PC Gamer - December 2015 USA

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BUYER’S GUIDGET THE RIGHT GAMIN

PC FOR YOUR BUDGE

CONTROLLERS RATED!

FROM STAR WARSTO EVE ONLINE

HUGE 2016

METAL GEARSOLID V

2015’S GAMEOF THE YEAR?

REVIEWED

REVIEWEDSTAR WARS BATTLEFRONT / EITR

ANNO 2205 / DARK SOULS III

MIRROR’S EDGECATALYST

DARK SOULS IIIHITMAN + MORE

20BEST SPACE

GAMES

PC GAMEPADSREVIEWED

Issue 272

DECEMBER

2015







Changing gearsMetal Gear Solid V is a game with suchdetailed customization options thateven a tranquilizer gun has an entireupgrade path. This stealth sandboxsequel feels like a PC-style game in a lot

of ways. It has more in common withthe likes of Deus Ex and Hitman thanprevious entries in the series, offeringplayers choices as to how to approachits completely open missions. For me,it’s become a full-on military Pokémon game of extracting soldiers from the battlefield. What a great way to start the busiest time of year for games.

T A L K T OP C G A M E R

Have your say!Tweet us

@PCGamer

E V A N L A H T I

E D I T O R - I N - C H IE Fe v a n . l a h t i @ f u t u r e n e t . c o m

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#272 DECEMBER 2015

PC GAMER (ISSN 1080 -4471) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus Holiday issue following December issue by Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 4 00, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Phone: (650) 872-1642. Fax (650) 872-2207. Website: www.futureus.com. Periodicals postage paid in San Bruno, CAand at additional mailing ofces. Newsstand distribution is handled by CurtisCirculation Company. Basic subscription rates (12 issues) US: Digital $23.88; Print $19.95; Canada: Digital $23.88; Print $29.95; Intl: Digital $23.88; Print $39.95. Canadian and foreign orders must be prepaid, US funds only. Canadian priceincludes postage and GST #R128220688. PMA #40612608. Subscriptions do not include newsstand only specials. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to PC Gamer, PO Box 5852, Harlan, IA 51593-1352. Standard Mail Enclosure in the following edition: None. Ride-Along Enclosure in the following editions: None.Returns: Pitney Bowes, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada. Future US, Inc. also publishes Mac|Life, Maximum PC, and The Ofcial Xbox Magazine. Entire contents copyright 201 5, Future US, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. Future US, Inc. is not afliated with the companiesor products covered in PC Gamer. Reproduction on the Internet of the articles and pictures in this magazine is illegal without the prior written consent of PC Gamer. Products named in the pages of PC Gamer are trademarks of their respective companies. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. We encourageyou to recycle this magazine, either through your usual household recyclable wastecollection service or at a recycling site.

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Our team of writersT Y L E R W I L D E

Twitter@tyler_wilde

Currently playingVolume

This monthReviewed the relativelysimple but well-madestealth game Volume onpage 60.

W E S F E N L O N

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Currently playingThe Witcher 3

This monthHad his heart broken 73hours into The Witcher3 ’s story. It’s too late toturn back, Wes.

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Currently playingMad Max

This monthVentured into thewasteland withAvalanche’s long-awaitedMad Max game.

4 DECEMBER 2015





11 SENDYour letters on PC gaming matters.

Monitor12 THE TOP STORY

Guild Wars 2 goes free-to-play.

14 THE SPYWhat’s next for the Dark Souls series?

Previews16 Mirror’s Edge Catalyst18 Hitman20 Stellaris24 Tacoma

32 Dark Souls III34 The Last Night36 Cuphead

Features38 The Top 20 Space GamesFromTIE Fighter toEVE Online .

44 Windows 10Get started with your new OS.

Reviews50 Metal Gear Solid V:

The Phantom Pain56 Mad Max60 Volume62 Final Fantasy Type-0 HD66 Satellite Reign68 Beyond Eyes70 Shadowrun Hong Kong72 Pillars of Eternity: The White

March—Part I74 Act of Aggression

Extra Life76 NOW PLAYINGWhat the PC Gamer team is playing.

80 TOP 10 DOWNLOADSThe best free stuff around the web.

84REINSTALLIsMafia II worth revisiting?

Hardware88 GROUP TESTControllers reviewed this issue.

R E V I E WContents #272D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5

20STELLARISThe creators ofCrusaderKings II take to the stars inthis impressive space-setstrategy game. Here’s ourdetailed first look.

44WINDOWS 10How to customize and installyour brand new operatingsystem, and make sure yourinformation is going whereyou want it to.

88HARDWAREControllers are reviewed inthis month’s supertest,including the DualShock 4,the Xbox One controller andlots more.

20

88

44

6 DECEMBER 2015











U S E R R E V I E W SMetal Gear Solid V

It makes me so sad tsee my fave saga godown with open-worcrap and stupidrepetitive fetch

quests... I hate it.CarlosHow is life inbackwards world?Are we handsomethere?

MGSV: ThePhantom Pain . Thebee’s knees.JorgenThe bee’s kneesaren’t inMGSV .You’re thinking ofMGS3 .

Blacklight

Retribution , best FPgame I’ve played sofar and I can say it wbe holding the spotfor a long time.ZenzoGlad you’re enjoyingit! Also, we justremembered that itexists.

Shadow of Mordoloving it so far!Surprisingly greatstress relief.CocoJackoStabbable orcs: thesqueezy stress ballof our time.

Life is Strange isone of the best gameexperiences Irecently had. Wellwritten and full oftension.GapbrickIf we could turn bactime,NOLF wouldhave a sequel.

Diablo III , the 2.3patch makes it funagain. Also goingthrough Pillars of

Eternity again.MichaelDo you dream froman isometricperspective?

SEND

Windows rageI’ve held back on upgrading

to Windows 10 for a while now but I

finally took the plunge this month.

At first all was promising,

everything seemed to work and it

looked quite nice. It was after a few

hours that the niggles started to

happen, my monitors went into sleep

mode and I was unable to get them

out. Even more infuriating was when I

fired upGTAV . It took an age to getgoing, I started to get graphical

glitches and if I tabbed out then the

screen resolution changed. This was

increasing my PC rage-o-meter, to a

point where I almost reverted back to

8.1. I said ‘almost’ because another

update has alleviated some of the

niggles. All in all I’m glad I updated,

but others need to be aware that

there will be issues.

Regards,Noel Draper

It was ever thus with new operatingsystems. The best we can hope for

is ‘not a complete disaster’. PCG

Top 100: the overlookedI fully understand the ocean of PCgames you had to wade through tochoose only 100. But I must point outa few games I feel that you mighthave overlooked.

I feel the original Quake played akey role in what we expect after we

beat our FPS, bringing forth some

serious game mods changing how thegame looked and felt.

EverQuest , aka EverCrack. Thisgame not only met the standard forMMORPGs at the time, it set a newstandard. Without it, would WoW bethe same game as it is now? Thisgame could suck a year of your lifeaway and you would have thought

only a month had passed. Alone inthe Dark . Wow, did this game giveme goose bumps when it came out.This game had it all, for 1992, with itssupernatural zombie infestedhaunted house.

Where are the racing games? Theoriginal NFS or Demolition Derby games? Why were racing simulatorsand arcade style games overlooked?Car guys are PC gamers too.

Thank you for considering mysuggestions. And if you have a spot onthe page, shout out my gamercommunity, prismGN.enjin.com. Wetackle the headache of hosting Early

Access games. Retired Army Purple Heart Recipient,CPL Marcum, StephenThe PCG Top 100 is a cross-section

of our personal views and interests atthe time we write it, it’s not meant to

be all-encompassing. Trying to make

a list that objectively accounts for

every taste is impossible, so we go

with what we know instead. Good

suggestions, however! PCG

Disc drives?I am a subscriber to PC Gamer and Ienjoy your magazine very much. Oneof my favorite parts of the magazineis the hardware buyer’s guide whichis very informative in helping buy the

best new PC components. Howeverthe reason for this email is a gripe.Why, out of all the components, isthere no DVD drive listed orrecommended? Even in 2015 and inthis digital age, most gamers do stilluse CD/DVD gaming discs, andIwould love to see a picture of onerecommended by you. Kevin

There’s no drive listed because

they’re cheap and there’s rarely much

difference in quality. Discs are also

becoming less relevant: theMGSV

disc, for example, just has a Steaminstaller on it. Thank you for the

feedback, though, Kevin, and we’re

glad you enjoy the magazine. PCG

W I N N E R !

The Windows 10 house, asseen in Close Encounters.

DECEMBER 2015

S H O O TL I K EC L I C K W A T C H F O L L O W S E N D

steamcommunity.com/groups/pcgamer

facebook.com/pcgamermagazine

pcgamer.com @pcgamerPC Gamer, FutureUS, 4000 ShorelineCt. Suite 400, South San Francisco,CA 94080

[email protected]

youtube.com/user/pcgamer

SEND A free Steam key for the funniest or

most insightful letter every month



G

uild Wars 2 is one the bestMMOs on PC today. It’s aslick, fun, well-designedgame that makes World ofWarcraft look stuffy and

lifeless in comparison. And now the coregame is free for you to download and play.

“As we start to release expansions,”ArenaNet president Mike O’Brien says, “itraises the question: in a buy-to-play businessmodel, what exactly do we want you to buyin order to play?” With some games, youhave to buy the base game and then everyexpansion to keep playing with your friends.

ArenaNet is trying something simpler.The devs think that if people love the freebase game that much, they’ll naturally wantto buy into the paid expansion, Heart of

Thorns. “The expansion pack is such great

value,” says O’Brien. “There’s so muchcontent, not only in the expansion pack butin all the free updates that will come after.”

The catch is that the core game will nolonger receive content updates. You’ll have

to buy Heart of Thorns if you want any newthings to do, including raids. There will also

be some restrictions for free players. Freeaccounts can only have two activecharacters at a time, compared to the usualfive, and three bag slots. Additionally there

are some restrictions to stop spammers andgriefers, including being limited to initiatinga whisper conversation once every 30seconds and not being able to take part incompetitive World v World until level 60.

But as far as free-to-play MMOs go, this isremarkably generous—especially comparedto something like The Old Republic.

As for the impact of these changes on theexisting community, “you’re going to have a

bunch of new players,” O’Brien says. “Butit’s going to be the same friendly communityit’s always been. It’s really important to usthat we protect the great people we haveplaying our game, and so we’ve beentweaking constantly. We’ve been working on

various iterations of this free-to-play modelfor about a year now, making sure that weget it right.”

Andy Kelly

“IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT

TO US THAT WE PROTECT

THE GREAT PEOPLE

PLAYING OUR GAME”

GUILD WARS 2 GOES FREEARENANET tells us why the MMO is embracing the free-to-play model

T H E T O P S T O R Y

Guild Wars 2 hasalways looked good.

Guild Wars 2 hasalways looked good.

12 DECEMBER 2015

T H E P C G A M E R V I E W O F T H E W O R L D

O P I N I O N T E C H G A M E S









Glass’s architects arestarting to take the piss.

Supervillain Fashion Weekwas a great success.

16 DECEMBER 2015

Gamenamexxxx

P R E V I EW

Model citizen Faith prepares tostress test the new police helmets.



I sympathize with the repetition, because

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst isn’t dramatically

different from its predecessor. Yes, there’s

an open world now, but the basic tenets of

what made Mirror’s Edge so good are all

present in the demo. It looks gorgeous, just as Mirror’s Edge did. Its

freerunning seems responsive and

satisfying, just as Mirror’s Edge ’s

was. When Catalyst was announced,

DICE claimed it wasn’t a sequel. Here

it looks like the most typical of sequels,

improving the first game’s best features

and tweaking its worst. In short, it’s

Mirror’s Edge but more fluid. It’s pretty

much exactly as I was hoping for.

Opening the map screen, Faith places

a marker to the mission’s starting point.

This activates Runner Vision, which in

Mirror’s Edge showed players the

optimum route. In Catalyst , it does thesame thing, but is applied on-the-fly based

on where your waypoint is set. As in the

first game, it’s also optional.

Approaching the looming building of

Elysium, Faith passes a ‘Gridleak’—just

one of a number of collectibles that will be

hidden around the city. Generally, I’m not a

fan of hunting down trinkets through a

large open world. But Mirror’s Edge is a

series about the joy of movement. Done

well and the collectibles could be fun

mini-challenges that break up the more

involved missions and sidequests.

Faith reaches the marker, triggering a

cutscene. Yes, there are still cutscenes—

but now they’re in-engine. It introduces a

new character: a swaggering jerk whose

impotent, macho smack-talk

accompanies Faith throughout the

mission. Catalyst is a reboot of Faith’s

origin. Once again, it’s about the figures othe edge of a dystopian society—the

‘runners’ who deliver secretive document

and the sense of competition between

them. You’ll see much more of life as a

runner in Catalyst , where Faith will operat

as a cat burglar, data courier or spy.

MOVING ON UP

Infiltrating the building, Faith shows off he

new and improved moveset. With enough

momentum, she can again chain betwee

wallrunning, sliding and clambering

around with ease. Additional skills are par

of an upgrade system that lives in Faith’sglove. In the demo, she has a Mag

Rope. It’s basically a grappling

hook-style device that lets her swing

between large gaps. For Catalyst , th

combat has also been incorporated

into the flow of movement so that it’s less

stop-and-start. A UI element shows the

location of any surrounding enemies that

might block your way. It’s a matter of

finding the gaps in their positioning and

taking out anybody who gets too close.

In the demo, this is all performed

flawlessly. It will no doubt be more clumsy

in the hands of someone less skilled but

DICE has tweaked the difficulty to removesome of the frustrations of a poor

performance. “I wouldn’t say it’s easier,

because it’s not easy,” says senior

producer Sara Jansson after the demo.

“It’s still a skill-based game. But we’ve

worked on different systems that help yo

if you’re slightly off timing. If you jump a

little bit too early into a wall run or jump

you’ll get help to still make it, depending

on how much momentum you have.” Get

it right, and you’ll keep more of your

momentum. “If you’re a skilled player,

you’ll just be a lot more fluid.”

Phil Savage

I’m at a presentation of a Catalyst missionand I’ve lost count of how many timesthe word ‘fluid’ has been used. Themovement? Fluid. The combat? Fluid.

The mission structure? Fluid. The way the enginecan seamlessly transition from the outside worldinto a building’s interior? Also fluid. It’s subtle hintslike this that convey DICE’s intent for its game.

It’s shaping up to be the sequelI always wanted

M I R R O R ’ S E D G EC A T A L Y S T

IN SHORT, IT’S MIRROR’S EDGE

BUT MORE FLUID. IT’S EXACTLYWHAT I WAS HOPING FOR

RELEASE

February 2016DEVELOPER

DICEPUBLISHER

EALINK

www.mirrorsedge.com

N E E D T O K N O W

N E W

I N F O

Life goal: become the top searchresult for ‘punchable face’.

DECEMBER 2015

Mirror’s Edge Catalys

P R E V I EW



“Say you drop a weapon somewhere,” Io’s

studio head, Hannes Seifert, says. “A

guard seeing the weapon will go there and

check it out. If it’s a bomb, he will disarm it.

He will bring it to the armory in the

basement. It means that you can makeguys smuggle stuff in for you.”

Similarly, if you drop a weapon in

front of a civilian on his way towards

your target, they’ll instead run to get

a guard—who will then come and

remove the weapon. It’s a way to

manipulate the NPCs in such a fashion

that you’re given a clear path to your

target. “You’ve interrupted two people,”

Seifert says.” One who might have been

on their way to talk to your target, and the

security guard who might have been

guarding the route to get to him.

“When you combine these things—we

see this when players play the early builds—they do the weirdest combinations of

that.” Players can tamper with food or

drink, making NPCs sick. They can

tranquilize NPCs and steal their clothes.

The characters that Agent 47 interacts

with have specific reactions to what

happens around them. “Walk on the

catwalk during the show, and the security

will grab you and bring you down.”

Seifert adds: “that’s the essence of

Hitman , right? We’re trying to create a

procedural world where everything you do

has an impact.” Trigger a fire alarm, and

the building will be evacuated. Firemen will

search the area, and if they don’t find a

body or weapon, they’ll turn off the alarm

and usher people back into the building.

“You might have gained an opportunity to

hide something, to modify something.

This is whatHitman is about.”

This has always been my favorite thingabout theHitman series. They’re violent

games, but they’re not about the violence.

The best levels are intricate puzzle rooms

that encourage you to learn their patterns,

and manipulate NPCs to achieve the

desired result. After a while, I don’t even

see these characters as people, but as

actors to be unknowingly directed based

on my needs. That’s probably how

psychopaths feel all the time.

“We teach the AI what to do,” says

Seifert. “The waiter carries food from A to

B, making sure there’s always enough

food or drinks for the guests. Now takeout this waiter. What will happen is, in

the kitchen, the food will pile up and,

in the bar, the food will run low.

Another waiter will see that and start

taking the food.” So far, so good, but

what happens if you kill all the waiters?

“The supply of food will just slow down. If

you kill all the waiters, eventually, these

structures break down and it modifies the

level again, because then the guests are

hungry and will try to find food

somewhere else.”

CLASS ACT

Are NPCs individuals with specific needs,or are they assigned a type of behavior

that dictates how they act?

“You could call them character classes.

Guards have a different need—to protect

an area, or to protect a person—than the

party guests might have.” NPCs will also

have specific goals, designed to make

them interesting targets forHitman’ s

returning Contracts mode. “Our quality

control is very elaborate. But the most

important thing is that the systems feel

robust, so they can actually work with

each other without breaking.”

Phil Savage

There was a moment, right at the start of Hitman’s Gamescom presentation,where Agent 47 walks in front of a news broadcaster’s camera. She cuts the take,

and mutters something under her breath about theinterruption. It’s a seemingly small, insignificantmoment, but one that gives me hope that the newHitman could be the best yet.

An intelligent approach toartificial intelligence

H I T M A N

SO FAR, SO GOOD, BUT WHATHAPPENS WHEN YOU KILLALL THE WAITERS?

RELEASE

DecemberDEVELOPER

Io InteractivePUBLISHER

Square EnixLINK

www.hitman.com

N E E D T O K N O W

N E W

I N F O

Here’s one Iprepared earlier.

18 DECEMBER 2015

Hitman

P R E V I EW

He’s like a young, homicidalPatrick Stewart.




http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pc-gamer-december-2015-usa 20/10020 DECEMBER 2015



“It’s a radical departure,” Henrik Fåhraeus,

director of Paradox Development Studio,

tells me, contrasting the game with the

studio’s previous work, “but in some ways

it’s still the same.” It’s still a pausable

real-time game, for one thing, with theoption to speed up and slow down the

passage of time. It still runs on Paradox’s

tried and true Clausewitz engine—the

underpinning technology behind every

PDS game since Europa Universalis III .

There are a few differences too. For one

thing, Stellaris is set in space.

The setting is more than just a reskin:

it’s a chance for Paradox to break free of

the rigor of historical accuracy and give

players—and their AI opponents—more

scope to define their empire. While the

character creation screen I’m shown

contains roughly 100 portraits for

different alien races, the tools for creatingan empire are virtually limitless. In addition

to your empire’s look, you’ll also be able to

define its traits, technologies, ethics, and

even how FTL will work. The AI will do the

same, ensuring you have no idea who’s

lurking beyond the range of your sensors.

Many of these early choices will affect

the choice of actions available later. Create

a xenophobic empire, Fåhraeus says, and

you’ll be able to capture aliens and use

them as slaves. Found a xenophilic

empire, and you won’t have that option.

The early-game stage is comparable to

a 4X. You’ll be exploring, discovering and

expanding your empire. Each planet in

your empire is governed by an individual

character, with their own personality trait

and skills. They’ll determine much of wha

happens on each planet, sometimes

without your direct intervention. In a way,

this emphasis on individual characters

makes empire management akin to

Crusader Kings II —despite the fact that

diplomacy between empires will be more

comparable to Europa Universalis IV .

Each colonizable planet has an

abstract map upon which you construct

buildings. You’re rewarded for placingsame-type buildings next to each other,

and can assign a planet’s ‘population

units’ to various jobs based on what you’v

built. There’ll also be special tiles, and

according to Fåhraeus, some of the

procedures for clearing them will be

“rather involved.” The example given is a

Giant Sinkhole. It’s a big hole in the groun

that not only prevents buildings from

being placed, but—at some point in the

game—could let subterranean creatures

pour out onto the surface.

FOR SCIENCE

As this is a sci-fi game, science has a

much bigger role. Scientists, like planetar

governors, are individual characters with

their own traits, specialities and lifespan.

They’ll be able to head up science ships,

sent out to explore and survey other

systems in search of anomalies. In the

presentation I’m shown, a science ship

comes across a hollowed-out asteroid

that triggers a choose-your-own event

chain. If you succeed, there’s a chance to

earn new technologies. If you fail, a

number of things can happen. Best case:

nothing. Worst case: the asteroid is

knocked out of orbit and onto a directcourse with your homeworld.

Fåhraeus explains that different things

can happen based on the scientist’s

personality. If a religious character had

discovered the asteroid—actually a

hollowed-out temple to a human

god—they could potentially have an optio

As of last February, the average playtimeof Crusader Kings II was 99 hours. Thelongest playtime was 10,500 hours.Paradox’s grand strategy games are

large, complex affairs, but I’m not convinced there’senough variety to keep things fresh over thatlength of time. Stellaris is Paradox attempting tocreate a game that justifies their fans’ obsession.

Paradox’s new grand strategygame wants to be endless in space

S T E L L A R I S

XENOPHOBIC EMPIRES CAN

CAPTURE ALIENS AND USE

THEM AS SLAVES

RELEASE

2016DEVELOPER

Paradox Development StudioPUBLISHER

Paradox InteractiveLINK

www.stellarisgame.com

N E E D T O K N O W

F I R S T

L O O K

DECEMBER 2015 2

Stellari

P R E V I EW



RESEARCH WORMHOLES, ANDYOU COULD RIP OPEN A HOLETO A DEMONIC DIMENSION

to destroy the heretical monument. These

unique conditions are designed to create

unexpected outcomes for events the

player has already encountered in

previous campaigns.

Technology is part of Paradox’s plan to

enhance the variety found in each

playthrough. Scientists can be assigned

between three research departments:

physics, society and engineering. There

won’t be a tech tree—Fåhraeus calls that

too predictable. Instead, it works like a

deck of cards. The selection of

technologies you can choose is

determined by chance, and by your

research scientist and empire’s traits. But

while there’s a random element, you’ll be

able to reassign scientists to maximize the

likelihood of being offered specific tech. Ifa scientist exploring the galaxy develops

an interest in laser technology, you’ll be

able to allocate him to the relevant

research department in the hope of

earning new laser-based discoveries.

WAR OF THE WORLDS

As you encounter more alien factions,

Stellaris will become more like Europa

Universalis in its diplomacy and warfare.

You can wage war with another empire, no

problem, but occupying one of their

planets doesn’t mean you’ll own it.

Instead, you need to defeat their enemy,and sign a peace treaty that decides how

much of their territory you’ll take.

When you do fight, the battles play out

in real-time. Paradox isn’t using a

turn-based tactical battle system,

because—as with other Clausewitz

games—Stellaris is also designed for

multiplayer, where it can fit in as many

players as can realistically divide up a

galaxy. As in most PDS games, control

over the actual battlefield will be relatively

slim. Your role is to outfit your units with

the best weapons and shield technology,

and decide the high-level strategy that will

give your ships the best chance to punchthrough an opposing faction’s military.

It’s not all about war, either. Players can

sign non-aggression pacts, alliances and

even set up a federation—inviting other

races into a grand coalition of planets.

“The cool thing about that is that at

regular intervals there is an election for the

new federation president,” Fåhraeus says.

“You basically rotate between the

member states over who has leadership.”

The title comes with some perks, too: the

federation has access to an elite force of

military ships, outfitted from all the best

technology of its member states.

CHILDHOOD’S END

Not all empires will have the same goals.

Fåhraeus shows me a ‘fallen empire’—an

ancient race that has stopped expanding.

They’re old, powerful and regard the

younger empires as idiot children. They

also have unique technologies that can be

reverse engineered, but they’ll prove a

fearsome enemy should you attempt to

attack them for those. Fåhraeus also

shows me a pre-space-age planet. Youcan conquer these planet-bound peoples,

make them part of your empire, or

‘aggressively’ observe them through

abductions and probing.

For the late-game, Paradox hopes to

avoid letting the player reach a point

where they know that they’ve won. Their

solution is a galactic catastrophe. You can

have between zero and two of these in

each campaign, and they’ll be triggered

either at random or by your research or

that of your opponents. Research the

more advanced wormhole technologies,

for example, and you could rip open a holeto a demonic dimension. Research AI, and

you may face a familiar problem. AI robots

are “happy all the time and don’t cause

any problems,” says Fåhraeus, “but then

suddenly they do.”

The emerging crisis will shake up the

final stages of a campaign, forcing players

to form new alliances and work together

to save the galaxy from destruction. Of

course, Stellaris isn’t a tale of galactic

empires coming together in the face of

adversity: these crises will also provide

plenty of opportunity for intrigue, plotting

and just generally screwing over your

enemies. Nor will it all be end-of-galaxythreats. Players also need to worry about

their leaders and population units.

Stellaris seems absurdly ambitious,

but, when its components are separated

out, it’s built mostly on what the studio

has done before. There are elements of

Crusader Kings II , of Europa Universalis IV ,

and of Victoria II—all with a sci-fi twist of

exploration and discovery. I think Paradox

can pull it off. Stellaris could be the grand

strategy game that deserves the

hundreds, even thousands, of hours its

fans will undoubtedly pour into it.

Phil Savage

22 DECEMBER 2015

Stellaris

P R E V I EW

Space combat is mostlya hands-off affair.

We’re a long way frommedieval Europe.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pc-gamer-december-2015-usa 23/100 DECEMBER 2015 2

P R E V I EW

Each planet has its owngovernor, with their own traits.

Yeah, that’s notgoing to stay stable.



Sensitive talkin the med bay.

Clive’s days on thestation are numbered.

24 DECEMBER 2015

Gamenamexxxx

P R E V I EW

The control room overlookingTacoma’s cargo area.



What I took away from playingTacoma ,

the new first-person exploration game

from Fullbright, is that it will be a sci-fi

story you can relate to. Yes, it’s set on a

space station, in a universe where people’s

conversations can be played back as ARholograms, and sure, there’s an

omniscient AI plugged into your ears

that may or may not have killed your

colleagues. But along the way, the

stuff you’re stumbling on, reading,

and listening to in this seemingly

abandoned space station is endearingly

everyday: love notes, lunch appointments,

doctor’s visits, or your crewmate’s

embarrassing search engine history.

“We want to be able to tell stories that

are just about people,” says Steve Gaynor,

designer and writer onTacoma . As players

explore the mystery of the absent crew,

Gaynor says he wants them to walk awaywith the feeling they “got to know this

group of people and understand what

they went through, and feel for them, and

have some empathy for their situation”.

I only playedTacoma ’s intro—about an

hour—but it was enough to give me a

sense of the types of interpersonal stories

it’s going to touch on. Through Tacoma’s

entry corridor, up the orbital lounge and

toward the cargo area, I find an empty

medical bay, a two-room office. There’s a

AR indicator floating in the air, a flat piece

of UI hovering in 3D space. I tap it and

single-colored, life-sized mannequins

spring to life, stand-ins for the

crewmembers who had been there

before. As the AR recording plays back, I

learn that ODIN, the AI system, has

detected an issue with one of the crew.

Clive, the operations specialist that your

character is sent to replace, has to returnto Earth as soon as possible. I hear him

share this discovery with Evelyn Victoria

(E.V.), the station administrator that he’s

romantically involved with. They’re both

worried about how they’ll carry on,

expressing the kind of separation anxiety

anyone can experience when considering

to pursue a long-distance relationship.

“We encounter a lot of sci-fi that’s

more about plot and more about the, you

know... the plot that the progenitor race

has to destroy humanity or whatever,”

says Gaynor. “The stuff I connect with the

most when I’m playing any game like thatis when you’re totally outside of that

‘fate of the universe’ scale of conflict

and you can just think, ‘Oh, this is a

person that I could know in my

everyday life.’”

COULD LOOK BETTER

The demo left me with a lot of questions

about what lies ahead (it ends with your

character, with concern in her voice,

asking ODIN, “What am I going to find

behind this door?”).Tacoma is an

evolution of Fullbright’s work on Gone

Home —patient storytelling through

artifacts and notes, but in a much biggerand more imaginative space.

One thing I’m hoping I’ll be more

impressed by whenTacoma releases in

2016 is its looks. It didn’t seem any less

populated with ephemera thanGone

Homebut it feels less dense. Maybe that’

a result of the setting being a functional,

highly engineered, more spacious thing.

But compared to say,Adrift , which is

admittedly more linear, I didn’t feel caugh

up in the elegance of the station, in the

contour of its bulkheads or the way

lighting cuts through exterior windows.

Evan Lahti

Mundane, everyday stuff makes for someof the richest territory in sci-fi. Sure,2001 plops preternatural monoliths infront of us, but we also see the crew of

the Discovery One eating lunch and phoning home.Mark Watney solves life-or-death problems in TheMartian, but along the way he’ll muse about theThree’s Company episode he’s watching.

Explore a deserted space stationin the follow-up to Gone Home

T A C OM A

THE STUFF YOU’RE STUMBLINGON, READING AND LISTENINGTO IS ENDEARINGLY EVERYDAY

RELEASE

2016DEVELOPER

The Fullbright CompanyPUBLISHER

In-houseLINK

www.tacoma-game.com

N E E D T O K N O W

P L A Y E D

I T

Can E.V.’s love for Clivesurvive their separation?

DECEMBER 2015 2

Tacoma

P R E V I EW



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The early 2016 release is still months

away, however, and the plan is to make the

game as good, if not better, than Dark

Souls II on PC. I’m excited to see the PC

become an increasingly important

platform for these games, but at the same

time, I came away feeling that this may bethe installment that triggers series

fatigue. Every time someone asked

me about the demo, my first thought

was simply “it’s Dark Souls .”

At E3, co-director Hidetaka

Miyazaki said the game moves a little

faster than DSII , with more responsive

controls inspired by Bloodborne . It felt like

Dark Souls to me. The combat was still

deliberate. Animations took their time to

play out. Movement on the warrior I

played actually felt slower than a

light-as-possible Dark Souls I/II character.

I’d have to play the game side-by-side with

its predecessors to differentiate it.New are the special attacks unique to

each weapon type, now called Battle Arts.

In the build I played they were mapped to

the left trigger. My warrior had an axe as

his default weapon, and the axe’s Battle

Art was a damage buff, which I was told

also serves as a small AoE stun.

The other Battle Arts are more direct.

The greatsword’s is a lumbering step

forward followed by a massive upward

strike that sends enemies soaring into the

air. With the dual katanas, it’s a spinning

whirlwind attack. I discovered that I could

follow up that whirlwind with a heavy

attack, which is a slightly less potent spin,

for a nice combo.

Another thing that’s new, at least to my

recollection: enemies that change

stances. When I faced off against a knight,

he stalked towards me with sword and

shield in hand. When I backed away, hedecided to switch gears from ‘let’s dance’

to ‘get fucked,’ tossed his shield to his

back, gripped his sword with both hands,

and charged right at me. It was terrifying.

OLD FAMILIAR

Still, while some enemies were vicious and

moved quickly, I didn’t feel like my session

was quite as frenetic as the trailers make

DSIII seem. Or as pretty as these perfectly

framed, perfectly lit screenshots courtesy

of Namco Bandai. The style may be there

in the real game, but the image quality

certainly wasn’t (at least not at 1080p).Dark Souls III remains challenging

in exactly the same ways as its

predecessors, though I think part of

my lukewarm response to the hour I

played came from the limitations of

the demo session. The menu was

disabled, so I couldn’t see my stats, play

with equipment, or level up. That means

souls didn’t matter, which meant dying

didn’t matter. Being human or undead to

summon other players wasn’t a concern.

And the demo was obviously locked to a

single area, meaning the wonder of

exploration just wasn’t there.

That said, I was pleased at just howlayered the area I explored turned out to

be. There were multiple paths through

buildings, across ramparts and rooftops,

at least two shortcuts to be unlocked and

chests and secrets in out-of-the-way

locations. If this area is representative,

Dark Souls III is going to be as dense and

interconnected as the original.

I hope that’s true. I can’t say that Dark

Souls III felt new and exciting, but I can

imagine some small tweaks to the formula

pulling me into this one for another

hundred hours next year.

Wes Fenlon

T he hour I spent with Dark Souls III recently wasn’t quite a stellarexperience. It was running at 30fps(mostly consistently, though one rooftop

area sent that dipping into the teens) and a locked1080p. The 27-inch monitor two feet from my facedidn’t do the game any favors, either.

Getting to grips with the final partof the rock-hard trilogy

D A R K S O U L S I I I

IF THIS IS REPRESENTATIVE,DARK SOULS III IS GOING TO BEAS DENSE AS THE ORIGINAL

RELEASE

2016

DEVELOPER

From Software

PUBLISHER

Namco Bandai

LINK

www.darksouls3.com

N E E D T O K N O W

P L A Y E D

I T

Now 20%More Gothic.

32 DECEMBER 2015

Dark Souls III

P R E V I EW

World design isstill a highlight.



Combat is not noticeablyslicker than Dark Souls II.

“Got you,indeterminate thing!”

DECEMBER 2015 3

Gamenamexxxx

P R E V I EW



The two brothers developing The LastNight say their game is an homage to“cinematic platformers” such as Flashback and Another World. Like those

games, they’re promising lavish, atmosphericenvironments and elements of exploration, butwith modern additions including a branching story.It began life as an entry in a cyberpunk game jam,which you can play now on the Odd Tales website.But after an overwhelmingly positive response, andwinning the jam, the duo decided to turn it into afull game. The Last Night is still very early indevelopment, but it already looks remarkable. I justhope the game itself lives up to the promise of thisstunning pixel art. Andy Kelly

RELEASE

2016

PUBLISHER

In-house

DEVELOPER

Odd Tales

LINK

www.oddtales.net

N E E D T O K N O W

A future-noir platformerset in a bleak, beautiful city

F I R S T

L O O K T H E L A S TN I G H T

S T O R Y M O D EYou’ll always be in control

of your character in The LastNight , says Odd Tales. The story

will be told as you play and developthrough your actions. The brotherssay it will reflect the “melancholy

of modern life” and that yourdecisions will have a direct

impact on the course ofthe narrative.

G U NC O N T R O L

You play a bounty hunter,and finding your targets will beas important as hunting them

down. To give an example of theinteractivity, you’ll be able to pull

your gun at any time during aconversation to

scare characters intorevealing important

information.

34 DECEMBER 2015

The Last Night

P R E V I EW



N I G H T L I F EThe game takes place

across a series of nights,starting and ending in the hero’sapartment. Actions you take in,say, the third night could affect

something in the seventh. Choiceand consequence will be a bigpart of it and your decisions

could haunt you furtherdown the line.

U R B A ND E C A Y

Odd Tales wants its BladeRunner-inspired city to feelalive. You’ll be able to travel

between districts using taxis,ferries and monorails. Policedrones with roving spotlights

patrol the streets, and evadingthem—either through

stealth or hacking—willbe a challenge.

DECEMBER 2015 3

The Last Nigh

P R E V I EW



Cuphead , much like the recent Titan

Souls , is a boss attack game. Rather than

a linear series of battles, each level is

accessed via a deceptively peaceful

overworld map. Levels can be attempted

in any order and each consists of a single

screen containing a single boss. There’sno preamble or filler here. Cuphead is

entirely focused around fighting these

huge set-piece baddies.

Every boss is a unique encounter that

forces you to learn and master new tactics

and systems. I got the chance to fight

against a selection of them, and died

every time. Cuphead has its roots in

games like Contra and Mega Man . It’s

absurdly difficult. In stripping out the

padding, Cuphead distils the challenge

into these small spaces. You’re forced not

just to respond to the on-screen threats,

but also to anticipate future danger.

It’s a game about memorization andperfection—of banging up against

impossible-looking attack patterns and

working out how to survive and eventually

triumph. That’s not something I had time

for in the demo session and so here’s a

rundown of everything that killed me.

Phil Savage

The thing that everybody says aboutCuphead is that it looks gorgeous.They’re right, of course: it’s like a 1930scartoon, only without the racism.

Suitably intrigued, I tracked it down at Gamescomto find out how it plays. The answer, it turns out, islike an incredibly difficult run-and-gun platformer.

A sumptuous run-and-gunplatformer in which to die

C U P H E A D

CUPHEAD HAS ITS ROOTS IN

CONTRA AND MEGA MAN . IT’S

ABSURDLY DIFFICULT

RELEASE

2016DEVELOPER

Studio MDHRPUBLISHER

In-houseLINK

www.cupheadgame.com

N E E D T O K N O W

P L A Y E D

I T

1Cuphead can both run

and gun across each

level’s single screen. He also

has a dash maneuver and a

powerful super attack. The

latter is charged by air-

slapping pink projectiles—a

dangerous mid-air move that

requires precise timing.

More often than not, it

serves only to get me killed.

3Each boss has multiple

stages. After firing out

flaming boxing gloves, these

frogs move to opposing ends

of the screen. One whirls his

arms to summon gusts of

wind that push me into the

projectiles of the other.

Later, they morph into agiant fruit machine.

5Autoscrolling levels

ramp up the difficulty

further. As well as avoiding

the spikes of exploding

worker bees, I have to keepclimbing to avoid the rising

honey. There’s a lot to

process and the margin for

error is virtually zero. Take

three hits and you’re kicked

back to the overworld.

2Each level’s surreal look defines how it

plays. On the haunted train, I can shootdown floating pumpkins. If the pink brick

they drop hits the valves on either side of my

handcar, it moves a small distance in the

corresponding direction.

4Occasionally, levels will completely

change your moveset. Cuphead and

Mugman take to the air to fight this bird,

appropriating classic shoot-’em-up controls

for full 360-degree movement. The added

freedom doesn’t make me any less

susceptible to a fatal egg shot.

6A victory! Not for me, but for my co-op

partner Matt Elliott. I die soon after we

tag-team the dirt-spitting potato. As he

finishes off the psychic carrot, I get to

appreciate the sumptuous background

animations.Cuphead is full of small details

that go unnoticed in the thick of battle.

2

3

36 DECEMBER 2015

Cuphead

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54

6

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Leave boring old Earth behind andtravel to the farthest reaches of the

universe—and beyond—in these, thePC’s greatest space games.

By Andy Kelly

THE

38 DECEMBER 2015

The 20 best space games

F E A TUR E



THE DIG YEAR 1995 |

DEVELOPER LucasArts

T he LucasArts point-and-click

adventure that everyone forgets

about. A mission to divert an

asteroid heading for Earth goes awry,

sending a group of astronauts to a

distant, seemingly abandoned, world.

Some of the puzzles are maddeningly

obtuse, even for a LucasArts game, but

its colorful, strange planet feels

genuinely alien . Great voice acting too,

with X-Files and Terminator star Robert

Patrick playing the lead.

HOMEWORLD

REMASTERED COLLECTION YEAR 2015 |

DEVELOPER Relic/Gearbox Software

One of the best singleplayer RTS

campaigns ever, beautifully remastered by

Gearbox. The sight of thousands of your

ships streaking across the game’s

vividly colorful space-scapes is majestic.

Its battles are tense and tactical, featuring

many types of ship to command, including

some colossal battleships. The

Remastered Collection looks great on

modern PCs and comes with the original

Homeworld and its sequel.

LUNAR FLIGHT

YEAR 2012 | DEVELOPER Shovsoft

This modern take on classic arcade

game Lunar Lander is a unique,challenging low-gravity flight simulator.

It’s not as deep as some sims, but

wrestling with its physics to deliver cargo

and make landings on alien worlds is an

enjoyable process. It’s also one of the bes

games to play with a VR headset, if you’re

lucky enough to have one.

SPACE ENGINEERS

YEAR 2013 | DEVELOPER Keen Software House

Minecraft in space, basically. Harvest

asteroids for building materials then craft

them into floating bases and flyable

spaceships. You can hover around with a

jetpack or build a gravity generator to wal

on the surface of bigger asteroids. One of

the best co-op build-’em-ups on PC, and

new features are being added regularly.

DECEMBER 2015 3

The 20 best space game

F E A TUR



ELITE: DANGEROUS

YEAR 2014 | DEVELOPER Frontier Developments

An entire galaxy is your playground in

this massive, beautiful space sim. Starting

with a basic ship and a handful of credits,

it’s up to you to shape your own destiny.Do you become a fearsome pirate? A

master trader? An explorer? The beauty

ofElite: Dangerous is being able to play in

a way that suits you. From thrilling

dogfights to gentle exploration, there’s

something for everyone. Its ships are a

dream to fly, from nimble fighters to heavy

cargo haulers, especially with a flight stick.

STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER

YEAR 1994 | DEVELOPER Totally Games

A rare opportunity to be the bad guy in

George Lucas’s space opera. With a

variety of Empire -themed missions—

dogfights, escorts, attacking capitalships—and a story to follow, it’s one of

LucasArts’s best Star Wars games.

Replace this entry with Star Wars: X-Wing

if you’d prefer to play as the boring old

Rebel Alliance. The best thing about this

entire crop of Star Wars space sims is that

they’ve all resurfaced to buy on GOG.com,

compatible with modern systems.

FTL: FASTER THAN LIGHT

YEAR 2012 | DEVELOPER Subset Games

FTL mixes turn-based and real-time

strategy together to capture the

experience of captaining a Star Trek-style

spacecraft. It’s a strong roguelike, too,

with the backdrop of a familiar yet fun

sci-fi universe that comes with its own

semi-humorous lore and a neat set of

narrative beats that make the journey to

its finale exciting every time. Being able to

name your ship and crew makes it all the

more heartbreaking when they die

together in enemy space.

WING COMMANDER:

PRIVATEER

YEAR 1993 | DEVELOPER Origin Systems

Fans of the series will argue endlessly

about which Wing Commander is the

best, but we love Privateer ’s darker feel.

It’s a rich sandbox in which you can be a

mercenary, a pirate, a merchant, or a mix

of all three. You jump between systems

looking for bounties to hunt and ships to

rob, and the first-person dogfights are a

thrill. There’s a linear story, but the real joy

lies in doing your own thing.

40 DECEMBER 2015


F E A TUR E

EVE ONLINE YEAR 2003 |

DEVELOPER CCP Games

L ive another life—in space! There’s nothing else

like EVE Online , the massively multiplayer RPG

where everything is controlled by players. It’s a

living, breathing galaxy in which thousands of

capsuleers fight, trade, mine, and explore together.

Break away from the relative safety of your police-

patrolled starting system and you’ll find a ruthless,

cosmic Wild West, where piracy, espionage and

scamming are rife. Whether you’re fighting in a massive

space war, where thousands of real-world dollars hangin the balance, or just exploring New Eden on your own,

EVE is unforgettable.



TAKE ON MARS

YEAR 2013 | DEVELOPER Bohemia Interactive

If you like your space games a little

more grounded, try Arma developerBohemia’s Take On Mars . It’s a space

exploration simulator based on real

astro-science. You can build a Curiosity-

style rover and explore the surface of the

red planet or construct your own

moonbase. A game for people who want

the sci without the fi.

SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE

YEAR 2008 | DEVELOPER Ironclad Games

Mixing real-time strategy with 4X

elements, Sins is a game of galactic

conquest. Choose a faction, gather

resources and become a mighty

space-lord. Commanding its real-time

wars is a thrill, but combat isn’t always the

answer: you can use diplomacy to

conquer systems too. A refreshingly

slow-paced RTS with some truly massive

space battles.

KERBAL SPACE

PROGRAM YEAR 2015 | DEVELOPER Squad

W

restle with gravity and the laws of

physics as you build your own

spacecraft and attempt to

explore the cosmos. A robust, compelling

sandbox of possibilities that’s as funny as

it is clever. Escaping Kerbin’s atmosphere

and landing on the Mun for the first time

with a ship you’ve built is about as

satisfying as PC gaming gets.

DECEMBER 2015 4


F E A TUR



STARBOUND YEAR 2013 |

DEVELOPER Chucklefish Games

B

asically Terraria in space. Hop

between randomly generated

planets on a starship, hunt alien

creatures for food, build colonies andunderground bases, and try not to die.

A brilliant sci-fi sandbox with a charming

art style. Playable races include robots,

beings made of solar energy, ape-like

creatures, and wingless birds.

UNIVERSE SANDBOX

YEAR 2011 | DEVELOPER Giant Army

This space simulator lets you play god

and manipulate replicas of real galaxies

and solar systems, and witness the (often

catastrophic) results of your cosmic

meddling. Increase the mass of Jupiter

and you’ll see the rest of our solar system

being sucked into it, or delete the Sun and

watch Earth and the other planets drift

away confused. A sequel, Universe

Sandbox 2 , recently arrived on Steam

Early Access.

ARTEMIS: SPACESHIP

BRIDGE SIMULATOR

YEAR 2013 | DEVELOPER Thom Robertson

You’ll need a group of three to six

friends to get the most out of this one.

Each player controls a different station of

a starship—engineering, weapons, helm

and so on—and must work together to

destroy enemies, with a captain giving

orders. It’s basically like staging a

Kobayashi Maru test in your living room,

and it’s amazing.

FLOTILLA YEAR 2010 |

DEVELOPER Blendo Games

This turn-based strategy game by

prolific indie studio Blendo (Thirty Flights

of Loving , Gravity Bone ) plays out in

30-second bursts. Queue up your orders,

then watch the action unfold until one side

is completely obliterated. With a relaxing

classical score, including Chopin’s

Raindrop Prelude, and a stylish, curiously

colorful art style, it’s one of the more

offbeat games on our list. Flotilla also

features psychic advisor dogs—there’s astrong sense of humor at work here.

GALACTICCIVILIZATIONS II

YEAR 2006 | DEVELOPER Stardock

Conquer space with an army of

customizable ships. Thanks to its smart,

creative AI, a full-size game can take many

exciting weeks to complete. You have to

balance economic, technological,

diplomatic, cultural and military power to

forge alliances, engage in battles, and

dominate the galaxy. Similar to the

Civilization series, certainly, but on a muchgrander scale.

42 DECEMBER 2015


F E A TUR E



SPACEENGINE

YEAR 2010 | DEVELOPER Vladimir Romanyuk

Do you like feeling small and

insignificant? Do you enjoy havingexistential crises? Then play SpaceEngine ,

which features the entire universe . Or at

least the bit we know about. Focus on

Earth, then pull back at top speed, and

you realize you’re on a tiny speck of dust

hurtling through an endless void. The tech

is remarkable, enabling you to travel

effortlessly between galaxies and land on

planets, even if there’s not a lot else to do.

FREESPACE 2

YEAR 1999 | DEVELOPER Volition, Inc.

While most space simulators use

aircraft-like physics, FreeSpace attempts

something more realistic, resulting in

responsive, weightless controls. Battles

play out like zero-gravity World War II

dogfights, and it’s one of the best space

combat games on PC. You’ll never forget

your first combat encounter inside a

colorful nebula.

MASS EFFECT 2 YEAR 2010 |

DEVELOPER BioWare

I f you’ve ever fantasized about being Captain

Kirk, in command of your own starship,

exploring the galaxy, meeting weird aliens,

being confronted with cosmic dilemmas, Mass Effect 2

is that in game form. It’s part Star Wars space opera,

part brilliant Star Trek episode, and one of the best sci-

games on PC. It doesn’t have the freedom of Elite and i

largely a linear experience, but it takes you on an

unforgettable journey around the galaxy, visiting bizarr

planets and getting involved in the lives of the people

who live on them. We love the whole series, but Mass

Effect 2 is our favorite.

DECEMBER 2015 4


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INSTALL AND CUSTOMIZE

Upgrade to WINDOWS 10 without fear using our simpleguide—then configure it just the way you like it. By Wes Fenlon

here are few things more satisfying than a brand new,completely clean and lightning fast Windows install. Whenthat install is a just-released version of Windows, however,it’s a bit like getting a present from a secret admirer. Youdon’t know what’s in the box: it could be a great OS that you use for years (Windows 7) or an OS that actively makes your day-to-day computer use more frustrating (Vista,

Windows 8). Occasionally, you open the box and there’s actually a severed headinside (Windows ME).

T

WINDOWS 10

Thankfully, Windows 10 fixes many ofWindows 8’s UI bumbles and keeps allof its great under-the-hood

improvements. It also brings with it animportant advance for gaming: DirectX12. That said, Windows 10 isn’tperfect—there are some buried privacy

settings you’ll want to configure if you’re not keen on sending Microsoftall your data. This guide will walk you

through some of the important steps inthe Windows 10 install process, thenshow you how to tweak and configurethe OS for a great gaming experience.

H O W T O

44 DECEMBER 2015

Customize Windows 10

H O W T O




H O W T O



It’s time to upgrade your PC. Here we’ll take you through the basics of

installing Windows 10 and altering privacy settings.

INSTALLING

STEP ONE

GET READY TO

INSTALL

You have a few choices, but the

most common is the Win7-8

update utility that shows up

as a little Windows logo in

your taskbar. Through that, you canupgrade without losing any of your

computer’s files. Still, I’d recommend

backing everything up to be safe.

If you don’t have the Windows logo in

your taskbar, there’s another easy way to

grab Windows 10. Download the Windows

Installation Tool frommicrosoft.com/

en-us/software-download/windows10.

This tool will download Windows 10 and let

you install it immediately, or copy it to a

USB flash drive for installation on another

machine. Go ahead and download on the

system you plan to upgrade and start the

installation process (remember, backupyour most important data first!).

STEP TWO

RUN THE

INSTALLER

Honestly, it’s hard to screw this

up. Once you start the

installer, Microsoft will hold

your hand through the setup.

The most important choice you can makeduring installation is to click ‘Customize

settings’ when you’re on the screen that

says ‘Get going fast’. Do NOT use Express

settings, as this sends data to Microsoft

that you may prefer to keep private.

The hallmark of a modern OS (or, just the free upgrade offer for Windows 10)

is that it really, really likes collecting your data. It’s OK if you want to give

Microsoft that data—you should just know that you’re doing it. Click on the

Start menu (yes, it’s back!) and click on Settings, then Privacy. From here,

navigate every tab and check the settings. The most important ones are in General.

If you signed into a Microsoft account during installation, open a browser and go to

choice.microsoft.com/en-uk/opt-out . Turn off ‘personalized ads wherever I use my

Microsoft account’.

STEP FOUR

DOWNLOADAND UPDATE

DRIVERS

Anew OS means new drivers to

ensure compatibility, and

you’ll want to update those—

especially your graphics card

drivers—before jumping into gaming.

Start with the basics first: your

motherboard drivers. Do a Google search

for your motherboard model and find the

relevant downloads page linked to it.

After clicking ‘Customize settings’, you

can choose to turn off Personalization

settings, which send your speech and

typing data to Microsoft, let apps use your

advertising ID, and request your location.

Turn them off. Click Next.

I recommend disabling sending your

browsing history to Microsoft and

automatically connecting to other Wi-Fi

networks. Click Next. Now you can choose

to login with a Microsoft account. If you

have a Microsoft account and want to usethat profile so you can access your data

on other machines, etc, login or create an

account. If not, click ‘Skip this step.’ Then

simply create a username, and voila:

you’re now running Windows 10.

STEP THREE

INVESTIGATE EVEN MORE

PRIVACY SETTINGSTheinstallationmenuscouldn’t besimpler, butthere are stillkey things tolook out for.

46 DECEMBER 2015


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STEP ONE

CUSTOMIZE THE

START MENU

The Windows 10 Start menu mashes together

Windows 8’s tiles with the old school menu

design. It’s an elegant solution, but by default

it’s probably filled with tiles you don’t much

care about. Right click on any tile to change its size, unpin

it, turn live updating on/off, or uninstall it altogether. Who

needs a constantly updating health and fitness tile,

anyway? You can also drag the edges of the Start menu

to change its height and width, and name groups of apps

if you’re big on categorizing your software.

Another tip: open up the ‘all apps’ list from the Start

menu and right click on any apps you’ll be using

frequently. You can pin those to the Start menu where

they’ll appear as tiles.

Your computer’s running Windows 10. Nice job! We’re very proud of you. Now you get to do the

fun stuff: tweaking settings and customizing your new OS to your heart’s content.

CUSTOMIZING

DECEMBER 2015 4


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H O W T O

STEP THREE

CUSTOMIZE

THE TASKBAR

Nothing much has changed

from the days of ye olde

Windows here. Right-click on

the taskbar to call up the

context menu, then click ‘properties’ to

customize which side of the screen the

taskbar appears on, to enable auto-hide,

and to make a few other tweaks of

similarly world-shattering importance.

STEP FOUR

SET UP YOUR

STORAGELOCATIONS

In Windows past, your My

Documents, My Music, etc.

folders saved files to the C:

drive. Windows 10 offers a

convenient way to change this location.

Under System Settings, open the Storage

tab and choose which drive you want to

save those files to by default. You can still

create your own folder setup, of course,

but if you like letting Windows handle that

work, this is an easy option.

STEP TWO

CUSTOMIZE

CORTANA

Microsoft’s personal

assistant Cortana is built

right into Windows 10,

which is pretty nifty. That

bar that says ‘Search the web and

Windows’ next to the Start icon is

where Cortana lives. Type in the name

of something on your system, like

‘settings’ or ‘disk’ or ‘witcher’ and

Cortana will bring up the most relevant

applications for you, even drilling down

into a few layers of menus. That’s great,

but there are some other Cortanasettings you may want to disable.

If you don’t plan on using Cortana’s

personal assistant features, click in the

search box, then click the gear menu to

open Cortana’s settings. Disable

‘suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts

and more.’ You can also disable ‘Search

online and include web results’ if you’d

prefer to keep your searches local, just

for installed applications.

If you do plan to use Cortana and

have a microphone handy, you may

want to turn on the ‘Hey Cortana’

option that allows Cortana to listen foryour commands. Then you can set

alarms, notifications and start

searches with a voice command.

Cortana has changeda bit since she helpedus detonate the Pillarof Autumn to blow upthe Halo ring.



If you’re an Nvidia user, make sure

GeForce Experience is installed and

up-to-date. Remember that you can

update your graphics driver through GFE,

but can also use it for recording games

with ShadowPlay.

Upgrading from Windows 7 or 8 creates

a Windows.old folder on your C: drive. It’s

housing some of your old system and

personal files, which is great if you

accidentally forgot to back something upand lost it in the upgrade. Dig through that

folder and make sure there’s nothing you

need there. Once you’ve done so, it’s just

wasted space. Type ‘Free Up Disk Space’

into Cortana, select C:, then click ‘Clean

Up System Files.’ Choose C: again and

check the boxes next to Previous Windows

installations and Temporary Windows

installation files. Press OK and confirm

you want to delete the files.

Right-click your taskbar and open the

Task Manager, then switch to the Startup

tab. Here you can see everything thatboots up with your PC. Disable programs

you don’t want or need to boot with your

PC, like the omnipresent Adobe Updater.

Do you really need to check for a new

version of Adobe Reader every day?

Play some videogames. You’ve

definitely earned it.

There’s plenty more customization of Windows 10 you can do on your own. Here are a few more

tips for life (and gaming) with Windows 10.

READY FOR ACTION

DECEMBER 2015 4


H O W T O



“THIS IS HIDEO KOJIMA’S MOST

PROVOCATIVE STATEMENT YET”

50 DECEMBER 2015

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

R E V I EW

“METAL GEAR SOLID V CELEBRATES

YOUR CHOICES AND INGENUITY”



SOLID GOLDMETAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

is a landmark-makingstealth sandbox masterpiece. By Samuel Roberts

Nighttimebattlefields fill with smoke,

flares andexplosions

How can my target escape if I makesure there’s no helicopter to beginwith? The getaway chopper I’m

looking for doesn’t just spawn out ofnowhere—like everything in The

Phantom Pain, it’s part of theenvironment, circling a hill, waitingfor its passenger. I track thehelicopter down based on its flightpath from my threepreviously failedattempts and hose itwith my grenadelauncher until it’s inflames. I just got rid ofthe problem.

Within five minutes,

I’ve killed both mytarget and theinformant by accident, firing rocketsrandomly at anything that moves.Master Miller, who guides methrough the mission, isn’t pleased Ikilled the informant withoutinterrogating him first, but the gamedoesn’t mind. Mission complete.

Metal Gear Solid V celebrates yourchoices and ingenuity more than anysandbox game I’ve played in years.This mission, and so many others,allows players to figure out thestrategy that works for them and run

with it. This is a reinvented, systemic Metal Gear Solid with an almost FarCry-like open-world structure,elevated significantly by the choicesand subsequent one-off moments

you’d encounter in a Hitman or Deus Ex. Crucially, too, The Phantom Pain retains the oddness, detail and someof the character of the MGS series.

A few of my stealth playthroughsthat suddenly went wrong becamemy favorite moments in MGSV . Iforfeited a perfect kill-free stealth runof one mission because I couldn’t get

a good enough sniper angle on my

I’ve failed this assassination mission three times now. Eachattempt, while searching for an enemy informant who can tell mewhere my target is, I’m almost immediately spotted by an enemyguard tower in a nearby camp. Spooked by the sudden gunfire, mypotential victim makes a prompt getaway by helicopter. The

chopper moves too fast for me to hit it, and it’s gone. Mission failed. Buthow about this: screw the informant.

target before he took off in a chopper.Sprinting up flights of stairs to thehelipad, my victim spotted me just in

time for me to throw every grenadein my inventory under the chopper,destroying it, vanquishing him andknocking me over, before I made aludicrously frantic escape onhorseback. It was amazing, and I’m

not sure it would’ve been vastly improvedhad I silently shot theguy and snuck out.

The punishment fora stealth mission goingwrong is anexhilarating set-piece

in a constantlysurprising open world.I’ve had weird and wild gunfights ofunending nightmare across giant

bases, battling hordes of soldiers,mechs and even a chopper, as an

ill-equipped one-man-and-a-dogarmy. Nighttime battlefields fill withsmoke, flares and explosions. I’ve hato hide from swarming troops andmortar fire behind buildings, pattingmy dog for reassurance while I call inmore ammo drops, preparing for mysecond wind as the night graduallyturns into morning.

HAPPY ACCIDENT

Some hardcore players will neverwant to find themselves in thatposition. But when the controls arethis good, when your tactical optionsare so extensive, it’s in no way a badthing to be part of these escalating,huge-scale battles, which offer thesort of moment-to-moment thrillsmost action games would struggle toscript. Embrace it when things gowrong in MGSV . Nothing boring evehappens when it does.

The goal that guides every level isto sneak through environments

without being caught by theenemy—if they spot Snake (aka BigBoss), an alert phase ensues until youcan lose his attackers. The Phantom

Pain’s story missions take Snake toone of two enormous military

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?An open-world stealth

sim rooted in the series’complex history.

EXPECT TO PAY$60

DEVELOPERKojima Productions

PUBLISHER

Konami

REVIEWED ONIntel I5 44 [email protected],

8GB RAM, NvidiaGeForce GTX 780

MULTIPLAYERComing soon

LINKwww.konami.jp/mgs5

S N A K E ’ S B U D D I E SWhat do a dog, a horse, a mech and a woman in underwear have in common?

D - H O R S EThe easiestway to getaroundAfghanistanwithoutstealingan enemyvehicle.

D - D O GWild dogpuppy whoSnake rescuesearly on,which latergrows into abig scarybastard.

D - W A L K E RAn armoredmech walkerwith customweapon andgadget kits. Ahi-techmarriage ofdog and horse.

Q U I E TEnemysniper-turned-ally who wearsa ludicrousbikini/underwearcombo tobattle.

STRENGTHS

Fast and well-armed if you prefer a loud,explosive approach.

WEAKNESSES

Snake sticks his ass outand looks a bit daftdriving it.

STRENGTHS

Picks off enemies at adistance, gets deadlierwith time.

WEAKNESSES

Isn’t always thattrigger-savvy in the heatof battle.

STRENGTHS

Offers a quick way out ofhairy situations. You can

shoot from horseback.

WEAKNESSES

A bit awkward to steer,has no function incombat by himself.

STRENGTHS

Senses enemies around you, and can attack or

distract soldiers.

WEAKNESSES

None, he is a dog.

DECEMBER 2015 5

R E V I E W



It’s exciting tohave somethinggame-changing

happen mid-mission

sandboxes: the cliffs and plains of aSoviet-populated Afghanistan, andlater, the swampy Angola-Zaire

border. Out in these environments,MGSV throws together smart AI,uncontrollable weather situationsand varied types of locations in waysthat frequently generate new stories.The mission objectives tend to be abit basic on the surface—extract thisguy, assassinate this informant, stopthis convoy—but what happens alongthe way is often unexpected andalmost always exciting.

Heading into a mission, you pickSnake a limited loadout of twoprimary weapons, one sidearm, and

explosives. Importantly though, youcan also have anything from yourarmory sent to the battlefield at anytime via Snake’s iDroiddevice. Crossing theten-hour mark, thisrange of instantlyaccessible optionsexpands into AIcompanions of varyingskillsets, airstrikes thatlet Snake summon firefrom the skies, helicopters that canprovide supporting fire and lots more.As someone who’s enjoyed the entire

series, I see this as a naturalprogression from Metal Gear’s ministealth sandboxes into something thatrealizes the potential that was thereall along, without any compromises.

As a result, the balance betweengame and story has now shiftedsignificantly in favor of the former.It’s so different to previous numberedMetal Gears in its lack of cutscenesthat it takes some getting used to.Such narrative as there is, you’ll findpretty sober and convincingly seriousfor a series known for elderly snipers,

vampires and men who can fire killer

bees. In The Phantom Pain, it’s 1984and Snake is attempting to rebuild hismilitary offshore haven Mother Base

following its destruction at the end ofGround Zeroes. Having been in acoma for nine years, he’s seekingrevenge on those responsible. After adeliberately confusing scripted introset in a hospital, in which Snakeescapes a horrific military attack,story is limited to a few briefcutscenes and a lot of optional,occasionally interesting audio tapes.

The lack of an intrusive story andthe focus on unscripted sandboxaction makes The Phantom Pain feel

very contemporary and easy to

recommend to new players. Thatmodern approach extends to basicthings that MGS has always struggled

with, such as the waySnake moves.

The Phantom Pain shares Ground Zeroes’intuitive third-personcontrol scheme, whichmeans it’s as much funto play MGSV like ashooter as a stealth

game. It’s important that they got thisright, because there’s a lot to considerat once here: marking enemies in

nearby settlements using the binoculars, switching to first-personaim with a gun and sneaking up

behind soldiers to interrogate themall feel really easy to pull off. While

you can remap the keyboard controls,I recommend using a controller for

MGSV because the menus were builtwith that in mind.

SANS FRONTIERES

It took me a decent chunk of my50-odd hours with MGSV to learnthe way everything works. In the

field, visibility is affected by the

day-and-night cycle, and when you’redeep into an enemy base and the suncomes up, it can be the difference

between a perfect stealth playthroughor the final set-piece from an ‘80saction movie. I love this as anunpredictable factor in a stealthgame, as well as the changingweather, such as sandstorms and rain.It’s dramatic and exciting to havesomething game-changing happenmid-mission that you can’t control.

The list of stuff to do in The

Phantom Pain is divided into mainstory missions and Side Ops, andwhile the latter is mostly composedof optional missions, there are some

key shards of story within them, too.It’s almost like an RPG queststructure, with both strands earning

you GMP, MGSV ’s currency.Rebuilding Mother Base is the

foundation of the story, but it’s alsothe metagame that ties everythingtogether. This is where you’ll spendGMP, and use resources found allover the open world, such as fuel orplants. It’s both an offshore platformthat’s Snake’s explorable home

between missions and a slightly dullmanagement sim that takes place inmenus on the iDroid, but the rewards

are definitely worth it.There’s another side to this, too.

In the field, you can kidnap stunnedor sleeping (not dead) soldiers usingthe Fulton Recovery System, whichattaches tiny balloons to them andsends them back to Mother Base to

join your army. You can then assignthem to the various divisions (see‘how I built your mother’) based onwhat their skills are best suited to.The Fulton system can also airliftanimals from the field, leading tofunny images of goats looking

confused in mid-air, and later it can

H O W I B U I L T Y O U R M O T H E RThe different divisions of Mother Base and what they do

S U P P O R TResponsible fordropping your

equipment into the field. Thebetter they are, the faster yourshotgun ammo arrives.

I N T E L Will scout out roughenemy locations on the

map, and get faster and moreaccurate readings as you levelthem up.

M E D I C A L These guys treat theMother Base staff, who I

pay no attention to as I roam theopen world on horseback with agrenade launcher.

R & D P L A T F O R MThese guys developweapons and other

upgrades, and they need to be of acertain level for you to unlock themore powerful firearms.

C O M B A T U N I TP L A T F O R MSend your best soldiers

on mercenary missions to bringback monetary and resourcerewards for no work.

B A S ED E V E L O P M E N TBase development guys

go off and find building or fuelresources for you, so Snake hasto do less farming.

52 DECEMBER 2015


R E V I EW



Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pai

R E V I EW

The face of a man who’skilled a lot of robots.

A grenade launcher in astealth game? Outrageous!

It’s a sparse butgorgeous world.

Look how silly Snakelooks riding this thing.

Mission zones canget pretty hairy.




R E V I EW

Snake on a horse is,well, pretty sexy.

How not to do stealth.

There are very fewdestructible environments.

Snake can unlock newcostume choices, too.



Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pai

R E V I E W

Why not go fullKilgore andhave it playRide of theValkyries?

be used to bring home whole vehiclesand shipping containers.

Mother Base is not a particularly

fun space to be in, to be honest, asidefrom when you’re beating up yourloyal troops for no reason. Whatmakes it worth the time is thatleveling up your divisions is the keyto unlocking new weapons,equipment or any othersort of upgrades. Eachweapon type has a techtree: a tranquilizer dartgun can become a morepowerful one with a

better clip and damage,and so on. New

weapon blueprints arefound all over the twoenvironments, and the thrill ofresearching a new grenade launcherand having it instantly dropped intothe battlefield is similar to the joy youget from an RPG crafting system.

Some of the upgrades are frivolous but awesome: you don’t need speakers on your attack helicopter toplay music, but why not go fullKilgore and have it play Ride of the

Valkyries to scare the shit out of theRussians? Music pops up all over theworld on collectable tapes, such as

A-ha’s Take On Me or Kids In America by Kim Wilde, and you can both listen to them on Snake’sWalkman and have them blare out of

your helicopter’s speakers. Custommusic works, too.

Upgrades also play a key role withSnake’s four AI ‘buddy’ support unitsin the game (see ‘Snake’s buddies’).Like your weapons, you can call in anew buddy and swap out the old oneat any time with the iDroid, anotherrefreshing layer of flexibility, and theyprogress in interesting ways. You can

order your sniper, Quiet, to provide

G E A R S O F W H A ? A brief history ofMetal Gear’s oddest moments

Credible

Batshit

MGS MGS2 MGS3 MGS4 MGS Peace

Walker

Solid Snake, a clone,kills his clone brother.

Ocelot’s mindcontrolled bydead clone’s

evil arm.

Rogue AI

created bydead illuminatirules world.

Features charactercalled Hot Coldman.Soulful warrior

kills formermentor.

Weird

covering fire, tell your dog to attackenemies or order your horse to do ashit. Which makes enemy jeeps skid

out of control, if you were wondering.

PEACE WALKTHROUGH

You can use all of these options ornone of them—that’s the point. Anddon’t worry if this array of stuff to do

sounds overwhelming:Kojima Productionssensibly drip-feeds youthese elements overthe first ten hours so

you know how to usethem all. I found the

journey to figuring out

my optimal loadouts to be tremendous fun.I’ve seen all of The Phantom Pain’s

elements feature separately in othergames, but not brought together inquite this way. I love that theend-of-mission scoring systemrewards a multitude of differentplaystyles, and not just the stealth-only approach. While there are heavy

bonuses for ghosting and penaltiesfor being caught by the enemy, you’realso strongly rewarded for headshotsor speed. This encourages players to

be more experimental, and not to feel

like it’s the end of the world if they’respotted. This is a game where it feelsgreat to fire a gun, and you’ll havedozens in your inventory. You shoulddefinitely use them.

I recommend The Phantom Pain without question to someoneunfamiliar with the series. In fact, Ithink existing Metal Gear fans will

be the hardest for The Phantom

Pain to win over: the structure is just so different. But once Ireached the eight-hour mark, Irealized how in love with it I was,

and how much fun I was having just

doing daft stuff like trying to blow upa bear with C4, lobbing a sleepingguard off a cliff to his death orFulton-ing a tank into the air with adude inside just because I was toolazy to blow it up. They’ve built aworld that lets these momentshappen constantly, and it never stops

being impressive.The environmental design feeds

into this madness perfectly, and somof the backdrops to missions aregigantic, with many points of entry.While as open worlds they feel alittle quiet and spread out, the morepopulated areas of refineries,abandoned towns or palaces are allplaygrounds that encourage repeatruns of missions. I’d happily swap thold Metal Gear hub environments fothese any day. In retrospect, they feelike prototypes for what the team at

Kojima Productions have alwayswanted to build.

There are some parts of old Meta

Gear that would’ve made a welcometransition, though: other than acouple of great sniper duels and onelarger fight I can’t talk about withoutspoiling, I thought the selection of

boss fights was pretty dull,particularly an annoying recurringscrap with some cheap zombiesoldier men that are little more than

bullet sponges.Bad boss fights occupy less than

one hour of MGSV

total, though, andthat’s a tiny fraction of my playtimeso far. This is a massive experience,with an extensive and challengingendgame, too. Even the most basicplaythrough will clock-in at 25 hoursand those that really get deep intoexperimenting with the game willeasily reach 50 hours or more.

Those tens of hours have sailed by. I’m truly obsessed with The

Phantom Pain, and I think it’s adazzling example of how excitingopen-world game design can be. Not

just being set in a big or beautiful

world, but having the building blockin place to let players have momentsthat feel like they belong to them.

Metal Gear Solid V is a standard-setting sandbox game that makesperfect sense on PC, and is likelyto be the most influential Metal

Gear Solid game since the first.

93A generous stealthsandbox masterpiecethat will delight both newand existing fans of the

long-running series.

V E R D I C



THUNDER ROAMThe vehicular combat shines, but MAD MAX falters when you get out

of the car. By Chris Livingston

You can rip adriver right outof his seat then

catapult himthrough the air

To acquire all the parts and upgradesneeded to turn his new car into anengine of vengeance, Max reluctantly

makes deals with the leaders ofseveral desert outposts and sets aboutclearing their turf of threats,conquering enemy camps, scavengingfor scrap metal, and engaging in tonsof car-to-car combat and meleebrawls with goons.

The vehicularcombat is great fun,mainly due to one ofthe most enjoyableweapons I’ve ever usedin a game: Max’scar-mounted harpoon.

As you explore thewasteland you’llrandomly come across lone vehiclesor sizable war parties. Target a car’sdoor with your harpoon and you cantear it off. Target a rear bumper andyou can slingshot your car into it forextra ramming damage. Yank off

Just as Fury Road arrives on Blu-ray to be obsessively watchedand rewatched, Max comes to PC in an open-world action game by the developers of the Just Cause series. Here Max findshimself left for dead in the desert—and worse, his iconicInterceptor stolen—after a run-in with hulking warlord

Scabrous Scrotus. Max joins forces with the fawning, Quasimodo-likemechanic Chumbucket, who agrees to help him build a new car.

armor, piece by piece, to expose a gastank and you can detonate it with ashotgun blast. As you upgrade the

harpoon you’ll gain the ability to tearoff a car’s wheel, completelyneutralizing it. Best of all, you can arip a driver right out of his seat,either through an unarmoredwindshield or a door you’ve removed,

and then catapult himthrough the air. It’s a

blast. You’re not alwaysthe hunted, either:sometimes enemydrivers will realizethey’ve bitten off morethan they can chew

and beat a hastyretreat, meaning you get to become the pursuer.

The harpoon isn’t just usefulagainst other cars. Across thewasteland enemy factions have builtintimidating metal ‘scarecrow’ towersthat can be harpooned and pulled

down. Sniper nests also dot thelandscape, and you can rip themdown or simply impale the sniperand yank him right out of his roost.Tear down the gates of enemy campsand you’ll be able to target any creepsfoolish enough to come running,pulling them one-by-one out into thedust. Eventually you’ll acquire theThunderpoon, which adds explosive-tipped bolts, effectively giving you a

rocket launcher attack useful againstheavily armored vehicles.

The apex of car combat isencountering a convoy: a lead vehiclewith a handful of cars protecting it.This is where the game does a great

job of capturing the long, chaotic, and violent chase scenes from the films. As you chase down the convoy andstart picking off the escort vehicles,

you’ll be rammed and sideswiped aseager War Boys leap onto your car,stabbing and kicking you through

your windows until you shake them

off. You’ll be engaging vehicles infront, behind, and on both sides of you, tearing into them with yourharpoon, detonating their gas tanks,and ejecting their drivers, all thewhile trying to catch the lead vehicleand keep your own car on the road.

Random wasteland events onlyadd to the high-speed chaos. In themidst of one extended convoy attack,a massive storm rolled in, turning dayinto night and filling the air withcrackling lightning bolts andhazardous flying debris. Duringanother convoy chase, a different war

party of three vehicles camerocketing along the same highway...headed in the opposite direction. Theutter devastation was hilarious. Theserandom events can completely ruin

your assault, which I’m sure somewill find frustrating, but I personallynever minded doing a convoy missionmultiple times. They’re easily the

best part of the game, and I’m happyto say there’s a massive one towardthe end of the story missions.

You need to get out of your carquite often, which is where some of

the high-octane fun of Mad Max can

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

Open-world vehicle andmelee combat in the

world of the films.

EXPECT TO PAY

$60

DEVELOPER

Avalanche Studios

PUBLISHER

Warner Bros.Interactive

Entertainment

REVIEWED ON

Intel i7 x980 3.33GHz,9GB RAM, NvidiaGeForce GTX 960

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

www.madmaxgame.com

C A N O N F I R E Each of the four films is represented in some way

M A X M A X 1 9 7 9Max is shot in theknee in the originalfilm. In the game, Maxwill clutch that injuredknee and limp for afew moments aftertaking a fall.

R O A D W A R R I O R1 9 8 1Max had a faithfuldog, imaginativelynamed ‘Dog’, and he’sgot one in the game,who helps him sniffout landmines.

B E Y O N DT H U N D E R D O M E1 9 8 5In the game, there’s abrawl in a metal domeas the crowd chants“Two men enter, oneman leaves.”

F U R Y R O A D 2 0 1 5Like the film, thegame features WarBoys and Buzzards,deadly electricalstorms, and someoneis even used as a‘blood bag’.

56 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



Mad Max

R E V I EW

Ram ‘em head-on.Only way to be sure.

Turn your car into atrue war machine.

Swipe a faction’s car to passsafely through their territory.

You meet plenty of eccentriccharacters, but few memorable ones.

Enemies don’t get harder,there are just more of them.



Mad Max

R E V I EW

Parrying is key to winningfights. Sort of the only key.

Flame throwers useup tons of guzzoline.

Upgrade your ram, and you’ll start tearingthrough unarmored cars like paper.

Couldn’t get the TomHardy license, then.

Underground locations: well-designed, but not well-used.

War Boys won’t hesitate tothrow themselves on your car.



Very little ofthe dark humor

of the filmsmakes it into

the game

start to fizzle. Invading enemy campsis always done on foot, and meleecombat works similarly to whatwe’ve seen in the Arkham games—parry blows with one key, deliver

your own by mashing another, chainattacks together for damage bonuses,execute special moves whenprompted. But it’s not as fluid orflexible. The camera can be awfulduring fights, sometimes completelyobscuring Max and his enemies.Learning special attacks and parrieslets you deal with goons morequickly, but in response the gamesimply increases the size of the mobs.It’s still wonderfully kinetic: breakinga goon’s arm or piledriving him intothe ground feels good and crunchy,and blasting away with yoursawed-off, using spiked meleeweapons, or throwing explosive

spears gives fights a bit of kick.Ultimately, though, there are simplyso many of these fights, all essentiallythe same, that they eventually beginto feel like a numbing chore. I haveplenty of fun stories about carcombat, but none about the dozensand dozens of fistfights I had.

OUTLANDER

Besides car and melee combat, thereare other things to do in thewasteland. I’ve played for 60 hoursand my map is still cluttered with

icons, though there’s honestly not awhole lot of variety. You can searchlocations for scrap (often engaging inmore melee), gather parts to upgradefriendly strongholds,capture outposts whosehot air balloons serveas vantage points, teardown scarecrows andsniper nests, or listen toa friendly wastelander’s(usually boring) tale ofwoe before getting a tipor sharing their loot. There are also acouple of interesting and creepy

underground locations that felt likethey might be leading to somethingdifferent, but unfortunately they endup the same way every other interiorlocation does: with a roomful of guysfor Max to punch to death.

There are a lot of ways to upgrade your car: adorning it with spikes,rams, armor, and flamethrowers,improving traction and suspension,and adding bigger and better enginesand nitro boosts. Some of theseupgrades simply require scrap metal,others are the result of story

progression. Some, however, are tied

to milestones. Heading into the finalconfrontation, for example, I wantedto have the maximum armor on mycar, as I’d been finding myself havingto pull over far too often to let Chumrepair it. This final armor upgraderequired not just gathering a bunchof scrap metal, but also eliminatingevery single threat in one area of themap: clearing every enemy camp,taking out every sniper andscarecrow tower, and finding andclearing every single minefield. I have

a problem with this. The great thingabout open-world games is that theydon’t just offer the freedom to tacklechallenges in the order in which you

choose, but also thefreedom to not tacklesome of them if youdon’t want to. Tyingseveral of Max’supgrades specifically tothe completion of all these optional activitiesmakes them, y’know,

not so optional. It’s not that I hateddoing the work—any activity I can do

while driving, like taking downtowers, I enjoyed—it’s just that I felt Ihad no choice in the matter.

At least the wasteland itself is asolid pleasure. I’m sure it was achallenge to make a massive and

barren desert visually interesting, but Avalanche pulled it off nicely, givingdifferent regions distinct themes.

You’ll find sun-bleached white sand,rolling yellow dunes, dark jaggedpeaks and cliffs, vast swamps of oilymuck, and rusty red buttes and

boulders. Then there’s Gas Town,

with its belching smokestacks and

mountains of trash, looking for all thworld like an industrial Mordor. Iwish the story complemented the

visuals, but very little of the darkhumor of the films make it into thegame, and most of the characters,including Max himself, are fairlyforgettable. And so few Australianaccents! Disappointing.

ROAD WARRIOR

I’m quite happy (and a littlesurprised) to say the port is excellent

With everything maxed—so tospeak—I generally averaged around70fps while driving and around 60fpin the game’s interiors. Some of thecontrols aren’t great: interactionrequires a key to be held rather thantapped. For climbing a ladder it’s nota big deal, but for collecting scrapmetal, which you’ll do hundreds oftimes, having to hold the button for afull second before Max picks up hisloot feels pointlessly time consuming

That’s a lot of negatives. And yet, still enjoyed the game because the cacombat goes a long way toward

making up for them. Over the 60hours I played, whenever I became

bored, I’d just race around the dunesand valleys in my car, looking for thetelltale plumes of dust that indicateda rolling war party or convoy. ThenI’d ready the harpoon, blast the nitroand get up to ramming speed.

77Car combat and thebeautiful wastelandmostly make up forrepetitive melee and

lackluster characters.

V E R D I C T

T O T H E M A X Everything is upgradable, but focus on these items first

4 S C R A P C R E WFound in forts, they’ll pickup scrap after car battlesso you don’t have to.

5 K N U C K L E D U S T E R SAdd rebar and wrenches toput more bite into Max’spunches.

6 S P I K E SKeeps those pesky WarBoys from leaping onto your hood.

3 H A R P O O NAn essential upgrade gives you the ability to tearwheels off enemy cars.

2 C H U M ’ SR E P A I R S K I L LAgonizingly slow, until youfind his favorite wrench.

1 N I T R O B O O S TYou’ll need extra speed tochase down convoys ormake quick getaways.

7 F L A M E T H R O W E R SThey use a lot of fuel butdiscourage vehicles fromside-swiping you.

1

4

7

2

3

56

DECEMBER 2015 5

Mad Max

R E V I E W



STOLID OBJECTVOLUME is a fun, funny stealth puzzle game in a dull dystopian England.

By Tyler Wilde

Andy Serkis isgreat. He is the

great AndySerkis, so that’s

assumed

As 100 stealth levels,Volume is prettyfun. It’s played from an overheadperspective, with WASD to move Rob

through small puzzles, avoidingguards and collecting gems on theway to the exit. And these aredefinitely puzzles as opposed toimprovisational action sequences,unless you count running in circlesaround a pillar to lose a guard as‘improvisation.’ Some bits requireagility, like when I needed to dancearound pressure-plate alarms whilealso avoiding vision cones, but there’salmost always a single clear solution.

Say there’s a guard lookingthrough a doorway, for instance. At

the most basic level, I might crouchbehind a half-wall near him, whistleto get him to move offhis post, and then creeparound the wall as hecomes looking for me.In a more advancedpuzzle, I might have toshoot a noisemakergadget I found earlierin the level, lure oneguard away from agroup of marching guards, and thenlet him rejoin them out of formationto create a gap that I can squeeze

through. It’s about identifying anddisrupting patterns.

The complexity rises every fewlevels, when new, extremely StealthGame ideas are introduced. You canhide in closets. There are forcefieldsblocking paths that need to bedeactivated. Some forcefields arelocked and stay up until you find thekey. Dogs have better peripheralvision. Archers have long, narrowvision triangles, but are slow to fire.There’s a gadget that distracts guardswith a curious object, one that

disguises you as a guard, one that

Volume is a pretty good stealth game. Its title could be PrettyGood Stealth Game, and I would agree with it. As a futuristicRobin Hood tale, it’s not quite so good. It’s often amusing, but its comments on wealth distribution and moralresponsibility are ultimately pretty mundane. Meanwhile,

its protagonist, Rob Locksley, sounds so bored I expected him to give up onsaving the world halfway through to watch YouTube videos.

makes you invisible, and so on. A lotof ideas, introduced at an even pace.

Most of these ideas are fun. I

especially liked the puzzles designedaround jumping over short walls. Asguards can’t do the same, you canforce them to run little mazes while

you take shortcuts, off to the nextsection of the level before they haveany clue what’s happened. It’s fun, ifsometimes too obvious and simple, togame the guards’ AI.

.SIMPLE FORMS

There were two levels that infuriatedme (screw lasers), but for the mostpart,Volume is pretty tame. There are

some bits that require trickymaneuvering—such as avoidingpressure plates thatemit guard-alertingsounds while alsohiding behind pillars soguards don’t spot

you—but I rarely gotstuck on anything forlong. The puzzles aresatisfying to solve, butnot especially hard.

The difficulty is heavily mitigated by checkpoints, which are placedthroughout the levels and not only

act as respawn points, but also saveany gems or items you’ve picked upso far. I appreciate that I’m not askedto redo an entire level because of onemistake, but checkpoints can beabused. I discovered early on that if Igrabbed some gems and was spotted

by a guard, I’d be fine as long as Imade it to a checkpoint before beingkilled. Hell, even if I fell through thecheckpoint while in my ‘I’ve beenshot and am dying’ animation, I stillrespawned there and kept myprogress. It feels like cheating, which

isn’t a good feeling, but I wasn’t going

to forego using a perfectly goodsolution on principle.

It’s funny that mid-deathcheckpointing is even allowed, givenVolume’s premise. The idea is that

you, as Rob Locksley, have hijackedan evil corporation’s old AI and arelivestreaming simulated burglaries ofreal places. You’re showing the publichow to take back the wealth that’s

been hoarded by the elite, and they’re

going out and doing it. Except Ifigure they die whether or not Robmade it to a checkpoint.

The danger of Rob’s suggestions isaddressed, to be fair. The story ismainly told as Rob’s hijacked AI(Alan) talks to him every few levels.

Alan is voiced by Danny Wallace,who is funny, emotional, and deliversthe best AI voice performance in agame since GLaDOS. Thecartoonishly evil corporation owneralso chimes in now and then, and is

voiced by Andy Serkis. Andy Serkis is

great. He is the great Andy Serkis, sothat’s assumed.Rob himself, however, is not

voiced by an actor like Wallace orSerkis—he’s voiced by musician and

YouTube star Charlie McDonnell. Ah.There’s your problem, then.

There’s also a level editor, sharing,and rating system—which bafflinglydoesn’t make good use of themouse—but I think 100 levels wasenough for me. There’s someinteresting stuff to play with near theend ofVolume, including someunique teleporter puzzles, but for the

most part I’ve done it all already. I’vethrown noisemakers, avoided visioncones, and dodged lasers. In this case,I’m doing it in a particularly

beautiful, colorful world with triangleexplosions (a very cool effect), butnone of it is novel enough to warrantrepeat visits.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

A real-time stealthpuzzler with 100 levels

and a level editor.

EXPECT TO PAY

$10

DEVELOPER

Bithell Games

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

Core i5-3570, 8GB RAM,GTX Titan

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

www.volumegame.net

72Fun, not-too-hard stealthpuzzles that look great,wrapped up in ahumdrum story with a

boring protagonist.

V E R D I C T

60 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



O N T H E G R O U N D

The floor can hurt or help youS H A D O W STheir placementrarely makes sense,but when in theshadows, you’retotally invisible

S H O C K These floor panelselectrocute you, thebig jerks.

T E L E P O R T E R SBe careful, some ofthese teleport youdirectly into aguard’s vision.

P R E S S U R EP L A T E SStep on one ofthese, and a soundalerts nearbyguards.

DECEMBER 2015 6

Volum

R E V I EW

The dialogue can be a little distractingwhile you’re trying to stealth around.

More of those noise-making white squares.

Cubism is back in a bigway in the future.

You often have to distract patrolling guardswhile waiting for forcefields to shut down.





Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

R E V I EW

That’s right, say it insteadof thinking it.

This is part of a prettyterrible RTS minigame.

Nice environment, but thisroom has a loading screen.

The uniform you’re obliged towear at anime ninja school.

The size of the handsomecast makes it hard to care.



V NTUM

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Intel the IntelLogo IntelInside IntelCore and CoreInside aretrademarksof IntelCorporationin the U.S.and/or othercounntel the IntelLogo IntelInside IntelCore and CoreInside aretrademarksof IntelCorporationin the U.S.and/or othercounntel the IntelLogo IntelInside IntelCore and CoreInside aretrademarksof IntelCorporationin the U.S.and/or othercounntel the IntelLogo IntelInside IntelCore and CoreInside aretrademarksof IntelCorporationin the U.S.and/or othercounntel the IntelLogo IntelInside IntelCore and CoreInside aretrademarksof IntelCorporationin the U.S.and/or othercounDigital Storm Logo and‘World’sMost AdvancedPCs’ aretrademarks of Digital Storm.Digital Storm Logo and‘World’sMost AdvancedPCs’ aretrademarks of Digital Storm.Digital Storm Logo and‘World’sMost AdvancedPCs’ aretrademarks of Digital Storm.Digital Storm Logo and‘World’sMost AdvancedPCs’ aretrademarks of Digital Storm.Digital Storm Logo and‘World’sMost AdvancedPCs’ aretrademarks of Digital Storm.





HARD REIGNEnjoy open-ended cyberpunk strategy on the rainy neon streets

of SATELLITE REIGN. By Andy Kelly

You seamlesslymove from theanonymity ofthe streets to

a mission

It’s in this dystopian urban sprawlthat you, owner of a smallcorporation with big ideas, must

make your mark—which is easier saidthan done when the mega-corporations and their military-gradesecurity forces have a monopoly oneverything. Starting in the downtownarea—a bustling, labyrinthine worldof neon—your paththrough this open-world city is the oneyou carve. You can domissions in any order,in any way you please.

The action is viewedfrom above, and you

control your fourcustomizable super-agents with traditional RTS controls.It’s reminiscent of XCOM: EnemyUnknown, but real-time rather thanturn-based. Your guys can dash intocover, and their accuracy in agunfight is determined by range andweapon, enemy position, and by theirabilities—which can, of course, beupgraded. You can flank enemies toget the jump on them, snipe fromafar, or charge in for a melee attack.

The rain never stops falling on Satellite Reign’s isometricfuture-city. It’s derivative of countless cyberpunk cityscapes, but amazingly atmospheric regardless. Video ads cycle onhuge billboards, reflected in puddles on the pavement below.Police drones float past, spotlights scanning for trouble in the

gloom, and futuristic cars buzz along the roads. It’s like Blade Runner ifRidley Scott had filmed it with a tilt-shift lens.

But while games like XCOM and Shadowrun limit you to closed-inlevels, Satellite Reign’s open city lets

you seamlessly move from theanonymity of the streets, where youcan hide in the bustle, to a mission:attacking a rival corporation’s factoryor robbing a bank. These guardedspaces are levels of a sort, but they sit

in the open worldwaiting to be attackedor infiltrated.

It’s daunting at first.The starting area isenormous, and there’sso much intricate detailon those maze-like

streets that you can feellost. It’s when you see athick wall, gun-toting guards, andwarnings to stay away that you know

you’ve encountered somewhere youcan assault or rob, and that’s whenthe game gets really good.

You have four agents, but thatdoesn’t mean you have to use themall. The most satisfying moment forme was deciding to rob a bank withthe security of Area 51, and managingto pull it off with one character: a

hacker. I carefully hacked my waythrough security gates, dodgedcameras and patrolling guards, andmade my way towards the main

building. I slipped inside and hackedtheir systems so that ‘siphons’ I’dattached to ATMs around the citywould generate more money. Then Isnuck out, and the corporation I’dripped off was none the wiser.

That’s just one way, though. I

could have fought my way to themain building with all four agents,their guns blazing, then sent mysoldier in to grab a big pile of moneyfor a more immediate reward. Thereare no interiors in this game: thesemoments happen off-screen, via atext summary of what your agent didinside. But considering the size of thecity, I don’t mind. Combining youragents’ skills, augs and weapons, andchoosing how to approach a mission,is where Satellite Reign is at its best.

REMOTE ACCESS

My biggest complaint is how thegame feels. It has none of the punchy,kinetic weight of XCOM or StarCraft,which top-down games like this needto compensate for your distance fromthe action. Your agents’ movement isslow and heavy, making the battlesfeel sluggish. It’s a hard thing toarticulate in words: it just lacks thatslickness that many of its peers have.

This is an issue that haunts everymoment of the game, but otherwise,

Satellite Reign is one of the mostenjoyable small-squad strategy games

I’ve played in ages. I love how it blends tactical combat with anopen-world structure and Deus

Ex-inspired freedom. Creepingthrough a heavily defended enemy

base unseen is a thrill, and if thingsgo awry, there are plenty of combatoptions to experiment with.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

An open-worldcyberpunk strategy

game.

EXPECT TO PAY

$30

DEVELOPER

5 Lives Studios

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

GeForce GTX 970, Inteli5-3570K @ 3.4GHz,

16GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

www.satellitereign.com

80Satisfyingly freeformmissions and rich gamesystems to play with, inone of the prettiest

cyberpunk cities on PC.

V E R D I C T

G A N G O F F O U R What your agents can do

S O L D I E RThe muscle. Gets his pointacross with miniguns,tactical nukes and plasmashotguns.

H A C K E RThe IT Support dude of thefuture. Can hack securitysystems and hijackpeople’s cyber-brains.

S U P P O R TBackup. Supplies extraammo and can extend your line of sight withcamera drones.

I N F I L T R A T O RThe cyber-ninja. Able toturn invisible for a shortperiod, enjoys swords andsniper rifles.

66 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



Satellite Reign

R E V I EW

Hack ATMs to leechmoney from them.

It’s not cyberpunk withoutgaudy neon nightclubs.

Send your soldier into thisbank for a hefty reward.

The detail in thcity is remarkable

Combat lacks the satisfyingweight ofXCOM .



GOOD LOOKINGBEYOND EYES is a meditative stroll made special by its choice

of lead character. By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

A woodlandpath can be asunnerving as

scouring atomb

Walls take you places. Follow one andyou might come to a corner. Turn thecorner and you might come to a door.

The comfort of such predictability ispalpable in Beyond Eyes’ context-sensitive animations: drift near abuilding and Rae reaches outtentatively, fingertips brushing thesurface for reassurance. It’s one ofmany ways this briefbut stirring adventuretransforms yourappreciation of3D space.

Rae lost her sight inan accident some timebefore the story begins.

Once a giddy extrovert,she has becomesomething of a hermit, her soleremaining contact with the worldbeyond her garden a chubby gingercat named Nani. One day Nanidoesn’t visit as usual, and Rae leavesthe garden to search for him. It seemsa laughably simple framework tobuild a game around—but this is anobservation colored by thecomplacency of the fully sighted. To agirl in Rae’s shoes, a stroll down awoodland path can be every bit asunnerving as scouring a tomb in Dark

Souls, and Beyond Eyes’ greatest featis to express this in a way those withunimpaired vision can grasp.

Where other games aboutblindness have tackled the subject bylimiting themselves to audio, BeyondEyes deals in visual metaphors. Eachenvironment in the game begins as ameasureless expanse of white—abackdrop that, unlike the customarycliché of blindness as eternal night,rouses curiosity rather than dread.Everything Rae can hear, smell ortouch is manifest on this landscape as

a pleasing gush of watercolor. Grass

Some of the most valuable if not enjoyable artworks are thosethat force us to reconsider something we think we know well. Beyond Eyes has changed how I think about walls. In mostgames, they’re things to crouch behind, leap over and blow up.Or smear with instructive graffiti in your dying moments if

you’re an NPC in Alien: Isolation or Dead Space. In this, a game that castsyou as a blind girl searching for her cat, they almost feel like friends.

and flowers seethe into existenceunderfoot as you step forward.Houses erupt from a splash of

brickwork, textures spreading acrossthe hidden structure like time-lapsefootage of a coral reef. Animal ormechanical noises pulse in thedistance, temporarily exposingpatches of road or treetop as Rae

picks up on how soundwaves are affected bycontact with theirsurroundings.

This is stunning towitness, as homely asthe supportingtechnology may be. It’s

also a source ofenduring uncertainty. You may, for instance, ‘see’ what’shappening inside a building orenclosure before you realize that thestructure itself is there. You’ll ‘see’ theriver bubbling beneath a bridge

before you discover you’re able tocross it, stepping out cautiously intowhat at first appears to be empty air.

Moreover, Rae’s perceptions aretinged by her innocence—the slightlysaccharine, storybook aesthetic isn’t

just a presentational gambit, but acommentary on the protagonist—andthe gap between perception andreality can be memorably unpleasant.

An early example is what seems atfirst to be fabric gaily flapping on aclothesline. On closer inspection, theobject reveals itself to be a scarecrow.

Rae’s fear and surprise at suchdiscoveries are touchingly conveyed

via body language, rather than indialogue—she’ll stoop, hugging hersides, when the world refuses to playalong with her expectations.

ONE TO WATCH

This is as much a game aboutlearning to live with life’s occasionalugliness, as it is learning to livewithout sight. The player’s preciserole among all this is engagingly hardto pinpoint. At times you feel like Rae

herself, struggling to make sense ofthe geography; at others you’re moreof a guardian, leading her by thehand. The story’s refusal to broachthe question of her parents is telling,in this regard—it leaves that role openfor the player to assume.

Beyond Eyes is a game I want youto play but one I struggle to score.While illuminating and restful, it’srarely ‘fun’ in the same way that, say,a Tomb Raider game is fun. The paceis necessarily ponderous, yet the storycan be completed in an evening, andwhile there are a few traditional

puzzles, they’re extremely simple,more there for variety’s sake than toprovide a challenge. But then, judgingthis by the standards of morestraightforward games is missing thepoint a little. Plenty of games set outto be entertaining. This is one of thefew that wants to change you.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

A third-personexploration game

starring a blind girl.

EXPECT TO PAY

$15

DEVELOPER

Tiger & Squid

PUBLISHER

Team17

REVIEWED ON

i5, GTX460M, 4GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

www.beyondeyes-game.com

75

Over quickly and hardlyexhilarating, Beyond Eyesis still illuminating in away that games rarely

bother to be.

V E R D I C T

O U T O F S I G H T

Games for the visually impairedP A P A S A N G R EA game for phonesthat takes place inthe underworld,

where you tap the screen towalk and navigate pastmonsters in the gloom.

T H R E EM O N K E Y SA game that casts you as a hero blind

from birth—and thus, bestequipped to save a worldplunged into darkness.

R O C K V I B EA music gamebased onGuitarHero that swaps

the latter’s scrolling fretboardfor vibrations that tell you whento strum.

A U D I O Q U A K EA modified versionofQuake that usescontinuous audio

cues to tell you where you areand whether you’re currentlybeing shot.

68 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



Beyond Eye

R E V I EW

There are a few optionalinteractions to discover.

When Rae feels threatened,the entire ambience changes

You’ll catch hints of otherpeople, but rarely meet them.

The palette hides fairlysimple geometry.



FORBIDDING CITYThe game of downloads and dragons tells its darkest tale yet, in the

harsh neon glare of SHADOWRUN: HONG KONG. By Angus Morrison

Static thoughthe settingsare, they’relavish to an

obscene degree

If I lost, I’d enjoy life as a servilepawn; if I won, she might convinceher other half to dispose of a valued

asset. It’s all tension, melodrama and,as it turns out, farce. Almost as soonas the lead starts flying, she calls ahalt and agrees to deal—because she’snot an age-old force of destruction,she’s an accountant. A vampireaccountant. Who sayscorporate jobs are dull?

Splicing magic witha not-so-far futureEarth ruled bymegacorps isinherently ridiculous,but the business of

shadowrunning (dirty,untraceable work forthe highest bidder) was a touch dryin Shadowrun Returns and itsexpandalone, Dragonfall. Hong Kong is blessed by the camp excess ofEastern cinema, not just in the luridneon that adorns every shopfront, butin the clichéd retorts, triad wars andB-movie heists that it delights in. It’slike the series has relaxed, convincedby a third successful Kickstarter thatit’s good at what it does.

Arooftop duel under neon floodlights convinced me thatShadowrun’s writing had at last met the potential in itsmash-up of magic and cyberpunk. A charismatic elven streetsamurai, I’d presumably coasted in samurai school, becauseI could talk my way through a locked door but couldn’t hit a

troll at two paces. Yet here I was, staring down an angry vampire upset atmy late-night stock check of her boyfriend’s flat.

Shadowrun is about intrigueabove all, and the central narrativehere raises questions aplenty. As a

clean-nosed tourist in search of yourestranged foster father, it’s all of fiveminutes before you’re forced intoroving firefights with the Hong Kongpolice. You descend into a life ofcrime, branded a terrorist and

desperate for triadprotection, taking on amultitude of unsavoryshadowruns while yournew boss (the badlynamed Kindly Cheng)tracks down your dad.So far, so cyberpunk,

but the late gameplot-kink cashes outthe Chinese mysticism teased allgame for an expertly foreshadowedfinale. Hong Kong is a more personaland urgent adventure than Returns—

you’re not so much a hero as awell-armed victim—and it surpasses

Dragonfall in dark comic grandeur. There’s the staple murder

mystery, Hollywood backstabbing,impromptu feng shui and somecasual tomb raiding to keep things

fresh. Of course, this being Shadowrun, these all take placethrough clicks on static interactiveicons, the scene-setting handled bytext and décor alone and the reliableturn-based combat all but unchanged.No doubt more-of-the-same seemedsafer than experimentation, but inthe face of competitors like Pillars ofEternity , Shadowrun needs to adaptor end up looking dated.

ART ATTACK

Static though the settings are, they’relavish to an obscene degree. A

battalion of artists must have beendrafted to contribute the exquisiteoriental set-pieces that appear on justone mission each, good for ascreenshot and a gunfight (obviously)

before being thrown on the pile. It’sluxurious, hands-off spectacle thatexists to support the writing, andoccasionally outshines it.

It’s a shame the crowdfunded

$1.2m wasn’t enough to resolve thelongstanding interface woes. The UIis cleaner, but a certain amount ofpatience is required to see past inputlag and, on one occasion, completefailure that caused my runner tostroll about in sleeping gas instead oftaking the lift. I left her behind with

vindictive pleasure. And for all thequality of Hong Kong ’s dialogue, it’smore an illusion of player choice thanmeaningful roleplay. Polite, smartassand slow-witted options typicallymask the same response.

Regardless, this is a spectacular

story of deceit and poisonous evilthat will lure you through the mostindulgent settings yet seen in theRPG renaissance. For the price, it’s ofgiddying scale, but Shadowrun isstarting to cry out for innovation. If itcontinues to tread water, it could endup drifting back into the shadows.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

A text-heavyturn-based RPG.

EXPECT TO PAY

$20

DEVELOPER

Harebrained Schemes

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

Windows 7, Core i5,16GB RAM, GTX 780Ti

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

www.harebrained-schemes.com/

shadowrun

76This is the bestShadowrun to date, butfor all its vibrant neonscenery, the series is

starting to go gray.

V E R D I C T

M O T L E Y C R E W Meet the team united by your misfortune

D U N C A N W UYour foster brotherand a former cop;

perhapsunderstandably

less than psychedfor shadowrunning.

G O B B E TA rat Shaman

whose hobbiesinclude melting

flesh from bonesand hitting damn-all with her SMG.

R A C T E RThe Russian drone

enthusiast whooccupies your

ship’s basement-cum-steel foundry.We’ve all got one.

I S 0 B E LDwarf and decker,whose mission in

life is to makemegacorps regret

their choice ofpassword.

G A I C H USure, he needshuman flesh to

survive, but whowouldn’t want a

bulletproof samuraion-side?

70 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



Shadowrun: Hong Kong

R E V I EW

Tooltips have been streamlinedand the UI neatened up.

Squeaky le Pin has talkingand fleeing down to a T.

Proprietor: Maximum Law.Yes, really.

An efficient blend of crimescene and funeral.

Even minor interactionsrequire a dip to black.



FROZENPillars of Eternity gets its first expansion, THE WHITE MARCH: PART I.

By Andy Kelly

It’s really justan excuse togive you two

new dungeonsto crawl

The White March is an area in theDyrwood’s frozen north. To access ityou need to have reached the point in

the story where the Watcher takespossession of their stronghold, CaedNua. A letter will arrive and yourghostly steward will tell you about anorthern village, Stalwart, that’s inneed of your help. If you don’t haveany saves from beforethe point of no returnat the end of the maingame, then you’ll haveto start all over again.

When you arrive inthe tiny fishing villageof Stalwart, it’s being

attacked by giant ogres.Repel the invaders andyour reward is a meeting with themayor. She tells you about an ancientdwarven fortress, Durgan’s Battery,that’s been sealed for aeons. If youcan get inside and activate alegendary forge, said to be able tomake the world’s strongest steel,you’ll bring prosperity to the village,which has been in decline for years.

The story isn’t as good as anythingin the main game, and there isn’tmuch of it. It’s really just an excuse to

If Pillars of Eternity is Baldur’s Gate, then The White March is

Icewind Dale—and not just because they both feature chilly,snow-covered settings. The focus in this DLC expansion issquarely on combat and dungeon-crawling, so anyone looking tosink their teeth into a rich story will be disappointed. But if you

can’t get enough of Pillars’s deep turn-based combat, and like a challenge,it may be worth a look.

give you two new dungeons to crawl. As well as Durgan’s Battery there’sCragholdt Bluffs, which is designed

for skilled players with high-levelparties. Don’t even think about goinghere until you’ve reached at leastlevel 10. Both are thin on story, but

big on tough, challenging battles thatwill test even veteran players.

But you don’t haveto go it alone, becauseThe White March features two newcompanions. Zahua is astrange old monk whospecializes in unarmedcombat and is covered

in self-inflicted scars.They rid him of his vanity, he says, which is part of hisreligion—and also the reason you firstmeet him hiding in a barrel ofstinking, rotten fish. He’s anintriguing oddball and really good atpunching people.

Then there’s the Devil of Caroc, acreepy robot with black eyes that’s

been implanted with the soul of awise-cracking murderer. She’s askilled rogue and one of the mostunusual companions in the game. It’s

just a shame they blow the wholesoul-of-a-murderer thing almostimmediately after you meet her. Iwould have liked to have beensurprised by that after adventuringwith her for a while.

NICE-LOOKING

There are a few decent sidequests,including a humorous one where youget involved in a feud between a local

Stalwart drunk and the owner of the village inn, but mostly they’reunremarkable. The White March ispretty, though. From the bubblinghot-springs and gently falling snow ofStalwart to the rugged, icy mountainsnear Durgan’s Battery, it’s a nicecontrast to the leafy green forests ofthe rest of the Dyrwood.

The White March: Part I arrivesalongside patch 2.0, which you’ll geteven if you don’t buy the DLC. This

brings some pretty major newfeatures to the game, including the

ability to assign AI scripts to partymembers. No more endlessmicromanaging—that’s unless youwant to, of course. The enemy AI has

been improved too and sees foes breaking away to engage rangedcharacters and casters at the backmore frequently.

The White March is fine. It’s noThrone of Bhaal or Tales of the SwordCoast, but it’s a reasonablyentertaining chunk of new quests,and a nice change of scenery. You’llreturn from the frosty White Marchwith quality loot in your stash,

mountains of experience points andtwo new weirdos to adventure with,

but not many great tales to tellaround the campfire. I’m not surewhat Part II of the DLC will entail,

but hopefully it has a morecompelling story to accompany itsdungeon-crawling.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

An expansion set in EírGlanfath’s snowy north.

EXPECT TO PAY

$15

DEVELOPER

Obsidian Entertainment

PUBLISHER

Paradox Interactive

REVIEWED ON

GeForce GTX 970, Inteli5-3570K @ 3.4GHz,

16GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

eternity.obsidian.net

70More of the same, butwith a greater focus oncombat and dungeons.If that appeals, it may

be worth a visit.

V E R D I C T

P A R T Y H A R D How the new companions stack up

CLASS Rogue

RACE AdvancedConstruct

STATS Might 15/ Con 12Dex 12/ Per 16Int 12/ Res 15

SKILLS Stealth 7/Mechanics 8

D E V I L O F C A R O C

CLASS Monk

RACE SavannahFolk

STATS Might 19/ Con 16Dex 15/ Per 10Int 10/ Res 11

SKILLS Athletics 4/ Survival 9

Z A H U A

72 DECEMBER 2015

D L C R E V I E W



Pillars of Eternity The White March: Part

R E V I EW

Get ready forsome tough battles.

I hope you likeicy caves.

Echoes of Irenicus’sdungeon in Baldur’s Gate II .

If you thought Pillars neededmore robots, you’re in luck.

The imposing gates ofDurgan’s Battery.

Ogres are as smelly asthey are powerful.



COMMAND PROMPTACT OF AGGRESSION waves the flag for the early-noughties RTS.

By Chris Thursten

The missionsthemselves

follow a well-worn

pattern

Command & Conquer: Generals is theobvious reference point, but Act ofAggression is very much its own

game. Resources are distributedrandomly across expansive maps,adding a speculative scouting phaseto the start of every match thatshapes your overall strategy.

During this phase you constructrefineries and supplylines, each factionoffering a slightlydifferent set ofparameters forhandling conveyance,base expansion, powergeneration, etc. It’s a lot

to take in, but if you’velamented the absenceof this kind of RTS over the past fewyears then it’s a difficulty curve you’llenjoy surmounting.

What follows is the drama of thematch proper. An infantry battlemight break out between garrisonedbuildings for control of a bank thatgenerates resources over time for theside that holds it. You might send aplatoon of soldiers to capture downed

Set during a near-future war, Act of Aggression is, nonetheless, athrowback—to Act of War, the mid-noughties RTS series itsucceeds, and to old-school base-building strategy games ingeneral. Three factions—the UN-sponsored Chimera, the US Army, and a coalition of PMCs called the Cartel—battle over

large maps to secure resources and assert military dominance. If you’vemissed heavy tanks and noodly electric guitar soundtracks, welcome home.

enemy combatants for a bounty, orengage in a daring medivac missionto prevent the same from happening

to your own troops. Tank columnsroll through the countryside,helicopters clash in the air, jets soarin from off-map as each playerapproaches the point where they candeploy match-ending superweapons

like nukes andlong-range artillery.

AoA doesn’t offeranything particularlynew, but there’spleasure in familiarity.

The campaign is alimp introduction to all

this. Two sequences ofmissions—one forChimera, another for Cartel—are setin a homebrew Clancyverse thatoffers nothing you haven’t seen indozens of other modern warfaregames. The missions themselvesfollow a well-worn pattern. You startout ordering a gaggle of troops alonga linear set of waypoints to learn the

basics. The amount of freedom you’regiven increases until you start to

approach full control. The problem isthat, as in many older RTSes, yourmost dangerous foes are the scriptedmoments planned to occur as you hitcheckpoints along the way. If youdon’t have the right forcecomposition at these moments, you’llprobably fail. This creates afrustrating trial-and-error dynamicwhere your first attempt isdisproportionately hard (because you

don’t know what’s coming) and yoursecond is disproportionately easy(because you do.)

AI BUG

For this reason I found skirmishmatches a more entertaining way tolearn AoA than the campaign. Thereare plenty of maps, varied options for

AI difficulty and team composition,and lots of potential value indiscovering all of these over time.I did, however, encounter a singlegamebreaking AI bug that, while

I couldn’t repeat it, means myrecommendation comes with caveats.Playing online prior to the game’s

official release, it’s tough to get asense of how the scene will shakeout—I had matches that came downto cheesy minute-zero buildingrushes (disappointing) and matchesthat played out over a full 40 minuteswith plenty of dramatic moments. Aswith any competitive game, theseinitial impressions represent the

bottom of a long and often-unforgiving climb.

To get the most out of this you

need to be able to put up with thecampaign and the sometimes-severerough edges. This isn’t the completepackage in the way the old WestwoodRTSes were. But moment to moment,in the little things that matter, Act of

Aggression is a worthy successor tothe games that inspired it.

Power-hungry private interest groups act through a covert network of private military companies to destabilizetraditional world powers and advance their agenda. The good guys must unravel the conspiracy piece-by-piece to

uncover the sinister guiding hand behind it. Also there’s probably an EMP or something.

N E E D T O K N O W

WHAT IS IT?

A modern military RTSwith an old-school

sensibility.

EXPECT TO PAY

$45

DEVELOPER

Eugen Systems

PUBLISHER

Focus Home Interactive

REVIEWED ON

Intel i5-2500K, 16GBRAM, GeForce GTX 970

MULTIPLAYER

Online, up to eightplayers

LINK

www.actofaggression-game.com

70AI flaws and a limpcampaign let down anotherwise-accomplishednear-future-military

RTS revival.

V E R D I C T

L O S T T H E P L O T To which military thriller does this premise belong?

A n s w e r : P r e t t y m u c h a l l o f t h e m . A n d a l l t h e r e s t , t o o .

A C T O FA G G R E S S I O N

C A L L O F D U T Y :A D V A N C E D W A R F A R E

S P L I N T E R C E L L :B L A C K L I S T

T O M C L A N C Y ’ SH A W X

74 DECEMBER 2015

R E V I E W



Act of Aggressio

R E V I EW

Bases get impressivelylarge over time.

The Cartel have accessto hi-tech gear.

Take THAT, military industrialcomplex! Oh wait.

We’re all going on holiday.To occupy a bank.

Magical repair tank?Probably nanomachines.



Stories in Total War

appear without warning,

like aunts on damp

Sunday afternoons.

Attila and Rome II

deliberately construct these stories,

letting you make decisions that nudge

the narrative in whichever direction you

choose, but I prefer the accidental

drama of Medieval II .I’m drawn back to Medieval II:

Kingdoms after reading about the

Crusades: a compelling period of

history, rich in tales of dashing Norman

princes, religious fervor and the taut

diplomacy of the Byzantine Empire.

Specifically, the battle of Manzikert, in

which the once-supreme imperial army

was crushed by the Turks. It makes me

sad, because the Byzantines were

always my favorite faction, for a number

of reasons, although that is a bit like

picking your favorite war criminal.

Compared to the frothing barbarians of

the West, Constantinople had guile andromance. I decide to make myself feel

better by changing history, because

games let me do that.

TURKING POINT

I start a new Crusades campaign, 100

years after Manzikert. My empire is

diminished but capable—although huge

chunks of Anatolia belong to the Turks,

it’s still possible to fight back. Soon,

purple fingers begin stretching across

the map, gradually reclaiming lost lands

which were probably taken from

someone else in the first place. I

“I decide to make myself feel better

by changing history”How one man rose from the ranks to save an empire in MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR

THE DOGE IS CAPTURED, I RANSOMHIM FOR 28,000 GOLD, CAPTURE HIMAGAIN, THEN EXECUTE HIM

atural authority is great, butn enormous horde is better.

M A T T E L L I O T T

THIS MONTH

Fixed history in Medieval II:

Total War .

ALSO PLAYED

Rocket League, Rocket

League, Rocket League

construct mines and grow crops. I send

emissaries into enemy lands to spread

religious dissent. On the faction

rankings graph, my purple line creeps

upwards while Turkish forces diminish.

I reach that moment that comes in

every Total War game, where armies

fight to determine the future of each

faction. It’s an event where the lines on

the graph converge; one faction falls,another ascends. Our forces clash at

Amorium, and it’s butchery. My general

is killed, and the future of my campaign

is left dangling from thin gristle like a

hacked arm. A wave of green threatens

to wash my forces away, leaving the

path to Constantinople unguarded.

76 DECEMBER 2015

E X T R A L I F ECONTINUED ADVENTURES IN GAMING





P

erhaps in tribute to the

issues that had it

removed from sale, I’ve

been playing Batman:Arkham Knight not as a

man, a symbol, or something more than

both of those, but as a persistent

technical problem .

I’m crouching on an overhead wire

above a rooftop occupied by the

Arkham Knight’s militia. Red searchlight

beams attached to sentry guns sweep

the dark corners. One soldier controls a

buzzing drone that flies in a lazy orbit

just below me. Through detective mode

I can see a handful of other armed

guards, including one with a deadly

shotgun, and a medic with a defibrillator.

Over time, Arkham Asylum’ sself-contained puzzle-stealth has given

way to open-ended scenarios like this

one. The game assumes that you’ll beat

it, one way or another, but what matters

ishow . The reward for success is part

progress, part performance. Acrobatic,

bullet-evading combat takedowns;

tactical stealth; a direct approach. Each

of these plays to a different part of the

Batman fantasy.

I’m not sure what I do next qualifies.

I drop onto the edge of the roof right

behind the drone controller. He’s facing

away from me, but I’m otherwise

perfectly illuminated. I whip out the

Remote Hacking Device—Batman’s

iPhone, basically—and surreptitiously

steal the access codes for the drone.

Then I grapple back up to my overhead

cable and pull out the Disruptor. This is a

rifle that fires electric bolts, which

change the way various bits of enemy

equipment work because Batman.

I fire one at the medic’s defibrillator,then zip over to another rooftop and fire

two charges at the rifle of the guy

furthest from the rest of the group.

Then, back to my zipline. Switching back

to the Remote Hacking Device, I keep an

eye on the drone. There’s a point on its

orbit where it’s in range of three of the

“Then the defibrillator electrocuteshim until he doesn’t get up”Making thugs wish they’d taken out a warranty in BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

guards, including the guy controlling it. I

wait a moment, then pull the trigger.

The drone goes rogue, electrocuting

three of its allies. Then, the droneexplodes for some reason. There’s a

shout of alarm as the two remaining

guards—including the medic—rush to

investigate. “Hold on while I revive this

guy!” cries the medic, pulling out his

defibrillator. Then, the defibrillator

electrocutes him until he doesn’t get up.

One guy left. I drop off my cable and

stand motionless in the middle of a pile

of unconscious bodies. “It’s the Bat!”

cries the guard. He raises his rifle. His

rifle explodes in his hands.

There’s definitely something ‘of the

Bat’ about a campaign of meticulous

sabotage, but I can’t help seeing it fromthe mercs’ perspective. Batman didn’t

beat them: they were beaten by shitty

equipment . I’m not convinced that the

last guard will come away with a tale of

the shadow that moved impossibly fast,

the terrifying justice stalking in the

night—I think he’ll come way with a

strongly-worded letter to his superiors.

“Cost-cutting measures are taking the

soul out of paramilitary supervillainy,”

he’ll write, remembering Batman only as

a big man in a silly costume who

happened to be hanging around on the

night technical support took a holiday.

“IT’S THE BAT!” CRIES THE GUARD.

HE RAISES HIS RIFLE. HIS RIFLE

EXPLODES IN HIS HANDS

Batman: the bastard technicalsupport operative from hell.

“Have you tried switchingit off and on again?”

C H R I S T H U R S T E N

THIS MONTH

Messed with Two-Face’s WiFi,

hid the Penguin’s Kindle.

ALSO PLAYED

Dota 2, Smite, Dragon Age:

Inquisition

78 DECEMBER 2015

THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW

N O W P L A Y I N G



L ast month I spent a few

days in the Outer

Hebrides, on the

Scottish island of Lewis

and Harris. An unusual

destination for a summer vacation,

sure, but it’s a hell of a place—especially

if you want to escape the bustle of city

life. It was, in part, a trip inspired by Dear

Esther . I found The Chinese Room’s

barren Hebridean landscape soevocative that I had to see the real thing.

Returning to the game after my

break, I immediately recognized the

rugged brush, craggy rocks and

slate-grey skies. It’s an uncanny

recreation of a part of the world that’s

desolate and empty, but also strikingly

beautiful. It’s amazing how good the

game version still looks, despite being

built in an ancient version of the Source

engine. Thanks to the strength of its art

direction, I think it’ll look good forever.

There’s something haunting about

the British countryside, but it’s a settingfew take advantage of. While the story in

Dear Esther has never really move me

that unnamed island is one of my

favorite imaginary places to wander,

helped by Jessica Curry’s gorgeous,

understated score. From the wind-

battered coastline to those colorful

caves, it’s a masterclass in world design.

The ‘Riddle on the Rails’ case in the

brilliant Sherlock Holmes: Crimes andPunishments , with its empty, misty train

stations, is the only other example I can

think of where a game has evoked the

ghostly, parochial feel of rural Britain. I

want more environments like that.

Sadly, most games that attempt a

UK setting look like Wee Britain from

Arrested Development: all red phone

boxes, cockney accents and Beefeaters.

One scene in Call of Duty squeezes so

much stereotypical London imagery

into one street that it’s funny—even

during the story’s terrorist attack.

As I stood among a vast, lifelessexpanse of rock on Harris, silent except

“It was so evocative thatI had to see the real thing”Visiting the inspiration for DEAR ESTHER’s eerie island

for the howl of the wind, I understood

why The Chinese Room set its game

here. It’s an ideal backdrop for the

melancholy, enigmatic story. And

environment artist Robert Briscoe

captured its eerie ambience perfectly.

While developers have yet to realize

the potential of the British countryside,

many great films have used it to tell

stories: The Wicker Man, Straw Dogs,

Withnail & I. The jungles, deserts, andNorth American forests game artists

love so much are fine, but how about

something different?

Some people hate Dear Esther . The

see it as a prime example of the

so-called ‘walking simulator’, but after a

week spent hiking around Scotland’s

Highlands and Western Islands, I can te

you this: walking is awesome. Exploring

a new place and soaking up the

atmosphere is something I love doing in

real life and in videogames.

The Chinese Room’s latest game

continues its curious love affair withrural Britain. Everybody’s Gone to the

Rapture is set in a pastoral Shropshire

village, which is used to tell a darkly

apocalyptic story. It’s a PS4 exclusive

for the time being, but hopefully it will

come our way soon, because we need

more unusual settings on PC—and I be

Shropshire’s lovely at this time of year.

A N D Y K E L L Y

THIS MONTH

Enjoyed a game-inspired

holiday.

ALSO PLAYED

Pillars of Eternity,

Satellite Reign

THANKS TO THE STRENGTH OF ITSART DIRECTION, I THINKDEAR

ESTHER WILL LOOK GOOD FOREVER

Actor Nigel Carrington providesthe game’s narration.

The Chinese Room started asartists, not game designers.

DECEMBER 2015 7

E X T R A L I F

N O W P L A Y I N G I D O W N L O A D S I R E I N S T A L



1 PUNITY

BESIEGE

FREEWARE Exclusively second on PC

MOD Incredible machinesfrom the engineer-’em-up

R emember Silent Hills?Konami would rather you didn’t, but theHideo Kojima/ Guillermo del Toro

collaboration was announced tomuch fanfare during Gamescom

2014 with the release of ‘PT’, a‘playable teaser’ consisting of a fewrooms of horror.

Unfortunately it was only available

on the PlayStation 4. Then double

unfortunately Silent Hills was canceled

and Konami attempted to wipe PT off

the face of the Earth, blocking all

downloads so that only those console-

owners who already had it installed on

their machines could enjoy it. Enter

aspiring game developer Farhan

Qureshi, who spent over a 100 hours

recreating PT in Unity down to the

tiniest detail. While it isn’t the real thing,

Besiege is a medieval

Kerbal Space Program .

Newly added Steam

Workshop support

makes downloading creations even

easier. Here’s a sample of some of

the community’s best work.

it is the closest we’re going to get on the

PC. More importantly it ensures a piece

of gaming history is not forgotten.

PT then, if you’ve been steadfastly

ignoring all non-PC gaming news, is an

Amnesia -like first-person horror

experience. Your only available actions

are to zoom and walk, and the onlylocations are a couple of rooms and a

corridor. Yet it still manages to convey a

sense of strange horror and creeping

dread. To explain much more would be

to ruin the experience, but suffice it to

say the game changes every time you

replay the same ‘loop’, slowly building

itself up into a greater experience.

PT is what The Stanley Parable

would be if instead of deconstructive

comedy it relied on pants-threatening

horror and creeping dread.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/PTunity

W A R H A M M E R 4 0 K D R E A D N O U G H TIt’s a fundamental law of physics that everygame gets a 40K mod eventually. I enjoythis one because it actually has the rightweapons for a 40K dreadnought, though itdoes often set itself on fire.

www.bit.ly/besiege3

M A C H I N E G U NThis ingenious contraption inverts thewhole belt-fed-gun principle by feeding abelt full of cannons past a lit torch. Theresult is a fast firing machine gun thatutterly ruins whatever you point it at.

www.bit.ly/besiege2

M A M M O T H M K 5Frankly, I would have included this machinefor the lovely walking motion alone, butthose drill-bit tusks and absurdlyoverpowered main battle cannon are theicing on the elephantine cake.

www.bit.ly/besiege1

2A truly terrifyinghallway, apparently.

80 DECEMBER 2015

T O P 1 0 D O W N L O A D S

FREE GAMES STUFF FROM THE WEB by Tom Hatfield



3 GTA V HULKBUSTERARMOR

JulioNIB’sHulkbuster mod is a faithfulrecreation of the armor’s Age of Ultron

appearance. Not only does it lookrad as hell, it also gifts you with theability to fly, lift, carry and throwcars (seriously why was this not inthe game from the start?) and fireoff Tony Stark’s trademark lasers*

from the hand or chest, plus some

missiles and other weapons. Bewarned that this one is a toughinstall, requiring multiplecomponents. Modding GTA V isn’teasy, but you can’t argue withresults like this.

*Yes comic fans I am aware thatrepulsor beams are not technicallylasers. Please do not write in.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/hulkb

MONSTROUSMINI MAZES

There are a lot of ambitious

but unfinished Shadowrun

mods out there, especially

as the transition to a newengine caught modders off guard.

Antumbra Saga stands above the crowd

as the most acclaimed user campaign

Shadowrun has ever seen.

Originally a trilogy, it’s been ported

over to the Director’s Cut as one epic

story. What starts as a simple hour-long

nightclub infiltration mission slowly

expands to make the player a major part

of the struggles to control the WestCoast. While that first act is a Dead

Man’s Switch -style solo affair, later

parts expand the characters and flesh

them out, Dragonfall style.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/antsaga

ANTUMBRA SAGA

1TURMTurm is a brash, confident

Street Samurai who you canrecruit right from the start of

the game.

2DALMINDalmin is another early

hire, a streetwise Shaman whoholds crucial information

about that first mission.

3KALIWhile the story extends to

other settings, AntumbraNightclub owner Kali remains

an important character.

2

3

MOD Hulk not included

WEBGAME Puzzle gamesachieve Sokobanception

Slidey box puzzle-game

aficionado Alan Hazelden

(creator of Sokobond ,

and A Good Snowman is

Hard to Build ) actually created thisback in 2013 but never got around to

releasing it until now. The gimmick is

that each time you complete a maze

the camera zooms out, displaying a

greater maze around it. The original

maze can then be re-entered and

pushed around like a Sokoban crate

to solve the new maze. Repeat with

increasingly complexity until all levels

are finished, or until you swear a lot

and give up.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/MMMazes

5

4

MOD Shadowrun Returns ’ definitive user campaign

Something new for Los Santoscitizens to swear at.

1

DECEMBER 2015 8

E X T R A L I F




6 SAGITTARIUS

Two archers stand ontiny planets. Theytake it in turns to firearrows at one

another, which curve based onthe gravity of the planets in theirpath. That, in a nutshell, isSagittarius. The exaggeratedgravity physics, though, makes itincredibly hard to predict thepath of each arrow and nearimpossible to actually hit what you’re aiming at. Especially

when you realize that thesensible move is to try to staythe other side of the planet from your opponent and use trickshots. These unpredictable arcsgive the game a layer of tension, because you’re never quite sureif your opponent’s arrow is goingto loop around three times andhit you in the back or just stickinto the first planet it passes.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/sagarrow

FREEWARE Spacetime’s arrow

Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz takes context

sensitive controls to their

logical conclusion. Other

than using the arrow keys to

move around, the only button you’ll be

using is Z, which does remarkably

different things depending on where

you are in the game, ranging from ‘get

into bed’ to ‘use superpower’. The

reason for this confusion is because you

are asleep (hence the Zzzzs) and

moving through a strange dreamworld,

which, like our own dreams, rarely

functions on a set of coherent rules.

Instead you wander uncertainly from

one screen to the next, creating a

fragmented, confusing experience that

feels authentically dreamlike. It’s a

credit to the designers that, despite the

answer to every puzzle being ‘press Z’,

it’s still challenging. After all, it’s when

and where you press Z that counts.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/presszkey

8 ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZFREEWARE You have to press the Z key

A(S)CENTURY WEBGAME A cyberpunkbecomes a corporate suit

This is a Twine adventure

written by game

journalist Austin Walker,

which might explain why

it’s about a freelance copywriter

taking over the world via the power of

persuasive metaphor. This is

cyberpunk without the punk, casting

the player as a corporate ladder

climber, rather than a rebelliousoutsider with interesting hair.

After coming into possession of a

piece of software that’s best

described as ‘like a spellchecker, but

for rhetorical flourish’, the player

character uses the magic of good

writing to gain more power, more

control and more visibility of the

dystopian world they live in. Because

words are so much more persuasive

than money, apparently.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/ascentury

7

Every arrow causes untoldplanetary disaster.

Or maybe you’rea butterfly.

82 DECEMBER 2015

T O P 1 0 D O W N L O A D S

FREE GAMES STUFF FROM THE WEB by Tom Hatfield



DARK SOULS LIMBO MOD

DASH FICTIONThe disturbing games ofSonic Dreams Collection

MOD Anor Londo Noir

This Dark Souls mod

switches the game into a

stark black and white look,

making it look like a Frank

Miller comic, only with less prostitutes.

It was actually discovered entirely by

accident when a Redditor started

playing around with a post processing

utility called Reshade. The community

christened it the ‘Limbo mod’ after the

puzzle-platformer of the same name,

and got to work tweaking it and

creating sharing pictures. It’s worth

saying that the flat look makes the

already difficult Dark Souls even harder

to play, as enemy animations can be

harder to read. I wouldn’t want to play

the whole game this way (I can barely

play it normally) but it sure does make

for great screenshots.

DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/soulsnoir

9 SONIC DREAMSFREEWARE Ruin your childhood with new nightmares

The Sonic Dreams

Collection claims to be a series of bizarreprototypes for Sonic

spin-off gamesscoured from a forgottenDreamcast dev kit. Play for a fewminutes, and you’ll realize it’sactually an elaborate prank/ homage/fanfiction created by Arkane Kids and Arjun Prakash.

The four ‘lost’ minigames are as

much about the weird world of Sonic

fandom as they are about the sad

descent of the Sonic series. They’re set

during the Dreamcast era, when so

many 2D platformer mascots were

flirting with 3D as awkwardly as a

thirteen-year-old at a school disco. It’salmost believable that Sega might have

flirted with an apparently non-functional

MMO, but by the time you get to the

strange and somewhat fetishistic Sonic

dating sim you’ll realize you’re playing

something far stranger. Suffice it to say,

this one isn’t suitable for kids.

DOWNLOAD AT www.hedgehog.exposed

3 M Y R O O M M A T E S O N I CSit on a couch watching TV with Sonic whileDr Robotnik, watching, texts yousuggestions on how to flirt with him. Yes,this can be played with an Oculus Rift.

10

1 M A K E M Y S O N I CA character creator that riffs on Sonic fandom’s love of drawing new characters(Google your name + ‘the hedgehog’ andsee what comes up), and then addsprocedurally generated names.

2 S O N I C M O V I E M A K E RFilm six-second video clips of Sonic andfriends. Just ignore that they are frequentlysplayed out under cars, rolling around in avaguely sexual manner or on fire.

DECEMBER 2015 8

E X T R A L I F




“If you’re expecting GTA with hats, you’re going to be disappointed”

84 DECEMBER 2015

OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES

RE I NS TA L L



R eviews for Mafia IIwere mixed. Most ofthe negative onescomplained that,compared to Grand

Theft Auto, its open world wassterile and empty. But they weremissing the point. If you play Mafia

expecting GTA with hats, you’regoing to be disappointed. Play it asa story-led linear shooter and it’sone of the best examples on PC.

The city is there, sure, but it’s really just a backdrop. A detailed film setdesigned to give the story a rich senseof place. Empire Bay is a local cornershop to GTA V ’s giant departmentstore, but it’s still one of the best

virtual cities in videogaming. It’sfictional, based loosely on New YorkCity, but the artists at 2K Czech did a

remarkable job of making it feel like a

real place with its own history,culture and inner life.

Workers mill around the docks,unloading cargo from ships. Cherrytrees in blossom sway in the breezein Chinatown. From the suburbs ofHunters Point you can see theskyscrapers of downtown Empire

Bay looming in the distance. It’s notlittered with side missions and crazy

vehicles to steal, but it’s a fantasticplace just to explore and soak it all in.

It didn’t take me long to fall inlove with Mafia II. The secondmission, in fact. Protagonist VitoScaletta returns from World War II

N E E D T O K N O W

RELEASED

August 2010

PUBLISHER

2K Games

DEVELOPER

2K Czech

LINK

www.bit.ly/1hYwIz7

MAFIA IIA return to 2K’s criminally underrated crime epic. By Andy Kelly

A few pieces of story DLC were releasedfor Mafia II . Joe’s Adventure is the best,revealing what Joe got up to while Vito wasin prison. It has some fun missions, but aclumsy car chase on a frozen lake and aforced stealth section sour theexperience. Jimmy’s Vendetta is verydifferent, scattering 32 missions aroundEmpire Bay concerned with combat anddriving rather than storytelling. Neitherare essential, but Joe’s Adventure is wortha look if you fancy playing as Vito’sloudmouth partner in crime.

A L I T T L E E X T R A

Are the expansionsworth playing?

DECEMBER 2015 8

E X T R A L I F


Period flavor is whereMafia excels.



on a cold winter’s evening and findshimself back in the neighborhood

where he grew up. Dean Martin’sChristmas classic ‘Let It Snow’ playsas he walks the old, snowy streets ofLittle Italy, reminiscing with facesfrom his past. Military planes flyoverhead, reminding us that the waris far from over. We see couplesarguing, kids throwing snowballs, anda guy getting a haircut in abarbershop. It’s a wonderful piece of

scene-setting, bringing to life not justa different world but a different time.

Mafia II is a rare example of anopen-world game where we see two versions of the same city. The firstportion of the game takes place inEmpire Bay in the 1940s. The moodis gloomy, snow piling up on cars andsidewalks, people slipping on icypavements, and an almost palpablechill in the air. It’s here that Vito

begins climbing the criminal ladder,

working with his old pal, JoeBarbaro. As in GTA, you start off at

the lowest level, pulling off small-time heists, selling stolen goods, andperforming other odd-jobs. But thensomething goes wrong, and Vito endsup in jail for six years.

These years serve as an interludeof sorts. You’re confined to theprison, which is another example of2K Czech’s amazing world-building.

You get to know other inmates, makefriends with a respected mafia bosswho’s doing his own time, and makea powerful enemy in the form of ahulking Irish brute called BrianO’Neill. It’s like The Shawshank

Redemption meets the prison scenesfrom Goodfellas. This sequence alsomarks the first time a game has evermade me clean a toilet.

SUMMER IN THE CITY

Vito emerges from prison to find a very different Empire Bay. The yearis 1951, and the city is no longer bleakand snowy: it’s bright, colorful, andgreen. Teenagers screech around inhot rods listening to Buddy Holly andgirls wear revealing dresses. “It waslike a whole new world,” muses Vito’s

narration as he takes a cab to Joe’s

Empire Bay’s snowy1940s incarnation.

Vito joins the armyto escape a jail sentence.

M E A N

S T R E E T S Places to visit in Empire Bay

1 K I N G S T O NIrish neighborhood. TheO’Neill gang hangs out here.

2 C U L V E R D A MOffers stunning views overEmpire Bay and the CulverRiver.

3 L I T T L E I T A L Y Italian district controlled bythe Clemente crime family.

4 C H I N A T O W NCherry blossom and greatfood. Shame about thetriads.

5 U P T O W NA shopping district in theshadow of the city’sskyscrapers.

6 H U N T E R S P O I N TAfrican Americanneighborhood. Bombergang territory.

21

35

4

6

86 DECEMBER 2015

OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES

RE I NS TA L L

Despite being a ruthlesskiller, Vito is likeable.



house. I always miss the wintry ’40ssetting when I get to this point in thegame. The ’50s stuff is undeniablycool, and feels much more lively, butit’s not nearly as atmospheric.

The music and commercials onthe radio also change to reflect eachtime period. From The AndrewsSisters and Bing Crosby in the 1940sto Little Richard and Bill Haley in the

’50s, the game boasts a superbselection of period music. I don’tknow how authentic it really is—Iwas born in the ’80s—but Mafia II

brilliantly captures a sense of thattime in American history: both theglamor and the tragedy. It pullssurprisingly few punches whendealing with racism, poverty andother issues that plagued the period,which is something Mafia III istackling more directly.

But it’s also an unashamedgangster power fantasy. As his bank

balance increases, you can dress Vito

up in fashionable post-war suits,scream around in shiny sports cars,

and fire Tommy guns at people. As herises in the ranks, his safehouses getmore lavish, from scummy, rat-infested apartments to a dream ’50shouse, complete with pastel-coloredfurniture. Mafia II may touch on realhistory, but it’s an exaggerated, pulpy,almost comic book tale of warringgangs and criminal conspiracy. It’s agood one, though, with a plot thatkeeps you interested throughout its12 or so hours.

Vito is not a sympatheticcharacter. He is, after all, a ruthlesscriminal. But you warm to him just

the same. His sidekick Joe can veer alittle too much into comic reliefterritory, but for the most part he’slikeable. The rest of the cast are mostforgettable mafioso stereotypes, witha few exceptions, but this remains asolidly written and well-acted game.

And if you get bored of the story,there are always the genuine ’50sPlayboy centerfolds scattered aroundthe city to find, which feature actualladies’ boobs. Rude!

Another great moment, muchlater in the game, involves another

Dean Martin song. This time it’s

IT ALSO MARKS THE FIRST

TIME A GAME HAS EVER MADEME CLEAN A TOILET

popular romantic ballad ‘Return ToMe’. Vito drives Joe and another

character to bury a body in thecountryside. They’re both drunk, andas you drive, they start singing alongWhen it gets to the Italian verse, theymumble, too embarrassed to admitthey don’t know the words. Mafia IIis a funny game when it wants to be,with a sense of humor similar toScorsese’s gangster flicks. Thesemoments of comedy break up theaction, and stop it from becoming toorepetitive—although later shootoutscan be a seemingly endless slog ofpopping in and out of cover.

PULP FICTIONMafia II is fundamentally a genericshooter, and the car handling istwitchy, making some of its chasesfrustrating. But it makes up for itwith variety, personality, and a rich,well-realized setting. GTA doesalmost everything it does better andon a larger scale, but Mafia’s story isarguably more compelling. Don’tthink of it as an open-world game,

because it really isn’t. Come at it fromthe right angle, as a linear, scripted,

but enjoyable shooter, and you might

find you love it.

Cover-based shootingmakes up the bulk of the game.

DECEMBER 2015 8

E X T R A L I F




By Dave James

GROUPTEST

U P G R A D E

88 DECEMBER 2015



If the consoles have givenus anything, it’s qualitygaming controllers forthe PC. Before the lastgeneration of game boxes

came around a lot of ineffectual,

poorly built and lazily designed

gamepads were released for thePC. That’s why most of us havestuck to the traditional mouse andkeyboard for so long. But withtoday’s plethora of cross-platformgames, controllers are almost a

necessity for a gaming PC.

Q&AWhy would I want to usa gamepad?A mouse and keyboard isthe most effective andaccurate of controls for

an FPS, but there arecertain games andgenres where a gamepadmakes more sense. Thisis especially true forconsole ports wherecontrols may have beenmapped for a pad andmake no ergonomicsense on a keyboard.

The inputs are the samthough, aren’t they?Actually no. The inputs o your keyboard aredigital—a key is pressedor not pressed. A

gamepad’s analog stickhas a range of possiblevalues. In stealth gamesbeing able to gently holdthe stick on a gamepadmeans a character willmove slower than at fulltilt. The WASD keys willalways move you at thesame pace.

Do I want a wireless or wired controller?Latency is less of an issunow that consolemanufacturers havefocused on wirelesscontrollers, so it’s more

down to personalpreference. If you’resitting directly in front o your PC, a wired deviceisn’t inconvenient. But aconsistent wirelessoption is the ideal.

What choice of layoutdo I have?For the most part, thisfalls into two camps—either PlayStation orXbox. The symmetricalapproach of the classicDualShock controllerfrom Sony has its fans,

but arguably theasymmetrical analogsticks of the Xbox designaren’t quite so fatiguing.

DictionaryAnalog—A digital input either on or off, but ananalog input can have arange of values.

Connection—UsuallyUSB, but traditionalwireless and Bluetoothare also available. Thelater may require a

third-party dongle.

Because sometimes WASD just isn’t enough

GAMEPADS

DECEMBER 2015 8

Group Tes

HARDWAR



Group Test

H A R D W A R E

The current Xbox One controller is pretty damn

close to ideal. PC devs have adopted the Xbox

standard as the default setting and display for PC

controller mapping in-game. It’s been that way since

the excellent Xbox 360 controller, and the updated

version for the latest Microsoft console has

improved on the design in every way.

At this price it’s hugely competitive and the buildquality is typically excellent. Top of the bill, and one

of the main reasons for the original Xbox controller’s

success, is that asymmetrical layout. The offset

thumbsticks make complete sense and relieve the

aching thumb-based fatigue that can set in with the

mirror-imaged DualShock sticks. That and the fact

the new trigger buttons are beautifully built: robust,

yet subtle and incredibly accurate.

The only issue is that wireless functionality has

yet to be introduced on the PC side. That will surely

arrive with the upcoming Elite controller,

but for far too long this gamepad has

remained resolutely wired-in on PC.

1 2

MICROSOFT XBOX ONE

CONTROLLERwww.xbox.com$49

You have to install and run a simple program, easily

found on Google, then you’re up and running with a

wired PlayStation controller on your PC. Dig a little

further, pick up a Bluetooth dongle, and you can be

wireless almost as quickly.

I had my doubts as to how well I’d get on with this

device, having used an Xbox 360 and then an Xbox

One pad for all my gaming in the last few years. ButI’ve been very pleasantly surprised. The trigger

buttons aren’t quite as slick as on the One, but

manage to fit the classic DualShock design without

needing too much digital gymnastics.

The thumbsticks are the stars of the show. I

much prefer the Microsoft-wrought asymmetrical

layout, but the action on the Sony sticks is superb.

The DualShock 4’s wireless functionality also makes

it stand out—you just need a cheap Bluetooth

adapter to get going.

The DS4 on PC may lack the support

of the Xbox controller, but it makes up

for it in the feel of the thing.

SONY DUALSHOCK 4

www.sony.com$56

There is no perfect PC controller right now. There are some

excellent ones, but none are quite perfect. That may change,

however, with Microsoft’s determination to bridge the gap

between PC and Xbox One.

Not officially compatible with the PC, Sony’s DualShock 4

controller needs a little light tweakery before it will play nicely

with it. The classic design and great build quality, however,

makes it well worth the effort.

88% 88%

1

3

2



3 4The differences between the new Xbox Onecontroller and the older 360 version are slight.Evolution, not revolution. The 360 version feels alittle looser, the sticks have some play in them andso do the triggers, but it’s now a great price andsuperbly compatible with practically any game fromthe last five years.

You will however need to spend some more on awireless receiver if you want to go wireless like this.The wired version isn’t much cheaper, so I’d stillrecommend picking this up with the $10 USBreceiver. That will also allow you to run up to threeother controllers from the one PC.

The blessing and curse is the battery pack. It’sbulky and adds a fair amount of weight, but itmostly stays out of the way and the reliance on AAbatteries means you’ll usually have some sparesaround if you run the power down.

I’m still a huge fan of this controllerand it’s only the improved build qualitythat gives the previous two an edge.

MICROSOFT XBOX 360

WIRELESS www.xbox.com$32

To be fair to Nvidia it was never designed for the PCThey added support due to popular demand, notnecessarily because people wanted to buy one fortheir PC, but rather because Shield owners wantedsome extra value out of their pricey peripheral.

It’s an Android controller first, so the volume,home and touchpad functions don’t do anything on

PC. That’s also why the controller follows DualShocstick layouts while still retaining Xbox buttonconventions—Android games are more likely to relyon the D-pad than the analog sticks.

It’s also one ugly, distended beast, althoughsurprisingly comfortable in the hand, veryresponsive and the controls reliable. But it’s soniche only Shield owners would ever plug one intotheir PC over a DualShock 4 or Xbox controller. Italso hates AMD gamers. You need an Nvidia GPU torun this controller as it operates via GeForceExperience, eschewing the traditionalWindows USB controller dialogues.Odd, but probably not surprising.

NVIDIA SHIELD CONTROLLER

www.nvidia.com$60

This simple but elegant device is the controller that started it

all. The Xbox 360 controller was the one that brought modern

gamepad aesthetics to the PC, and it still stands the test of

time. It’s smartly-designed and seriously robust.

Nvidia’s controller for its Shield tablet can be used as a wired

PC gamepad, but it comes with so many caveats as to make it

one of the most niche controllers since that fishing rod you

could get for Sega Bass Fishing.

84% 79%

4



SPEEDLINK TORID

www.speedlink.com$31

LOGITECH F710

www.logitech.com$40

65Logitech has stuck with the Sony design and that’s

definitely to its cost. And considering the high price

of the F710 it’s going to cost you too. For that money

I would have expected more impressive build

quality, especially considering the outstanding mice

and steering wheels Logitech makes.

Unfortunately, while the analog sticks feel

smooth and are eminently reliable, the D-pad feelslike a bit of an afterthought. The triggers are also

hugely uncomfortable, requiring you to press their

edges to actuate their limited travel. Not what you

want at all when you’re trying to land headshots in

Metal Gear Solid V .

Then there’s the battery pack. It’s handy that it

runs with AA batteries, but lying horizontally they

get right in the way of your grip. The wireless

functionality is great, and it has a simple plug and

play installation. But ultimately the F710 is just too

expensive for what feels like a cut-price

controller, and can’t compete with the

more complete offerings here.

I had little hope for this device; it almost seemed as

if Speedlink was anticipating my testing experience

through its name. But pick it up, plug it in and you’ve

essentially got a wireless Xbox 360 pad for very little

money. A green one.

Interestingly it won’t actually function on

Microsoft’s console, but it is happy in its PC or

PlayStation homes. I will say that its color has stillnot grown on me even after some, most definitely

not torrid, hours of gaming where I barely noticed

the device in my hand. It didn’t stutter, stall or in any

way hurt my gaming experience, as you might

expect from a cheap pad.

It’s not as well-built as the official pads from

either Sony or Microsoft, mainly where the buttons

and triggers are concerned, but it’s solid, wireless

out of the box and doesn’t have the 360’s bulky

battery compartment. It won’t, however, operate

wired into the PC—if the built-in battery’s

dead the cable will supply charge not

outputs. For the price, that’s fine.

There are reasons third-party game controller manufacturers

have followed the Xbox model over the DualShock design—the

asymmetrical layout is more comfortable for long sessions and

the trigger buttons make far more sense.

Ignore the color scheme for a moment. This is the absolute

worst name for a peripheral I’ve come across since the

Buttkicker. And I’ve tested the Woojer. Yet beneath that

Hulk-green exterior lies an impressive wireless controller.

81% 68%

92 DECEMBER 2015

5



MAD CATZ CTRLR

www.madcatz.com$42

STACKED UP

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Sony Dual Shock 4

Microsoft Xbox One

Nvidia Shield Controller

Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless

Logitech F710

Speedlink Torid

Mad Catz CTRLR

42

22

80

PRICE ($) BUTTONS SCORE (%)

7And if we were giving awards away for such

impressive compatibility the CTRLR would get one.

The media controls are useful, as is the mouse

mode switch—controlling the cursor with an analog

stick turns out to be surprisingly handy. But

unfortunately the Mad Catz pad falls a little short

despite its flexibility.

The Bluetooth connection is solid, though itneeds either a USB dongle or existing compatibility

in your machine, like the DS4. It also doesn’t feel

anywhere near as robust as the Xbox or PlayStation

originals, sounding plasticky when the buttons are

pressed. The D-pad is a little stiff too, making it

difficult to hit the precise directions you’re after.

But my biggest issue is that it doesn’t register on

PC with the right button configuration, despite

having PC drivers and software, as well as Xbox

controller labelling. X and Y are switched as are the

A and B buttons. It’s possible to change

layout in some games, but not all, and

that makes it harder to recommend.

Versatility is the name of the game for Mad Catz’s curtly-

titled CTRLR, (vowels, not so much.) As well as being an

Xbox-styled PC gamepad it will also wirelessly connect to your

Android tablet, phone or set-top box.

80%

ESSENTIALS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Wired

Wireless

Wired or wirelessBluetooth

Wired (wireless to follow)

Wireless Bluetooth

Wireless

Wireless

Connection

USB

2x AA batteries

Lithium Ion

USB (2x AA for wireless support)

2x AAA batteries

2x AA batteries

Lithium Ion

Power

Xbox

Xbox

PlayStation

Xbox

Xbox

Playstation (w/Xbox buttons)

Xbox

Layout

40

17

68

31

17

81

16

79

32

17

84

56

19

88

49

17

88

DECEMBER 2015 9

Group Tes

H A R D W A R

7

6



Budget buildPC gaming is for everyone. Pick the parts you want to

build a new, well-rounded PC for a good price.

Mid-range buildYou want to run every new game at 1080p 60fps. This

recommended build will see you through.

Advanced buildYou’re looking for the best PC on the market and

superior components. But you still want to spend smart.

Build the best PC for your budget

Y O U R N E X T P C

BUYER’S GUIDE

KEY

94 DECEMBER 2015



T O T A L

$ 9 5 0

BUDGET

BUILDEnjoy 1080p gaming without

breaking the bank

Pentium Anniversary G3258Intel $70

Ludicrously cheap and overclockable, thedual-core G3258 rivals far more expensiveprocessors in gaming performance.

H81M-P33MSI $46

A bargain-priced microATX board that pairsnicely with the Pentium G3258, letting youoverclock into 4GHz+ territory.

Hyper 212 EVOCooler Master

$35

A legendary cooler, still the best for its veryreasonable price. Overclock to your heart’s

content with this.

Crucial Ballistix Sport1600MHz (8GB)Crucial

$51

Cheap, low-profile, and reliable. Does its jobThe best 8GB you’ll find.

EVGA 500W 80PLUS CertifiedATX12V/EPS12VEVGA

$45

A reliable PSU with enough juice to run yourCPU and a reasonably power-hungry GPU.

BX100 250GBCrucial

$85

Thinking about skimping and goingHDD-only? Don’t. The BX100 is much fasterand a fantastic performer for the price.

Carbide 200RCorsair

$70

The 200R gets the job done with toollesstrays and plenty of space. ATX-sized, so youcan upgrade that microATX board later.

VX2263SMHLViewsonic

$130

An affordable 1080p monitor with vibrantIPS image quality and low response times. Areal bargain.

CM Storm QuickFire RapidCoolermaster

$80

A no-frills mechanical keyboard with astandard layout and Cherry switches. Werecommend Browns or Reds for gaming.

HyperX CloudKingston

$80

Our favorite gaming headset, and it happento be as cheap as plenty of inferior cans. Agood buy for any gaming rig.

Deathadder 2013Razer $58

Don’t skimp on your gaming mouse. Get oneof the best. Try the Logitech G502 if you hava giant hand or prefer more weight.

AMD R9 380 2GBSapphire

$200

AMD’s R9 380 is a refreshed R9 285, but itstill packs enough power to handle 1080pgaming at a decent price.

DECEMBER 2015 9

Buyer’s Guid

HARDWAR

M O T H E R B O A R D

P R O C E S S O

R

G R A P H I C S C A R D

C O O L E R

M E M O R Y

P O W E R S U P P L Y

S S D

C A S E

D I S P L A Y

K E Y B O A

R D

M O U S E

H E A D S E T



MID-RANGE

BUILDOur recommended build for

playing the latest games

T O T A L

$ 1 5 9 9

Hyper 212 EVOCooler Master $35

If it ain’t broke... the Hyper 212 EVO is a greatcooler for the price. Save a bit of money in

your mid-range build.

GTX 970 Gaming 4GMSI $335

Offers the best price/performance ratioright now, and MSI’s model is cheap andoverclockable, with a quiet cooler.

850 EVO 250GBSamsung $98

Samsung retains its top spot on the SSD pilewith the fantastically priced, very speedy850 EVO. Still the best price/performance.

CX600MCorsair$65

80Plus Bronze efficient, with enough powerfor a good gaming PC. Modular design is agreat perk that cuts down on cable tangles.

Deathadder 2013Razer $58

There’s not a huge range of price differenceson the best mice, so stick with the best for your mid-range build too.

HyperX CloudKingston

$80

Even for our medium build, we stillrecommend this decently-priced headset.There’s nothing better for the money.

G257HUAcer $280

A step up from 1080p to 1440p territory,with a vibrant IPS display and good responsetimes at a strong price.

S340NZXT $75

The stylish S340 has some nice touches,such as removable dust filters and space forhuge liquid cooling radiators.

K70 VengeanceCorsair$110

A great, full-size mechanical keyboard withan ergonomic wrist rest. We recommendCherry Brown or Red switches for gaming.

Z170 Pro GamingAsus $160

The latest revision of our favorite gamingmotherboard, with an M.2 PCIe x4 slot, Intelnetwork port, USB 3.1 and SLI support.

i5-6600KIntel $243

Intel’s new Skylake processor is nearly asfast as an i7 for gaming. Comes with someimportant memory/storage speed boosts.

Ballistix Sport (8GB)Crucial $60

8GB of reasonably fast DDR4, and one of thecheapest deals you’ll find. Corsair is reliable,and the RAM’s overclockable to boot.

96 DECEMBER 2015

Buyer’s Guide

HARDWARE

M O T H E R B O A R D

P R O C E S S O

R

G R A P H I C S C A R D

C O O L E R

M E M O R Y

P O W E R S U P P L Y

S S D

C A S E

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I T ’ S A L L O V E R . . .

. . . U N T I L

NOVEMBER

10

98 DECEMBER 2015

"METAL GEAR SOLID V CELEBRATES

YOUR CHOICES AND INGENUITY MORE

THAN ANY SA NDBOX GAME I'VE

PLAYED IN A DECADE."

93%



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