The Australia Times - Games magazine. Volume 3, issue 12

GAMES

THE

AUSTRALIA

TIMES

Vol. 3 No. 12

June 2015

E3 Special

2015

Independent Media Inspiring Minds

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 | Mitchell McCausland | Daniel King | Kris Godwin

Kassie Whitehair | Ben Chapman | Marcus Rockstrom | Vincent Duval Latreille

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

E3 2015 :

Bethesda ....................................................................... 19

Microsoft ....................................................................... 25

EA ..................................................................................... 27

Ubisoft ........................................................................... 30

Sony ................................................................................ 33

Nintendo ....................................................................... 36

Square-Enix .................................................................. 40

PC Gaming Show ........................................................ 42

Kholat Review .............................................................. 48

Splatoon ........................................................................ 52

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EDITOR’S NOTE

DANIEL KING

OH MY GOD, FALLOUT 4!!!!

Bethesda’s worst kept secret was

nally revealed after years of rumours,

speculation and exaggerations of

evidence such as Tweets and LinkedIn

accounts. A countdown timer sprung

up suddenly twenty-four hours before

its reveal and, nally, our prayers were

answered in the form of a rather enticing

reveal trailer. However it seemed a

little strange to spring this on us just

days before Bethesda’s very rst E3

conference. Was it a missed opportunity

or clever marketing? The latter seems

obvious given Bethesda’s track record

but I can’t help but wonder why.

Speaking of E3 the very pinnacle of

gaming media conferences, or what

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I like to call Video Game Christmas,

has sadly come and gone once again.

Fortunately in its absence lays a trail of

delectable morsels coming up within

the next year or so. And honestly?

I believe 2015 hosted the greatest

E3 yet! Just think, ve years ago I

barely even knew this event existed -

too caught up with the trivial things

like responsibilities, going out every

weekend and coughing out University

assignments (what a fool I was). Now

I’ve got handwritten times of each and

every publisher’s presentation on my

calendar among the scribbling’s of

less important dates like birthdays and

appointments. Who needs the latter

when there’s a

Mass Effect Andromeda

trailer?

This year we’ve gone all out to cover

everything that happened during this

glorious week of excitement and digital

razzle-dazzle. The end result? Our very

rst E3 special and, coincidently, our

biggest issue yet! Everything E3 related

can be found within the digital pages

of our e-magazine; whatever it is you

need, we’ve got you covered.

Now excuse me while I spend the next

few hours gathering every single piece

of information I can about

Dishonored

and

Fallout 4

. Damn it’s a great time

to be a gamer.

If there’s anything you’d like to say

then love to hear from you! Jump on

our Facebook page and give us a yell!

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Great news for fans of Sega’s phenomenally overlooked

Shenmue

saga since the kickstarter for the

third game has he Guinness World Record for the fastest game to reach its Kickstarter funding goal.

Shenmue III

, which needed $2 million in order for the project to go ahead, will denitely be made,

no question – but Sega have added new goals to the Kickstarter, promising fans a whole host of new

and interesting features should they help the game reach further nancial goals. These include new

quests in Baisha Village and an improved character interaction system should the project reach $5

million. As of the time of writing,

Shenmue III

has reached $3,252,553. Already, milestones reached

have guaranteed fans the inclusion of such features as a character rapport system and a skill points

system for the ghting segments of the game. If that wasn’t enough, prizes such as a trial version of

the game, Shenmue capsule toys and even a dinner with Yu Suzuki himself are available to dedicated

fundraisers for the project. If that wasn’t enough, Sony themselves are putting some of their weight

behind the game. Whew, now is a good time to be a Shenmue fan.

E3 has been and gone - but that’s not the only news we have this issue!

Look like Ryo Hazuki’s story really WILL go on....

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If you were hoping for a cool little Batmobile toy with your copy of

Arkham Knight

, then you will

be sadly disappointed. Due to “unforeseen circumstances” regarding the “compromised quality”

of the Arkham Knight Premium Edition’s statue (which can transform into a Batmobile), developer

Rocksteady have not been able to release this collector’s item with the set, telling fans to go back

to the retail store where they purchased the game for a full refund on their deposit. To make up for

this asco, Rocksteady have let fans have the new 52 skin pack, which includes Batman, Robin and

Nightwing, free of charge.

E3 2015 has proven to be the most

popular E3 yet, with a total of 52, 200

people turning up to the event. This

includes gaming enthusiasts, journalists,

developers and analysts from 109

countries around the world. This is up from

48,900 people from 100 countries last

year. Following this impressive data, the

ESA (Entertainment Software Association)

who run the event, already put a date on

E3 2016, which is scheduled to take place

June 14-16 of that year. “More than any

other E3, this year was about the gamer,” ESA president Michael Gallagher said in a statement. “E3

demonstrated both the remarkable transformation of entertainment taking place on all video game

platforms--virtual reality, augmented reality, hardware, mobile, and handheld--and awesome games.”

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Most people will, understandably, pre-order the muchly-anticipated

Fallout 4

with actual money.

However, for Reddit user GatorMacheteJr, this apparently wasn’t an option and so, he chose to pay

for his with bottle caps – the in-game currency of the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise. GatorMacheteJr

explained that “Fallout 3 was [his] favourite game for many years so [he] made the rational choice

to start saving up bottle caps.” He added humorously that “4.5 years of undergrad and three years

in a Master’s program leads to a lot of drinking”. No word yet as to whether the bottle caps – which

are 2,000 in number and weigh more than 11.2 pounds - has reached Fallout developer, Bethesda.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see their reaction to this…

Now, would YOU take this as payment?

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by NATHAN FRANKLIN

Batman: Arkham Knight

The comic book fun of the Arkham games is simpley fun that can’t be denied. Hailed as the best Batman

games ever made, with

Arkham City

in particular getting huge acclaim, these were the rst games to

truly make the player feel like the Caped Crusader himself. Not only will the game feature more of

the butt-kicking superhero combat you’ve come to expect, but also the largest open-world Batman

environment ever created in a game – players will be able to explore all of Gotham to their heart’s

delight and without the use of the Batjet. Combat has also been evolved, with Batman actually being

able to use the environment around him to subdue his enemies; he can grab a goon’s weapon and

use it against him and, if he’s near an object like a trash can or a switchbox, he can enemies into them

as well. Brutal! With a host of other cool features, including a new ‘Fear Takedown’ mode and a brand

new Batmobile similar to the one used in the Nolan lms, Batfans will be in for a real treat this month.

(PS4/Xbox One/Windows) (24/06/2015) WB Games

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Yoshi’s Woolly World

Ah, Yoshi. No-one can deny the cuteness of Nintendo’s little green dinosaur, which makes the

prospect of his own new game an exciting one. As can be expected from such a title, the game

world is entirely made of yarn and cloth and this predictably changes the gameplay from

previous Yoshi games, Yoshi’s Island and Yoshi’s Story. When the critter swallows enemies,

instead of making eggs, he’ll create balls of yarn which serve a number of uses including

tying up enemies and lling in platforms and objects. Yoshi can also gather little white chicks

which create temporary cloud platforms when thrown. Likewise, the unique setting will also

allow the green dinosaur to progress through the game by using various transformations

such as turning his legs into little wheels. Add to this that another player can be thrown into

the fray and you’ve got yourself a potentially casual and fun gameplay experience – and not

an annoying little Baby Mario in sight! Phew!

(Wii U) (25/06/2015) Nintendo

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J-Stars Victory VS

A ghting game that throws together some of the most popular manga and anime franchises

including Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto? It sounds like an anime fan’s wet dream.

Alongside the inclusion of such iconic manage characters such as Goku and Naruto, the

game will feature a ‘J-Adventure’ mode which features a plotline of a tournament held every

45 years which determines which hero is the strongest and takes the player through four

individual chapters. Here, players can explore an RPG-style world map, battle opponents

and collect in-game cards to power up their characters. Other modes include a single-player

battle mode where players must achieve certain objectives during battle and a free battle

mode which supports up to two players in oine play and four players for online matches.

With some cartoony visuals and a battle system that requires you to think strategically and

get the most out of your characters, J-Stars is likely to be a fun, free-for-all that could rival the

likes of Marvel vs. Capcom in terms of fast-paced arcade gameplay.

(PS4) (26/06/2015) Bandai Namco

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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 has just been and gone for another year, there were plenty of things to get excited about from this

years expo, from Sony,Microsoft and all the developers behind some of the big games coming up. We

had a few new surprises shown as well as some gameplay for games coming out in the near future. This

year’s E3 was an amazing event and we should all look forward to what is to come over the next year or

so. Here is Jess from Gamespot to wrap up some of the biggest announcement the the event.

I picked this, simply because this a game from my childhood. I played this game so many time on my

PC when i was a little lad. I beat it several times, and i still own it to this day. Sitting down now watching

this video years and years later, brings back so many memories. My rst match of Quidditch, Ron’s

annoying voice actor and facing off against the Basilisk for the rst time. I don’t remember the game

looking this bad though. The graphical glitches you can see in this videos are things i remember from

my playthrough, i didn’t think much of it at the time, but if i played a game today like that. It would

annoy me so much. But still a fun trip down memory lane.

Here is Jess from Gamespot to wrap up some of the biggest

announcement the the event.

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NPNNNM

Another video from me, this is a montage of all the funny moments from my sessions of Hardline with

friends. From the conversations we had about crumpets to the killstreak that is impossible for someone

with my skill at FPS to get. There are some true gems here. Plus it was also good to make a video that

wasn’t in GTAV. I hope you enjoy!

Battlefield Hardline Funny Moments

Crumpets, Ice Cream, Killstreak

Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets Funny Moments - CallMeKevin

The greatest, annual gaming exhibition graced us once again this year and, sadly, has now

passed us by. Fortunately, a plethora of new and exciting games were revealed to justify

our reasons to own a next-gen console or beefed-up PC. We were there to cover each and

every single event from Bethesda to the PC Gaming Show. We cheered upon the surprise

revelations like

Shenmue III

and

Battletoads

, and sighed at the umpteenth unnecessary

sequel. Yet even though we knew about

Fallout 4’

s existence just days before Bethesda’s very

rst presentation ever, we still giggled with excitement upon seeing Todd Howard vouch for

its validity. E3 2015 may just have been the greatest one yet.

Video game Christmas

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Making their debut presentation, Bethesda kicked off E3 2015 with a solid showing of announced

games with extensive gameplay reveals, conrmation of unannounced titles expected to make a

showing, as well as a few surprises that may or may not please people, depending on who you

ask. Three titles made up the bulk of the show, which gave enough time for Pete Hines and

co to satisfy rabid fans with meaty info, some of who have waited almost 8 years for new info.

DOOM/DOOM 4/The rst id Software game not to have John Carmack excitedly wheezing

about new rendering techniques as he shows it off at the culturally-irrelevant QuakeCon:

Oh man, what a way to start to E3. The now-numberless fourth entry to the

DOOM

franchise

kicked things off at the Dolby Theatre in LA by showing off a mix of single player, multiplayer

and user-generated content. One thing is for sure - this is

DOOM

! Steering the series back to

its fast-paced explosive roots after the Half Life meets horror shooter

DOOM 3

was,

DOOM (4)

modernises the core

DOOM

experience - shooting demons on Mars really fast with awesome

guns, turning them all into a bloody pulp - with some new additions.

Yes, you can double jump and pull yourself up to ledges (this is 2015, after all), but the new tool

to be added to DoomGuy’s arsenal are the melee nishers. In an id Software twist to Fatalities

that made

Mortal Kombat

a cultural landmark, players can perform a melee nisher by getting

up close and clicking shoot once an enemy is close to death (indicated by their staggering

animations and their player model starting to glow). Depending on where you aim, you are

awarded either a ton of ammo or a large quantity of health.

Multiplayer is also back in

DOOM (4),

with a large portion of its content to be shaped by

DOOM

(4)’

s in game level/mode/game logic editor

SnapMap

. A cross between

Halo’s Forge Mode,

Blizzard

-style level editors and Unreal Engine’s BluePrint Logic Editor, players can create

intricate maps, multiplayer variants and even edit the game logic. How powerful and exible

SnapMap

is yet to be determined, but it’s great that id are recognising

DOOM’

s mod roots.

No mention of when the multiplayer beta that

Wolfenstein: The New Order

owners registered

for will hit, but expect

DOOM (4)

to hit PC, Xbox One and PS4 sometime in Autumn 2016.

Dishonoured 2/Dishonoured 1 Remaster

/Bethesda’s Last Worst Kept Secret Is Out Of The Bag:

After a bunch of talk about a centralised online Bethesda hub (yawn) and some janky yet brief

footage of their third person action MOBA

Battlecry

(that won’t op, I guarantee it!), Bethesda

2015

by Mitchell McCausland

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let Harvey Smith and Raphael Colantonio of Arkane Studios take centre stage to update us

on what has been going on at their digs since

Dishonoured

graced our consoles and PCs in

2012.

Pulling no punches, the duo dropped a CG reveal trailer for the not-so-secret

Dishonoured

which revealed a coastal town decades later after the original, along with a playable adult

version of Emily Kaldwin, the princess of Dunwall from the rst entry. Keeping in line with

the series’ focus on player choice, players can choose between Emily and Corvo Attano, the

protagonist of

Dishonoured 1

, both of whom have unique abilities, weapons and tools. Not

much else was revealed, not even a release date, however it will hit PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Speaking of the original title, a remaster of

Dishonoured 1

, dubbed

Dishonoured: Denitive

Edition

, was announced by Harvey and Raph. Due to hit Xbox One and PS4 in Spring this

year,

Dishonoured: Denitive Edition

contains the original game plus all of its additional

DLC remastered and touched up for the new batch of consoles. It isn’t an E3 of the Xbone/

PlayStation 4 era without a remaster announcement.

Fallout 4/Fallout Shelter/

Did I Mention Fallout?

Things began to drag a tad with the obligatory vignette of the recently-launched console

versions of

The Elder Scrolls Online

(seriously, no one cares) and the surprise announcement

The Elder Scrolls: Hearthstone

- I mean the highly original PC and iPad strategy card RPG

The

Elder Scrolls: Legends

(so THAT’S why you -sued MOJANG for their now-canned game,

Scrolls

!). Pete Hinds begins to say that they have reached to the end of the show.

Boos from the audience.

“Oh, yeah, silly me! I almost forgot!”, Pete says, trying to invoke an Apple ‘And, just one more

thing…’ moment.

IT’S

FALLOUT 4

TIME BAYBEE!!

For the next 15 minutes, Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard has the entire crowd,

nay, THE ENTIRE INTERNET at his feet as he walks through the various aspects of

Fallout 4

. For

the rst time in the Bethesda-era Fallout franchise,

Fallout 4

begins before the atom bombs

drop. The intricate character creation system is shown off in the most creative way - while the

player is using the mirror in the bathroom with their partner. Depending on who you leave with

at this segment, you will play as either the husband or wife of this married couple. Sufce to say,

things hit the fan shortly after this, as you retreat to Vault 111 in good ol’ Boston, MA.

200 years later, the player leaves Vault 111 to explore the now-derelict Boston. With your new

command-controlled German Shepherd companion at your side, the world of Fallout 4 is a

highly customisable experience. Players can collect items from all over the game world and can

2015

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be used as scrap to build intricate forts and weapons. The revamped dialogue system allows

players to view conversations in rst person, third person - they can even leave or shoot the

person they are conversing with at any time.

Following the trend of increased smartphone game development at Bethesda, Todd also

revealed that the Bethesda Game Studios-helmed

XCOM/Sim Tower/FTL

-inspired F

allout

Shelter

will be available on The App Store worldwide straight after the conference for the great

price of zero dollars. Rather than creating a Skinner Box companion game to

Fallout 4, Fallout

Shelter

is a love letter to the smartphone gaming experience by a team who cares about crafting

a deep and satisfying experience. No word on the Android release to Google Play though.

… I did make a slight lie there. There will be a companion app for Fallout 4, though unlike most

it’s pretty neat. Considering that the Pipboy Edition of

Fallout 4

comes with a replica Pipboy to

put one’s smartphone in, Bethesda will be releasing a Pipboy Companion App to both iOS and

Android around the time of the main release. Using a WiFi connection, players can interact with

the in game menus and inventory normally reserved to the virtual Pipboy with the companion

app. One doesn’t need the replica Pipboy from the Pipboy Edition, but not having it kinda kills

the illusion of fantasy.

Maybe.

I’ll be honest: I’ve never played a Fallout game in my life. Not an Interplay-developed one, not

a Bethesda Game Studio-developed one. Heck, I haven’t even played Obsidian Entertainment’s

underrated gem, Fallout: New Vegas. My observations may be a tad… uneducated. But after this

showcase, I will be picking up a copy of Fallout 4 on Xbox One (also coming out on PC and PS4)

on November the 10th this year. Shooting and roleplaying in a post-apocalyptic world never

looked so enticing.

Verdict: GOOD SHOW CHAPS!

A few technical glitches (the left side panel of the middle screen on the stage kept ickering on

and off during the show) and some unnecessary padding with dull The Elder Scrolls, Battlecry

and bethesda.net content, Bethesda’s rst E3 press presentation was a smooth and memorable

show. They focused on the titles that matter to most -

DOOM (4)

and

Fallout 4

- by giving

them ample time to breathe, while titles and services that the E3 crowd didn’t care were briey

touched upon with short vignettes or announcements. EA, Ubisoft and Square Enix better take

note - this is how you do a publisher-focused presser.

Bethesda’s Sydney Screening June 15th 2015

Nathan Grifths

For their rst ever major E3 show, Bethesda surprised us all by hosting a Sydney show, live-

2015

streaming their show along with a live panel. A few representatives from The Australia Times’

Gaming Mag were invited to attend, and so I made my way into downtown Sydney to see what

they had to show.

When I arrived at the Star Bar, fashionably late entirely by choice and not due to mixing up my

stars, there was a considerable crowd gathered to get in, amongst them a fair few cosplayers.

Once I nally got past all the crowds and inside, I found the bar was packed, hundreds of

Bethesda fans and other members of press alike gathered to see their show.

Around the bar, there were a few huge screens set up, teasing us with a picture of

Fallout 4.

There was a clear air of nervous excitement, and only two things were certain; We had to see

even a little bit of Fallout, and the

Dishonored 2

reveal that most people there knew got leaked

the day before.

We’d been discussing what we thought we might see when the show itself properly started. It

kicked off strong with the Doom gameplay reveals, and I have to say, it looked like it’s gonna

be a strong title to keep an eye out for. Whilst we didn’t see any live footage of it being played,

the video we were shown was supposedly recorded gameplay, and if it was, then

Doom

looked

like a proper modern successor to the shooters of old. Practically the only thing keeping it apart

from the originals was the much slicker looking graphics, that the chainsaw no longer was just

held down to attack with, and the distinct lack of a dude’s face in the bottom centre of the

screen to show your damage.

Bethesda took this moment to reveal their new in-game editing suite, promising that we could

use it to create new game modes and maps on console as well as PC. The interface looked

pretty clean and simple for it, and hopefully it’ll turn out to be as easy to use as they claimed.

Map editing looked simple enough, working much like their

TES

Modkit they’ve used to develop

both

The Elder Scrolls

and their previous

Fallout

game, dropping down tiled sections of map

and then populating that with individual items and other set dressing.

Whilst most of the audience was reeling from the Doom gameplay footage, they quickly

announced a digital card game based on the Elder Scrolls series, something which drew a lot of

comparison to Blizzard’s

Hearthstone

. All we were told was that it was in fact being made, with

no release dates or even a hint of gameplay. That pretty minor announcement left as quickly as

it arrived.

They followed up that with a brief look at their team-based rst person combat game, Battlecry,

which got more than a few comparisons of its own from the crowd, this time to Valve’s

Team

Fortress 2

. We saw a little bit of gameplay, along with a comment about the Beta, but again, it

was a reasonably short announcement, and a lot of buzz was still going around

Doom

Next, a somewhat familiar routine started, as the leaked

Dishonored 2

announcement was

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shown exactly as the leak said it would happen. The only major thing of note we found out was

that there’s likely to be two different campaigns for each of the protagonists, Bethesda having

introduced a female assassin with her own new skillset. A lot of the possible excitement for it

was kinda crushed by their own leak, and whilst I can’t say if it was planned or not, if it was, then

it was probably the biggest mistake they could have made for it. We saw a snippet of gameplay,

and it honestly seemed pretty similar to the rst in scope. If you enjoyed the rst title, then you’ll

probably want to keep an eye out for its sequel; for those who didn’t care for it, well, that’s okay.

Bethesda had something prepared just for this occasion.

As soon as the screens started to show Fallout, the Star Bar collectively lost it, and with very good

reason. We started off by taking a look at the introduction sequence to the game, including

their new character creation system. Bethesda showed they’ve clearly evolved past using their

traditional sliders and bars method of designing a character, as their new style had you simply

moving individual parts of your avatar’s face around to create your own unique look. I wouldn’t

be surprised if they still have a traditional method available for less artistically skilled people

(like myself) who generally end up with a nausea-inducing abomination by “accident”, but that’s

besides the main point. The introduction sequence looks like it’ll start off strong, but I can’t help

but wonder how long before mods are created to let you skip that sequence entirely, much like

I wound up using for Skyrim.

Next up, we got a look at their newfound focus on world and character customisation. I gotta

say, if the audience was ecstatic before, things were hitting a fever pitch by the time this was

done. Their town, weapon and armour customising looked like the majority of a different game

could be based around it, yet Bethesda were claiming that this was going to be just one aspect

of a much larger experience. Overall,

Fallout 4

looks like it could well be the very best of 3 and

New Vegas, with some of the biggest and best mods already in the game...

And then they announced the release date was pre-Christmas. Minds were completely lost, and

they still managed to catch us off guard by announcing a FO mobile game out of left eld that,

according to them, was the result of them “making the game we wanted to play”. For good

measure, they followed that bombshell by telling us that we could play it in just a few hours, for

free. I was honestly thrilled until I remembered that I have a Blackberry, and as such will never

get to play any mobile game ever.

After the main E3 show wrapped up, a few Bethesda representatives took to the stage to

talk about the presentation and host a quick cosplay contest, but in the press zone at least,

I don’t think there was much attention being paid to that. We were all far too excited and

busy discussing the series of announcements we’d just been stunned by. What costumes I saw

were pretty impressive, one guy had shown up in full Power Armour, and the amount of vault

dwellers present was considerable.

Not too much later, most people started ling out of the bar, giving us some free reign to have

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2015

a brief chat with the Bethesda representatives before we also left. On our way out, everyone

received a

Fallout

canvas bag and a bunch of Bethesda pin badges based on the games we’d

seen, a nice little memento of one of the rst major E3 presentations (partially) held in Australia.

So, wrapping up my little summary of the events of the day, it was denitely great to see major

developers paying Australia some more heed in their releases and announcements. I personally

hope we get a lot more like this in future, so along with EA’s panel the day after, it’s a good step

forward for Australian gamers. I’d like to nish up by thanking my fellow TAT contributors Clare

and Vince who I joined for the show, especially for all the photos they took throughout.

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Xbox has some big things coming this year. They’re boasting their biggest and best line-

up of releases and the new tech looks pretty interesting to boot.

First things rst- backwards compatibility! You can play Xbox 360 games on Xbox One!

Huzzah! The games will run better; you can still play multiplayer with anyone on the 360,

and can use the Xbox One’s features.

Microsoft has also partnered with Val VR and Oculus and they’ve started working on

the Microsoft HoloLens which made for a rad Minecraft demo. Holographic projections

of game worlds with voice commands and eye movement recognition. The only

questionable bit is that it’s powered by Microsoft’s Windows 10. Anyone remember

Vista? Or Windows 8 when it was rst released? It’s super interesting and looks pretty

awesome but we’ve yet to see how the OS performs so it may be a while before it’s

viable.

The Xbox Game Preview lets you trial games that are still in development. If you like

what you’ve seen so far you can buy otherwise you can hold out for an update, play

again, and see if you want it or not.

Last but not least, the new Xbox controller. Designed for precision, with this controller

you can customise your parts. With interchangeable pieces you can redesign the set-up

of your controller for your gameplay.

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2015

by Kassie Whitehair

These are huge steps in the right direction. If you want to prove you’re listening to your

gamers then this is how you do it.

Now to the games: the big name exclusives to Xbox this year include Fable Legends,

which is free to play. Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition which

has been built for Xbox One with Gears 4 on the way. Forza Motorsport 6 and Halo 5:

Guardians.

Studio MDHR’s Cuphead was a stand out in Microsoft’s indie showcase. Made to look

like a 1930’s cartoon with music to match, this platformer looks trippy and just plain

amazing. Set for release in 2016, and another Xbox exclusive, it’s denitely something

to look forward to.

Also with these, there’s Fallout 4, Plants vs Zombies; Garden Warfare 2 and Dark Souls 3.

Rare’s celebrating 30 years with Rare Replay. 30 games-in-one including Battletoads,

Banjo-Kazooie Bolts and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Rare also previewed new release Sea of

Thieves, they’ve got in the works. A pirate-y open-worlder and it looks like fun.

Overall pretty happy with what Microsoft has to oer this year. There’s some great things

coming up!

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2015

This year at E3, Electronic Arts wanted to get something

across to the audience and their fans. Their message was

they have listened to their fan’s feedback to all of their big

franchises and they have tried their best to incorporate

what the gamers wanted to see in the latest instalments.

You could play a drinking game with the amount of times

every spokesperson said “ we have listened to the fans” or

other variants of that sentence.

The three big things to take away from the EA Conference this year were: the announcement of

Mass Eect Andromeda, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and of course Star Wars Battlefront. EA opened

the show with a trailer for Mass Eect, and it was a such a surprising way to start the show, while

they didn’t reveal anything about the new game. The trailer itself looked fantastic, we got a rst

look at the new N7 armour, as well as a glimpse of some of the worlds we will get to explore as

well as a late 2016 release date.

We also got a rather extensive look at gameplay for Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which is an origin story

for the original protagonist Faith and it is running on the Frostbite 3 engine. It looks amazing.

The city itself looks really good and it feels alive. From what they have shown, it appears they

have taken the gunplay out of the original. But this prequel will instead focus heavily on rst

person melee combat and free running. It was also revealed that the game would have an open

world and would use that to improve on its free running mechanics from the rst game. I have

not played the original, but i might pick it up and give it a go before this game is released in

February next year.

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2015

by Benjamin White

But this year EA’s big gun was Star Wars Battlefront, and we nally got to see some gameplay.

As a massive Star Wars fan, this is what I was waiting for before I got to hyped about this game.

Man, it didn’t disappoint. It looks fantastic. They showed a gameplay demo captured from a

Playstation 4, if this is what it looks like on that engine, imagine what it would on the PC. We got

to see the battle of Hoth, from the perspective of both the Rebels and the Empire. In this little

demo, they showed o all the awesome features this game has. They showed o the gunplay,

the walkers, the TIE Fighters, and even a glimpse at lightsaber combat. A lot of people have been

critical about Battlefront saying it will be a Battleeld clone, but it really isn’t. While the gameplay

has been inspired by Battleeld, it’s more close to the original Battlefront games than Battleeld.

Gameplay is from a rst and third person perspective, and I am pretty sure I am not the only one

who squealed a little bit when Darth Vader made an appearance on the battleeld. But the game

really feels authentic, from the animations of the AT-AT to the sound and look of the dierent

weapons. It is clear a lot of love has gone into the game. Battlefront comes out November 17th.

We also got a look at an interesting new IP called Unravel. Which is an adorable little platformer

from a small development team in Sweden, where you play as Yarney, a creature made out of

yarn, who unravels as you play the game. They have used this to create and interesting twist on

the platformer gameplay.

Other than Plants VS Zombies Garden Warefare 2, Need For Speed and Minions Paradise, the rest

of the show was focused on EA Sports titles. With big stage shows, showing of all the features

of the latest titles in the Fifa, NBA, Madden, NHL and PGA franchises. I don’t play many sports

games so this didn’t really mean too much to me. But I thought one really cool feature they

added to the new NBA Live 16 was an app where you could scan you face on a Smartphone and

it renders your face in the game. It does look really impressive, once fully rendered in-game.

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2015

Primarily the big focus was on some new game modes for each of the franchises, and each

of these new games look really visually impressive with some of them using the Frostbite 3

engine as well. The new FIFA will also feature 12 national Women’s teams for the rst time in the

franchise’s history and they have also made a huge overhaul to the games trainer system.

That is pretty much all the big stu from the conference, if you are a huge sports fan and want

to know more about some of the new EA Sports games then you can nd all the information

all over the internet. Overall the EA conference was really well presented and they really went

all out with the special guests they had and the gamelplay they shown. You can nd the full

conference on Youtube.

EA E3 Press Conference Showing at The Standard Bowl, Sydney 16th of June 2015

Mitch McCausland

While dierences in time zones and lockout laws prevented a local live broadcast event, EA’s

Australian arm managed to deliver the next best thing to show o EA’s E3 2015 press conference.

Renting out The Standard Bowl on the Tuesday night of E3 week, EA Australia pulled no punches

in presenting their next batch of heavy hitters to a crowd of select gaming press and diehard

fans. Some fans put an amazing amount of eort in their Star Wars cosplays, though I hope they

have Xbox Ones since the prizes were 1 Month Free Passes to EA Access.

Much like the press conference itself, the EA Australia E3 Event was surprising not disappointing,

yet the slight self-high ving corporate tone cast its shadow. But hey, free beer is always good,

right?

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The wonderful Aisha Tyler returned

to host this year’s conference but

thankfully refrained from using anymore

cringe worthy euphemisms (we’re

all trying to forget 2012’s ‘girl wood’).

She welcomed the audience with

charismatic enthusiasm and delighted

with a comical, down to earth persona.

A couple of jokes missed but that

didn’t completely pivot the experience.

Ubisoft’s elephant in the room didn’t

go unnoticed and thankfully Aisha

pleasantly addressed the issue with her

PR written phrase claiming their team

are listening to everyone’s suggestions

and trawling through NSFW Reddit

posts for feedback. Though whether or

not they can hold up to that promise

is anyone’s game. Only time will tell

to see if the renowned publisher can

change their ways. Tough unless you’re

an advocate of trigger-happy shooters

or the head of Tom Clancy’s fan club,

there was very little else to entice other

players into dropping deposits on

upcoming Ubisoft games during their

presentation this year.

Before this the show started o strong

with a humourous and exciting sequel

announcement to last year’s South Park:

Stick of Truth as the game’s trailer poked

comical jabs at the video game industry

and laughed at its predecessor’s aws.

Thrown in with a down to earth,

somewhat reluctant, accompaniment

from the show’s creators Trey Parker

and Matt Stone and we’ve settled in

for an awesome experience. These few

minutes set the bar high for the French

publisher’s presentation though,

unfortunately, that’s roughly where the

conference peaked.

Although, Ubisoft wanted to ride the

momentum of keeping up excitement

so what followed was their new IP For

Honor. The game’s elevator pitch would

be to imagine Chivalry but on a triple-A

level. With a booming and condent

Creative Director announcing the

game with such certitude and vigour,

For Honor looks to be an interesting

development. I welcome their initiative

to venture o the Assassin’s Creed

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by Daniel King

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cash cow path and try something else,

though it’s not the type of game that’d

sit comfortably on my Christmas list.

An expansion pack for The Crew

was revealed to some heavy cheers

which was surprising given the vanilla

game’s tarnished reputation. Though

Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max that

accentuates our love/tolerance for

meme humour didn’t win too much

cheer.

Ubisoft’s other lovechild The Division

highlighted some of the more

interesting multiplayer components

as well as a nal release date of March

8th2016 for those who need to mark

their calendars. I’ve denitely now

invested a little more interest given

the unpredictable mayhem of other

players. Here’s hoping the team don’t

score a hat trick and delay the game a

third time.

A vague CGI trailer for Anno 2205

revealed the game would commence

in November of this year though

hardly explored anything else. Moving

on after that another addition to the

biggest music video game franchise

of all time, Just Dance, arrived again

with another year stapled on the end

of the name. The game’s presentation

t a Jason Derulo solo into the budget

but, judging by the lack of swaying

shoulders in the audience, it’s painfully

obvious journalists can’t be easily

charmed by a 25 year old pop-singer.

A live-action trailer accompanied by

a live demo of Rainbow Six: Siege

continued to ride the Tom Clancy name

with a more in-depth look in the series

as ve daggy guys quietly drilled out

military-styled orders. Once it was over

Trackmania was announced to break

up the guns and glory of previous

showcases.

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Finally, the long-awaited Assassin’s

Creed Syndicate was given some room

to breathe in the form of a cinematic

trailer. Fairly disappointing since CGI

trailers don’t incite us to actually

purchase their game. It’s great and all

to watch a shiny new movie but can

you show us what the actual game will

look like?

We nish on another gun-heavy trailer

because apparently genre variety is

overrated. As the pieces unfold we’re

open to a much larger, more extensive

look into the game that turns out to be

Ghost Recon: Wildlands.

Not Ubisoft’s most extensive show ever

but at least it’s a far cry (get it) from

their disastrous other shows. I don’t

think anyone’s going to forget the rst

time they saw Watch Dogs’ immersive,

graphically empowering city only to

play a reject shop look-alike two years

later.

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Sony has always been a driving force at E3 every year, they announce new game

franchises, hardware, features and apps. 2015 was no exception. With the opening

statement by Shawn Layden letting the fans know that it would be year of new

games and new experiences, it seems the bar for Sony’s conference had been set

high. Could anything that follows raise the stakes or would it fall short? Our answer

would come soon enough.

Within the rst few minutes Sony had announced its rst major game, a game that

was announced formally at E3 in 2009, yet suered many delays. The Last Guardian

it seems is (nally) ready for the world to see. The trailer showed gameplay

reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, with the interaction between the main

character and his animal companion. It showcased teamwork between the two

companions to move forward through the game. Although only a few minutes of

gameplay were showcased, The Last Guardian has left a resounding impression.

Following this was a myriad of new games including Horizon: New Dawn, a game set

in the apocalyptic future where sentient robots roamed the lands freely. Firewatch,

a game that oered little in the way of explanation but left an impression with

many. And nally Dream, from the creators of Little Big Planet, this game promises

gamers the limitless potential of being able to create and share anything we can

dream of.

2015

by Ben Chapman

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With all this unfolding Sony’s announcement list seemed to hit a high and then

plateau, but some of the biggest shocks were yet to come. One of which was

everyone’s favourite assassin, Agent 47. A trailer for the latest in a franchise that

has kept people scheming, and plotting the perfect assassination betting of the

perfect assassin.

The largest announcement by far came in the form of a trailer. A tantalising glimpse

at a technology heavy, alternate reality, it then hinted at someone returning, ending

in with a view of a gigantic sword slung on the back of a spikey blonde haired man.

And the crowd responded in kind, cheers of joy, and a round of applause that was

deafening. Final Fantasy VII would see a remake. A game that was 20 years old and

had gathered a cult following that would keep it alive until now, Square Enix would

reward its fans’ loyalty with the remake they deserved. And with that nal nail, Sony

had set the bar for their conference at a height that it seemed could not be reached.

Yet it did. Shenmue 3, or rather the Kickstarter for a sequel that had been called for

after the large success of the previous Shenmue titles. And it was here.

Amongst these large announcements, previously revealed games like Black Ops

3, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Star Wars Battlefront

and Disney Innity Star Wars had all seen air time, with Black Ops 3 showcasing

it’s multiplayer co-op campaign. Assassin’s Creed giving people glimpse at unique

tools for combat, and the new female lead. Battlefront showing its survival mode,

and Uncharted 4 getting a few minutes of gameplay coverage, that started out

with some technical diculties. Disney Innity came across more like a sales pitch

then a games conference showcase. And yet it all worked together for Sony in

highlighting just why the PS4 was going to be a game changer.

2015

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GAMES

E3 2015 had been a success for Sony, it had brought out all the stops. It had something

for all it’s fans, from the RPG fanatics, to the action fans, all areas were covered. Fans

left satiated, excited and yet still wanting more, with only one question constant on

everyone’s lips; What next? What is left for Sony to do? Where could they take their

agship product? We would have to wait another year to nd out.

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In an E3 season that saw more

leaks than a replica Titanic crafted

from a soup strainer, it was up to

the big companies to provide

genuine surprises; surprises that

avoided the blood hound-esque

snoopings of social media.

Even the normally airtight

Nintendo couldn’t get away

unscathed. Before its big Digital

Event, the existence of both

Hyrule Warriors Legends

and

the

Ryu/Roy Smash Bros

. DLC was

made known to the public. Still,

such a faux pas didn’t do much

damage – indeed, it only served

to further the yearly hype of the

big show.

The proceedings kicked-off with

the Smash Bros. Showcase, which

highlighted the aforementioned

ghters (and Lucas), in addition

to a plethora of new content.

New levels and accessories for

Mii ghters helped bolster an

already jam-packed game, as

did the announcement of online

tournaments, YouTube uploads,

3DS controller support and (of

course) more Amiibos. What

made all of this even sweeter was

the immediacy of availability.

Yes, you can grab all this stuff on

eShop right now!

The next day saw the Nintendo

World Championship nals,

where the nal victor was John

‘John Numbers’ Goldberg, who

overcame ‘Cosmo Wright’ for

the prize (a golden Mario statue

and a 3DS signed by Shigeru

Miyamoto). This was an exciting

event, which saw contestants take

part in games like

The Legend of

Zelda

for NES,

Super Metroid

for

SNES, the newly-revealed

Blast

Ball

for 3DS and

Splatoon

for Wii

U. The whole thing was rounded

out with

Super Mario Maker

for Wii U, and everything was

made sweeter with the surprise

(and subsequent unleashing)

of eShop game,

EarthBound

Beginnings

Nearly 48 hours later, and it

was time for the main moment

– the

Nintendo Digital Event

. To

say the show received a mixed

response would be a severe

understatement; indeed, such

was the negative feedback that

it forced Nintendo executives to

go into damage control mode,

as well as causing the company’s

stock to plummet alarmingly. This

was thanks to an underwhelming

show that lacked killer games,

and an obvious abandonment of

the Wii U platform. So, what was

actually shown? Well, after an

awesome puppet sketch (made

by the Jim Henson company),

things kicked-off with

Star Fox

Zero

for Wii U. Pegged as a

‘reimagining’ of the franchise,

the game makes simultaneous

use of the TV and GamePad, as

the player must switch views

in order to progress. Different

vehicles come into play,

including the Landmaster Tank

and the ‘Gyro Copter’, which lets

you unleash a sneaky robot to

press switches. Even the beloved

Arwing gets a makeover, letting

gamers seamlessly sprout legs

and walk around the battleeld.

Though the basic visuals were

worrying, the fact that both

displays ran at 60fps was a plus,

and Platinum’s involvement was

awesome news. After a brief

interview with Miyamoto about

Star Fox

, the next segment saw

the unveiling of ‘Turbocharged

Donkey Kong’ and ‘Hammerslam

Bowser’ gures for

Skylanders

Superchargers

. These are

exclusive to the Wii U version,

and also act as Amiibo.

Next was the unveiling of

The

Legend of Zelda: Tri Force

Heroes

for 3DS! This was

a multiplayer focused title

(though it can be played alone)

much like Four Swords, but

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by Kris Godwin

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2015

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limited to three players. Each

Link can wear special costumes,

which gives them special

abilities. On top of this, was the

ofcial reveal of

Hyrule Warriors

Legends

for 3DS, too. It’s a port

of the console version, with new

characters – and both can be

linked (ha!) up.

Metroid Prime: Federation

Force

for 3DS was shown next,

and it was perhaps the most

controversial title of the lot.

Seen as a slap in the face to

those wishing for a traditional

Metroid game, this was instead

a multiplayer game that focused

on Federation troopers (as well

as the previously-revealed

Blast

Ball

). Such a reaction was silly, of

course, though more needs to

be shown of the game to quell

scepticism. The Canadian outt

Next Level Games was revealed

as the developer, which is a

promising sign.

For Fire Emblem fans, we had

Fire Emblem Fates for 3DS, and

the eccentric

Genei Ibun Roku

X FE

(formerly Shin Megami

Tensei X Fire Emblem) for Wii U.

After a trailer for

Xenoblade

Chronicles X

(with a release

date of December 4

) we got

a showing of

Animal Crossing:

Happy Home Designer

for 3DS,

and

Animal Crossing: Amiibo

Festival

for Wii U. The former

is a traditional AC title that

emphasises renovating, building

and decorating. It comes with

special Amiibo cards to unlock

content, and is sure to be a

hit with kids.

Amiibo Festival

is basically Animal Crossing X

Mario Party.

After a segment on

Yoshi’s

Woolly World

for Wii U, we got

information on the long-awaited

English release of

Yo-kai Watch

for 3DS, which is a Pokémon

style game that’s been a huge

hit in Japan. Also for 3DS is the

awesome looking

Mario & Luigi:

Paper Jam

, which is a meeting

of the M&L and Paper Mario

universes.

Ending the event was a trailer

for

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash

on Wii U, and some more stuff

Super Mario Maker.

Compared to last year,

Nintendo’s E3 showing was

denitely disappointing, but it

was not without some merit. A

plethora of Treehouse videos

afterward showed more of the

games, as well as the western

release of

Fatal Frame: Maiden

of the Black Water

for Wii U,

and more on

Mario & Sonic at

the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

(Wii U & 3DS),

Chibi-Robo!: Zip

Lash

(3DS) and

Pokémon Super

Mystery Dungeon

(3DS). I must

also note, many of the games

shown at Sony and Microsoft’s

conference were quite far from

release, compared to the 2015/

early-2016 titles Nintendo

preferred to display.

Reggie Fils-Aimé claimed that

Nintendo was undergoing a

transformation, and that the

‘NX’ would be shown next year.

Let’s hope the metamorphosis

is one of glory – rather than

irrelevance. The Wii U is clearly

on its last legs, and the lack of

Zelda Wii U

was a denite gut-

punch – but if there’s one thing

Nintendo has been known for,

it’s bouncing back.

2015

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The verdict on the Square-Enix 2015 E3 conference? It was decent. Not amazing, mind-blowing

or out of this world, but denitely a decent conference showcasing games to be excited about.

It started o with Phillip Rogers, the CEO of Square Americas and Europe, giving a slim and

general introduction. He was pleased that the company is now taking on and showcasing new

developing talent with its latest titles and will continue to do so in the years beyond. He also

reiterated the importance of Square’s fans and how the company listens to their feedback to

create their products, citing the

Final Fantasy XV

demo as an example of this at work. What

followed was

Just Cause 3

, presented by its Game Director, Roland Lesterlin of Avalanche

Studios, an intense visual feast of explosions and long draw distances. The main message was

‘cause chaos and blow stu up!’ (to put it in very basic terms) and, given new additions such

as a multipurpose grappling device, a wingsuit that enables the player to freely glide around

the game’s world and unlimited C4, this very much seems to be coming to fruition. Still, it

wasn’t a great opening with Lesterlin promoting the games’ ‘sandbox open-world qualities

and the potential destruction players could cause’ in it feeling a little uncreative for a company

like Square-Enix. At the very least, the trailer showed gameplay at work; a great deal of what

followed it were merely teasers – Crystal Dynamic’s Rise of the

Tomb Raider

was graphically very

impressive and the presentation focused a great deal on that, but gameplay features were not

touched upon. Likewise, the company’s new project, the

Nier New Project,

featured examples of

artwork of its in-game universe but no word on how it played. The

Lara Croft

Go announcement

and trailer that followed was also not very impressive and didn’t exactly leave a thirst in the

mouth; the presentation for the new

Hitman

game, however, was quite exciting, showing the

great amount of freedom players were given in completing assassinations.

Deus Ex: Mankind

Divided

, which was showcased towards the end of the conference, showed an impressively

cinematic sci- action game that has a lot of potential. It was clear that Square were trying to

show o their army of developing teams through these presentations and they did just that.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Square-Enix conference without its revelation of new Final Fantasy

titles and related games. At this point, its showing of the

Final Fantasy VII remake

teaser trailer

was unexciting since the reveal had already come at Sony’s press conference and the dust had

settled. What really made the conference room go wild was the trailer of

Kingdom Hearts III

. The

gameplay trailer – which featured Sora, Donald and Goofy battling the Heartless in impressively

smooth, HD visuals – was preceded by a short video with Greg Coleman, VP of Marketing at

Disney Animation Studios, and Roy Connelly, a producer at Walt Disney Animation Studios who

announced that, indeed, the Tangled world would be featured in the game. While this is an

exciting prospect for Kingdom Hearts fans, the announcement of the iOs exclusive

Kingdom

Hearts: Unchained

and PS4/Vita’s World of

Final Fantasy

were less so, seemingly another slew of

spin-o titles that showed the company’s desperation to reach a wider audience. To nish o

2015

by Nathan Franklin

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the conference, Square’s Yosuke Matsuda, President and CEO of Square-ENix Holdings, revealed

Final Fantasy Portal

, an online app that will serve as a comprehensive guide to the Final Fantasy

universe and

Project Setsuna

, a new RPG brand developed by new developing studio, Tokyo

RPG Factory. Again, aside from the revealed concept artwork for the proposed game, details

are yet to be released about wat the nature of this project really is. What was revealed was the

gameplay trailer for

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

. This showed an impressive change

on the typical JRPG formula – namely, no random battles and a real-time gaming experience.

All in all, Square has given us some mysterious teasers and trailers that show us the potential of

what is to come and it is an exciting one.

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Marcus Rockstrom gives his rundown of the awkwardly informative PC Gaming presentation at E3

So the rst PC Gaming

presentation of E3 came and

went, with the results being

perhaps ‘intriguing’ at best? It’s

hard to say whether something

like this is successful until seen in

the long run. While it feels right

that a ‘PC Gaming’ presentation

was nally included in the E3

line-up, it’s such an amorphous

concept due to the massive

range of genres and styles of

games that people play on the

platform.

The line-up of announcers

and guests was extensive as

apparently “nobody refused” an

invitation to turn up and get their

two cents in. Therein lay part

of the problem for this frankly

odd presentation. At just over a

staggering two and a half hours

long, the show crammed in as

many developers, publishers

and sponsors as they could. A

large number of them barely

had any chance to say anything,

rather lowering the value of even

their two cents. The whole affair

was just so awkward and stilted;

it actually required a host to

keep things moving unlike most

of the other E3 presentations.

Hosted by PC gaming gure,

game announcer and YouTuber

Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott, the poor man

did his best to be enthusiastic

and engaging for the entire

plodding affair. Someone should

give him a medal or a cookie

or something as that was a

tough gig if there ever was one.

Even from the beginning the

audience seemed somewhere

between muted and comatose

and the often dry content didn’t

do much to invigorate things.

Ok it wasn’t all terrible, there

were a few interesting recurring

themes which will likely be

shaping PC gaming for the next

few years. As ever there’s a lot of

focus going into improving just

how shiny we can make things

look on a PC, a fact sponsor AMD

took great joy in hammering into

us with two sections devoted to

discussing new graphics cards

and software. I spend far too

much of my life playing games

on PC and even I found those

sections immensely dry. For

the tech lovers in the audience

it may have held some interest

but despite the event being

a PC niche there might have

been a better way of presenting

that material. It also might take

AMD CEO Lisa Su a while to live

down the classic ‘microphone

still on’ gaffe when she nished

her interview and summarily

dismissed the experience once

she was out of view. It might

have been stage fright, who

knows?

As for the leaps and bounds in

graphics technology, perhaps

it’s more accurate to say skips

and jumps. Games are going

to keep looking better and

better but the impressive visuals

these days seem to come from

developers with the imagination

to come up with striking designs

rather than simply delivering

photo-realistic imagery. Indeed

some of the arguably ‘lower

tech’ and indie games looked

far more impressive than the

bigger titles.

Pixel Titans showcased

Strafe

a FPS shooter that purposefully

gives itself an older, blockier

aesthetic in homage to classic

gore-generators Quake and

Doom, bringing a new level of old

school to the table by applying

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current gen capabilities to an

older style.

Enter the Gungeon

was in a similar boat, as a ‘Bullet

Hell’ game reminiscent of

Metal

Slug

and others with ordnance

ying every which way in a lovely

ballet of explosions and death.

These games came off a little

better than others but that might

have something to do with the

fact that these two were among

the few that actually presented

themselves with live gameplay

footage.

We’re a jaded, cynical audience

these days (just in case my

griping above hadn’t made you

aware of it), and we know the

tricks of devs and publishers all

too well. The second recurring

theme is what I call the ‘Gilded

Promise’. It’s the promise of

tomorrow, the promise of what

will come and what may be, but

all that glitters is not gold and

the day I trust a pre-rendered

trailer is the day I die.

Hitman would be a prime

example of this. We’ve heard the

promises of Square-Enix before

when it comes to that franchise

and despite all the hype what

they delivered last time was

disappointment and a needless

controversy. They give us a

Gilded Promise that the next one

will be better but we’ve been hurt

too many times to be suckered

in by their wiles. I hope.

Fable

Legends

is another of these.

The whole Microsoft lineup

was all a bit underwhelming

too as they discussed bringing

Fable Legends

Gigantic

and the

original

Gears of War

games to

PC as if they were bestowing

some large favour on us by

giving us a glimpse into the

supposed better world of Xbox

exclusives.

I’m not doing a very good job

of explaining the good bits.

The indie scene had heavy

representation, which was good

to see.

Beyond Eyes

stood

out as a game that could give

players a new experience. The

concept behind it is that you’re

a blind girl, looking for their lost

friend. In a similar fashion to the

Daredevil vision, the player gets

imagery from what they hear,

smell and touch, nding their

way around in almost complete

white nothingness until their

other senses nd a way. It’s a

fascinating idea, which I hope

brings about a good game.

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My general reservations aside, I

did feel a little bit of the inner

Squee! when I saw more footage

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

and hearing that

Total War:

Warhammer

was going to be a

thing. Both the

Total War

and

Deus Ex

franchises have been

consistently good across their

long lifetimes so if I had high

hopes for something spectacular

it would be out of these two

games. They won’t be seen for

some time but you know that’s

because the developers are

making sure things are up to

scratch for their release.

Bringing us neatly to another

theme of the night, and

probably something on the

collective mind of the PC gamer

community was the idea of Early

Access, generally in context of

Steam. The consensus at the

moment seems to be that it’s a

good idea but must be treated

with caution. It was interesting

to note the way each guest was

very careful about the topic,

especially poor old Dean Hall,

the modder responsible for the

creation of

Day Z,

a game that

has been living so long on Early

Access there’s a lot of doubt

that it will ever leave. He made a

decent point however that once

devs put up their games on Early

Access and they reach a certain

level of success, even at that

Alpha/pre-Alpha stage, there’s

a lot of pressure to deliver the

nal product or at least more

content.

Early Access is similar to a Gilded

Promise in its own way. When

you buy an Early Access game

you’re essentially paying for

an unnished product with no

guarantee of ever getting one. In

theory it helps fund projects as

they go and the idea of crowd-

sourcing seems to be a growing

trend that actually brings results.

Pillars of Eternity

Star Citizen

and a few other featured titles

were funded via Kickstarter or

other donation methods. This

method allows developers to

not only get the project moving

but also be free of the demands

of potentially overbearing

publishers and instead cement

their relationship directly with

the players and involve them in

the process of creation. It can

and does happen, however we

also get the

Day Z

model where

a lot of people pay money and

don’t really get what they paid

for. Something to keep an eye

on in future anyway.

The nal point of interest

was Blizzard Entertainment,

managing to show once again

how far ahead of the curve they

can still be with their delivery

Heroes of the Storm

being

highly successful. A short, sharp

beta test has moved swiftly

into release and they’ve already

announced an expansion for

the game, bringing something

entirely new to the MOBA genre.

It seems only fair since it was

a mod of their own game that

helped shape the entire genre in

the rst place. They also just had

one of the better presentations,

showing bits of the game,

explaining their goals clearly

and generally seeming more at

ease with being on stage than

many of the others.

Some people just have to be

over-achievers don’t they.

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REVIEW

Marcus Rockstrom learns to fear Sean Bean and snow

I’ve said before that I’m not particularly fond of horror games, or at least the particular sense

of style that the gaming community denes as ‘horror’ anyway. Jump-scares and gore are the

usual fare; with an atmosphere that may include some tension but is essentially consistent, if not

completely static as you wait for the next “Boo!”

Kholat, developed by the Polish company IMGN.PRO, is what I believe should dene the ideas of

horror and fear in a game. Nothing about this game is static, you’re not sitting in a room waiting

for animatronic puppets to pop up like Whack-A-Moles from start to nish. This game builds up

its tension and it takes its sweet time. It tortures you by throwing absolutely nothing at you all

the time.

The setting is the titular Kholat Syakhl or ‘Dead Mountain’ in the Ural region of Russia. Translation:

it’s the middle of nowhere, civilisation is something of a foreign concept and it’s fucking cold.

Almost through necessity, this game is beautifully rendered in the way that lets you understand

the idea of there being more than fty dierent types of snow. IMGN.PRO have done a masterful

job crafting an environment that conveys cold to the player. Isolation, uncertainty and of course

fear, are all informed by and in-turn feed back again into that sense of utter cold.

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Tension begins at zero at the opening as you receive a quick explanation of the true tale that

inspired the game; where a group of students died mysteriously on a skiing trip and whose

corpses were slowly discovered over a number of months in increasingly bizarre and violent

circumstances that deed logical explanation.

When you’re given control of the character, a person whose role you’re never quite sure of

besides their inexplicable need to wander through a desolate landscape to discover the story of

the lost skiers, the most monstrous thing that’s directed at you is the damnable snow, and Sean

Bean. Yes, everyone’s favourite actor that’s doomed to die in everything he’s in is your narrator

and it doesn’t take long to discover he’s the unreliable kind. Narrator is even something of a

strong word considering his dialogue is more of a jumbled stream of consciousness that dips in

and out of clarity.

The soundtrack that plays through the prologue, as you move from what seems to be the last

town on the edge of the Earth into the wilderness, builds the tension slowly and beautifully.

Violins have often been used in horrors and thrillers to denote fear and tension but anyone who’s

ever played in an orchestra can tell you that the cello is capable of far more haunting sounds,

and it’s used to great eect in Kholat. It reappears intermittently throughout the game and I’m

hard pressed to decide whether it should be constant or not. Sometimes the lack of soundtrack

informs the sense of isolation and emptiness of the mountain, but they did such a great job with

the composition that I think it may have worked.

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Making your way through a blizzard you eventually nd a small tent to shelter in, emerging

after the storm in the middle of the Kholat mountain range. You are armed with a compass,

a map, a torch and God I hope a sense of direction or else you are boned my friend. You

have to pay attention to where you are going or else you’ll get lost remarkably quickly as

one area of snow-covered rocks and rock-covered snow blends into another. I say that but

there are landmarks and clearly dened locations that stand out as noticeable, either up

close or from a distance depending on the feature. There is some hand-holding, with the

map giving notes of key locations and someone else has scratched co-ordinates around

the place on rocks to give you an idea of where you are. Red and orange glows on the

horizon also work as things to set your course by, as long as you’re comfortable walking

towards them, that is.

The aim of the game is essentially a cross between Slender and Dear Esther, everyone’s

favourite walking simulators, as you wander the wilderness picking up various journal

pages and listening to Sean Bean’s narration. Kholat improves on both by nding a sense

of subtlety in its delivery that Slender lacked, and then a sense of actually doing something

that Dear Esther lacked.

The game encourages you to piece together the story of the Dead Mountain in your own

way. There’s no set path of what direction you go to nd pages in and there’s a decent

chance you’ll miss some of them along the way. There are over a dozen dierent authors

and perspectives. Some are benign, some are musings on supernatural theories, others

are treatises on scientic experiments and mixed in are the usual ‘Have you heard of our

saviour the Mighty Cthulu?’ descent-into-madness diaries. They’re not always in order but

you pick up the gist quickly enough. Sean Bean is singularly unhelpful too, and it’s never

quite clear if he’s directly addressing you or not.

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Before I get to the actual supernatural bits, let me just point out that this is what constitutes

horror to me. A connected series of jump-scares is usually what passes for horror and that

doesn’t interest me at all. A cute bunny could leap out with a violin sting and get the same

reaction as a ghost, the proper context and tension change things. Tension and atmosphere

can also be found in both thriller and horror media, but the thing that cements it as ‘horror’

here is that there’s a sense of impending doom and there’s nothing you can do about it. The

horror comes from the fact that even when nothing has happened yet your brain leaps into

that primal fear of the dark, monsters and the unknown.

Then when it becomes clear that there really are ghosts and creatures of darkness following

you, you’re still unable to do anything about it but hope they don’t see you. You have no

weapons or means of defence, and the biting cold means you can’t run more than a few

feet. If you’ve ever had one of those dreams where something is chasing you but you feel

like you can’t run and you’re somehow dazed and your eyes are closing, it’s not a dissimilar

feeling to play this game. Despite all this there’s something compelling you to keep going

forward, some otherworldly force driving you on (or in my case an Editor that keeps

dropping horror games on me like some evil puppeteer).

As indie games go, this is probably among the best I’ve ever played and is by far the best

horror game I’ve ever seen. It’s bite sized too, you couldn’t have a 30 hour game like this,

four to ve hours is enough, maybe longer if you suck at reading maps as badly as I do.

Kholat is cheap and available for PC on Steam, worth picking up for fans and non-fans of

horror alike.

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by Vincent Duval Latreille

REVIEW

Ink-redible

To splat or to be splatted? Welcome to the

world of Inkopolis, the home of Splatoon,

where the aim of the game is not so much

to eliminate the other team but to mark as

much territory with your ink before the other

enemy team does. Let the turf wars begin.

The latest instalment from Nintendo is a highly

competitive, intense and addicting online

game where the players works together in

teams of four, in an eight-online multiplayer

game, covering territory with their coloured

ink, using weapons before time runs out.

Taking out the other team members along

the way is a bonus in making the objective

easier.

The game is simple enough to understand,

before you actually start playing you are

taken to a tutorial and given the knowledge

to understand how to play. From here

you are introduced to the HUB world of

Splatoon, where you will nd the lobby for

online multiplayer.

Next you’re shown around where you can

shop at the four dierent stores for weapons

and clothing, take note you can’t purchase

anything till your reach an online level of at

least ve or six, then you are cool enough to

the shop keepers to purchase their wares.

The Amiibo stand is in the HUB if you have the

Amiibo’s to play; you can unlock exclusive

gear from completing the challenges from

the Amiibo’s. Also in the HUB is access to

1v1 against friends to sharpen your skills

and there is also a squid that pops his head

out of a drain and from here is the solo

campaign.

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The campaign of the game is travel to

Octovalley and retrieve the stolen Zapsh

from the evil Octarians. Players use a

default weapon for this mode, which can

be upgraded or have additional bombs by

collecting Power Orbs littered across the

stage.

The goal of each level is to navigate through

enemies and obstacles, including spongy

platforms and ink-eating robots, in order to

reach the Zapsh at the end. You will also

encounter boss ghts with the last one

being quite a challenge. Each level also

contains a hidden scroll that tells of some of

the game world’s lore.

The online part of the game is what makes

the game whole; this is where you will spend

majority of the game. As you play and level

up, at the end you earn coins based on your

overall score win or lose, to buy new stu

from the shops and points to your clothing

to help unlock extra abilities that the outts

have, it’s all randomly generated so you

won’t know what you get.

Players have the option to swap shapes and

become a squid form and change back.

When laying down their ink from their

weapons and changing to squid form and

then entering the ink they receive a boost

and are hidden from the enemy team until

they change back.

If you also enter at anytime, as either a squid

or human form, the enemy’s ink you move

slower than normal and are easier to be

taken out by the enemy. You will need to

shoot your ink on enemy ink to avoid being

an easy target (and making something of a

mess as well). Whilst in squid form, if your

coloured ink is on any walls you can travel

up the walls to a dierent position and gain

a higher vantage over enemies.

The one downside that is known to some

players, myself included, was the connection

rate for online play, especially for a game

where the core concept of it is to play online.

If you don’t have a good, strong online

connection playing this game is not worth

your time as you will mostly be sitting in the

lobby trying to nd a game.

You will be spending over an hour just to

get one game, and even if you do get that

one game you had better hope you don’t lag

and get forced out because then it will take

forever to play.

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There is a max level of 20 and also there

are online ranked battles where instead of

trying to cover the whole map in your ink

colour, you are trying to hold a designated

area and reduce your score to zero. Be

prepared for more stressful plays as if you

lose, you lose your rank status and do not

gain any points.

Nintendo also have future plans down the

road for Splatoon to keep making it fresh

by bringing out new updates that include

weapons and new maps. There are also

going to be events once a month that have

players choose out of two topics and battle

which topic is going to win, potentially

keeping a decent content ow for the game.

Boss Scene

Ink Wars 3

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