slightly Mad’s obvious talents in
creating realistic driving models,
to go to waste. Cross everything.
Above Both time of day and
weather are dynamic, and
you can speed up time to
create dramatic changes
in conditions as you drive.

PREVIEW
Currently the AI has a
habit of swiping at you
on straights, which is a
bit unsettling at speed.
Reach for the cars
The many-splendoured motors within Project CARS
041
1If hot hatches are your thing,
hop in a Renault Clio IV RS
Cup and make the world your
Lidl car park after hours. Its subtle
livery says, “Look at me! Look!”
2Audi’s esteemed LMP class
motors are about as close as
you can get to space travel
within Project CARS. Absolutely
lightning, yet very lithe in turns.
3Any driving game aficionado
knows if a vehicle was built
before 2000, it’s going to be
a right handful. Enter the BMW M1
Procar from – gulp – 1981.
4Finally, the ‘not quite F1 but
near enough for modders to
do the rest’ open wheel cars.
Hopefully we’ll be able to download
community-made skins on PS4.
Left The vintage Colin
Chapman-engineered Lotus
F1 cars from yesteryear join
the ranks of Project Cars’
open wheeled category.
Above Motorsport
engineering in its most
ephemeral and seductive
form: the Ford Sierra. Kneel
before its great beauty.

PREVIEW
“TAKE DOWN AN
18-WHEELER IN
THE LA STORM
DRAINS T2-STYLE.”
on
the
box
judged only by
their covers
042
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2 DEC / PUB UBISOFT / DEV IVORY TOWER
Ubisoft bumped the
release date back to
2 Dec for a second
Beta, now due Nov.
THE CREW
Conquer city and country in this all-American open-world racer
LORDS OF
THE FALLEN
In the world of professional
pillaging, it’s up to you to
sink some ink into the faces
of Scandinavia’s surliest
Vikings with this PS Move
tattooing sim. Get it right
and Valhalla awaits. Wrong,
and they’ll rip your arms off.
FORMAT PS4 ETA 31 OCT
From True Detective’s sleepy bayou
to the pampered hills of Hollywood,
through Miami’s hypnotic disco ball
en route to Twin Peaksian mountain
towns, The Crew is your very own great American
road trip. A total of 250 landmarks line 6,000km
of open road, and discovering the lot feels like
checking them off one incredible bucket list.
But only fools would expect complete solitude in an
always-online game called The Crew. This persistent
multiplayer racer supports free drives and free-foralls,
symmetrical and asymmetrical co-op, and headto-heads.
The entire world is explorable with up to
seven other people – that might sound like a meagre
number, but it’s enough to make setting up races a
doddle. Simply navigate a D-pad menu to invite crew
members into your game, who need only accept a
pop-up to transport to your location instantly.
That’s what impresses most about The Crew:
there are no loading screens. Players are free to warp
to every single coordinate on the map or embark on
the 90-minute coast-to-coast drive without pauses.
Yes, there are barren stretches, but also pockets of
beauty, including raging rivers and snowy villages.
TERRY CREWS
Races run the gamut of point-to-point, circuit (a
licensed Laguna Seca features, along with a rippedoff
Indianapolis speedway), country scrambles and
city dashes, but best of all are the takedowns in
which players team up to wreck an opponent through
repeated smashery. One sees you pursue a hulking
18-wheeler through the LA storm drains as a load of
cops swarm Terminator 2-style, while
another starts you off on the top of a
massive ski jump then tasks you with
tailing a vehicle through dense forests.
Events and terrain change so
drastically you’ll need to master several
specs. Performance, for instance, is
all about speed and flamboyance,
perfect for blistering through Times
Square; while Raid is for off-roaders
who are intent on taming previously
treacherous areas.
Iffy handling makes events more
difficult than they should be. Slippy
cars often snag on scenery, but at
least getting back on track is painless
– a reset option zaps you into the
throng in a flash. Although the slidey,
lightweight vehicles fail to convince,
feeling less like roaring motors and
more like toys, varied environments
and hundreds of quests and events
help distract from the problem.
Above With the entirety of North America
open from the off, where do you go first?
PROJECT CARS
Enter the niche world of
racing driver clairvoyance
as you aim to draw on the
classic skills of driving’s
disembodied greats. It’s
Beyond: Two Souls meets
Gran Turismo. Just don’t
drive into the light, okay?
FORMAT PS4 ETA 21 NOV
LEGO BATMAN 3:
BEYOND GOTHAM
Want to save the world as a
classic superhero? Pfft. It’s
all about tailoring the best
costumes in this first-person
sewing sim. Forget lycra –
prepare to hem the fabric
of time and space instead.
FORMAT PS4/PS3/PSV ETA 14 NOV

044
PREVIEW
PREVIEW
ROUND-UP
Roll up! Roll up! This
month’s collection
of curiosities is
practically frothing
with horizon-based
gaming delights.
We’ve got some
six-string tomfoolery,
a little ditty down a
new-gen dungeon
and an eye patchtoting
Sackboy…
LA COPS
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015
PUB TEAM17 / DEV TEAM17/
MODERN DREAM
Finally, they made a game
out of the Beastie Boys’
‘Sabotage’ video. Alas no,
but Worms dev Team17 has
been hard at work on the
next best thing: isometric
crime fighting sim LA Cops.
Created in partnership with
indie studio Modern Dream,
it’s a tactical shooter in
which you control two
‘70s-styled rozzers as
they bring justice to Venice
Beach and beyond. Much like
fellow top-down kill-a-thon
Hotline Miami, LA Cops is all
about tactics. Switching
between your law-enforcing
duo enables you to cover
yourself as you clear out
each area, as well as using
the camera to pick the best
angle for a breach.
LORDS OF THE FALLEN
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 31 OCT
PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV CI GAMES/DECK 13 INTERACTIVE
As this upcoming action-RPG draws
ever nearer, CI Games has revealed
some of the special skills you’ll have
at your disposal. The enemies and bosses
of Lords are tough cookies, so when you do
pop your armoured clogs simply head back
to the site of your death where your very
own Ghost will be waiting – this apparition
will hold all the experience gained with that
life, but it’s only there for a limited time so…
quick march! Spells also play a big part but,
as casting warm-up is long, timing is key.
TINY TROOPERS:
JOINT OPS
FORMAT PS4/PS3/PS
VITA / ETA TBC / PUB WIRED
PRODUCTIONS
DEV WIRED PRODUCTIONS
Channelling memories of
lambs-to-the-slaughter
war sim Cannon Fodder,
this formerly mobile-only
top-down blaster is making
its mean-faced way onto
all three PlayStation
platforms with the option to
Cross Buy and use Cross
Save functionality. Originally
a touchscreen affair, Joint
Ops – a mash-up of the first
two games in the series –
has been retooled as a
twin-stick shooter for
consoles. Upgrade your
squad of South Park
rejects and lead them into
enemy territory (or take
on a zombie horde, if you’re
feeling rather current).
BLADESTORM:
NIGHTMARE
FORMAT PS4/PS3
ETA Q1 2015 / PUB KOEI
TECMO / DEV OMEGA FORCE
With Ancient China and
Feudal Japan sewn up
elsewhere, Omega Force
is once again bringing its
infantry-swatting Dynasty
Warriors template to the
blood-soaked battlefields
of European warfare. The
follow-up to 2007’s The
Hundred Years’ War,
Bladestorm: Nightmare (a
working title, by the way)
casts you as a mercenary in
the middle of the 14th/15th
century conflict between
England and France, with
Koei Tecmo promising a
greater depth of strategy
to go with your large-scale
pike-‘em-ups. Oh and now
there’s dragons, too.
Historical much, Omega?
ADVENTURE
TIME: THE
SECRET OF THE
NAMELESS
KINGDOM
FORMAT PS3 / ETA 21 NOV
PUB BANDAI NAMCO/LITTLE
ORBIT / DEV WAYFORWARD
Another Adventure Time
game? Is this the year we
finally get a decent digital
rendition of Jake and Finn’s
cartoon escapades? Well,
this new instalment is
following the same design
template as the previous
game with a top-down view
and a dungeon crawler vibe,
so we’re not exactly hopeful.
Developer WayForward
is once again working with
Cartoon Network Studios
and the Adventure Time
team, with the voice
cast also reprising their
much-loved cartoon roles.

PREVIEW
PERSONA 4
ARENA ULTIMAX
FORMAT PS3 / ETA NOV
PUB SEGA / DEV ARC SYSTEM
WORKS/ATLUS
Almost a year after its
original Japanese release,
the updated version of
batpoop-crazy 2D fighter
Persona 4 Arena is finally
making its multicoloured,
fit-inducing way onto your
humble last-gen bestie. The
Ultimax edition of the game
will come jam-packed with a
bunch of new jaw-breaking
characters including Junpei
Iori, Yukari Takeba and Rise
Kujikawa to name but a few.
More importantly, Ultimax
also introduces a new
combat type known as
Shadow, which radically
alters the fighting style and
moves of certain fighters
on the Persona 3-meets-
Persona 4 roster.
WWE 2K15
FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 28
OCT (PS3), 18 NOV (PS4)
PUB 2K GAMES
DEV YUKE’S/VISUAL CONCEPTS
News of the PS4 version’s
delay until November has
powerbombed us through
a flaming table of despair,
but we’re riding a second
wind thanks to some new
details on 2K15’s MyCareer
mode. Taken from the NBA
2K games and redesigned
to suit the melodrama of
the WWE, it’s a perfect fit
for the series. You’ll start
out in the Performance
Center, work your way into
NXT (alongside upcoming
playable stars Sami Zayn,
Adrian Neville and more)
before graduating to Raw.
And with every action
affecting your career, WWE
2K15 is set to be the world’s
first pro-wrestling RPG.
HELLRAID
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015
PUB TECHLAND / DEV TECHLAND
This medieval first-person hack ‘n’
slasher had relatively recent ups
and downs culminating in its PS3
version being scrapped but,
judging by the latest gameplay video, the
upgrade to Chrome Engine 6 (which is also
powering Dying Light) is just the kick up the
chainmailed-backside the project was
crying out for. And that link with Techland’s
free-running zombie playground extends to
the movement of main man Ayden as well,
thanks to a game-changing swooping dodge
manoeuvre that makes the axe-swinging,
spell-casting combat far more tactical than it
once was. With a noticeably improved draw
distance and a genuinely impressive use of
dynamic lighting, this dungeon-based
adventure is one of the most beautiful worlds
we’ve seen to date on PlayStation 4.
DEEP DOWN
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2015
PUB CAPCOM / DEV CAPCOM
A recent set of tech videos have
made their way online and boy, do
they look pretty. While apparently
indicative of the final game, the sight of
a blade-wielding giant badger blundering
about Deep Down’s murky dungeons has
got us all excited again for Capcom’s newgen
action-RPG. It’s not all doom and gloom
though – we even get to see the Assassin’s
Creed style ‘loading’ of a new area, complete
with glittery waves that give way to a
candlelit chamber that’s so nice to look at we
might just forgive all the modern-day stuff.
TALES OF
HEARTS R
FORMAT PS VITA / ETA 14
NOV / PUB BANDAI NAMCO
DEV 7TH CHORD
After a successful launch
in Japan last year, the
improved version of
formerly DS-only JRPG Tales
Of Hearts is finally hitting
Western PS Vitas. Much like
its many series brethren,
Tales Of Hearts R is an
action-RPG that splits its
hectic action between good
old exploration and dustups
with various goons
and monsters. The remake
leaves the original version’s
story intact, but does
provide some new titbits
that expand on the Hearts
lore. The Combination Aerial
LMBS combat system also
gets a tune-up to give the
whole shebang an extra
layer of spectacle.
ROCKSMITH
2014 EDITION
FORMAT PS4 / ETA 7 NOV
PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT
SAN FRANCISCO
Do you own a guitar? Is it
now rotting in a wardrobe
buried under old copies of
Kerrang! and NME? Is that
dream of becoming the next
James Hetfield shattered by
the reality that it takes
more than an afternoon to
learn Master Of Puppets?
Well, gather up those dream
shards, Mr Wannabe Slash,
because Rocksmith 2014 is
coming to PS4 to teach
you your pull-offs from your
hammer-ons. A port of the
PS3 Rocksmith sequel, this
version boasts over 50
songs and allows you to
import your paid-for DLC
from PS3. Amazingly, PS
Vita Remote Play is enabled,
albeit just to study songs.
LITTLEBIG-
PLANET 3
FORMAT PS4/PS3 / ETA 28 NOV
PUB SONY / DEV SUMO DIGITAL
As if all that MGS V
footage from TGS
wasn’t enough to
send us into a Metal
Gear-obsessed frenzy, now we
hear Sackboy and his new gang
of material mates are
getting a set of Ground
Zeroes-themed
costumes – will you
look at that lil’
eyepatch. S’cute!
And it’s not just
MGS getting an
LBP3 love-in –
moustache-toting
beast slayer The
Order: 1886 is also
getting a Sack-centric
version of gentleman
hero Grayson. Dat
facial hair though…
The MGS V threads
will arrive soon,
while The Order: 1886
gear will land in Feb
next year to coincide
with the game itself.
045

046

Threecoloursdead
After almost four years in the making, Assassin’s Creed
finally has its first new-gen-only adventure. Louise Blain
heads to 18th century Paris to join the Revolution…
047

ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
048
he streets of
Revolution-era
Paris are bustling
and hazily
beautiful. Crowds
of people jostle
on the cobbles.
Carriages lie
overturned
and abandoned.
There are barrels
stacked high. I hear snippets of
angry French as I push through
crowds of NPCs. It’s perhaps a
good thing that all I understand is,
“Merde!” Assassin’s Creed has never
felt this busy and I’ve only been in
Arno’s leather boots for a matter of
seconds. It’s almost overwhelming
and it only takes a moment before I
send Arno scaling a wall effortlessly
with a squeeze of i and a tap of the
all-new ‘parkour-up’ option,
escaping the noisy streets. It’s time
to view my surroundings and let the
atmosphere… sync in.
The future of the Assassin’s Creed
franchise rests on a guillotine blade.
Since its announcement in March
we’ve been hungrily awaiting
tantalising blood drops of information
on exclusively new-gen French
IT ONLY TAKES A
MOMENT BEFORE I
SEND ARNO SCALING A
WALL EFFORTLESSLY.
Assassin Arno Dorian and his gory
Revolutionary adventures. We’ve
heard much of upgrades to the series;
improvements in stealth with a crouch
button, upgraded combat and new
navigation techniques in an endlessly
rich Paris, but it’s now time to put all
that to the test. Has Ubisoft done
enough to push the franchise properly
into the new generation?
It’s hard to get a full read on
Arno. A new Ezio-style icon
or a Connor-sized flop? Our
money’s on the former.
FROM A TO C
What’s missing from your collection?
2007 - NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED
Where it all began. Set during the
Third Crusade in Jerusalem, Desmond
Miles’ genetic ancestor Altaïr
Ibn-La’Ahad kicked off the historical
stealth action adventure genre in
white-hooded style.
2008 - APRIL
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
ALTAIR’S CHRONICLES
On everything handheld except our
darling PlayStation Portable, Altaïr’s
Chronicles was released on mobile
and DS as a mix of puzzle platforming
and proddable mini-games.
2009 - OCT
ASSASSIN’S
CREED: LINEAGE
The first of three short films based
on Assassin’s Creed II released on
YouTube from Ubisoft, Lineage centred
on Ezio’s father Giovanni Auditore and
added some welcome backstory.

Intricate building detail should
be perfect for the new parkourup
and -down moves but there’s
still bug-squashing to be done.
Portable
Revolution
Slot Paris into your pocket
with Unity’s companion app
Right Paris is
huge: there
Arno, no-no-nono,
no-no-no-no,
no-no there’s no
limit. (Not true.)
Like gore? You still can’t lop
off limbs in combat, but one
early cutscene shows a
man’s leg being sawed off.
An upgrade to last year’s Black Flag
companion, Unity’s second screen
app is an excellent reason never
to have to go anywhere near that pesky
map button. With the same impressive
3D map of Paris as the one on your TV,
the Companion App shows enemies,
missions, and even has extra content
that can only be accessed via your tablet.
Plus, your Brotherhood is always ready
to be called upon to earn you much
needed cash. “This is without a doubt the
best companion app we’ve ever done,”
says creative director Alex Amancio.
“Maybe you don’t want to be standing
there in front of your console and
reading the database? When you’re on
the bus you can read about different
monuments. You can also manage your
Assassin, your loadout and your gear so
that when you get home your Assassin is
updated.” There’s also a unique heat map
feature that shows the activity hotspots
of the wider gaming community in
completed sequences and your next
mission, too. It’s the first time that
Ubisoft has lifted the lid of the sneaky
analytics data it’s been hording of our
playtime, and it’s certainly welcome.
049
NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED
BLOODLINES
Altaïr took to the PSP for this little
slice of slaughtery action where,
despite a lack of dual analogue action,
we got the chance to explore the cities
of Limassol and Kyrenia.
ASSASSIN’S CREED II
A shiny OPM Gold Award and 9/10 met
the first outing of AC poster boy Ezio
Auditore da Firenze upon its release.
Exploring Renaissance Florence,
Venice and Tuscany, AC II was a
spectacular success.
ASSASSIN’S CREED II:
DISCOVERY
Following Ezio to Spain 14 years after
the events of Assassin’s Creed II
and embroiling him in the Spanish
Inquisition, this DS title was a
successful side-scrolling addition.

050
Building the Revolution
My demo starts at the very
beginning of Sequence Two. Following
in Black Flag’s drunken footsteps,
Unity makes sure you’ve got plenty to
do from the get go, and after my first
sync point my map is already busy
with intriguing icons. Oooh, what are
those stairs? Catacombs you say? Paris
instantly feels like a theme park with
no queues. There is no wilderness
here, only mysterious alleys leading
from bright avenues, and inviting
open windows promising access to
previously inaccessible interiors. Want
PARIS FEELS
LIKE A THEME
PARK – ONLY
WITHOUT ALL
THE QUEUES.
to ignore the main mission and head
off into the side streets? By all means,
ignore the exclamation mark, be Ubi’s
guest – but maybe don’t try the grey
stuff, we hear it’s not that delicious.
“We’ve changed the way that you
interact with the world,” explains
creative director Alex Amancio.
“Before you had maybe a 90% part of
the game that was the single-player,
and maybe 10% side project. We’ve
made that 30% or 40% to 60%
or 70%. I’m not saying that
the main path of the story is
shorter, it’s just everything else
is much larger. Traditionally
our main motivation was
narrative. We figured out
that this was actually playing
against the concept of the
open-world because the
main narrative’s goal is
to push you forward with
urgency. The goal of the
sandbox in the world is to
have you relax and explore.
It’s very difficult to keep
doing that when the
world is ending.”
Yet before I’ve had
a chance to even look at
my map and decide what to
be distracted by first, I’m
reminded I’ve got
some ‘Sync Points’
Constructing a full-size Paris for a new generation
Climb to the top of Notre Dame –
excuse me, Quasi – and the view is
endless. Paris goes on forever. Well, a
really long way. Assassin’s Creed is well and
truly back in Europe, and with no secondary
locations to attract your hooded attention,
Ubi has to make sure you fall in love with the
City Of Romance even when the streets run
red with Revolutionary blood.
“The challenge this time was the fact
that we wanted to go to the size of Black
Flag or the size of Assassin’s Creed III, but
within one city,” explains series historian
Maxime Durand. “So where the wildlife and
size of Black Flag meant a very vast land,
this time it’s going to be very dense. We
changed the way we make our buildings.
Now we can go higher and you can go inside
as well. It’s the biggest city we’ve built.”
The research that’s gone into Paris
is staggering and, at a 1:1 scale, we’re
guessing it didn’t just take a few caffeinated
nights on Wikipedia to decide what made it.
“The funny thing with Paris is that
there’s too much to cover, so the challenge
was to decide on what’s important. We
revealed 35 landmarks, but there are
thousands of landmarks we could have
chosen from,” says Durand. “It wasn’t the
same kind of challenge as for the American
Revolution as most of those buildings were
destroyed. Most of the buildings that we
had for Unity are still there today, although
in a different state.”
GARGOYLE PAINTING
One building that stands proudly in Paris
today is easily the game’s most impressive
achievement. Grandly looming over a
jostling revolutionary square, Unity’s Notre
Dame is an intimidating sight. What’s even
more intimidating is the work that went into
recreating the Gothic masterpiece. “One
person, Caroline, worked on it for 5,000
hours,” says Durand a little too casually.
“[For research] …we looked into a lot of
detailed archives from the time period, but
we also introduced some of the aspects of
a more modern Notre Dame. The
Revolutionaries were very angry. Bits of it
were destroyed back then so, for instance,
there was no spire at the time of the
Revolution. We still decided to build one
because we felt it would add to the style of
gameplay, so you can climb up Notre Dame.”
Not only is it astonishing to admire from
the outside – and a true classic climbing
puzzle to unpick – but the Cathedral has a
full interior for you to contend with. A
setting for an early assassination mission,
it’s hard not to be distracted by the sound
of the choir that swells as you sneak inside,
or the way the light filters beautifully
through the round windows.
“If you go inside Notre Dame you’ll find
there are a lot of paintings,” enthuses
Durand. “The ones we have put inside are
the real paintings that were there at the
time of the French Revolution. A lot of them
were destroyed so we don’t know of them
today, but those are the kind of details we
could find. It’s an example of what we did
overall for the game; it’s going into these
details that makes it exciting.”
Visually, Paris has a uniquely dreamy
atmosphere; a design choice made by art
director Mohamed Gambouz: “The idea that
we started from was that we wanted
something really immersive, like real Paris
– but at the same time we wanted to add
some personality,” he explains.
“The analogy I gave the team is that I
don’t want something as realistic as a
generic tourist photo. Those kinds of photos
are obviously very realistic. They’re real life,
but don’t necessarily have personality. The
realism I pushed for is something in
between paintings and professional
photography.”
So put Paris through Instagram and
you’re there…
2010 - JAN
ASSASSIN’S CREED II –
BATTLE OF FORLI DLC
The first of two corrupted memory
sequences from Assassin’s Creed II,
the Battle of Forli DLC followed Ezio
as he aided Caterina Sforza in the
defense of the Apple Of Eden.
FEB
ASSASSIN’S CREED II
– BONFIRE OF THE
VANITIES DLC
Proving that Apples Of Eden cause
nothing but trouble, this second DLC
saw Ezio saving Florence from the
wrath of a power-hungry monk.
SEPT
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
PROJECT LEGACY
In this text-based Facebook game
players were test subjects for
Abstergo, reliving the memories of
others via an Animus replacement
known as a Data Dump Scanner.

DEV TALK
“Paris is built out
of what we call
house blocks.
They’re usually
triangular in shape with
three corner buildings and
rows in between them. We
knew that we couldn’t use our
old building method to build a
city like that, so we actually
built new tools for building
Paris. We have basically a
house block generator where
we can draw a triangle in the
world and it will automatically
populate houses. Then we can
go in and we can toggle the
houses on and off, slide them
back and forth, change the
art style, increase and
decrease the floors… It’s an
amazing tool.”
Nitai Bessette,
Level design director,
Ubisoft Toronto
051
Notre Dame is Unity’s
showpiece building, but
all its environments are
worthy of high praise.
NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED
BROTHERHOOD
The second of Ezio’s adventures,
Brotherhood delivered a full-size
Rome to explore, deepened the 21st
century story and added competitive
multiplayer to the series.
ASSASSIN’S CREED II:
AQUILUS
Branching off from the canon of the
games, this graphic novel followed
Desmond Miles as he explores the life
and times of his Roman Assassin
ancestor, Aquilus.
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
THE FALL
This was the first of three graphic
novels to star Assassin-cum-Templar
Daniel Cross as he delves into the
genetic memories of his Russian
ancestor, Nikolai Orelov.

1080p for Black Flag,
900p for Unity. The drop in
resolution is a blow for PS4
players used to much better.
052
to spend. Yes, you’re in charge of your
first customisable Assassin, and that
means saving up to buy your usual
abilities instead of walking around like
an overpowered hooded Terminator.
In the character loadout screen I’m
met with an overwhelming number
of skills that I didn’t even realise
I was missing. Blending is in there
for one Sync Point (*ping*) and I
also invest in a Staggering Strike
melee move to improve my attacks
before I get to grips with the new,
harsher combat system. There are
endless skills on offer to purchase.
A speedy roll for ease of landing
from those rooftop plummets; an
upgradeable QTE lock pick skill;
ranged weapon attacks; ‘thick skin’
defence layers and a ton of
customisable clothing options…
More than just a way to dress up
like the next cover star of Assassin’s
THIS IS A MONUMENTAL
CHANGE FOR THE SERIES
AND IT FEELS DAUNTING.
Vogue, every part of your outfit –
hood, gauntlets and all the rest –
affects health, stealth, and defence.
No more donning Assassin White
because it reminds you of ol’ Ezio.
While the customisation
options are ideal for your
inevitable co-op adventures, this
is a monumental change for
the series and initially feels like a
daunting experiment. Unity makes
you earn your Assassin stripes. “All
of the elements that you perform in
the game world will contribute to
progression,” explains Amancio. “If you
play the single-player, every couple of
2011 - MAR
ASSASSIN’S CREED
BROTHERHOOD – THE DA
VINCI DISAPPEARANCE DLC
Adding even more content to Rome,
this DLC saw Ezio questing to rescue his
mate Leo from an evil underground cult
known as the Hermeticists.
OCT
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
MULTIPLAYER REARMED
Just in case Brotherhood’s
multiplayer wasn’t enough, this 2.5D
top-down Wanted mode allowed you
to get Creedy on the go against up
to three other players on iOS.
NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED
REVELATIONS
The finale of the Ezio trilogy – *sob* –
took our much more grizzled hero to
the city of Constantinople where he not
only became a master bomb-maker,
but also hunted down Altaïr’s vault.

ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
Run DLC
Inside Unity’s Season Pass content
sequences we unlock skill sets. Then
you need to play missions to get skill
points so that you can purchase skills.
Every single mission – even if it’s a
heist, a murder mystery, a treasure
hunt, a contract – it gives you money,
weapons and gear. Everything has an
impact on Arno and the way you play.”
The full test of this approach must
wait for our review as, just like in real
life, I’m instantly restricted by both
time and money. But I feel cheated
from the off – like I’m not playing
with a full deck of (killer) cards.
Chronicles:
China
Exploring a 2.5D platformer
with Ezio’s prodigy
Trained by Master Auditore himself,
16th century Assassin Shao Jun
first appeared in the short film
Embers alongside our favourite
Renaissance hidden-blade wielder. The
Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles China DLC
is a standalone story set in Beijing as
Shao Jun returns to wreak a stabby
vengeance on those who destroyed
her own Brotherhood.
Swivelling the camera out to show
an interesting two-and-a-half
dimensions, Chronicles is a beautifully
stylized side-scroller inspired by
traditional Chinese brush paintings, and
an intriguing direction for Unity’s DLC.
Blood is a glorious, vicious red as Shao
Jun cuts through her enemies with
deadly martial arts skills and the new –
and painful sounding – Foot Blade. It
looks like this could have worked well on
mobile devices, but it makes an intriguing
addition to Season Pass content that
could easily have been some new
costume packs or co-op abilities instead.
Dead
Kings
We’re going deeper
underground…
Set to be the darkest story the
franchise has ever seen – cue
much moonlight and mysterious
fog – the Dead Kings half of Unity’s
Season Pass DLC leads Arno to the small
Paris suburb of Saint-Denis after the
events of the main game. The royal
bloodlines of France are buried beneath
the legendary Basilica and ancient
priceless artefacts were plundered here
during the French Revolution. With a very
different tone from Unity, Dead Kings
introduces a nasty new enemy type in
the shape of a faction known as Raiders,
and Arno journeys into an underground
necropolis with only a lantern to light
the way. Puzzles and enemies wait in
the darkness and footage so far looks
beautifully atmospheric.
From a dedicated team at Ubisoft
Montpellier, Dead Kings also updates
Arno’s arsenal with the fiendish-looking
Guillotine Gun. Not only has this shiny
delight got explosive ammunition to send
your enemies flying in multiple directions at
once, but it also makes stupidly short work of
victims at close range. It’s good to see that
despite the new focus on stealth and not just
mindless hitting of the counter button, Ubi’s
giving us a balance of play styles and a choice
about our approach. The catacombs should
be a suitably tense affair, even if we are
armed to the teeth with gunpowder.
053
COUNTER SKILL
In anti-Hunger Games style, combat
has been tweaked so that the odds
will certainly not be ever in your
favour. This much is obvious when I
take on my first set of guards. Arno’s
on his way to his first mission when
I’m distracted by some dastardly
ASSASSIN’S
CREED: EMBERS
This short film concluded Ezio’s
story as he settled down in a Tuscan
villa with his wife and children. The
equivalent to The Notebook for
Creed fans.
2011 - DEC
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
RECOLLECTION
More iOS delights awaited in the form
of this involving strategic card game
where we could play in real time
against fellow Assassins or follow
a single-player campaign.
ASSASSIN’S CREED III
– ACCIPITER
Another canon-extending graphic
novel, this time following the
Ancient Roman blade-wielder line of
Accipiter via 21st century Assassin,
Jonathan Hawk.

Assassin’s
Creed Rogue
Changing sides, but not turning tides
054
There’s a chance it could be
all the strenuous exercise,
it could be the excessive
layering or it could be
an intense aversion to
scouring cities for yet
another sodding feather. Whatever
the reason, the Assassin’s life is not
for everybody. And so it proves for
Shay Patrick Cormac: star of PS3-
bound Rogue, former member of the
Brotherhood, and a man whose name
causes the Irish cliché-o-meter to
spin wildly out of control.
In his defence, Shay’s reasoning for
leaving the robed neck-stabbers behind
is slightly more understandable than
an allergy to piles of straw, but his
presence as a Creed protagonist signals
a big departure for the series. Not only
is this a rare example of you playing as
a non-Assassin main character, but
your objectives revolve around killing
your former brethren and bringing
down the Order for good.
Shay, you see (as the game’s opening
will make very clear), abandons the
life when a mission goes awry, and
becomes – insert dramatic ‘dun
dun duunnn’ – a Templar. Ubisoft’s
thinking with this is to present Rogue
as a darker experience, moving the
tone away from the slightly jocular
outings of Ezio and Edward
Kenway to something with a
bit more heft. Will it work?
Based on our time with
barrel of laughs Connor in
ACIII, combined with what
we’ve played of this so far,
colour us sceptical; Shay’s
going to need a hell of a lot
more charisma and
character than our Native
American chum had if
he’s to carry such a tale.
TEMPLAR TALES
What it does mean, of
course, is a spin on some
familiar mission types.
For instance, the assassin
contracts have now been
flipped around. Whereas
SNEAK UP ON AVIAN
COURIERS TO INTERCEPT
ASSASSINATION TARGETS.
before you went to a
bird coop to retrieve
a note containing
the target’s info,
now you have
to intercept
these messages
by sneaking up on the
avian couriers. Do so and
you’ll learn who it is that the
Assassins are intending to strike, and
you must protect him or her: a
Ubisoft is viewing Rogue as the final chapter in the saga begun in ACIII and continued with ACIV: Black Flag. It’s packed with all the hallmarks that have typified the

Set between 1752 and 1761,
Rogue bridges the narrative
gap between ACIV: Black
Flag and ACIII.
In fine payback for all your looting in ACIV,
defending against boarders is a tense affair.
countdown kicks in giving you a set
amount of time to identify and take
out the hitmen before they close in.
Having gone hands-on with
one of these missions they prove
to be a fairly enjoyable race against
the clock – you need to make
good use of Eagle Vision to get
a read on who’s a threat, and
the Assassins make for more
interesting foes than your
standard rank-and-file
fodder. Also, fail to clear
the area in time and
things immediately get
very hectic: you can still
succeed, but keeping an
NPC from the clutches of
several attackers who are
chasing and sniping is far
from straightforward.
STAR BORED
But this is more a twist
on the existing formula
than anything truly
innovative, and that’s
really the case with
Rogue all over. The
biggest gameplay
change that Ubi
is touting is
improved naval
funtimes, but
anyone who’s
played Black
Flag will
immediately
be back in
familiar AC territory.
You do have a couple of new
weapons: the puckle gun, essentially
a side-mounted machine gun, and
Arctic weather conditions and icebergs
tweak the flow of naval battles.
flaming oil that can be dumped out
the back of your ship to damage
any pursuers. There’s also a more
prominent ram mounted on the front
of Shay’s vessel, The Morrigan, which
is used not only to attack but also to
break through ice in the frozen North
Atlantic waters. But, really, there’s little
meaningful difference when it comes
to sea combat, or just navigation and
exploration, if you compare what’s on
offer here with Black Flag. If you’re
gagging for more of that then there’s
little to complain about, but it hardly
speaks to ambition and innovation on
the developer’s part.
This is a theme that continues in
terms of the game’s setting: we’re
back in North America. As well as icy
Arctic waters there’s a frontier to be
explored, and an 18th century version
of New York City. This we’ve yet
to explore with pad in hand, but
architecturally it appears to be very
similar to the locations from ACIII.
And in terms of gaining gradual
dominion over the map, again you’ll
be attacking outposts using your ship,
expanding the Templar domain, and
taking on a whole heap of sidemissions.
Only you’ll have an air
rifle with which to do these this time.
If it sounds like we’re being harsh
on Rogue it’s not because it’s set to be
a bad game (we expect the opposite)
but because it’s a game we’ve seen
before. The land setting riffs on ACIII,
the seafaring is near-identical to Black
Flag’s, and the vast majority of the
mechanics are hugely well-trodden.
And while the game looks better on
PS3 than its predecessor did, it’s still
not a patch on Black Flag on PS4, let
alone Unity. If you’re not new-gen
ready and you must have an Assassin’s
game then this is a safe bet (though
wait for our full review first), but for
change consider looking to Middleearth:
Shadow Of Mordor also.
055
series so far (multiple locations, intense naval battles, etc) and has a cast of new and familiar faces. We’ve already spotted Haytham, Achilles and Adéwalé…

Unity’s locked at 30 framesper-second
because 60fps
allegedly, “looked really
weird.” Hmmm…
ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
Brotherhood
at arms
Getting hands on with Unity’s co-op
056
While every single mission can be tackled solo – and
is entirely possible if you’d rather maintain lone
wolf Assassin status – more social types will be
pleased to know that two- and four-player missions are
seamlessly integrated into the world. I take on both a
two-player Brotherhood mission and a four-player Heist
in my session: the two-player quest is a full three-tiered
narrative adventure and not just a matter of ‘go to point A
and stab person B’. Full stories have been written around
each session, and as my partner and I battle our way
through a Parisian graveyard, back to back, to rescue
someone from the catacombs below, Ubisoft Toronto’s
Nitai Bessette explains the thinking behind the adversarial
multiplayer replacement.
“It’s a very different experience playing co-op,” he
says. “We noticed that people want to go and do their own
things so we gave abilities that encourage them to come
back together. The more they’ll stay together the more
fun they’ll have.” I’m reminded of this as the health of my
partner plummets and I heal us both with a quick press of
2. Each player has a special ability to help the other. My
partner’s stylish secret knack of transforming us into
gentility however, is slightly useless as we brawl amongst
the tombstones. “Pardon me, my good crypt!”
HEAL YOUR FRIENDS
In four-player, things get significantly more exciting as we
arrive at a Parisian museum to steal a priceless painting.
Once we’ve sneaked through a top floor window and used
Eagle Vision to scope out the guards swarming each floor,
it’s clear that this isn’t going to be a free-run in the park.
There are paintings scattered through the floors but we
need to find the right one. To further up the stakes, if one
of us dies, we all do. “Single-player customisation means
every Assassin is different and will be better suited to
individual parts of the mission,” reminds Bessette.
“We try to encourage players to upgrade their
characters based on their playstyle. You can have
someone who has upgraded all their parkour abilities so
that they’re really fast at crossing rooftops. If that player
wants they can get a co-op sense called Communal Sense,
and what that does is that it enhances your Eagle Vision
so you’d get larger range. It automatically marks enemies
for all of your friends. So that’s a player that could scout
and just stick to the rooftops and just be giving intel to
everybody.” It’s unquestionably an exciting new addition,
enabling you to finally build a truly unique band of killers.
The glyphs are back, and now come with
riddles supplied by Nostradamus himself.
criminals running away from the
law. Ever the fighter for justice, I
awkwardly parkour-down from my
rooftop vantage point to take on the
enemies. Despite expertly taking the
two villains down with a blade to the
throat and a recently purchased war
hammer to the skull, I’m immediately
set upon by seven members of local
law enforcement.
It doesn’t go well. Where Black
Flag celebrated the joys of the counter
attack button by swinging you onto
ships packed with enemies purely to
allow you to indulge in dual-wield
combat and gory counter kills, Unity
gives you the option to attack, parry,
roll out of the way or flee. After being
skewered by rapiers twice and tripped
up by some Beta-code animation lags,
my novice Assassin retreats to the
rooftops like a kicked puppy.
I do not appear to be Batman. Or
even Connor Kenway. Not only is
this a shock to the system – you
mean I can’t kill seven men on my
own without any skills? – but the
discovery that I need to replenish
my health with a potion is a striking
and slightly depressing reminder that
Unity has been in production since
Brotherhood, and has missed a few of
the crucial upgrades to the series.
into the soon to be not-so-peaceful
courtyard, I get to grips with the
new crouch button (mapped to p)
and discover it’s a satisfying silent
addition to Arno’s move set. I take
the opportunity to test out his smoke
bombs and send guards choking before
sneaking up on them with a slick,
swift slice of signature blade.
Joining my comrade so we can get
the hell out of dodge, a slew of guards
decide to give chase and it’s here I
BLADE RUNNER
Arno’s first small mission is a
far slicker experience. I’m tasked
by a fellow Assassin with taking
down some patrolling guards and
deactivating their pesky bell. Sneaking
You can barely turn a corner in Paris without
some target nabbing side-quest to be had.
2012 - JULY
EZIO’S HIDDEN BLADE
Because leaping off rooftops just
wasn’t enough for some of us,
this plastic replica from NECA
made the perfect Assassin
accessory. Plus, it can go
through an orange.
OCT
ASSASSIN’S CREED III
Despite moving the action to the
American Revolution, Connor’s
adventures in the Frontier failed
to capture the hearts of Creed
fans with its flat landscapes and
uninspiring hero.
ASSASSIN’S CREED III:
LIBERATION
She was the first lead female
Assassin and was exclusive to PS Vita
for a time, but Aveline de Grandpré’s
debut was a messy disappointment
set in 18th century New Orleans.

057
UNITY’S STORY IS A GORY
RASPBERRY SWIRL WITH
PLENTY OF REDEMPTION.
experience the new freeze-framed
ghost of Arno that appears to show
where you were last spotted by guards
– taken straight out of Splinter Cell.
It’s almost useless here under fire, but
I can already see where I’ll be able to
take advantage of the tool in future.
An indicator also appears on Arno’s
back if he’s spotted from behind, so
you can quickly hide instead of being
executed by someone you might never
see in the first place.
I continue down the story path,
returning to the base of the Assassins
in ornate caverns deep underground
beside the Seine. A seller on the way
into the lair offers to refill my health
and various consumables. Again, I’m
taken back to Ezio’s many shopping
adventures. We don’t craft here in
Paris, y’know, there are shops for that.
Concerns about the mix of old and
new are short-lived. Returning to the
story feels instantly rewarding.
Cutscenes are beautiful and richly
atmospheric and the narrative’s
an intriguing mix of plotting and the
colourful chaos of the Revolution; a
gory raspberry swirl as Arno quests
for redemption. Paris might be a
playground of side activities, but a
story this interesting should keep you
coming back for more regardless of the
extra modes and missions (even if the
English accents are suitably distracting
when the NPCs speak fluent French).
TEMPLAR TRAP
It’s not long before I’m hurtling back
across the rooftops to my first full
assassination mission. It’s set in none
other than Notre Dame. Arno’s free
running controls are flowing and
effortless when they work, but I am
concerned by intermittent lapses
in the parkour-down ability. The
promised seamlessness I’m looking
for feels just out of Arno’s reaching
grasp, but the console engine is still
being tweaked so this could be fully
flowing again on release. With the
city so architecturally varied and with
so many tempting handholds, Paris
should become a parkour paradise
provided the bugs are eliminated.
2013 - FEB
ASSASSIN’S CREED III:
THE TYRANNY OF KING
WASHINGTON DLC
More exciting than the original game,
this alternative universe DLC had George
Washington reigning as King. It also gave
Connor the power of shape-shifting.
NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED –
BRAHMAN
This graphic novel follows the Creed to
India in the 19th century, where 21st
century programmer Jot Soora
discovers the Koh-i-Noor diamond
is actually a Piece Of Eden. Handy.
ASSASSIN’S CREED IV:
BLACK FLAG
Who knew that pirates and Assassins
would go together so well? Edward
Kenway’s trip to the Caribbean was a
glorious return to form with beautiful
visuals and explosive naval battles.

Skill-sharing means Unity
encourages co-op players to
stick together rather than
explore different routes.
ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
©Fitz Carlile
Kyd (left) has been on board since AC1, while Unity marks Tilton’s (right) first involvement.
Know the score
Getting under the skin of AC’s unique historical soundscapes
058
While you may not be aware of it
consciously, music and audio have
always played an integral part
in the Assassin’s Creed experience. With
its blend of classical instrumentation and
electronic experimentation, the series
prides itself on a distinctive sound
that remains quite unlike anything else.
“On the first Assassin’s Creed games
there was no set style that I had to fit
within,” recalls composer Jesper Kyd,
best known for his work on the Hitman
franchise. “There was a new setting
for each game, so I was able to draw on
different instrument sets. We went from
religious undertones with Jerusalem,
Acre and Damascus, to Renaissance
music for Venice, Florence and Rome.”
For Unity, the shift to Paris and
the French Revolution offered its own
challenges, with three composers being
brought in to craft the game’s sound -
among them Chris Tilton, known for his
work alongside composer Michael Giacchino
on sci-fi TV series Fringe.
“There’s no way the franchise would
remain fresh without new perspectives,”
Tilton muses. “That was always a fun,
exciting challenge to be a part of. You
don’t want to just retread old ground.”
Historical accuracy also remains key
to the series’ success, as audio director
Steven Dumont explains. “We need to make
sure that the sounds we are creating and
recording for the period are as authentic
as possible. Details about the music from
that time period really helped us, so any
information we needed for sound was
dealt with by a historian that was hired
specifically for the game.”
Joining Tilton are composers Ryan
Amon and Sarah Schachner, each of whom
tackling different aspects of Unity’s sound.
Tilton’s work focuses on the historical
storyline, while Amon and Schachner
tackle the modern day elements and
open-world exploration.
“The piece of music you’re writing isn’t
going to happen in the same linear way
every single time, so a lot of it was about
making the music adaptable to change,”
Tilton explains. “If you come off a mission
that’s a downer, the music is going to be
different when you’re exploring than if
you came off a more uplifting mission.
It’s responding to the story and the state
of mind of the character. Hopefully this
generation will do what we’re starting to
do – having not just the music change, but
having real concrete reasons for change.”
Missions are now based around
what the devs fondly call Black Boxes;
full 360° worlds you can explore and
experiment inside to discover unique
slaughtering combos. Your contract
fills half the screen during the mission
introduction, while a handy guide
displays the number of entrances and
secret passages you can utilise, the
unique kills to be taken advantage of,
and the alarm bells that await. It’s a
dramatic and bold step for the series,
and this twist in presentation turns
every quest into a cinematic challenge
with a narrative kick as you can fully
appreciate who you’re dealing with.
“There was something that we did
very right in Assassin’s Creed 1 that
we really wanted to reproduce. We
introduced the target,” says Amancio.
“You get to meet your assassination
target and know what he has done
and know who the hell that character
actually is before you assassinate
them. In Unity, each sequence revolves
around the target.” After increasingly
convoluted plots, the simpler focus on
targets is welcome. As is the death of
the tired ‘white room/dead guy’ scene.
Another AC1 throwback means
completing optional objectives opens
up shortcuts in missions. An optional
‘confessional kill’ in Notre Dame leads
2013 - DEC
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
PIRATES
If you couldn’t get enough of ACIV:
Black Flag’s naval-based gameplay,
Pirates let you take your adventures
on the seven seas on the go in this
(now-free) iOS game.
2014 - FEB
ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK
FLAG FREEDOM CRY DLC
Previously available as part of Black
Flag’s Season Pass, the adventures of
Edward Kenway’s quartermaster,
Adéwalé, were released as a stand-alone
title in February this year.
NOV
ASSASSIN’S CREED:
ARENA BOARD GAME
Set on the rooftops of Constantinople,
this board game is all about racking
up the kills and gathering points
while avoiding patrolling guards. It’s
complicated, but well worth your time.

me directly to my target, while
sabotaging chimneys triggers a quieter
approach as I take to smokey sewers.
All the while, the challenging combat
means there are fewer chances to
escape should I botch the wrong quest.
EAGLE-EYED
By the time I’m equipped with
Arno’s projectile Phantom Blade,
I’m taking advantage of the much
improved Eagle Vision to scope out
situations before gradually picking off
guards with painfully crunchy bolts to
skulls. Eagle Vision now holds your
target and reaches further into the
distance than ever, highlighting blood
through walls and doors, along with
secret entrances. It finally feels like
more of a functional tool for the job,
and even a revamped tailing mission
doesn’t feel quite so laborious with a
clear target forever visible.
Yet this is just a glimpse of Paris.
There is the Café de’Theatre, the villa
replacement that you can renovate and
run missions for. There are treasure
hunts set by Nostradamus himself.
Great heists to perform and perfect.
Letters to read. History to learn. Chaos
to build. Murders to solve. Ubisoft has
poured layer upon layer of content into
its one, bustling city.
Yet despite the imminent release, I
feel a lot more development time is
needed. Bugs plague my demo, and I’d
hate for Ubi to have Eagle Vision so
firmly set on a release date that the
EAGLE VISION NOW
HIGHLIGHTS BLOODSTAINS
AND SECRET ENTRANCES.
first new-gen-only Creed isn’t given
sufficient time to bake. With nothing
to explore outside the city walls, the
core pillars of the Parisian gameplay
must hold steady. Getting stuck on
statues is not the revolution anyone
was looking for. This is a rich world
and a narrative deserving of your
attention, with transformative ideas
for the series should it all come
together in time. A blunt guillotine at
this stage would be criminal.
Murder
most foul
Solving the crimes of the
Revolution, Assassin’s-style
monk lies dead on the floor,
strangled by his own rosary beads.
A ripped note beside him holds
a confession for the poisoning of other
monks in the monastery. Who is to blame
for this heinous act? A case for a certain
Mr Holmes or even a French Revolution
Grissom? Nope. Welcome to one of
Unity’s many murder mysteries. Signified
by an inquisitive magnifying glass on
the map, these missions see Arno bring
criminal justice to the streets of Paris.
I switch to Detecti… Wait, no… Eagle
Vision and Arno suddenly sees clues
around the room that he adds to his case
file. He can study the bodies of other
monks, there are random clues lurking
around the room, and I find a diary
suspiciously half-burned outside in the
garden. There’s a handy clue counter to
keep tally, and you can speak to
witnesses to further the plot. It’s a
refreshing break from a world of sneaky
stabbing and an entertaining extra layer
to Paris as you explore environments,
discover clues and ultimately decide
who’s being honest and who’s telling
porkies. “It’s all linked with a famous
historical character called Vidocq who’s
sort of the father of French criminology,”
explains creative director Alex Amancio.
“This guy was actually a criminal and he
grew up to become, potentially, the
inventor of modern criminology.”
Once you’ve gone all Cluedo on
proceedings – take your time though as
accusing the wrong man will significantly
lower your reward – you can return to
the French Chief Of Police. He might be
Charles Cochon de Lapparent, but has an
accent more befitting a Holmes mystery
and will reward you with cash in hand,
proving that crime does, in fact, pay.
059
ASSASSIN’S CREED MONOPOLY
Fancy getting stabbed in the (Community)
Chest? No Chance. This official
board game lets you choose
to play as your favourite
Assassins and take over the
world with Abstergo Credits.
ASSASSIN’S
CREED UNITY
The first new-gen exclusive of the
series hands over the bloodied
keys to French Revolution Paris
and introduces us to all-new
Assassin, Arno Dorian.
ASSASSIN’S
CREED ROGUE
Oirish Assassin turned Templar Shay
Cormac takes to the wintry seas
of North America in this last-gen
exclusive title that ensures our PS3s
don’t get AC abandonment issues.

or almost four years,
Ubisoft Montreal has
been hard at work on
bringing its vision for
a new-gen Assassin’s
Creed to life. And
with its release date
looming ever nearer,
we sit down with
long-serving senior
producer Vincent Pontbriand to get
the skinny on bringing the French
Revolution to life…
060
OPM: Unity has a much richer world
than those of past titles. Is it the PS4
that’s responsible, or is it an evolution
of everything that’s come before?
Vincent Pontbriand: We took the
opportunity to change a few things
because we had time and there were
things we wanted to do. Because Unity
is a much more focused game than
previous ones, we tried to make sure
we spent enough time on what we call
the mid-level.
Low-level for us is controls. It’s
second-to-second gameplay. FPS
shooters are low-level games. They are
all about the tightness of the controls.
Then you have high-level games like
RPGs that are about stats. AC and
sandbox games are mid-level games.
They’re about missions and story and
Pontbriand worked on
Assassin’s Creed, ACII,
AC Brotherhood and Metal
Gear Solid 4, bizarrely.
Big Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed Unity’s senior producer Vincent Pontbriand
has worked on the series since the very first Animus adventure
how we use the low-level and the
high-level together. That’s where we
wanted to put our focus for ACU, to
work on missions, try to recapture
that fantasy of understanding
who your target is. Most of the
missions are set in what we
like to call Black Boxes. They
are 360° level design areas that
have multiple ways for
you to figure out and
complete. We just got
rid of everything else.
The naval stuff, the
hunting, the crafting?
These were cool
features that might come back
at some point, but in this
game we wanted to try and
have the basics. To have
fun with that and not
be distracted by
the rest.
OPM: This is a yearly franchise, but we
know that you’ve always got a much
longer development process. How long
has Unity been in production for, and
what has that time given you?
VP: Ha. Time is dangerous. It’s been
over three and a half years, almost
four. People will think that we’ve spent
four years building content but that’s
not exactly true. We’ve spent four
years working on the project altogether
– which is three projects in one.
One is the brand new tech to get
ready for next-gen and new hardware.
The second one is the single-player,
and then there’s co-op. It’s not a
mode, it’s seamless, it’s integral to
the overall experience – that’s why
we called it Unity – but it was still
a project in itself. We had to learn
how to do co-op missions. We had to
figure out what it meant for us and for
AC. That’s what we spent a lot of time
on over the past few years. Building
content has maybe been the last two
years out of that: the visuals, the city
of Paris, all the landmarks. Time is
also dangerous because you can get
lost. We had moments of doubts…
OPM: It looks like you had a clear
mission statement for what you
wanted AC to become in terms of
stealth and new mission styles. What
kind of doubts did you have?
VP: We had doubts about co-op
because people have so many different
opinions about it, even internally.
No one knew what co-op meant.
For some, co-op meant Left 4 Dead,
bunching up together and hiding back
to back. For others co-op is Army
Of Two where you pull on a lever
together and a door opens. We had
to embrace the core fantasy, which is
being an Assassin, so that’s a very solo

Yes, we are going to play the
game while listening to Les
Misérables’ soundtrack on
full volume. What of it?
experience. It’s a very individualist,
egocentric kind of experience, so we
had to embrace that. And it’s an openworld
game so we had to embrace the
fact that people will get distracted
because of other things to do. People
won’t agree on the best strategy. So
it’s co-op but it’s not really co-op.
We call it the shared experience.
We’re letting you play in a sandbox
together. If you end up fighting back
to back, that’s great. Or synchronising
your kills. But at the same time you
could go this way and I could go that
way and it’s fine. We embrace that.
OPM: A 1:1 scale Paris is quite the
task. How did you start and how do
you decide what stays and what goes?
VP: So we made the choice. We
thought, ‘Okay, we’ve got the French
Revolution, we’ve got the guillotine
– beheading! – it’s going to be fun’.
Then we started to research and the
French Revolution was actually all
over France. It was Revolution! It
was the people against the monarchy
and against the clergy, and it was
complicated. It was very political.
What stood out was Paris. The
King was brought from Versailles to
Paris to be trialled. So we said, ‘Okay,
maybe we should just focus on Paris.
It’s interesting enough. It’s the most
visited city still today. It has a billion
landmarks. It’s fascinating; it’s big
and has so many people’. We thought,
‘Let’s just focus on Paris like we did
with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’.
It worked before. And we had other
moments of doubt where we thought
that people are used to having multiple
cities, they’ll feel like the scope is
smaller so we decided to make Paris as
big as possible to compensate for that,
to break those preconceptions. We’ve
never regretted it. The only thing we
miss is more modern landmarks which
didn’t exist during the Revolution.
OPM: We’ve always had a modern day
story, but things changed a bit for
ACIV: Black Flag. Are we employed by
Abstergo again?
VP: No. We’re changing that. Black
Flag was a step forward in the right
direction. That’s where we’re going.
Slowly. We understand that we’ve
finished Desmond’s story in ACIII and
then in Black Flag we introduced the
fact that you, the player, is playing an
employee of Abstergo Entertainment,
who is going into the Animus. There
was still that intermediate character.
We wanted to remove that. It was one
too many layers so what we’re doing
is we’re saying you, the player, are the
Animus pilot. We’re basically changing
the POV. Everything else we’re going
to let you discover.
As with other ACs it’s integral
to the overall story and we never
reveal too much and never will. But
we’ve simplified it a little bit. It was
becoming complicated. Convoluted.
We’re trying to take a step back and
reintroduce these elements from a
fresh perspective so we can have
people join and start with Assassin’s
Creed Unity as their first AC.
OPM: Other than changing the colour
of our outfits, customisation has never
been a prospect in an Assassin’s
game. What changed this time and
did it just feel like the right time?
VP: It worked. We needed a different
motivation for the player. It was
getting hard to motivate the player
through the narrative, especially with
an online game. How do we justify
having two, three or more players,
looking exactly the same in an online
game? That’s where we started toying
with the idea of an avatar.
We actually wanted to go further
than we did in the end with a fullyfledged
avatar, fully customisable,
female, male… We wanted to do
all these things. And it was even
more complicated. I was describing
the intermediate character in the
present day layers? Imagine if we
had that, plus an avatar, plus a
historical character. It just became too
complicated. We made decisions but
THE CO-OP ISN’T A MODE, IT’S
SEAMLESS. THAT’S WHY WE
CALLED THE GAME ‘UNITY’.
we kept customisation because it’s
a great motivation for players in the
game to differentiate themselves from
each other. It’s more than just vanity
or cosmetic. There’s an actual effect
to the gameplay. For us, the [co-op]
customisation is a little bit like the
boats in Black Flag. We saw that
working so it gave us confidence we
were going in the right direction.
I don’t think AC will become
an RPG, but games are getting
more hybrid these days. It’s a great
motivation and it’s cool to have
something beyond the cosmetic.
061

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064

Think you know GTA V? Think again. Get ready for PS4 to change everything…
065
After months desperately try to
shed our crippling dependency
on a certain trio of crooks,
Rockstar only goes and checks us
into the Blaine County Relapse Clinic.
Bigger, bolder, better: Grand Theft Auto
V on PS4 breathes fresh, oh-so-newgen
life into the greatest game ever
committed to Blu-ray.
Glimmering 1080p presentation; hugely
increased draw distances; 100 new songs;
fresh wildlife; a bumper version of GTA
Online – this is the sandbox you’ve
dreamt about ever since you slotted
Sony’s angular baby under your TV. So
put any notions of a half-baked port to
bed and buckle in for take-two of the
greatest sandbox story ever told.

FIVE ALIVE
A MOVING TALE
Is the PS4 version of GTA V getting
Move support? A leaked SEN
product listing suggests the
open-world opus is compatible with
the motion controller, though we’re
scratching our heads at that one.
066
THE WORLD
Nothing screams new-gen quite like
procedurally generated lightning
storms. Rockstar has a history of
cooking up some of the most eclectic and
elemental weather patterns in gaming, with
GTA V on PS4 set for meteorology reports
that would have Michael Fish in knots.
The game’s weather system has been
updated and enhanced for new-gen, with
some of the moistest sky tears you ever
did see. Yes, rain looks utterly gorgeous
now, casting startling reflections and making
Trevor and co’s clothes sodden. The effect
is subtle, too – rewatch the debut PS4 trailer
and you’ll see rippling puddles down at the
Port Of Los Santos.
Particle effects have also been bolstered
to flex PS4’s mighty GPU. Rockstar has
released a clutch of fresh screens showing
off various buildings going kaboom, including
Franklin fleeing from Route 68’s Motor Hotel
as detailed smoke plumes and fiery debris
snakes up through the reception’s entrance.
A reworked foliage system rounds off the
environment updates, with lush and verdant
grass adding further sheen to a world that
feels more tactile than ever.
CA$HING IN
Pre-order the game to get a cool
$1,000,000. We’re rich as oil
barons! Laters, Mr Boss Ma… Oh,
‘in-game’ cash. Ahem. Anyhoo, said
funds are split 50/50 between the
story and GTA Online.

“NOW FEATURING WEATHER
REPORTS THAT’D HAVE POOR
MICHAEL FISH IN KNOTS.”
067
Take to the skies in a
Buzzard and you’ll be
treated to some seriously
extended draw distances.

Fresh photography
challenges let you examine
all that lovely new-gen
grass and… uh… stag hair.
068
THE ANIMALS
Blaine County’s circle of life has never
packed more bite than on PS4. Rockstar
North has gone to town populating its map
with all the furry critters – that now boast fully
rendered fur, not just painted on textures. Watch
the ‘A Picket Fence And A Dog Named Skip’
trailer and you’ll see a monkey (that appears
in Michael’s hallucinating ‘Did Somebody Say
Yoga?’ mission) rocking some beautiful, flowing
new-gen hair. Mmmm, follicles.
Away from alluring simian fur, PS4 GTA
V introduces new wildlife, including cats and
annoyingly trendy pugs. New underwater threats
also lurk in the deep around Del Perro. Thought
those sharks were intimidating when you were
scouring the ocean floor for submersible parts?
Pffh. Jaws and co have nothing on the game’s new
killer whales. Of course, orcas are actually quite
passive, so Free Willy’s pals may not pose much
of a threat when you’re plumbing the depths.
With more deer, cougars and coyotes roaming
the likes of Banham Canyon and Tongva Valley,
Rockstar has wisely added new photography
challenges for your inner Attenborough. Don’t be
shocked if Red Dead-style random animal attacks
crop up frequently, either. Where’s a friendly
rottweiler when you need him?
THE BIG SCORE
GTA V didn’t just rake in 96% of
Earth’s pennies, it also received
global critical acclaim. Currently,
the game is the joint sixth highest
rated title ever on Metacritic,
sitting pretty on 97/100.

FIVE ALIVE
HISTORY MAKER
When GTA V launched on 17
September last year, it quickly
went on to smash sales records. In
three days it had earned $1 billion,
making it the fastest-selling
entertainment product ever.
THE MUSIC
Tired of MC Eiht’s ‘Streiht Up Menace’
murdering your lugs on West Coast
Classics? Can’t face another sampling of
‘Music Sounds Better With You’ (enough already,
Stardust!) while bombing around Vespucci
Beach? Good news: Rockstar is beefing up
GTA V’s radio stations with 100 new songs
and freshly recorded DJ mixes.
Now, if Count Von Count’s maths classes
have done right by us, you should be looking
at somewhere in the region of nearly 350 songs,
considering the PS3 game launched with 240
tracks. Don’t forget that score, either. Soundtrack
supervisor Ivan Pavlovich speculated there’s
somewhere in the region of 20 movies’ worth
of musical cues across missions.
GTA Online should also boast new ditties.
The PS3 version’s survival and deathmatch modes
recently had new cues spliced into them via an
online update, so expect these to make the cut
on PS4, too. Said update also included new scoring
sessions by Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson,
Alchemist and Oh No, which should resurface to
serenade your new-gen ears. Now, excuse us while
we pop on some Alan Parsons Project.
069
Of all the groups Trevor
unleashes his violent rage
on, nobody deserves it
more than the mimes.

FIVE ALIVE
GIGABYTE THIS
Like The Last Of Us Remastered,
GTA weighs in with a hefty install
size on PS4 if you’re buying the
game digitally. Prepare to clear
50GB of HDD space to fit in
new-gen Franklin.
070
THE VEHICLES
Hooray! Another chance to careen
around Sandy Shores with the Space
Docker. Yes, Omega the hippie’s
unlockable moon buggy returns if you seek
out all of GTA V’s hidden spaceship parts,
but there’s a lot more going on with the
new-gen port’s vehicles than just George
Jetson’s morning ride.
Quick trailer glimpses show off properly
rendered dashboards for cars, throwing
firewood on the flames of the first-person
rumours. PS4 speedometers are great and all,
yet it’s the sheer amount of traffic that really
impacts the game. From the packed streets
of Little Seoul to the bustling backwater
passes of Grapeseed in the shadow of Mount
Chiliad, Blaine County is now teeming with
vehicles to carjack… Or get run over by.
Rockstar is also adding new classic vehicles
from the garages and hangars of GTA’s past.
Look out for GTA IV’s Duke muscle cars,
GTA III’s illusive Dodo (why won’t you fly?!)
and an updated blimp that promises to be,
“faster,” and, “more manoeuvrable”. Personally,
we’re more pumped for tearing up South Los
Santos in a Grotti sports car. God bless your
naming conventions, GTA.
OF HEIST & MEN
Leaked programming code has
given several clues as to how GTA
Online’s heists work. Apparently,
your crew will have to complete
Heist Prep missions, while the bank
jobs will also cost money to set up.

The Hotknife classic car
was only available in the
PS3 collector’s edition, but
should be included on PS4.
071
“ROCKSTAR IS ALSO ADDING
NEW CLASSIC VEHICLES FROM
PREVIOUS GTA INSTALMENTS.”

Steven Ogg brings Trevor
Philips to delightfully
demented life. Dude knows
how to rock Y-fronts, too.
072
BLAINE & GAIN
According to GTA lore, Blaine
County was founded in 1823 and
goes by the charming moniker ‘The
Morning Glory County’. Delightful. It
shares a border with Los Santos
County and Paleto County.
THE TECH
Farewell, 720p. You served your purpose
adequately enough. Still, our eyes have been
gagging for 1080p’s pin-sharp pleasures
and the Los Santos sandbox is only too happy to
oblige on PS4, running at a native 1920 x 1080
pixels. For a game erected on hundreds of tiny
incidental details, the resolution bump is a huge
game-changer for GTA V.
Signs and billboards now pop with a clarity
that makes the likes of the building-sized ‘San
Androgyny’ hipster clothing poster impossible to
ignore. Textures assets have also been reworked
across the whole game, adding in a host of new
details to an almost ridiculously fastidious degree.
Squint extra hard and you can make out individual
screws on certain vehicles’ wheels, such as the
debut trailer’s dump truck.
For those partial to advanced lighting renderers
(steady), ambient occlusion appears to have made
the new-gen cut – enriching the game’s colour
palette with an added depth. Draw distances have
also been massively increased for PS4. Not only can
you now spot Los Santos’ skyscrapers from miles
away, but vehicle pop-in is drastically reduced. Buhbye,
magically disappearing Sentinel XS.

Like a fat child longing for cake, Rockstar’s
hugely ambitious multiplayer mode has
an appetite for growth that’s insatiable.
A year in, and GTA Online just keeps getting
bigger and better. Constant content updates have
transformed the mode from ‘ambitious if slightly
undercooked 16-player sandbox’ into a PSN
playground that’s truly thriving. And it’s
only going to get more epic on PS4.
Rockstar is upping the player count to 30 on
new-gen to ensure your online assaults thrive with
activity… And loads of impromptu drive-bys. But
what if you’ve already sunk hundreds of hours into
your PS3 character? Are you going to have to bin
off all that cash, property and obnoxiously rimmed
low-riders? Worry not: you can import your lastgen
character and all those hard-earned stats and
possessions onto PS4.
Every update and DLC pack Rockstar has
pumped into its online world will also be included
on the day of release. Master loop-the-loops with
the Flight School update. Suck in the seaside
ambience of the Beach Bum pack’s 30 additional
jobs. Create your very own missions, courtesy of
the Content Creator. GTA Online has simply never
been deeper or more generously proportioned than
it is on new-gen.
THE MULTIPLAYER
The most recent Last Team Standing update will
also be included on PS4. Not only does the pack
cater for large scale team deathmatch slaughter,
but it also stirs new weapons and cars into GTA
Online’s murderous broth. Visit Ammu-Nation and
you’ll be treated to the sledgehammering delights
of the Heavy Shotgun. Prefer your homicide from
half a mile away? Try the Marksman Rifle on for
size. The pack also lets you rule the road with the
new Shitzu (tee-hee) Hakuchou sport bike, the LCC
Innovation chopper and the ‘in no way is this a ripoff
of a Lamborghini’ Lampadati Furore GT.
Despite the commitment Rockstar clearly has
for GTA Online, there are some members of OPM
who treated it like the unloved, fish head-eating
evil twin of Los Santos’ single-player offering.
After you spend 90+ hours 100%-ing one of the
greatest games ever made, it can be hard to muster
the energy to dive into a world where your created
character looks they’ve had botched surgery.
Now, though, we’re massively excited to give
the mode the love and time investment it clearly
deserves. PS4, with its easy-to-use party chats and
couldn’t-be-simpler game invites, provides a far
more welcoming home for GTA Online than PS3
could ever offer. In the meantime, cross your clown
masks those long-promised heists finally turn up.
FIVE ALIVE
073
PS3’s Last Team Standing
GTA Online update upped
the ante considerably.
Also, fire = purdy.
“ROCKSTAR IS UPPING THE
PLAYER COUNT TO 30 ON PS4
FOR BUSY ONLINE ASSAULTS.”

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OPM SCORES
GOLD
AWARD
GOLD AWARD
Awarded to a game that’s
brilliantly executed on every
level, combining significant
innovation, near-flawless
gameplay, great graphics
and lasting appeal.
EDITOR’S
AWARD
EDITOR’S AWARD
Not at the very highest
echelon, but this is a game
that deserves recognition
and special praise based on
its ambition, innovation or
other notable achievement.
84
BORDERLANDS:
THE PRE-SEQUEL
Handsome Jack returnstoPS3–
but is it worth hitching a ride for?
10 INCREDIBLE
The kind of phenomenal
experience rarely seen in
a console generation.
9 OUTSTANDING
Unreservedly brilliant – this
should be in every collection.
8 VERY GOOD
A truly excellent game, marred
by just a few minor issues.
7 GOOD
A great concept unfulfilled or
the familiar done well, but still
well worth playing.
6 DECENT
Fun in parts, flawed in others,
but more right than wrong.
5 AVERAGE
What you expect and little
more, this is for devotees only.
4 BELOW AVERAGE
Any bright ideas are drowning
in a sea of bugs or mediocrity.
3 POOR
A seriously flawed game with
little merit on any level.
2 AWFUL
Disgraceful: the disc would be
more beneficial as a coaster.
1 HORRIFIC
Own this and you’ll be swiftly,
justifiably, exiled from society.
075
CONTENTS
DRIVECLUB 76 | FIFA 15 80 | DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 83 | NHL 15 83 | SKYLANDERS TT 83
BORDERLANDS: THE PRE-SEQUEL 84 | ME: SHADOW OF MORDOR 88 | ALIEN: ISOLATION 90
DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL 94 | SLENDER: THE ARRIVAL 94 | FROZEN SYNAPSE 95

076
“THE ENGINE PURRS AND POPS WITH
UNNERVING REALISM WHILE YOUR
DASH GLISTENS IN THE SUNLIGHT.”

REVIEW
WHEEL LIFE
@PhilIwaniuk
DRIVECLUB
Join the fellowship of the rim in
Evolution’s social success
If your team livery doesn’t
resemble an Indian
restaurant’s wallpaper,
you’re doing it wrong.
INFO
FORMAT PS4
ETA OUT NOW
PUB SONY
DEV EVOLUTION
STUDIOS
The headshot hunters have already
had their date with Destiny this
year, but for those of us who
favour Ferraris to Fallen and
Hennesseys to Hive, it’s Driveclub
that offers us a proper chance
to become legend.
Like Bungie’s ambitious quasi-MMO, the big
ideas for Evolution’s PS4 racer were clear from
the start. Down with the solitary progression
path in driving games, and up with a social
network in which you race for collective glory
against rival clubs the world over. But – and I
swear I’ll put the Destiny parity to bed after this
– the tangible benefits of a perpetually online
community have remained murky until the
servers switched on…
…Whereupon anyone with the merest shred of
a competitive streak finds themselves clutching
their DualShock in a death-grip, chasing the
ghost of some prodigal racer in a club challenge
until a friend/family member discovers them
weeks later and tells them they lost their job
almost a month ago and are now on the missing
persons list. More succinctly: Driveclub works.
MOTOR SKILLS
But let’s start with the fundamentals, because
if Evolution hadn’t nailed the first part of
the game’s title, the second part would be
redundant. It takes about half a mile of Indian
highway, shimmering under the sun and snaking
through tropical vegetation, to grasp quite how
masterfully the Motorstorm dev has nailed
it. To drive that half-mile is to bask in pure,
unadulterated luxury; to really feel the sense of
exotic location and vehicle.
Your engine purrs and pops with unnerving
realism. The buttons on your stereo glisten as
the sun pokes through thick cloud, heightening
the reflection of the interior in your windscreen
(you’re using the interior camera, of course,
because it’s too beautiful to switch out of). The
vibration of your DualShock 4 kicks in with
tactile perfection as your revs hit the red, and
again when your tires slip out from beneath you
077

078
Right Bringing
open wheelers
such as the BAC
Mono to events
almost feels like
you’re cheating.
Left Sadly,
the AI can’t be
convinced to
pull over and
enjoy the view
with you.
as you lunge into a corner at speed. The physics
model underpinning every drift, bump and loss
of traction in a corner exit deserves, well, a love
poem or something. It’s quite extraordinary in its
balance between believability and undiluted fun.
The moment may have passed to say something
‘feels’ new-gen – it should be a given now.
Nevertheless, in Driveclub you get the sense that
the genre’s levelling up before your eyes.
NIGHT RIDER
A lot of scenic progression unfolds around
your cockpit during each race. There’s dynamic
lighting as you know it, and then there’s the
dizzying sequence of frequently gorgeous,
occasionally blinding lighting conditions that
unfolds in each and every Driveclub event. Every
one of the five distinct locales, whether it be
the Chilean mountains or the wilds of Canada,
summons stop-and-stare vistas at almost every
turn. And if you include reversed layouts, there
are 55 variations in total to drive, including
race tracks – arguably the highlight in terms of
“EACH OF THE FIVE LOCALES
SUMMONS DRAMATIC VISTAS
AT ALMOST EVERY TURN.”
raw enjoyment of Driveclub’s
wonderful physics model.
Initially it’s spellbinding to
see a game finally capture
the dreariness of an overcast
Scottish morning, or the
Northern Lights shimmering
above snow-capped Norway.
However: the wonder rubs
off, and is replaced by a pair
of bloodshot eyes that can’t
flipping see the next flipping
corner. Almost every solo event
has a day/night transition, and
before too long it dawns on
you (high-five!) that the art
team lost the run of itself in
its desire to showcase what
is undoubtedly an incredible
lighting engine above all else.
And don’t tell me it deepens
the test of your driving mettle.
Come back and tell me that
when you’ve tried to beat a
friend’s challenge for so long
the track drops dark for what
turns out to be forevermore.
“But he set the original time
in daylight!” You’ll say, alone in
the eternal night.
Actually, perhaps that quibble
is a back-handed compliment
when you think about it.
Walter White concocted a
less addictive product than
Driveclub’s online challenges,
and the by-product of being
so engaged with the game is
that you begin to notice every
little foible. There’s the rub –
if it weren’t so playable, you
wouldn’t obsess to the point of
taking the good for granted and
stressing about visibility.
COSA NOS-TRA
So here’s the hook of Evolution
Studios’ new take on racing
simulation. When you join a
club (and for goodness’ sake,
do join a club, it’s crucial to the
experience) you immediately
feel a sense of pride; a desire to
make that club the best damn
collective of virtual drivers
the world has ever seen. The
game nurtures that desire
expertly, giving you constant
feedback on how your activity
is benefiting the team.

REVIEW
THE OPM BREAKDOWN
WHAT YOU DO IN… DRIVECLUB
Above The
interior cam
is the most
usable of its
type across the
whole genre.
21% Losing 11
places in one
second because AI
drivers drive
so close together.
7% Lamenting
the absence of the
soon-to-be-added
Photo mode.
13% Losing the
back end of the
Hennessey Venom
GT. It’s a lively one…
35%
Forgettingthetime
ofdayIRLbecause
you’vejustwatched
somanyday/night
transitions.
THE FIRST FIVE HOURS…
1 2 3
4 5
20% Arguing
with clubmates
about your
matte beige
team livery,
which you won’t
be changing.
4% Feeling like
Billy Big Man
when you set
the best time in
a club challenge
seconds before
it expires.
Right Though
racing at 30fps
rather than 60,
the sense of
speed never
fluctuates.
1 Spent pootling around in hot hatches, worrying that the handling
model is too forgiving and doesn’t step out on you enough. 2. Graduate
to Driveclub’s meaner collection of motors and have your worries
instantly silenced. Careful with all that horsepower… 3. Your club now
has more than two members. Test their loyalty by making an obnoxious
paint job. 4. Trying to beat one flippin’ ghost time. 5. See number four…
Above Adorn your livery with freshly unlocked accomplishment badges.
By completing a solo
race in team colours, you’ll
generate a bit of fame which
goes towards levelling up the
club. Online challenges and
multiplayer events generate
the big numbers though, filled
as they are with mid-race
faceoffs which challenge you
to beat another team’s average
speed, racing line, or drift score
through a certain section. As
team leader you can even flag
up an event that begins in,
say, an hour and tell the game
to send an alert to all online
members just before it starts.
By Evolution’s own
admission it’s this seamless
online behind-the-scenes stuff
that took the extra dev time to
perfect. As the people who sell
us frothy black alcohol would
say, good things come to those
who wait (and with a dynamic
weather update on the horizon
as post-launch DLC that boozy
maxim only grows truer).
The question is: should you
stick with the free PS Plus
edition or stump up for the box
copy? With just ten cars and
India’s 11 track layouts on offer,
it’s best to approach the free
version like a demo: it won’t
sate your desire in the long run,
but it does convey the quality.
With an online component
boasting razor-sharp hooks
even in its infancy, and deeply
gratifying driving set beneath
consistently breathtaking
skies, Driveclub delivers on
its biggest promises. You’ll
find niggles simply by proxy
of being compelled to play it
so much, but despite these
it races light-years ahead of
established names within the
genre – many of whom have
yet to even make the jump to
new-gen territory.
VERDICT
Who’d have thought all that
‘social’ and ‘connected’
buzzword-shouting would turn
into such a fresh racing game?
Hashtag or not, Driveclub’s bang
on trend. Phil Iwaniuk
MULTIPLAYER
STAT PACK
200 6 7 50
Locations across
three continents
and five seasons
of the World
Series Of Racing.
The maximum
club size. Could
do with being
expanded down
the line, though.
IS IT BETTER THAN?
YES
If Polyphony’s last
game felt dated upon
release, it looks
positively prehistoric
now next to Driveclub.
YES
Driveclub’s multiplayer
menu is underwhelming
at first, but within its
simple tile layout you’ll
find dozens of events
starting now and later
on. You can either dive
straight in, or get your
whole club involved by
sending an alert about
an imminent race.
The global
position of Phil’s
very own club,
Apex Twin, at
time of writing.
Codies remains the AI
king, but Driveclub’s
clubs trump Grid’s
trimmed down
management layer.
Cars available in
the full game,
compared with a
modest 10 in the
PS Plus Edition.
YES
Ghost Games’ take on
NFS is the only other
racer on PS4. Its own
stab at social racing is
weak by comparison.
079

A photo-realistic
Adam Johnson and
the Stadium Of Light?
Rejoice, Black Cats.
080
BOOTING STARS
FIFA 15
Authentic and exhaustive, but EA’s crown is slipping
@OPM_UK
Taking the good things in life for granted
can be worryingly easy. Oh, EA Canada’s
(mostly) beautiful game still boasts
brilliant on-field action, coupled with
damn near every licensed team, kit and stadia
on Earth, huh? Yawn. That sort of apathy
comes with the territory when your series has
ruled unchallenged for the last five years. Does
FIFA 15 move the goalposts on enough since
last year’s PS4 debut? Probably not. Will you
still play it more than any other game between
now and next September? Almost certainly.
EA’s Next Big Thing this season was supposed to
be Emotional Intelligence. The sales pitch: players
now appreciate the context and levity of games,
with their displays fluctuating depending on the
importance of a match or whether they’ve just
shanked their first six shots on goal. The reality:
your men get a little down arrow next to their
picture in the formation menu if they’ve strung
together a couple of stinking performances. As a
debut, supposedly headline, feature this emotion
system is near non-existent.
On the pitch, FIFA 15’s other changes are
easier to feel – though that’s not always for the
better. Pace and strength are all-conquering kings
this year. Playing as Arsenal in the strong (if
stagnating) Career mode, I use Alexis to outstrip
any fullback I face. Against weaker AI teams or
INFO
FORMAT PS4
ALSO ON PS3/
PS VITA
ETA OUT NOW
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DEV EA CANADA
unprepared online victims,
finding the net is as simple as
Road Runner-ing to the byline,
pinging in an often consistently
deadly delivery, then sending a
header into the top corner. Not
since 09’s absurdly effective
lob has the series lent on such
a surefire (read: cheap) way of
slathering the onion bag with
a greedy helping of goal sauce.
A SHOOT POINT
Of course, you’ll rarely
complain when opening up
defences. Regardless of cheaty
headers and certain players
seemingly stashing rocket
fuel in their Predators, FIFA
15 never retreats from the
fun zone. Shots still snap,
that ground game of expert
passing continues to shine and
the inertia of the ball in flight
forever feels ‘right’. It all means
EA’s effort still sits happily in a
Champions League spot.
Judged on sheer size, this
is the most robust footballing
unit since Yaya Touré squeezed
his shed-sized rump into a
pair of City shorts. An everexpanding
Ultimate Team
now lets you sample top stars
through a loan system, and
leads a forward line that still
includes addictive PvP Online
Seasons, fiendish ‘one more go’
mini-games and enough real
teams, cups and grounds to
send PES into an early bath.
For fans of fouly journeymen,
EA has made great strides with
facial scanning this year, too.
Lee Cattermole and his many
unglamourous contemporaries
“SOME CHANGES AREN’T FOR
THE BETTER: STRENGTH AND
PACE ARE KINGS THIS YEAR.”

Right This game
of FUT ended
3-3. On-loan
Ronaldo scored
all three. Of
course he did.
REVIEW
THE OPM BREAKDOWN
WHAT YOU DO IN… FIFA 15
Below Players’
shirts actually
stretch this
year if you give
them a tug.
5% Cooing at all
the proper-looking
faces of Premier
League cloggers.
14% Being
skinned by the AI;
its dribbles are so
cheaty it’s unreal.
5% Blowing
coins on alluring
FUT loan players.
Mmmm, Ramsey.
49%
Having a lot of joy
with headers and
even more with
pacy wingers.
11% Saying
‘sod off’ to Ivy
Lane thanks
to the addition
of 20 Premier
League grounds.
16% Keeping
your housemate
awake until
3am swearing
at Szczesnyrelated
howlers.
STAT PACK
43 46 £80 -1
Non-Premier
League players
who now sport
new face scan
renders. Just
look at that mug.
Number of shiny
trophies up for
grabbage. Now
who knows how
to pull off a
Knuckle Shot?
Price 12m FUT
points will set
you back. To put
that figure into
context, Ronaldo
costs 9m.
RvP’s player
rating is down a
point from last
year’s entry,
sitting at a stillformidable
88.
LOVING/HATING
081
Above left That Sky Sports-style HUD looks fantastic, but goalies need work.
now all have their proper
faces for the first time. Such
is the effort EA has put into
scanning over 200 Premier
League players, almost every
first-teamer in the English top
flight looks as they should; be
they cover star Eden Hazard or
‘actual hazard to his team’ Scott
Dann. For fans of clubs outside
the top four (oh hey, Man Utd),
it’s a game-changer.
Even better, all 20 Prem
grounds have been faithfully
recreated at long last. Just wait
until you see the KC in all
its dreary majesty, Hull fans.
Couple this with all the other
authentic leagues FIFA already
sports and the licensing gap
over PES has never felt more
significant or cavernous.
Indeed, EA has clearly been
indoctrinated into the cult
of ‘Super Sunday’. Expertly
cut replay packages splice
commentary into key moments
in an experience where every
camera angle and Martin Tyler
insight bows at Sky’s feet.
While presentation can be
slavish, it’s not without fault.
For some unknown reason,
players are blighted by terrible
aliasing this year. Look at Tim
Howard’s chrome dome and the
number of on-screen jaggies
would make you think he’d
been sculpted out of sandpaper.
Yet graphical quirks can’t
derail this colossus. While it’s
true FIFA 15 marks the smallest
evolutionary update between
two entries in the series for
years, it’s still a satisfying
football game. If you’re even
27% as obsessed with the sport
as me, the level of authenticity
here makes it close to an
essential companion for PS4
footy fans. Your turn, PES.
VERDICT
EA Canada still makes the act
of moving 11 tiny virtual men
about a joy. But FIFA 15 comes
close to stagnation at times, and
bigger changes will be needed
if it’s to keep the title for future
seasons. Dave Meikleham
GROUND DEFENCE
Having the likes of Goodison and
Upton Park finally appear after all
these years adds some real
personality to Career mode.
TROPHY CABINET
WOODWORK!
BRONZE
Nab this pot by scoring
a goal off either the
crossbar or the post.
It’s tougher than it
sounds, trust me.
GOING ALL OUT
SILVER
This trinket is yours if
you net against the
CPU on Legendary
after the 80th min,
playing All Out Attack.
JAGGY TROUSERS
What is going on with the lack of
anti-aliasing this year? Players’
heads and shoulders are angular
enough to grate cheese on.
GOIN’ FOR A RIP
GOLD
Open up 20 FUT packs
for this cheeky gold.
Just prepare to empty
your change purse in
the process.
HOW TO… MAKE SINGLE-PLAYER MORE FUN
Playing against the AI
can sometimes be a
drag, thanks to its
ludicrously high
possession stats. To
make matches more
realistic (and fun) head
into the CPU slider
menus. Increase Pass
Error to ‘55’ for more
even matches.

REVIEW
INFO
FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW
PUB DISNEY INTERACTIVE DEV AVALANCHE SOFTWARE
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INFO
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DISNEY INFINITY
2.0 EDITION
No need to stop and Marvel
With one cutesy instalment under its
belt, the Skylanders rival is back –
and this time it’s packing a Marvelshaped
trump card. With comics scribe
Brian Michael Bendis on writing duties, the
2.0 Edition’s story is split up into three six
hour yarns set across the Marvel ‘verse. 1
For anyone who’s new to this whole
games with toys malarkey, Disney Infinity 2.0
is an open-world platformer coupled with a
vast creation suite for colourful comic worldbuilding.
The pantheon of Disney favourites
from the last game were by no means a
boring bunch, but there’s something about
hurtling through the clouds as Thor that’s
far more empowering than boring old Sulley.
Oh, did I mention some characters can
fly? Honestly, it’s so satisfying. And for those
without such skyward powers there are
plenty of vehicles to call upon when you’re
itching for speed. Heroes (including those
from the first game) have bespoke skill trees
that unlock nifty new abilities as you level up.
The Minecraft-aping Toy Box mode returns
and once again offers a ton of creative
options. It’s the real star gracing Infinity’s
bumper package, and the addition of Marvel
shows just how far the concept has come
since its inception in the Toy Story 3 game.
It’s just a shame that the gameplay at the
heart of its Story content hasn’t pushed on.
Missions cycle between the same ‘protect
this/beat them up’ template, 2 while starring
city Manhattan is lacking meaningful
side-activities. So while the Marvel factor
makes Toy Box mode more fun
than ever, it fails to provide the
impetus needed to move the
series forward on all fronts.
Dom Reseigh-Lincoln
NHL 15
This one can puck right off
What makes this absolute misfire
of a hockey game all the more
frustrating is that the on-ice
gameplay in NHL 15 is the best it’s been for
years. The Ignite collision physics engine
combines with EA Canada’s own physics
and AI overhauls from recent years and
produces the most authentic and enjoyable
games the series has seen – after tweaking
a few sliders, at least. Still more agonisingly,
it’s quite a looker. Animations are top notch,
and from certain angles it’s genuinely
capable of fooling you into thinking you’re
looking at the real thing for a split second. 1
All that scintillating rinkside quality
makes the gaping holes in NHL 15’s bigger
picture that much more disappointing. The
dev put its hands up prior to release and
forewarned that online team play and EASHL
modes would be nixed due to developmental
hurdles, but that doesn’t tell the full story –
with even Be A Pro mode stripped back to
a minimum and the lack of even a fantasy
draft when starting GM mode, NHL 15 is
astonishingly barebones. 2
There’s a worse problem still. Currently
the game runs at an unplayable stutter when
connected to EA’s online servers. This can
only be remedied by taking your PS4 offline
entirely, whereupon the game runs perfectly
again. What a mess.
Nothing about NHL 15 suggests it was
ready to be released, or had a clear mission
for this year’s annual addition. As a hockey
fan I’d gladly have waited a second year to
see the new-gen potential maximised by
worthwhile modes. Instead I’m
met with a game that screams
‘contractual agreement’ rather
than ‘passionate creative
endeavour.’ Phil Iwaniuk
SKYLANDERS
TRAP TEAM
Same game… Now with added debt
This year’s unit-shifting gimmick comes
double-stacked: first up the new
Traptanium Portal has a speaker and
a slot for a crystal-like Trap (a new physical
collectible alongside the new premium Trap
Masters and regular Skylander toys). The
gameplay is all about catching the new
roster of baddies and using them as playable
characters. Simply beat up said dastardly
villain, plug in a Trap that matches its
elemental type and Bob’s your auntie – the
bagged foe is zapped in Ghostbusters-style
(complete with catchphrases that spout
from the speaker). Then simply hit p to
swap in your newly subjugated foil.
It’s a fun little concept at first glance, but
it comes at one helluva price: there are over
40 trappable antagonists in the game split
between eight elemental types (nine if you
count Kaos’ solitary club). 1 So that means
you’re going to have fork out for another
seven crystals (at least) if you pick up the
Starter Pack, or face the prospect of not
nabbing most of the heels you encounter.
The whole spending money spiel should
be of no surprise to anyone, but basing a
key selling point of your game on another
physical item that needs to be bought
separately is a backward step for the series.
As for the actual game? It’s pretty much
what you’ve played before, with all the fitinducing
colour and cuteness you’d expect
from ‘Landers. 2 The lack of Swap Force and
Giants-related content will be frustrating for
fans with a sizable collection of old models,
while the single-minded focus
on the new Trap Masters in the
Story mode will leave you with
little reason to use any other
character. Dom Reseigh-Lincoln
083
FOOTNOTES 1 The Starter Pack comes with The Avengers Play
Set – Spider-Man and Guardians ones cost an extra £30 each.
2 Seriously, how many times do I need to defend a generator?
FOOTNOTES 1 Particularly impressive is the Goal Cam, mounted
behind the goalie to show off flops, catches and the occasional
goal line pile-up. 2 There’s barely even a soundtrack to speak of.
FOOTNOTES 1 In fact, a number of mysterious gates in the game
suggest there’s another elemental type yet to be revealed. 2 It’s still
a robust little platformer, but those paywalls are too big to ignore.

Laser guns add
further breadth
to an already
absurd variety.
084
JACK’S BACK
BORDERLANDS:
THE PRE-SEQUEL!
Notquiteasequel,butfarfromastop-gapClaptrap
@PhilIwaniuk
Let’s see: a last-gen only Borderlands
prequel developed by an outsourced
studio under the guidance of Gearbox,
who itself is still wrapped up in Aliens:
Colonial Marines fallout. Yeah… it’s going to
be really hard to convince you that this one
isn’t a train wreck, isn’t it?
Quite the contrary, Borderlands: The Pre-
Sequel demonstrates 2K Australia’s spooky
ability to impersonate an on-form Gearbox.
The foundations of the game are unchanged
and unwavering in excellence: it’s still funny,
it’s still a seamless co-op experience and it still
fetishizes the acquisition of a new boomstick
better than anyone. However – and this is its
biggest accomplishment – it also introduces new
systems that feel right at home in the series.
These systems all pertain to your new setting
on Elpis, the moon of Pandora – you know, that
planet you spilled guns all over in Borderlands 1
and 2. Fighting alongside Handsome Jack before
he goes all dark side, you’re very much in alien
territory in a narrative as well as a geographical
sense. Elpis’ atmosphere isn’t breathable to
humans, falling victim to a phenomenon called
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‘the crackening’ some years
ago, which broke up the surface
with lakes of lava.
B:TPS weaponises every
element of this new setting:
enemies now wear helmets
begging to be smashed to
stylishly suffocate their evil
occupants. Jump pads pepper
indoor and outdoor areas,
sending you hundreds of feet
through the air across canyons
and into gliding gunfights.
Oh, and pressing e while
skyward sends you crashing to
the ground with shockwaveinducing
‘butt stomp’.
BUMP & GRINDER
It’s the Grinder that takes
the spoils for 2K Australia’s
best new invention, though.
Chuck three weapons into its
disquieting machinery and
there’s a chance it’ll spit out a
better one with a higher rarity.
There’s also a chance it’ll
ruin three perfectly good guns
and reimburse you with one
of the same rarity. But if you
throw in a few moonstones
(Elpis’ equivalent of Pandora’s
black market currency, Eridium)
you ensure you’ll get the
best outcome. It really feels
like it should have been in
Borderlands from the start.
As do, in fact, the game’s
four new character builds.
Because they kinda were.
Wilhelm, Athena, Nisha and
lovable ol’ Claptrap have all
taken their turn in supporting
NPC roles previously, but their
Enforcer, Gladiator, Lawbringer
and Fragtrap classes are all-new.
The latter two are the real
highlights here; Nisha’s golden
revolver auto-aims and deals
massive damage to all and
sundry when her special
attack is unleashed.

Right Claptrap’s
VaultHunter.
EXE special
attack is a many
splendoured
thing. Behold!
REVIEW
THE OPM BREAKDOWN
WHAT YOU DO IN… B’LANDS: THE PRE-SEQUEL
Below When
Athena’s done
with that shield,
it becomes a
mean projectile.
12% Enjoying
all the Aussie
accents Elpis has
to offer in B:TPS.
8% Shooting
out an enemy’s
helmet so you
can watch them
gasp for air.
16% Being
useless because
Claptrap’s special
is melee-only.
26%
Gliding gracefully
through the air…
To what turns out
to be your
horrible demise.
19%
Suppressing
your desire to
squeee! when
the Grinder spits
out a pink gun.
19% Wheeling
back and forth
and jumping
about in your
co-op partner’s
view, because
you’re Claptrap,
damn it.
FRIENDS & ENEMIES
ATHENA THE GLADIATOR
NISHA THE LAWBRINGER
WILHELM THE ENFORCER
First appeared in the
General Knoxx DLC,
returns shield in-hand.
Turn B:TPS into a wild
western with this
pistol enthusiast.
Another former boss
from B2 and long-time
Jack fraterniser.
Above left Now years old, the original B’lands art style is ageing beautifully.
STAT PACK
66 1 0 5
The percentage
of loot you’ll end
up feeding to the
Grinder in the
hope of one
sweet weapon.
Hit points per
second an enemy
loses when his
helmet’s been
smashed. Slooow
death time.
Number of times
you’ll receive
recognition for
playing as
Claptrap. Still
worth it.
Months since the
game was first
announced. A
pretty quick
turnaround, by
all accounts.
085
Whereas if like this
insufferable writer you’ve been
playing Borderlands in co-op
with the same patient buddy
from the very first game with
the sole objective of annoying
that other person, Claptrap is
a gift from the gods. His feeble
and always hilarious special
attacks are funny enough that
you stop caring about the
numbers for a few seconds.
FATAL FRAMERATE
Unfortunately we do have
problems to talk through.
The first is framerate, and the
plunge it takes when gunfights
get busy. Given that you’ve
already met B:TPS halfway by
retrieving your PS3 from the
flaming Viking funeral boat you
pushed out to sea months ago,
it’s just not acceptable to find
the game struggling to run on
such familiar hardware.
But what really holds 2K
Australia’s largely successful
addition to the series back
from garnering the same
praise its ancestors received
is the sensation that this was
never intended to further the
Borderlands franchise. It’s not
a serious attempt at evolution,
but a best-case scenario of
what happens when you give a
popular series and an existing
engine to a new studio.
2K Australia has done itself
proud, not least for daring to
inject a definite Aussie flavour
into the game, including a
Ned Kelly-inspired boss fight.
But releasing as it is on old
hardware, and reusing so much
of Borderlands 2’s DNA –
admittedly to good effect –
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
can’t help but give off a whiff
of feature-length DLC.
VERDICT
2K Australia does a mighty job
of mimicking Gearbox’s best
moments with Borderlands:
The Pre-Sequel and even sneaks
its own voice into this sadly
last-gen only addition to the
gun-loving series. Phil Iwaniuk
LOVING/HATING
AUSSIE RULES
With a cast that includes Mad Max 2
alumni and a smatter of Antipodean
cultural references, 2K Australia
brings a new voice to Borderlands.
IS IT BETTER THAN?
NO
Bungie’s latest
remains hugely
divisive, but we know
which game we’ll be
playing in a year’s time.
YES
The co-op ‘best of the
rest’ from Overkill is
smaller in focus, and
yet not as cohesive
or tight in execution.
RATE OF PLAY
Gahhh, that framerate. At times it’s
less like being on a moon and more a
jar of treacle filled with men you
can’t quite aim at properly.
NO
This quasi-sequel
doesn’t eclipse
Gearbox’s best
efforts. Closer than it
once seemed, though.

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SHERLOCK HOLMES:
CRIMES &
PUNISHMENTS
Is this the true Great Game?
Like sinking into a nostalgic bath
of Sunday night BBC dramas, this
elementary detective-’em-up takes
Sherlock back to his Victorian roots, before
that pesky Cumberbatch got all post-modern
on us. With nine mysterious cases for the
sleuth to investigate, this is a mix of point-
’n’-click puzzling and sluggish QTE-based
action. The question, dear Watson, 1 is does
it make you feel like Sherlock Holmes?
While the visuals sit squarely between
charming British jigsaw and a glassy-eyed
PC game you played ten years ago, the story
is still intriguing, whether you’re solving the
case of a missing train or a murder with a
harpoon – and there’s something pleasantly
quaint about wandering around the original
21b Baker Street. Plus, in trying to add a bit
of the 21st century to proceedings you’ve
got a delightful cranial network of clues
to solve as Sherlock’s synapses light up 2
as you make deductions. There are even
Cumberbatch-like floaty words symbolising
his powers of observation in a Batman-style
Detective Vision mode. However, rather than
make you feel more brainy, it makes you feel
like you’re scanning randomly for clues.
Refreshingly, you can collect every clue
and still come to a wrong conclusion,
making the puzzling on offer more satisfying
than most. Yet despite attempting to
disguise overly long loading screens as an
opportunity to check your case book, this
hasn’t stepped far enough away
from PC sensibilities. Charming
in a very British ‘more tea’ kind
of way, there’s a clunkiness even
Holmes can’t solve. Louise Blain
DEFENSE GRID 2
Back, aliens! We’ve got narrative
You could easily imagine a tower
defence dev cradling its temples and
quivering with insanity at the thought
of what makes its game fun. After all, the
ultimate goal for the player is to interact
less and less with the game, until they reach
a state where no input is needed at all. So
how do you make the quietly celebrated
2008 PSN offering, Defense Grid, better?
By making it less interactive? Adding undead
and flora to the fights? A hammy space
opera plot told exclusively in the medium
of mid-game voiceover? 1
If you picked option C: hello, Hidden Path.
Alongside competitive and co-op multiplayer,
it’s this concerted effort towards delivering
a fully-fledged narrative which sets Defense
Grid 2 apart from its fellows. Listening to AIs
bickering with each other about the fate of
the universe while you upgrade Tesla coils
to zap aliens more effectively is an oddly
therapeutic pleasure unique to DG2, and
it’s made more enjoyable still by a swathe of
labyrinthine maps 2 featuring multiple entry
and exit points, and opportunities to re-route
enemies down meandering paths of death.
However, and I hate to exacerbate the
malaise of that poor gibbering designer
from a few paragraphs ago, the rules and
conventions are so clear and unwavering
within this genre that it takes something
extraordinary to stand out. Something
similar to that diamond mine of pop culture
timeliness and humour that Plants Vs
Zombies struck upon. By playing things
straighter thematically and mechanically,
DG2 limits the potential of its
success. It’s an enjoyable but
traditional outing capable of
short-term thrills, which is just
enough for some. Phil Iwaniuk
FLOCKERS
On the lamb
Remember Lemmings? The iconic
puzzler that forced you to brutally
kill hundreds of tiny green-haired
creatures in the hope that a few would
survive long enough to reach the end
of the level? Flockers gives that famous
indifference to mass murder a shiny new
coat and then ramps up the death count
further by way of buzz saws and spike pits.
You’re tasked with guiding a flock of
sheep from one end of a level to another,
activating special abilities such as larger
jumps and wall-running, as well as stacking
your charges on top of each other in order
to reach your final goal. Simple enough to
grasp on paper, but far harder to get the
hang of in practise, especially when the
DualShock 4 won’t stop bleating at you. 1
While there are a few vague instructions at
the start of each section attempting to tell
you how everything actually works, you’ll
have better luck cycling through options
by way of trial and error, which gets
frustrating incredibly quickly.
You do get a satisfying eureka moment
when things finally start to come together,
but it’s quite the struggle to reach that point
in the first place thanks to unwieldy controls
that make navigating arenas a tough
slog at best. 2 I lost a good 20 sheep to one
lowly impaling device because I couldn’t get
over there fast enough as I was too busy
bestowing them with the powers needed
to reach it in the first place.
Despite this Flockers still has plenty
of character, and watching the little
woolly dastards pop their guts
in showers of red never stops
being funny. There’s still fun to
be had here if you’re a mutton
for punishment. Daniella Lucas
087
FOOTNOTES 1 Doctor Watson often follows you on your many
investigations. 2 You use Holmes’ brain to make decisions on his
current case, including who to condemn and who to exonerate.
FOOTNOTES 1 Honestly, the sheer amount of voiceover on offer
is nothing short of startling. 2 Level layouts are a real strength of
DG2, lending themselves to the variety of objectives on offer.
FOOTNOTES 1 My DS4 wouldn’t stop crying because I was
incapable of stemming the woolly tide of death. 2 Arenas are
huge, with things often happening in two places at once.

Celebrimbor, the Elf
Lord Wraith to whom
you’re bonded, helps
out during combat.
088
NOW YOU’RE TOLKIEN
MIDDLE-EARTH:
SHADOW OF MORDOR
One Ranger to rule (and gut) them all
@OPM_UK
Traditionally, the prose of Tolkien
doesn’t play nice with the world of
games… Unless those digital Hobbits
are being delivered in the form of
stackable Danish bricks. It’s a trend which
makes this rather spiffing open-world effort
that rarest of breeds: a licensed game that not
only isn’t a stinker, but also captures the spirit
of Peter Jackson’s industry-changing trilogy.
Well, at least the Uruk-hai-eviscerating parts.
At first glance, it’d be easy to pigeonhole Middleearth:
Shadow Of Mordor as a derivative cast-off.
Monolith has lifted the parkour and sync towers
of Assassin’s Creed and the fluid, combo-led
fights of the Arkham series and spliced them
into a world about as sexy as a picnic date in
Bognor Regis. Not that the game’s take on the
baking flats which lie beyond Sauron’s Black Gate
aren’t faithful to the mythology; it’s just hard to
turn what’s essentially a giant, simmering crater
into sandbox eye candy.
Set at some point between The Hobbit and
The Lord Of The Rings, Monolith’s adventure
casts you as a gloomy (and freshly widowered)
Ranger Of Gondor, very much in the Aragorn
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mould. Unlike Mr Mortensen’s
dreamy warrior, Talion suffers
from a slight case of ‘being a
bit dead’; existing in a state
between life and the Reaper’s
grip after having his throat slit
20 minutes in. Yes, he’s less
charismatic than Viggo’s toenail
clippings, yet Mordor at least
has the courage to tell a story
that’s mournful and mature.
ORC AND MINDY
But enough with moody
plotting – you stopped
’round these parts for Orc
slaughter, and Mordor is
happy to oblige. The core of
the game’s appeal centres
around the Nemesis system: a
procedurally-generated feature
where enemies react and evolve
depending on your actions in
battle. It’s a mechanic that’s a
tad tricksy to describe, but one
that enriches Talion’s world.
Say you stumble upon Uggu
The Brander in combat – God,
I love their names. If Uggu
should get lucky in battle and
put you down, he’ll work his
way up the ranks of Sauron’s
Army, becoming a Warchief or
Captain in Ivan Eyeball’s legion.
Conversely, if you injure Uggu
and send him fleeing with a
nasty booboo, he’ll seek you
out later, hungry for revenge
and riddled with scars. An Orc
never forgets… Unless you off
him with a Bats-style finisher.
The Nemesis system feels
truly organic, helping to create
an open-world that’s shaped
by your actions. You eventually
start seeing repeated templates,
(there are a whole lot of Uruks
looking for vengeance after
being burned), but the illusion
of true choice and consequence
persists and it’s a thrill to see
baddies moulded by your blade.

Right Talion’s
look has clearly
been modelled
on a certain
long lost king of
Gondor. Hmm…
REVIEW
THE OPM BREAKDOWN
WHAT YOU DO IN… ME: SHADOW OF MORDOR
Below Combat is
super satisfying
and almost as
fluid as in the
Arkham titles.
6% Using a
Caragor mount to
zip about Mordor
plains in speedy,
beastie style.
7% Unleashing
slow-motion
arrows to
cave monsters’
chests in.
19% Taking on
groups of Uruk-hai
with Arkham-rivalling
combat. Have at you!
36%
Marvelling at all
those wonderful
Cornish-sounding
accents. Ear
ambrosia.
17%Tracking
– or being
tracked by –
a resilient,
vengeful Orc
nemesis.
15% Doing an
Edward Kenway
and crouching
in convenientlyplaced
bushes.
FRIENDS & ENEMIES
RATBAG THE COWARD
GOLLUM
RUG THE EXECUTIONER
The first Orc you recruit
and a sniffling pest who
acts as Talion’s spy.
The ruined One Ring
obsessive obeys the
Wraith within Talion.
One of many Captains
you can encounter who
needs a swift stabbing.
Above left Some Captains are terrified of Caragors. Sic Orc scrotum, boy!
The actual swordplay that
powers Mordor’s scuffles
is a pointy pleasure. Fights
may be heavily informed by
Rocksteady’s work, but they
still have a balletic grace of
their own. It helps that buttery
animations make the transition
between blocking and swiping
your weapon look hella smooth.
MORDOR, SHE WROTE
Squint a little harder, though
(not too hard: some of those
Orcs have super bad skin),
and small problems start to
surface. Character movement
feels unrefined, with the
game lacking proper analogue
controls as Talion clunkily
shifts from a swagger into a
cumbersome sprint. Compared
with AC or inFamous, simply
getting from one map marker
to the next can feel like a chore.
The story missions also let
Uruk-hai Utd down somewhat.
Placed next to the imagination
shown by the Nemesis features,
the core objectives can be
painfully perfunctory. Gee whiz,
you want me to collect nine
different herbs, Mr Mordor?
That’s a reasonable request of
a dude capable of killing 14
goblins in 13 seconds.
Not that strong story
missions are always required to
make a game sing – just look
at Destiny. Such is the strength
of the Nemesis tools, hunting
down enemies and later
brainwashing them to become
sleeper agents makes this a
constantly interesting sandbox.
Like any good Orc, Shadow
Of Mordor is shabby around
the edges. But buy into its
esoteric charms and you’ll
make a foe you’ll be glad to
call friend for 20+ hours.
VERDICT
A Cave Troll-strong fantasy
that anchors the spirit of the
films to a brilliantly executed
enemy system. It could do with
a little more polish, but Mordor
is still one of this year’s better
surprises. Dave Meikleham
HOW TO… KILL AN ORC CAPTAIN
1 2 3
1 First up, find an Orc minion with a green icon above its head –
these dudes carry vital intel that provides the skinny on a Captain’s
weaknesses. 2 Simply sneak up behind one of these loose-lipped
rascals, grab them with u, then interrogate with q. 3 Once you’ve
gathered up several pieces of intel, you’ll know whether a Captain is,
say, afraid of fire or weak against stealth attacks. Track your target
down and exploit these quirks so Talion can kill him more efficiently.
COMPEL-O-GRAPH
Talion is
murdered.
SECOND OPINION BILBO BOFFIN
You can pick apart many of the various pieces
in Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor and see
where they’ve been lifted almost intact from
other games, but at its core the Nemesis system is
an utterly unique addition. It enforces a true assassin
mentality – the stalking of your prey and the creativity
required in your approach to taking out your targets –
in ways the Creed series, with its endless distractions,
has long since forgotten. Matthew Sakuraoka-Gilman
Meeting
Gollum.
Poisoning
Orc wine.
Sooo much brown.
Stealth killing
a Warchief.
0 TIME
20 hours
089

Amanda Ripley is just like
her mum – she’s tough,
resourceful and a giant
xeno is trying to kill her.
090
“BY NAILING THAT ELUSIVE ALIEN
FEELING, ISOLATION OFFERS A
ROBUST ADDITION TO THE MYTHOS.”

REVIEW
EDITOR’S
AWARD
XENOMORPHIN’ TIME
@NathanDitum
ALIEN:
ISOLATION
In space no one can hear you
hammering the q button
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After a barren run of games
inspired by the Alien series that
have failed to capture the magic
of the films, Alien: Isolation is
like a tart, minimalist palette
cleanser. It gets it, and in
getting it the game has already
completed its most important job: to not be
another fumbled exploitation, another thickbrowed
shooter blind-firing familiar characters
and locales in the hope of nailing that elusive
Alien feeling. Isolation’s an intelligent addition
to the Alien mythos made with love and detail.
091
Oh, and terror. Lots of terror. The basis of that
terror is the decision to retreat from all the
hardware and hoo-has of James Cameron’s Aliens
flick – no easy thing, given how right they feel
for videogames – and into the clinical interiors
and frigid horror of Ridley Scott’s original film.
Shooters release wave after wave of enemies for
you to knock down, an approach incompatible
with the defining deadliness of the xenomorph:
‘Here is the universe’s perfect predator. Kill 50 to
progress’. Isolation scales down to one unkillable
beast, and in doing so it reinstates the danger.
RIDLEY’S GAME
So, we have a survival horror instead of a blaster,
but it’s not just this top-line approach that
Isolation learns from Scott’s film. The game
feels like a careful study of Alien, careful enough
to discover what actually makes it work. As a
result, Isolation doesn’t feel obliged to rush into
action, and instead gives itself time to build a
world. And it doesn’t do this with set-pieces or
an exposition carpet bomb, it does it by allowing
you to walk around some environments quietly,
without any rush. This is the game getting it –
getting that you don’t need to jump straight in
with the horror if what you’re showing has the
class and depth to be inherently interesting.

092
Right Isolation
takes the
pre-Bishop
approach to
synthetics:
they’re hostile
and dangerous.
Left Throwers
of flame stall
rather than kill
the creature,
but they’re still
useful tools.
And what is being shown? Panels. Fat-keyed
computer consoles. Hexagonal architecture.
Isolation hasn’t so much copied the worn,
antiseptic future of Scott’s film as it has absorbed
it on a molecular level. The game is beautiful
– not just film grain and lighting pretty, but
artfully constructed in a way that makes it deeply
pleasurable to simply be inside. And there’s a
great deal of it to be inside – the deserted space
station Sevastopol on which the majority of the
game takes place is huge. A maze of corridors
and sectors that, most impressively of all,
never repeat on me. Isolation’s team has, firstly,
taken the time to appreciate and understand
the aesthetic of Alien, and then had the talent
to recreate that aesthetic. And it’s clear that
they spent ages doing it – there is a wealth of
variation in the environments that cumulatively
gives the game a rare richness.
And then there’s the xeno. The fundamentals
of the gameplay are built around your encounters
with this creature, although encounters
is probably the wrong word – your chief
“THE GAME’S BEST MOMENTS
COME WHEN THE XENO HUNTS
YOU WHILE YOU’RE MID-TASK.”
objective is in fact to never
encounter it at all. This alien
is pure ruthless lethality,
and you cannot beat it, only
divert and – with the right
equipment – deter. The game
is therefore a thing of stifled
stealth – literally, if you turn
on the PlayStation Camera’s
microphone the alien responds
to your real-life yelps –
which compresses you into its
beautiful environments. You
crouch everywhere, even when
there’s no sign of the creature
on your motion tracker, and
you’ll dive into cupboards and
vent shafts at the merest ping.
For the most part this works
wonderfully. The quality of the
surroundings and the strength
of the xeno, this is everything
an Alien game should be. Its
best moments come during
free-form stalking sections,
where the beast tracks you
through the station as you
fetch and carry for certain
objectives. These are fluid and
unpredictable, forcing panicked
interaction with the station
around you, diving under
tables, scrambling through
menus to rewire circuitry to
distract the alien while praying
it’s not behind you.
BUG HUNT
But – and it is heartbreaking
at this point to say ‘but’ –
Isolation has a few problems
with action. These are hinted
at as early as the first cutscene
– good looking, but not
groundbreaking – which suffers
frame jitters severe enough to
knock its synch out of whack.
Later, violent confrontations
with the scattered, paranoid
humans aboard the Sevastopol
often turn deflatingly clumsy
– not in a frantic, thematically
sound way, but in a ‘these
physical elements within
the game aren’t meeting and
reacting to each other how
they should’ way. And Amanda
Ripley, engineer and heroine
of the piece, can’t aim down
while fighting on stairways.

REVIEW
THE OPM BREAKDOWN
WHAT YOU DO IN… ALIEN: ISOLATION
Above One of
the only friends
Ripley makes…
and he’s a
jittery lunatic
with a wrench.
Right Escaping
from the alien
at short range
is impossible.
It’s time to say
a few prayers…
18% Dying in
sudden, brutal
ways that are
shocking even
on the 20th go.
12% Cursing
at doors for not
opening more
quickly. Come on!
5% Discovering
the button to shift
focus so you can
actually see while
using the tracker.
35%
Hiding in or under
bits of beautifully
designed sci-fi
furniture.
20% Walking
absolutely
everywhere
with the motion
tracker up.
10% Fidgeting
while rewiring
boxes and
thinking, “It’s
behind me,
isn’t it?” *Gulp*
SECOND OPINION SPACE RANGER
Isolation is a deeply unpleasant experience…
and I couldn’t be happier. The game’s constant
cat-and-mouse hunts are rife with potential
and Creative Assembly does a damn good job at pacing
these scares. The whole thing is a few hours too long,
but it stands as a remarkably faithful homage to Ridley
Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic. Dave Meikleham
THE FIRST FIVE HOURS…
1 2 3
4 5
093
Above You use the crafting system to create med kits and nasty pipe bombs.
Other problems break the
flow of my playthrough. At one
point, two human characters
jam into each other as they
pursue me into a locker, and
get stuck float-walking on the
spot for several mins until I
give up and run away. Later on I
can’t interact with a switch and
spend an hour wondering if it’s
actually a switch, then retrace
my steps through the station
before I reload and try again.
(Turns out it’s a switch.)
These are small things,
but then Isolation’s sense of
fun is already balanced on a
knife-edge. It’s a game about
precision and elegance –
in its immaculate style, the
grace of the creature, and the
mercilessness of its predator/
prey gameplay. It plays close
to the line of frustration:
its manual save system is
hard to access while you’re
being stalked, which means
you’re likely to replay lengthy
chunks, but you can’t rush
through these familiar sections
because making a noise can
summon the alien. In itself
this is fine – there’s a perverse
joy to the game demanding
precision while subjecting you
to actually-horrible tension –
but when it fails to deliver the
same precision it demands
it tips into aggravation.
This doesn’t spoil Isolation,
it just stops it being even
better. The game is a triumph
as a place, as a thing to look
at and explore, and its stealth
gameplay is so tense you can
find yourself trapped, nerves
shredded, in the same locker
for ten minutes. The game
might have a weak spot when it
comes to confrontation, but it’s
a flaw of execution rather than
one of concept or ambition.
VERDICT
A beautiful game that captures
the essence of Alien and even
expands its fiction. There are
some cracks under the polish,
but it gets more right than it
gets wrong. Nathan Ditum
1 Stare for longer than normal at the exquisite title screen. 2 Meet
some friends! Things do not go well – humans on Sevastopol will kill you
on sight. 3 In a room alone with the xeno for the first time. Stay under a
table for an hour. 4 Encounter the budget-model synthetics manning
the station – a fine addition to the Alien fiction. 5 Enter into one of many
long, fraught games of cat and mouse. Tip: it can see you under tables.
COMPEL-O-GRAPH
This is really a
very interesting
sci-fi wall.
0 TIME
15 hours
IS IT BETTER THAN?
YES
ARGH! It’s all
gone Gravity.
There’s no comparison
– Colonial Marines
totally lacks the
cohesion and
sharpness of Isolation.
Oh God it’s…
AARGH! AAAARGH! AAAAAARGH!
NO
The best Alien game
that never was.
Isolation is prettier,
but Dead Space’s
combat endures.
YES
Shares a lot of hiding in
lockers and wanting to
cry with Isolation, but
this asylum romp isn’t
in the same class.

REVIEW
INFO
FORMAT PS4 ETA NOW
PUB HUMBLE HEARTS DEV HUMBLE HEARTS
INFO
FORMAT PS3 ETA OUT NOW
PUB MIDNIGHT CITY DEV BLUE ISLE STUDIOS
INFO
FORMAT PS4 ETA OUT NOW
PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV UNITED FRONT GAMES
094
DUST: AN
ELYSIAN TAIL
One of last-gen’s best ever indies
finally finds its way to PlayStation
Furries. Why did it have to be furries?
It’s a typical reaction to first seeing 2D
role-playing/action mash-up Dust in
motion, but if you let this knee-jerk thinking
get in the way of sampling PlayStation Plus’
newest treat, you’re robbing yourself of a
remarkable experience.
Originally released on Xbox 360 in 2012,
Dust is best described as a two-dimensional
Devil May Cry set in a sprawling Metroidvania
universe. It was made almost entirely by one
man, 1 but it feels like it’s been precisionpieced
together by talent from the likes of
PlatinumGames – so fine are its systems
and ideas, so satisfying is its combat.
You’re the eponymous Dust, an
anthropomorphic meerkat-man warrior
with amnesia who wields a talking blade and
is accompanied by a shrill winged-squirrel
named Fidget. Your adventure takes you
through ravaged villages, deep into dark
cave systems, up mountains and twisting
back again as you try to root out every last
secret and uncover your murky past. It’s
packed with hidden zones (there’s a distinct
16-bit era vibe about just how many are
tucked away in the world’s crevices), and it’s
beefy too, 2 with expert-level trials offering
challenges beyond the usual crowd-slicing.
As a new-gen port we’re sad Dust isn’t
noticeably crisper than its old-gen guise.
The hand-drawn art direction’s punch is
muted by fuzzier than ideal dialogue screens.
Thankfully the combat and world design
remain as potent as ever. We’ve
waited two years for Dust to
arrive on PlayStation – that it’s
free on Plus is one of the year’s
best bargains. Matthew Pellett
SLENDER:
THE ARRIVAL
Don’t go down to the woods today
Press p to run, says Slender: The
Arrival, the moment you step into its
first level. It quickly becomes apparent
that’s advice more than a tutorial because
you will be doing a lot of running. Away from
the titular antagonist. Away from a scuttling
devil child in an underground mining facility.
Away from your own shadow.
Slender is a simple game, but a very
effective one. It bottles up those base fears
we all have – the dark, woods, gangly men
in suits – and empties them into your face
all at once. 1 Typically it’s not the inevitable
appearance of Slender Man himself that will
make your insides feel like they’re foaming
up your throat, but everything preceding it.
Every area has a set number of objectives
(turn on six generators, find eight paper
clues) and it’s balancing this busywork with
keeping track of your faceless stalker that
makes the panic bite. It doesn’t help that
Blue Isle Studios has cruelly crafted the
environment to look like their iconic suited
loon – the trees are pale and thin with
spindly branches clawing at dense murk,
shocking white water towers thrust up out
of nowhere, and accompanying all of it is
a steady, ominous drum beat. He’s coming.
He’s coming. He’s coming…
The horror becomes diluted however
when you understand how the game works
and realise what you’re really up against is
an algorithm 2 – made all the more obvious
by the one-trick, repetitive nature of the
gameplay. The Arrival is also incredibly short
in length (you can be done in
two hours if you’re quick), but
it’s sinister, unnerving and full
of scream-worthy jump scares
while it lasts. Rob Pearson
SLEEPING DOGS:
DEFINITIVE EDITION
Kung Fu Gangster 2: The Return
T
his could so easily have been a
disaster. Instead, the game formerly
known as True Crime: Hong Kong was
rescued by Square Enix from development
hell, and won over doubters with an
authentically detailed sandbox setting
generously stuffed with activities and meaty,
combat – a hybrid of the Arkham games
and the Yakuza series. 1 And in undercover
officer Wei Shen, it has a likeably conflicted
lead, juggling his duties to the police with
the need to impress his gangland bosses.
The Definitive Edition is a welcome
opportunity to revisit Hong Kong, and it’s
looking… Well, pretty much how I remember
it. Lighting and draw distances are improved
and everything looks that little bit sharper,
but beyond bulging veins and sweatier
foreheads the character models aren’t
that different. More so than in The Last Of
Us Remastered, its last-gen origins are
clear; I was hoping for some performanceenhancing
tweaks, so it’s disappointing to
see the frame-rate drop when things get
busy. Elsewhere, it’s frustrating to note
a lack of refinements to the gameplay.
Vehicles still travel like rockets yet take
corners like JCBs unless you liberally apply
the handbrake, 2 and the camera can still be
wilfully unhelpful.
And yet Sleeping Dogs remains incredibly
moreish. Its snack-sized missions are brisk,
varied and entertaining, there’s a veritable
boatload of asides to occupy you, and as a
bonus you get all the DLC thrown in. There
isn’t a good enough reason
to double-dip if you played the
original, but if you haven’t had
the pleasure, we’d suggest you
Triad it out. Chris Schilling
FOOTNOTES 1 Programmer and illustrator Dean Dodrill took
three-and-a-half years to make it all. 2 Don’t expect to see it all in
three hours – you’ll be playing upwards of 12 to wrap up everything.
FOOTNOTES 1 The dread of turning around and seeing him there is
palpable. 2 Slender Man’s behaviour can get predictable, and he
becomes easy to avoid. The longer you play, the less scary it gets.
FOOTNOTES 1 There’s an element of Jackie Chan-style slapstick
to some environmental attacks, while other finishers are brutal.
2 Ramming pursuers with r still feels satisfying while in a chase.

REVIEW
INFO
FORMAT PS VITA ETA OUT NOW
PUB DOUBLE ELEVEN DEV DOUBLE ELEVEN
DAVE’S MEIKLE-
HAMMERING
OPM_UK
BRAIN FREEZE
FROZEN
SYNAPSE PRIME
Fail to plan, plan to get eviscerated
You know the moment
in every war movie
when you’re watching
the general relay a
watertight plan to his troops,
pointing at things on a map
and using long words, and
then in the next scene those
troops are being absolutely
torn to shreds? Frozen
Synapse Prime is the game
of that moment. One half
meticulous military strategy
sim set in an unfeeling future
ruled by evil AI, one half
realising you’re an abysmal
military strategist.
On PlayStation, only XCOM
delivers something vaguely
similar to this turn-based,
squad-centric strategy. But
where the former seeps
you in story and emphasises
consequences to your actions
in the long term, Double
Eleven’s handheld conversion
of the 2011 PC smash is leaner,
and to the point. Never has a
game been more about clearing
rooms of threats as clinically
and efficiently as possible.
The action within its many
top-down levels is slow-paced
but perpetually tense – take
away the time spent planning
each move and a single mission
would play out in 30 seconds
flat. In reality you spend
five minutes on every round,
trying to second-guess enemy
movements and flank them,
ordering your handful
of faceless operatives to crouch
and scan an area, blowing away
walls with RPGs so your sniper
can get take some vital shots.
COLD SOLDIER
It’s not all guesswork. You do
have the option of playing out a
simulation of your turn to iron
out any obvious blunders, but
those sims are based on your
enemy’s last-know position.
Maybe they’ve retreated… Or
maybe they’re flanking you.
You can really start to
overthink, particularly in
asynchronous multiplayer
encounters. And somehow the
game manages to make you
feel like Sun Tzu and General
Haig simultaneously. All your
kills are well-earned triumphs
of tactics; every death is as
troubling as the first.
PS Vita’s touch controls
and UI are designed smartly
enough to disappear from your
conscious thought after a few
matches, letting you focus on
the important stuff. Which
means this might even be the
definitive version of a mighty
turn-based hero.
VERDICT
It took a while, but this PC
classic marches onto PS Vita
in style, and it’s even better
suited to handheld. A great solo
experience; an extraordinary
multiplayer one. Phil Iwaniuk
@PhilIwaniuk
Below
Somewhere, a
Crytek lawyer is
sharpening his
instruments…
Welcome, welcome. Step this way, oh
cherished reade… Actually, wipe your
feet first. You wouldn’t like me when
I’m angry. Well, too bad, because that’s
exactly what this new monthly column
is for: letting ever-agitated Meiks vent
his little spleen in semi-constructive
(alright, passive aggressive) fashion.
This month, my tartan rage is squarely
focused on licensed games. Get ready
for mucho moaning.
But wait, why am I
SPEWING BILE on
licensed titles, this
of all months? After
all, both Alien: Isolation (p90) and Middleearth:
Shadow Of Mordor (p88) are
gems, subverting all concerns of cynical
cash-in-itis. That’s the point – licensed
PAP may be less common now than
on, say, PS2, but the fact developers
are still willing to pump out UTTER
SHOVELWARE and hide it under the
vague sheen of a beloved film or show
post-Isolation and Batman: Arkham
Asylum makes it all the worse.
Actually, Asylum is
a great example of
how a licensed game,
done well and treated
with reverence, can not only elevate a
brand, but actually create new gamers
and rake in tons of cash for the dev.
Our pals over at sister mag SFX lost the
runs of themselves when Rocksteady’s
masterful madhouse graced PS3. So
why am I still getting ROGERED IN THE
FACE by lacklustre licenses? Oh no you
don’t, Transformers: Rise Of The Dark
Spark. Come back here, ‘decent-butuninspired’
The Amazing Spider-Man
2. Don’t even think about it, How To
Train Your Dragon 2. You’re all in for a
decidedly non-sensual spanking.
The days of shunting out CRUDDY
SOFTWARE just to meet a film’s release
date should be numbered. If Creative
Assembly can make 16 hours of hiding a
hoot, it’s not asking too much that giant
robots fighting should be more fun than
BATHING YOUR IRISES IN ACID.
095

NEXT
MONTH
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S A L E
21 Nov
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online dlc movies music how to trophies
this month
on the store
100 Battlefield 4 – Final Stand
Not to be outdone by its eternal
rival Call Of Duty, the final slice of
Battlefield 4 DLC adds big stompy
mechs to its enormous warzones.
097
on your xmb
102 Godzilla
Decades of Japanese cultural postnuclear
fallout manifested as one
350-foot beast. Worth a gander.
online tests
Destiny
98
Online play is the lifeblood of Bungie’s galaxy-wide
blockbuster, so we stress-test its net capabilities.
music
103 This month’s hottest tunes
how to…
104 Use a DualShock 4 with PS3
platinum club
105 Surgeon
Simulator:
Anniversary Edition

online tests
MULTIPLAYER MODES PUT
THROUGH THEIR PACES
BY OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS
what we’re
playing now
DESTINY
The Crucible’s a sea of
shotguns, but Matthew
Pellett swears by his
trusty Fusion Rifle
I’ve been hitting the
Crucible most nights
with GamesRadar’s
Dave Houghton and we’re
complete gits when it
comes to Destiny’s PvP
component. We’ve been pinpointing
the best defensive spots on each and
every map and camping there. A cave
in Bastion is a prime ganking spot,
but my absolute favourite is the ‘Killing
Corridor’ on Twilight Gap. I know most
people love a good shotty, but I spend
hours watching the radar, readying
my Fusion Rifle and springing around
corners with a volley of death.
review
098
DESTINY
Conflict-averse
Phil Iwaniuk leaves
Crucible to the bigger
boys… for now
Having never quite
come to terms with the
profound injustice of
gear-gating in online
shooters, I simply
won’t give Crucible the
satisfaction of even trying until my
guns are as powerful; my shields
are as robust; my cloak as flowing as
those of my opponents. No, right now
I’d rather play Billy Big Man in the wilds
of Old Russia, swooping in to save
some level four Guardians from a
firefight against three little Dregs.
DESTINY
Lone wolf Dom
Reseigh-Lincoln
stumbles across some
co-operative carnage
While scouting the lay
of the land on a Patrol
mission, I happen across
a band of Guardians
going toe-to-toe with the
nefarious inhabitants of
The Devils’ Lair. These foes are way
beyond my level, I’m surely a dead
man if I start flinging my sizable weight
around in these parts… Suddenly the
oddest thought occurs to me. I could,
you know, join in. Actually engage in a
social exchange with my fellow man/
silent teen. One hour (and many, many
deaths) later, the Lair is finally ours
and my social interaction quota for the
year is well and truly fulfilled.
INFO
FORMAT PS4/PS3
PUB ACTIVISION
DEV BUNGIE
REVIEW ISSUE #102, 9/10
Destiny
Bungie Controls its fate in blinding PvP effort
Oh, Crucible. What a truly
wonderful arena for
Guardian-on-Guardian
skirmishes you provide.
There’s been many a jealous
PlayStation neighbour down the years
who’s cast a longing gaze into Master
Chief’s pristinely maintained multiplayer
garden next door (oh what sensual
shrubbery). But now, we finally have a
PvP mode to sticky grenade John-117
where the sun don’t shine.
Bungie just gets competitive online
multiplayer. It always has. The former
keepers of the Hall Of Halo have a
history of persistently putting out
the best maps around, and Destiny
is no exception. Many of Crucible’s 11
battlegrounds are belters; whether it’s
capturing Zone B’s forever tricksy lunar
choke point in a heated game of Control
on First Light or farming deadly Heavy
Ammo in the dark caves of Shores Of
Time, each arena is masterfully laid out.
The main meat hanging
off Crucible are Control,
Skirmish, Clash and
Rumble. The latter two
are Bungie’s vanilla takes
on 12-player team and
six-person free-for-all
deathmatches, though
both are spiced up by
Guardians’ potentially
round-changing Supers.
Nail a Titan’s Fist Of
Havoc on a cluster of
tightly packed players
and you can often score
four kills in an instant.
Eat lightning fist, fools!
Control is where
Destiny shines brightest.
A wickedly moreish take
on base-capturing, you
and five other Guardians
must battle a rival
Fireteam for dominion
over three zones. Vying
for control of each
demands tight team
coordination and
constant communication.
As a result, it’s a
brilliantly tense blast
played with friends –
especially if you’re all
mic’d up in a party.
CONTROL IS WHERE
DESTINY SHINES BRIGHTEST.
IT’S A WICKEDLY MOREISH
TAKE ON BASE CAPTURE.

30 SHOCK
Mark Edward Neace Jr became
the world’s first level 30
Guardian on 22 September. It
took over 107 hours with his
Exo Hunter to hit the lofty Light
tally required for the rank.
Twilight Gap is one of
Destiny’s best maps,
but it can be savage
if you’re a newcomer.
Plants Vs
Zombies:
Garden Warfare
Still feeling the
need for weeds?
INFO
FORMAT PS4/PS3
PUB EA
DEV POPCAP GAMES
REVIEW ISSUE #102, 4/10
There’s no knocking the charm
and effort of PopCap’s kiddy
shooter, but no amount of
colourful paintwork or giggleworthy
sound design can paper
over the gaping balance cracks
that lie beneath. For instance,
certain characters – we’re looking
at you Chomper – remain woefully
overpowered. And now that we’re
a little way into the game’s lifespan
and most people still playing have
clocked onto the fact, it’s rare that
you encounter a match without
a disproportionate number of
these guys gobbling up anyone
unfortunate enough to want to play
this shooter like an actual shooter
(ie with a weapon that actually
shoots). The worrying facet of this
conundrum is that it’s hard to see
patches and the like ever being
able to fix such a glaring problem.
VERDICT
PopCap’s green-fingered shooting
gallery remains unbalanced from
root to petal, even if it still looks
and sounds lovely on PlayStation.
Matthew Sakuraoka-Gilman
099
If there’s a gripe it’s that the action
lacks scale. There are really only two
maps you could consider large, meaning
there’s little scope for the use of
Destiny’s vehicles. Sure, you can briefly
joyride around on an oh-so satisfying
Pike, but Mars’ Bastion is one of the
few arenas roomy enough to support
vehicular slaughter.
On a cheerier note, Crucible, as with
the rest of Destiny, is ever-evolving.
The entire experience already feels
incredibly fluid, with XP, guns and
equipment carrying across all modes.
Bungie keeps piling sides on your PvP
plate, too – limited time events such
as three-vs-three games of Salvage,
where Guardians vie for relics, crop up
regularly. And with Strikes and the first
Raid (find out how we measured up
to the Vault Of Glass on p19) backing
Crucible up, Destiny’s PSN pleasures
currently know no bounds.
VERDICT
With the frantic but tactical firefights
of Crucible, PlayStation finally has
another PvP contender with enough
flair and depth to duke it out with COD
and Battlefield. Dave Meikleham
Madden NFL 15
Has the goods to keep
you Running Back
INFO
FORMAT PS4/PS3
PUB EA
DEV EA TIBURON
REVIEW ISSUE #102, 8/10
This year’s pigskin-chucker
does online like Terry Crews
does bicep curls; every
possible nook and cranny of
the game has net functionality,
from leaderboards after every
tutorial drill to Ultimate Team
(which is, yep, just like FIFA’s)
and GM Connected mode. The
latter is Madden’s most long-form
experience, allowing 25 seasons of
play and tweaking of nacho prices,
and even here other players can
waltz in and take you on with their
mighty franchises. Servers are
stable too, never yet booting me
off mid-game due to connection
problems. The only downside to
all this is that nearly every menu
takes that bit longer to load as
Madden obsessively contacts
servers for roster updates
and Ultimate Team events.
VERDICT
Like a well-drilled Cover 3 Zone
Defense, EA Tiburon has every
route covered with this year’s
online effort (and the server
stability to match). Phil Iwaniuk

on the store
EMPTY YOUR WALLETS
NOW WITH THE LATEST
DOWNLOADABLE DIVERSIONS
expansion
dlc
£1.99
100
£11.99
Battlefield 4:
Final Stand
COD’s eternal nemesis adds the mechs factor
VELOCITY 2X –
DUAL CORE PACK
This hyper-stylised
shoot-’em-up-cumplatformer
almost
melted our brains with
one ship to control –
now the Dual Core pack
is adding two of them!
These ten new levels
task you with flying the
duo simultaneously. Pity
our poor old brains.
£3.99
Not to be outdone by all the
near-future whizz-bangery of
Advanced Warfare, Battlefield
4’s final piece of DLC takes
players deep into the belly of
an arctic Russian research lab, where
the enemy’s top minds have been hard
at work developing a new kind of wheat
that resists frost. Did we say wheat?
We meant railguns. And mechs…
Gizmos aside, you also get four new
maps for your money (or for nowt, if
you’re a Battlefield Premium member):
Operation Whiteout, set in and around
a science complex during a blizzard;
Hammerhead, in which you fight for
control of an arctic submarine base;
Hangar 21, a Titan production facility;
and Giants Of Karelia, which spans
a high-tech mech workshop and its
surrounding rural
villages. It’s also the
only map not perpetually
bum-deep in snow.
Naturally, a good
number of the facility’s
prototypes are available
for pilfering: the Rorsch
X1 railgun, for example,
is a essentially a
one-hit-kill sniper rifle
that does massive
damage at the cost of a
short charging time
before firing. The HT-95
fills Final Stand’s armour
quota, a battletank that
bobs noisily around
the battlefield on hover
thrusters. And then
there are snowmobiles,
because even evil future
scientists still harbour
fond memories of that
chase sequence from
The World Is Not Enough.
THE ENEMY’S TOP MINDS
HAVE BEEN DEVELOPING A
NEW KIND OF WHEAT… SORRY,
WE MEANT TO SAY MECHS.
TRIALS FUSION
– WELCOME TO
THE ABYSS
Here’s another chance
to doom scores of
hapless racing drones
to years of hospital
food. The Welcome To
The Abyss DLC pack
is all about nauticalthemed
racing, and
includes 24 challenges,
ten new tracks and lots
of underwater flips.
£3.99
ps1/ps2 games
£7.99 £3.69 £3.99 £7.99 £3.99
MYST
The first-person explorer
that launched a thousand
puzzle knock-offs. What
mysteries lie at the heart
of this empty island?
Well, we still don’t know,
because we’re stuck.
Sonic The Hedgehog
A blue rodent blessed
with incredible speed
must foil a mad doctor’s
plans for domination by
jumping on things. Collect
all dem rings and relive a
gaming icon’s ‘90s debut.
RED ALERT:
RETALIATION
Ah-firm-ah-teef! A
brave jump for RTS
from its native PC onto
PlayStation, Red Alert:
Retaliation contains
both expansion packs.
tom Clancy’s
Splinter Cell HD
Satisfy your peeved
younger self by playing
an HD-ified version of the
game you were jealous
Xbox owners got first
way back when.
PONG
You are a paddle, there is
a ball, and the two come
together in an explosive
climax you won’t believe.
Take a trip back to the
days of black and white
gaming and loud shirts.
DIABLO III: UEE
– INFERNAL
PAULDRONS
The problem with offing
a demonic ruler is
there’s always someone
twice as bad waiting to
take their place. With
the Infernal Pauldrons
DLC now available to
even those who didn’t
pre-order Reaper Of
Souls, that someone’s
now probably wearing
legendary armour.

on your XMB
blu-rays
coming soon
STREET 27 OCT
FIGHTER:
ASSASSIN’S FIST
The Capcom-approved liveaction
web series punches
its way onto Blu-ray with
a Ryu and Ken origin story.
BREAKING 3 NOV
BAD – THE
COMPLETE SERIES
It’s that show that literally
everyone you know talked
about non-stop for like five
years – from start to finish.
X-MEN: DAYS 10 NOV
OF FUTURE
PAST
Wolverine travels through
time to change history and
save the world. Sadly, he
doesn’t use a DeLorean.
JERSEY BOYS 10 NOV
Clint Eastwood
directs this story of the
eponymous Jersey lads’
rags-to-matching-tuxes tale
by squashing Goodfellas and
musical theatre together.
102
FAMILY GUY 10 NOV
SEASON 14
Laughing in the face of
anyone who says there
are no more cutaway gags
to be written, the Griffins
continue to be a thing.
Sadly, these giant bugs
get more screen time than
poor old Bryan Cranston.
Godzilla
Big is beautiful… and slightly irradiated
Gareth Edwards is one very
clever cookie. The English
filmmaker didn’t just make
2010’s wonderful indie sci-fi
Monsters for the price of
a pint of milk, he also created every
effects shot in that film with off-theshelf
Adobe software on his home PC.
After that, creating the most iconic
movie monster ever should be a
nuclear-breathed breeze, right?
Indeed it is. Rip out every unpleasant
image of 1998’s massive iguana
abomination from your head: this is the
real Godzilla. 350 feet of towering fury,
Edwards’ beast somehow manages to
capture the grace of Jurassic Park’s
dino animation while staying true to the
Japanese icon’s ‘man in suit’ roots.
Such is the uneven quality of the plot
and supporting cast, it’s crucial the
monster be portrayed so convincingly.
Balancing B movie sensibilities with
post-Dark Knight gritty blockbuster
syndrome was always going to be a
challenge. The action is way too
po-faced for its own
good, but you rarely
question events when
the big dude is onscreen.
From a roar that
sounds like the cross
between an atomic blast
and the mating call of
a sperm whale, to the
sheer majesty of the
Z Man’s colossal gait,
2014 Godzilla is probably
the most successful CGI
creation since Gollum.
Fighting monstrosities
that look like Cloverfield’s
beastie also casts Mr G
as a welcome champion
of the people; a role the
lizard goliath is more
comfortable playing than
Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s
dull navy hero. So great
monster in a not so
great monster movie,
then. Dave Meikleham
THE PURGE: 17 NOV
ANARCHY
For one day each year, all
crime is legal. Presumably
this criminal squandering of
that excellent concept was
filmed on that very day.
HOW TO TRAIN 17 NOV
YOUR DRAGON 2
This CG sequel garnered
some of the most favourable
reviews of the year for its
voice cast and storytelling.
Its PS3 tie-in did not.
TRANS- 17 NOV
FORMERS:
AGE OF EXTINCTION
There’s a T-rex transformer.
That’s literally all you need to
know about this Michael Bayhelmed
robo destructathon.
DOWNTON 17 NOV
ABBEY SERIES 5
The Crawley family and
their servants enter a fifth
season of looking sternly at
one another and maintaining
perfect posture at all times.
22 JUMP 17 NOV
STREET
Undercover cops Channing
Tatum and Jonah Hill
infiltrate a place of
education to bust a drugs
ring. Much laughter ensues.

music
Boyhood
From real to reel
The remarkable nature of
Richard Linklater’s latest
creation is as well summed up
by a simple recounting of its
making as it is by a critical
appraisal of what occurs on-screen.
An American coming-of-age tale, it was
filmed over a 12-year period and stars
a kid in his first major role. The events
of Boyhood also take place over those
dozen years, so the characters age,
change and develop in tandem with
their actors. It’s a massively ambitious
piece of filmmaking, and it’s like almost
nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Mason Evans Jr is the boy in
question, and we follow his development
from six to 18, at the heart of a family
that is forging a tricky, if not remotely
rare, path through life. An older sister
and an estranged mother and father
(played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan
Hawke, the former in particularly
excellent form) complete the nucleus,
around whom many supporting
characters come and go.
As anyone familiar with Linklater’s
Before trilogy would expect, the piece is
grounded by its realism. The dialogue is
natural and expertly
crafted, and
circumstances
are dramatic while
consistently maintaining
parallels with the lives
that most of us know.
A couple of scenes
in particular pack really
powerful punches, and
will long resonate with
anyone with similar
experiences – and these
are aided by the writer/
director’s no-frills
approach to storytelling.
At nearly three hours
it’s unsurprising that
proceedings sag just a
touch in places, and the
overall result is not as
raw as Before Midnight
in particular. But this is
still a unique and
magnificent cinematic
achievement, and an
unmitigated success
against overwhelming
odds. Joel Gregory
Despite its modest $4m
budget, Boyhood still
grossed an impressive
$37m worldwide.
SLIPKNOT THE DEVIL IN I
FORMAT SINGLE ETA OUT NOW PRICE £0.79
The Iowan metal men pull on their masks and get back
to the business of making their own unique brand of
post-nu metal. Actually, The Devil In I is a brooding and
atmospheric thing by their standards – will new album
.5: The Gray Chapter follow suit? slipknot1.com
APHEX TWIN
SYRO
FORMAT ALBUM ETA OUT NOW
PRICE £7.99
The first in 13 years from
the reclusive Cornish
techno wizard, but it’s
a winner: a tirelessly
energetic, bountifully
melodic collection of bugeyed
breakbeat, misty
countryside rave, playful
vocal trickery and serene
solo piano tunes. warp.
net/records/aphex-twin
GORGON CITY SIRENS
FORMAT ALBUM ETA OUT NOW PRICE £7.99
Budge over, Disclosure, and make room for Gorgon
City – two Brits out to stamp their name on the house
revival. Sirens lines up an impressive list of guests
– Katy B, Jennifer Hudson and more – but it’s the duo’s
sultry beats that stand tall. facebook.com/gorgoncity
ZOLA JESUS
TAIGA
FORMAT ALBUM ETA OUT NOW
PRICE £6.99
The music of Wisconsin
native Nika Rosa Danilova has
traditionally been a dark and
brooding thing in the past, but
on her latest LP, Taiga, she’s
moving in the direction of the
light. Dangerous Days and
Hunger harness electro beats
and big orchestral swells to
give her operatic voice the
stately backdrop it really
deserves. zolajesus.com
103

how to…
doctor
playstation
Our console medic
fixes your tech woes
with actual science
Use a DualShock 4 on PS3
Power through your pile of shame with new-gen sticks
STEp 1
MAKE SURE
YOUR PS3
HAS THE
LATEST
FIRMWARE
STEp 2
REGISTER
YOUR PS4
PAD AS A
BLUETOOTH
DEVICE
STEp 3
GET USED TO
THE LIMITS OF
THE ‘GENERIC’
CONTROLLER
the problem
DualShock 4 has
forever ruined the
PlayStation pads of
the past. There’s
just no going back.
104 You can’t have a go
Ah, come in, loyal OPM
on Bioshock Infinite
patient. Are you here for
using the slack sticks those test results? Well, I’m afraid
of DS3. Fret not,
though: the Doc can
old Doc PlayStation has some bad
make your new-gen news: it seems you’re suffering
pad work on PS3. from terminal LastGenPad-itis.
You should probably consult your
family… I’d give you six months,
tops. Psyche! Your fave physician
has the cure. Obviously. Though
you might want to get that thing
on your nose checked out. Anyhoo,
to get your PS4 pad working
with PS3, you’ll first have to make
sure that old last-gen dear has
up-to-date firmware. Anything
after the recent 4.60 will see you
right. Thanks to this nifty update,
it’s not only possible to play PS3
games with a DualShock 4, but
you can even do so wirelessly.
What an age we live in. It wasn’t
long ago this please-don’t-look-atmy-doctorate-too-closely
MD was
using leeches. Next up: sorting out
your PS3’s Bluetooth devices.
This gaming man of medicine
learnt step the second at the
same seminar as ‘Get Confident,
stupid’ and ‘Smoke Yourself Thin’.
Now that your PS3 is oh-so-firm
with its ware, it’s time to register
that DualShock 4 as a Bluetooth
device. First, go to Accessory
Settings on the XMB. From
here, scroll to Manage Bluetooth
Devices to start a big ol’
Bluetooth scanning party. Don’t
worry, the Doc will bring fizzy
pop and streamers. During
this process, press and hold the
Share and PS buttons on your
PS4 controller until the lightbar
starts blinking white. Et voilà! The
PS3 should now detect your DS4
as a ‘Wireless Controller’. Confirm
this with a final jab of q on
your DualShock 3, then it’s on to
PS4 party town. Population: one
learned PlayStation gamer whose
last-gen shooting is about to get
a whole lot more accurate.
Yeah, there ‘may’ be a few
side effects your beloved
quack forgot to mention. Y’know
that part where your PlayStation
3 recognises the PS4 pad as a
‘Wireless Controller’? That actually
means the crusty old console
just assumes the DualShock 4
is a generic PS3 controller.
This means you can give rumble
feedback and gyroscopic controls
a wet smooch goodbye. Yes,
Doc knows how much you
were looking forward to playing
Lair with your shiny new-gen
contraption. The other thing to
bear in mind is that your
DualShock 4 can only be paired
with a single machine at once; so
each time you want to use it with
your PS4, you’ll have to resync it.
Ditto for every occasion you get a
hankering for some PS3-on-PS4-
pad action. Still, those sticks are
sooo much more analoguey. You
know it’s worth the slight hassle.
the verdict
Your last-gen games deserve
new-gen pad precision, and
after some slight tinkering
with PS3’s Bluetooth settings,
getting your lovely DualShock
4 to work with Sony’s old-gen
machine is a breeze.
next month
The Doc’s
Hippocratic Oath
is stretched as
he shows you how
to get a stuck disc
out of your PS4.
What a healer.

Mr trophy
Iain Wilson’s PSN ID is
Wilbossman, and his
trophy cabinet is
bigger than yours.
Platinum x 58
Gold x 313
Silver x 1,288
Bronze x 5,270
Don’t worry about a
thing, I’ve watched
loads of House MD so
you’re in safe hands.
Platinum Club
Our Troph operates for pots in Surgeon Simulator: Anniversary Ed
You need a strong
stomach, steely
nerves and plenty
of, um, patients [groan
– ed] to beat the
challenge of Surgeon
Simulator. Many of its trophies
require you to beat specific time
or blood loss targets for different
procedures, so you need
to find the optimal tools
to use and actions to
take. Get practising and
complete an operation
with minimal time and
blood loss to achieve an
A++ rating for I Should
Never Have Doubted
Myself. Rather handily, the
follow-up award for achieving an
A++ rating on all procedures is
currently glitched so you only
need to obtain the rating a total of
six times to bag the Best Surgeon
In The World pot.
Conversely, What Have I Done?
requires you to lose the patient
within a downright negligent 15
seconds. This is actually quite
tricky, but if you start a brain
transplant then immediately grab
the electric saw, cut through the
skull and jab away at the brain,
you should beat that time without
much trouble. ‘Trouble’ being a
relative word here.
Make sure you check the trophy
list for other challenges you can
pick up during surgeries. For
example, while performing a heart
transplant be sure to drop in the
new ticker without disconnecting
the old one for the Doctor
Who-themed Vworrrp Vworrrp
award, or remove it then replace
with the clock radio instead to
START A BRAIN TRANSPLANT
AND IMMEDIATELY GRAB THE
ELECTRIC SAW, CUT THROUGH
THE SKULL AND STAB AWAY.
unlock The Beat Of Your Heart.In
reception there are also a number
of simple rewards to uncover,
such as picking up the ringing
telephone for Doctor Doctor,
Give Me The News or scooping
up a pen and scribbling on the
notepad to add Nigel The
Secretary to your collection.
You may have spotted Post-it
notes in various areas telling you
to ‘Call Trisha’, and although the
method for revealing her full
number is too complex to go
into here, the digits you need
are ‘099326071850’. You have to
call this number from reception,
which due to your fat graceless
hand is best done by lifting the
phone to the front of the desk
nearest you, grabbing a pen or
similar item and using it as a
dialling wand to carefully prod in
the number. Once entered, simply
hit the green button and a short
scene plays as you Call Trisha
and find love – d’awww.
If you make it as far as the
brain transplant in
space, typing ‘296145’
on the keypad earns
you the Enter The
Code trophy, and if
you grab the clock
radio before being
transported to Earth
the We’re Going On An Adventure!
unlock will also be yours. Back in
reception a VHS tape will appear,
and when inserted into the nearby
player it takes you to a new area
with another keypad. Entering
‘4948’ unlocks Screw The Prime
Directive and allows you to
perform six secret operations on
an alien creature. By completing
them all you earn the muchcoveted
crown of Best Surgeon In
The Universe and prove There Is
Nothing More To Teach…
NEXT ISSUE Mr Trophy became legend
aeons ago, and his Destiny silverware
tips will help you to do so, too.
join the
club
Hey! What’s
the hardest
trophy you’ve
snagged? Tell
us at opm@
futurenet.com
105

CLASSIC GAME
RETROSTATION
Return to the high seas of
early ‘90s point-‘n’-click
slapstick where zombie
pirates and three-headed
monkeys run amok.
106
INFO
PUB LUCASARTS
DEV LUCASARTS
RELEASED 1991 (PC),
2010 (PS3)
GET IT NOW PS3,
£7.99 (SPECIAL ED)
NEED TO KNOW
1
2
3
The second game
to use the iMUSE
audio system.
The Special Edition
includes a hint
system for ‘n00bs’.
It takes inspiration
from the ‘88 novel
On Stranger Tides.

etrostation
Treasured island
Each month we celebrate the most important,
innovative or just plain great games from PlayStation’s
past. This month, we don comedy eye patch, meat
hook and peg leg before clambering aboard the good
ship Monkey Island 2 for more piratical shenanigans…
CLASSIC GAME
Monkey Island 2:
LeChuck’s Revenge
here’s something odd
about seeing the words
‘Monkey Island’ and
‘PlayStation classic’ in the
same sentence, but heck
– we waited almost two
decades for this coming
together to finally transpire; we’re
milking this bad boy for all it’s worth.
LeChuck’s Revenge is The Empire
Strikes Back to the original Monkey’s
A New Hope. It’s bigger, bolder and –
up until its daft ending (which was an
Episode V pastiche) – is arguably the
best graphic adventure ever committed
to code. In a genre stuffed with bona
fide classics, that’s some achievement.
Many of Monkey 2’s characters –
Guybrush, Elaine, LeChuck, Voodoo
Lady, etc – are so firmly ensconced in
videogame folklore that it’s often hard
to appreciate them in their original
contexts, giving you the perfect excuse
to revisit this interactive extravaganza
and remember why they’re so revered.
Right from the hilarious intro – where
egomaniacal protagonist Guybrush, his
inventory crammed full of wads of cash,
is physically tipped upside down by pintsize
villain Largo LeGrande and robbed
of both his vast fortune and his piratical
pride – to our hero’s elaborate voodooinspired
revenge over said villain during
the course of the first act, Monkey 2
oozes heart, wits and smarts.
Classic scenes abound. A concussed
Guybrush meets his dead parents and
watches their skeletal remains jig to
‘Dem Bones’. Guybrush crashes Gov
Marley’s Mardi Gras party to profess
his undying love dressed only in a pink
tutu and pirate boots. Guybrush locks
mega-mouthed coffin salesman Stan
in one of his overpriced sarcophagi.
The way in which Guybrush obtains
a sample of LeChuck’s bodily fluid…
ewww. Threepwood rules… somehow.
The ingenuity and complexity of
the puzzles remains on an altogether
higher plane than most of its point-‘n’-
THE LATE-TO-THE-
PARTY SPECIAL EDITION
ON PS3 ONLY ADDED TO
THE GAME’S LEGEND.
click peers, too. Crafting the voodoo
dolls to foil Largo and LeChuck endures.
As does rooting through the tome-filled
library on Phatt Island.
LARGO EMBARGO
Arguably finest of all, though, is the
spitting competition – after finally
managing to work out how to unleash
our wad of phlegm at the same time
as the (rather propitious) gust of wind,
we couldn’t help but spontaneously
prostrate ourselves at the feet
of Messrs Gilbert, Grossman and
Schafer’s genius game design. Just
don’t mention the teeth gnashing bit
with the monkey wrench. Our only
real reservation with Monkey 2 was
the bizarre omission of the insult
swordfighting that proved a hilarious
highlight of the original (and returned
in perhaps its most glorious incarnation
in Monkey 3). Still, the rest of the
adventure more than compensated.
The late-to-the-party, but still more
than welcome, Special Edition that
arrived on PS3 in 2010 only added to
the Monkey Island legend. A streamlined
UI, exquisitely redrawn visuals (though
with the option to play in retro-pixel,
too), catchy remastered soundtrack
and full voice acting meant it was the
edition to rule them all.
If you still haven’t joined Guybrush
and co on a journey to Monkey Island,
you’re seriously missing out on one of
the greatest videogame experiences
of all time. You may even find out the
answer to that eternal question: “How
much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” Get
on it, crewmates.
107
We love Special Edition’s witty dev commentary. Definitely the most surreal of the original trilogy. How could you steal poor little Wally’s monocle?

TIME MACHINE
108
Name
that game
Guess the four games,
and their scores, from
these review quotes
1
WHO’D HAVE
THOUGHT IT’D BE
SO DULL LEADING A
FOUR-MAN SQUAD
THROUGH WAVES OF
BLAND GOONS AND
GENERIC ‘BOTS.
2
THIS IS AN
EXPANSION AKIN
TO BUYING UP 1,000
ACRES OF FARMLAND
AS OPPOSED TO
POPPING A UTILITY
ROOM ON TO THE
BACK OF YOUR
HUMBLE ABODE.
3
THE FINAL
CLINCHER IS THE
NATURE OF THE ITEMS
YOU COLLECT. WHO
COULD DISLIKE A
GAME WHERE YOUR
AGENDA IS TO ‘OBTAIN
THE SAUSAGE’?
4
THE GAMEPLAY
MIGHT NOT LIVE UP TO
THE ORIGINALITY OF
THE SETTING, BUT IF
YOU’RE INTO A BIT OF
HARDCORE SPANKING,
WELL, YOU’RE GOING
TO LOVE THIS GAME
REGARDLESS.
ANSWERS
1. Marvel Ult Alliance 2, issue #38, 5/10
2. Bioshock Infinite, issue #83, 10/10
3. SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Combined
Assault, issue #3, 8/10
4. The Baconing, issue #62, 7/10
Above Assassin’s Creed II fronted our Reviews
section and earned 9/10 for finally delivering on the
first outing’s stealth-action potential. Writer Rachel
Penny’s revelation about inappropriate Ezio dreams
may have been a touch TMI, however…
OPM TIME MACHINE
5 YEARS AGO
OPM #38 sawusstruckbyLightningand
shivved gleefully by Ezio. We’ll be honest,
we wouldn’t have had it any other way
Below left It was thunderbolts and Lightning, very
very frightening as we previewed Final Fantasy XIII.
Below right Our man in Japan got to test drive Gran
Turismo 5 at Polphony Digital. Jealousy overload…
Far left In a big
b-ball tip-off, NBA
Live 10 earned a
high scoring draw
against arch-rival
NBA 2K10.
Left We explained
how to host your
very own SingStar
party as part of
our PS3 power
user guide. Ah,
they were simpler
times back then.

etrostation
DON’T MAKE ME PLAY!
FUSE
Don’t like it. Never tried it. Every month we force
one of our team to play their most feared game
WHO?
Phil Iwaniuk spent
months in the office
trying to convince
everyone that Fuse
would be alright.
They all laughed
at Christopher
Columbus… but they
laughed harder at
Mr Phil. Silly sod.
INFO
PUB EA
DEV INSOMNIAC GAMES
RELEASED 2013, PS3
GET IT NOW ZAVVI,
£9.98
“Could you make it a bit more orange? Good. Good. Now a bit more blue? Really good. Now a bit
more orange still? Now, where did we get to on the blue?” – Fuse’s art team, presumably.
The year was 2013. Robin
Thicke sang to us about
worryingly Blurred Lines
on the radio, the young folks
were doing a new dance
called ‘the twerk’, and a little game
called Fuse was nearing release.
I was genuinely excited. Excited,
and completely, deliriously wrong.
WHAT?
I should have known something was
Four-player coop
shooting from
preview event someone from Insomniac
up when after playing the game at a
Insomniac Games,
asked if I wouldn’t mind saying a few
minus any charm you’d words on camera for the boys in the
associate with that
name. Each character studio back home – this kind of thing
has their own
never happens. They must have seen
trademark weapon a lone grinning face in the crowd
that can be combined of nonplussed journos and thought:
with others to… avert “That madman actually likes it! Quick!
boredom. A bit.
Somebody film him!”
109
The reviews landed shortly after and
demonstrated that, yes, I was a loon
IS THERE A WAY
WE CAN ALL COMBINE
OUR POWERS TO JUST
END IT ALL? NO?
to be so confident of Fuse’s quality. I
vowed that day never to actually play
the final incarnation – it’d be like going
on holiday with your most regrettable
one night stand.
And yet here I am, diligently deploying
a shield for my teammates in a world
blue, orange, brown, brown and brown.
They trade dispassionate one-liners
that even the Expendables 3 writers
would think twice about while the
antagonists of Haze flood through
every door. During boss fights, we all
secretly wonder if there isn’t a way
we can combine our powers to just
end it all. In brief: it’s not the game
I expected back in early 2013.
Most disappointingly, levels don’t
give you any imperative to combine
your unique weapon abilities in new
or imaginative ways. You’re really just
sweeping them clean while wearing
enormous shoulder pads. Still, it
provides a welcome distraction from
this Costa del Sol getaway with Mildred.
The shame, it… it won’t come off…

HALL OF FAME
THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO NEW-GEN’S GREATEST GAMES
PS4 HALL OF FAME
1 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED
Like a full-bodied Stilton, this modern masterpiece just gets stronger
with age. A starkly brutal, emotionally honest take on the end of the
world, Naughty Dog’s stealth shooter is quite simply one of the best
written, most wryly-paced videogames in history. This PS4 version looks
astounding too, with a 1080p/60fps makeover offering a huge increase
in clarity and fluency. There’s nothing last-gen about this incredible port.
2
NEW!
DESTINY
Blurring the lines between single-player
shooting and co-op camaraderie, Bungie has
created an epic MMO hybrid built on incredibly fluid
firefights. An essential experience with friends
and the perfect platform for PS4’s social features.
9
NBA 2K14
Visual Concepts grabs new-gen by the
basketballs and delivers a gorgeous, richly
detailed and fanatically accurate sports ecosystem.
FIFA and every other sports sim could learn plenty
from its MyCareer mode as well.
110
3
NEW!
MINECRAFT
Bigger, better and blockier than ever before on
PlayStation, this iconic build-’em-up benefits
massively from PS4’s additional power and gives you
a creative playground 36 times the size of that on
PS3 in which to build. Or lob TNT around, if you want.
10
FLOWER
All the magic and wonder of That Game
Company’s ethereal PSN smash is preserved
and polished as it makes its way to PlayStation 4.
Unless you’re anthophobic you now have no excuse
not to frolic amongst its petals.
4
RESOGUN
Capturing everything that made the shoot-‘emups
of old so compelling and combining it with a
sumptuous voxel-based visual presentation, Resogun
should come with a health warning that reads ‘This
game will consume your every waking moment’.
11
METRO REDUX
Meet two post-apocalyptic shooters that would
rather focus on character over carnage, with
thoughtful pacing that borrows from the Half-Life
playbook. Running at a slippery smooth 60fps, this
tag team FPS package is a truly stupendous port.
5
FIFA 14
EA Canada’s first punt at new-gen football
isn’t just an outstanding recreation of the
beautiful game we know and love – it also boasts a
genuine step forward for the series, demonstrating
an attention to detail that borders on surgical.
12
DIABLO III:
ULTIMATE EVIL EDITION
Never has dungeon-slashing looked so good.
Thanks to the addition of the Crusader character
and the Reaper Of Souls expansion content, this is
the definitive edition of one hell of a hack ‘em up.
6
TOWERFALL ASCENSION
You haven’t lived until you’ve enjoyed a fourplayer
free-for-all in this instant couchplay
classic. The solo campaign is fine by itself, but almost
nothing beats the arrow-grabbing, death-defying
last-second kills of local multiplayer’s mayhem.
13
FINAL FANTASY XIV:
A REALM REBORN
It took three goes to finally make the FF MMO
fans have always wanted, but A Realm Reborn is the
one that finally nails it. Vast, complex and a marked
step up in visuals, this is PS4’s premier online world.
7
DON’T STARVE
Gather up resources and the unravelling
threads of your own sanity in this merciless
survival sim from Klei Entertainment. Don’t let the
cute animation fool you – Don’t Starve will make you
suffer. And you’ll love every moment of it.
14
STRIDER
Hot off the heels of DuckTales: Remastered on
PS3, Capcom strikes retro gold once again with
this slice of frantic side-scrolling action. Cling
to any surface and cut any enemy in half through
levels teeming with power-ups and secret paths.
8
RAYMAN LEGENDS
As if this beautifully animated platformer
wasn’t attractive enough, now it’s on PS4 and
pulling our heartstrings all over again. Bursting with
humour, colour and plenty of gibberish, this is the
definitive version of a platforming heavyweight.
15
VALIANT HEARTS:
THE GREAT WAR
Poignant in a way that neither belittles nor
mishandles the sensitive nature of its WW1 setting,
Ubisoft Montpellier’s side-scrolling puzzler is as likely
to induce smiles as it is to turn on the waterworks.

16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
WOLFENSTEIN:
THE NEW ORDER
Forget castles and slaughtering swastikawearers,
this is an entirely different breed of
shooter. Superbly paced, reflective and genuinely
moving, Wolfey is a beautifully mournful FPS.
ASSASSIN’S CREED IV:
BLACK FLAG
Ubisoft Montreal’s historically flirtatious
murder sim trades the landlocked provinces of
previous entries for an open ocean, a galley full
of sea shanties and plenty of wrist-blade action.
INFAMOUS: SECOND SON
Sucker Punch brings the open-world antics of
the inFamous series to the home of grunge in
search of superhuman nirvana. Filled with enough
special powers to shake a beanie at, Second Son is a
welcome addition to the PlayStation-exclusive family.
METAL GEAR SOLID V:
GROUND ZEROES
It may be short, but Snake’s latest outing is
packed to the gills with stealth, secrets and multiple
pathways. Wisely taking a few cues from the Splinter
Cell series, it’s a fine teaser for The Phantom Pain.
TRANSISTOR
Supergiant Games takes all the momentum
from debut knockout Bastion on PC and uses
it to deliver a wonderland of sights and sounds
wearing an action-RPG’s clothing. Or, to put it
another way: pretty songs and a talking sword.
OUTLAST
Otherwise known as the first-person horror
your bowels love to hate. With nothing more
than a video camera and a steady drip of adrenaline,
will you choose to run and hide in the deadly asylum
or attempt to shriek your assailants to death?
ROGUE LEGACY
Dear lord it hurts sooo bad. Thankfully, in this
PC-turned-PS4 indie, you cherish pain. Set
in a castle that resets its layout every time your
character bites it, the unrelenting challenge
means the victories are gloriously rewarding.
CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS
Infinity Ward returns to the franchise it defined
all those years ago and pulls off one of the most
rewarding shooters on PlayStation. A Zombiesesque
alien Extinction mode complements a robust
set of solo and multiplayer offerings.
SPORTSFRIENDS
Without plenty of DualShock 4 pads, PS Move
controllers and – more importantly – actual
friends, this one’s a non-starter. If you can gather
the required bodies and hardware, be prepared for
the silliest, most physical party game collection ever.
MENAGE-A-JEUX
Personal picks
The games that we – and you –
hold in the highest regard
Team OPM
R e a d e r
Developer
retrostation
THE DARKNESS II
Dom Reseigh-Lincoln is happily wishboning
wiseguys in Digital Extremes’ comic sequel
Despite falling head over heels for Starbreeze’s
original Hell holiday, it’s taken me a few years
to finally give its cel-shaded successor a whirl
– and boy, have I got egg on my face. (Oh wait,
that’s not egg, that’s viscera! *vomits*) With Mike
Patton screeching in my ears, and the power to
impale, eviscerate and decapitate everything, I’m
back in the saddle like an honorary Estacado.
SILENT HILL 2
Jennifer Hayton’s got a serious case
of the chills – and they’re multiplying…
Atmospheric, tense, and scary – the second
Silent Hill is one of the finest examples of survival
horror in gaming. It’s a real triumph, especially
through its story, which is beautifully crafted
and well executed. Silent Hill 2 is an emotional
rollercoaster that serves as a reminder that
games are just as much an art form as any other
format. I still get goose bumps when I play it.
ATMOSPHERIC, TENSE AND
SCARY – IT’S THE BEST EXAMPLE
OF TRUE SURVIVAL HORROR.
FLOWER
Sumo Digital senior designer Jonathan
Christian puts his petal to the metal
I love Flower, because among other things
it’s just so relaxing to play. There aren’t many
peaceful games out there if I’m honest, and in
addition it has a really nice emotional edge to it.
It boasts a minimalist story, but its plot is still
given life via the journey you take through the
game’s many locations. I really love those cool
little concepts that really stay with you.
111
25
KILLZONE: SHADOW FALL
Guerrilla’s future war touches down on
PlayStation 4 and brings with it an atmospheric
single-player campaign and a fully customisable
multiplayer that’s bursting with replayability.
War has never looked so good.
With its sedate pace and peaceful settings, Sumo Digital’s
Christian likes nothing better than a bit of floral-based chill time.

HALL OF FAME
THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION OF LAST-GEN CLASSICS
PS3 HALL OF FAME
1
GRAND THEFT AUTO V
No game could live up to the pre-release hype that surrounded
Rockstar’s latest open-world effort, and yet somehow expectations
were surpassed by the phenomenal final product. The largest entry in
the series is also one of the most ambitious games ever, but its fusion
of thrilling missions, entertaining characters and scathing satire looks
effortless. There can be no better way to bring a generation to a close.
112
2 UNCHARTED 2:
AMONG THIEVES
The game that sparked a million mancrushes,
with a perfectly pitched script, crunchy combat
and set-pieces like no other. In three words:
unprecedented. Unequalled. Uncharted.
9
CALL OF DUTY 4:
MODERN WARFARE
Simply the finest COD ever made. From that
nuke to Captain Price’s mesmerising ghillie suit
stealth mission, few games can match Modern
Warfare’s thrilling scripted spectacle.
3
4
5
RED DEAD REDEMPTION
A near-perfect open-world fusion of engaging
storytelling, truly compelling characters and
a living environment ripe for experimentation.
No sandbox since has got us quite so invested,
and the bold ending still resonates to this day.
THE LAST OF US
PS3’s premier developer proves a misbehaving
pooch can learn new tricks in this extraordinary
apocalyptic adventure. Blending intense horror,
ferocious shooting and a wonderful script, this
is one of the most emotive games in history.
JOURNEY
This charming two-hour voyage crafts an
incredible, immersive narrative and a genuine
emotional connection using little more than nearsilent
figures, marvellous sand physics and floating
pieces of cloth. A remarkable and unique experience.
10
11
12
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY
The most compelling bit of Bats action money
can buy… that doesn’t involve Heath Ledger’s
Joker. Thanks to an acutely detailed open-world
chunk of Gotham, Rocksteady’s classic is simply
the best superhero game ever made.
BRAID
If you want to make the argument that games
are art, then Jonathan Blow’s Braid is the
place to start. An achingly beautiful hand-drawn
style combines with brilliant but brutal time-bending
puzzles to create something truly special.
THE WALKING DEAD:
SEASON ONE
With the first season of this episodic zombie
franchise now drawn to a close, it stands among
the best downloadable games ever with emotional
ties and tangible consequences for your actions.
6
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
Perhaps the best narrative team of the entire
generation brings one of its finest series to
a staggering climax. The original game would be
well deserving of a place, but the mind-boggling
revelations here run a whole lot deeper.
13
HEAVY RAIN
From controversial purveyor of interactive
cinema, David Cage, comes this psychological
thriller that plays like no other game on the system.
So many games promise real consequences to your
actions, but none deliver like this masterpiece.
7
MASS EFFECT 2
While Bioware’s trilogy-ender sends Shepard
out in fine style, it’s the middle slice of the
delicious sci-fi sandwich that remains its best.
A brilliantly scripted action-RPG, the closing
‘suicide mission’ provides an incredible finale.
14
DARK SOULS
Akin to nothing else you’ve ever played.
It may be as impenetrable as an Amish girl’s
undercrackers, but persevere and there’s a
brutal and beautiful challenge within that you
will never, ever forget.
8
METAL GEAR SOLID 4:
GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS
The most gleefully playful and imaginative
stealth game ever. Whether you’re watching a
monkey slurp soda or revisiting the site of the PS1
original, no game honours its past so poignantly.
15
ASSASSIN’S CREED II
Undoubtedly the finest entry in one of PS3’s
foremost franchises, this is the realisation of
all the promises made in the original. An engaging
lead character, open-ended hits and diverting sidemissions
are what this series should be about.

YOUR EVERY NEED FOR ON-THE-GO GOODNESS
PS VITA HALL OF FAME
1
VELOCITY 2X
A ludicrously enjoyable puzzle/platformer hybrid
that should come with a health warning. So joyous is
the side-scroller’s twin-stick teleporting, there’s a
danger you may well grin your face clean off the bone.
Masterfully designed, with arguably the best control
scheme on PS Vita, Velocity 2X is utterly essential.
2
PERSONA 4: GOLDEN
This thoughtful and unique JRPG
epic gives you another stab at high
school – only this time with intrigue
and superpowers instead of nerves,
acne and an unpredictable vocal register.
9 LUFTRAUSERS
Ridiculous flying of the highest
order from Dutch indie studio
Vlambeer. High scores come not just from
skill, but cunning combinations of plane
parts, making for double the satisfaction.
3
FEZ
Gomez charms you instantly with
his perspective-shifting puzzles and
pin-sharp pixel-art, then blows your mind
with a world of secret languages, hidden
areas and beguiling background tunes.
10 FINAL FANTASY X/X-2
HD REMASTER
Two examples of JRPG royalty,
lovingly restored to their former glory for
your portable pleasure. Their new touch
controls are – gasp! – a welcome addition.
113
4
VIRTUE’S LAST
REWARD
This visual novel/puzzler just gets
better over its 40 hours. The dialogue’s
engaging, and however tough it gets,
you’re never left rage-scouring for clues.
11
METAL GEAR SOLID
HD COLLECTION
Two of PlayStation’s finest
adventures scale down beautifully, with
enough cutscenes to fill a transatlantic
flight. Even less excuse not to play, then.
5
GRAVITY RUSH
Use a gravity-defying cat to break
the laws of physics and zoom across
the skies of a floating steampunk city.
With stylish comic-book looks and a sassy
heroine, this is a rush to remember.
12
UNCHARTED:
GOLDEN ABYSS
Drake proves he’s just as adept at
adventuring on the go. A prequel story
that’s classic jungle action, and crammed
full of typical Uncharted charm.
6
LITTLEBIGPLANET
Sackboy’s back, smaller but just
as loveable as ever. His platforming
antics work perfectly on Vita, and the
new control inputs complement the
level creator brilliantly. Also: d’awwww.
13
TEARAWAY
More crafty platforming from Media
Molecule, this time using the Vita’s
controls to surprise and delight you in
new ways for hours on end – all within
its pretty-as-a-picture papercraft world.
7
LUMINES: ELECTRONIC
SYMPHONY
Part block puzzler, part mobile disco,
this is as certain to have you nodding
along to ace choonage as it is to keep you
returning for more reflex-testing action.
14
RAYMAN ORIGINS
He of no limbs finds the perfect
home on Vita’s handheld screen.
Beautiful visuals and flawless platforming
make Rayman a handheld delight of quirky
cartoon ridiculousness.
8
TXK
Arcade legend Jeff Minter updates
a 20-year-old Atari Jaguar blaster
and creates one of the platform’s best
games in the process. TXK is an essential
onslaught on the senses.
15
FIFA FOOTBALL
The sequel’s a shameful rip-off
that only updates kits and rosters,
so unless you find them both for the
same price, this entry is still the best
way to get a footy-on-the-move fix.

PARTING SH T
Celebrating PlayStation’s finest moments
No.19
Fairgrounds for dismissal
Revelling in Bioshock Infinite’s invigorating carnival
Last
Month
Shadow
Of The
Colossus
Take flight
with the most
incredible
boss on PS2
as you ride
Phalanx.
FORMAT PS3 / PUB 2K GAMES / DEV IRRATIONAL GAMES / RELEASED 2013 / SCORE 10/10
Life moves pretty fast. If you
don’t stop and look around
once in a while you could
mis… aaaand Booker’s been
pole-axed by the Songbird again.
Terrific. Day to day existence in
Columbia – thanks to the constant
intervention of murderous cult
members and 70 ton mechanical
budgies – shifts along at quite the
pace. So praise be to the almighty
Comstock for that fairground bit.
Bioshock Infinite’s opening hour
is simply masterful. It’s a joyous
synergy of mystery and theatre
that carries real spiritual weight
as you find yourself reborn in a
skyward city. Ken Levine’s shooter
has the power to shake your
emotions out of FPS apathy long
before carnage ever erupts among
those rolling clouds.
No moment sums up this expert
authorship over atmosphere
better than Booker DeWitt’s trip
to Columbia’s fairgrounds. After
going through a twisted baptism,
your hero has to contend with
all the sights, sounds and creepy
clowns of the carnival. Breathless
salesman trying to hawk Vigors;
a humiliated Handyman being
paraded in front of the gawking
masses like a mechanised King
Kong; crooked games that rekindle
warm memories of candy floss
and ring toss. Columbia’s fair is
a completely intoxicating detour
from the inevitable havoc and
headshots that await.
Whether using the Bucking
Bronco ability to ‘Cast Out The
Devil’ in one stall or unloading on
tin Sky-Line Vox targets in another,
the carnival also subtly teaches
you the game’s superpowered
mechanics. Yet because of that
commitment to atmosphere and
a sense of place, this is one setpiece
that can never be accused
of tutorial blandness. Fair play.
Next
Month
Half-Life 2
Celebrate an
iconic gaming
gun as Gordon
Freeman earns
his physics
degree in
Ravenholm.

THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
The best uncut interviews,
featuring The Division,
The Order: 1886, LBP3
and many more

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WE CAN ONLY FIT SO
MANY WORDS INTO THE
PAGES OF OPM WITHOUT
ART ED MILF SLIPPING
CYANIDE INTO OUR
MORNING CUPS OF TEA,
SO OFTEN WE JUST USE
A FRACTION OF THE
QUOTES WE GET FROM
LENGTHY INTERVIEWS.
UNTIL NOW. WELCOME
TO OPM’S FIRST UNCUT
COLLECTION OF SOME OF
THE BEST DEV CHATS
WE’VE HAD IN THE PAST
FEW MONTHS…
THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
03

THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
04
Arkham City and the stakes are
growing all the way through…
it’s not just Batman versus
BATMAN:
Joker, there are all of these other
agendas coming in from other
ARKHAM KNIGHT
super villains. Now with Batman
Arkham Knight we have got
all-out warfare on the streets
as the Arkham Knight’s forces
have occupied Gotham City.
Batman’s fight back begins with
DAX GINN
the Batmobile and the onboard
BRAND PRODUCER
functionality and artillery that
brings. So throughout all three
games, yeah, we’ve seen it as
climbing this ladder of escalation
leading to the ultimate showdown, the fight for Gotham
City itself.
OPM: You’ve created a new character in the Arkham
Knight, which is a very brave decision. How scary is it
knowing that he has to survive in the DC universe and
belong there?
Dax Ginn: Absolutely terrifying. Creating Arkham
Knight was an absolutely terrifying process because of
the expectation of new super villains within the Batman
universe. So from the perspective of us as developers, we
had a very clear idea what sort of role and function he
would play in the game, but it was really the collaboration
with DC and talking to them about the visual design,
marrying up the visual appearance with the functional
purpose of this character, that I think really brings the
Arkham Knight to life as a character.
OPM: In terms of visuals and scale you’re doing things
with PlayStation 4 consoles that nobody else seems to
be doing. How are you achieving it?
DG: It’s hard to say but, without going into the technical
side of it (because that is just magic to me), from the
design and conceptual side of it it’s about deciding where
you go crazy with the horsepower that you have at your
disposal. So you can’t go crazy with everything because
the world will just blow-up if you do that, so we’ve
decided, ‘okay let’s go crazy with the Batmobile; let’s
make sure it drives at insane speeds, let’s make sure it
can transform and have all this additional functionality
like you see in Battle Mode’. The world itself as Gotham
City, let’s not try and create an entire city – even though
we have – let’s focus on the environment and the
atmosphere and the emotion of that city. So the rain, the
reflections of neon signage on the puddles… Getting the
feeling of Gotham right, and making very clear creative
choices about how we use that horsepower, that’s critical.
OPM: The one thing we enjoy most about the Arkham
games’ pacing is the sense of escalation. Did you feel
the Batmobile was required to continue that sense
without hamstringing Batman again and stripping away
all of his powers?
DG: You absolutely nailed it. That’s the way that
we’ve thought about Arkham Asylum to Arkham City
to Arkham Knight, as an escalation. Going from the
claustrophobia of the kind of maze of Arkham Asylum,
blasting it out into a more open-world structure within
OPM: The inclusion of a vehicle is a bold move – in years
gone by we’d roll our eyes at long running shooter
series adding lame ‘vehicle levels’ to try and spice
things up. So how have you ensured it feels right and is
a suitable addition to the Arkham series?
DG: The most important thing for us is that it didn’t
feel like those games that you just kind of mentioned.
It needed to be integral to the Batman experience rather
than just, ‘oh here’s a driving section that we’ve bolted
on’. So integrating Batman’s navigation and offensive
capabilities with the Batmobile is really the key to
that. You can gain more altitude and glide at faster
speeds if you eject out of the Batmobile. You can take
defence when you’re under attack by jumping inside the
Batmobile. You can use it in ways that Batman wouldn’t
be able to, to progress, if it was just him on his own. So
giving players a game world in which there’s a whole
range of brand new challenges that they can’t conquer
just being Batman alone, you have to use this new...
effectively it’s a massive gadget in order to progress, and
that was really the key. We had to really think and rethink
how we design the game world and how we design
puzzles, and really rethink every aspect of our game
progression to ensure the Batmobile felt really natural.
OPM: Did you bring anybody with driving or racing game
experience into the team for the Batmobile sections?
DG: The crazy thing is, it was just natural talent. So the
lead gameplay programmer Adam Doherty, who I have
to give massive props to, he has been the programmer
who has controlled Batman ever since day one in Arkham
Asylum. So everything about Batman’s movement and
abilities and gadgetry has been his vision in collaboration
with Sefton Hill, the game director. When we were
thinking about the Batmobile we were all like, ‘well is this
a car or is this just an extension of Batman? How do we
WE SEE THE WHOLE
SERIES AS AN ESCALATION
THAT LEADS TO THE ULTIMATE
SHOWDOWN – THE BATTLE
FOR GOTHAM ITSELF.

want this to feel?’ And of course the natural reaction is
In terms of what we want to learn, we’re watching all
to treat it like a car, but we were like, ‘no it’s got to feel
the forums. There’s a lot of telemetry to make sure that
like an extension of Batman’. So we gave that job to Adam this is as tight and graded a game as it can be. In terms
Doherty so that he could approach the behaviour of the
of actual content, that’s how are people starting to use
Batmobile as if it was a character. And I think that’s why all the toys that we’ve developed, and what surprises or
the two of them feel so perfectly married to one another, great moments can we take advantage of so we can do
because it’s the same kind of creative and technical drive even more of that before we ship? And then, obviously,
that we’ve been pumping into Batman all these years, just practically launching a game of this scale worldwide is an
applied to a vehicle. It’s crazy that that’s what we did, but incredibly complicated endeavour and one that has bitten
looking back it was totally the right decision.
many people, including us, before, so we want to go big
and early and learn a lot about what can we do to make
our infrastructure as strong as it can
possibly be so people get the smooth
launch they deserve.
BATTLEFIELD
HARDLINE
IAN MILHAM
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OPM: Do you feel lessons have been
learned from Battlefield 4’s troubled
launch last year?
IM: We had some pretty hard lessons,
of course. I think there’s been a ton
of work put into Battlefield 4 before
and since its launch. All of that
work, some of which we did, will be
coming into what we’re doing, of
course. You could say that, yes, we are
extra vigilant to make this launch as
smooth as possible.
THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
OPM: So the cops versus robbers theme is a bit of a
departure from the Battlefield most people are familiar
with. What was the thinking behind the theme?
Ian Milham: Well it was multi-parts. One part was just
that it’s awesome we (Visceral) get to make a Battlefield
game, but Battlefield already exists and it doesn’t feel like
it’s fair play to just make the same game again. So let’s
change it up. And then we started thinking about what
we wanted to do, and it felt like cops and criminals –
relative to how popular it is and how much we all played
it as kids in the backyard – just doesn’t show up that
much. And in a sea of science fiction it would actually
stand out and be nice and accessible and cool.
The other thing I like about cops and criminals is that
everybody can immediately help me design this game.
Like right now. You could. Because everybody comes
along and goes, ‘well what do I want to do?’ What are all
the cool cop things that we would do? What are all the
cool criminal things we want to do? I want to rob banks…
I want to use the word ‘perp’… I want to go whoop with
the siren… Like all that stuff. The list of fantasy moments
to deliver on are right there and it’s not that difficult to
explain to anybody.
OPM: What are you hoping to learn from the public’s
experiences with Battlefield, such as the Beta test?
IM: Well there’s a couple of sides. There’s what we want
the public to learn and what we would like to learn. I
think, as gamers ourselves, we’ve all had an experience
where we’ve seen a really sexy trailer. And then we’re
disappointed with the final result and the game. And so,
we wanted the public to see that this is a real thing. And
you can play right now. We wanted to share it.
OPM: What would you say is the Visceral Games stamp
on this Battlefield?
IM: Well I think what we have really had fun doing before,
and would like to do again, is creating rich, emotional
worlds. People think you need to make up a whole lore
and a fiction and all that kind of stuff to do that, and
we’ve done that before – I think we did it pretty good –
but we like doing it in general. I really love it when all the
things come together to create a sort of fantasy feeling
or an emotional experience. Be that in the single-player
mode, which is of course near and dear to our heart, or in
the multiplayer, where it’s not just always the exact same
modes or always the exact same thing, we can do things
where, with the music, with the voices, with the sounds,
with the look, it really feels emotionally rich and fun. I
think that’s something that we’ve done before that we’d
like to do again.
OPM: Was the transition to a first-person perspective a
difficult one to make?
IM: It’s a monstrous challenge. There’s no question
about that. I don’t know if it’s necessarily harder, it’s
just different. And it’s a different type of game and we’ve
tried to be humble from the beginning. I think we’re
pretty good game makers but you’ve got to watch out.
You can’t get cocky. So we’ve tried to be humble from
the beginning. We’ve spent a ton of time with DICE, who
obviously are the experts in Battlefield, and a lot of those
guys have been there since day one. So learning all about
what makes Battlefield Battlefield and transitioning to all
that stuff…
First-person in general? It’s a different type of game
but I think we’ve spent a lot of time making sure we get
it right. We’ve had a bunch of people join the studio that
have multiplayer and first-person shooter experience, so
I think the results are turning out pretty good.
05

THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
06
OPM: Did you ever consider making it in third-person?
IM: To be honest, nope. The idea was not to make a
spin-off or an off-year or some sort of other thing for
Battlefield. This is to make a full and proper Battlefield
THE CREW
game. And so I think third-person would be a reinvention
farther than we needed to go for this. I don’t know, I
think that it’d be kind of cool, but that’s not in the plans
for this.
OPM: What have you enjoyed most when you’ve been
playing Hardline in the office?
IM: Well, what’s really been great is the way in which we
continue to be surprised by it, because [of] the alchemy
of all the different crazy things that can happen in
Battlefield with the physics system, with those vehicles,
with all of those different gadgets and things going on,
and a world with all that potential of giant tall buildings
and underground and everything. It’s not like there’s a
single sequence that we keep loving, what I keep loving is
how we play the game for two hours every day and there
are still big surprises and things that happen where you
go, ‘Oh my God, did you see that? I didn’t even know that
was possible!’
Seeing people getting to the tops of buildings that we
didn’t intend for them to get to the top of… Learning
how to do all these kinds of crazy tricks and things that
happen… To me it’s the constant sort of emergent ‘only
in Battlefield’ moments that make me so happy.
OPM: And given some of the videos that emerged from
previous Battlefields, where people dive out of jets to
rocket somebody and hijack another plane in midair,
can you comprehend what you might see when the
community gets hold of it?
IM: I’m very excited. That’s the other really great thing
that we’re getting out of the Beta: people are playing it
right now. You know they only have the one map and
a subset of the weapons and game modes, but we’re
already seeing all kinds of amazing stuff, which is really
gratifying and unusual to get a taste of so early. I think
some of the things we’ve been doing in terms of the
zipline and the grappling hook, there’s definitely going to
be possibilities [for mirth] there. I’ve already seen some
funny videos.
OPM: We’ve got to ask – with Visceral now developing
Battlefield, is this the end of Dead Space?
IM: I would love to make more Dead Space. It’s certainly
not dead. For a lot of us, that game holds a special place
in our hearts and represents a lot of what we stand for as
game makers. And I think there’s a lot more stories and
adventures that could happen in the Dead Space universe,
so that would be really cool to do. Right now at this role,
this is our primary priority, and we’ve also got our really
awesome Star Wars project bubbling. But we’re always
working on several things, so Dead Space could be part of
the future for sure.
JULIAN GERIGHTY
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OPM: The Crew’s scale is very impressive. Did you ever
think you were taking on too big a job by mapping all of
North America?
Julian Gerighty: The way I see it is, if we create
something that’s really compelling and not a hostile
environment, but an environment that’s inviting too,
with lots of little challenges… I’m a dad. I don’t have
three hours consecutively to play on the game, so I
love having small challenges that give me a sense of
completion too. It’s big, but if we didn’t fill it with stuff,
it’d feel a little bit empty.
OPM: What cool things have you hidden in and around
the gameworld?
JG: The coolest thing for me is that we’ve hidden car
parts in the world. Once you collect them all you get
another free car basically. And the cars are kind of cool
and kind of fun, like a Hot Rod or something like that.
Those extras for me are the ones that work the best.
OPM: Are we right in thinking you have missions in the
game that last up to two hours?
JG: Up to four hours. We’ve got different kinds of
missions. We’ve got a linear storey, which is linear with
branches that guides you from Detroit and around the US
until you get to Los Angeles. And that’s fun and it’s cool,
but I know that a lot of people don’t necessarily want
to be stuck to something that’s linear, to a structure like
that. Some people need it, other people don’t really want
it. So we’ve filled it in with lots of different other races
and challenges and PvP missions.
Some of my favourite missions are the ones that are
really extreme. And the most extreme one we have, pretty
much, is a four hour mission. It’s the circumference of
the States. And those are really fun. I know that 1% of
people are going to play them, but that’s okay. We can

still make that for that 1% of people who are adamant on
We didn’t have that option. So we put it in. It’s an
trying everything in the game.
easy option to do: turn-off all the HUD and all he did was
drive around the States. That was it. He was like, ‘okay
I haven’t been down this road, I haven’t done this’. And
that’s awesome. Again, underlining the fact that people
want to play these games their way, and that’s kind of
cool to be able to do that.
OPM: It’s good to hear you’re not afraid to cater to the
minority. Is that philosophy you put into everything?
JG: I think it is. The way I like to think we really started
working on this was looking at how can we give content
for all different types of players. So if you want to play
single-player solo you can do that. If you want to play
synchronously there’re lots of ghosts. Every single skill
in the game, and there are 500, has a ghost associated to
it, with bronze, silver and gold medals. As soon as you
break a friend’s record you can send him your ghost. It’s
the same thing for co-operative play; you can play every
single mission co-operatively. PvP is either Crew versus
Crew, or it’s individuals. So every single thing is tailored
to the way that you want to play.
OPM: Plus you’ve got, what, six different car classes?
JG: It’s actually five, plus Full Stock; Full Stock being the
base dealership style car, the stuff that you’ll buy from
a warehouse or a dealership and you drive it out and it’s
got no modifications whatsoever. Then you’ve got Street
spec which is all about street racing: very fast, but very,
very agile. Endurance, which opens up rally style driving
and off-road driving: very good at sliding, the Colin
McRae sort of experience. Then you’ve got Perf which is
super fast but you’re sacrificing some of your handling
on asphalt. Raid: full off-road – you don’t even need a
road. And then circuit: race cars.
OPM: What area of the States excites you the most to
drive around?
JG: For me, Miami.
OPM: Why?
JG: I think there’s a visual complexity and a warmth
in the art direction that we’ve got, which I really love.
Just outside of Miami you’ve got the Everglades and
the Everglades are gorgeous to drive around. You’ve
got the Keys, with the bridges True Lies made famous.
You’ve got the Bayou closer to New Orleans, which
is magnificent to drive into. So, there’s a little bit of
asphalt… There’s a little bit of off-road… There’s a lot
of different stuff there, and it’s all really warm and fun
to drive.
OPM: There was a mini explosion online a few months
ago regarding microtransactions. Tell us about The
Crew and microtransactions…
JG: There are microtransactions. I was very surprised at
this [explosion], because one of the things that I really
want to put forwards and is very important to me is
generosity in terms of content. We’ve lots and lots of
content. There are seventy PvP missions. There’s 80
normal missions that you can play solo or co-operatively.
There’s over 500 skills. There’re hundreds of collectibles.
All of that, plus I’d like to deliver content packs postlaunch
for free; more races, more activities.
The one thing that we’re giving players the option
to purchase, if they want, is cars or parts for their cars.
You’re always going to be level capped by your player
level so it’s not pay-to-win at all. It’s very similar to what
you have in a Battlefield with a kit purchase or something
like that.
But you know it makes for a good article that you click
on and whatever. I’m super sensitive to it because I’m an
old-school console guy, not a PC guy, and I come from
the age where you had a cheat code to unlock something
and you didn’t micro-transaction it. I’m super sensitive
to that but I completely understand the concern; it’s a
concern of ours too. But the attitude that we have is it’s
only going to be there if you feel that you need to push
the experience or you don’t think that you want to wait
until a little bit later on to drive one of the end-level cars.
DEAD
ISLAND 2
THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
OPM: It might seem odd to ask this barely a year into a
console life cycle, but considering you’re doing so much
are you hitting any hardware limitations?
JG: There’re lots of things that I think we’d love to do
and that we thought we’d better cut because we want
to launch and don’t want to keep developing. There’re
lots of little things that we’re putting in, continuing to
put in, that are basically feedback from the community.
We had a super-hardcore simulation fan come in, and
he was playing the game and he didn’t want to do any
of the challenges. He didn’t want to do any of the, let’s
say, normal gameplay, with rules and success or fail
conditions. What he wanted to do was just drive around.
So we got into a full stock vehicle, no modifications,
no anything, didn’t spend any money upgrading it. Got
inside it, put him in the cockpit view and asked us if he
could turn off all of the HUD.
MICHAEL KEMPSON
PRODUCER
OPM: Yager and Dead Island. Talk us
through it – how did it happen?
Michael Kempson: Yeah it was really
fortuitous actually. We were coming
towards the end of Spec Ops: The Line’s
production and just as it happened that’s
when Dead Island 1 launched. It was
07

THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
08
the game in the office – we’ve got lots of retail kits and
WE GOT TO A PLACE
couches and stuff where you can play, and that was the
game everybody was playing for weeks and weeks and
weeks after launch. It wasn’t released in Germany, so it
was even extra special to get copies of it in so everyone
can play, so there was that factor...
OPM: If it didn’t come out in Germany did you order in a
contraband delivery?
MK: Not quite, but people were encouraging me to go
back and visit my mum all of a sudden in England and
say, ‘how many do you think you can get in your luggage?’
It was just always on in the office for weeks and weeks
and weeks. And one of the big reasons was because the
melee combat was great. It looked really lovely and I
think, as well, because you could play co-op really easily.
So people were doing co-op in the office constantly
during lunch breaks, and then they were going home in
the evening and playing even more, and it was just really
easy to play and it just was this game that took us by
storm.
As it turns out we finished up [Spec Ops], and as we
were finishing we heard that Deep Silver were interested
in partnering up with somebody for doing a sequel. We
heard it on the grapevine. We thought, ‘Okay, well we’re
just finishing, we’ve got a good few guys who are available
to do a pitch’. So they started to work on a pitch pretty
quick and we got in contact with Deep Silver, made that
pitch and they really liked the idea of working with us.
Thankfully! And yeah, we just basically jumped on it. We
couldn’t believe it because it had just been so popular [in
the office].
OPM: How is the studio split for your two games? Are
the core Spec Ops team now working on Dead Island or
[PC-only] Dreadnought?
MK: We haven’t really split it so we kept core guys from
Spec Ops on one or the other. We’ve obviously ramped
up for both projects, so we’ve got upwards of 90 or so
people with Dead Island and I think we’ve got about
another 40 on the other project, Dreadnought. But it’s
a real mix of Spec Ops wards between both projects.
We opened it up to everybody: ‘who’s really passionate
about what? Please do what you really want to do’. A lot
of people stayed with Dead Island, particularly all the
guys who did the pitch, and we kept a really big team
with Dead Island all the way through pre-production and
production now.
OPM: What do you think is the secret of taking over a
franchise such as Dead Island?
MK: That’s a really good question. I don’t know. We
didn’t really think about any sort of transition like that
when we were pitching. As I say, we heard Deep Silver
just wanted to find a good partner for it for whatever
reason and we didn’t really stop to think. We were just,
I don’t know, just so enthusiastic about going for it that
we never stopped to really consider – we just thought,
‘wow we’re actually going to get the chance’, and it’s not
often you get to do that. It’s not often you get a game you
really, really, love and then someone says: ‘would you like
to give it a go?’
‘Well of course!’
‘Really?’
WHERE YOU COULD UPPERCUT
A ZOMBIE WITH A SLEDGE-
HAMMER AND SEND THE THING
60FT IN THE AIR.
‘Yeah.’
So we really just jumped at the opportunity and then
it all kind of like settled in. ‘Oh God, people really like
this game as much as we do.’ Then it really turned into
the, ‘Oh right, we’ve really got a position of responsibility
here now because of how popular Dead Island is and how
it’s spread and how much it’s sold and all the word of
mouth…’ I mean it’s really quite incredible.
I still play Dead Island 1 on a weekly basis on my
machine. We all do for reference and to make sure we’re
still on track with the game. And there are still people
playing online all the time. Usually when I’m playing at
my desk I don’t turn the online off because I always want
to experience that, and there’s always people from the
community still actively playing it, joining my game and
having fun. Obviously they don’t know who I am, but I
appreciate it all the same. I think the main thing we take
on is just the responsibility, and obviously people still
really love that game and that franchise.
OPM: The CG trailer versus the original CG trailer
suggests quite a big tonal shift here, from tragedy
to comedy. What were your key objectives with Dead
Island 2 and its tone in particular, especially given your
Spec Ops background?
MK: A lot of people have been talking to me about that.
Like, how do you go from doing something like Spec Ops:
The Line in terms of tone and narrative and come out
with a trailer like this for Dead Island? That’s a really big
shift. And even a big shift in terms of Dead Island, like
you say.
Everyone watched that first trailer and it was a
beautiful, well crafted trailer in its own right, and they
won great awards for that. It was wonderfully artistic.
And when we sat down originally with Dead Island we
had a different idea of tone back then. I mean, this was
the time when The Walking Dead suddenly surged in
popularity. So I think a lot of our early thoughts on the
project were definitely kind of painted with that brush;
it was painted with the brush of The Walking Dead, we
weren’t trying to paint it with Spec Ops: The Line at all.
But as we started exploring the main ideas about Dead
Island and how it’s going to play out, how it’s going to
work with players actually doing the things they do to
zombies… that’s where this tone changed. It clicked for
us. In the pursuit of trying to tackle the melee combat
and the first-person melee combat – something we
haven’t done before at Yager – we thought we needed
to get that right. If we get anything right in terms of
gameplay, it has to be that.
We went straight into that and then we got to a place
where suddenly you could uppercut a zombie with a
sledgehammer and make him shoot up in the air 60 feet.
That was great. We thought, ‘that’s it’. It’s those moments
that are intrinsically funny and humorous, and that’s

when we got this tone down. And we were working with we understand it’s a quarantine zone…
Deep Silver on it all the time and it was just so... That
MK: Semi-land locked! [laughs]
was a really nice bit of collaboration because we realised
it was so obvious. There wasn’t a lot of back and forth
OPM: The previous games were all set in one big
and banter on that.
open-world environment. We’re guessing there’s a
You show anyone an uppercut with a sledgehammer, slight shift this time around? You’ve got LA, San Fran,
whilst a zombie’s on fire, and they immediately get it.
different bits of California… How does that work? Are
And then we realised that’s the tone and we’ve got to find we going out on missions in set locations?
a way to announce this game with that message and be
MK: We’re going to have the vastly different regions of
really consistent and be really, really obvious and to the
LA separated out. But every region is going to be a vast
point with it. Because we just want consistency. We want open world in its own right. We’re not showing all the
everybody on board with this tone and to make sure it’s
different geographical locations right now, but it’s safe to
objectively the correct thing to be doing. We wanted all
say that when we start looking at California we want it to
the consumers and all the fans on board with it.
really just best represent all those picturesque postcards
Luckily the response has been pretty much just what
you could imagine of any given vista and environment in
we all wanted, and everyone seems to be on board. So
California. It’s so varied.
yeah, I think in terms of that what that means for us at
Yager is what we’re taking over from Spec Ops isn’t the OPM: What put you onto California as a potential
tone but it’s the approach to the work – it’s the approach location in the first place?
to the craft. We answered certain questions in Spec Ops a MK: Well, we started with Dead Island 1 and obviously
certain way in terms of the tone and that was very much they were in Banoi, this fictitious island. It was always
the right thing for that game. And we’re pretty happy
that contrast with the obvious beauty of the tropical
that we’ve looked at the questions associated with Dead
island, the resort… [starts whispering] And then
Island and answered them as well and with the same
zombies… Ahhh! And then we thought it’s clearly
conviction, the same craft and work ethic. But, of course, something that the users like and everyone understands
we’ve come up with different answers for Dead Island.
is part of the franchise. And we thought we needed to
bring that again, but we wanted to make it even more
beautiful if we can. We wanted somewhere which is going
to make it easy for us to really take that up a few notches,
and also have people immediately understand it. We’re
not going to give you a long diatribe of how this place
came to exist and what it means and it’s this, that, and
the other…. And you don’t want a location that’s got too
long a back-story.
So we went with California just because it’s
immediately recognisable. Palm trees, Americana,
the Golden Gate Bridge and all these things… You
immediately recognise it and, yeah, we get a few
vacations out to California for a reference, so that’s
alright! [laughs]
OPM: How important is the soundtrack for you? Spec
Ops had an amazing soundtrack and already a couple
of songs that we’ve heard in the Dead Island 2 demo,
which we’re not allowed to tell readers about, suggest
a similar approach to obtaining punchy licensed music.
Is it a key thing to get that right for a Yager game?
MK: Very similar. That’s one of the things we did learn
on Spec Ops: when you’re going through a narrative
experience or just trying to accentuate or punctuate
an experience, whether it’s narrative or gameplay, the
right soundtrack can just amplify that beautifully. And
it did really well in Spec Ops, and we figured that was
something we could utilise again in Dead Island.
Fortunately for us we’ve got a really talented group of
guys at Yager. Berlin’s got a really big music scene. It’s
one of the places where there’s still vinyl record stores
just everywhere. So regardless of discipline at Yager, you
know we’ve got design – not just audio
people – but designers and artists all
super-into music. We’ve got quite a few
DJs in the office as well who are actively
working the DJ scene in Berlin. Those
guys, they come together on kind of a
weekly basis and basically figure all that
stuff out.
We’ve got a composer as well based
out in California. He’s really great, and
he’s working with us on the composition
of the original pieces of music that’s
going to be playing with the actual
gameplay and the systems there. A lot of
the licensed tracks… we actually do that
internally at Yager, and we have a music
group dedicated to that.
OPM: California is the new setting for
Dead Island. It’s not an island, although
OPM: We definitely heard Jack Black in that teaser…
MK: Did you? Did you definitely hear Jack Black?
Definitely? That’s interesting that you definitely heard
him [in the trailer].
OPM: That’s a very good Jack Black
impersonator then...
MK: He could well be. That’s actually the
character Max and he’s the radioman of Dead
Island 2. He’s going to be the guy who’s kind
of guiding you through this world and setting
you up. He’s a pretty interesting character.
One of the core things about California as
opposed to what we did in Banoi was, we
decided that this is really more of a vacation
spot still. In the first game, Sammy B and all
the player characters desperately wanted to
escape, but in our California certain people
desperately want to be there – and Max, the
character you’re talking about, is one of them.
However, Max is not immune, so he’s
not as biologically bad-ass as the player
characters. But he’s desperate to be part of
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THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
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something special and he sort of sees these guys and
OPM: How long did it take?
he’s like, ‘Cool, I can have some kind of like Nick Fury/
MK: It was, I think, a full day of work with four cats, and
Avengers things going on here. I can be their leader’.
Audiomotion were pretty exhausted after running around
He’s obviously got his partner, Rick Furry, our motioncaptured
cat friend. And he’s going to be guiding you
after the cats that wanted to bugger off and go to a corner.
through this world and because he’s going to be the radio OPM: So as far as reveals go you had a pretty good one
guy he’s going to be involved in the music playback and at the Sony conference at E3. How did that all come to
stuff like that.
play? And were you there watching it?
We just hope, again, we get the right tone of that
MK: No, I mean we were pretty busy getting prepared for
character. I hope that when you made your assumptions
everything else – making sure we were ready for the next
about who it might be, that was at least in keeping with
day because we had our fingers crossed it was going to
the tone that we set off.
be really big. I managed to stop for a few minutes when
passing a screen and I was like, ‘Oh God, it’s happening!’
OPM: It just felt like School Of Rock: he’s got the van
And then it happened faster than I imagined.
and his little gang…
It was a really great feeling and as it happened there
MK: If it gave you that feeling that’s great. That’s a really
was a bunch of other Yager guys from our other game
awesome thing.
walking around so we just grabbed them and we all
watched it together. It was a really great moment for us
– as you say, I think it was a good announcement and it
seems like everybody responded to it. And to be honest
I don’t think I was really prepared for it. It’s been pretty
overwhelming and nice...
OPM: So you motion captured a cat. No one else has
done that, how did that go?
MK: Really, really interesting. No, we’re really lucky. We
work with a motion capture studio called Audiomotion
in Oxford. A really great bunch of guys – they worked
with us on Spec Ops: The Line and did all of our motion
capture work on all our cutscenes. And they wanted to
partner again with us on Dead Island, and the idea of the
cat came up with Max. Max needed an entity to sort of
banter at, not banter with. So an animal made the most
sense and that’s how Rick Furry came along.
And we go sit with the animation team and we’re like,
‘guys, what do you think is the best way to do it? Do you
want to do key frame or do you want to do something
else?’ And they’re like, ‘no we want to motion capture
this’. And I’m like, ‘can that be done?’ And they’re like,
[in an apprehensive manner] ‘maybe’. So they got on the
phone to Audiomotion and they had a little chat and
Audiomotion just went, ‘we want to do that’. And we
were like, ‘oh, how come?’ They’re like, ‘because if we do
it we’ll be the first people to have ever have done it’. And
we’re like, ‘okay!’
And then that’s how I learnt, because I’m not an
animator myself, but I learnt with Audiomotion the
trials... People have done dogs before, like the Activision
and Call Of Duty guys, they obviously did dogs. The
trouble with cats is it’s much the same process, but cats
they’re just small enough that getting certain dots and
positions on them is terribly difficult because they’re so
small: paws and things like that are so tiny and they’re so
dainty. And obviously cats aren’t the most malleable of
animals when it comes to behaviour.
They had some really great trainers come down to
Audiomotion, they put wee little suits on the cats and
they got little dots on. They had to bring four cats with
the cat trainer. One of them just didn’t want to wear the
suit. At all. It was just not happy doing it. One of them
was just completely indifferent to doing anything that
they wanted to get it to do.
They got a lot of actions, but we weren’t trying to
really get them to do any specific tricks or jumps or stuff
like that. We really wanted a cat to be a cat, you know? if
it’s going to sit there and lick its bum, that’s what a cat
does and that’s fine. So yeah we’ve actually got footage of
that – we recorded the whole thing and I really hope we
get to put that out there later this year.
OPM: Earlier on you said The Walking Dead was
exploding early on in the project. Is there anything else
you’d identify as being key influences on your work?
MK: I think once we got over our geekdom of The
Walking Dead and we’d really started looking into how
these actual combats play out, we started looking a lot
more at Zombieland and their approach to these kind
of situations. Because doing comedy, doing something
that’s meant to be humorous or comedy is really,
terrifically difficult.
It’s funny, when something’s dark and has got a lot of
weight to it, like Spec Ops, we need an expert because
this is obviously tough. Comedy, everybody knows
what makes them laugh, so everybody’s got an idea as
to what that is, so when we established the humour
touch of it, everybody in the company started watching
Zombieland as kind of ‘if everyone is at point zero with
this, this is a good reference for you in terms of the kind
of humour that this title needs [to have]. Regardless of
your subjective humour, that would be the best place for
everybody to start’.
And there’s a really good set of points in Zombieland
because, unlike Shaun Of The Dead, the characters in
Zombieland really aren’t trying to be funny all of the
time. In Shaun of the Dead they crack quite a few jokes,
they like a lot of one-liners and there’s a lot of setup
and then a lot of slapstick, whereas in Zombieland the
characters are genuinely trying to survive and they are
quite desperate, but they just do cool stuff because of it.
You know what I mean? What they do is just cool and
funny and they’re not trying to do a joke and a setup and
a punchline with it. So that’s how we take that approach.
IT WAS A FULL DAY OF
WORK WITH FOUR CATS. WE
WERE PRETTY EXHAUSTED
AFTER CHASING THE ONES
THAT BUGGERED OFF.

lot of other multiplayer games. The grimmest ones are
the survival games, that I love personally. Like Rust. [on
PC]. Genius! But man is it scary if someone else turns up.
You look at them, well hidden, and then you realise if you
BERND DIEMER
can take the guy or not. We decided to go the other way.
GAME DIRECTOR
In one of those scenes, at the beginning we wanted
to have a linear narrative, which isn’t compatible with a
multiplayer game. You have this one moment where you
meet an NPC, he has a little daughter, and you can guess
- the daughter gets bitten and turns into a zombie. You
have a moral situation which is very Spec Ops: The Line
– are you going to leave them behind and go away, or
OPM: Tough question to start with: what’s the big
kill the zombie girl or not? Very much like The Walking
secret to a great zombie experience?
Dead, the idea came from the second season where this
Bernd Diemer: I think there are lots of secrets. One is
little girl turns into a zombie.
where we spent the most time on to get it exactly right
We constructed this moment where as a player you
is the tone. The perfect tone – that is something I think stand there and have a choice: kill the girl or not? We had
that sets us apart from other zombie games, and there are to play test it in our cinema. We played and there were
lots and lots. When we started pitching Dead Island to
two of us sat there and we both got the prompt; we sat
Deep Silver, we decided, what do you want? If you look
there and thought we now had this genius moment where
at the first game it basically has two tones: one is very
we have to decide what to do, and then another guy from
serious, there is a nuclear weapon about to go off and
our team basically drove by in a car, hit the girl and she
everybody dies. On the other hand you whack zombies
flew 500 metres across the map. We were all laughing.
clear across the map with an electrified sledgehammer.
Then we realised we can’t do stuff like that. It has to
We decided together, what are we? Are we The
embrace the awesomeness and the over-the-top tone of
Walking Dead or are we Zombieland? After a bunch
Zombieland. It’s not slapstick and it’s not people playing
of failed experiments, which are mainly related to
it as a comedy, but it’s light-hearted and it has this
multiplayer, we decided to go for Zombieland. Our game internal dialogue of people reflecting on how absurd this
is The Expendables meets Zombieland.
situation is but also how cool [it is].
OPM: Can you share the details on some of those early
failed experiments?
BD: Actually it was one of those moments where I had
an epiphany. Saying that sounds incredibly smart, but
mainly it comes…
OPM: To give you full credit, that’s especially smart in a
second language!
BD: I looked that word up because it perfectly describes
how stupid we all felt when we realised something that
should’ve been obvious right from the start. We had
multiplayer, right? And our main inspiration, as funny as
it sounds, comes from Journey. The excellent, the sheer
brilliance of Journey, where you start playing with other
people and you don’t realise it.
That was one of the things that stood out in Journey
for me, personally, when I played it. For some reason I
didn’t even know it was multiplayer when I was playing,
so there were these other people turning up in my game
and I thought it was AI, but it wasn’t – it was other
people. When I realised that I thought, ‘wow, I wish I had
done that’.
So we wanted to bring that to Dead Island, so people
join your game when you decide to play multiplayer.
You can play it alone, but we really want you to drift
into multiplayer seamlessly. There’s no hurdle, no speed
bump, annoying lobby, menu, or even having to decide on
the perfect time to play together. I want people to turn
up in my game.
That was something I liked about the first game – and
that they could do me no harm. The second thing about
Journey, the people in your game – they do you no harm,
they’re cool. It’s a nice moment when you realise, ‘woah
there’s another one’. That’s completely the opposite to a
OPM: From the outside looking in it seems like there are
a lot of games censored or not released in Germany
because of gore. How have you found yourselves
restricted on that front? Do you have to be mindful of
that because of censorship, and does the censorship
factor hold you back during development?
BD: So far no. But there’s always weirdness. When we
start submitting it for ratings, I shouldn’t say weirdness...
There are special things we need to take into account for
different countries. No pandas in China, and in Japan you
can have no skeletons… They really don’t like that. It’s
one of those cultural special things, that every culture is
sensitive to different things.
Another one in Japan is that buildings have no fourth
floor, because four is unlucky.
So if you have a house in
Japan they ask you to take
out the fourth floor, or ask
you to remove any important
gameplay or objectives on the
fourth floor. That is the [kind
of] stuff that throws you as a
game developer.
OPM: You’ve got eight
player multiplayer but
four characters, is that
a contradiction?
BD: Well, we have four
characters now…
OPM: Okay, that’s a good
answer. From the early
concept art to now there have
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been a few changes. we noticed the female Speeder’s
had a bit of a visual makeover and is more covered up WE CARE ABOUT DETAILS
now – what are the reasons behind these changes?
BD:
SOME PEOPLE MIGHT NOT EVEN
To better fit with the tone. One of the things that
Yager is doing with all games is that we care a lot about NOTICE. WE HAVE THE PROPER
details. With the Speeder for example, we changed ZOMBIE ETHNICITY MIX.
her backstory, which isn’t even in the game. She has a
different profession now and that required us to change
her appearance – she is a stunt girl now, and previously I
a mainstream guy when it comes to [elements such as]
think she was a stunt driver.
gunplay, so I like Battlefield.
It was one of those weird things that I like about
The secret to doing melee is that it needs to be
Yager; we care about some details some people might not
playable from day one. That was a big struggle. With
even notice. For example, we have this great component
guns you can leave a lot for later for polishing. You can
system to construct zombies. We have male, female,
basically build your game solely based on numbers and
tall, little… But then somebody said, ‘wait a minute, it
make them relatively late in the process. With melee
needs to match the gender mix and ethnicity mix we
weapons you need to do a lot more earlier. That was
have of California’. So somebody looked up if we had
difficult for us.
the correct ratio between male and female for a typical
You can simulate how a [projectile] weapon feels. If
suburbia section, and also the ethnic mix. We make
you have a sledgehammer and it hits a zombie, the visual
sure we have the proper ethnicity mix between white,
effects, the feel, the heft and the impact is relying on a
Asian, Hispanic... And if you would analyse the game
lot more – you need animations, particles and sound.
and compare it to… Well, we aren’t scientists, so most
You need that stuff in. With guns I can imagine it. I did a
of our sources are Wikipedia, but if you compared that it
bunch of shooters so I know how it works in my head –
would match.
if the weapon is cool. With melee, not so much. You need
to prove it. That’s what we did relatively early on. The
melee combat was the first demo we did. Our E3 demo
was over a year old. It was built specifically to master
melee combat. Well, our version of it, of course.
Also I think it’s important that you pick the right
tonal flavour. What are your weapons supposed to
be? Realistic? Hollywood? Over-the-top? You need to
embrace that. A sledgehammer doesn’t make people fly
20m through the air but you expect it to. That’s really it.
OPM: So you guys have scanned yourselves and you’re
in the game as actual zombies. What does it feel like to
kill yourself?
BD: I haven’t found myself yet. I don’t know if I’m
actually in already? My head is in there, but I’m not sure
if the system is hooked up. I’m sure it will feel weird.
When the system came online, we only had one head of
the character artist. So all zombies had Calvin’s head, no
matter what they looked like: male, female... They all had
his head and that was really creepy. For two weeks or so
you had to kill Calvin over and over again.
OPM: How did he feel about that?
BD: He took it as a compliment.
OPM: With Spec Ops you mastered projectile weapons.
This is a very melee heavy game; it’s a very different
skillset to make. How have you found that transition and
have you got to grips with melee combat? What have
been the challenges in doing that?
BD: We had the benefit of having lots of people on the
team who worked on melee based games before. We even
have some developers from the original DI: a programmer
and a level-designer who are working with us. I think
with melee… Guns are easier because it’s so established.
It’s so established – gunplay – by now that if you’re not
careful it becomes boring very fast. You run and you end
up with a generic shooter. You have your AR-15, your
Colt, Desert Eagle and everything.
It’s tempting to end up with a standard mix of
weapons that, in essence, will result in a boring
experience because there’s nothing that stands out.
However, they are very clear references: if you want to do
a gun game, they are the best of classes and you can look
up whatever [you want]… Personally, for example, I think
the way the weapons feel in Battlefield is top of the line.
It differs – the more simulation-oriented people drift
towards something like Arma, or Red Orchestra, where
weapons jam and behave differently. I’m much more of
OPM: So a lot of our readers are waiting for first true
wave of proper new-gen games to come out. We’ve had
a lot of cross-gen games, a lot of remastered editions...
BD: The Last Of Us is sitting on my PlayStation….
OPM: Exactly! But Dead Island 2 is a new-gen only title.
What does PS4 allow you to do that you couldn’t have
done last-gen?
BD: I think what new-gen allows us to do… Well, I’m
not talking about visuals – that stuff you have to deliver
anyway. Every game nowadays has to be pretty and I have
no worries that we will pull that off.
Behind the curtains, behind the scenes, what it
allows us to do is be closer to the platform owners.
Everybody, Sony, Microsoft, whoever, they are a lot more
relaxed about getting stuff in the hands of the players
as early as possible. That is very helpful. The shortness
of submission cycles means it’s easier to update, so
adjusting the game once players get their hands on it is a
lot easier. That’s cool for developers. You can make sure
that stuff is polished in the right way.
By establishing this infrastructure it allows us to
basically build what we call the world’s smallest MMO.
On the last generation platforms it wasn’t possible,
simple as that. We couldn’t have achieved the seamless
multiplayer on the last hardware – that simply wasn’t
possible. It’s not just the box itself which has more
RAM and power – which is nice – but mainly it was the
infrastructure around it, and mainly the way platforms
treat players. Sony, for example, they featured us in their

press conference and we’re doing some exclusive stuff
possible now because of a mix of two main components.
for them, but the way they featured us [at E3], I still get
One is the console itself. Something as simple as
goosebumps… It shows that they care. That platform
memory: you need a certain amount of memory to have
holders care about players, and that I like as both a player a certain size in the world. Yes, there is all sorts of clever
and also as a developer. It allows us to work on the right
streaming and so forth, but still, it makes things a lot
things. And the whole thing of sharing is awesome.
easier, and you can focus on other things and you do not
need to optimise on that level too much.
OPM: To pick up on one point you said there, games are
The other component for us is online. So we’re going
coming out and day one they’re getting patched. You’ve to use the compute cloud for that to run dedicated
said it’s easier for things to be patched after the day of servers in, and that means we can actually achieve
release. With the freedom now from platform holders
what we call ‘seamless multiplayer’. That’s the way we
to do that, is that a danger as well as an asset? A
discussed this with Deep Silver when we talked about
potential to take things easier than before in the run up this idea: the only way for us to achieve a step up from
to going gold because you now know you can fix it later? the really well done co-op experience of Dead Island 1,
BD: I think it helps us. It’s a positive thing overall.
was: ‘Hey, there’s somebody around, why don’t you join?’
Towards the end of development, when you work on the That is a lot better than lobbies or invitations and all of
game and look at the bugs and discuss what bugs they
that stuff.
want fixed, there’s a tendency of saying,‘we’ll stick that
We want to put in the next level, which is saying,
in a patch’. And very often that’s an excuse for whenever
basically: ‘You’re playing online, and there’s somebody
we can have time for it.
– just play with them!’ And you can only do that if you
Sometimes in the bad old days it also often resulted
do not punish the player if they’re playing online at all.
in day one patches which are very substantial. Let’s
So if he chooses to play for himself, he can do that, no
put it like this: with the best intentions you want to
problem. And at any given moment, he can decide to go
deliver a bug-free project into the hands of your fans.
the other way, and that’s only possible if your servers run
But sometimes it gets too big and you only get to do one in the cloud.
Day One patch because it needs to go to submission.
Then there’s the obvious bells and whistles of having
In the old days, doing a patch took almost a month and
more GPU power, which... I think the people that benefit
that means you have to be careful what you put in there.
the most from that are our artists. Of course they can
If you realised there was an issue after the patch was
have more polygons and more shaders and whatnot, but
already in submission, which a day one patch needs to be what we can do now is – which helps us with building
before you ship, then it’s too late. Basically as a developer open-world games – we’re using physical based shading,
you’re f***ed – you can’t patch it because it’s already in which is something that Unreal 4 comes with. And what
submission, but you need to and people will be pissed
this allows us to do is define the materials in a way that
off. But now you can do invisible micro-content patch.
you can place the very same item in totally different
lighting and game situations and it will still work, which
OPM: Final question for you – there are a whole bunch
is different.
of zombie games out there. Why should people be
So as an example in Spec Ops – I’m not making this
excited for Dead Island 2 above the others?
up now – but there was a level where all the materials
BD: Because it’s awesome. It’s open world, California.
in that level had to be touched up by an artist to make
Over the top and so much fun. It has been a pleasure
it fit to the lighting situation of that level. It was a very
to work on. Now we are entering that phase in game
extreme lighting situation, and it paid off in the final
development where we can play ourselves and we can get game. This is something that we do not need to do now,
it into the hands of players relatively early. When people so... You get a certain amount of realism, even though it’s
play it [at events] they’re going to tell us what’s wrong
not photorealism. If you want you could do photorealism,
with it and what isn’t, and we can make it even better.
but that’s not the goal. ‘Making it look believable’, is
what we call it. But you can do it in a way that makes the
reusability of things a lot easier, and that’s one of the core
principles that we need to do a game the size of Dead
Island 2 with a team of our size. So all these systemic
things only work because of that.
ANDRÉ DITTRICH
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
OPM: As technical director, how nice is it to finally be
making a game on new-gen hardware and what can you
do now that you couldn’t before?
André Dittrich: I think that given Dead Island 2 is going
to be that open and that accessible, it’s actually only
OPM: Is PS4 as easy to code for as Sony made out back
at the reveal of the hardware last year? Is it basically a
PC in a console shell?
AD: Is it a PC in a console shell? Yes and no. Is it easy to
develop for? If I compare it to when we started with PS3?
Hell yes. Gosh, is that a step up!
OPM: Do you feel like it was designed as a reaction
to your complaints from last gen? By you I mean the
development communities – do you feel it was designed
for you guys to make games on?
AD: You can feel that, yes. And you feel it, a) from the
architecture, because – there’s one thing that consoles
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need to give you, right? Which is you need to be able to
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
grow on the console while it’s alive. So you want to be
able to have, say, The Last Of Us towards the end of a WE HACK OFF A ZOMBIE’S LEG?
generation. If you compare that to Resistance – the first
WE NEED TO SHORTEN THAT AS
instalment – which is a great looking game, but if you
compare the two, you can tell the difference. And you WELL BECAUSE WE’VE GOT THE
want to have that still possible. And from talking to other FREEDOM OF VARIETY.
developers, and we’re of course visiting the different
things that Sony puts out where they explain their
technologies, you can totally tell that this is going to be in handy for all future Yager titles?
happening again.
AD: Definitely yes. Even if we do another corridor game,
It’s easy to get something really, really good out of
with everything pre-defined, there’s still going to be
it right now, but I think the moment people learn to
characters in there. In Spec Ops we tried to give them as
actually harness it properly, then you can actually tell
much variety as we could with the limitations that we
that there is the possibility there for growing. And they
had, but this variety now can be... You know, I’m a tech
do a lot on their end to prepare for that, so they help
guy so of course there is a limit. But now this limit is
developers quite a bit. I can only judge from basically
pretty high.
listening to their talks, but judging by that, they have
The thing that we do with this body system, for
a lot of people who are just trying to do exactly that:
example, is that it’s not only parts that are changed;
maxing it out.
there’s things that are numerically tweakable. So one very
easy-to-understand example is the length of a T-shirt or
the trousers: we can actually shorten and lengthen them
absolutely fluidly, how we want.
Of course, there are other things – so what happens
if we hack off the leg? We need to shorten that as well.
Basically we gave ourselves a foundation that with
numbers we can do infinite variety, and now you can
basically pick and choose and say: ‘What is a variety that
somebody can see [and appreciate]?’
Another thing that we thought about was height
differences. But with the normal zombies, doing height
differences doesn’t pay off. You cannot tell. Somebody
being five centimetres taller than the one next to him?
You can’t tell. You can definitely tell that a Thug is bigger
than the others, yeah – but the height differences that we
as humans are used to, they’re easier for us to tell out of
our human perspective. In a game? It doesn’t really work.
We tried it on Spec Ops and didn’t do it, and we looked
at it again and... It’s not worth it, actually. I think we can
do it, but I don’t think that we’re actually going to use it.
OPM: You focus on tech, so what does it take to fully
‘harness’ a console? What does it take to max it out? Is
it purely experience, is it just working on that platform
for five years?
AD: Is it experience? Yes, definitely yes. And experience
is not only for the tech people, it’s the whole team. Our
artists, when they started for example in physics-based
training, that was a very painful process, because they
needed to change the way they do things dramatically. It
took a while, but the results I think speak for themselves.
On the pure engineering side, that’s true as well,
because… Let’s take the graphics for example: to be able
to really harness that [power] and make sure that all
the different computing units have something to do –
something useful to do in an efficient way – that’s not
easy. And that’s more a matter of time and so forth. You
start with an engine – Unreal works well on PC and has
been put onto the consoles and works well there, but
until this is really using all of the fine details properly it’s
just a matter of time.
We need to ship this game at some point, so if you
would give us – I don’t want it – but if you would give
us infinite time we can try and push that with one title.
But I think it’s better to push things to a final quality
every now and again, and every time you do that you
learn a bit more and develop new tech. And then that
tech is the foundation on what you build [next].
I think the main difference to the last generation,
when we switched from PS2 to PS3, I think the jump was
not that strong for the players. I think this time around
[PS3 to PS4], maybe it’s due to the fact that the PS3
generation lasted a bit longer, but also because of the
hardware being pretty hefty, I think if you look at that
PlayStation 4 shooter launch title...
OPM: Killzone: Shadow Fall?
AD: Killzone: Shadow Fall! You already can tell that there
is a big leap from PS3 to PS4. But I don’t think that’s the
end of it.
OPM: You’ve got tech that now randomises zombie
models in the game. It took a lot to build that
technology, but is that now a tool that’s going to come
OPM: But that’s the interesting thing, the idea that you
now have the ability, that kind of possibility to do those
things – is it about taking that experience and moving
into the next project while going ‘We have all this
available to us’?
AD: Yes. And that’s one of the reasons why everything
is so systemic; of course we’re thinking a bit ahead. It’s
going to be in the next project, right? And there’s lessons
that we learned with how systemic we can be and we
should be, and we will do certain things differently next
time, because they work okay right now, and we will not
change it for this game but we probably will change it for
the next one. The characters are not among them – that
is actually working very well for us.
But an interesting challenge for example is filling the
world. Just imagine you have an LA suburb in somewhere,
and you want to fill it with houses; you don’t want to
have a horde of thirty level designers doing that, you need
to have a way of them basically placing fully working
houses, with everything in there – all gameplay, audio,
everything set up – just by dragging it into your level.
And that’s not as simple as it sounds. We have a system
that we’re quite happy with for now, but we want to put

that to the next level. We’ll probably go a bit further for
So we had a strong stealth part in that in the beginning,
this game, but there’s already ideas floating in people’s
with a stealth suit that could hide you in plain sight
minds about how to actually bring it one step up.
[with] and that sort of stuff.
OPM: So do you see this generation as the point at
which the definition between a technical worker on a
game and an artist working on a game becomes a bit
more fluid? Does the technology offer you the ability to
have a whole team of just ‘game makers’?
AD: Yes. It’s something that some people don’t like
to hear, but I think there’s nobody on this team that
can survive without some knowledge of tech. Even the
concept artists. For us it works, right? So you have to
adapt to the people you have so that you have a great
team with certain talents. We are a bit fortunate, so
we have a lot of people who are willing to embrace
technology.
And for our concept artists, for example, they’ve
started to do 3D concepts in the level that are actually
already somewhat playable. It’s not ‘level designer’ quality
levels, but there are areas in the game that have started
that way. So they put it together using the systems
we have, and that means they have to get somewhat
acquainted with the technology.
For others, like animators or environment artists, that
learning curve was a bit more steep. But in the end, what
you get is somebody that is a lot more self-sufficient and
a bigger part of the overall thing. You’re not just doing a
mesh and handing it over to somebody and he turns it
into something that works in the game.
And an interesting effect that has is that
communication between people on the team starts to
change. So you start to see people talking to each other
– that was rather uncommon before – because basically
their working fields start to overlap. And I’m not sure
where this is going, like how far, but right now we’re
trying to support that as much [as possible]. Even
though it means, yes, the system initially is a bit more
work to implement.
But even on a prototype level, that is true. We actually
started on Unreal Engine 3 because Unreal 4 wasn’t
available. So we actually had, pretty much, a working
game in Unreal Engine 3 already, and that allowed our
level designers to already play and toss around ideas.
There’s stuff in the current game that is just
straight out of that.
And what we learned there already is that
even prototypes need to be built in a way
that allows our content people to play with
them and start changing things. Even [back]
then, configurability, exchangeability etc is
important. Of course, if you do a next game
that is somewhat akin to what you’re doing
right now, then you can use some of the stuff
you built already for a head start…
OPM: We know we’re here to talk about
Dead Island 2 obviously, but earlier on in
the day you talked about Spec Ops and the
changes it underwent. In fact we think you
said it was called Stealth Ranger…
AD: Yeah, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to talk
about that… Obviously not everyone’s called
it like that – it was an internal name for it.
OPM: You’re shaking your head like, ‘Why did you ever
come up with that?’ regretfully… Why a stealth suit?
AD: Because everybody thought it was a good idea! I
mean the game it turned into in the end was just… it
just happened, to some degree. Like it was a concerted
effort of a lot of people, but to say that in the beginning
we knew exactly what we would have in the end? That’s
nonsense. That’s why it took so long!
But there was a distinct point in time where we
realised, ‘Ah, now we’re on to something! Now we know
we’re in business!’ and the same happened with Dead
Island 2 as well. There was this point that I think now we
understand what this game is.
OPM: So no stealth suits in Dead Island 2?
AD: No stealth suits! [laughs] No stealth suits. I think
you can tell in finished products if there was a point
during the production where things just click together.
So those games that are just finished because they need
to be finished – you can tell. And then there are games
where you can tell, ‘Oh! They understood what they were
doing’, and everything falls into place.
OPM: Is there anything in particular that you want to
highlight as one of the things that clicked for you?
AD: I think, in the end, it’s the way we approached
multiplayer. So the parallel nature of me being able to
play this game as I see fit, and still enjoying it with
others. So there’s a guy in the office that I like a lot as a
person, but I will never play other games with him again!
I’m a sniper, I like to stay in the back and shoot people
from a distance. It’s just my playstyle. And he’s a rusher
– so he’s just, ‘AAARGH!’ and you can’t... It just doesn’t
work. And the reason why it’s not working very well is
just the way it has been done.
We want to make sure that this is never going to be a
problem. If two playstyles don’t match, they don’t match.
There’s nothing you can do about that. But what you can
do is make sure that neither spoils the experience of the
other. That was the moment when we thought, ‘okay,
how do we need to change all of our quest
systems, all of our loot systems, spawning
and everything to accommodate that?’ So at
any given point anyone could join a server
and have fun on his own, and then somebody
comes around the corner and you’re playing
together for a while – if it’s really fun then
you stay together, if not then you part ways.
OPM: Is that operating in a way similar
to how people experience it in Destiny –
flashpoint match-ups with randoms? Is that
a fair comparison?
AD: Um… We’re not totally certain about
that yet. So the idea is, again, that you turn
on the game and you’re online and you can
play. Of course, we will try to look at things
like friends that are online and playing, so
that we match you with them. We want to
maybe look at things like people you have
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OPM: And just to clarify, you’re talking a lot about coop,
but can you play offline or is it online-only?
AD: No [it’s not online-only]. When we say we’ll do a co-
played with already for matching… What we’re trying to
op game, what we mean is that our game is giving you the
get is ‘a bit’ [of that] out of the equations.
choice on a minute-to-minute basis, whether you want
That’s why I’m saying we’re not sure because we’re
to play co-op or not. That’s the difference. So we’re not
actually playtesting that. The sole reason why we want
saying you join up for co-op and you play co-op; we’re
to make it possible that a level 20 and a level one player
just saying you’re joining a game, and how you play it:
can play together and both have a challenge is because
that’s what you have to decide.
we want to get that out of the matchmaking equation,
What does playing offline mean in terms of the
because it’s one of the things that doesn’t work for me
experience? That’s something we have to see. It’s
very well in games like Diablo, for example. I just started probably going to be fun, but is it going to be as fun? I
a new class, right? And I’m enjoying playing it, and
don’t think so, because when I was watching the guys
then a friend comes online and he’s already in a second
play the demo yesterday or the day before, they had this
playthrough, maybe – so when I’m joining that guy, I
carnage event at the end where you have a Beserker in
have to pick one of my old characters. But I want to play
the middle and he’s just throwing zombies left and right.
the new one, right? That’s why I started them, initially.
Watching that as a player is just nuts, and then you just
We want to get that out of the way, so if you just
pump in with a shotgun… That’s an experience you will
bought the game and your friend has been playing for
never have in single-player. But of course, it’s fun to slash
three weeks – play together, that’s fine! And that has
zombies and level-up your characters; you still have that.
consequences everywhere. That’s not only balancing; that
has consequences in storytelling and quests and loot…
Everywhere. Once we realised that, this is actually what
we spin around.
OPM: Your game obviously fits into a wider rush of
games that are very co-op driven. So you’ve got Evolve
and Destiny and all of this stuff coming at once, and it
seems like there’s been this sudden trend for it. Why?
A lot of people are saying, ‘it’s all about sharing,’ and
the experience that people want from their gaming
has changed, but does it essentially come down to the
technical aspects? So, behind all of the decisions, it’s
actually: ‘We couldn’t do co-op well enough before, and
now we can’? It seems like there’s mixed messages
around the trend…
AD: I wouldn’t say that. Could you do an open-world
co-op experience like Dead Island 2 that would be on
last-gen? Probably. Probably... GTA V isn’t too far from
that. They made a few different choices in how that
multiplayer is playing out, but they’re choices. Those are
design choices, so I think they could have done –
if they wanted to – a joined experience of the game.
The amount of effort you have to put into that; that’s
a totally different story. So the amount of effort that we
have to put into this right now is a different level than it
was before. Maybe to put it in perspective, if you would
do a corridor shooter on ‘new-gen’, you can drive it to
visual levels that are just mind boggling. And I think The
Order looks like it’s going into that direction.
OPM: The Order: 1886 is just astonishing, visually.
AD: It’s like, ‘what the heck is going on!?!’ Really, that
kind of stuff. Lucky for us is that even if you do not reach
that level of visual fidelity, still the amount of power
that is there allows you to go so far. I think we’re looking
f***ing awesome, but that [visual fidelity] would not
have been possible on last-gen, definitely not.
Especially for games that were a bit more open and
a bit wider except for your Rockstars and those with
resources up to the brim who can actually pull that off
on a big scale. But for a small team like us… There were
limitations that we just had to accept.
DESTINY
DAVID DAGUE
COMMUNITY MANAGER
OPM: One thing that Bungie is great at is taking
feedback. What info in particular are you looking for
from player data above service stress testing?
David Dague: We want[ed] the launch to be as positive
and as high quality experience for as many people as
possible, and that’s certainly not something that we take
lightly. There is so much new technology in play with
that: social matchmaking, cooperative matchmaking and
obviously the competitive matchmaking that we have a
lot of experience with.
Making sure that Guardians have chance encounters
with each other in the wild, making sure that total
strangers can rescue each other from danger. Trying
to create the sensibility that the Tower is like a small
village, where you go and have interactions with people
who are from your friends list, or people that you might
be connected to through social graphs, or even different
WE WANT TO MAKE SURE
THAT GUARDIANS HAVE
CHANCE ENCOUNTERS WITH
OTHERS OUT IN THE WILDS OF
OUR MANY SETTINGS.

Guardians you might have shared experience with on one pillars that have been there from the start?
of your missions in the wild. All of these things are new DD: Absolutely. When our community plays our game
and theoretical for us.
we learn what it really is. We have our theories of what
Putting them to the test, a lot of what we’re testing
Destiny is – we feel comfortable as to what this game
and refining are under the hood, these are systems that
is – but we will learn more and more about what Destiny
will be invisible to the player. We’re always listening to
is the more people play it, and the more they go from
see if there is any one Guardian or any one weapon that is new players of the game to veterans who are expert
the only logical choice when it comes to combat, because players in this game. Just like the Guardians who play
we want our players to be confronted with many different it, the conversation will evolve over time. We certainly
engaging and interesting choices. Where they feel like
don’t stop paying attention on September 9th; that’s the
if they choose the Hunter, Titan, or Warlock they’re all
beginning of the process, not the end for us.
embracing different strength and weaknesses. When
they choose one weapon over another, they’re favouring OPM: It’s that thinking that gave birth to Forge and
a very specific attribute. If all of these questions become Theater modes in Halo. Is taking on community
logical and something sticks out like a sore thumb on the requests for specific modes something that’s still alive
gunsmith’s rack, which is the only weapon you should
in Destiny? Even those modes in question? If there’s a
take into the Crucible, then that’s something we’ll act on. big call for Forge and Theatre, will they find their way
We’ll make sure the sandbox of Destiny is diverse and
in to the game?
rich in terms of the options given to the player.
DD: That is such an astute question. I think if you
take a look at what Forge and Theater were in the Halo
OPM: How much will you continue to monitor the way
experience, they were things that entered by the third
people are playing after launch, and how is that going
iteration. Halo would be the party game when we realised
to change the experience long term?
that people connected over local area networks, either
DD: You just described my job and I will be working with in their apartments or halls, or over the backbone
entire group of designers at Bungie who will be tasked
of a college campus network. We say Halo become a
with being one of the most player-focused developers
competitive phenomenon, which is why we iterated on
in the industry. We will listen, we will monitor, we will
the experience with matchmaking; making competitive
observe, we will debate, engage… We will discuss. There
multiplayer and making it a global phenomenon; a
will be a feedback on Bungie.net, there will be a forum
household pastime that anyone could enjoy.
devoted to feedback.
From there we saw people starting [to use] the game
We are serious enough as developers who have
as a stage for their creative expression, in which case
listened to our community to know that sometimes
we put better tools for storytelling into their hands. We
players will argue with things that will make them more
saw people wanting to customise their experience to the
powerful. Specifically stuff breaking the design pillars
nth degree, which is why we gave them their own mapbuilding
tool. In every case we draw inspiration from the
that we’ve painstakingly created for the game. But if
we ever find an issue or complaint that is universal to
community. We love observing them and seeing the way
everyone, we’ll decide if that’s something we want to act they will surprise us.
on, or we’ll decide if it’s just one of those elements of the
We don’t fully know how they’ll surprise us in
experience that we wanted to create for people.
Destiny yet, which is why we have invested wholly in
There are some elements where people
the core player experience. We have tried
will say, ‘make my favourite weapon more
to create an enormous world that will be
powerful so I can win more matches’. And
a place that would invite them to explore,
we’ll say, ‘no, please enjoy your competitive
we tried to create a game in scope and scale
experience in the Crucible’. There are some
that was more elaborate and more vast than
people who will say, ‘give us a mini-map
anything Bungie had ever created before,
so I know where I am’. I will say, ‘no, enjoy
and on that foundation we can iterate and
your adventure as you’re lost in a wild and
we can build for years to come as they
abandoned Earth’.
[continue to] surprise us with interactions
Destiny is about exploration. Discovery.
that we never imagined.
It’s about balance in the face of many
We can say, ‘that’s the sort of thing that
different types of foes… It’s about risk,
will add to the player experience, that’s the
reward, strength and vulnerability. It’s about
sort of thing we want to better enable for
finding your own place in that sandbox.
everyone to enjoy’. So we’ll take the most
If there is no challenge, if there is no pain
clever people in our community and use
for a player then the game is not fun in an
them as role models for every other player,
essential type of way. If we do determine
and say, ‘let’s let more people behave like
that there’s something about that sandbox,
this guy’.
about that experience, that is broken
or could simply be enhanced, we will
absolutely be in a position where we can act
on that on a regular basis.
OPM: So there’s give and take there
between the community and those core
OPM: That long-term experience remains
the most mysterious to us at the moment.
What are you doing to ensure that we’ll be
having these new experiences and telling
these new stories after the story’s over?
DD: It was important to us that the narrative
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in Destiny has a beginning, middle and end. There are
I SPEAK FOR A DEVELOPER
a lot of players that approached us saying, ‘is Destiny a
game I can finish or beat?’ And that state of completion THAT IS VERY INTERESTED IN
is something that a lot of gamers still demand from the DELIVERING MYSTERIOUS
games that they play.
The story missions do do that, but the thing we
EXPERIENCES THAT ARE
are giving people options for is optimisation, so if you ROOTED IN EXPLORATION.
complete the story as a Titan, it’s completely different
as a Hunter. It’s completely different as the Warlock.
Each class of Guardian has different sub-classes that
you have explored. So people find themselves setting foot
may make them offensive or support-oriented. So until
in the wild and wondering what they should do. What
you’ve played Destiny at the most difficult setting and
sort of task they should undertake next. There is always
set-up, until you’ve played Destiny as all of the different a bounty you can take from the bounty tracker. There’s
classes, you don’t understand the full spectrum of
always something you can do to gain favour with the
experiences we’ve built in to the game.
gunsmith, or any of the Vanguard mentors you find down
If all you want to do is play through the story as one
in the Hall Of Guardians.
class of character, if you don’t want to relive the same
The more you pay attention to whatever a story agent
experiences under different tactical scenarios, the world
needs from you, the more you can work with them to
will always be alive. There will always be some dude that evolve your character. The more you pay attention to the
needs to be rescued in the public space. There will always things that they say, and the way they name their items,
be new Guardians that want to be battled in the Crucible. the more you can understand what their objectives are
There will always be a new friend of yours that is yet
for sending a Guardian out into the wild… You can start
to complete a Strike or a Raid, even beyond all these
to understand how Future War Cult is different from
experiences that we’re shipping with the game.
Dead Orbit, [which] is different from New Monarchy.
There is additional end-game content, there are
The purpose they serve is the future of humanity.
limited engagements in which new story agents appear
in the tower with very specific missions and specific
OPM: The game’s full of secrets and little extras – can
engagements that people can enjoy. Those experiences
you point us in the right direction to find one?
will have very specific rewards that are available for a
DD: No. What you just illuminated is one of the
limited time, so players will ask each other, ‘Oh my God,
interesting challenges of my specific role, because I
where did they get that weapon?’ And they’ll say, ‘weren’t speak for a developer that is very interested in delivering
you around last month when…?’
mysterious experiences to players that are rooted in
I have to leave that as mystery, but you know… the
discovery and exploration. And I am trying to protect the
living social world is something that we hope people use secrets of a developer in an information age where players
in different ways. For people to explore, there are things
have instant gratification, and unlimited information.
that will happen beyond completion of the narrative that
There are a lot of people on Bungie.net who want new
Bungie has yet to even reveal. My view of the Director is information about the game every day. I work for a group
very different from the view of the Director you saw back of people who are perfectionists who think their work is
in the Beta, and it’s riddled with all sorts of surprises
never truly completed, only released. We have tried over
that we’re holding in reserve for well after 9 September… time to sustain people’s enthusiasm for Destiny and for
keeping them wanting to play, feel itching to play the
game, but at the same time things for people to enjoy.
While the lure of retweets and Reddit gold is
seductive, I don’t want to deprive anyone of that moment
when they boost off a [plane] wing on a Sparrow only to
find a secret cave which is full of a deadly enemies and
grab the loot. It’s something they really enjoy finding for
themselves, and those are the moments of Destiny that
we think are important, and we try to lure people with
the promise of those moments without describing them
in gritty detail.
OPM: Destiny’s environments are massive, but what are
we in danger of missing if we hop on our Sparrows and
speed through them?
DD: I think the best way to miss something in Destiny
is to travel quickly. Fortunately you can travel quickly.
As a person who has always loved the vehicles in Bungie
games, I love nothing more than spawning my personal
vehicle and rocketing off to the sunset, but taking the
time to peer into every corner, taking the time to smell
the roses, as they say.
When you’re walking around the Tower there are
different story agents, leaders of the different factions
that permeate the culture of the last city on Earth, who
will give you a better sense of the lore that we’ve built in
the game – give you a better sense of the flavour of the
future that humanity inhabits.
There will be different ways to gain reputation that
will earn you the weapons and the gear that will make
you more powerful, there are different ways to exchange
the natural resources you’re collecting when you’re out
in the wild that will gain you favour with different people
that have access to weapons that you collect over time.
All of this lends structure to this vast open world that
OPM: There’s always going to be a balance between
releasing some information about the game and
retaining that sense of mystery. Do you as a studio have
a clear directive on how much of a game to show and
which parts to hold back for upcoming content?
DD: I think so. Bungie certainly has a long storied
heritage of being a community focused developer. We
enjoy a rich and meaningful conversation with the people
who enjoy our game, or the people who are waiting to
play them.
With Halo we were working for years with something
that was widely known to people. So dropping a simple

detail about Master Chief opened volumes to people. We
find ourselves in an interesting situation with Destiny
because this is an unknown thing. We can show people
the sweeping vistas or the heroes, and they can say, ‘it
THE
looks like a Bungie game, it looks like a world I want to
DIVISION
be in, it looks like a character I want to play, the action
looks fun, I see vehicles and power armour’. But there are
some new things about Destiny that are intriguing – the
elements of fantasy and magic, and the characters go on
to be elaborately caped with these heraldic devices that
make them look like knights.
RYAN BARNARD
That’s where the questions come from, and the
conversation has been around, ‘tell us what you mean
GAME DIRECTOR
about a world that we can explore, about an adventure
that unfolds over time, tell us what you mean about a
character that evolves over many different modes of play,
how does that work?’ This is the conversation that’s so
difficult for us to have, because these things are so much
better experienced than explained.
Even once the players start to share their experience, OPM: Last year you blew everyone away with the E3
start to talk about what they saw, all they can really do is reveal demo. Earlier this year Watch Dogs had to
legitimise our claim and say, ‘Bungie is right, this is the
contend with accusations of visual downgrades, so
next evolution of the FPS, this is a different way to play a we’ll ask this straight: is that reveal demo what the
Bungie game’. When people say, ‘what does Destiny feel final game’s going to look like?
like?’ we shrug and say, ‘I don’t know, it feels like Destiny’. Ryan Barnard: Yeah. Absolutely. If you look at this
And we can [now] point and laugh and say, ‘now you
year’s demo, we believe the graphical fidelity is actually
know how it feels to try to explain this thing’.
a little better and completely within what we expect for
What we can do is we can set expectations: tell people the consoles, so absolutely. It is Snowdrop that allows us
that it’s a shooter, not necessarily an MMO, but it may
to do that high level of detail and the animations on the
well remind you of that experience. Not necessarily an
scale that we’re doing for the game. So yes, no worries.
RPG, but it will remind you of some of your favourite
moments: creating a character, watching it evolve
OPM: The Division is set in New York. How much
over time. We need to make sure that we are making
research did you put into the city, and how many visits
promises that we can keep, and that we’re setting player did you make out there?
expectations in a way that we can satisfy them later on, RB: Well, the team’s done many. I actually, it’s a sad little
which is why sometimes you may find Bungie isn’t as
side note, I’ve only been able to go once – because I had
conversational about this game as we might have been
other work obligations – and I went in the winter, so the
with something we’ve released in the past because this
worst trip. But it was so good for us to go there. When
commodity has been unknown to us throughout a major you see the areas that you’re building with your eyes,
portion of development.
not looking at it like from a tourist or someone visiting,
We knew what our design
when you’re looking at the city for a gameplay space or
pillars were, we knew that
iconic kinds of locations close to things, it really changes
we wanted to create a big,
it up. So we’ve done tons of research. Everything in the
beautiful world to explore,
game kind of starts with that logic thread. It’s a Clancy
we knew we wanted to fill it
game and we’re near-future, but we want everything
with the life of other players
to be plausible. So that’s no difference for the city; we
and create many different
pick areas we build locations and make adjustments if
modes of action that can
necessary for the game.
surprise and delight you and
have you feel like anything
OPM: New York is no stranger to videogames. What
can happen. Realising those
made it the right city for The Division?
goals has been the product
RB: I would say a big part of the strength of New York
of a painful creative process
city is that it’s so iconic and everyone on the globe has
where we have debated with
an image of what New York looks like or would look like.
each other, surprised each
So choosing that city so that then we can have the stark
other, surprised each other’s
conventional wisdom over
time, until we felt completely
comfortable about what
this thing was. We’ve had a
difficult time making very
specific promises.
THE DIVISION IS A TOM
CLANCY GAME AND IT’S
NEAR-FUTURE, BUT WE
STILL WANT EVERYTHING
TO BE PLAUSIBLE.
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contrast to the New York of The Division was really
you want to empower your agent with stronger and
important. Because then you get that, ‘I want to go see
better gear and better weapons near the end of the game,
Times Square and then look at what’s happened in Times and then we have endgame activities to keep people
Square’ – you get that kind of real stark contrast, I think playing in-between major additions to the game.
that’s really interesting.
OPM: There aren’t too many console games operating
OPM: You’ve been showing off a very flexible skill
this way although we’re beginning to see more and
system. Can you explain it for our readers?
more. Do you think that’s the case and why is this
RB: I think ‘simple with depth’ is the way we like to think happening?
about it. So there’s kind of a baseline skill that you’ll be RB: I personally absolutely believe that that’s the case.
able to make a choice on that bottom line, but all skills
I think that, you know, it depends on the genre, but in
can be modified as you level up through the game up
general I would say the gaming communities first and
to what we call ‘large modifications’, which will actually
foremost like being online. You get some people that
change the functionality of a skill maybe completely. The want their offline modes and of course you’re going to
turret that you see in the main demo with the fire, that
have that, but generally games where you’re competing
can actually be made into a sticky turret, and you can
with or playing with other players are always the most
throw it into a ceiling corner and it’ll be able to come
engaging and the most fun. So there’s that, and then I
back and fire down at the enemies. So things like that is
also think that most game companies are realising that.
how our skill system works; we want it to be broad.
Especially when I speak to Ubisoft. We want to create
worlds. We want to create universes that our players can
really dive into and immerse themselves in. They lend
themselves to this type of game that you can build upon.
OPM: New York is contaminated with a virus: how does
this contamination affect the game’s mechanics?
RB: We try not to gate any content off or any areas off.
We all believe that in a true open-world game, you’re
not gated, right? You can go anywhere. Now there can be
horrific, horrible things that happen to you if you go to
an area where you’re not equipped to handle, which is
how we approach that. So those contagion levels where
you will need gear to be able to handle – these pockets
of higher viral activity or higher virus – if you don’t have
the equipment you can go in there but the virus will kill
you. We want it to be important; it’s the whole catalyst of
the game and it needs to be scary and deadly, but we also
want it... It’s a little gamey, it’s a little fun, because we
need there to be an immediate consequence for that.
OPM: The Division’s an online RPG console game. That’s
not a common thing. How have you found working with
new-gen?
RB: I’m not the best person for that question, but I know
that the dev kits that we’ve gotten we’ve had them over a
year and a half. Sometimes it’s challenging but I think, in
general, from what I hear and read in the tech emails that
I quickly file and ignore, it’s going well. It’s fine.
OPM: What sort of tail do you expect The Division to
have? Is this a game that will last months and months,
potentially years and years, with fresh online content,
or is it more of a traditional boxed game?
RB: Finish the story and you’re done? No. We’re
absolutely the previous example. We’re looking at The
Division as a franchise; a new franchise. So we want to
build upon this universe for years and years hopefully,
with everything going well. So the game is constructed
that way where we’re a progression based game where
THERE ARE CONTAGION
LEVELS WHERE YOU NEED
GEAR THAT CAN HANDLE THE
HIGHER VIRAL ACTIVITY. IF YOU
DON’T, IT WILL KILL YOU.
OPM: The Destiny guys, who are doing something
similar, have a ten year plan. How far ahead can you
plan, and are you planning?
RB: That’s a great question. The truth is, we’re working
so focused on this game. Now, the way we build it is so
that we can add to it. Thinking of the future is how we
approach that. But I’m focused on The Division in New
York, and getting this game out and having that graphical
fidelity that everyone’s waiting for. So yeah, that’s where
we’re at.
OPM: Focused on The Division in New York? Does that
mean we can one day expect more areas or cities?
RB: You’re trying! No, I’m focused on The Division in
New York and I really don’t know. I don’t even have a
good dodge answer for you [about] where we’ll go from
there.
OPM: What are you most excited about in regards
to the players getting their hands on this? And what
are you hoping as a developer to take away from that
experience with what the public’s doing?
RB: I love that question. I personally am most proud
of how we’re integrating player versus player with The
Division into the core experience. Trying to take some
popular – I would say more strict or hardcore – game
mechanics and flip them so that they can be positive and
mainstream. And what I would love to take away and
learn from The Division is that it can work: a PvP game
with a layer just on top integrated into the core kind of
progression or campaign, that it’s popular and people like
it. That would be great. And if not then we learn why and
we learn how can we improve it and make it better.

OPM: At the end of rounds there seems
to be some kind of a tracking graph onscreen
– what’s that all about?
DG: Well that’s just like it’s a little
EVOLVE
timeline actually, it just tells you the key
events in the main game itself. We’ve
got even more of that stuff. You get the
event info and then you actually see
what happened on the map with this
little telemetry thing. You’re seeing the
events of what happened in the game
DENBY GRACE
and you’re calling out the players that
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
you just beat. The smack talk after the
games is often as fun as the game itself,
and you’re always talking about the key
moments when momentum shifted.
And it’s really cool you get to see a nice
visual representation of that.
OPM: It took a while but we’ve now played with
the
second monster, the Kraken. Tell us about it.
Denby Grace: Yeah, it’s a new monster and we also
have new hunters as well. The big message that we want
people to take away about the Kraken is that adding
new elements to the game like a new monster changes
everything. Where the Goliath’s a big sort of hulking
King Kong-esque brawler, Kraken just isn’t. Kraken
wants to fight at range; wants to get in the air; wants to
fly and then it uses its electrical abilities to take down
people. And that’s the exciting thing about Evolve: all the
monsters that we have are vastly different.
We’re going to have three at launch and then we’re
going to have three of each class of hunter at launch.
And again, even with those guys, within their specific
role they’re very different to play. Playing as Lazarus as
a medic is very different to playing as Val as a medic, for
example. Lazarus has no active healing ability whatsoever
but he has the ability to bring people back from the dead,
so strategically it changes the way you play the game as
a team and it changes the way, as a monster, how you
approach attacking that team.
OPM: Can you mix and match the groups of four
hunters, mix some from the first wave with some from
the second and third?
DG: Yep. And the way it actually works when you’re
playing the game is that you unlock them by playing
that class. So I invest time playing as a class I’m working
towards, not only mastering my own items and abilities
on that character, I’m actually going to go then and
unlock the next character in that class. And then yes,
absolutely, I could have three characters in one class
unlocked and then only one in the rest and then I can
choose who I want and we combine it.
That’s where the really interesting thing comes in;
you start to see the cross strategies of different loadouts
of team. I can have quite a defensive team if I choose
to have, say, Bucket on sentry guns, Markov using his
mines, Maggie with her harpoon traps; you can create
really defensive sort of ambush zones. Combining
characters gives a real good sort of variety and pushes
things to the next level. It’s what makes the game so
intriguing [to play].
OPM: There are obviously modes beyond Hunt. Can you
share what they are?
DG: We’re not talking too much about it beyond Hunt.
All we’re saying is four versus one is at the core of all the
modes, and the core of that experience. What we do is we
play with different objectives, we play with different rule
sets and stuff like that to create other sort of stuff and all
will be revealed soon, so we’re pretty excited about that.
But we wanted to get people like really comfortable with
the core of the experience and the characters, and really
sort of hammer home the monsters and the characters
and the variety they bring. Every single layer, every
environment, every mode, every monster, every hunter
really adds variety to the game and adds to the scope of
the whole thing together.
OPM: The monsters must take an incredible amount of
dev time because they’re so unlike each other…
DG: It’s certainly as simple as just going, ‘hey, look, a new
monster angle – that’s a really good idea, why don’t we
do this?’ It’s certainly not that easy. The guys have made
a conscious decision and we’ve really mapped things
out with the three monsters that we’re launching with;
certainly we’ve got something that’s going to be very
widely appealing. Arguably Kraken’s a little bit harder to
play with and play well.
OPM: For what reason?
DG: It can take a lot less damage. Goliath is much more
accessible in terms of you swinging your fists and doing
a lot of damage in melee. You don’t do a lot of damage
with melee with Kraken: all the damage comes from the
abilities and you being in the air. Flying itself, there’s a
certain skill to it. And, naturally, as you unlock things
through the game you’re unlocking stuff that’s more
complex to use. But as you’ve invested time in that class
you’re going to be comfortable with how the strategies
work, and now what you’re actually focusing on doing
is learning [new] abilities. The Kraken is just a little bit
more complex in terms of the way you’ve got to approach
it, but also it’s more complex for the hunters facing it. It’s
really interesting watching new players play the game –
we’re seeing rounds actually last a little longer than what
they were when we were playing with Goliath.
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OPM: Did you anticipate that?
DG: I didn’t anticipate it - but in hindsight, now I’ve
seen why, it’s kind of super obvious. People don’t grasp
that they’ve got to get the Kraken out of the air. And
LITTLEBIGthey
can’t really do really effective damage at height:
PLANET 3
flamethrower is the way you’re going to really fry the
Kraken and it’s got quite a short range. When you get the
Kraken on the ground using the harpoon traps then you
really do damage really, really quickly because it’s just
not as strong. It’s just not as strong a monster. Whereas
Goliath’s right there in front of you, in your face, and
DAMIAN HOSEN
you’re just like, ‘holy sh*t man!’ So it’s very different and
you’re spending your whole time just trying to get away
DESIGN DIRECTOR
and swarm around him, but with the Kraken it’s like four
of you on a ledge all trying to spray bullets and trying
to pull it out of the sky. So yeah, in hindsight I think it’s
super obvious.
OPM: Out of all the characters and monsters, which are
your favourites?
DG: My personal favourites… I have two. I like [Assault
class] Hyde because of the sweary Britishness, which is
always a good thing. And he’s got a massive flamethrower
as well so it’s a lot of fun to play as Hyde, just to run
into the monster, pop your personal shield and just
standing there frying him. And he has some really cool
toxic grenades as well, which if you use effectively can
really push the monster round the map. When you work
properly as a team some of you will flank him, then you’ll
use toxic grenades to flush him into a set of harpoon
traps with sentry guns and all sorts of stuff. I’m really
enjoying Hyde and the new things he’s got.
And then previously, Val as the Medic. For me Val had
a really – and she still does – good set of three different
phases for the game. She has specific weapon supports,
which are really cool to just be cycling through. Early in
the game you’re using your tranquilizer darts to help the
team. Then you’ve got obviously your med ray: you’re
running around quickly medding everyone, making sure
everyone’s healthy. And then you’ve got the anti-material
rifle [for destroying armour]. I think Val was the first
one I picked up and I could immediately understand her
because I played a lot of Team Fortress, so she translated
real well.
There’s some stuff we’ve not announced that I’m
playing as well, but I can’t really talk about that. There’s
another character that I know that I’m really having a
blast playing as. That’s the really cool thing: I’ve gone
deep on just three of the characters. Some of the guys
just know them all inside out, and some of the guys just
play the monster. That’s part of the appeal of Evolve: it’s
a co-operative game and a solo player experience – a
lone-wolf sort of experience where you just go in and eat
hunters and it’s just rad for that reason.
THAT’S THE APPEAL OF
EVOLVE: IT’S A CO-OPERATIVE
GAME AND IT’S A SINGLE-
PLAYER EXPERIENCE ALL
ROLLED INTO ONE.
JONATHAN
CHRISTIAN
LEAD DESIGNER
OPM: What proportion of development time has been
devoted to the creation tools alone? Presumably that’s
the biggest job given that it’s also how you populate the
game with levels?
Damian Hosen: I guess we had a view of the type of
adventure we wanted to make. This being LittleBigPlanet,
in order to deliver a great adventure full of variety, more
rich 3D experiences, more playable characters, more
exploration and all these different play styles, that meant
we had to develop a large number of new tools that
allowed us to make that. So we really started with what
we wanted the game to be, then what tools we needed to
deliver that.
Jonathan Christian: It was all about building upon LBP
2 stuff as well. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle – everything
combines together. So it was really important that all the
new tools not only worked with the old tools but really
enhanced them. A good example is the Sack Pocket,
which is a new inventory system. All the old powers from
LBP1 and 2 can also be put in the Sack Pocket, so you can
create an experience where a player has the jetpack and
grappling hook, and can switch between them at will.

OPM: Seeing old and new systems combine must give
AT LAUNCH THERE’LL BE
you even more ideas for gameplay experiences and A HUGE NUMBER OF GAMES
level concepts…
MADE BY THE COMMUNITY AND
DH: That’s exactly what happened. We have a high
number of really creative designers who sit prototyping OVER TIME WE’LL BE ADDING
with the tools, and so much of what we have is
NEW STUFF AS WELL.
unexpected. So many of the levels in our game… We
didn’t have an idea for a level where you swim through
space, for example. That idea really came from someone
guys are representatives of their community, so they’re
prototyping and making a demo of that idea. We played
feeling out what tools we need, what we need to patch,
it, it was great, so we made a level up from that. The
they’re looking at it from the broader LBP perspective.
whole game really is a showcase of the benefits of
And that means everyone should benefit from it when we
prototyping with a great creative toolset.
release. Very, very talented people.
JC: It snowballs. As a new tool comes live, you think, ‘Oh JC: It’s been great in Create mode, because obviously
wow, that’ll work really well with this other one’. It’s all
they’ve got loads and loads of ideas that they’ve stored
gameplay-based, so as we’re prototyping we think, ‘does
up over the years building community content, and now
that feel good at a really raw gameplay stage?’ If it does,
they’ve got the outlet to realise those ideas.
when it’s art-ed and polished up it’s going to feel great.
DH: And we drop a huge amount of content if it’s not
OPM: Have they had input into the design of the
fun. Our team is always making new ideas, always playing creation tool itself, too?
them, and only the best ideas survive. It’s an interesting JC: Yeah, everyone feeds into it. It’s quite an open culture
creative climate, really. So many ideas are decent, but
here so if you have a good idea, it’ll get fed in.
they just don’t make it.
JC: Yeah, you have to be very hard-skinned. [laughs]
OPM: What role do Media Molecule and XDev play in this
DH: [laughs]
game’s development?
DH: When we first started about two and a half years
ago we spent a bit of time with Mark, Korine, Alex and
the others, and we chatted a lot about the ethos of LBP
which is very idiosyncratic. There’s nothing else like it.
When I started, I didn’t really appreciate the nuances of
making a game like this. I didn’t really appreciate that an
idea for a power isn’t necessarily about writing a design
document and getting it made, it’s about, ‘What could the
community do with that power? Could it benefit them
and us? What tools do we need to add to Create mode in
order to develop that power-up?’
It was interesting chatting to those guys, because they
gave us a really good insight into their ethos. Why the
game was like it was, how they shaped it, and that helped
me personally a lot to understand where we should be
going. But at the same time, people like JC and others
have worked on the series before this. I think as much as
anything, it was helpful to understand them.
OPM: Is there one particular genre you couldn’t make
with the game’s creation tool? We’ve talked about
making endless runners, the top-down perspective…
JC: In the Beta, the big ones are the top-down
perspective, the animation, character creation… The
dynamic thermometer so you can create massive
sprawling levels. I suppose you could create an action-
RPG now that spans across quite a distance, with
different quests associated with it and different movesets
for the characters. I’m trying to think of what you
couldn’t do…
DH: Ultimately, the game’s a platform, isn’t it? A
platform for people to make games in, and it’s a live
service. So at launch there’ll be a huge number of games
made by the community, and over time we’ll be adding
new stuff and the opportunities for you will keep
broadening. It’s great, because even people who have no
interest in creating get new content, new levels, every
week, that we pick.
JC: I think for creators who aren’t advanced yet you’ve
got four characters out of the box to create with. So
you don’t have to be a genius to build your top-down,
completely new game. You can just build an Oddsock
level, and that’s going to feel completely different to a
Sackboy level.
OPM: The fact that your level design team is made up
of the best creators from the community is fantastic –
what was the learning curve like for them?
DH: It was a learning curve in two directions, really.
The creators were experts in LittleBigPlanet creation,
but had never made a full game before. And for people
like me who are traditional game designers, we’d never
worked with a team like that before. And it takes a while
to get everything working as it should, but there’s such
a creative force that the volume of ideas they create is
fantastic. It’s doubly great for us because we know those
OPM: It does feel like Sumo’s game, rather than a
straight continuation of that formula, though.
DH: Yeah, I moved my whole family up from London
to make this game and many others here did the same,
because it’s a game with such a positive outlook. It’s
joyous, it’s uplifting, it’s colourful, it’s loads of fun. It’s
very positive. And for me that meant a lot, because I’ve
got children. It’s the type of game kids can play and really
get a lot out of. We’re all really proud to be working on
it. It’s been a bit of an honour, really. It sounds cheesy,
but it’s true.
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OPM: In the past you’ve said you wanted
Mortal Kombat to be a tournament level
fighting game. How far towards that goal
MORTAL
are you – are you there already, or are you
constantly refining to get there?
KOMBAT X
EB: We’re constantly moving towards it. I
mean, we’ve been featured. Mortal Kombat
was featured in like two or three Evos, which
is the biggest fighting game tournament.
It’s been in MLG and all kinds of local
tournaments, and so I guess we’ve, on some
ED BOON
level we’ve achieved it. But we always feel we
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
could be better and so we’ve added features
that are very deep; that not a high percentage
of the population will access.
At the same time we wanted to also add
features that the masses can play. I think the character
variations is going to be – in my opinion – a substantial
leap forward in terms of fighting and strategy and
character matchups.
OPM: How much does it mean for Mortal Kombat to have
this long legacy that it’s got?
Ed Boon: It means a lot. You know, we were at the Sony
E3 press conference and when they announced it it got
this big cheer. I was in the audience and it took me by
surprise. Like, ‘oh really, you like it that much?’ That was
very nice. It does mean a lot, especially after 20 years.
OPM: This is your first game out on new-gen at launch.
What can you now do that you couldn’t do before?
EB: I guess the entry point for the whole thing is a more
sophisticated and higher fidelity presentation. The
graphics need to be at a level that are noticeably better
than the last generation – and I think they are. But at the
same time we didn’t want to just take Mortal Kombat 9
and just skin it with prettier graphics and say we’re done.
So our goal was to add as much newness as possible, and
the next-gen graphics lets us do full 1080p, 60 frames
per second, with really beautiful lighting effects and
things like that. And then from an online perspective it’s
going to let us do this whole persistent online game that
everybody’s going to participate in.
OM: You must be rubbing your hands together in
anticipation for people recording and sharing their
greatest fights…
EB: Yeah, that’s going to be exciting. A lot of fun.
OPM: With Injustice you really took a step forward with
environments. Could you explain the process of coming
up with an environment and what you’d do to make it
suitable for a Mortal Kombat fight?
EB: For Mortal Kombat the environments are... They’re
not nearly as big in scale, you know? You don’t pick
up cars and we’re not slamming people through the
walls and all that stuff like that. I try to use the phrase
environmental leveraging, which is basically launching
yourself to a certain area of the arena that’s advantageous,
or escaping out of an area or using a branch to leverage
yourself and perform a kick move and stuff.
So it’s kind of advantages that are scattered
throughout the arena, and we try to have them relatively
evenly distributed so each part of the arena has its own
interesting strategy and style. That’s usually our main
goal with it - to distribute things evenly.
OPM: Could you give an example of one of those deep
features? How it works?
EB: Yeah. Well, Mortal Kombat 9 had this meter that
basically let players enhance their special moves or do
a breaker to break out of a combo, or do the big kind
of killer X-ray move. And layered on top of that are the
character variations, where every character has three
versions of themselves.
I think that’s the depth. So instead of saying Scorpion
is a good matchup for Sub-Zero, it’s going to be Scorpion
B is a good matchup for Sub-Zero C, but Scorpion A
might be a bad matchup for Sub-Zero A. That kind of
layering of depth I think is really going to separate this
game from, not only Mortal Kombat 9, but other fighting
games.
OPM: Fighting game fans seem to be some of the most
hardcore gamers out there. How scary is it to include
new features given the potential hostility that could
ensue? How much work goes into the balancing and
refining of such a feature so that it does make sense?
EB: A ton of work goes into it. You’re always a little
nervous. But to me the worse evil that we could do is to
stay content and say, ‘okay it worked for MK9 so let’s just
stick with what works’. You know, unfortunately other
fighting game franchises have done that. They’ve just
basically skinned the same game with prettier graphics;
people get excited for a month and then they move on.
And so that’s one thing that I’ve personally seen happen
enough that I want to make sure we don’t fall into that.
OPM: We’re Sub-Zero fans, so we need to ask: why is
Scorpion and not Sub-Zero the icon of Mortal Kombat?
EB: I feel like Scorpion and Sub-Zero are the two faces of
INSTEAD OF SAYING
SCORPION IS A GOOD MATCHUP
FOR SUB-ZERO, YOU’LL SAY
SCORPION B IS A GOOD MATCH
FOR SUB-ZERO C, ETC.

Mortal Kombat. They’re the Yin and the Yang, they’re ice
and fire, and I feel like they represent the main conflict
in Mortal Kombat. I just happen to like Scorpion better
because Scorpion was the first, in the very first game
THE ORDER:
that we did. When we put the spear in I remember
1886
people coming into my office and hearing ‘Get over here!’
and getting excited; he was the character that got this
momentum going, where we knew we had something
special. And the same was with Sub-Zero, but I’ve always
just gravitated a little bit more to Scorpion…
OPM: Is it a blessing or a curse to have two such iconic
characters in your franchise? Do you think with such a
big roster some of the other characters don’t get the
love they actually deserve?
EB: Well those two clearly get the spotlight the most.
I think it’s a blessing. I think for any game to have a
character that’s recognisable by people outside of the
game industry is a blessing, for sure. It does make the
other characters harder to stand out but we have a roster
of 60 characters so there’s no way everybody can have the
same recognisability.
OPM: Scorpion aside, which character do you enjoy
playing as the most?
EB: For this game? For this game it would be Ferra/Torr,
the big guy with the little lady on his back. I think that
character’s going to be a big fan favourite.
OPM: For what reasons?
EB: They’re so unique. The fact that he uses her as a
weapon. The fact that he throws her. The fact that she’s
giving him commands. The personality of them and the
most interesting fighting mechanics… It’s just a really
great character.
OPM: In years to come, what would you like MK X’s
legacy to be?
EB: I would want its legacy to have been to have added
a noticeable new layer to a fighting game strategy with
multiple versions of the characters. I think – if we do our
job correctly – it will really make an impact in terms of
the variety of gameplay.
OPM: You have a big roster – how tough is it to make
sure that every character is evenly balanced?
EB: It’s very tough and we’re going to definitely going
to get those pro-players, the guys who play in the
tournaments, in our studio and on the game to show us
what needs attention.
OPM: Are you shown up by some of those players, or
can you hold your own?
EB: I can’t even come close to holding my own. I have no
problem saying that.
OPM: Are you fine with that?
EB: I sleep very well knowing that! [laughs]
RU WEERASURIYA
CEO/CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OPM: The interior environments look so incredibly
curated and full of detail; that’s amazing to see.
What’s the process of building up an average room?
Not necessarily a big showpiece such as Westminster
Abbey with its ceiling, but just your average room in
The Order: 1886?
Ru Weerasuriya: You mean how long it takes? It’s a
long process. Pretty much everything we do, exteriors,
interiors… We never veer off the same process purely
because we don’t want one point in the game to feel
less than the other one.
As far as the research, and everything, we do
research and detail on every environment. I think
that Westminster took as much work and time as the
hospital. It’s purely because the detail comes in
building the place afterwards. So actually, the building
time for Westminster was harder for the little things
we had to do, but the research leading up to it is pretty
much the same.
OPM: The half-breed creatures are really interesting
because they talk to you – was that driven by the
narrative, or was there an effect you wanted to have in
the gameplay by having them talk to you?
RW: It’s by the narrative, first and foremost, and it helped
the gameplay quite a bit. The idea of the half-breeds are
these half-humans; it was important for us to build it in
such a way that they felt human enough and you could
relate to [them]. They have emotions, but they’re your
enemies. There’s no doubt about that. Having them talk
gave them an eeriness…
You can do a lot with a character to make them feel
scary, but something that is that powerful and speaks
to you is often scarier than the most scary thing you
can ever do. Like, you know, the power of reason for
something that’s at the top of the food chain – if there’s
something that can reason as well as you do and is as
strong as you, it becomes way scarier than anything else.
OPM: What’s the lore behind its transformation? We
see him initially as almost a recognisable human, and
then he transforms in this sort of American Werewolf
sequence – his arms extending and so on. What’s the
narrative behind that?
RW: We talk about two types of lycans. We have the
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elders, the older type of lycan – they have the ability to
be controlled about the way they are. The transformation THE INTERESTING THING
is something the body goes through purely when they ABOUT THE HALF-BREED
need that strength, and they need to be who they
TRANSFORMATION IS THAT
naturally are by birth. The interesting thing about the
transformation is there are no gimmicks. It’s a oneto-one
transformation of the topology of the whole ONE-TO-ONE TOPOLOGY.
THERE ARE NO GIMMICKS. IT’S
character, which actually transforms from human to
lycan and back, if you want. It’s fun to do in games. We
couldn’t do it in the past and now we can.
likely than not you’ll probably get caught.
The idea behind it is that they show their true colours
when they need to, but they’re part of us, part of society.
You see these humans. And that human specifically
happens to be a half-breed. So it was interesting to see
that whole idea of seeing a cannibal eating bodies, and it
was feeding itself.
OPM: How much did you have to iterate on its design to
make it work with the gameplay?
RW: We iterated quite a bit on it. There were three stages
to it: the writing; deciding what our lycans are; deciding
what they do and how they behave. Then that writing
goes to the concept guys. They do an unbelievable job
– we went through a long period to build the lycan. We
actually got people from outside the team to just input
some ideas because we wanted to go all around the place
to get as many ideas as possible.
All the while we wanted to make sure that it feels like
it’s something that could’ve been real if it existed. Halfbreeds
are abominations – they change like the elephant
man. So we went through that whole concept phase of
fine-tuning it and finding the thing that fits the narrative.
Once we found the thing that fits the narrative we built
it in-game. We started realising what works and what
doesn’t. Can we really make him, like, 12 foot tall? It’s
tough to make it… Sometimes you basically try to figure
out where you want to stop.
Luckily for us, because the game was now written
completely without thinking what the enemy could be,
I was able to at least know at the beginning if the lycans
were a certain way. They were first written as nine feet
tall, and that’s how they ended up.
It was a cool process, but there were three clear stages:
writing, building the first concepts, and building the
model and trying to figure out the gameplay with it. It
worked out.
OPM: You have assassination stealth missions – are you
always trying to track down a particular target or is it
more varied than that?
RW: It’s diverse. I can’t give you a single example. Stealth
is used basically when you don’t want to be seen in those
areas; you don’t want to be heard. You’ll have different
ways of using stealth in different missions actually. You
can kill people while you’re being stealthy or you can try
not to; the scenarios are pretty diverse when it comes to
stealth.
OPM: You’re not penalised for killing people rather than
sneaking past them?
RW: I won’t say penalised but you have to be careful how
you do it. If you go all-out and try to kill somebody you
might not be able to finish the game. If you’re found out
because you just tried to blast through everything, more
OPM: Let’s get technical: the lighting looks strikingly
different to games we’ve seen before. Has the
increased realism [of PS4] changed the way designers
used lighting cues? Traditionally as gamers we’ve been
directed by a gaudy glowing green light somewhere…
RW: Yeah it has. In so many ways. It changes the way
designers also think about the layout of a level. You can’t
always just put a beacon somewhere and tell the players
that’s where they need to go. You’re going to break that
realism – that emotion you’re trying to build. And
suddenly people are going to be completely out of there…
We tried as much as possible to reduce the number
of things we do with lighting, and also UI as well. We
try to minimise UI as much as possible in the game.
It’s important. It’s changed the way we light. We try
to light as real as technically possible, but at the same
time keeping in mind when and how we need to go in
the game. At the same time it’s collaborative with the
designers needing to be smart about building something
that doesn’t require that gaudy green light. I can
understand that in some ways, but I don’t think it’ll work
in our game.
OPM: It does its job, in other games…
RW: It does its job, exactly… It’s just that we are very
different. We’re trying to not break the realism and we
try not to break it as much as possible.
OPM: The Order has really strong cinematic elements,
and sometimes that’s associated with a slightly easier
learning curve or a slightly
easier difficulty than a game that
doesn’t have a lot of cutscenes
or QTEs. What’s
your approach
to the difficulty as a whole?
RW: When you start a game, and
especially with a new IP, you have
to get people comfortable
with what you’re
trying to
build. You’re notbuilding
a one-to-one clone of
something. Yes people
are used to the
analogue [sticks],
the way it works,
the way the triggers
work. At the same
time we need to give
them a bit of a ramp up.
So when it comesto
difficulty at the outset of the
game, we try to bealittle
smart about how
we push

all the different mechanics on to people. To tell you the
something on it that didn’t look like a charge, then you’d
truth, you don’t want to make a difficult game for the
press explode and the wall would just disappear. But it
sake of making a difficult game. You want to make a game proved the gameplay.
that feels right for what you’re trying to achieve. If a kill
And all the reasoning we have had in the team since
feels like nothing, like if you run up to it and it feels like
the beginning is: ‘just make sure the gameplay is strong
‘that wasn’t hard’, it doesn’t make an enemy significant
and coherent and everything works together’. If it does
enough that you care about it.
that for the multiplayer, then we’ll be able to bring all of
And if it’s too hard it makes you feel like you just can’t that gameplay over in the single-player aspects of the
do it. You have to find the balance in between. I don’t
game, which there will be. So there’s going to be singleplayer
aspects [and] there’s going to be co-op aspects, of
think the cinematics makes the game easier compared to
games that don’t have cinematics; I think it’s a question
which we chose not to talk about today, but is definitely
of scenarios and weapons. Because we switch scenarios
in the works.
so often it’s not an all-out shooter and it’s not an all-out
stealth – it’s not one thing all the way through. It allows OPM: Siege was once Rainbow Six: Patriots but was
us to actually have certain things that some players will rebooted 18 months ago. Why did that happen? What
find easy. People who love shooting will find those [bits] ultimately led to the project being rebooted?
easy, then you can go into stealth and you have to be
JL: Well, making a game in itself is a pretty complex
more careful.
endeavor, and it’s not the first time a project doesn’t get
Then there’s the QTE side. They aren’t just QTEs,
to the actual ship date. Basically we had a good team of
they are those branching mechanics that become hard
people working really hard on the project, but for many
because you’re following the action. You’re getting slowdowns,
you have to choose your target point of attack…
feel that we had a game that was up to par with what we
reasons it just didn’t come to fruition and we didn’t
All of those actually bring a sense of difficulty for each
wanted the players to feel when they played it. If we were
of those missions for different players and that’s the
going to do a game that we weren’t super proud of, of
fun part. It’s knowing that no single player – well, some
course we didn’t want our players to have that.
guys are good at everything… – but every player will find
It was a hard decision. At the same time it, was a
their niche and they’ll be able to experience things very
super-good decision. The call was made and we started
differently.
from scratch; we changed all the deadlines, or removed
them. We changed the concept. We changed a whole lot
of the team as well and a lot of new blood came into the
team. Everything was put in shapes that we could make
it work, basically.
RAINBOW SIX:
SIEGE
JEROME LASSERRE
TEAM LEAD
OPM: Was that a scary process? A liberating process?
What was the mood like on the team when the reset
button was pressed?
JL: Well, as with any big change I’m sure some people
didn’t like the idea of it and some people liked it better.
In my case, this was an opportunity for me to join the
team. I was on the Assassin’s Creed brand for a long
time before and it was super interesting as well, but for
me it was an occasion to jump on a new project that felt
like the underdog, and try and see how we could make
it work. That was super-interesting and I think most
people generally agreed that something had to be done to
make sure that the project went somewhere. So we were
happy with the decision.
THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
OPM: Siege was announced with its multiplayer mode
front and centre, but just to clear things up – is it a
multiplayer only game?
Jerome Lasserre: No. Not at all. It’s not a multiplayeronly
game. The thing is, we understood early on that we
had to nail the multiplayer game. It has to be fun, it has
to be coherent and it has to work, and for all of that to
work we need to focus on it exclusively first.
The project began 18 months ago, and during that
period we spent most of that time exclusively on
multiplayer. We didn’t consider the graphics aspect of
it – we did a lot of prototypes that were purely gameplay.
All the beautiful destruction that you see right now
started by actually being only blocked walls; you could
have a wall that was either on or off, you could just put
OPM: So every E3 Ubi famously has a secret project to
unveil at the end of its press conference. When did you
find out that Siege was going to be that game this year?
JL: I think pretty early on we were very confident that
we had strong gameplay and that we had something of
great value in our hands. Xavier Marquis, our creative
director, he has a very strong convincing power and he
combines this with a very focused thought process.
When he presented us the core ideas of his new concept
for the game, pretty quickly everybody said, ‘oh yeah, this
is awesome. This is really going to work’.
From that point on we made a bunch of prototypes
and we gave ourselves some objectives, each month, to
show some specific aspects that would really be core
to the game and really help us answer questions about
what it is that this game needs to be. And from month
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THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
28
sure that the gameplay we think is fun is actually fun
for people to play. A good aspect in the game we have so
far, and we’re going to keep pushing, is the fact that it is
pretty easy to start playing it and have fun pretty quickly,
yet you can really see the people who have been playing
a lot [who] have so many moves that we didn’t think of.
It’s fun to see the depth of the game.
The variety of situations that can occur are also very
interesting, because we’ve been playing a lot on that one
map and there’s so many things that happen that we
didn’t think of. This is super-exciting.
I THINK THAT THE CORE
INSPIRATION IS SIMPLY
RAINBOW SIX. IT’S A PURE
RAINBOW SIX GAME. RAINBOW-
ISH? RAINBOW-EE?
to month you could see very good progress. At E3 last
year we were already pretty sure that this was something
that was going to happen for us this year. So almost a
year ago we already knew that we had something great
in our hands.
OPM: We see shades of Counter-Strike in Siege. We see
shades of SWAT 4. We see shades of Rogue Spear… Is
there anything in particular you got inspiration from?
JL: I think that the core inspiration is really, simply,
Rainbow Six. And a lot of people have said that this
since we showed the game. This is really completely
different [to what we’ve done before], but it’s really a
pure Rainbow Six game. It really feels Rainbow-ish.
Rainbow-ee..?
What Xavier managed to do is really identify what
it is that makes a Rainbow Six game; really defines its
identity. It comes down to, essentially, that Siege and all
of the other previous games of Rainbow have had that
core of opposing forces. And it was just by boiling them
down to the essentials that we came to Siege’s gameplay,
which is, I think, very fun to play.
OPM: How complete is Siege as it stands?
JL: Right now, we’re still pretty early in the process.
We’re working on a lot of content; there’s still a lot of
game design [to do] and we’re going to be pushing a lot
of other stuff. We’re also working on all the single-player
and co-op aspects of the game that we haven’t shown
yet, so there’s still a very, very big amount of work to do.
OPM: What’s your favourite aspect of what we’ve
been playing in our multiplayer demo? What’s jumping
out at you – any tactics that people are using, or any
surprising way in which they’re tackling the game?
JL: I didn’t anticipate the amount of impact that the real
time destruction engine provides in terms of gameplay.
I knew it was interesting but now that everything is so
well polished and the details of this destruction affect
the world, you can see people trying to do things that are
really awesome.
Some of the demos, they’re not staged but they’re
planned in advance. We have a certain number of [things]
we’d like to showcase, so we have guidelines and they try
to essentially go and do a few things; but the gunfights
are real. They shoot at each other and they try to kill
each other for real. You see sometimes a guy who’s said:
‘oh he’s on the other side of the wall, shoot through the
wall – either to shoot him or to get a view on him’. This
is all-new. This is completely new and to me that’s a
complete surprise that we can get that level of quality
and fun, just with a single mechanic.
We’ve actually had a lot of people play the game
up until now. Internally we try to put the game
in as many hands as we can. The goal is to make
OPM: It seems that Siege is, in the best way possible,
built around very basic ideas. Fundamentally, just a few
basics, and when they come together it seems mad that
it’s not been done before by anyone else, yet it’s not
until you play it that you see that…
JL: Yeah. You’re totally right, I think there’s something
very basic about all these design decisions that were
made, and that’s why it really feels new.
It’s sometimes hard to say it’s completely different to
any other games: you can define it with the same words
that you would use defining the original Rainbow Six.
Yet the gameplay is completely different. There are a
few aspects – the one life for instance, the fact that you
have only one life when you’re playing – that add a lot
of tension to the game. You really fear for your life when
you’re in that situation [and] you want to keep your
player alive.
At the same time, when you’re dead you can still
participate in the game. You’re still an active member of
your team and that makes it very less hardcore than it
could be, because you’re still part of the game and you’re
having as much fun by coaching the others and telling
them where they should be careful and what moves they
should do.
OPM: So you don’t mute dead players then?
JL: No, no, no! The dead player is still an active part of
the gameplay. We call his role the handler: he’s essentially
tasked with looking at the security cameras and coaching
the other players. He should be saying, ‘you should go
that road’, or, ‘watch out, there’s a player behind you!’ He’s
an active member of the team.

OPM: The last few Rainbow Six games snapped you into is a completely new game, which continues the key
third-person for cover situations – that doesn’t seem
concepts of the first game, namely game design focused
to be present in Siege. Is there any reason for that?
on realizing an engaging survival horror experience,
JL: We’re aiming for a lot more realism. And the cover
and a story structure inspired by TV serial dramas. As
system… a lot of people liked it, and it was fun in Vegas
a completely new title, players new to the series can
as well, but the global thought is it brings us out of the
enjoy it without having played Resident Evil Revelations
fantasy of what Rainbow Six is.
1 (RER1), although of course gamers who played RER1
It’s really about counter terrorist units in a realistic
and other Resident Evil titles will enjoy the many
setting. Having very close quarters combat interactions.
connections and homages to the series that we’ve
And the cover system brings you out of that world again: included all the more.
it gives you a global view which you wouldn’t have as
Gameplay-wise, the game follows the popular design
that character in that setting. So having everything back
of RER1, but with new additions and tweaks to the
in your own head you can see only your first-person
mechanics that ensure Revelations 2 feels like its own
view, that gives you the real perspective you would
unique experience. For example, there are some new
encounter in that situation.
stealth-based gameplay elements, a character-switching
mechanic and more.
As for what separates the Revelations games from
the main numbered series, I think the numbered
titles are the ones that have the power to drive the
whole series forward, and it’s their responsibility to
take on new directions and challenges. We saw this
with the development in the series from Resident
Evil 3 to Resident Evil 4, for example. It’s this type of
advancement that is key to propelling the series forward.
Conversely, it is the responsibility of the Revelations
series and other spin-off titles to further complete and
refine the franchise offerings, somewhat akin to placing
an additional piece in a larger puzzle. In the case of
Revelations 2, we are telling the untold story of events
that occurred between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil
6, and I hope fans will enjoy checking out what happened
in that time period in the series chronology.
OPM: Can you give us a teaser perhaps about the
scenarios or environments that we might be fighting in
next year?
JL: Are we always going to have the, how was it phrased…
the ‘harmless girl’ to rescue? No, we’re not going to
have only that. There are going to be different hostage
situations, different scenarios, different situations with
hostages and there’s certainly going to be other objectives
than hostages.
We’re going for the fantasy of the counter-terrorist
units, and they can encounter a bunch of different
situations in a bunch of different settings. What’s
going to be the overarching semantics, if you will, is
the violence: it’s going to be generally close-quarters,
very high tension, very high lethality. The gameplay is
always going to be teamwork first. It’s going to be very,
very different if you don’t play as a team and, generally
speaking, it’s going to be almost impossible if you don’t
do it properly as a team.
Everything is going to be going in that direction. I
can’t say a lot more about the actual settings, but it’s
going to be interesting and varied.
RESIDENT EVIL
REVELATIONS 2
MICHITERU OKABE
PRODUCER
OPM: Now that the Resident Evil cast is so vast, how
much debate goes into picking the right stars (or
should that be STARS?) for the right games and is it
always a hot topic in the office?
MO: To tell you the truth, choosing the star of
Revelations 2 was a very natural and painless decision.
There are certainly a large number of characters in the
Resident Evil universe, but the team members working
on Resident Evil seem to all be on the same wavelength,
so to be honest the idea of who to go with as the main
character in the next game is usually decided fairly
quickly and consistently. Maybe not as dramatic an
answer as you wanted, but that’s just how our team
works! It’s like we can read each other’s minds!
Once we chose the main character for RER2,
discussing how to represent that character in the game
was the real hot topic. We took a lot of time to write
the story, with many rewrites needed until the director,
Yasuhiro Anpo, was satisfied. As producer, I had my
concerns about whether we would be able to stay on
schedule, but in the end we succeeded in weaving a
thrilling game play experience, brimming with exciting
content for the fans.
THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
OPM: This is a direct sequel to Revelations – how are
the games linked in terms of plot and mechanics, and
in your opinion what separates the Revelations games
from the core numbered Resident Evil titles?
Michiteru Okabe: Resident Evil Revelations 2 (RER2)
isn’t a direct sequel in terms of storyline; rather, it
OPM: What made you settle on Claire in particular for
the lead role in Revelations 2?
MO: As I just mentioned, the whole team agreed on who
we wanted to have as the main character without any real
objections. It’s Claire’s first time out in a long time, and
she’s very popular with fans. Not only that, but since we
were looking to set the game between Resident Evil 5 and
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THE ULTIMATE PLAYSTATION OFFICIAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW BOOK
30
MOIRA IS ANOTHER ONE OF
these incidents, and blow the whistle on the companies
and governments behind them. Terra Save were actually
introduced in one of the Resident Evil CG feature movies,
so if you’re interested in them you can check out more
about them that way!
THOSE MISSING PIECES THAT
WE FELT WE NEEDED TO ADD
TO FILL IN THE RESIDENT EVIL
FRANCHISE PUZZLE.
6, in terms of the series timeline she would have grown
up from the student we last saw her as. These factors
and the planned content for the game combined to make
Claire the obvious choice. We really didn’t consider an
alternative, it had to be Claire.
OPM: Barry Burton is obviously a big fan favourite. Why
did you decide to cast one of his daughters in a starring
role for Resident Evil Revelations 2?
MO: Moira is another one of those missing pieces
that we felt we needed to add as part of the role of a
Revelations title is to fill in the Resident Evil franchise
puzzle. Utilising previous title plot points and settings
to connect the current game to the threads of past titles
is one of the fun things about a spin-off title, not just
for players but for us as developers as well. Interestingly,
amongst these threads, the character setting of Moira
as Barry’s daughter actually appeared ever so briefly in a
previous title. Anyone who recognizes the connection can
proudly consider themselves a true, hardcore Resident
Evil fan. Resident Evil Revelations 2 is packed with
similar references and nods to the series’ past, which
make it a must play title for any RE fan.
OPM: The Afflicted are not zombies – how do they
differ, and what makes the Afflicted a more dangerous
enemy than regular zombies? How should we fight them
when we’re playing?
MO: Creating new and interesting characters is a key
mission for every Resident Evil game, and
RER2 is no exception. The Afflicted are as scary
as they look – and I think you’ll agree they
look pretty scary. They are not as mindless as
zombies, so they will actually be able to move
quickly and attack the player with weapons,
making them a genuine threat. Ammo is scarce
though, so this isn’t to say you’re going to be
gunning down hordes of them – the game
has a stealth aspect to it where it can often
be more advantageous to avoid getting drawn
into a fight, and instead attempt to sneak up
undetected and swiftly take them down, or
slink past. Reserve your ammo and try to get
around them, or carve out a safe path? Players
will be able to choose the play style that suits
them best.
OPM: Tell us about NGO Terra Save: who are
they and what do they do?
MO: After the Raccoon City Incident, Terra
Save was formed to tackle the growing threat
to the world posed by bioterrorism, and
provide aid to victims of bioterrorist attacks
and incidents of misuse of chemical agents.
They also work to educate the public about
OPM: Revelations 2 is coming to PS4 – what does this
new generation of console let you do with Resident Evil
that you couldn’t previously, and are you enjoying the
extra hardware power and features?
MO: We always aim to bring the Resident Evil series to
a new level of graphical fidelity with the release of each
new generation of console hardware, so I found it great
to develop for the PS4. Our teams are constantly taking
on new challenges that will allow them to present the
player with fresh gameplay experiences. As a result of
our efforts we’ve worked hard to ensure that the power
of the PS4 is utilised to produce higher-quality character
models, backgrounds, effects and overall visuals running
at a stable 60 frames per second in full 1080p HD. A
smooth and stable frame rate may sound simple, but
it’s an integral factor in escalating the immersion you
experience with the game to new heights.
OPM: Were you surprised at the overwhelming praise
for the original Revelations? Has its reception informed
the design decisions for Revelations 2 in any way?
MO: Regarding the design, absolutely – the acclaim for
the first title was essentially the main impetus for us to
develop the second one. We naturally wanted to bring
across all the most well-received aspects of the first game
and build upon them to further improve and evolve the
experience.
As for whether or not the praise of the first title was
unexpected, when I played the work-in-progress version
of the game during development it seemed to me that
even at that early stage it was successfully executing
its goal of returning to the series’ roots of survival
horror. Even at that early unpolished stage of
development, it was just like playing one of
the scarier past titles in the series for me, so I
somewhat expected that it would (hopefully!) be
well received. I suppose it’s easy to say that in
hindsight. [laughs]
OPM: Raid introduced some fun new concepts
to Resident Evil – what did you learn from the
original’s Raid mode and can we expect these
to be expanded upon in Revelations 2?
MO: Raid mode really reconfirmed for us that
you need to consider the gameplay life cycle
of a game and include ways to allow players to
keep enjoying the game continually. Even all
this time after release, the first game still has
events happening in Raid mode via the RE.net
service (if you haven’t checked out RE.net yet,
I’d encourage you to do so!).
In Resident Evil Revelations 2 we certainly
want to live up to fans’ expectations, so while I
can’t go into detail right now, I’d ask you to stay
tuned for further information on Raid mode as
we release it.

BACK
ISSUES
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