The Australia Times - Games magazine. Volume 3, issue 11

GAMES

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AUSTRALIA

TIMES

Vol. 3 No. 11

June 2015

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WHAT’S INSIDE?

The Games magazine is all about the

gaming community. Whether you’re actively

involved in the gaming industry, have played

games since the Atari Pong or just pick up a

controller every now and then, the gaming

community is all about connecting people,

telling stories, fun, and about passion.

We want to connect you, the gamers of

Australia and beyond, to what you are

passionate about. We uncover upcoming

talent, review new and retro games, and

bring you features, previews, opinions, and

interviews from the gaming industry.

We welcome your feedback and

contributions as well – after all, we are your

voice in this diverse and ever-changing

landscape. So whether you’re a Pokemon

Master or can remember when

Call of Duty

was cool, here’s your chance to sit back,

press Start, and jump right in.

NATHAN FRANKLIN | BENJAMIN WHITE | CLARE BELSHAW | DANIEL KING

JOSIAH ROCHE | MITCHELL ROGERS | RICHARD ELDRIDGE

We oer both veteran and undiscovered writers the opportunity to get published.

Have something to communicate, or an opinion to state, we are your voice!

Want to join a like minded community in a great project

CONTRIBUTORS:

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Editor’s Note ......................................................................... 4

Byte Sized News .................................................................. 6

New Releases ....................................................................... 9

Video Gaming .................................................................... 12

Hanging with Achievement Hunter ........................... 18

Games that started their franchise: The Witcher .. 22

Hidden Gems and Buried Treasures: Indie highlights

of May ................................................................................... 24

Review :

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt ............................................... 34

Magnetic: Cage Closed .................................................. 40

Game of Thrones Episode Four – Sons of Winter . 46

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EDITOR’S NOTE

DANIEL KING

ou’re gonna make a fool out

of me. Here I am about to rave

on about

The Witcher 3

even

though in last fortnight’s issue I

complained about lacking the time for a

50 - 200+hour RPG adventure.

Guys, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t

continue brushing past the game in

Target catalogues. Couldn’t ignore

the continuous screenshots on Reddit.

Couldn’t unplug from the sounds of my

friends’ jovial enthusiasm discussing the

many adventures they’ve encountered.

I caved and picked up a copy of

The

Witcher 3

. And I only have some regrets.

Productivity ceases to an absolute halt

once the temptation to plunder the

Northern Kingdoms begins to rear its

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lustrous head. Pressing matters are

given a back seat the moment I’ve

booted up the whimsical world of wolves

and witchers. Publication schedules and

knocking over that pile of dishes are

necessities in my home, but sometimes

they can wait; my friends need another

Snapchat of the latest weapon I ripped

from the hands of a decrepit corpse.

I’ve been fortunate enough to run the

game on Ultra; a godsend from the

NVidia deities, since I was once rich

enough to purchase a beast of a gaming

rig. However, herein lays the fault of

such an impressive looking game: I’m

literally overwhelmed by the game’s

gorgeous, painstakingly immaculate

detail. I can practically count every

single whisker on Geralt’s fuzzed face

but I won’t pick up some herbs for

that lady dying of a fatal wound. I

can gallant through the wonderful

wilderness, stopping to watch the ora

and fauna dance in complete intrinsic

unison, though I won’t fast travel for

convenience’s sake. I keep calling my

partner in to watch the mesmerising

sway of trees and the tranquil ows of

long grass, yet she hasn’t even seen

me kill a beast. I’ve played for hours,

sunk in so much of my time into this

immaculately realised world, and I’ve

hardly done a thing.

CD Projekt Red, I know you’re the nice

guys of the gaming world, but you’ve

created a monster. A beautiful monster

*cue Ne-Yo*

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Oculus VR, the company behind the highly-anticipated Oculus Rift, are facing a lawsuit which questions

their legitimacy. Filed by the company, Total Recall Technologies, the lawsuit claims that Oculus

creator, Palmer Luckey took “condential information he learned while working for another company

and taking it as his own”. The company claimed that they hired Luckey to work on a VR headset and

even signed a condentiality agreement. He received feedback from them on the project but then

left the company to create Oculus VR and begin his own ventures. Total Recall Technologies seek

nancial compensation but did not specify exactly how much. In other news, Oculus Rift is expected

to hit retailers in 2016.

Image © VG247

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The Nintendo Entertainment System (otherwise

known as the NES for short) will be celebrating

its thirtieth anniversary in style; and how

much more stylish can you get than receiving

your own museum exhibit? New York-based

videogame museum, The Strong, claims it

will host a special NES exhibit later this year.

Named ‘Playing with Power: 30 Years of the

Nintendo Entertainment System’, the exhibit will

feature unseen interviews with NES Hardware

developer, Masayuki Uemura and a number of

After being a major-selling racing series for many years,

Need For Speed

has done the thing that is

pretty much inevitable to movie and videogame franchises nowadays; it’s receiving a reboot. Ghost’s

General Manager, Marcus Nilsson and his team thought it to be the best decision for the brand after

a year of “trying to understand what people think Need for Speed should be standing for”. Not much

is know about the game pre-E3 aside from the fact it will be inspired by the

Underground

games and

will feature an open-world sandbox-style environment for players to roam around in. Nilsson also

teased the possibility of an emotionally-driven narrative, something he feel is missing from previous

games. Ultimately, he wants the

Need For Speed

brand to stand out from the other competitors in

the racing genre.

games will be available to play including classics

Super Mario Bros.

and

Duck Hunt.

A pioneering

gaming system during the 80’s, the NES paved the way for more modern console gaming and is

considered a truly classic console by many gamers.

Image © Eurogamer

Need For Speed is following the modern reboot craze Image © VG247

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Did Bin Laden enjoy playing videogames? Maybe not, but it is believed that one of his associates

may have. Following the declassication of documents from the 2011 raid on the infamous terrorist’s

Abbottabad compound, one of the documents reads that someone in the compound was in possession

of a

Delta Force Extreme 2

strategy guide and a

Game Spot

[sic] guide. Yes, that’s right, the website

GameSpot! It’s unlikely any of the persons who owned these documents will need them anymore.

Even terrorists love a bit of videogame Delta Force action apparently... Image © Oyunde Pesinde

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by NATHAN FRANKLIN

Act of Aggression

Did you grow up on classic RTS games like

Command and Conquer and Age of Empires

? Act of

Aggression aims to take the genre back to its classic roots in the same vein as those classic games.

Players will have to build and defend their bases on detailed, authentic maps while producing units to

outwit and outmatch their opponents. You’ll have to extend your base network to o-base reneries to

harvest resources and protect supply networks to ensure a steady income and minerals. The player can

also take prisoners of war to gain an advantage over their opponent. All in all, a promising-sounding

game that is also pretty impressive to look at.

(PC) 28

May 2015

Image © cloudfront.net

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Blood Bowl 2

What is likely to be one of May’s more unique releases, Australian gamers will be able to bask

in the surreal cartoon nature of

Blood Bowl 2

. Based on the popular Games Workshop game,

which is best described as American football and Warhammer smashed together, the game

will retain the same brutality and humour of its source material and improve the features of

its predecessor. One of these is an improved graphics engine; there is no doubt from what has

been seen that the game looks fantastic. It will also feature a new solo player story campaign

featuring the hilarious commentary of Cablevision’s Jim and Bob. If that wasn’t enough, there

is an excellent choice of races including humans, dark elves, high elves, dwarfs, elves, etc and

a multiplayer mode where you can manage your team the way you choose. For those who

love sport with a little bit of fantasy and gore, this is may be your choice du jour.

(PS4/Xbox One/PC) release date: 28

May 2015 (pushed back to September 2015)

Image © Vg247

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Splatoon

Plumbers that jump on turtles, elf boys that ride on talking boats and monkeys called

Donkey

Kong

. Who says Nintendo isn’t the King of Weird? This is what comes to mind when we see

Splatoon – although, like the franchises referenced above, this is a very good thing. The

premise of this colourful game is this; it’s a four vs. four multiplayer third-person shooter

where each player controls an ‘Inkling’, that can turn into squid-like creatures. The aim of the

game is to cover as much of the level as possible and the team that has managed to cover the

most wins the game. In the player’s humanoid form, they move much slower - in the squid-

form, however, players can cover ground at a far more rapid pace. Cartoonish, stylish and fun,

Splatoon

should denitely be on your to-play list if you own a Wii-U. There’s soemthing here

to oer players of all abilities.

(Wii U) release date: 30

May 2015

Image © Kotaku

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BEN WHITE shares his latest picks from

by BENJAMIN

WHITE

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BEN WHITE shares his latest picks from

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NPNNNM

E3 is just around the corner and gamers everywhere are getting really excited about what the developers

have in store for us this year. In this episode of The Lobby, the guys at Gamespot discuss E3 and talk

about what to expect from this year’s event and what it means for the future of gaming. This is the

whole episode it is a long one, but the discussion is worth a watch because it builds the E3 hype.

Dreams are weird, and so are video game and movie dream sequences. In this list watchmojo have

put together 10 of the best video game dream sequences from Scarecrow’s dream in Batman Arkham

Asylum to the nightmare in Alan Wake. This is an interesting top 10 gaming list as dream sequences

aren’t always a common thing in most games. watchmojo have made there list based on anything

from hallucinations to actual dreams, so long as the sequence in question is only a small segment of

the game, and not the game in it’s entirety

E3 2015 Predictions (The Lobby)

Gamespot

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NPNNNM

Ark Survival Evolved is a new survival multiplayer game which is in early access on steam. The game

sees players pitted against each other and dinasours. This game looks really good and while not 100%

complete still looks good for early access. In this video Delirious and the gang get up to some funny

prehistoic shenanigans.

Top 10 Video Game Dream Sequences

watchmojo.com

Ark Survival Evolved Episode 1 -

H2O Delirious

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Hanging with

We talk with Jack Pattillo by Clare Belshaw

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The quick evolution of video games into one of the dominant forms of art and entertainment

of the current world has had some remarkable unexpected results. To have a group of

friends start with just a small series using gameplay footage and voiceovers to being a large

company with its own movie coming out this year would have been inconceivable only half

a century ago. That small series is still going.

Rooster Teeth has continued to grow, brining members of its community through to help

create new content, new brands and build new audiences. One of the major facets of Rooster

Teeth is the Achievement Hunter crew. I was able to talk to one of the Achievement Hunters,

one of the Gents, Jack Pattillo.

So Jack, could you rst give us a bit of your background, how you got into gaming

and came to work with Rooster Teeth?

I’ve been gaming for as long as I can remember. My rst job was at an arcade and I landed

at Rooster Teeth after spending time writing for a site about video games and working at a

video game company putting together trailers.

You’ve been producing Achievement Hunter Videos for a while now, do you nd it

difcult to keep coming up with new ideas? The Minecraft Let’s Plays are approaching

their 150th episode, do you ever have any indication about which games will become

long running ones for Achievement Hunter?

It has become more difcult to come up with solid ideas, but we’re open to try anything

new. Mainly it comes down to what is enjoyable for us. If we’re having a good time playing

and recording, it comes across in our videos. As far as what videos have longevity, it really

depends on the audience. If they are begging for more, we typically give it to them.

There has been a lot of changes within Achievement Hunter, such as Ray leaving,

considering how some of the fans have had difculty accepting some of the new

members. Do you think that as members retire and are replaced fans with be able to

stay with the channel?

I think our brand of humour will continue to evolve as we grow older. We’re aware of our

community at all times and we know that sometimes they can be very reactionary, so we

are careful when we make big moves. The beauty of having a larger team is that there is

someone for everyone. You’re bound to nd someone you can relate to in the group and if

someone leaves, there are some great people waiting to jump in with the comedy.

What have been some of your favourite videos to lm, the Let’s Plays or some of the

things such as the Podcast or The Patch? What are the video’s you are most proud of

from your work with Rooster Teeth.

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I still love playing Minecraft with the team. That game just radiates entertainment. Any

time we build something as a team, I’m happy. I’m also proud of the videos that have

broken me. When Gavin killed himself in Rainbow Six Vegas, I nearly broke myself

laughing. Those are the best.

What’s an average day for an Achievement Hunter, how many videos would be

lmed in an average day?

It really depends on the day, but a general day starts with getting to the ofce around

9:30am and catching up on gaming news. From there, depending on who is there, we

try to record at least one piece of content before lunch. Either a Let’s Play or a Things

To Do, Go, VS… pretty much whatever we are behind on. Then lunch, then repeat a few

more times in the afternoon. We can record up to about 5 longer videos a day when

we’re pushing hard, but we don’t want to get burnt out on recording, so we are careful

not to do that too often.

Internet communities can often by, vocal in their complaints, all the Achievement

Hunter crew seems to have a good sense of humour about themselves but do you

ever nd it difcult to deal with? Aside from the completely valid complaint that

you and Ryan do sound identical at times that is.

Everyone within Achievement Hunter has been working on the Internet for a while,

so we’ve developed a thick skin. The key is focus on doing your job and making the

people who gave you that job happy.

In your own gaming what are the genres you really connect with, favourite games

and games you’re most looking forward to in 2015?

My favourite games are ones you can pick up and play for as few as 5 minutes or for

a few hours. I’m currently loving Battleeld: Hardline and I’m anxious for Halo 5 and

whatever happens with Destiny.

You’ve put in a lot of effort and raised quite a bit of money for the charity Extra

Life, would you mind telling me a bit about your experience with Extra Life?

Working with Extra Life is important to me because it shows that gamers can come

together to do some real good. I have nothing but the best to say about the guys

behind Extra Life. They are doing incredible work and I’m happy to contribute every

year in whatever way I can.

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GAMES

Rapid Fire - ok, so here are just a few quick questions for fun. Please answer as quickly

as you can.

1. Best game of 2014?

Destiny.

2. Fanart you would most like to see of yourself and a ctional character/situation?

Anything

Assassin’s Creed

related.

3. Favourite Marvel Movie?

Avengers 1

Captain America 2

4. Batman/Superman

Batman

. (He has the coolest toys.)

5. Co-worker you would most enjoy punching?

None! Punching is bad.

Thanks Jack for chatting with us and giving us a bit of an insight into what it’s like

to be an Achievement Hunter as well as a bit more about you. Rooster Teeth has

a large following in Australia with their convention appearances usually having

lines throughout the hall but in case you haven’t checked them out; they can be

found on YouTube and on RoosterTeeth.com.

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GAMES THAT STARTED

THEIR FRANCHISE:

THE WITCHER

A descriptive revisit of the Witcher franchise and how it became the award-winning success it is now.

by Richard Eldridge

After the unprecedented success of

Bethesda’s Oblivion in 2006, Polish

video game developer CD Projekt

RED tried to emulate Bethesda’s

prot by releasing their own

RPG a year later titled The Witcher

- powered by BioWare’s Aurora

2007 engine. This action-RPG

essentially became the rst in a

series of games that started a

prosperous and critically acclaimed

franchise. Based on the novels by

Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher

follows Geralt of Rivia, a monster

slayer adventuring his way through

the Northern Kingdoms, part of the

continent of Temeria.

The initial cut- scene shows Geralt

being assigned to cure a curse

on King Foltest’s daughter, where

she turns into a monster called a

striga at night and roams from a

sarcophagus in this manner. Geralt

nds the traitor who gave the

princess the curse and has him as

bait for the striga. He seemingly

cures the curse by getting inside

the sarcophagus to shut himself

away from the cursed princess. He

emerges in the morning to nd

the princess on the ground in her

person accounts of both present

and future events - whether

it’s at the beginning or end of

a chapter, or during a world

dening confrontation with a main

protagonist. These cut scenes

are based on the choices of the

player and the organisation that

you decide to aid in the Northern

Kingdoms.These events are set

around the city of Vizima which

houses King Foltest and his court,

as well as a majority of human

inhabitants (non-humans, such as

dwarves, elves and half-elves are

housed within the Temple Quarter

of Vizima). There are a number

of other districts Geralt explores

such as the Trade Quarter and the

Merchant Quarter, which houses

wealthier residents and more

opulent establishments to ply your

witcher trade. Within their walls you

can take part in a drinking contest,

have a meal and ale with the inns’

clientele, play a round of ‘dice

poker’ or even venture out into

the streets to see the inhabitants

of Vizima turn heads towards your

anomalous appearance.

After the success of the original,

human form, from which she opens

her eyes, which reveal the eyes of

the striga and she attacks. The scene

fades to black and proceeds to the

beginning of the game’s narrative.

The narrative begins when a dazed

Geralt awakens with amnesia after

he’s rescued from the wilderness

and brought back to Kaer Mohen’s

witcher stronghold. Geralt’s

quest sends him on a mission to

dismantle a sinister organisation

called Salamandra that stole

the witcher secrets from Kaer

Mohen while trying to recover his

memory. Witchers are professional

monster slayers who mutated at

an early age to defeat creatures

using swords, potions and powers

known as ‘signs’. Their powers

and appearance cause them to

be derided by many ignorant and

fearful inhabitants of this world

as ‘freaks’. This distrust and fear is

shared throughout Temeria and

the city of Vizima and even spreads

to the religious order known as

the Knights of the Flaming Rose.

Regardless of this distrust, most

witchers maintain neutrality in

relation to world events and only

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developers CD Projekt RED released

The Witcher Enhanced Edition in

2008, which enhanced the overall

game. The Enhanced Edition

includes faster load times for game

scenes as well as additional NPC

models and additional adventures

to play through called Side Effects

and The Price of Neutrality. It also

includes the ofcial strategy guide, a

short story called The Last Wish and

a map of Temeria on high quality

paper. If you have not experienced

The Witcher yet, it’s a roleplaying

experience you’ll remember for a

long time.

Additionally, a sequel titled

Assassins of Kings was released in

May 2011 and features a higher

focus on fast paced action. It

provided a new array of alchemy

and offensive manoeuvres for Geralt

to utilise - in other words, you’re in

for another exhilarating ride from

prologue to epilogue. For those

wanting the ultimate experience,

it’s imperative to play through the

original game before settling into

the sequel as they both follow a

chapter-by-chapter narrative.

CD Projeck RED’s third instalment

in the series, The Wild Hunt, is

due for release May 2015. From

what’s been seen through released

screenshots and promotional game

play at E3, The Wild Hunt will only

build upon the fast paced game

play of the rst two instalments

and will place heavy emphasis on

choice and consequence.

intervene to restore the balance

between good and evil. However,

Geralt’s is constantly challenged.

As we proceed through the game

it’s soon evident that players are

faced with many choices on how

they can deal with events and

NPCs. This consequential balance

places a great deal of emphasis on

each decision as it highlights how

each choice affects their alignment.

Siding yourself with the right people

such as non-humans, Knights of

the Flaming Rose or even witcher

allies are benecial in defeating

the game’s main antagonist

organisation Salamandra.

Combat within The Witcher is more

sophisticated than most RPGs of its

kind as it focusses upon different

ghting styles for certain enemies

whilst using your witcher swords. If

you are ghting a heavily armoured

knight, then you would use the

‘Strong Style’ which does more

damage to your enemy but is much

slower than the ‘Fast Style’ which is

for fast and nimble enemies such as

assassins, ghosts and vampires.

The third and nal ghting style

is ‘Group Style’, which is primarily

used for ghting a number of

weak enemies simultaneously

and damaging them all with a

single arc of your sword. You can

pause the game during combat

to change your ghting style if

there is a mix of strong or fast

enemies to contend with. This

gives the player copious options

in terms of changing your strategy

according to new circumstances.

The advantages and disadvantages

of aligning yourselves with these

particular groups or organisations

is what made The Witcher largely

unique from many other games of

the roleplaying genre. Your choices

within the game make the game

such an intriguing and scintillating

ride from start to nish.

There are also three different story

paths that you can take based on

your moral choices within the game.

These paths aren’t good, neutral

and evil, but rather the option of

being neutral as a witcher or helping

a particular organisation achieve

their goal in the game world. This

is part of what makes The Witcher

unique from other games in the RPG

genre. Furthermore, there’s no clear

delineation of good and evil in The

Witcher; only choices and penalties

that affect how other people view

Geralt. Depending on a player’s

afliation with a character, NPCs

might see him as an acquaintance,

an ally, a friend, a lover or even an

enemy. This is different to other

games in the RPG genre which that

often focus on a struggle between

good and evil. It’s part of what

makes The Witcher unique from

most other RPGs. Additionally, you

can set the difculty from easy,

medium and hard plus a nightmare

mode. This enhances the game’s

value in terms of re-playability and

challenging the player’s mastery of

potions, skills and weapons within

the game.

This is also interspersed with cut-

scenes when Geralt’s giving rst-

and

OF May

INDIE HIGHLIGHTS

by Daniel King

We hope you didn’t miss this hidden delights

by Daniel King

Invisible, Inc.

Developer: Klei Entertainment

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy

Buy it here

There’s no such thing as a bad Klei Entertainment game. Heck, I’ve never even played an

average one! This Vancouver based team out in British Columbia, Canada are one of the

few developers that can effectively deliver the soul and innovation of an indie title with

Triple-A prominence. Gameplay? Immaculate! Art design? Indistinguishable! Klei couldn’t

spit out a op if it were pushed down their collectively gurative throats.

Innovation is the impeccable driving force behind the team’s motivation to excel; always

striving to evolve quickly as if a critic was close on their tail wielding a sticker that reads

‘one-trick-pony.’ Klei are constantly pushing themselves into new directions; welcoming

the acceleration of variety by diving into new genres with almost each new game. We’ve

bounced through Eets’ puzzled worlds, beat-em-up in Shank, played in the shadows during

Mark of Ninja, and now we’re sleuthing it up with

Invisible, Inc

- a top down, turn-based

strategy with a stealthy twist.

Invisible, Inc

. is by far the biggest star on their belt of achievement in terms of sophistication.

While I love splattering heads in Shank and playing peek-a-boo during Mark of the Ninja,

Invisible, Inc

.’s delectable charm infused with the intelligence of a turn-based strategy

speaks volumes for its elegance and addictive nature.

The year is 2074 and the world’s been plagued by mega corporations; dismantling any sign

of democratic government order. You work for Invisible: a private intelligence agency that

inltrates these villainous enterprises to overthrow their balance of power. A HQ breach

sends what’s left of your team into hiding so your only option is scavenge enough resources

to phoenix your way back into power.

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Invisible’s ace in the hole is an articial intelligence known as Incognita whose omnipresent

power can change the tide of war. However the AI is now running on emergency power

after the breach and its expiration has a countdown. There’s only a limited amount of time

to nd Incognita a new home and arm yourself for round two.

Inspired by the strategic yet punishing nature of X-COM,

Invisible, Inc

. harnesses the intricate

method of top-down, turn based strategy with a heavy focus on being inconspicuous.

You’ll control a small group of agents, each specialising in different careers such as hacking,

inltration and combat, tted with unique perks and augments to better suit their path.

Once the world opens up you’ll choose from a various amount of bountiful objectives to

strengthen your team - from discovering new augments, stealing credits (currency used to

upgrade stats and purchase goodies) or recruiting rescued agents. Every mission drops you

into a single room that expands out into a randomly generated plethora of riches guarded

by technical and biological defences.

You’ll navigate your agents through these grid-based maps, peeking through doors,

dodging lines of sight and hacking into the mainframe to further expand your exploration.

Using Incognita you’ll hack into terminals, turn off alarms, unlock safes and identify

daemons hidden in hackable devices to make detection less accomplishable. All you have

to do is direct your sleuths to clear out safes rather than clearing out rooms and leg it with

credits dripping out of your pocket. Simple? Not quite.

One wrong step could throw your entire operation into jeopardy. Covering your tracks,

monitoring a guards movement and avoiding detection is paramount to a successful

inltration. Precise, delicate steps can get you through unscathed but there’s little to

predict what’s waiting behind every door. You won’t often be able to hack into everything

because doing so requires a nite amount of PWR so there will come many a time where

sacricing luxuries becomes a priority. We can go without those extra dollars if a camera’s

halting our progression.

Time is rarely on your side and

Invisible, Inc

. loves to make you feel against the odds. The

game’s alarm counter, which spawns extra guardsmen, increases at the conclusion of each

turn, dropping new obstacles after varying increments. Stay too long trying to pick up

extra dough and you’ll welcome enforcers who have a higher range of detection skills. Kill

or knock out any guard and you’ll hasten the alarm’s countdown. Seriously, don’t risk the

latter unless you REALLY need to.

I experienced so many thrilling rushes of adrenaline trying to decide if escaping took

precedence over the goodies in an unlocked safe, all the while I had enemies honing in on

my presence. There’s a dangerous mix of risking your incognito status and, in most cases,

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your life just to step foot in that unexplored room, hoping to pocket a couple more bucks

to buy another augment from the black market. Knowing what to steal and when to escape

creates an insurmountable amount of intensity because any overstepped boundary could

domino into a mess of events.

Invisible, Inc

. is meant to be replayed several times. For a game this good, it will be. Aside

from the plentiful modes such as Time Attack, Endless and Expert Plus which ups the

difculty severely by reducing the amount of times you can retry or rewind a wrong move,

the actual campaign asks for another playthrough. The recommended, chronological order

consists of getting your hands dirty in beginner and working your way through the higher

difculties. Each step-up in challenge grants you a wider range of abilities for Incognita

and can unlock other uniquely decked out characters, multiplying the degrees of strategy.

Every run-through inches you closer to the game’s true ending so purists will want to stay

for the long haul.

Invisible, Inc

. truly is a terric game. The rst half of 2015 has already had so many GOTY

contenders and I guarantee this’ll be up in the nominations. Even if you’re not a fan of the

top down, turn based strategy, you’ll want to play Klei Entertainment’s stylish, neo-noir

thriller. It’s one of the year’s best.

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Monstrum

Developer: Team Junksh

Genre: Survival-Horror

Buy it here

I don’t consider myself a gambling man. Sometimes I just need to know everything that’s

in store to better equip myself against disappointment. Horror games especially. What

you might nd scary could be very tame for me, and what terries me could just be a

picture of an animatronic teddy bear holding a microphone. So when I heard this new indie

developed horror survival

Monstrum

had been receiving rave reviews throughout its stint

in Early Access on Steam, I played my cards with condence and prepared for a predictable,

but enjoyable, walking simulator with a couple jump scares here and there.

Nope.

Monstrum

was a gamble. I lost.

This game genuinely catalysed a few embarrassing screams out of me. Not only did I spend

most of my time quivering underneath a desk or inside a locker, I also foolishly broadcast

my playthrough to a friend where he could laugh at the way I jerked around ever so quickly

at so much as a monster’s whisker.

Developer Team Junksh’s nightmare begins not long after you awake to discover you’re

hopelessly helpless on a deserted cargo ship with nothing but the clothes on your back

and a torch at your feet. Barnacled, blood-curdling monsters host the evening of terror by

strolling through their claustrophobic, metal-laden halls on the hunt for this new eshy

stowaway, while you, said stowaway, are just trying to nd a means of escape.

Your best defence against the frights comes in the form of a torch to help vanquish your

fear of the unknown. It’s a handy staple of survival horror games because you’ll often nd

yourself face-to-face with one of Poseidon’s many rejects, and a light in the dark or a

re extinguisher blast to the face gives you ample opportunity to turn a different corner.

Furthermore, tossing a cup or setting off an egg timer might lure them away from the

trembling feet they were just about to trip over, though you’ll be mostly pulling a 180 and

sprinting out of their sight. Just be wary of those exploding steam pipes.

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Monstrum

cleverly elucidates variety in its roguelike exposition through randomly

generated levels and alternating monsters. Rarely, if ever, will you experience the same

layout twice so there’s no point memorising the ship’s blueprints. A different monster is

always assigned to your playthrough, but knowing which one is after you isn’t obvious until

it’s chomping down on your trail. Will you be Shaken and stunned by the brickhouse Brute?

Followed by the Fiend whose spectral tentacles thicken around your body? Or pursued by

the skeletal-gured Hunter who moves silently throughout the environment? There’s only

ever one monster per level so you can thank Odin you don’t have to deal with both the

Fiend and Hunter at once.

Like many other successful horror titles,

Monstrum

utilises puzzle solving to heighten the

stress of thinking logically and quickly while an enemy breathes down your neck. There

are various methods of getting off the ship though which one you choose to pursue relies

on the necessary items needed to piece together said vehicle. The helicopter won’t go

anywhere without some fuel and that life raft won’t inate if those tears aren’t sealed up.

Monstrum

isn’t a long game, though you won’t be able to nish it quickly. Permadeath

and randomly generated levels grants new experiences after each game over, but also

changes up the scenery and locations of every object. Speedrunners needn’t apply if they’re

expecting a runthrough based on memory alone.

What I really loved about

Monstrum

was its focus on the smaller details other survival

horrors overlook. Having the ability to lock a door behind you when chased adds some

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fantastic realism into the mix. It might only save you a few precious seconds, but you’re still

breathing. Additionally, covering up cameras with duct tape so they’re dubstep-emulative

alarm doesn’t alert a monster to your location cleverly injects a great amount of depth and

strategy. I originally planned on using the tape to seal the holes in that life raft but I guess

now a oatable sea escape is out of the question.

Horror is at its nest when our defence has been stripped away and our visibility severely

limited.

Monstrum

does exactly that but offers you a wide variety of options to buy yourself

a little more time before succumbing to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Monstrum

has so much

potential to be a cult classic like Slender or even the more recent Spooky’s House of Jump

Scares with its community fan base and rogue-like elements and I really hope it gets the

attention it surely deserves. There’s even some wiggle room to welcome a longer shelf life

if it embraces the inclusion of new monsters in future updates.

Here’s hoping the game attracts a bigger audience so I can joke around with my friends

about which one had to clean their pants rst.

Flame Over

Developer: Laughing Jackal

Genre: Top down, twin-stick “squirter”

Buy it here

Anyone who has at least held a job for 12 months or spent too much time burning down

kitchens in The Sims would be fairly educated in how to handle a re: don’t use a hose on

electrical res, always aim the extinguisher’s nozzle towards the base and leg it when the

heat’s too much. But I honestly think I’ve learned more about re precautions in one

Flame

Over

play through than I have at all those early morning work compulsory re inductions.

The best part? I didn’t have to drag myself to work at 7am on a Saturday to hear an

enthusiastic re chief explain how to read an evacuation map.

Laughing Jackal’s twin stick shooter

Flame Over

is a godsend for pyromaniacs and a

nightmare for remen. You play as Blaze, the only fella assigned to extinguishing this

cavalcade of a disaster that has spread throughout numerous skyscrapers. Armed with just

a portable hose, a durable axe and rellable extinguisher, it’s your job to clear the ames

and pull hapless civilians out of their inferno torture chamber. How’s one guy meant to

extinguish 16 levels of re on his lonesome? The answer: happily.

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I can see why other publications are calling

Flame Over

a Spelunky of sorts. Obvious

comparisons can’t shy away from rogue-like elements such as randomly generated levels,

challenging difculty and in-level shops. They can say what they want about this being

a reman’s Spelunky, but to me this is more of a top down Luigi’s Mansion or Mario

Sunshine. Much like the aforementioned titles, you’ll use weapons not conventionally seen

in more modern releases such as water bombs and a device that sprays water to clean up

non-anthropomorphised threats, though the real villain are those federal budget cuts to

the emergency service department.

Flame Over

may read like a re-ghters résumé; though the game’s effervescent charm and

arcade action makes this top down shooter feel like an energetic and vibrant investment.

As Blaze you’ll manoeuvre your way through a plethora of rooms, snaking the stream of

water over ames until you’ve completely vaporised every icker of re to progress on

to the next level. Dampening ames materialises into coins that you can use to purchase

new gear and upgrades, reminding us all that we’re clearly in the wrong money-making

profession.

Electric res that spread like wild re can only be cleared with your extinguisher, teaching

us a thing or two about proper extinguishing, though it primarily serves as an additional

layer of difculty. Even leaving just one spark in a room can quickly erupt into a re-

ghter’s nightmare, spreading to other rooms if you helplessly open too many doors, so

eliminating these threats become more than just a leisurely satisfaction.

Blaze can only withstand so much re before he needs to eject himself out of the frying

pan. This can be monitored by his tolerance threshold that is circulated around his body

and increases when exposed to ames. If the threshold lls up all the way then you’ll lose

a heart. Lose all hearts and it’s game over. Hopefully you made it to the next checkpoint

increment or you’ll be sent all the way back to the very rst oor, ready to start over.

All the while you’re hosing down the place there’s a ve minute timer counting down from

the moment you boot up a new game, pushing you to clear a multitude of levels in such

a short amount of time. Once the clock reaches zero, the personication of death himself

starts to pursue you with his fatal touch. You can keep the grim reaper at bay a little longer

by escorting civilians and cats back to the exit to earn extra minutes and a heart rell, but

that comes at the price of sacricing valuable seconds.

Additionally, completing optional side quests appear while you’re gunning down the ames

to tempt you with upgrade coins used to earn certain perks like making items at the shop

cheaper or granting you a higher chance of nding secrets. Focusing on these missions

costs valuable time so there’s some strategy layered in the game’s core asking whether or

not you should risk failure for a potential buff.

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Flame Over

isn’t a simple aim-and-shoot; there’s a lot of planning involved with prioritising

which area to target rst. If you play like me then you’re probably aiming down the main

power outlet to make ghting electrical res easier and stacking up cats for hearts. Others

might want to bank up civilians to y through later levels. There’s much to be celebrated

when you nish a level faster than what with you started. How you play makes for interesting

water cooler conversation when discussing strategies amongst friends and

Flame Over

will

host many an enticing conversation.

Laughing Jackal’s

Flame Over

will trigger a huge investment for leaderboard gunners and

a delightful romp for the casual gamers, though others might be turned off by its difculty.

The game’s charm, quirky characters and effervescent liveliness make for a very enjoyable

test of perseverance, not the mention the accompaniment of a funky tune to add comic

mischief to the manic mayhem, while encompassing the right ingredients to make such an

addictive score chaser.

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REVIEW

Join Josiah as he treks the land of Temeria for the rst time in

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

by Josiah Roche

Magic and swordplay are a great mix in The Witcher 3

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Arguably one of the most confounding yet insatiably fun games of 2015,

The Witcher 3:

Wild Hunt

demands a patient audience.

Ideally, this game deserves a review from those whom have stuck with the series from

the beginning; whom have tirelessly lavished hundreds of precious hours into the game;

those who’ve held high prestige because of their hard-core Witcher skills. But I’m here to

tell you that you can take that shit somewhere else - there’s fresh blood in town.

Yes, that’s right. I’ve not played The Witcher or The Witcher 2 and I feel as though a newborn

babe craving to suckle on the teat of closure. Although this is the case, I’ve ploughed

through the storyline and in all my greatest eorts to succeed in time, it just didn’t happen.

I am so used to cramming in enough hours to ll up a googolplex to achieve satisfaction

with games; however, CD Projekt Red built their game to last – averting me from nishing

it before deadline.

Without going into specics, I’ll give you a quick rundown of what the game is about.

There are a group of lone mercenaries in the world known as Witchers. They are highly

skilled warriors that are learned in the arts of magic and monster slaying. However, there

is a catch: Witchers have undergone special mutations that not only make them stronger,

but have heightened all of their senses, making them superhuman if you will.

Contrary to what you’d think, Witchers are actually hated among the common folk; they’re

considered as lesser humans, or in other words, dogs. Not only that, but the authorities

consider them as vicious mercenaries that are only out to get a bit of coin for the use of

their unique services.

Anyway, back to the story. As Witchers are slowly becoming extinct (so it seems), there

lives one who goes by the name of Geralt (the main protagonist of the series) aka The

White Wolf. Geralt has an epic backstory that I won’t delve into, but for those who don’t

know of him – he’s not one to mess with, let’s leave it at that.

After recovering from his recent memory loss, Geralt sets out on a journey to track down

his lost love Yennefer, who has been on the run and rumoured to be in a nearby land. After

tracking down Yen an event far more important arises; Geralt’s student/adopted daughter

named Cirilla has been discovered after disappearing yonks ago and just so happens to

be in danger! With her location unknown, Geralt and Yen must nd Cirilla and harbour her

back to safety, naturally…

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

is truly one the most hard-core, strategic A-RPG’s that is actually

fun to play – no oence to the

Dark Souls

players. To get a feel for it, it’s like playing Fable

but all of the monsters are from

Dark Souls

–that’s not to say that I cry every time I verse

a boss or anything…

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Moreover, it’s also quite akin to

Skyrim

. The quests and exploration, the graphics and the

mood all ow similarly to it, which make me feel all the more at home.

Nonetheless, I was anticipating state of the art graphics with

The Witcher 3

and to be

frank, it didn’t live up to my expectations. Yes, I am told that the PC version plays much

smoother and looks a treat with the graphics at max capacity; but the console version of

the game really, and I mean REALLY disappointed me.

Even with the update on day one, the game plays really sluggish and static. The graphics

are dumbed down and the console’s processor can’t keep up with the games processes.

For example, when I walk into a room, I generally have to wait a minute until the NPC’s

load in the room; it’s somewhat ridiculous at times.

Don’t get me wrong though, there are a numerous amount of reasons to fall in love with

The Witcher 3

, but it denitely has some aws. All the same, I wouldn’t give it 10/10 like one

publisher recently did - that’s like saying that the game is perfect, in which I completely

disagree.

After a while however, you tend to take advantage of the aws. For instance, you could

be travelling for days upon days and still not regenerate your health gauge. Yet, if you just

sit and meditate for ten minutes, your health gauge would be full - you can do this in the

middle of a mission. Chasing an enemy down and have no health? That’s ne, take all the

time in the world and meditate for a day. What’s that? The enemy is in the same spot and

it’s been eight hours? No problem, would you like a coee while you wait? The enemy will

wait for you even though he’s trying to escape…you get the drift.

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Secondly, the voiceover’s in the game repeat and overlap each other at the same time;

hence Geralt would be saying two sentences at the same time. Moreover, the game still

has wall hacks and textures overlying each other. Occurrences like these certainly make

me question the game’s integrity.

Oh yes, one more thing: let’s talk about the concept of falling for a minute. So you’re trying

to tell me, developer, that it’s realistic when falling from a couple of metres to nearly die?

Ludicrous. I’ve seen soldiers in real life fall from at-least ten metres and still be ne. It’s a

joke to have a character that has supernatural abilities to be so fragile when encountering

a little gravity. But no, I have to climb a ladder in order to stay alive…seriously?

Well as much as I’d love to pick at the rest of the aws in the game, I’d also like to give

credit to the developers for the things they actually got right.

Facial gestures in

The Witcher 3

are astounding. They are probably the most realistic facial

gestures I’ve ever seen in a video game; this allows you to personalise with characters a

lot more. Additionally, Geralt’s beard can grow when he travels between regions, so if you

like clean-shaved, you’ll have to visit the barber a lot.

Sounds eects are some of the best I’ve ever experienced in the industry thus far. I’ve

been using surround- sound in all of my gameplay as of recent and nothing stood out

The Witcher 3

. The audio was so immerse, that I thought the noises were real; from

whistling wind to crushing waves – CD Projekt Red deserve applaud just on the basis of

their audio alone.

One of the cool things is that you can actually play as other characters. Subsequently

to the beginning of the storyline, Geralt investigates clues for Cirilla’s location. In which

Geralt has a ashback of what happened to her; hence, you actually get to play as Cirilla

and acquire more of a taste of what ensued.

Another innovative concept borrowed from titles like

Mass Eect

, is that you can import

your

Witcher 2

save le to determine what sort of character Geralt would be in

The Witcher

. This governs any decisions Geralt would be more likely to choose and in what attitude

he would have.

Finally, (before sounding like an encyclopaedia) the game world is so freakin’ huge! I mean

seriously, it would take you easily in excess of 100 hours and still not have trekked the map

fully. There are hidden treasures, rare monsters, secret side quests and magic statues that

imbue Geralt’s powers.

Before I conclude this review, there are a few extra aws that I’d like to point out.

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Other than the stagnant gameplay, herbs are a pain in the arse to gather. Trekking the

map on foot and gathering much-needed herbs to brew potions can be one of the most

throbbing tasks to do in this game.

Furthermore, Geralt can steal whatever he wants in this game. Walk into a house, steal shit

and not get arrested? Too easy. Hell, you can walk right up to a guard and take someone

else’s belongings and get away with it.

Some of the scenes are dreadful as well and they don’t make sense. In one case, after I

travelled across the sea to another land, a thug of some type met me at the shores. We

got on talking alright then all of a sudden, I choose to say “I don’t like you and I feel like

slapping you”. Thereafter we got into a ght after a death-threat response and I won. Then

Geralt and the thug congratulated each other on the ght…that’s after I thought they

were going to kill each other.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

is a rewarding experience for single player gamers. The graphics

are good on console and even better on PC. The gameplay and combat is challenging but

fun; the storyline has some contrast to it that keeps it from being bland; the voice acting

and audio is some of the best to date and the game is worth every cent when comparing

the value for money.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a newcomer, this game has something that is sure to

keep you reeled in for hours.

8.5

Geralt and his trusty horse Roach

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Magnetic: Cage Closed

Like Portal, but better.

Magnetic: Cage Closed, the game created by

development studio Guru Games, is a rst person

puzzle game where the player manipulates

magnetic forces to accomplish their goals. The

mechanics are focused around a single tool:

The Magnet Gun which allows you to create

electromagnetic elds with either positive or

negative charges. This power is used to either

repel or attract magnetic objects. However, if the

objects are heavier than you, you’ll be the one

ying through the room.

Magnetic: Cage Closed bases itself heavily on the

Portal franchise which is one of my favourite video

game franchises ever. Running around solving

puzzles in a rst-person perspective is thrilling.

For me, Magnetic is even better than Portal both

in story and basic mechanics. Magnetic looks

better, plays better and is more challenging than

Portal will ever be!

You are a prisoner trapped in a strange facility. This

facility is lled with deadly traps and whispered

secrets. The place itself is called Facility 7 and for

me it resembles something Jigsaw would make if

he could scrape together a few coins. It’s a deadly

environment and each challenge is created to

test your skills with various aspects of the game.

Your only choice is to master the Magnet Gun

and survive all the deadly challengers, though

REVIEW

by Mitchell Rogers

not all of them are lethal. Some have you testing

your jumping or timing skills in order to complete

the challenge. There are various characters in game

that “help you” (not really) in game and give you

“condence”. I just found a lot of them to be plain

mean. But this makes their character more diverse

and interesting. They treat you like a prisoner; a

no hoper and I really liked that because it leads to

some interesting dialogue. Magnetic has several

choices in game which affect the ending as well.

Each new play through will always be different the

second time around.

Magnetic has many mechanics which make it what

it is. The coolest one of the mall is the Magnet

Gun which is expected since it’s the game’s main

function.. The developers got the balancing for

the gun just right: It’s not too powerful and easy

to use, but it’s not overly difcult to use either

and it’s fairly easy to master. The Magnet Gun can

transform the environment, you can propel yourself

through the air with magnet pads or it can assist

you with box puzzles or to help you reach what

seems to be an unreachable ledge. The gun has

several power settings for positive and negative

chargers. There are also heaps of different Magnet

Guns you can receive depending on the decisions

you make. Though they all look the same they all

have different power settings and some are harder

to use than others.

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Fortunately the puzzles are diverse and never

repeat. They all have a unique shape, difculty or

bring in a new element. There is this one puzzle

that made me laugh quite loudly. The puzzle

looks very lazily done and holds no difculty

to the player which comes as no surprise once

the warden tells you that an intern created the

challenge. I am starting to think that maybe that

was the case in reality for the developers.

Overall Magnetic is a remarkable game with

its beautiful visuals, interesting characters and

challenging gameplay. It’s something that has

been done before, though Magnetic raises the

bar and shows us all what FPS puzzle games can

be and should be. I loved every minute of this

game and I will be playing it again. The puzzles

will have you confused and frustrated, but just

remember that there is a way to complete each

one.Magnetic: Cage Closed is a well-deserved

nine out of ten.

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Review

by Daniel King

Iron from Ice!

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Warning: Contains spoilers for previous episodes.

“[I’m] really enjoying this

Game of Thrones

fan ction HBO has been putting out

lately,” my friend sneered sarcastically in referral to the TV show’s more recent

episodes. “I wonder if they’ll ever consider adapting the books.” With a phrase like

that coming out of a fan so big that she literally has her own dragon eggs, this

comical jest evokes a string of alarms. HBO’s loose adaptation of

Game of Thrones

is losing momentum faster than its viewers are losing patience. Fans are jumping

o the hype train and everyone else is grunting through each episode, praying

something happens in between the chatter and bombardment of exposition.

“Have faith” I whisper to the disloyal like a solemn whim of hope in the ear of a

non-believer. “We still have Telltale.”

Episode four in Telltale’s

Game of Thrones

adaptation injects plenty of credibility

back into the franchise with the intense dramas and dangerous decisions we’ve

come to expect from this developer. The fourth instalment steers Telltale’s vision

through the lulls of its prior downfalls and even grants us the luxury of a few st-

pumping moments. There may be a few more technical hindrances present in

this latest instalment, though this doesn’t challenge the overall game’s quality.

The fate of the Forresters’ lives hangs in the balance after an earthquake of

emotional events catalysts damaged relationships. Allegiances are pushed to

breaking point and The Forresters are doing the best they can with the terrible

hand they’ve been dealt. Fortunately Sons of Winter temporarily relieves players

of their eternal bad luck by contributing a few long awaited victories. They’re

short lived however as consequences of these triumphs have potential to ripple

out into further damage; paving the way for more corrosive harm down the line.

The game opens with a cold, decrepit corpse, reminding the audience that no

one’s life is safe in Westeros. We’re this far into the series and players are already

wearing their dire consequences like a badge of honour that’s granted to tortured

veterans. We kick things o with Gared enduring the penalties of his actions from

the prior instalment, then busting out to pursue his mysterious fate. We meet up

with a new recruit and tangle with a few Wildlings to heat up some action, but

very few decisions in this section are noteworthy.

Meanwhile Rodrik’s preparing to retaliate against Gry and reinstate his position

as House Forrester’s true leader. No one is more deserving of a victory than Rodrik

and he nally gets his just desserts early on. After the Forresters snag their hands

on some leverage to win back Ryon there’s room for some internal celebration.

Though how this newfound inuence shapes the rest of his adventure is a dierent

story.

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Their narrative nears conclusion during a negotiation that doesn’t go quite the

way it was planned – as per Game of Thrones policy – and tensions have rarely

been higher. Toxic decisions are made amongst the screams of peril and anguish

and all logical thinking goes out the window when there’s only seconds to decide

someone’s fate. I regret the decision I made during the Whitehill exchange,

but it could have been much worse. Only Telltale can make you question your

decisiveness quite like this.

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Over in King’s Landing Mira has her ear to the wall and is laying the foundations of

lies and deceit amongst the more prominent gures. She’s now able to manipulate

information out of the weakest of minds; an intimidating method I never expected to

see in this timid handmaiden. Her character has denitely developed insurmountably

in comparison to our other characters this episode and her devil may care attitude

makes for an interesting underdog. She spins a web of lies with a condently cocked

eyebrow and absorbs whatever information can benet her family. I love the new and

improved Mira. Lying has seldom felt so exciting.

While tensions are high across the myriad of Forresters, it’s still the sellswords subplot

that shines the brightest. Across the sea Asher makes an exchange with crowd

favourite Daenerys Targaryen and the results send the group running errands on

thin ice. Our companion Beshka’s given a chance to unravel her tragic backstory and

we’re nally treated to the origin of her assertive independency. However the more

prominent feature of their narrative is the inclusion of a stealth-based objective.

Asher’s inltration mission is exhilarating; something prior episodes have been sorely

missing. It utilises the beauty of stealth and picking o guards without so much as

a squeak and it’s absolutely refreshing to experience this in a game that’s so heavily

focused on narrative.

Sons of Winter

is an additional, tantalising piece of adrenaline-fuelled fan ction

that prides itself on an eclectic mix of memorable moments. There’s not a whole lot

distancing the game from its frontrunner inspirations, so much so that a new episode

of Telltale’s adaptation is far more enticing than HBO’s weekly instalments. My most

honest gripe with Telltale’s version is the sporadic releases. Alternate the schedule to

weekly investments and you’ll not only capture dedicated

Game of Thrones

veterans,

but also the attention of video game newcomers who’ll welcome any opportunity to

bathe in the nostalgic hype its counterpart

GAMES

Independent Media Inspiring Minds