Aaand here we are. The final part of out marathon series of predictions articles for E3 2015. is done. Who's left? Everyone else. It's not all about the platform-holders, after all. Those guys make the boxes, and push the shiniest, tentpole games, but we have a whole industry of other, friendly global megacorps vying for our attention each and every day. So let's give them a bit of attention, shall we?
EA? Ubisoft? Square-Enix? What do you guys have for us? What's that? You're not going to answer until the show? Well, we're just going to have to throw out some ideas of our own then. Really good ones, that everyone should read.
The conference will go off without a hitch, complete with pulse-pounding cinematic trailers and polished demos touted as being available on the show floor. For the finale, the presenter announces that the Doom beta will be immediately available to the public, and walks off stage as a five-second promo video for The Elder Scrolls 6 appears on screen.
The conference concludes to the sound of rapturous weeping. Some chairs are thrown in hysterical fervor. One person leaves the room on fire, and doesn’t even care.
Towering over Yves Guillemot and using her well-earned credibility to protect the Ubi CEO from his own awkwardness, Aisha Tyler tries her best to act like everything is perfectly normal, as several overweight Ubisoft producers try to breakdance to a song from Just Dance 43 (or whatever we’re on now).
As one of the ‘dancers’ spasms wildly around on the floor to All About That Bass, like a cow that’s fallen onto an electrified fence, the audience prays for a yawning chasm to open up under their seats and swallow them forever.
Dark Souls and its sequel are two of the biggest critical wins Bandai Namco has scored in years. We imagined all kinds of glum faces and desk kicking when it was announced that Sony had snagged From Software’ spiritual successor, Bloodborne, but we also expect that frown to be turned upside down at this year’s E3.
You see the thing is, for all of Bloodborne’s fantastic gameplay evolutions and entrancing, arcanely captivating new lore, the Souls fandom is still incredibly strong. Those games are so dense - and so different to Bloodborne, despite their philosophical similarities - that there’s more than enough room for both series to co-exist. Bandai Namco will not want to let a fanbase like that go, so do not at all be surprised to discover that it has commissioned From to make a new one, though do not expect ‘main’ series director Hidetaka Miyazaki to be at the reigns. He’s likely busying himself with Bloodborne’s expansions.
After the resounding ‘Yay! Wait, what? Ohhh...’ reaction to Hitman; Absolution’s ‘tweaks’ to the series’ classic formula, Square-Enix and IO will be eager to redress the balance and re-convince old slaphead’s fanbase that they’re still capable of delivering the Machiavellian goods (before walking nonchalantly away, unnoticed, as a huge explosion goes off, killing all the most vocal detractors).
Expect Hitman: Whatever This One’s Called to be revealed by way of a lengthy, in-depth demo showcasing the Blood Money-style focus on dynamic, mini-open-world plotting, and the multitudinous ways Agent 47 can off people undetected, while wearing a variety of goofy disguises. Though, this being E3, there will be at least one major shoot-out and cinematic detonation sequence, which IO will spend the next two weeks reiterating is not indicative of the way the whole game works.
Our first taste of was impressive, no doubt, but it was heavy on the highly choreographed, pre-rendered cyberpunk action. As in, zero gameplay footage was shown. Don't count on a live on-stage demo during Square-Enix’s press conference, either. What's more likely is a sizzle reel of the different approaches Adam Jensen can take to defuse the same one situation, intercut with cinematics filled with big orange explosions and golden bloom lighting. This trailer will be bookended by a way-too-self-serious developer positing questions about the morality of mechanical augmentation in the year 2029. Absolutely no mention of '#CantKillProgress' will be made.
In an ingenious marketing move, Square-Enix will hand out replicas of Jensen's trademark slide-in sunglasses on the show floor, dominating social media as fans take countless selfies while doing their best 'I didn't ask for this' pose. This will all backfire when one pair of these slick shades inevitably takes someone's eye out.
In lieu of actual gameplay, the trailer will consist entirely of slow, panning shots of stars. And planets, and general outer space stuff. Meanwhile, an old man with a really craggley voice will spout vague lines of narration about humanity transcending its limits and reaching the next stage of evolution, et cetera.
No one will have any idea what this is all about until the word "Shepherd" gets dropped in and the camera slow pans to reveal a broken down Mass relay - at which point the entire internet explodes.
Because that’s just what we do now. If a big franchise is a way off its next entry, you bang out the old ones with shinier graphics and a better frame-rate. And in the former case, spend most of the development time fixing the goddamn Mako. Please. No really, you do. Please.
This will finally cement 'The Nights' by Avicii as the 'Dragula' of the modern age.
The internet is still buzzing about the next Mirror's Edge game, though all EA and DICE have shown off are a few bits of concept art, a release window, and a trailer assuring everyone it's going to be so cool, you don't even know.
While Star Wars Battlefront will absolutely be the golden child of EA's press conference, those context-free images will be more than enough to keep everyone ticking over until next year. Hey, it’s Mirror’s Edge. When have vague promises ever not worked for a fanbase that rabid?
As of now, the advertising for Assassin's Creed Syndicate has primarily revolved around its main character Jacob Frye, and largely ignored its other main character, his sister, Evie. Ubisoft has promised more of Evie in the weeks to come, and will certainly make good on that promise this E3.
Expect an effect-heavy trailer that confirms her existence with no hint of how her abilities will translate to gameplay, because that will be saved for the real Evie reveal. At Gamescom. But the soundtrack will be sick.
It will contain five minutes of footage from old Kingdom Hearts games, and twenty seconds from the actual game they're showing off. Not one of those twenty seconds will involve gameplay. The release date will be replaced with an illustration of Nomura flipping everyone the bird.
You know, like every other Kingdom Hearts trailer.
Since its announcement at Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference, Rise of the Tomb Raider has acted as one of MS’s signature exclusives, earning itself a feature spot in the most recent Xbox TV ad. Yet usual publisher Square-Enix has apparently forgotten that Lara exists, if its non-existent advertising campaign for Rise is anything to go by.
With titles like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy 15, and Just Cause 3 on the books for this year, the chances are that won't change this coming E3. Looks like Lara will only be getting love from Microsoft. Millions of dollars worth of love.
Though afterwards they will not acknowledge that they have done this, and look with confused expressions at any journalist who asks about it. The game will continue to exist only in realms beyond our understanding for years, perhaps centuries, to come.
Should the proper incantations ever be uttered however, it may actually, one day, cross over into our universe. It will release on the same day as the inevitable Prince of Persia reboot, and the cycle shall begin anew.
The company will hold a “live” Battlefront match on-stage, which will feature Y-wings dropping bombs on AT-ATs as Darth Vader and Boba Fett mow down legions of Rebel troops. It will be awesome, and cinematic, and rousing, and make everyone forget the truth that in real game conditions they’ll probably spend half their time running to somewhere, only to be sniped by an enemy miles across the map.
The presentation will also tease Visceral Games’ Star Wars entry via a trailer that shows a man strapping on various pieces of armor as a gravely voice states that he is “the last,” he is “the sword,” he is … a bounty hunter. Fade in on Boba Fett’s helmet being picked up. Cut to black. An EA spokesperson asks the audience, “How many of you out there liked Star Wars Galaxies?!” Three of us let out feverish hooting, our eyes wide. “...Nevermind!” say EA, as the show continues.
Remember Wet? The Bethesda-published game starred Rubi Malone, a “problem solver” whose favorite answer to a pop quiz was two smoking barrels and blood-soaked katanas? Sure the first game didn’t garner much praise from consumers or press, but it has a devoted fanbase, and with the recent rise of strong female action protagonists like Katniss Everdeen and Marvel’s Black Widow, there’s no better time for a comeback.
Come back to us, Rubi. Please. Some of us still care.
While playing with Lego playsets as a kid was always fun, everyone knows the best part was mixing those boxes together and having a pirate take on an army of dinosaurs as the Millennium Falcon swooshed overhead. Lego Dimensions is meant to recreate that feeling of nonsensical childhood bliss by bringing together beloved pop culture properties into a single game, so Batman can take aim at the Scarecrow (from The Wizard of Oz) while Gandalf laughs about it in the background. Just like you remember.
The game's story is built to accommodate all that world-mixing, as it's kicked off by a villain creating transdimensional travel for the express purpose of kidnapping famous characters we all know and love. Specifically, famous characters from Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz, Portal, and plenty more. In preparation for Dimensions' release for every major console (including Xbox 360 and PS3) on September 27th, we've gotten a chance to dig through Lego's toy box and see what the game has in store. We're ready to share that all with you, and not just because our moms told us to.
I know we've all been staring forlornly at our Skylanders, amiibo, and Disney Infinity figures wondering when the next toys-to-life franchise will come around, and bless Lego Dimensions for being the next to deliver. Of course, in less cheeky terms, Lego is uniquely qualified to work within the format, since they've been making both parts of the equation for years.
The game's accompanying portal (which you build from bricks before you start playing) works the way you would expect, acting as a stage where you can place whatever characters you want to load into the game. However, Dimensions' portal is unique in that it's divided into three parts, and will make it possible to move up to seven characters (or objects, but more on that later) between those three sections at will. In fact, that becomes an important part of the game in some situations; during boss fights, for instance, a red light will flash under one segment when the boss attacks the characters standing there, and their hold can be broken by moving the figures to another space. Someone should tell Dorothy that all you need to beat the Wicked Witch's magic is to move over a square.
During my time with the Dimensions' demo, I had far too much fun taking Scooby Doo on a joyride through the Lego-fied poppy fields of Oz (while he's covering his eyes, naturally) before crashing into a fight with the Wicked Witch over a crystallized piece of the universe. That reality-smushing is not only a common occurrence in Dimensions, but is meant to be the driving force of the game, as you experience fourteen different worlds crashing together in humorous, light-hearted ways. Specifically, you'll see memorable places and faces from The Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Portal, Jurassic World, Midway Arcade, Lego Chima, Scooby-Doo!, DC Comics, Lord of the Rings, The Lego Movie, The Wizard of Oz, Ninjago, and Back to the Future, all interacting as your additional playset figures allow.
Integrating this many franchises could be risky, because time constraints could mean that there's little time to treat each property with the respect it deserves. But Dimensions seems to be on the right path so far, as it puts real care was put into integrating different pieces of these stories well. The poppies in Oz make characters sleepy, the cartoony look of the Scooby-Doo world matches the original show, and transdimensional madness takes hold of Middle Earth while Gandalf is fighting the Balrog. Plus, the game contains original music from its source material and voice performance from some characters' original actors, showing a commitment to treating these tales with respect. We won't know for sure until the game is released this fall, but the fact that few moments go by without Batman being comically grumpy makes me hopeful.
As much fun as a Lego game can be, it just doesn't feel quite right if there isn't a building component involved. Lego Dimensions not only lets you build your own block creations, but actually takes it out of the digital realm and does what Lego does best: lets you build with actual blocks you hold in your hands.
Each playset comes with at least one vehicle that's built out of a series of Lego blocks, and it will need to be transformed into something new depending on what function you need it to serve. The Delorean, for instance, has one form to emphasize speed and another that gives off bursts of electricity, both of which could be super handy in the right circumstance. In order to change the vehicle in the game, you'll have to take it apart in real life and physically build it into what you want it to be, based on a digital version of Lego's familiar schematics. You're admittedly limited in what you can create (with each auto sporting three transformations maximum), and the game can only do so much to confirm you actually rebuilt your car, so it's forced to take you at your word when you say you did it. That could make the mechanic feel gimmicky in the long run, since it doesn't actually affect the gameplay in a measurable way, but it could still be fun for players who enjoy the novelty of putting a controller down to play a game to the fullest.
While there are plenty of playable figures planned for Dimensions, the story will following the antics of Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle, showing the eclectic mix you can expect from the overall game and banking on The Lego Movie's popularity in one go. Each loses a friend in the game's opening (Robin for Batman and Frodo for Gandalf), which is what sends them on their journey through the game's many worlds.
These three characters will come in a starter pack with the game portal and the Batmobile, giving you plenty of stuff to play with right off the bat <(i>ha). Each has unique special abilities that help you progress through the many worlds you'll visit, like using a Bathook to pull apart obstructions or using Wyldstyle's master builder powers to uncover hidden keys. They'll be the primary focus of any story-based cutscenes as they work to recover pieces of dimension energy and rescue the captive Lego characters of the universe. Expect a colony of bat puns along the way.
Of course, that doesn't mean that our three heroes will be the only stars of this show. At any point you can introduce characters from other playsets into your game, letting them tag along beside the main three or having them act as your primary character. Each extra pack will also come with a vehicle that can be loaded into the game (like the Batmobile or the Mystery Machine) and driven by any of the characters, which you'll need for a variety of missions throughout.
Sadly there doesn't appear to be a co-op options as of yet, so the seven characters and/or vehicles will act as additional bodies that a lone player can switch between as they desire. But that presents an interesting new dynamic that hasn't been seen in toys-to-life games up until this point, so having a RPG-like party to control according to your wishes could prove interesting and fresh. And hey, if you can control Scooby Doo and immediately flip to Wonder Woman, I'm all for it.
E3 is but two weeks away. That was quick. It seems like only this time last year we were posting a series of predictions articles for the show's main press conferences. And yet here we find ourselves again, with the first of a new batch we'll be running all week.
First up, it's Sony. The House of PlayStation is arguably in the strongest position of all of the big three, having enjoyed nigh consistently strong sales and community favour since the PS4's launch. But with the big games slowing down a little since Bloodborne, and The Order: 1886 having been more than a bit guff, what is it going to pull out of the bag to reignite momentum at this year's press conference? Well we reckon the following...
Oh Red Dead. Long have you been praised as the most intelligent, most unique, and most rousingly poignant game ever crafted by the good folks who brought us Manhunt. Long have you been said stable’s most inconvenient-to-actually-play game. PC version? Ha! Nope, no outing for Rockstar’s most visually splendid game there, on the platform able to render those picturesque desertscapes in the most ludicrous detail. Unless you’re still rocking ten-year-old hardware, one of gaming’s standout masterpieces is just Not For You. Surely it’s time to change that?
Rockstar has done a marvelous job with all-stops-pulled PC port of GTA5, so is it really so implausible that it should be considering a similarly bang-up job for Red Dead, alongside a version for a console famously announced as being basically a PC in a small box? No, no it is not. Expect a download-only release, with at least six-months exclusivity.
In an earnest effort to explore other kinds of deadly zones – dangerous areas, even – Guerrilla will break out of its grim-and-grey corridors to explore a new, vibrant planet. It’s likely the game codenamed ‘Horizon’, which surfaced via leaked artwork (see above) back in September 2014.
It’s all about robot dinosaurs, and burly men with bear-skin hats brandishing massive guns... and it looks remarkably like Destiny, at least on a visual level. Chances of it being a gorgeous, yet vaguely disappointing first-person shooter with terrible level-design? High.
With Sony promising that the Project Morpheus VR headset will launch during the first half of 2016, now's the time to start drumming up hype for all the gaming possibilities. One simple way to do that would be recreating a virtual space using existing assets from a current AAA title - say, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or Batman: Arkham Knight, perhaps - and demoing what it would be like to walk through the game world in sensory-encompassing first-person.
We also wouldn't be surprised if London Heist, with its double-Move-controller gunplay and immersive interrogation scenes, gets expanded from a demo into one of the first at launch.
As much as these E3 conferences are an opportunity for major publishers to trumpet successes and exciting new releases, it's also a chance for a public mea culpa, much like when Sony owned up to its 2011 network outage. It's here that Sony will finally apologize for the lack of the originally promised PS Plus version of Driveclub.
The retail game is largely fixed (and ", so E3's a good a time as any to re-introduce it and announce an official release date.
Sony just isn't too keen on ever explaining what those reasons are, and this E3 will be no exception. We'll get the standard platitudes ("We still stand behind Vita blah blah") and a couple of hand-me-down indies from PS3 and PS4.
Any further mention of it will either be entirely by accident, in a sizzle reel (featuring the song 'Shut Up and Let Me Go' by the Ting Tings), or to let yet another Vita exclusive actually have a chance at decent sales by making the leap to PS4.
Sony has to understand that The Last Guardian is now more successful as a punchline than it is as an actual game. For years Sony Japan's magnum opus has been a no-show. Genuine hope for it being a real thing is now about as plentiful as rocking horse poop.
Something has to be done about that. If there's not even a mention of it at this year's E3, we’re writing off the last six years as a wash, erasing its very (non)existence from our memories. Give us something either way, Sony. We need to celebrate, or we need to move on.
Sony doesn’t have a whole lot of games for 2015. So it needs to get the biggest third-party titles to cosy up with PS4 and spoon it gently in the night. Enter Star Wars: Battlefront, which will make more money this year than an entire room full of FIFA employees during World Cup selection week.
Sony will throw around phrases like “only on PlayStation” and “first on PS4” to refer to a week’s exclusivity on the third piece of Battlefront DLC, and an unlockable ‘light-brown’ Ewok skin-hat for your character. Oh, and the Beta will probably be exclusive to PS4. But it’s all about the Ewok hat.
‘HD’ updates of older games aren’t going away. We thought they were. We thought they were a blip. We thought they were just a quick and easy stopgap to plug the lacklustre gaming schedule at the start of this new generation. But no. It seems that they’re just a ‘thing’ now, like lensflare, or DLC, or dogs, or sandwiches. Capcom has even officially acknowledged the churning out of past glories as a major part of its future business plan. Yay! Woo! No, we’re not thrilled either.
But yeah, there’s totally going to be an Uncharted Trilogy collection, to fill the gap until the delayed Uncharted 4 makes a mockery of its title. We already know God of War 3 is going PS4, and we strongly suspect another big PS3 title will make the leap (well, it’s quite a small hop, actually) to new-gen.
Sony’s slick showreel of independent games will once again remind us of the power of the montage... and the need to get on with it during really long press conferences. The rapid presentation of clever little games bound for PlayStation may be shallow, but it will cement the indie game as a valuable commodity in making any console’s lineup surprising and diverse.
The soundtrack will obviously be something as hip, upbeat, and annoyingly catchy as ‘The Nights’ by Avicii. The montage will also cut in footage of attractive 20-somethings with perfect white teeth and obsessively-clipped facial-hair, clutching DualShocks while laughing maniacally and stroking each other’s arms.
The House of Wolves update is just out (and brilliant). There is buzz around the game is once more akin to that of a thousand bees. And there have been leaks, oh so many leaks, of information regarding Bungie’s next expansion, the really big one, codenamed Comet. And it's releasing in September, so it has to be time for a proper showing.
Although a multiformat game, Destiny’s public image is synonymous with Sony, the two having been tied up since launch by way of branded ads and exclusive strikes and multiplayer maps. If Bungie is going to show off Comet at E3 (or The Taken King, as it will be called), it will do it at Sony’s conference. And you can expect a higher, but proportionally similar, number of extra things for PlayStation players this time around. A couple of extra strikes, three new multiplayer maps, and maybe an upgrade to the Prison of Elders. Yeah, that sounds about right.
And, indeed, the only Vita game presented at the show. Thereby making it both the best and worst of Sony’s handheld in the same package. Not seen it? It’s a swipe-to-attack action game by the folks who made Guacamelee, with a wilfully Japanese art style. Kind people will compare it to Okami (thanks to the way you swipe to cut or draw attacks on screen), whereas others will likely see it as a posh version of Fruit Ninja.
At least one lunatic online will proclaim Severed to be ‘the game to save Vita’. It isn’t.
We know that will be out by March 31, 2016 at the latest, having been delayed out of 2015. So to make good on the extra waiting time, Naughty Dog will deliver a dazzling gameplay run-through, including archaeological hijinks, shootouts with armed goons, grappling-hook-enabled jumps, and more foreboding voiceovers from Sully.
It'll all end with another ominous line delivered by Troy Baker as Nathan's older brother (whose name will finally be revealed), then a fade to the confirmed release date for early next year.
No Man’s Sky is almost definitely going to be great. And after stealing E3 last year with that demo, before bundling E3 into the back of an unmarked van and taking it off to central Europe to be broken down and sold off, it is going to be Big News at Sony’s 2015 press conference.
But despite the dynamically generated, space-based explore-’em-up’s profile, a chunky proportion of the public are still a bit confused over what it actually is. Thus, expect a more guided, in-depth walkthrough on-stage, detailing on-planet gameplay, and probably a closer look at space combat too.
Last December, Final Fantasy series producer Shinji Hashimoto took the stage at the PlayStation Experience to announce the arrival of Final Fantasy 7 on the PS4… as a port of the PC version. Expert trolling aside, the port was slated to launch this spring. Spring is almost over, so what better way to announce the actual release date than at Sony's E3 conference?
And what if that release date was, oh, we don't know, immediately following the show? There's precedent: in , Sony announced the arrival of the PSOne version of the RPG classic during its E3 press conference and released it that same day.
Look, Sony doesn't need to do much with PS4’s actual hardware or software. While Xbox One remains a hideous console pariah, and Wii U an expensive child’s rattle, there’s no urgency for Sony to up its game with a price cut or hardware revision. Having said that, maybe we’ll see a 1TB PS4 announced at the show.
People will buy it because a) PS4 game installs are insanely large, and b) we need somewhere to store all those screenshots of us posing dramatically in Bloodborne, or dancing like a merry fool in-front of the Cryptarch in Destiny (as he gazes into the middle distance with a look of utter contempt on his stupid face).
is a bit of an anomaly. In an age when most MMOs end up going free-to-play within a year (hello Wildstar and The Elder Scrolls Online), FF14 is going from strength to strength. And with good reason. Not only is it a great example of an MMO, but it’s also a fantastic Final Fantasy experience it’s its own right. It also works perfectly on consoles too, everything mapping to a PS4 or PS3 pad perfectly.
And now that world is about to get even bigger with the Heavensward expansion on 23 June. Following the events of the current story (you’ll have to complete it to get to the new areas), your adventurer sets off North to the gleaming city of Ishgard and beyond, and the story let alone any side quests. After a hands-on with it I’m as giddy as a Spriggan with a shiny new rock, there’s just so much on offer. So here’s seven reasons why Heavensward is going to be epic...
After waddling around A Realm Reborn with nothing but the tease of Gyshal Greens to keep it going, your Fat Chocobo is feeling seriously peckish. Whip out a slice of cake and your mighty yellow steed will be so excited he’ll take flight, his rolls gently wobbling in the wind.
You can also fly a more stern-looking Griffin and your normal, average weight Chocobo, but there’s a real sense of glee as the lemon chubster frantically reaches for his sugary prize. The sense of scale as you fly is just as joyful, the new areas are enormous. With multiple layers and hidden nooks to explore, swooping down over the landscape filled me with awe.
The healing Astrologian, defensive Dark Knight and damage-dealing Machanist all slot into the existing class balance nicely, each one bringing a little something special to the table. They’ll all start at level 30 rather than at one and you won’t need a base class to unlock them.
With such a huge Great sword, the Dark Knight feels appropriately weighty when swung during one of it’s many ‘dark’-themed moves. They also have two stances. Darkside will see you do some serious damage, but will drain your MP, while Grit will see you through any tough blows enemies can throw at you and get them to hit you rather than the rest of your party.
Machanists act a bit like the already existing Bards. They have two Turrets (one for groups, one for single targets) that need to be placed down to lend a helping hand, and can be switched to buff your party when needed. The Turrets won’t follow you like a Summoner’s pet will, it’s all about skillful deployment.
Finally, Astrologians are the star of the expansion (see what I did there, eh? EH?!), employing healing spells to keep your party alive, stances to aid with damage or buffing your friends, and a deck of cards that keeps you on your toes by dealing (and needing to manage) one of six random effects.
Part of a Free Company (that’s a guild in FF14 parlance)? Then you’ll be able to buy a workshop for your house and work together to fashion your own flying boat out of fancy lumber and nails. Accessible from the same door as private rooms, the workshop is a separate area where you can remodel the look of your house or swap out airship parts before sending them out of exploratory adventures.
The launch of Heavensward and airships will definitely be putting any crafters and gatherers out there in high demand. You’ll have to work together to build four different types of ship parts that are then slotted together. Each piece has different stats so, for example, you may build a speedy ship, but it’ll run out of fuel faster. It adds an interesting layer of customisation, though Square Enix has yet to release any details on what the rewards for sending out your ship will be.
As well as adding the three new Jobs, the expansion will also see all of the current classes getting an update as the reach the new cap at level 60. Adding so many new moves and making sure they all gel together is a tricky balancing act, and one that it still being worked on, but what I went hands-on with was promising indeed.
I tried out the Monk class, notorious in the current game for having an irritating dip in punching power when you find yourself with nothing to hit during a lull in hostilities, but the additions in Heavensward completely make up for that. You’ll be able to trade in your greased Lightning stacks for a powerful kick - great if you time it to land just before a break in a battle - and a Meditation mechanic that sees you stack the move while you have nothing to smack. Reach five stacks and you can choose to heal your TP (the stuff that lets you perform fancy moves) or unleash a really big attack to make up for lost time. It really keeps you on your toes, and as soon as I went back to playing without the new moves I found myself really missing them.
Adding an expansion to an MMO is a tricky business. New players start noticing it more as hype builds, but the amount to catch up on can be quite intimidating, and existing players often rocket off in the freshly added sunset to try out all of the new toys, leaving any newer players behind in the dust.
Game producer and director Naoki Yoshida aims to rectify that with a raft of measures to help new players catch up. If you’re starting fresh when Heavensward launches you’ll get to enjoy the benefits of double experience points for faster levelling, and priority in dungeon queues so you can work on finishing the current A Realm Reborn story. You’ll also be able to run dungeons with friends at higher levels without them scaling down, to help you power right on through. Yoshida’s aim is for people to play through the story “like they’re binge watching their favourite TV series.”
Like loot and running through dungeons? Then Heavensward will have eight new ones for you to challenge, among them the Sharlayan Library, which I got my hands on. Filled with books (that have a disturbing number of teeth and demons poking out of them), as well as angry ink pots and magic frogs, it’s an enchanting place. Its also a challenging one. While the group I was with was still getting to grips with new skills, they were all experienced players and yet we still wiped on bosses. It was never frustrating though, as each failure felt like a lesson that saw us come back even stronger.
You’ll also have more say over how your party approaches dungeons, with the updated duty finder letting you set a ‘loot master’ or having ‘greed only’ on rolls to give everyone an equal chance, as well as syncing everyone down to a lower level or challenging it with fewer party members to make things more challenging.
Okay, so those are the six BIG reasons to pick up Heavensward on 23 June, but there are so many other exciting additions that I couldn’t choose a seventh. So here’s to all the other little reasons that this is the MMO you need to be playing, be that on console or on PC. Deep breath now everyone…
A new eight-man raid (with a normal and hard mode) set inside a giant living Fortress called Alexander that’s coming two weeks after launch; an extension to the crafting system that lets you specialise in three crafts, and a similar system for gatherers that grants ‘divine favours’ for getting rare items; your retainers will also be rising to level 60; a new Frontline PvP area with a completely different rule set that features varying spawn points and ruins to take control of; a brofist emote; and new large-scale FATES, recipes, hunts, treasure maps, sightseeing points, quests, and, most importantly, new Triple Triad cards to dish out the pain. With so much on offer, I can’t wait to get stuck in.
Robots are pretty handy, eh? Capable of lifting the things we really don't want to and making all sorts of things with their ever-expanding digital brain smarts. Though if videogames teach us anything, it's never to trust Artificial Intelligence. Sure, they may try to win us over with their high efficiency and fancy logic, but deep down they're plotting your inferior demise.
Take this list as a warning then, here are the nine PlayStation AI's you need to keep a close eye on...
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The cake, and every sarcastic syllable uttered by the wonderfully sardonic GLaDOS, is a big fib. Though the AI would gladly test Chell with a variety of dimension-distorting puzzles until the end of time, she eventually becomes a reluctant ally in the sequel.
Never has the name Guardian Angel held so little meaning. Not only does this artificial overseer suck at watching out for the Vault hunters, she also regularly betrays them. In fairness, Angel does have a tragic past, as her pappy tethered her to a computer after she drove her mammy away.
EDI or (Enhanced Defence Intelligence) was once a dry-witted computer sphere. Though she lacked a body at the time, she still seemed to have a romantically-charged relationship with pilot Joker. Naturally, he’s thrilled when she commandeers a smokin’ body for herself in ME3.
The Thinker is either the centre of the Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network or The Riddler’s dweeby second cousin. After creating said intelligence, its two inventors battled over its purpose, with one hoping to predict sports scores and the other trying to use it as a home for the personality of his dead wife. Creepy.
Don’t let that Zooey Deschanel fringe fool you. Eliza Cassan is pure evil. For much of HR, Cassan passes herself off as a reporter, but once Adam Jensen does some sleuthing, he discovers she’s the AI responsible for his wife’s kidnapping.
With a moniker like The Executioners, Star Ocean’s race of computerised menaces were never likely to be cuddly space bunnies. And being a complicated and twee JRPG, their origin story is longer than the Bible.
There’s nothing like a little apocalypse to spawn an artificial intelligence that soon enslaves thousands of people in a Matrix-like web of virtual deceit. The game’s über baddy is a half-man/half AI called Pyramid who creates a mighty structure that keeps its prisoners docile with happy memories.
Long thought to be nought but a group of harmless... alright, evil megalomaniacs, Metal Gear’s Patriots are revealed to be a group of super AI programmes. They were created by Big Boss’ arch enemy Major Zero in order to control the world’s digital flow of info. The cads.
President Eden is certainly the patriotic sort, being a rogue AI system who wants to murderise every last one of the Wasteland’s mutants – a task he’ll gladly wage war on the States in order to complete. USA! USA! USA!
There was a time when video game voice acting could've conceivably doubled as torture. Simply slap a pair of headphones on your primary suspect and proceed to bang out a 'best of the mid-'90s' VO playlist. I'll bet that by the time they reached Grandia, said villain would have been too busy contemplating the innumerable, illogical absurdities of the 'Jill sandwich' to put up too much of a struggle. Word to the wise - if they're muttering something about a wizard, the moon, and sucking on their thumb from the foetal position then you know you've gone too far.
Thankfully, in-game audio has come an awfully long way since then. For example, we now have actual professionals voicing our icons, as opposed to whichever member of the penal system didn't fancy stamping out license plates that day. Today's big list of stuff will attempt to acquaint you with some of the more prolific players in the modern industry. Particular attention has been paid to the most versatile stars therein, as opposed to folks like Keith David who're specifically contracted for their rich, silky speaking voices. Sorry about that Keith, but knowing that the same bloke voices both Batman and Sonic is just way teresting.
Who? Robin Atkin Downes is a film, television, theatre and video game voice actor, mo-cap performer and music producer. He also has experience in directing. Think of him as the Swiss army knife of this list. A Swiss army knife with great hair.
Who else? Downes portrays Metal Gear Solid's Kaz Miller, Just Cause's Rico Rodriguez, Uncharted 2's Tenzin, Ratchet and Clank's Captain Slag, Team Fortress 2's Medic and Gear of War's Locust Kantus - among others.
Who? Jennifer Hale is the veritable 'first lady' of video game voice acting, though she's also appeared in several live action productions. Last year Hale engaged in a spirited 8-week hot-air balloon race, vying against Tara Strong for the opportunity to call 'dibs' on all of 2015's best roles. Of course, none of that actually happened, but it should've done.
Who else? Hale is the woman behind Bioshock Infinite's Rosalind Lutece, MGS2's Emma Emmerich, Metroid Prime's Samus Aran, Halo 4's Sarah Palmer and Mass Effect's female rendering of Shepard. She also provided the voicework for both versions of Metal Gear Solid's Naomi Hunter (both the early British and later American incarnations).
Who? Mike Patton is the uber eclectic frontman of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and about a dozen other bands. He began voice acting in 2007, and is typically tasked with providing gruesome monster noises.
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Who else? Patton has provided the pipes behind Portal 2's Anger Core, Left 4 Dead's Infected (including the Smoker Hunter variants) as well as The Darkness' titular nasties. Oh, and he's also responsible for Bionic Commando 09's gritty, cheeseball hero.
Who? Tara Strong is a well known voice over artist and television actress. Her distinctive surname was bestowed upon her by the old gods after witnessing Tara's completion of the 12 labours of Hercules. Of the 12, Tara counts the Lernaean Hydra as being the single most challenging foe.
Who else? Strong has voiced Batman: Arkham's Harley Quinn, Mortal Kombat's Ferra, Metal Gear's Paz, Jak Daxter's Keira and Final Fantasy X's Rikku. Plus a boatload more.
Who? Armin Shimerman is a film and television actor best known for playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Principal Snyder and Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Quark. Fun fact: Shimerman came up with the design for Quark's face while bashing a catcher's mitt with a baseball bat? No, not really, but he might as well have done.
Who else? Shimerman has appeared as Mass Effect's Salarian Councillor, Ratchet and Clank's Dr. Nefarious and Bioshock's Andrew Ryan.
Who? Grey DeLisle is a singer, voice actress and occasional stand-up comic. She also goes by the pseudonym of 'Grey Griffin', which probably comes in really handy during live action role-playing.
Who else? DeLisle has voiced Jeanne from the Bayonetta series, Catwoman in Batman: Arkham, Sly Cooper's Carmelita Fox and Amanda from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Who? Nolan North is a professional actor and voice over artist/bona fide gaming institution. Little known fact: both he and Troy Baker are immortal Highlanders simultaneously attempting to corner the voice over market, because of course 'there can only be one'.
Who else? North voices everyone from DOTA 2's squealing Gyrocopter pilot to the CoD franchise's zombie-mad Richtofen. Other characters include Uncharted's Nathan Drake, Injustice's General Zod, Batman's Oswald Cobblepot and Portal 2's Space, Adventure and Fact Cores.
Who? Ellen McLain is an opera singer and voice actress who regularly contributes to Valve Corp. video games. Her husband is similarly involved with the company, having provided the voice of the Sniper in Team Fortress 2. And no, they didn't meet up while screaming robotic threats into a microphone. Shame.
Who else? McLain's work includes stints as DOTA 2's Broodmother, Left 4 Dead's Witch monster, Half-Life 2's Overwatch speaker and - most famously of all - Portal's array of talkative turrets and the evil A.I. GLaDOS.
Who? James Arnold Taylor is a professional cartoon and video game voice actor. Long-term exposure to the man's unique brand of laughter has been known to cause ferocious irritation in viewers.
Who else? Taylor's most notable roles include Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank series, the Clone Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (both in video games and TV) as well as Final Fantasy X's boisterous lead character Tidus. He also does a rather good Jack Sparrow impression.
Who? Lani Minella is a professional voice actress specialising in video games. I wonder how many people accidentally call her Liza Minnelli on a daily basis?
Who else? Lani voices the female infected in The Last of Us, Sheeva from Mortal Kombat 9, Ivy in SoulCalibur, the Koopa kids from the Mario franchise, and the female fighters in the Worms series.
Who? Troy Baker is a musician, mo-cap actor and award-winning voice over artist specialising in video games. He spends much of his time coated in brightly coloured ping-pong balls trying not to laugh.
Who else? Baker's work includes appearances as Batman: Arkham's Two-Face, Metal Gear Solid V's Ocelot, The Last of Us' Joel, Far Cry 4's Pagin Min and Arkham Origins' Joker.
Who? Jen Taylor is a professional voicework and theatre actress, contracted to the Halo franchise for the next 187,000 instalments, or the complete heat death of the universe - whichever comes first.
Who else? Taylor's impressive C.V. boasts several big name gigs, including those of Princess Peach and Halo's Cortana. Other notable performances include No One Lives Forever's Cate Archer, Left 4 Dead's Zoey and DOTA 2's Medusa.
Who? Fred Tatasciore is a prolific voice actor appearing in film, television and video games. He once voiced one of Jar Jar Binks' annoying Gungan buddies, and probably felt really terrible about it afterwards. We forgive you Fred, you couldn't have known.
Who else? Tatasciore has voiced Baird from Gears of War, Zeratul (Starcraft 2), Bane (Arkham City), Mario (Assassin's Creed 2), both the Tank and Boomer monsters from Left 4 Dead, and Mass Effect's Saren Arterius.
Who? Terrence Carson is an acclaimed stage actor, tv performer and vocalist. Fun fact: Carson was also betrayed by almighty Zeus. He was pretty chilled about it though.
Who else? Carson has portrayed God of War's vengeful Spartan Kratos, the Saints Row series' Big Tony and Star Wars' own Mace Windu.
Who? Quinton Flynn is a video game voice actor and writer. Fun fact: the name Quinton Flynn would also suit a restaurant critic and/or a wealthy teenaged adventurer.
Who else? Flynn voices Sonic's Silver the Hedgehog, Metal Gear's Raiden, Henry from the No More Heroes games, and Crash Bandicoot's Dr. N. Gin.
Who? Mark Hamill is a professional acto… - y'know what, forget it, the man's Luke Skywalker, LUKE SKYWALKER damn it! Oh and he was in all those Wing Commander games too…
Who else? Hamill has provided the voice behind CoD 2's old-timey narrator, X2's Wolverine and of course Arkham's main-series iteration of the Joker.
Who? Matthew Mercer is an anime and video game voice actor. His name is also an anagram for 'Mew Meth Carter', which in the context of the Pokémon franchise would certainly explain a lot…
Who else? Mercer provides the pipes behind Street Fighter 4's Fei Long, Arkham Origins' Anarky, Resi 6's Leon, and Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell's Blackbeard.
Who? Roger Craig Smith is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, video game and cartoon-based voicework. Since winning the role of Batman in Arkham Origins, Smith has received numerous lewd phone calls from a man referring to himself only as 'Conroy Kevin'. Police are baffled. And of course, none of that actually happened.
Who else? Smith lends his considerable talents to a wide array of gaming icons, including Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed 2), Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5), Batman/Bruce Wayne (Batman: Arkham Origins) and err… Sonic the Hedgehog. That's quite the range.
Who? Steve Blum is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, cartoons and video games. Fun fact about Steve: he was only one botched birth certificate away from being called 'Steve Bum'.
Who else? Blum has voiced Sub-Zero and Reptile in Mortal Kombat X, Wolverine from the X-Men franchise, Killer Croc in the Batman: Arkham series, Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy Type-0's Cid, and Grayson Hunt from Bulletstorm. Also, about .
Everybody has one. There's a game you absolutely love for all the ways it entertains, surprises, and delights you with its digital splendor. You easily rank it among your favorite games of all time - but there's that one thing that it gets totally wrong. Maybe's it's a particular boss, or level, or cringe-worthy bit of dialogue ("I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain", anyone?). And while it's not significant enough to ruin the entire experience, these shortcomings can be a glaring blemish on an otherwise amazing experience.
And that's ok. No game is perfect, and many titles excel despite that one obvious flaw that might otherwise hold them back. Doesn't mean we can't still call these games out on their screw-ups, though. We've rounded up some flawed favorites that the GR+ editors hold dear, and it's time to get these conflicted feelings off our collective chests. If you've played any of these games, you'll definitely know what we're talking about.
Psychonauts is delightful. It's funny, charming, endearing - the very definition of quirky. Though its levels are a bit uneven (one simply cannot compare Milla's Dance Party with the brilliance that is The Milkman Conspiracy or even Lungfishopolis) and its platforming is pretty standard fare, but it's nearly impossible to beat Psychonauts for sheer, unbridled creativity. Does it really matter that it relies on tropes like collectibles when you have such memorable characters and visual style? Nope, not a bit.
Psychonauts' controls were never overly crisp, but whatever you were doing and wherever you were doing it was interesting enough to balance your frustration. Until you reach The Meat Circus, that is. The final level of Psychonauts is, to be blunt, complete bullshit. The first section of the Meat Circus combines three of the worst elements in video game design: it's timed, it's an escort mission, and it has a terrible camera. It's the culmination of Psychonauts' engaging story, and it's so unfun that it makes you wonder if you really, truly need to see Raz emerge victorious. Tossing the controller to the side and imagining your own ending to this otherwise wonderful gaming experience is a far better option than slogging through its finale.
Assassin's Creed 2 might just be my favorite game. I'd stopped playing my PS3 altogether for a few months, but I picked it back up for AC2 and was suddenly transported to Renaissance Italy. Freerunning was a revelation. Da Vinci was designing my weapons. I was a master of stealth stabbing. Florence! Venice! Tuscany! Gosh, am I in Rome?
And then. The finale I like to forget. Look away if you'd rather I didn't spoil a six-year-old game. After spending hours in beautiful atmospheric cities, taking in the sights from the Piazza San Marco, upgrading endless shiny weapons, the pinnacle of the game was… having a fist fight with the Pope. An extended, awkward fist fight where an old man kept falling down and letting you punch him. From the sublime to the utterly ridiculous. I was cowering in embarrassment. It started stupid. It ended worse. And to top it all off? Ezio didn't even kill Pope Borgia. Ugh.
Despite numerous redesigns and lengthy delays, Conviction emerged as a wonderfully fresh start for the Splinter Cell series. Its emphasis on aggressive, Bourne Identity-inspired stealth set the template for almost all subsequent sneaking games because... well, it feels so damn satisfying to play. Conviction hits some great story beats too, and they play out over a host of thoughtfully designed levels. Well, apart from one particular stage which is as baffling as it is unnecessary: the flashback to Iraq.
Having just eased players into the new, free-flowing stealth, Conviction yanks them out of the groove and into an awkwardly designed third-person shooter stage, clumsily shoehorned into the narrative as a flashback. It's clear that the developer is trying to shock players - shooting? In a Splinter Cell game? Oh Mr. Darcy, I am undone - especially given the cheeky reveal at the mission's climax. Sadly it all falls hideously flat, like a harmless prank resulting in the loss of your friend's index finger. Why? Because Splinter Cell is built to be a stealth game, and it plays awfully as a shooter. Stick to what you know, people!
While it might be quaint by today's standards set by Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto and Skyrim, Rockstar's wild frontier offered enviable freedom to simply be, while it was sculpted enough to showcase a beautiful story of revenge and (unsurprisingly) redemption. This is a world punctuated by rolling, layered thunderstorms that fill a wide sky uncluttered by towering buildings or mountains, populated by eccentric and damaged characters integral to your cause. It was the first hint of the procedural gameplay we now take for granted (a hare, being chased by a dog, being chased by a wolf), and features a soundtrack that could make a man weep.
So it's a crying shame that all this beauty, this sheer openness and offering of choice, couldn't be betrayed to funnel players towards some of its most memorable beats. My crossing the border into Mexico, backed by lilting guitars, went from breathtaking to broken as I galloped across the land - and promptly fell off my horse for one reason or another and died, spawning ahead of where I was and thus missing out on what my mates had said was a profound moment. I swore at the busted checkpoint system, but Rockstar couldn't have segued into a long cutscene, or forced my horse to trot rather than tear ahead. That's the exact opposite of a wild frontier. Really, though, the checkpoint system wasn't the one thing that was broken about Red Dead Redemption: it was me.
God of War 3 may not be a perfect game, but it's a fitting closing chapter to Kratos' campaign of rage and revenge (Ragevengeance? Your move, Kojima). Yeah, Kratos may have made another unnecessary pit stop in Hades, but it's a mere blip on his 'Greek Pantheon Murder Tour 2010', as he works his way from god to god, ripping off heads or bashing in skulls. It's super violent, cheesy stuff, but when he pays the ultimate sacrifice to finally off Zeus at the end of his quest, it's kind of poetic. Sure, he's murdered everyone, but in doing so, he has unleashed untold terrors on the Earth. He lays on the ground, bleeding out as the world falls apart around him. It's a bold move to end on, but dammit, it works. And now, we close the book on Kratos' saga...
Except we don't. Halfway through the credits, we go back to Kratos' resting place - only he's not there any more. The camera pans across a trail of blood, off the side of the mountain, and out toward the horizon where storms rage across the ocean. Surprise! Kratos isn't dead, and he's off to go and brood somewhere else. Whatever emotional impact that ending had was ripped away because Sony Santa Monica was afraid to just let the series end here, instead deciding to toss a question mark on this supposed epilogue. I wanted this moment to finally provide closure for Kratos. Now? I just don't care any more.
ModNation's amazing track builder lets you make pretty much anything you can think of. Fantastic user-created content is up-voted by the community, you can download other people's amazing work for free (if they let you, which most do), and it all looks beautiful, with countless objects you can place in its world. ModNation has everything it needs to be the best racer ever.
Except for the racing. Yes, facepalm indeed. The racing is best described as adequate. The sense of speed, powerslide-y fun-ness (yes, that is the scientific term), and weapon set are all perfunctory. Par for the course. Only they're not really par for the course, because - as we've just explored - the course itself is amazing. So this is more like a bogey, if for some reason we're using a golfing analogy for a racing game. A great big bogey on an otherwise beautiful face. That sums it up quite nicely.
As someone whose idea of a good time is scouring the internet for innovative Final Fantasy Tactics character builds, I was enchanted by Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. This remake of the 1995 Super Famicom classic is, by all accounts, excellent. There's a ton of tactical depth to discover in how you customize your fighters, and the localization of Ogre's Shakespearean plot is masterfully handled. I'd probably still be playing it today, were it not for one glaring, irredeemable flaw: the item crafting.
Item crafting in Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is laughably tedious; a cruel joke that reveals the developers' long-repressed masochistic tendencies. What should've taken 60 seconds and a few button presses lasts forever, as an unholy trifecta of unnecessary menus, animations, and redundancies suck all joy from your life. Why can't I craft multiple items at once? Why do I have to watch this stupid animation of the item being made every time? Why do the menus not default to 'Yes' when I click through them so I can at least watch Netflix while making 700 iron-freaking-ingots?
The Arkham series perfectly captures the best aspects of Batman: his diverse Rogues Gallery, detective skills, cool gadgets, and knack for walloping thugs into unconsciousness. And Batman: Arkham City strikes the perfect balance between focused crime-fighting and aimless exploration, as you have the freedom to grapple atop any building and take flight from on high. So I can understand why the AR Training challenges exist: miniature trials that require you to cape-glide along a set path, teaching you subtle altitude-shifting techniques in the process.
But good God, are they no fun. The first set of AR lines is simple enough, giving you the confidence that maybe you've mastered the art of flight. Then, like a cruel math teacher transitioning from simple addition to abstract algebra, the AR Training Advanced courses drop you into extensive, bafflingly difficult flight missions that you will never complete on the first try. Maybe if you could instantly restart post-failure, the Advanced runs wouldn't be so bad - but nope, you've got to hoof it back to the starting line every single time you fall (and you will fall). You know who else spent his time flying through rings suspended in midair? Superman. And look where that got him.
For a game that rattles with vibrant, larger-than-life battles and outlandish one-upmanship between one spectacle and the next, Asura's Wrath is somehow a coherent, even touching story. The central character - a betrayed and fallen god - barrels through life, death, and even the moon in his blind rage, and it all leads to an apocalyptic showdown in (what else?)... OUTER SPACE. The writers bring an absurd revenge plot to a close without getting preachy or crushing any sympathy you had for the protagonist, and fully embrace the game's habit of transforming deities into boss fights. Yup, Asura's Wrath has a great ending. That you have to buy. Separately.
Perhaps Capcom's calculated exclusion of a vital part of the game is meant to bring you closer to Asura, closer to the rage of learning - at the last minute - that you've been tricked. It's not that DLC exists to extend the game, I can live with that, but that it's coldly inserted at the moment you'd want it the most. The fiscal cut-off in Capcom's design wasn't well received, of course, but the worst thing is that it proved the cynical doom-view of DLC: Someone really did chop out the ending of a game to make some extra money.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker does a remarkable job of adapting the PS2-era MGS formula to PlayStation Portable. Rather than presenting a scaled-down version of the traditional sneaking mission, Peace Walker breaks up Snake's Central American exploits into a series of brief operations. And Mother Base, complete with staff to manage and a Metal Gear to build, keeps you invested even without a grand objective like infiltrating Groznyj Grad to command your attention.
Unfortunately, one aspect of this adaptation is far less successful, and it brings the rest of the game down with it: Peace Walker's boss battles are terrible. Most of them are against a forgettable series of giant robots and, unless you have co-op buddies to help you, each robot fight is glacial - they're not particularly hard, they just take forever. But the most heinous sin of Peace Walker's boss fights is their utter lack of personality. Metal Gear boss battles are supposed to be tough, emotionally exhausting narrative payoffs, not rote Monster Hunter-imitating loot hunts. And yet here I am, shooting rockets at the same dull mecha for the dozenth time, farming AI cores. It's just not right.
Final Fantasy 10 is a contender for my favorite game of all time. It came around at just the right time in my youth to grab me with its stellar art, strategic gameplay, and wonderfully realized storyline, and it hasn't let me go since. Even fifteen years after its initial release <(i>hurk), it's aged beautifully, and the budding romance that develops between its adorably dorky protagonists is one of the most genuine and touching I've ever seen in any game. It's an amazing title and would basically be perfect, if only we didn't have to experience the god-awful voice-acting.
No, really, it's awful. So bad that when I recommend this game to others (which I do a lot), I always preface it with a warning to look past the voice work. Granted, it was the first Final Fantasy game to have voice talent, so some issues are expected. But between Tidus' Shatner-esque delivery and the fact that Yuna constantly sounds like she's buffering, it's hard to ignore. Plus, the lip-syncing is so off that some characters only make sounds after their mouths stop moving. Bless Rikku's Tara Strong for being a shining beacon of quality, or my mute button might've gotten a lot more exercise.
If seasons had personalities, summer would be bombastic and carefree - the Ferris Bueller of seasons. It's the time of year that begs you to go on new adventures, take chances, and meet new friends. We associate a lot of things with different seasons, like music, movies and books. But what about video games? Surely there must be an equivalent to your 'Summer Fun Time Jams 9' playlist within the video game world?
Well good news everyone, there absolutely is. Summer isn't quite here yet, but, if you're like me, you take every opportunity to roll out the welcome mat in anticipation the greatest time of year. So kick up your feet, pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade, and get ready for a list of the best games to get you stoked for summer.
Few games embody everything that is summer better than Animal Crossing. Even when your little village is covered in snow and sadness, there is something so inherently beachy about the relaxed pace that Animal Crossing saunters along at. It's the fact that, despite having breezy tunes and graphics so cuddly you can feel them, Animal Crossing captures summer in its gameplay as much as its aesthetic. Days spent gardening, fishing, or just idling chatting with friends - all of these perfectly represent what we associate with the season.
Animal Crossing finds a way of making work feel like pleasure, and then punctuates that with a sprinkling of social gatherings like fireworks festivals and bug catching contests. If winter is the time of year to shut off all ties and hole up in your house in front of the TV, summer is the season to get out there and make some new friends. And Animal Crossing is just bursting with friends.
Grease's Summer Nights, summer flings, and the 1967 Summer of Love all make one thing perfectly clear: summer is the season for romance. And what game captures all those tingly feelings better than Persona 4? By the time summer rolls around in-game, you're likely exhausted from keeping up with school, relationships, and - oh yeah - solving a murder. But just under half way through your year in Inaba, summer arrives and gives you a well deserved rest.
Everyone has fond memories of their summer vacations, and Persona 4 deftly taps into that nostalgia to remind us all of our younger years. Days spent at the beach, breezy nights hanging out with friends, and that blossoming romance with the cutie you've had a crush on since the semester started; it's all there and waiting to tug at your heartstrings. Just like in real life, you relish the extra free time summer vacation provides. And when the start of a new school year looms only days away, you'll remember the dread we were all filled with as the greatest two months came to a close.
This one is a bit obvious, don't you think? While some of the entries on the list have a bit of nuance to how they evoke the feeling of summer, Super Mario Sunshine is as bold as a mojito. A major departure from the more vanilla flavor of Mario games, Isle Delfino is a gorgeous resort community begging to be explored.
Not only that, but Mario's FLUDD is basically a giant Super Soaker - what else do you need? All Super Mario Sunshine is missing at this point is freezie pops so delicious you'll gladly suffer the painful cuts on your mouth just to have one.
If you've never had the opportunity to go to a beach and build a sand castle, stop what you're doing, close this article, and do whatever it takes to make that happen. I don't care how much a plane ticket costs, just do it.
You're back? Amazing, yes? Building sand castles is the official pastime of summer, and Minecraft is basically one big virtual sand castle. There is something so serenely mesmerizing about building something piece by piece. Before you know it, hours have melted away like the ice in your iced tea, and you're left with a sense of accomplishment. Turn off survival mode and let your creativity take you on a journey. Minecraft, like summer, is the the perfect opportunity to pick a direction and strike out on your own path. Who knows where your feet will take you?
The summer without a body of water to spend it with is a tragedy. Millions of people travel every year just to make sure that doesn't happen. For one second, let's pretend that you find yourself in a position in which you are unable to soak up some sun before a great blue sea. What do you do? You play The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, of course!
Nintendo's charmingly cartoony take on Zelda is the perfect game for those desperate to cool off from the blistering summer sun. An endless ocean, a world teeming with vibrant characters, and an absorbing quest as good as any book all make for a perfect way to kill a long weekend.
Harvest Moon and its spin off, Story of Seasons, could probably be found on the winter, spring, and fall equivalents of this list with how easily they evoke those seasons. But the first summer of a new game is always the most special.
There is a sense of community that begins building around summer, as the game finally begins to let go of the reins and let the player drive. You begin to feel more at ease with your farming routine, become more comfortable chatting with the villagers, and best of all, your love interest. But Harvest Moon also deserves recognition for not only capturing the feel of summer, but the sounds too. Walks through the forest to collect delicious fruit are accompanied by chirping cicadas, singing birds, and some of the catchiest music you've ever heard.
Those of you living in climates that are unsavory for large portions of the year will no doubt appreciate the moment you can drive with the windows down, letting the brisk air cool you off. It's the ultimate sign of summer's approach. Burnout Paradise is that moment captured and programmed into a video game.
It's the kind of game that you can sit down with for an hour and accomplish absolutely nothing yet still have a great time. Driving and crashing around the urban sprawl of Paradise City is a joy in itself, and the game's soundtrack perfectly complements every moment. So roll down those windows, step on the gas, and t-bone that semi truck at 90mph. You can thank me for it later.
Studio Ghibli and Level-5 have proven themselves masters at painting with emotion. With an almost careless ease, the two studios brought the world of Ni No Kuni to life in rich detail. The characters are imaginative and fun, and the world is enchanting. All of this culminates in a game that is as hard to leave behind as a summer vacation.
Ni No Kuni is the video game equivalent of a road trip. You pile in for an adventure, and, from the window of your car, you see a whole world beyond your doorstep pass by. For many, it is that moment that you begin to understand just how small you are, but as Ni No Kuni is quick to teach you: even the smallest of things is capable of greatness.
If this list didn't inspire you to start working on your 'Summer Fun Time James 10' playlist and dust off your flip-flops, I just don't know what will. Whether you love or hate it, summer is well on its way, and for those of you looking to get an early start the games on this list are a perfect way to help get you in the mood. Of course, I'm sure you probably have your own ideas for what gets you all riled up for barbecues and days spent lounging around in open fields. So what are you waiting for? Slip and slide your way into the comments and let us know what your favorite go-to games are for capturing that summer spirit!
Summer's nearly here, and you're no doubt wanting to take a break from the humdrum tedium of your daily routine. What you need is a vacation. Maybe you're dreaming of a sun-soaked beach that lulls you into a state of blissful relaxation with its swaying palm trees and churning waves. Or perhaps you're picturing a mountain retreat; a quiet, serene place to unplug and enjoy some self-reflection. Video games can offer these kinds of exotic getaways, you know - but they usually turn out to be a lot less tranquil than you might hope.
Virtual vacation spots seem prone to becoming the epicenter of some harrowing catastrophe, ruining all those plans for leisure activities in the process. So whatever you do, don't book a flight to one of these resorts if you cherish your summer vacation. Or hey, maybe you like to live a little bit dangerously - in which case, these perilous retreats will ensure that you spend every minute of your time off really appreciating the value of life itself.
This dolphin-shaped tropical paradise has it all: friendly natives, gorgeous beaches, and local agriculture that produces fruit the size of your head. But even when it's not being terrorized by a translucent vandal and his giant paintbrush, or running rampant with ink-infested wildlife, Isle Delfino would still be a questionable vacation spot. For starters, there's Corona Mountain, a live volcano that could ostensibly bury the entire island under a blanket of molten lava at any time. And Hotel Delfino, which is pretty much the only tourist lodging in town, is lousy with the hostile spirits of the dead. You're also very likely to get sprayed by an Italian plumber's back-mounted hose for absolutely no reason, which is a guaranteed day-ruiner.
If you're thinking of a one day becoming a wealthy tycoon who turns an entire planet into one gigantic luxury resort, Stygia is the perfect example of what not to do. For instance, don't start building in a biosphere that's riddled with radioactive gamma storms. Avoid supplementing your workforce with convicted felons, who've all been exposed to copious amounts of toxic waste and could stage a revolt at any moment. Try not to landscape with the kind of plant life that could photosynthesize into man-eating monstrosities if left in the sun for too long. And for the love of all that is holy, don't bring along enough heavy artillery to arm every last soon-to-be-mutated tourist with lethal force. If Bulletstorm's any indication, that'll all end very, very badly.
Checking in to the Lakeview Hotel seems like the start to a quiet, relaxing stay in the foggy little town of Silent Hill. You've got a gorgeous view of the scenic Toluca Lake, with Maine's majestic forests in one direction and a short walk to the Lakeside Amusement Park in the other. But if you leave your room to refill the ice bucket in the middle of the night, you might encounter some rather psyche-scarring scenes. Interiors covered in rust and grime; guests who look like walking piles of skin moaning as they shamble through the halls. Maybe you should've paid attention to all those TripAdvisor reviews that complained about otherworldly horrors and the guilt-induced revelations that come with them.
Are you an affluent caucasian who some might label as a 'grade-A douchebag'? Do you enjoy flying like paper and getting high like planes? Then you should never, ever visit the Rook Islands, because you will almost assuredly end up as the ransomed captive of some deranged modern-day pirates. I know it's tempting, what with the jet ski rentals, scuba diving through picturesque reefs, hang gliding lessons, and the ultimate finale: skydiving from 12,500 feet, with a full view of the gorgeous archipelago. But I assure you that the hard landing isn't worth it, because you'll probably get picked up by . Also, he's definitely going to confiscate your phone.
Theme parks always heat up during the summer, when school's out and the sun is shining. But Horrorland seems to be trapped in a state of perpetual night, looking a bit like Universal Studio's Wizarding World of Harry Potter if it revolved around R.L. Stine's brand of kid-friendly creepiness. Attractions include Werewolf Village, where children are constantly getting trapped in meat lockers, and a 'Coffin Cruise' through the moat of a castle lorded over celebrity vampires: Jeff Goldblum and Blue Velvet's Isabella Rossellini. Best of all, the price of a single admission effectively becomes a lifetime pass, since Horrorland has the power to magically warp you back onto its haunted fairgrounds should you ever escape.
Golden sand, crystal blue skies, fluffy white clouds. Zach Fair isn't able to appreciate any of these idyllics sights on the beach of Costa del Sol, because he's too busy fending off hordes of overgrown sea worms. What should be some much-deserved RR for this elite SOLDIER operative always seems to break out into a battle on the coast - though Zach doesn't mind, seeing as it's a reprieve from the relative boredom of his chaperoned holiday. And because Shinra's exclusive resort wasn't built with combat in mind, Zach's forced to use a retracted sun umbrella as a sword. If anyone's genuinely enjoying themselves on this trip, it's those gamers who swoon at the rare sight of Zach's shirtless six-pack.
The road to a terrible vacation is typically paved with good intentions. Alan Wake's a best-selling author who's stuck in an unproductive rut, and his wife Alice thinks a trip to the remote mountain town of Bright Falls will help him break through his writer's block. Clearly, Alice has never seen The Shining or Secret Window. Within an hour of arriving at Bird Leg Cabin on Cauldron Lake, the couple's trip descends into shadowy madness, with Alice getting mysteriously abducted and Alan slowly losing his mind on account of a Dark Presence. All that being said, Alan did finally sit down and write that novel he was thinking about, so... mission accomplished!
At face value, this verdant island off the coast of Papua New Guinea seems to be the destination that'll live up to your most luxurious vacation fantasies. Imagine: sunbathing at the five-star Royal Palms Resort during the day, and enjoying the expletive-riddled rapping of star performer Sam B. at night. Of course, you'll need to turn a blind eye to the crime and gang violence that runs rampant in the nearby city of Moresby, and the fact that there's an Alcatraz-style prison island (surrounded by live mines) not too far up the coast. Also, the indigenous tribes have been practicing for generations, which eventually leads to one of those pesky zombie outbreaks that plunges all of Banoi into bedlam. There's nothing like being at zombie ground zero to put a damper on your paid time off.
Welcome, welcome! Let me show you to your room; don't mind the cultist messages scrawled in the walls. And here we arrrrrrRRRROH MY GOD A BEAR! IT'S EATING ME! IT'S EATING ME ALIVE!
A new Deus has dawned, a day of augmented cyber soldiers and gruff, goateed blokes stabbing each other with rulers. Yep, there's a brand new Deus Ex game on the way. It's called Mankind Divided, and it's great. Well, probably. It certainly looks good. The last game in this illustrious series, 2010's Human Revolution garnered plenty of praise for its inventive gameplay and amusing array of gadgets. These so-called 'augmentations' allowed users to tackle their objectives in almost any manner they saw fit - with the obvious exception of those damnable boss battles.
Still, these 'augs' were pretty damn great, oftentimes feeling more like traditional superpowers than feasible, albeit highly futuristic technologies. The difference between the two is that one day we may very well see the latter in action. All the toxic goo in the world isn't going to grant you powers, but mad-eyed Mr. Science just might. So, what on earth are we going to do with all of these abilities? Help one another? Hah, this is humanity we're talking about. I'll bet we're going to utilise these sci-fi marvels the same way we use everything else: moronically. Here's just a few examples…
What it's actually for - Handling tense negotiations. The social enhancer allows agents to subtly read and react to their target's non-verbalised intent. Optional pheromone release creates a more suggestible enemy.
How we'd misuse it - Convincing people to buy time-share condos and shady pyramid schemes.
What it's actually for - Cluster bombing an agent's immediate vicinity, thereby preventing them from being overcome.
How we'd misuse it - Massively overreacting to the threat of wasps.
What it's actually for - Reducing minute bodily movement, allowing for a steadier aim when firing a weapon.
How we'd misuse it - Hustling pub patrons out of their hard earned cash.
What it's actually for - Arm-mounted stabbing weapons, capable of eliminating numerous targets quietly.
How we'd misuse it - Pushing ourselves up in bed.
What it's actually for - Lugging around large amounts of mission-vital kit. Improves the strength of cybernetic arm prostheses.
How we'd misuse it - Hording huge quantities of useless tat/ carrying all 20 bags of shopping in at the same time (without inadvertently amputating your fingers).
What it's actually for - Keeping track of troublesome guards/ pinpointing a particular target. Ties in to cranial and visual enhancements.
How we'd misuse it - Obsessively stalking your ex/ crying deeply.
What it's actually for - Temporarily masking an agent's movements. Users are rendered effectively invisible.
How we'd misuse it - Pretending to be poltergeists, re-enacting the ending of Ghost.
What it's actually for - Non-audible verbal communications, grants live access to mission handlers, and all without giving away an agent's location.
How we'd misuse it - Gossiping and/or thoroughly badmouthing the person sat next to us without their knowledge.
What it's actually for - Displays the enemy's forecast of an agent's last known position.
How we'd misuse it - Keeping track of our house keys and/or wallet.
What it's actually for - Prevents injury from falling/ heals other wounds.
How we'd misuse it - Repeatedly throwing ourselves down the nearest staircase, for kicks.
What it's actually for - Spotting mission-specific resources and/or enemies, allowing an agent to effectively see through obstacles.
How we'd misuse it - Filthy voyeuristic escapades. Not me though...
What it's actually for - Shifting heavy objects/ creating impromptu barricades.
How we'd misuse it - Hurling loved ones into the deep end of a swimming pool.
What it's actually for - Creating unconventional entry points, allowing the agent to outfox an entrenched opponent.
How we'd misuse it - Knocking down derelict houses/ accidentally destroying listed buildings. Generally costing the local council a fortune.
'Different strokes for different folks'. 'To each their own'. 'You're just mental and my opinion is definitely better'. One of these three statements doesn't quite belong, and here's a hint: it's the exact same one that gamers most love to utter. We really are a surly, self-important bunch, at least we can be, provided players believe strongly enough in their own video gaming verdicts. One player's 'massive pile of slag' is to another 'the sweetest culmination of a thousand euphoric truths'. Defy a Zelda devotee at your peril. Defend a critically-panned cult hit at your own personal risk. It certainly doesn't take much for the long knives to come out when a fan's deepest convictions are questioned.
So then, what kind of games are we talking about? Which titles produce the most volatile of forum fracas, the most bile spewing of debates? Just what are the most polarising, the most massively divisive games of all time? Click that there page turner and find out.
Supporters see - An interactive Twin Peaks, complete with compelling, if altogether nonsensical, cast and an ambitious open-world design. Atmospheric, richly layered and boasting a self-effacing, humorous charm, Access Games' epic remains the veritable grand wizard of cult hits. In choosing to criticise its lacklustre mechanics, detractors only emphasize their own skewed perspectives - this is an experience so much more than the sum of its parts.
Detractors see - An insufferably tacky and horrendously realised title that lacks even the basic semblance of playability. Controls are atrocious, the visuals are worse, and the game's much-touted storyline reads like a teenager's pained attempts at eccentric edginess. Fans of the narrative forgive far too much, lauding its story while forgetting about every other element that makes up a game - a bit like persevering with a broken laptop because you find the particular tint of the blue screen of death to be soothing.
Let's settle it -Twin Peaks marathon. First one to question the nature of reality loses.
Supporters see - Endlessly creative, visually engrossing and buoyed by the same brand of gentle, enjoyable gameplay as its famous forebears, Wind Waker succeeds on almost every level imaginable. Its story is more absorbing, its content more diverse and its challenges more numerous and more finely honed than ever before. TWW represents the absolute perfection of an already magnificent formula. How sad that some players cannot overcome their graphical bias.
Detractors see - A needless reinvention of a time-honoured visual tradition. Just imagine the uproar had TES: Skyrim switched to cutesy characters, or Metal Gear Solid gone kawaii crazy. Not only that, but the game employs numerous unadorned fetch quests, simplistic 'shopping list adventures' that themselves make use of the game's ultra bland sailing mechanics. Majora's Mask hinted at bold new moves, Wind Waker just repaints old Ocarina and calls it a day.
Let's settle it - Wooden sailboat endurance race. First one not to drown is crowned champion.
Supporters see - A novel concept tied to a challenging narrative. Gone Home represents the future of video game storytelling, weaving a multi-faceted and emotionally charged tale of everyday familial intrigue. Though seemingly simplistic at the outset, Gone Home's sparse environment actually belies a far deeper tale, one that is both horror and not-horror, mysterious and at the same time oddly humdrum. It's a tale that relies almost entirely upon the player's own fragmented perspective for effect, prompting our imaginations to do much of the heavy lifting. We're the ones who make it horror, or thriller or murder mystery. In that, Gone Home represents a brand new breed of interactive storytelling.
Detractors see - An utterly pretentious 'statement piece' lacking in any rewarding gameplay mechanics or even basic value ($20 at release). As an adventure game it lacks challenging tasks and/or puzzle elements. As a prospective horror title it foregoes any actual menace. As a thriller, it lacks thrills and as a detective title it leaves players with an utterly underwhelming conclusion. As socially and even narratively progressive as it may be, Gone Home comes off as more of a damp squib than a revelatory adventure.
Let's settle it - Toss a coin. Then inspect said coin repeatedly hoping for some sort of clue. Go bonkers.
Supporters see - A satisfyingly brutal, intensely challenging and richly detailed 'old school RPG' for the modern age,one that foregoes the hand-holding and exposition-heavy treatment of its contemporaries for a far more difficult, albeit infinitely more rewarding payoff. Dark Souls is a game that crushes you down completely, to rebuild you in its own terrifying image, and proving only as cruel as it needs to be in order to achieve that end. Souls institutes a veritable trial by fire, the completion of which yields vast new worlds of immersion, excitement and elation. This is real adventure, one in which triumphs are only ever as rewarding as its tasks are testing.
Detractors see - Needlessly punitive, consistently frustrating and altogether unfair, Dark Souls brings the coin-guzzling difficulty of old school arcade machines direct to your living room. Particularly galling are the game's many boss monsters - overpowered behemoths that utterly annihilate the player several times over before their attack patterns can be memorized. Even then, encounters often feel cheap. So, if your idea of fun is banging your head into a brick wall over and over again until finally it cracks (or you do) then this is the game for you.
Let's settle it - Slip 'n' Slide water torture contest.
Supporters see - A more visceral and immediate take on the Dragon Age formula, Dragon Age 2 ditches its predecessor's expansive settings and associated bloat for a more driven and linear adventure. That's not to say it's a short game however, as Hawke's tale still offers up a generous 40 to 60 hour run time. Combat is smoother, its mechanics more streamlined, and the game's storytelling far less grandiose or liable to meander. Naysayers may balk at the loss of needlessly obtuse menus and character creation suites, but that's no reason to slam this bloody good title.
Detractors see - A corporate-ordered sequel bereft of any new ideas, desperately pandering to the mainstream action fan. What had seemed like an amazing franchise in the making was shortly thereafter been sullied, transformed into something far more flashy, yet much less substantial. Gone are the tactical flourishes and strategic micro management of old, not to mention a narrative of any actual significance, replaced instead by a brainless brand of combat and a largely inconsequential plot.
Let's settle it - Poor quality LARP-level sword fight.
Supporters see -The Sopranos of the video game landscape. GTA 4 added a whole new level of depth, maturity and gravitas to the tried and true sandbox formula, marrying meaningful character design to realistic and vivacious environments. Liberty City is more than just a setting, it's a character, one that horrifies and entices in equal measure. Its inhabitants are every bit as complex and emotive as their city, displaying their own particular quirks, desires and demands. Added to that is a much improved combat system and a chaotic multiplayer suite. Cynics may bemoan the loss of the series' juvenile humour, but it's a worthwhile trade-off nonetheless. Every franchise has to grow up sometime.
Detractors see - A pompous, self-important and downright gloomy addition to a franchise formerly known for its sense of outlandish, satirical fun. GTA IV mistakes sullen grit for cinematic greatness, opting for chore-like realism to the detriment of the player's engagement. Cars handle like bricks, shooting is sub-par, and inter-character relationships feel forced and occasionally aggravating. Realism for the sake of realism - even the boring bits.
Let's settle it - Invitation contest. Both sides send incessant, highly annoying invitations to one another. First one to crack loses.
Supporters see - A rollicking good action franchise boasting outlandish setpieces aplenty. Blessed with grade-A production values, top quality multiplayer modes and some of the slickest shooting mechanics this side of a Halo ring, CoD is more than just some angry tween's playpen - it's a wildly entertaining slice of popcorn cinema served straight to your console. Sadly, COD's ever-present status and mammoth sales figures have turned it into a perfect target for the contrarian 'too cool to be popular' crowd. They claim the game never changes, when in fact it's really undergone all manner of tweaks and adjustments, the kind they'd probably notice if only they weren't too busy decrying the title to actually play it.
Detractors see - Unambitious, unrefined and iterated half to death, CoD represents the game of choice for the hulking 'dudebro' masses, the majority of whom couldn't spot a quality narrative if it knocked off their indoor shades before punching them square in the face. CoD is everything that's wrong with the modern gaming scene, from the scores of irate clichés screaming down their microphones, to the publisher's now seasonal exploitation of fans.
Let's settle it -Man with the Golden Gun-style duel to the death.
Supporters see - A darker, more mature interpretation of the classic Zelda mythos. Despite ringing the changes, Majora's Mask proves to be every bit as brilliant as its illustrious predecessor, buoyed up by an equally classic soundtrack, superior cast of characters, and a richer, more varied brand of gameplay. This may be a different breed of Zelda, but it's easily on par with the triumphs of Link's Awakening, Ocarina and co.
Detractors see - 'Errand Boy: The Video Game'. Majora's Mask opted to scuttle the series' dungeon-led formula in favour of an ongoing series of fetch quests and mini-games. It's also far more linear than previous entries, and a major step back from the greater accessibility and openness present in Ocarina.
Let's settle it - Run around a costume shop adopting the characteristics of every new mask worn. First to be thrown from the premises Jazzy Jeff-style is declared the winner.
Supporters see - An exquisitely crafted, sharply streamlined, and altogether more focused addition to the recent Final Fantasy canon. It also bears mentioning that 13 looks absolutely stunning, sounds fabulous, and features a deep and malleable battle system. It's linear, yes, but who needs more tiresome fetch quests or perfunctory exploration - this is a franchise about battles, character and otherworldly atmosphere. FFX13 nails all three.
Detractors see - A sizeable step back for what was once a progressive and keenly ambitious franchise. Only the bare essentials remain. Combat, now far shallower and less thoughtful. Characters, largely clichéd and unlikeable. A storyline bereft of any real scope or weight. Gone are the vibrant, explorable cityscapes, the unique and talkative NPCs, and any kind of challenge in combat. FFXIII is little more than one pretty corridor after the next, an on-rails RPG for the brainless masses.
Let's settle it - JRPG hair-teasing contest. First contestant to pass out from all of the hairspray fumes is declared the loser.
Supporters see - An epic, oftentimes moving send-off to the illustrious Solid Snake. Metal Gear Solid 4 includes everything that made the franchise so special to begin with. and then adds a whole heap more. Gameplay is as tight and nuanced as ever, allowing players to sneak or shoot past every obstacle, while the game's central storyline justifies its lengthy runtime through top quality direction and performances. Sadly, detractors just don't have the patience for this kind of complex experience.
Detractors see - An overwrought, overlong and underwhelming adventure plagued by outdated mechanics and godawful writing. Movement is wooden and unintuitive throughout, characters are tepid and unlikeable, and those damnable cut scenes go on for far, far too long. MGS has always fancied itself a bit of a blockbuster, but 8 hours of pained, non-interactive exposition is just way too much.
Let's settle it - SM sneak-athon. Both parties don tight rubber suits and crawl around their local towns. First to be arrested loses.
Supporters see - A bold new step for the Metroid series, Other M combines beautiful graphics, compelling gameplay and a much more ambitious style of narrative to create one of the Wii's most under-appreciated gems. In keeping with the series' 2D roots, Samus returns to her agile best here, forsaking the 'tank-like' movement of the Prime titles and introducing a unique and highly responsive control scheme.
Detractors see - A short, overly linear and occasionally uncontrollable mess that disregards much of the franchise's tradition. Featuring a bevy of unskippable, overlong cut scenes, starring a newly obedient Samus, Other M consistently interjects lame, cookie cutter plot beats into a franchise that has little-to-no need of them. Give us back our strong leading lady.
Let's settle it - Both parties confront MMA champion Ronda Rousey with classic 1920's sexism. First to die loses.
Supporters see - The precision gunplay of Halo meets the endless possibilities of the MMO, bonding quality levelling elements to a rewarding and consistently-varied shooter. Hype has a way of hardening some people's perspectives, but don’t be fooled, this is a highly competent and gratifying experience that’s sure to endure and expand over the years to come.
Detractors see - An unfinished, largely generic FPS title masquerading as an online game-changer. Quests are uninspired, the setting pretty but lifeless, and the storyline all but non-existent. Go here, kill this, defend that - rinse, repeat and regret. Even the mighty Peter Dinklage can't summon up any enthusiasm for this paint-by-numbers actioner.
Let's settle it - Xbox live endurance test featuring Clockwork Orange-style apparatus. First one to devolve into casual racism and juvenile mic tirades loses.
Supporters see - An emotional roller coaster unlike any other game before it. Beautifully realised, both in terms of its graphical fidelity and authentically mo-capped performances, Two Souls ably continues Quantic Dream's stunning run of unique and challenging titles. This is the 'interactive narrative' writ large, delicately measured and consistently thoughtful throughout - certainly not one for any knuckle-dragging action fans.
Detractors see - A barely interactive 8-hour movie that scarcely deserves consideration as a game. Beyond's narrative aims for high art and misses by some margin, its runtime racked by numerous instances of dreary tedium, and all despite being almost completely linear in nature. Gameplay where it does exist proves to be just as tiresome, clunky and unfocused, with the game more than happy to press on without you, essentially relegating the player to the role of inconsequential 'page-turner'.
Let's settle it - Spot the difference contest featuring Ellen Page and Ashley Johnson's in-game avatars.
Supporters see - An aesthetically sumptuous title that isn't afraid to take established RPG mechanics in brave new directions. Final Fantasy 8 is consistently challenging, its battle systems deep and adaptable and its cast of characters more richly layered and believable than ever before. Purists may loathe the lack of traditional aeon and mana use, but in their place stands a far more customisable, if initially tricky system.
Detractors see - A needlessly fiddly experience that disregards much of what worked before in favour of change for the sake of change. The central junction system is overthought and underdeveloped, as are the levelling, SeeD, 'draw' and GF mechanics. One malfunctioning element would be bad enough, but all of them? As for the game's storyline, that too quickly descends into gibbering farce, filled with criss-crossing plot holes and poorly considered motivations? It's different, but not in a good way.
Let's settle it - See Final Fantasy 13
Supporters see - One of Ninty's teresting experiments, Zelda 2 completely defied expectations, introducing a slew of new and permanent additions to the ongoing Zelda franchise. It may be the relative black sheep of the saga, but that doesn't make it any less of a classic.
Detractors see - An awkward and unnecessary shift away from the first game's iconic framework. There's a reason later games in the franchise would better reflect the original. There are hundreds of identikit side-scrollers out there, but only one Zelda.
This weekend, Mad Max mania comes to a head. - won't be out until this September.
But don't worry - there are plenty of games out there to help you satisfy those cravings for all things anarchic and high-octane. If you didn't know, the Mad Max films have , and the series' unique atmosphere has had a sizable influence in the realm of gaming. While you wait to play as the real Max Rockatansky, you ought to check out these titles inspired by George Miller's movies in a variety of ways. Spoiler: some of them don't even involve cars.
This 2011 shooter-racer hybrid from id software is currently the closest thing we have to a game set in the Mad Max universe (ignoring the best-left-forgotten NES game). Besides all the futuristic bits about cryogenic freezing and nanites, Rage's depiction of the desert wasteland that was once Earth feels just like the gritty, unrelenting world of the films. Everywhere you look, there's another homage: muscle cars and dune buggies covered in scrap metal and animal bones, maniacal bandits who terrorize (and sometimes feed on) other survivors, even a deadly metal boomerang that can lop off body parts just like in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Drive angry.
If not for the cel-shaded aesthetic, the Borderlands franchise would have the edge over Rage as the go-to video game simulacrum of Mad Max. The first two games feature more traditional sun-baked badlands, populated primarily by masked Psychos who would fit right in with those Mad Max savages. But I'm going to give the edge to , given how most of the denizens of Pandora's moon speak with an Australian accent, just like the casts of the first two Mad Max films. No matter which game you choose, hopping into an Outrunner or Moon Buggy with a co-op buddy and mowing down bandits is always a rip-roarin' good time.
Were it not for the Mad Max films, gaming's car combat genre probably wouldn't even exist. And while there are a decent number of vehicular deathmatches to choose from, like the Vigilante 8 games or Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012, I consider Twisted Metal: Black to be the pinnacle of the genre. The dark, horrific atmosphere in Black is just as gritty, brutal, and dystopian as Mad Max's world, complete with poor sods chained to cars (much like Lord Humungus' ride in The Road Warrior). Combatants all have a reckless disregard for the value of human life, and the automotive mayhem maintains adrenaline-pumping speed throughout each match. If you've got a PS3, I highly recommend you snag this PS2 Classic ASAP.
The original Mad Max is all about the roaring choppers, and no series does motorcycle combat as well as Road Rash. Even though being the first one to cross the finish line is your primary goal, the action really revolves around punching, kicking, or clobbering your competitors with blunt objects as you all weave in and out of traffic. If you don't feel like dusting off your PS1, N64, or (god forbid) 3DO to play the classic versions, you'll definitely want to check out , a spiritual successor to Rash on Steam Early Access.
Pick any Fallout, really - all of them perfectly capture the feeling of wandering alone through a post-apocalyptic desert, scavenging and killing to survive. You won't do a whole lot of driving (unless you fix up a Corvega in Fallout 2), but the tradeoff is Dogmeat, a loyal canine companion just like the one at Max's side in The Road Warrior. Body armor comes in the form of whatever you can find and safely strap to your body, and chems will keep you fighting at a long-term, irradiated price. If only you could sustain yourself on cans of Dinki-Di dog food.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is a bit of a weird one, what with the chainmail-clad Tina Turner and tribes of disheveled, primitive kids. But one of the most memorable bits is the subplot with Master Blaster, the symbiotic pairing of a small, arrogant man (Master) riding a hulking, metal-masked brute (Blaster) who together keep the lights on in Bartertown. This design was taken wholesale for 's Ferra and Torr, with the slight adjustment of a little woman as the piggy-backer instead of a man. Granted, Ferra is much more suited for battle than Master, as she'll happily bum-rush opponents with her razor-sharp claws or literally bore her way through their chest cavity like a human cannonball.
If you can't fathom the thought of jumping from the roof of one speeding car onto another, you probably won't last too long in the Mad Max universe. But there's a safe way to train up before the inevitable apocalypse: play the Pursuit Force series, a pair of obscure PSP games about police officers who leap between moving vehicles with reckless abandon. These games are action-packed and gloriously campy, with your character pulling up alongside enemy vehicles and diving into the driver's seat like it's no big deal. Though the superior sequel Extreme Justice is sadly locked to the PSP, the original game is available as a download for PS Vita - just be ready for some merciless difficulty spikes.
Bullets are pretty hard to come by in the post-apocalypse, so Mad Max characters typically rely on more traditional means for deadly projectiles: metal bolts and arrows. Most road warriors fire their volleys with compound bows, but some elite baddies make use of miniature crossbows - perfect for puncturing flesh and tires alike with one hand while you steer with the other. If you're looking to simulate the act of dealing ranged death with adorably small ballistics, Dishonored has the best handheld bows in gaming (or wrist-mounted, if you're playing the Daud DLC).
Lastly, let's pour out a little gasoline for the fallen Auto Assault, which was basically the Mad Max MMO before it was shut down in 2007. Instead of killing boars and rats, all the battles took place between tricked-out vehicles, with combat that let you aim your guns and hit your nitro boosts in real time. Sadly, much like modern civilization in the Mad Max movies, Auto Assault will only live on in our memories. Whichever of these aforementioned games you choose - or others, like the spectacular wrecks of Burnout, or the car-riding possibilities of Just Cause, perhaps - we'll get through the wait for the forthcoming open-world Mad Max game together.
Our cover story this month is Call Of Duty: Black Ops III – we’ve played it on PS4 and dedicated ten hefty pages to our impressions; going deeper than anyone else into what makes the latest COD tick as we provide a hi-tech guide to those new bio-augmentations. We also have a full rundown on COD’s entire PlayStation history, going all the way back to Finest Hour on PS2. And if that wasn’t enough, we wrap things up by interviewing Treyarch’s always-engaging studio head, Mark Lamia.
In our other megaton feature this month, you’ll find 12 incredibly hot pages of Star Wars Battlefront. It’s one of the most gorgeous pieces to have featured in the mag for quite some time, as we travel to the Star Wars Celebration and go big on DICE’s upcoming far, far away online blaster. Let us bring you up to speed (-er bike) on iconic Endor scraps and more.
Just before it went on to smash its Kickstarter targets by raising £1m in 24 hours, we caught up with Playtonic Games for chat about its ambitious 3D platformer, Yookla-Laylee. With exclusive screens and info, we take you into a colourful world of magical books and misbehaving bats in a game that looks to capture the magic of Rare’s golden age of platformers.
This has to be one of the coolest free gifts we’ve ever given away with Official PlayStation Magazine. Pick up the paper version of the new issue and you’ll get an awesome Metal Gear Solid V decal – with a selection of different faceplate options – to cover your PS4 in sneaky glory. Sony’s ridged baby may be a looker on its own, but plastering Venom Snake onto your killer console gives it added stealthy sheen.
Who doesn't love a few cheeky drinks after a long day? Getting the rounds in at your favourite public house is a time-honoured tradition that extends from the genteel British country Inn to the puke-stained cobbles outside of a small city Weatherspoons on a Tuesday night.
Even video games tip their collective hat to all the dive bars of the world. So here's to propping up the bar and doing shots at nine of PlayStation’s booziest resorts...
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The augmented patrons of The Hive certainly know Adam Jensen’s name. Although seeing as he spends most
of his time in the boozy club hacking into precious security terminals, they’re probably not that glad he came. Wannabe bar flies should also be wary of local crime lords posing as scarred publicans.
My couzeen, we go drinking now? Well, if you insist, Roman. Sure, you can get paralytic in a number of Liberty City watering holes, but none give you that quaint Cheers touch like Comrades. This Hove Beach hangout is frequented by Russian crooks who never bring
a designated driver.
There’s nothing like taking time out from touring Tokyo to pay some beautiful women to converse with you in a hostess bar. Not only do Yakuza’s establishments offer real-life brands of booze, but you can even bang out a few drunken songs at karaoke. Just remember to bring Chihiro something pretty.
Aspiring alcoholics are spoiled beyond their wildest incontinence in Dunwall. The Hound Pits pub always offers a friendly welcome (unless you’re a Skeletor-looking hitman). For the truly discerning drunk, though, the distillery is hard to top, even if it is more concerned with acting as mob headquarters than producing Scotch.
Columbia’s Graveyard Shift public house really will drive you to drink. The most depressing bar since the East End’s Queen Victoria briefly ran out of Pints Of Non Specific, but we’d rather down shots of lighter fluid with the Songbird than spend any night of the week in this dreary Shantytown establishment.
When we’re being pursued by a T-Virus Terminator, stopping to wet our whistle doesn’t feature too high on our priorities list. Still, if you absolutely must have a Raccoon City eye-opener, may we suggest you call at Bar Black Jack? All the staff have been eaten, so service is understandably terrible. On the plus side, it does have a pinball machine.
Rockstar’s depressed ex-detective gargles alcohol like Popeye scarfs spinach. Trouble is, rather than sprout Hulk Hogan-shaming guns, he merely suffers apocalyptic hangovers that see him drop his guard in Sao Paulo nightclubs and end with his employer’s missus getting kidnapped. Stupid Kong whiskey.
Ah, the old timey Western saloon. Purveyor of gut rot, birthplace of the humble barroom brawl and home of those delightful, irresistible swinging doors. Marston certainly isn’t adverse to the odd whiskey or eight, and Red Dead rewards trophy hunters for starting a fight in every hooch house.
Jason Brody’s adventure starts as it means to go on: by getting you blutered on the beach before a demented pirate shoves you into a trippy prison run. Whether it’s sipping spirits on Rook Islands or suffering a hallucination where you’re buying chasers in a club, Far Cry loves the sauce. Though getting nibbled on by a tiger mid-hangover is a drag.
The Fallout series has never been shy about letting its developers' personalities shine through - for such a grim set-up, they're remarkably humorous games, packed with winks, nods and irradiated salutes to the people and media that informed their creation.
With a , now's as good a time as any to look back on the gnomes, grannies and grenades that might have slipped your notice in the previous console outings.
Burnout’s Crash Mode replays were the original inspiration behind the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) Just substitute severed limbs for crumpled fenders - you get it.
The sound you hear played upon entering V.A.T.S. is the combat turn sound from Fallout 1. It used to help signal the end of a fight - and, let's face it, entering V.A.T.S. usually does too.
Some secrets extend to even the wallpapers put out by Bethesda to market New Vegas – notably one of a young lady looking coquettish in a Vault 34 jumpsuit. “It’s actually the leader of the Boomers faction, Pearl, as a young woman,” says Lead designer J.E. Sawyer. “Which is why her name appears next to the picture on the side of the Boomers’ B-29 in the background of their end slide.”
Fallout 3 began development in 2004 and was announced before Oblivion – which came out 2 years earlier - was even revealed. Perhaps we can hope for the same with Elder Scrolls VI?
In the world of Fallout, the nuclear bombs fell on 23 October. Bethesda wanted to make the release date of Fallout 3 coincide with this. It ended up releasing a week later in North America.
The names on New Vegas’ Boulder City memorial are not, as is widely thought, those of developers. They’re fictional, but have links to past Fallout games. Roger Westin III is, for example, the grandson of an NCR character in Fallout 2.
Artist Grant Struthers prototyped the V.A.T.S. camera system by filming his Incredibles action figures fighting. Imagine looking at Dash and thinking about his legs falling off - we've never done that. Nope. Never. Nuh-uh.
The very first piece of Fallout 3 art was created by lead artist Istvan Pely in 2004. It was the power armour image that eventually became the game’s cover.
Bethesda Softworks was actually only based in Bethesda, Maryland for a short time. Its offices are now located in Rockville, Maryland.
Actress Courtney Cox (i.e. Monica from Friends) worked at Bethesda briefly in the 1980s. She later hosted the Fallout 3 launch party.
In another Friends connection, Matthew ‘Chandler’ Perry became such a vocal fan of Fallout 3 that he was asked to voice the character of Benny in New Vegas.
Monty Python references abound in New Vegas’ Wasteland – but only if you have the Wild Wasteland perk. For instance, in Cottonwood Cove a building is graffitied ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’ in reference to Life of Brian, and Holy Hand Grenades can be found in a Camp Searchlight cellar. And that’s not all…
Our favourite Wacky Wasteland moment is another Monty Python nod. Leave Cerulean Robotics and you’ll get assaulted by Hell’s Grannies – a gang from sketch-film And Now For Something Completely Different. “I liked them because there was actually some foreshadowing for it,” explains Sawyer.
The bell that sounds after shooting the Fat Man Nuclear Catapult is the lunchroom bell at the Bethesda offices.
The Fat Man is based on an actual nuke launcher, the M-388 Davy Crockett Tactical Nuclear Recoilless Rifle, which was made in the 1950s.
The cars in Fallout 3 are based on the Ford Nucleon, a concept car built to run on a nuclear generator in the 1950s.
Obsidian knows its beer. In a New Vegas location called Brewer’s Beer Bootlegging there’s an advert for a tipple called ‘Strategic Nuclear Moose’ in reference to mind-annihilating Scottish brew, ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin’.
The Downtown D.C. area in Fallout 3 was originally twice as big, but the team decided it was too large and confusing and cut half the space out. Conversely, the Wasteland area eventually doubled.
The voice of the baby you play at the start of Fallout 3 is game director Todd Howard’s son Jake on his 1st birthday.
The voice of Timmy Neusbaum, who you have to make cry in Fallout 3’s Tranquility Lane, is the voice of Cullen Pagliarulo. He’s the son of lead designer Emil Pagliarulo.
Reckon you vaguely recognise the voice of the Robobrains? That’s none other than Wil Wheaton – formerly irritating child prodigy Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation and now jack-of-all-nerd-trades.
Mr. Handy and Harold are both voiced by Stephen Russell, who also plays Garrett in the Thief series of games.
At one point, Fallout 3 featured a surgery minigame, where you had to cauterize your own wounds while watching your character scream in pain. The team felt it slowed down the game’s pace to just heal your limbs.
Meat of Champions is a secret New Vegas perk that goes uncovered in the strategy guides. “It was requested by senior producer Jason Bergman,” explains Sawyer. “He wanted an additional reward for cannibalising all of the ‘Kings’ of New Vegas.” That means getting the Cannibal perk, then chowing down on Caesar, Mr. House, The King, and President Kimball – after that, you get stat bonuses for every body you eat. Tuck in…
In the original design of the Fallout 3, you were actually able to drive Liberty Prime. You also did battle with a working and floating Rivet City.
If you sneak up behind a Brahmin and activate it, your character will tip it over. Like a bastard.
“We have a unique gnome figurine in New Vegas called the Evil Gnome,” laughs Sawyer. “I asked the artist to model it after our lead world builder, Scott Everts. We like to think of him as an evil gnome, and decided to covertly slip him into the world in disguise.”
In the Hubris Comics’ building in Fallout 3, there is a terminal in the computer games division that contains an actual working text adventure called The Reign of Grelok.
This year marks the 15th birthday of Jet Set/Grind Radio, a game about Olympic-grade rollerbladers who bear their eccentric souls through colorful street art (when they aren't busy grinding across skyscrapers). One of the first titles to incorporate graffiti as a game mechanic, Jet Set's a decade and a half later, when using graffiti as nothing more than a post-apocalyptic flavor enhancer has become a tired trend.
But it's not all bad. While some games have morphed in-game graffiti into little more than a forgettable storytelling shortcut, others have put the power of aerosol to good use. Whether it's giving you tips through crimson-colored etchings or letting you leave your still-wet mark on the game world, these titles show gaming graffiti's true potential. Read on, and see what games have done grandaddy Jet Set proud.
We can't all be Banksy. For every fine artist that graces the mean streets with their aerosol masterpieces, there's 1000 taggers who focus on ten-second spray jobs that are either incomprehensible or pretty damn dull. Most games don't tend to showcase that part of graffiti culture, preferring their nameless citizens to be articulate and ominous in their frantic wall-scribbling. The Last of Us, however, makes a point of including some more everyday graffiti, from messy tagging to deliberate notes that get their message across in the most functional way possible.
While some games create graffiti that tries so hard to be unnerving or atmospheric that it quickly grows stale, mixing it up is a great way to keep the player immersed. By incorporating a mix of tagging, direct messaging, and the more cryptic writings games like to go for, The Last of Us' world feels a lot more real. Plus, it's nice to get a warning about the guy who'll shoot you if you want into his house. Thanks for the heads-up!
Most 'graffiti' written in blood is hard to take seriously. That's especially the case when the message is vague and enigmatic, because you'd think when you're dying of massive blood loss you'd get to the point a lot faster. This once unique shortcut to creepy has been trod so often it's basically a five-lane highway, and now blood-based messaging almost always looks cheap. Almost, because Dead Space gets a special exemption. The first time you see CUT OFF THEIR LIMBS fingerpainted across the wall, it actually looks incredibly disturbing and gives you critical information.
Given that Isaac just witnessed his comrades being brutally murdered by an unknown monster and almost got chewed on himself, you were probably pretty freaked out when you first stumble upon this helpful and sticky message. It plays well into the atmosphere the game is building, and it's such practical advice for how to deal with necromorphs that it doesn't seem out of place. The UI kind of ruins the moment by immediately explaining what them note means, but don't blame the graffiti for that.
While Dishonored does commit some of the standard game-graffiti sins ("Rats are eating our babies" was scary the first time, but less so the ten times after that…), it's not all the same vague declarations of misery that make every post-apocalyptic reality look exactly alike. In addition to giving you information about Dunwall that's more specific than 'here be generic unrest', it's also tailored to Corvo and what in particular would catch his eye.
Specifically, the street art of Dunwall does its greatest service to the Empress, who appears in stenciled form frequently throughout the city where you least expect to find her. Given that she's the North on Corvo's moral compass, the fact that images of her are everywhere makes it feel like you're being carefully watched, and gets you wondering (usually uncomfortably) if you're doing the right thing.
Most games stick exclusively to graffiti as a controlled, atmospheric component, which is kind of ironic when you think about it. Infamous apparently decided it's had enough of the man's version of graffiti, and decided to put the spray can in your hands. Through a series of mini-games that require you to turn your controller on its side and shake it around (and you'll do it regardless of looking dumb because it's fun as heck), you choose between various 'good' and 'bad' stencil designs that you can paint across Seattle. You'll also get good or evil karma depending on if you paint something uniting or inflaming, so maybe stick to giant rubber ducks if you want to stay benevolent.
Second Son isn't the first game to make graffiti an interactive experience, but it adds an extra layer of player agency by letting you choose what kind of tone you want to give the work and how you want it to affect the world. Do you promote unity and peace, or rebellion? That's up to you, but whatever you choose, it's gonna look sick.
In the Aperture Science Labs, where everything at first seems so purposefully and perfectly arranged, it's the small inconsistencies that make you realize something's amiss. Like, say, a wall panel that's propped open a little too far. Get close enough to crawl inside, and the wall of manic scribbling that greets you removes any misguided feelings of safety you might have had.
While it might seem passé now that THE CAKE IS A LIE memes have driven us all up the wall, Portal's graffiti is cleverly designed to make sure you feel truly unsafe in Aperture while still making basically zero sense. Not only is some person hiding in the walls so he can write this stuff, but turning familiar imagery into something sinister (like a security cameras with the words SHE'S WATCHING YOU scribbled next to it in bright red) while not giving you anything concrete immediately sets you on edge. Good thing too, since that sets you up for a close call later.
Silent Hill knows that less is more, especially when it comes to street visibility and safe places to hide. The series is known for using a visual or trick only once, making the most of the one moment when it would be scary and then not falling back on it again. But enough about that one damn bathroom jump scare (*shivers*), because Silent Hill 2 does something similar with graffiti. There are only two notable pieces in the whole game, but they're used to such chilling effect that I remember them to this day. And not by choice.
The two pieces are drastically different - one is nonchalant gibberish about a missing hole in the wall, while the other is a direct threat to the state of James' semi-rotten soul - but they work together to scare the health drink right out of you. The nonsensical but eerie nature of the first primes you for fight, and, so you're even more shaken when you see the note telling James to kill himself. In one splashing of gorey street vandalism the game puts you on edge, tells you that someone wants you dead, and leaves you wondering why James and his late wife Mary wouldn't show up in the same place afterward. And isn't that a doozy of a question.
Few games like to take the 'metro station bathroom stall' route with their graffiti, but sometimes that's just the most natural, embarrassingly human way to go. The safehouses in Left 4 Dead are littered with graffiti from survivors who've gone before, with messages varying from poetic notes to helpful information to mocking the guy who wrote the poem because oh wow, that was terrible. Special ridicule is reserved for the kind of eerie messages common to other games, and you can expect a note like "We are the real monsters" to be annotated with "You are the real moron" in response.
In addition to being realistic - you know you've seen some bit of graffitied wisdom with PS I'm fat scribbled below it - it also does the exactly opposite of most game wall writing by making the world feel less empty. While you only have your wits and your three friends of varying combat skill to save you from the oncoming horde, seeing that other people have made it to the safehouses and brought their juvenile humor with them creates a weird sense of hope. Maybe misplaced, but let's try to be optimistic.
The Marvel Universe is dead! There is only Secret Wars. This is Marvel’s biggest comic book event in years. To put the premise as concisely as possible, the classic Marvel Universe is colliding with the newer Ultimate Universe, and both of them will be gone. For those coming into Secret Wars fresh, the Marvel Universe is the one created by Stan Lee and artists like Jack Kirby - the foundation of . The Ultimate Universe was created in 2000, to bring in new readers and debut revamped versions of popular characters, most notably Ultimate Spider-Man.
What happens in Secret Wars will apparently lay the foundation of the Marvel Universe for years to come. I think it’s a great jumping-on point for new readers because it’s a fresh start - a huge unknown with the potential to rewrite everything. Here are ten Secret Wars books that will be essential reading as this huge event kicks off.
Secret Wars is what happens when these two fictional entities collide, leaving behind a reality unlike either of them, known as Battleworld. 33 of Marvel’s most popular comics, like Amazing Spider-Man and Avengers, will end. So what’s left?
Battleworld is a landscape made of different parts of Marvel’s history, and the setting of Secret Wars. Marvel has even of it. Different storylines from Marvel’s past literally occupy parts of this world; they describe it as a ‘patchwork planet’. Think of it like this: the 2006 comic book story, Civil War, literally occupies one nation in this immense world, co-existing with many others. It’s Marvel’s history built into one mighty realm. During Secret Wars, Marvel will tell the stories of Battleworld in a host of new comic book series, which launch across the next three months.
Ready to get started with the comics? Click on, brave traveller...
First issue release date: May 6
You’ll need to read the main book to keep track of what’s going on, of course. This is a story that writer Jonathan Hickman has been building towards ever since he started writing both and New Avengers in 2012. Secret Wars has been in the planning stages for that long; it’s anything but an improvised event.
In the first issue, out now, we see the heroes of the Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe having a climactic showdown, bringing both of their universes to an end. Then, in the second issue, we’ll get a first proper look at the Battleworld, which sets the stage of every book launching during the event and changes the course of the Marvel universe forever.
First issue release date: May 27
The superheroes are long gone, but a much older Wolverine lives on in the Wastelands, a kind of messed-up Marvel future where villains rule. Think Unforgiven with Wolverine, because that’s basically what Old Man Logan is - a one-last-job vision of the X-Man, originally conceived for the story of the same name back in 2008 (one of the best Marvel has ever published).
Don’t worry if you’ve never read it. This sequel stands alone, and sees Wolverine attempting to bring order to this chaotic world - which is now further complicated by the events of Secret Wars, and the creation of Battleworld. Old Man Logan is intriguing because in the ‘regular’ Marvel Universe, Wolverine died last year. Is this Marvel’s way of bringing him back, via the coolest iteration of the character ever?
First issue release date: July 7
You might’ve heard the name ‘Civil War’ in recent months, given that it forms the basis of the next Captain America movie, out in 2016, which will feature Cap fighting Iron Man and will force the rest of the heroes to take sides. This Secret Wars book revisits the idea at the centre of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s hugely successful 2006 event book Civil War: Steve Rogers and Tony Stark divided over a matter of superheroes being forced to disclose their identities (Iron Man for, Cap against), but blows it up into a much bigger story.
In Secret Wars, instead of that fight being tidily resolved after a few brawls, this new Civil War reimagines it as a conflict that never ceased. It’s now a six-year war, where Tony Stark is president and Steve Rogers is a general, with the nation broken in two over their different ideologies - it’s taking the concept as far as it can go and sounds like one of the larger-scale Secret Wars spin-offs.
First issue release date: June 3
A few years ago, Marvel made the divisive decision to erase Peter Parker’s long-running relationship with Mary Jane Watson out of continuity. This caused a loud internet upset that’s never quite gone away. Since then, though, Marvel has published some of the best Spider-Man stories I’ve ever read - Spider Island, Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, all of which are worthy of the character.
But some readers never forget, and it finally seems like that’s being addressed. In Renew Your Vows, we get to see Peter Parker not only married to Mary Jane, but with a child, too (in the comics, Peter and MJ had a child that died many years ago). It underlines the extent to which Secret Wars is allowing creators to explore every major storyline in Marvel’s history - and writer Dan Slott has promised that whatever happens here will affect the Spider-Man that emerges from Secret Wars.
First issue release date: May 20
As Secret Wars begins, the old Avengers team is gone. The book and the team no longer exists. A-Force is, for all intents and purposes, the Avengers in Secret Wars, composed of quite an eclectic mix of characters like She-Hulk, X-Men pop star Dazzler, the Inhumans’ Medusa and about a hundred others, judging by the cover. The idea was to create a team of heroes from various backgrounds and see how their personalities and methodologies fit together. At the start of the book, the A-Force will be protecting a small island called Arcadia on the outskirts of Battleworld, that’s seemingly one of the last peaceful bastions of civilisation in this landscape.
A-Force comes from writer G Willow Wilson, who created the acclaimed Ms Marvel book, and Marguerite Bennett, as well as artist Jorge Molina. It’s the first all-female Avengers team, an idea that will hopefully stick around once Secret Wars has ended.
First issue release date: June 10
For me, there’s been no better and more consistent Marvel book from the last few years than Jason Aaron’s Thor. In the Secret Wars series Thors (plural), gods of thunder from various Marvel realities team up to police Battleworld. In the line-up, you’ve got the newest, female Thor from the current Marvel books, Frog Thor, Beta-Ray Bill and my personal favourite: old king Thor, a one-armed, eyepatch-wearing eccentric who rules Asgard in the far future.
Jason Aaron equates Thors to something of a cosmic detective drama, where the group travels across the Battleworld, solving uniquely weird and shocking crimes. Given that various Thors feature prominently on the cover of Secret Wars #2, this will likely be essential reading for those following the main series. Aaron describes it as “basically me doing a cop story, but with hammers instead of guns.” Sold! There’s even going to be a Groot Thor, based on the Guardians of the Galaxy tree creature.
First issue release date: May 20
In 2000, Marvel made the radical and brilliant move of creating a brand new universe, where it could release stories featuring iconic characters without the clutter brought on by decades of continuity. The Ultimate Universe, as it is known, was a big success and titles like Ultimate Spider-Man changed the way all publishers thought about comics appealing to a broad audience.
15 years later and now with its own somewhat complex continuity, the Ultimate Universe is dying alongside its older brother. This is its last gasp, from two of its creators, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. What happens to the majority of its characters, like alternate versions of Captain America, or Thor, is a mystery that this book should reveal - what we do know, however, is that the newest Spider-Man, Miles Morales, will escape his dying universe and survive Secret Wars. He’s one of the stars of the All-New, All-Different Avengers roster that is coming after this event finishes - the existence of which is the only thing we know about Marvel’s post-Secret Wars universe so far.
First issue release date: June 24
In the case of a lot of these Secret Wars books, the appeal is seeing iconic Marvel characters in new, exciting situations. Age of Ultron vs Zombies is a book where I’m sold on the title alone. In this zombie thriller from brilliant veteran writer James Robinson and artist Steve Pugh, there’s a war-zone between Ultron’s part of Battleworld and the world where Marvel’s zombie population roams. Here, a pocket of mankind, including Marvel heroes like The Vision and Wonder Man, are trying to hold off both sets of enemies.
It sort of sounds like a Marvel version of horde mode from Gears of War, and it’ll feature reams of Marvel villains in undead form - the announcement alone showed off flesh-eating variants of Kingpin, Bullseye and Spidey foe Kraven The Hunter. Looks like a lot of fun.
First issue release date: June 17
It’s not just the planet that’s thriving with superpowered activity in Secret Wars. There’s a moon orbiting Battleworld: Knowhere, the giant space head world seen in detail in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie. In Guardians of Knowhere, it’s the grim backdrop to a sci-fi mystery story, where Guardians Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora and Angela protect those who need it in this skeezy locale. Here, they’ll face some form of mysterious new villain, who you’d expect to be a pretty rotten apple if they’re hanging out on Knowhere.
If you enjoyed last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy, this seems like a pretty good place to jump in and see what the characters are up to in comic book form.
First issue release date: May 20
One of my favourite Marvel books of the last few years was the Spidey story Spider-Verse, which threw together every version of Spider-Man ever as they fought against dimension-travelling vampires (I know that sounds ludicrous, but trust me, it was great. Comic books!). In this Secret Wars series, a bunch of the best Spideys reunite for a mostly New York-set story that’ll feature a number of Spidey villains, too, including a version of Norman Osborn that may or may not be evil.
The specifics of this story are shrouded in mystery, but it’s the potential team dynamic of this Spidey line-up that I’m excited about the most: Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy from an alternate universe where Peter Parker died, and a brilliant contemporary reinterpretation of the Spider-Man concept), Spider UK (Spider-Man saying British things), Spider-Man Noir, the Spider-Man of India and Spider-Ham (a pig that is also Spider-Man). If it’s anything like Spider-Verse, it’ll be a fun team-up book that reaffirms why Spider-Man is a pillar of the Marvel Universe.
There are certain things you can expect to see in a new Mortal Kombat game. Yes, there will be extraordinarily gory Fatality finishers and flashy combos that can decimate your health bar. There will be copious amounts of blood and guts flying across the battlefield. But what really matters to players is the roster, with the hopes that it'll deliver a diverse cast of characters that afford many different playstyles.
Good news, then: offers tons of unique fighters, mixing old favorites with fresh faces and giving every character three distinct movesets called variations. If you want to see who made the kut in MKX, then click ahead for the full roster breakdown of everyone who's currently in the game, complete with high-res images.
No longer content with just killing pot-smoking, sexcapade-having teens, Jason Voorhees is bringing his iconic hockey mask and machete to the realm of MKX. He's not the only horror villain to make an appearance in the series (Freddy Krueger holds that honor in MK9), but Jason will be the first to have three variations, all aptly named: Slasher, Relentless, and Unstoppable. You can bet that at least one of his Fatalities will be a direct reference to his methods of onscreen slaughtering.
After having a real rough go of things in MK9, Kung Lao is back in MKX - though saying how might be a bit of a spoiler. All you really need to know is that yes, his hat still has a bladed brim, and yes, Kung Lao loves to throw it at his opponents with impunity. He's one of the best rushdown characters out there, able to zoom in with a dive kick or teleport behind enemies who try to keep him at bay.
Gotcha! *Pow, pow, pow* Gotcha! *Pow, pow, pow* Gotcha! *Pow-pow-you get the idea. Fighting against Jax can be a really demoralizing experience as the man basically has a tool for every situation - from projectiles to that oh-so-catchy Gotcha! grab. There’s no escaping the guy. He can knock you down from the other end of the screen, and then propel himself forward and right into your personal space. After that, well, you know what comes next...
Much like her on-again, off-again husband, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade has undergone quite the transformation in MKX. In addition to locating a tank top, she is a much more well-rounded and fully realized character than in any MK game prior. She’s also an ass-kicking mom who can summon attack drones to harass her opponents from all over the screen. By fighting in conjunction with her drones, there’s nowhere for the opponent to hide.
Take the blinded Neo from the end of The Matrix Revolutions and give him a samurai sword. That's pretty much Kenshi in a nutshell, the sightless telepath who can move things with his mind. Depending on which variation you select, Kenshi's able to send out harmful spirit projections, wield his sword like a telekinetic lightsaber, or summon a scythe-wielding demon for some devastating combos. He's also got some of the most sadistic Fatalities in the game, which really don't match his usual calm-and-collected demeanor.
The blue-clad Edenian princess is back, and she's royally pissed. Using her twin bladed fans, Kitana can slice and dice opponents from afar or up close, and she has dominant control of the air when played correctly. If you're disappointed that Jade isn't back for MKX, don't worry - Kitana's Mournful variations is an homage to her green-clad compatriot, complete with all of Jade's classic staff-wielding, boomerang-chucking moves. The Assassin variation gives Kitana an equally interesting new tactic: the ability to parry attacks.
Scorpion is still a beast in MKX, without being the overwhelming juggernaut he was in the previous Mortal Kombat. Teleporting? Check. Lighting people on fire? Check. Get over here? Double check. All the classic moves are there, but they’re split up between the three variations available to each character. This means it’s a bit tougher to cheese your way through a fight using special moves alone. Trust us, we’ve tried.
Sub-Zero (aka Scrub-Zero, aka Is-that-Steve-Blum) is cruise control for cool when it comes to putting your opponent on ice. This frosty ninja’s arsenal of ice attacks will have the other player shaking in their boots. Using his expert ice sculpting skills, Sub-Zero can whip up a sword or an entire sculpture of himself in mere moments, before breaking those items upside someone’s head. Guess it’s time for them to… chill out.
Kitana's razor-toothed sister/clone/tormenter is a bit more toned down in MKX - which, if you remember her ridiculous bandages-only outfit from MK9, is definitely a good thing. Mileena finally has some lips to cover a few of those pointy mandibles, so it actually makes sense that she'd be able to speak intelligibly. As for her fighting style, her lightning-fast rolls and high-low sai projectiles can kill the opponent before they know what hit 'em.
Kenshi's wise-cracking son is one of four members of the secret Special Forces squad that's central to the story, showing off what this new generation of MK fighters is capable of. Takeda's style blends the Shirai Ryu training he learned from a certain yellow-clad master with arm-mounted whips, making him like the techno-ninja version of Omega Red. Oh, and just FYI: you have to be in the air to activate his X-Ray attack.
The de facto leader of the new-gen super-squad, Cassie is quite clearly the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, given both her attitude and fighting style. She's got all the military training and natural-born leadership inherent to her mother, mixed with the witty (and completely cheesy) one-liners and cockiness of her father. Cassie has even got her own version of Johnny's iconic groin punch, even yelling out "Ding! Dong!" when she drives home a one-two combo to the opponent's crotch.
The descendant of the great Kung Lao, Kung Jin rounds out Cassie's team with his Shaolin monk training and education in the ways of Outworld. He may be cocky, but Kung Jin has the skills to back up all his taunting, wielding a person-sized bow that also doubles as a bone-cracking staff. When he's not firing off arrows to the point that you look like a human pincushion, Kung Jin can get all up in your grill with his dive kick and leg-sweeping bow swings.
Ever since (spoilers) Shao Kahn got zapped by the Elder Gods at the end of MK9, Earthrealm has really been wanting for a megalomaniacal tyrant who could scheme to take it all over. Enter Shinnok, the fallen Elder God who's as sinister as he is pale. Shinnok serves as the main antagonist in MKX's story mode, and you'll get a closer look into how he's essentially the Emperor Palpatine of the Mortal Kombat universe.
Someone just needs to put old Kano out of his misery already. It’s literally all people talk about when they talk about Kano. “Hey guys,” someone will start, “Kano sure is a bad dude, we should totally kill him.” And EVERYONE will agree, but it never happens. Somehow this clown keeps rolling his way through one Mortal Kombat sequel after the next. That's ok, though, because his knife skills, laser eye beams, and physics-defying spin moves are always welcome.
Mortal Kombat veteran Johnny Cage makes a surprising transformation in MKX, from the wise-cracking stuntman of yore to a military commando and concerned father. Don’t get me wrong, he still has that signature Cage wit, but it has been tempered a bit with age. Like a fine wine, albeit one that can throw green fireballs and punch you in the junk. In the ring, Johnny’s simple-yet-aggressive fighting style makes him an ideal pick for new players; just make sure to yell “CAGED!!” after you win.
If you love Mortal Kombat but felt it was missing a Wild West aspect, MKX has the cure for what ails you. Erron Black is an Earthrealm cowboy turned Outworld mercenary, signing up to be part of Kotal Kahn's hit squad. Though he typically relies on his twin revolvers, he can also specialize with a long-range rifle or a devastating sword by way of his variations. He also has some of the most ridiculous combos and unyielding corner pressure you've ever seen, so there's really no safe distance to fight against this gunman.
The king of the high-pitched battle cry, Liu Kang is a fireball-chucking, bicycle-kicking machine. For those who like long, flowing combos straight out of a kung fu choreography montage, then Liu Kang's ample attack strings will be your cup of tea. But he's just as effective at the keep-away game, able to spit out high and low dragon-shaped fireballs until your opponent is simply exasperated. Just don't blame us when they want to beat you down in real life after the match.
Ermac is many, you are but one. You wouldn’t think fighting-by-committee would be very efficient, but the enigmatic Ermac makes it work. With an army of souls comprising his entire being, Ermac excels at lifting opponents into the air and doing horrible things to them. He’s basically putting on a little puppet show, and you’re the star attraction. Definitely a good pick if you just want to humiliate the other player.
Kotal Kahn may be the new emperor of Outworld, but he’s no Shao Kahn. Poor Kotal can barely keep his subordinates in line on a good day. On a bad day, someone makes a play on Kotal’s life, and the big guy has a lot of bad days. Shao Kahn wouldn’t put up with this nonsense. He had a hammer. Kotal has the power of the sun and a grappler/brawler fighting style that’s very technical. If you don’t like micromanaging various stat buffs during a fight, give Kotal a pass.
This scaly ninja is now part of Kotal Kahn's gang, spitting acid and slicing flesh to keep Outworld's riff-raff in check. He's also one of the trickiest fighters in the MKX roster, both to play as and to fight. All three of his variations offer traits that make life difficult for your opponent, be it a constant damaging aura, the ability to go completely invisible, or the power to slow down time in a manner similar to The Flash in Injustice.
Ferra and Torr seems like the only two people in the entire Mortal Kombat universe who are having any fun. Maybe Johnny Cage is too, but his ironic detachment makes it hard to tell. This gruesome twosome seem to genuinely enjoy the act of fighting and living in a universe governed by martial arts contests. I guess that’s the magic of friendship. Anyone who will join you to stand up against immortal thunder gods and dead wizards is a friend indeed.
Kotal Kahn's right-hand insect-woman is as deadly as she is creepy. When she's not lashing out with the humongous pincers that spring out of her back, D'Vorah likes to spray bug juices from her wrist-mounted maggot friend or release a swarm of god-knows-what from her chest cavity. And if you look closely, you'll see that her peepers are textured like a bee's compound eyes. For those who like to get underneath their opponent's skin as well as up in their face during combat, D'Vorah's the right pick.
Most people think Raiden is the god of thunder, but in actuality he’s the god of making the most out of a bad situation. Life just doesn’t let up on the poor guy. First it was some vague prophecy from the future, then a bunch of his friends died, and now some guy that looks like Emperor Palpatine is plotting world domination. It just never ends. But Raiden doesn't complain. Instead, he makes those really silly kung-fu noises while torpedoing someone across the screen.
When you’re playing Quan Chi, you’re thinking with portals. His whole fighting style is based on messing with the other player’s head, making him one of the most enjoyable combatants to take into the ring. One minute you’re hypnotizing the other player and making them act like a zombie, the next you’re summoning a hellbat to rain death from above. And the portals! Quan Chi is constantly sticking his hands, swords, and other players into portals and tossing them all over the screen. He may be evil, but you can’t go wrong with this tricksy necromancer.
'Press X to Goro' has become something of a minor meme among MKX players, since this hulking, four-armed Shokan warrior constantly stares at you from the character select screen, as if insisting that you buy him as DLC if you don't already have him as a pre-order reward. But for those who prefer the 'brute force' approach, Goro can really bring the pain with his flurry of punches and screen-crossing leap attack. And that Fatality where he tears off all your limbs at once is just brutal.
Whenever a movie like releases, giving me the chance to watch a bunch of superheroes using their super powers to beat the crap out of bad guys, my imagination gets away from me and I get hyped. I want to get in the action, too. Forget this spectating thing, let me get in there and kick some ass myself. I mean, there probably won't be an army of actual robots attacking the earth soon, and I don't actually have superpowers, but all that action makes me want to jump into a superhero role.
Whether you'd like to wade into battle with Captain America's shield, have the acrobatic ability of Black Widow, or smash everything like the Hulk, it's possible to step into your favorite hero's shoes. But rather than expose yourself to gamma radiation or invent an invincible suit of armor, you can just play video games. The Avengers have shown up in plenty of games, allowing you to play the part of the hero. Want to become your favorite superhero? Well, I've gathered together some of the best representations of each Avengers: Age of Ultron hero in games, right here.
Captain America is the greatest soldier that ever lived. He's got the conscience of a saint, and the strength and skill to take on just about any supervillain you could throw at him. If you really want to get the feeling of what it's like to be Cap from the movies, Captain America: Super Soldier is where it's at.
In Super Soldier, you play out Cap's World War II days as he battles Red Skull and his army of technologically advanced super soldiers. I'm not going to lie, Super Soldier isn't the most polished comic book-based superhero game you'll ever play. However, it does have a strong Batman Arkham series-style combat system at work that makes battling Hydra goons a blast.
If playing the star spangled Captain isn't your jam, there's always the Avengers’ most popular member. Yes, Iron Man has had his own movie tie-in games and he has been in a few side-scrolling beat 'em ups, but none of those games make the billionaire, playboy, philanthropist timidating or fun to play than in the Marvel vs Capcom series. Tony Stark is all about the glitz and the glam, and what better way to embrace that part of the character than in a flashy, fan service-flooded fighting game.
Even if Tony Stark seems to be wearing a bulky, inflexible, robot suit, he's just as quick with face busting punches and kicks as the next super-powered fighter. Iron Man uses a ton of his signature gadgets and attacks in his moveset, from his uni-beam chest blast to shoulder missiles, but the most memorable one is definitely his Hyper move. When activated, Iron Man pulls out a massive proton cannon that fires an energy beam that covers half the screen.
If you want to be a real beefcake superhero, you want to play as Thor. The god of thunder is right up there with the most powerful heroes to ever sign up for the Avengers team. He has a hammer that only he can pick up, the power of lightning at his fingertips, and strength to rival the Hulk. But as with Iron Man, Thor's console movie tie-ins haven't been the most well received. Surprisingly, you can get the most satisfying thunder god action on the Nintendo DS.
Thor: God of Thunder on the DS is a movie tie-in game based on the Marvel movie universe, but it takes place before the events of the first Thor movie. It's a simple brawler with a thoroughly entertaining combat system, memorable boss encounters, and some pretty impressive characters and environment art. The game is a little bit retro and totally kick ass - not unlike Thor himself.
When you want to play a game as the indestructible, incredible Hulk, really all you want to do is jump over buildings and smash everything in sight. After all, "Hulk smash," is what the big green guy does. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction lets you do that, and it's the best thing ever.
Ultimate Destruction is an open-world game that gives you free reign to explore and demolish an entire city. You can leap over tall buildings, throw cars into attacking helicopters, and weaponize ripped appart vehicles as you fight off Hulk Buster robots and the military's tanks. No other Hulk game makes you feel like a gamma ray-powered monster like Ultimate Destruction does. Even though the game came out two console generations ago, this title is still the best Hulk experience you're going to get.
Thanks to Scarlett Johansson's version of Black Widow in the Marvel movies, the Russian spy has become one of the more popular Marvel superheroes. Now we just need a game that stars the Avengers’ most dangerous secret agent. But that hasn't happened yet, and to this day Black Widow has only been a side-character or included on massive rosters like that of the Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games.
If you want to jump in on the action as Black Widow, Lego Marvel Super Heroes does the character justice. The Lego titles give plenty of attention to every character on the hero rosters, and Black Widow is no different. In Lego Marvel Super Heroes, you have all of the neck snapping, acrobatic combat moves, high-tech gadgets, and weapons you see Black Widow use in the movies.
Like Black Widow, Hawkeye hasn't shown up in games as much more than a support or side character. Poor Hawk Guy doesn't always get all of the respect that he deserves. With his pinpoint accuracy, arsenal of you-name-it arrowheads, and quippy personality, it's a wonder why he hasn't had his own game yet. But, if you want to play as Hawkeye, you'll want to check out Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 not only lets you play as Hawkeye, you can level him up to earn skills that allow you to fire electrified, ice, and armor piercing arrows. Plus, there are four costume types to choose from. So, you can dress in outfit ranging from the classic purple costume, to the Ultimates look (which is very close to the movie costume).
If you have the hankering to fight supervillains as the entire team of Avengers, the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series is what you're looking for. You can assemble a group of superheroes from a roster of dozens of upgradeable Marvel characters with alternate costumes - including just about every character mentioned in this article. You even get an attribute bonus if your group consists of all Avenger members.
There are also classic side-scrolling brawlers such as Captain America and the Avengers which is one of the few chances you can actually choose to play as the Vision - a newly-added character in the Marvel movie universe. That's all I have for you this time true believers. Were there any other outstanding Avengers games I missed? Let me know in the comments below.
Royal sons in games have much more variety in their lives than in the real world, where they just sell corned beef and pies in tins. Grocery joke for you there. We’ve seen princes puffed up with noble quests, ousted princes fighting for their birthright, orphans unaware that they’re even princes – even digital doppelgangers of Buckingham Palace bluebloods (as in 8-bit butler sim Flunky). On the whole they have it better than gaming’s princesses, who rarely get to do more than sigh, shrug and be kidnapped. Let’s seek an audience with some of the good eggs and bad lads of royal bearing…
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Probably the best-known RPG hero prince (apologies to FFIV’s spoony bard Edward). Marth of Altea has slain dark dragons in his native Fire Emblem and tussled with angels, Pokémon and the Hero of Time in Smash Bros.
FromSoftware’s first-person PSX series was full of royals on rock-hard quests, such as castaway prince Alex seeking the Moonlight Sword on the grim island of Melanat. He returned in the next game… dead, and haunting a fountain. Nice.
World-class lunatic who made for several great boss battles. Trapped, up to his knees in his own dead guards with arrows sticking out of his back, vengeful Highland Prince Luca kept on coming like a medieval T-800.
The smaller the Prince, the bigger the responsibility. This perky gent was forever rolling new celestial bodies after the King (a deranged cosmic liability) wrecked the old ones. Monarchy: it’s not all glamorous.
He stands at the Tower Of The Moon, looking Southeast to the Downs Of Shadows. Luxor and pals led the charge against the armies of Doomdark, 30 years ago. 30!
Ultra-rich alien, Black Sun crime lord and overall bad bugger. Planned to usurp Darth Vader, kill Luke and cop off with Leia using his creepy pheromone powers until Dash Rendar and pals blew up his palace as a gentle warning.
