Beruflich Dokumente
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VERDICT
PREVIEW
XCOM 2
REVIEWED
THE BEST
STRATEGY GAME
EVER?
REVIEWED
THE WITNESS
RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR
DRAGONS DOGMA
AND MORE!
FEATURE
IS THE
RTS DEAD?
WHERE NEXT FOR THIS
CLASSIC PC GENRE
Issue 289
MARCH
2016
SOLID STATE
DRIVES
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You died!
Dark Souls has emerged as a very PC-focused phenomenon.
The rise of Lets Plays featuring From Softwares hardcore
action game is largely a result of its massive success on our
platform. Were celebrating the series this issue with a look
at the hotly anticipated third game, which promises to be a
welcome return to form, and interviewing its legendary
creator Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Other stuff! Next month, on March 5-6, were hosting the
inaugural PC Gamer Weekender in London. Check out p36
for more info and join us there. Enjoy the issue.
SAMUEL ROBERTS
EDITOR
samuel.roberts@futurenet.com
@SamuelWRoberts
A N DY K E L LY
TOM SENIOR
Specialist in
Tombs, raiding
Specialist in
Trucks, teenage mystery
Specialist in
Alien defence, strategy
Twitter
@Octaeder
Twitter
@ultrabrilliant
Twitter
@PCGLudo
This month
Discovered that the new
Tomb Raider is basically
the same as the old one
but still a lot better.
This month
Got angry at a
15-year-old horror
games 20-year-old
inventory management.
This month
Tom took time out of his
busy schedule to review
XCOM 2 for us. Read his
words on p64.
MARCH 2016
Contents
SUBSCRIBE TO
#289
MARCH 2016
38
Monitor
08 THETOPSTORY
TheOculusRiftgetsareleasedate.
10 OPINION
IsVRthefutureofallgames?
12 THESPY
AssassinsCreed mayhaveayearoff.
14 FACEOFF
Ashley or Kaidan? A 2007 argument.
16 ESPORTS
Chrisonthe Smite worldfinals.
18 SPECIALREPORT
The game supporting kids with cancer.
Previews
20 Homefront:TheRevolution
22 Torment:
Tides of Numenera
24 Thumper
26 Wheels of Aurelia
28 Shardlight
30 Dont Starve: Shipwrecked
Features
38 DarkSoulsIII
Andi Hamilton plays the newest entry,
andwetalktoitscreator.
46 TheDivision
PhiltravelstoSwedentofinallyfigure
outwhat TheDivision actuallyis.
50 Strategygames
Where next for the RTS, one of PCs
oldest genres?
GET YOUR
FREE GIFTS
Turn to page 34
38
46
50
TOMCLANCYS
THEDIVISION
STRATEGY
GAMES
50
Network
56 SEND
Ctrl + F reader hot takes.
Reviews
64 XCOM 2
68 Rise of the Tomb Raider
72 The Witness
76 American Truck Simulator
78 Homeworld:
Deserts of Kharak
80 Aviary Attorney
82 Dragons Dogma
84 That Dragon, Cancer
86 Tharsis
88 Oxenfree
90 Pony Island
92 Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
94 The Westport Independent
THEYRE BACK
96 Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
97 Go Home Dinosaurs
97 Jurassic Park: The Game
97 Carnivores: Dinosaur
Hunter Reborn
97 Snakebird
46
64
Hardware
100 GROUP TEST
SSDs reviewed by Dave James.
106 REVIEWS
We round up the latest tech for PC.
72
100
Extra Life
112 NOW PLAYING
What weve been playing this month.
120 UPDATE
Andy pops a cat on his head and enters
the realm of Metal Gear Online.
64
72
100
SOLID STATE
DRIVES
extraterrestrial menace, in
our review of what may be the
best XCOM game yet.
122 REINSTALL
Phil revisits Little Big Adventure 2 to see
if it holds up today.
MARCH 2016
O P I N I O N
T E C H
G A M E S
MARCH 2016
PC POWER
The recommended specs for the Rift are
pretty high and upgrading could represent
the biggest proportion of the cost of owning
OPINION
The built-in
headphones
are removable.
GAMES
TECH
HIGHS
Elite Dangerous
Players have found traces of alien life on
a distant planet. Thargoids, anyone?
Danganronpa
The brilliant, bizarre Japanese
murder mystery adventure game is
coming to PC.
Dragons Dogma
Every Rift comes
with an Xbox
One controller.
John Romero
Romero releases a new level for the
original Doom a mere 23 years after
it was released.
Hitman
The new game will now be
completely episodic. That game has had
a confusing journey to release.
Marc Laidlaw
Upgrade or die
Microsoft says Windows 7 wont run on
next-generation CPUs.
Oculus Rift
it. While theyre only a guideline, as some
games, naturally, will be more demanding
than others, Oculus says youll need at least
8GB of RAM, a card similar to/greater than
a GTX 970, and an Intel i5-4590 or better to
get the best out of the tech.
A range of Oculus ready PCs will be
released alongside the headset, which have,
according to the Oculus website, been
tested to ensure they deliver a great
experience with Rift. These will start at
$1499. For those with low-spec PCs, the
costs of a new GPU or CPU, the Rift, and
possibly the Touch, will quickly mount up.
Virtual reality is a technology that still needs
to prove itself and the high cost of entry
might put a lot of people off.
Resident Evil 0
What genius decided getting rid of item
boxes was a good idea?
LOWS
MARCH 2016
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
O
P
I
N
I
O
N
The best of VR
VIRTUAL REALITY HIGHLIGHTS
10
DONT LET GO
An incredibly exciting
space dogfight
shooter set in CCPs
EVE Online universe.
MARCH 2016
EURO TRUCK
SIMUL ATOR 2
Yeah, really. This is one
of the most convincing
VR experiences.
SKYRIM
BLUE MARBLE
ELITE DANGEROUS
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
HONESTLY, AS A
PLATFORM FOR PLAYING
TRADITIONAL GAMES,
VR IS RUBBISH
Valkyries dogfights
are another must-see.
MARCH 2016
11
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
W H O WAT C H E S T H E S P Y ?
T
H
E
S
P
Y
VIVE LA SPCULATION
An encoded message also found its
way onto a Target pre-order card
for Homefront: The Revolution.
Through a method called reading,
The Spy can reveal that this cryptic
communiqu posited a release date
of May 17 for Deep Silvers guerrilla
sequel. This last one was later
confirmed by the publisher, thus
proving that physical retailers still
have a use. Revealing the date that
people will be able to buy
new games on Steam was
likely never part of the
business plan, but, hey, at
least it keeps them busy.
After a generous
series of free DLC
releases, its hard to
know what more CD
Projekt RED could do to
improve The Witcher 3.
Fix Geralts awful,
stubborn shit of a horse, you might
say but, given that it hasnt
happened yet, The Spy can only
assume doing so is beyond the scope
of 21st century programming.
Nevertheless, French retailer E.
Leclerc sparked hopes of further
improvements when it listed an
Enhanced Edition release. Alas, it
was not to be. CD Projekts Pawel
Bruza categorised the listing as
some kind of error. The Spy
assumes E. Leclerc was tired of
Amazon Frances accurate leaks,
and decided to redress the balance.
Despite the inaccuracies, Bruza
didnt discount the possibility of an
Enhanced Edition in the future.
Likely it would come in the form of
a package bundling The Witcher 3s
two expansions. If The Witcher 2
Enhanced Edition is anything to go
by, there may be some extras too. If
CDPR could drop in a few extra
Gwent challenges, The Spy would
really have something to look
forward to come the post-kale era of
January, 2017. Spy out.
The Spy
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
S H U T U P, I M R I G H T
F
A
C
E
O
F
F
SAMUEL
ROBERTS
Thinks you can fix
bigotry but theres
just no fixing bad
conversation.
PHIL
SAVAGE
No longer feels the
urge to kill the
various boring
people hes met.
14
MARCH 2016
GOOD CHARACTER.
KAIDAN IS THE
MOST BORING MAN
ON THE CITADEL.
BUT HE DOESNT
HATE ALL THE
ALIENS IN A GAME
ABOUT ALIENS.
bigot who gets all bent out of shape about aliens that
are by the time youre making the choice to save her
or Kaidan instrumental in helping you chase down
Saren. Ashley is a tiresome bother, who constantly
questions my decision to pal around with Tali and
Garrus. Tali and Garrus! Not liking those two is an
unforgivable crime. And as for Kaidan, hes just a bit
dull. Sure, Id never willingly take him on a mission, but
thats no reason to kill someone off.
Samuel: I accept that Ashley is a bit prejudiced and
categorically consider that a bad thing (Im doing great,
here!). But you talk her out of that over the course of
the series. She fights with your party of various alien
species, and by Mass Effect 3, grows up a bit and is
generally less xenophobic. Its a tricky arc, but shes an
interesting character, and that one flaw is not reason
enough to kill her off.
Phil: Good on Ashley for not being quite as racist after
THE DEBATE IS OVER, BUT WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES ON VIRMIRE?
LET US KNOW @PCGAMER
E
SPORTS
EVENT REPORT
THORS HAMMER
RETURNS TO EUROPE
Epsilon triumph at the Smite World Championship 2016
SMITE
What is it?
Five-on-five
lane-pushing with a
mythological theme
and unusual thirdperson perspective.
How do you win?
Teams win by defeating
the enemy titan, which
means securing gold
and map control before
laying siege to the
enemys base.
Whats the format?
A best-of-one
qualification bracket
followed by a
single-elimination main
event with a mixture of
best-of-threes and
best-of-fives.
16
MARCH 2016
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
THE MONTH
AHEAD
DOTA 2
The Shanghai Major
2-6 March
The second of Valves
new series of Dota 2
Major tournaments
will be hosted by
Chinese publisher
Perfect World in
Shanghai. Theres a
staggering $3m on the
line and all eyes will be
on resurgent 2013
International
champions Alliance.
COUNTER-STRIKE:
GLOBAL OFFENSIVE
IEM Katowice
2-5 March
Theres always a
brilliant atmosphere
at IEM in Katowice,
Poland, where the
worlds best teams will
fight for a share of
more than $250,000,
while hopefuls battle
up through qualifiers
for a shot at joining the
big leagues.
EPSILONS SEMI-FINAL
WAS ONE OF THE
BEST PRO SMITE
MATCHES EVER
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
IEM Katowice
4-6 March
League of Legends
season play will be
rumbling on
throughout the month,
but teams will take a
break to compete for
$100,000 in Poland in
early March. This is a
good chance for
European fans to see
top-flight LoL played
relatively nearby.
HEROES OF
THE STORM
ESL Championship
Katowice
5-6 March
Theres a bunch of
Heroes of the Storm
seasonal play going on,
but it all comes to a
head in Katowice.
Theres $100,000 for
the winners, wholl also
advance to the Spring
Global Championship
in Korea.
MARCH 2016
17
SPECIA L
REP O RT
Re-Mission helps
kids understand
how cancer can
be defeated.
FIGHTING BACK
ORIGINS
In 1989, Pamela
Omidyar worked
as a research
assistant
alongside a
pediatric
oncologist,
analysing cancer
cells at Stanford
University. In her
leisure time she
enjoyed playing
games with her
then boyfriend
(now husband)
Pierre on their
Sega Mega Drive.
Omidyar thought:
what if I could
make a videogame
that helped kids
fight cancer? Life
instead intervened
and while Omidyar
went on to obtain a
masters degree,
Pierre founded
online auction site
eBay. In 2001,
Omidyar launched
the nonprofit
research group
HopeLab and
began work on PC
game Re-Mission.
18
P C G I N V E S T I G AT E S
MARCH 2016
VIDEOGAME STUDY
The Re-Mission outcomes study that predated the
games release is to this day the largest controlled study
for videogame intervention ever conducted. It followed
375 teens and young adults with cancer across 34
different medical centres in the US, Canada and
Australia over the course of three months of cancer
treatment. The Pediatrics paper confirms that those
who played Re-Mission maintained higher levels of
chemotherapy and consumed antibiotics more
consistently than those in the control group who
participated without playing the game whatsoever.
By the time Re-Mission launched its final release in
2006, 210,000 copies were distributed in 81 different
countries around the world.
I would say that Re-Mission games both empower
and re-empower patients, Raskob says. Theres no
better way to say it, except that cancer sucks. Especially
OPINION
GAMES
TECH
1 FIRST GAME
Weapons include a
chemoblaster and
radiation gun.
2 TESTING, TESTING
3 T R E AT M E N T S C E N A R I O S
4 F O R M E R P L AY E R
Re-Mission 2 is a browser-based
extension of the original, offering six new
games that explore different types of
cancer treatment scenarios.
IT CONTINUES TO
FULFIL ITS MISSION
TO CULTIVATE
CANCER RESILIENCE
MARCH 2016
19
PREVIEW
Homefront: The Revolution
20
MARCH 2016
PREVIEW
Homefront: The Revolution
A Las Barricadas has your team
fleeing from overwhelming force.
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
May 20
DEVELOPER
Dambuster Studios
PUBLISHER
Koch Media
H O M E F R O N T:
THE REVOLUTION
Hands-on with Homefronts
anarchic co-op mode
un! Im wheelieing down a ruined high
street at high speed, totally unable to tell
where Im going, while heavily armed
North Koreans spray machine gun fire at
me. This is the best motorcycle game Ive ever
played and its not a motorcycle game. I drop my
iron steed out of the wheelie just in time to see my
surviving teammate run into the road in front of
me. I cant avoid running him down and I dont. As
his body bump-bumps under my tyres, I berate him
for not obeying the Green Cross Code. Its fine
though, as I revive him under heavy fire, get back
onto my bike and speed off, ignoring him, the
enemies, my other downed pals, and the mission.
LINK
www.homefront-game.com
Dan Griliopoulos
MARCH 2016
21
PREVIEW
Torment: Tides of Numenera
If it glows,
its science!
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
2016
DEVELOPER
inXile Entertainment
PUBLISHER
In-house
T O R M E N T: T I D E S
OF NUMENERA
First steps into inXiles
otherworldly RPG
oure the Last Castoff, a body discarded
by a self-made god who leaves newly
self-aware selves behind every time he
or she decides they fancy a new form. In
the opening seconds, you come into being just as
you finish falling to your death, and what follows is
a sequence that sees you rebuild yourself from
within your own infinity-variable consciousness.
LINK
www.bit.ly/200SJRY
BOOKISH
Chris Thursten
22
MARCH 2016
Yep, sorry, no
idea what this is.
PREVIEW
Torment: Tides of Numenera
The setting is
quasi-medieval sci-fi.
MARCH 2016
23
PREVIEW
Thumper
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
2016
DEVELOPER
Drool
PUBLISHER
In-house
LINK
www.drool.ws
THUMPER
DO BE SQUARE
PL AYED
IT
CHANGE
THE TRACK
The music is quantised to
the beat, creating a precise,
threatening soundscape that
shifts and morphs as each level
ramps up in difficulty. It starts
sparse, but quickly builds
into something more
driven and primal.
24
MARCH 2016
PREVIEW
Thumper
SPACE
BEETLE
Movement is fast and
automatic, which is part of
what makes Thumper feel so
merciless. Hazards are inevitable
and unavoidable. Either youre
pressing the button
combination that lets you
survive them, or youre
dead.
JUMP AND
GRIND
A variety of obstacles litter
the track, and each has a
specific move that lets you pass
through unharmed for
instance, grinding over green
bars or jumping over red
ones. Fail, and youll be
smashed to bits.
MARCH 2016
25
PREVIEW
Wheels of Aurelia
I dont think youre
quite her type.
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
2016
DEVELOPER
Santa Ragione
PUBLISHER
In-house
LINK
www.wheelsofaurelia.com
WHEELS OF
AURELIA
Take a life-changing road trip
through Italy. Are we there yet?
dont quite get Wheels of Aurelia. Playing
the paid beta available at the website, I
found it part bad driving game, part
confusing interactive narrative.
Collectively, these try to replicate the experience of
a road trip in this case, along the Italian Via
Aurelia in the late 70s. With each playthrough
landing at around the ten minute mark, maybe a
little longer depending on such diversions as races
and hitchhikers, I dont think it sticks around long
enough to be particularly effective.
PL AYED
IT
26
MARCH 2016
PREVIEW
Shardlight
You know those wacky adventure
games? This isnt one of those.
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
March
DEVELOPER
Wadjet Eye Games
PUBLISHER
In-house
LINK
www.wadjeteyegames.com
SHARDLIGHT
Fighting the class war in a postapocalyptic wasteland
his point-and-click adventure is from the
studio behind the Blackwell series, who
published Gemini Rue and the superb
Technobabylon. If youve played Wadjets
games before you know what to expect: quality
voice acting and writing, brain-bothering puzzles,
rich artwork by Ben Chandler, and design steeped
in the adventure games of yesteryear.
PL AYED
IT
28
MARCH 2016
I CANT WAIT TO
LEARN MORE ABOUT
THIS SERIOUSLY
SCREWED-UP WORLD
PREVIEW
Dont Starve: Shipwrecked
Hey hey, its the monkey.
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
Early Access
DEVELOPER
Klei Entertainment/Capybara
PUBLISHER
In-house
D O NT S TA RV E:
SHIPWRECKED
LINK
www.bit.ly/ShipwreckedDS
HEAVY SEASONING
Tim Clark
30
MARCH 2016
I am ruler of
all I survey.
PREVIEW
Dont Starve: Shipwrecked
MARCH 2016
31
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2016
Be part of an all-new
PC gaming event
Join us at The Old Truman Brewery in London on March 5-6, for our inaugural PC
gaming show. Heres a taste of what youll find there:
GAMING FLOOR
HARDWARE
All the latest and best games are playable on our dedicated gaming
floor at The Old Truman Brewery. Play the most anticipated games
coming to our platform this year, at our dedicated Sega, Bandai Namco
and Wargaming zones. Theres a whole host of games from a massive
range of developers and publishers.
D E V E LO P E R TA L K S
AND MORE!
36
MARCH 2016
EVENT
The PC Gamer Weekender
TOTA L WA R:
WARHAMMER
AMERICAN TRUCK
SIMUL ATOR
STREET
FIGHTER V
DARK
SOULS III
WORLDS
ADRIFT
UMBRELLA
CORPS
TOTA L WA R:
ARENA
TOWN OF
LIGHT
WORLD OF
WARSHIPS
DEMOCRACY 3:
AFRICA
PRISON
ARCHITECT
MASTER
OF ORION
www.pcgamer.com/weekender
MARCH 2016
37
C O V E R F E AT U R E
Da
ark Souls III
38
MARCH 2016
C O V E R F E AT U R E
Dark Souls III
I
ark Souls is like Die Hard. Bear with me. The first
one is a total, undeniable classic, helmed by a
director fresh off the back of another excellent
project. The second one had a new director take
over the series and, although head and shoulders
above most of the rest of the genre, it didnt quite
live up to the heights reached by its predecessor.
This time, the John McTiernan of the Souls games
is back: the renowned Hidetaka Miyazaki is
working on the third instalment, after sitting out
Dark Souls II in favour of creating the exceptional
Bloodborne on PlayStation 4. Dark Souls III feels
like a true return to form.
MARCH 2016
39
O V E R F E AT U R E
D rk Souls III
1 SHORTCUTS
40
MARCH 2016
2 BOSS FIGHTS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL
The scenery is actually a big part of why this feels so
much like the first game. The High Wall of Lothric is
a much more 3D area than a lot of the locations in
Dark Souls II, where you would just start at the main
hub of Majula and push outwards until you hit a dead
end. It has much more in common with Dark Souls
and Bloodborne, with a lot of vertical progression and
routes that eventually loop back on themselves in the
form of incredibly rewarding shortcuts. Clearly, this
sort of thing has become the calling card of Miyazaki.
My time with the game led me from the battlements
at the top of the wall to the catacombs beneath, and to
the secret sub-boss that awaits adventurers in the
dungeons. This was a giant ghostly knight who emits
Its not just the difficulty that makes people love these games
3 JC OO LOLPYE R A T I O N !
Placing a summon sign and
being transported into
another players world to help
them beat a boss is one of the
best feelings in the world. The
anonymous co-op play in the
Dark Souls games is a way of
paying it forward.
4 DICKWRAITHING
The opposite of
cooperation. You can invade
another players game with
the goal of killing them or
impeding their progress. Its
brilliant, if a sure-fire way of
getting abusive messages
through Steam. Youll deserve
them, too.
5 TT HH EE SC TA OL MR MA F T E R
After mastering Sens
Fortress and besting the Iron
Golem on the top, you pass
over the wall and into Anor
Londo. That moment when
you first see the city, bathed
in the golden light of dawn, is
truly breathtaking. You did it.
FINAL BOW
When dealing with its new challenges you quickly
remember why these games when you strip away
all of the trimmings are held in such high regard.
Factor-in the stuff that we currently dont know about,
such as any new ways of using Dark Souls unique
approach to multiplayer, all the new locations,
incredible bosses and the deep, rich lore of the land,
and we could be looking at another legendary
action-RPG. Miyazaki has stated repeatedly that this
is set to be the final Souls game and, based on what
Ive seen so far, it looks like the series is set to bow out
on an extremely high note.
MARCH 2016
41
C O V E R F E AT U R E
Da
ark Souls III
INTERVIEW
MARCH 2016
C O V E R F E AT U R E
Dark Souls III
THE PROCESS OF
BUILDING A WORLD
IS VERY INSPIRING
STRANGE ENEMIES
THE DUKES
DE AR FRE YA
CEASELESS
DISCHARGE
GR AVELORD NITO
THE ROTTEN
GAPING DRAGON
A gigantic dragon with a huge
mouth full of razor sharp
teeth instead of a body. Has a
normal mouth too.
Weird rating: 89%
MARCH 2016
43
C O V E R F E AT U R E
Dark Souls III
WE FELT THERE
WAS MORE WE
COULD ADD
the key elements of the worldview, and
what themes will Dark Souls III explore?
44
MARCH 2016
C O V E R F E AT U R E
D
Dark
Souls III
SECRET STORIES
The best stories are told through use of the environment and items within it
DRAINING NEW
LONDO RUINS
KING VENDRICK
LUCATIEL OF MIRR AH
45
F E AT U R E
Tom Clancys The Division
TOM CLANCYS
THE DIVISION
is better shared
with friends.
By Phil Savage
46
MARCH 2016
F E AT U R E
Tom Clancys The Division
LONE GUNMAN
ABOVE
Classes in the
traditional
sense dont
exist. All
agents can
tailor skills to
the situation.
Jansen points out that, while the skill system lets you
create specialised builds for group play, it also lets you
be more of a generalist if needed. The reason why
we have two main gun slots and two skill slots is that
you can be a well-rounded solo player as well. The
whole point of having two skills is that I can have an
offensive and a supportive skill when Im playing by
myself. Then, if I go into a group, I could switch so
both of them are supportive.
But group play feels right. Its not long into my
session before Im barking things like moving into
flanking position, and taking out the top sniper
communicating with all the impotent authority of an
assistant manager getting a little too into a weekend
paintball retreat. Based on my session, The Division
has some problems, but its tactical gunplay is
satisfying enough that
its easy to get caught
up in the fantasy.
The Division is
based on the real-life
exercise Operation
Dark Winter, which
took place in 2001 to
test the USs
preparedness to deal
with a biological attack. More accurately, The Division
is based on the conclusion of that simulation: that the
US was in no way prepared to deal with a biological
attack. In the games fiction, New York has been hit by
such an attack, and, as a result, everything has gone to
shit. Into this mess walk you and your friends:
members of the Strategic Homeland Division. Its
your job to liberate Midtown Manhattan from the
violent factions that lurk within.
MARCH 2016
47
F E AT U R E
Tom Clancys The Division
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
The Division was first announced at E3 in 2013, and
early marketing seemed loathe to spell out exactly
what sort of experience it offered an attempt, I
guess, to make it seem elusive and mysterious. Playing
it, its immediately apparent exactly what Ive got my
hands on: a third-person open-world shooter with
online functionality and a tactical cover-based system.
Its a little bit Borderlands, a little bit Destiny, a little
bit Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare.
In traditional Ubisoft throw-everything-at-it style,
the map is liberally littered with missions, side-
48
MARCH 2016
LEFT
See famous
landmarks;
shoot people
near them.
RIGHT
The Cleaner
faction is very
into fire
unsafety.
F E AT U R E
Tom Clancys The Division
TEAM PLAYER
ABOVE
It is the near
future, and all
breakdancing
is performed
at gunpoint.
QUARANTINE
1 SAFE HOUSE
3 MISSION
2 BO AP SE RE AOTFI O N S
4 COLLECTIBLES
3
1
A series of
collectibles can be
found, including
crafting materials and
intel that fleshes out
the games backstory.
MARCH 2016
49
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
50
MARCH 2016
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
B
Eva y Edw
ns-T in
hirl
wel
l
ion
t
u
l
o
, ev e RTS
e
n
i
l
dec re of th
e
h
T futu
and
MARCH 2016
51
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
52
MARCH 2016
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
S TA R C R A F T S M A N S H I P
Why has StarCraft II, the first instalment of which launched in 2010, stood the test of time while much of the
blockbuster RTS scene has crumbled? In part its a simple question of having an unrivalled pedigree and more
cash to burn Blizzard, after all, is the creator of World of Warcraft and a subsidiary of the industrys largest
publisher, Activision. But according to Stardocks Brad Wardell, StarCraft II also owes its success to how Blizzard
nurtured the enormous following it had built up around StarCraft: Brood War. First, its an excellent game. There is no
substitute for thousands and thousands of hours of balancing of three unique races. Second, Blizzard has spent a
great deal of time and money supporting its community. Third, Blizzard invested early and heavily into a robust
multiplayer and metagame experience.
Wardell outlines three technological generations of real-time strategy DOS games like Westwoods Dune 2,
Windows sprite-based titles like Age of Empires and finally 3D, 32-bit games arguing that Blizzards awareness of
the importance of community management has allowed it to dominate the third generation. He feels that the
StarCraft studio is all but insurmountable at this stage; itll take another leap in the nature or quality of supporting
hardware to create opportunities for competitors. Third generation RTS games reached the limitations of 32-bit,
single-core, DirectX 9 [computing] some time ago. Anybody wanting to get into that market had to compete on the
same playing field as Blizzard, and only Supreme Commander really came close in my view.
Yo
pro u ca
awabably n
y w get
big ith on
RTS e
yea a
r
seems to be basically owned by the
Total War series.
But has the RTS really lost its way,
or are these merely growing pains?
The phenomenally popular Total War,
of course, is a hybrid, marrying
turn-based empire management to
questions of formation and unit morale
on the battlefield itself. This is
indicative, says Comes, of how the
genre has evolved to survive. When I
started there were really only three
major players Westwood with
Command & Conquer, Blizzard with
Warcraft and StarCraft, and Ensemble
with Age of Empires. Nowadays,
however, youre seeing RPG
mechanics mixed into RTS with the
MOBA genre. Youre also starting to
see RTS-style resource management in
a lot of survival games. The tower
defence genre was born from mods of
RTS games.
Looking back on Planetary
Annihilation the gameplay isnt that
different from Total Annihilation,
which came out 20 years ago. Yes, we
innovated on the play-field with
spherical planets, and introduced a
rogue-like metagame with Galactic
War [in which players take turns to
move forces across a randomised
galactic map], but those dont change
the core of the experience. As an
industry weve spent decades trying to
improve on traditional RTS mechanics
and have had some success, but theres
nothing ground-breaking. Which is
why I think genre-mixing is going so
well right now.
Traditional RTS blockbusters may
be scarce, in other words, but their
DNA endures in a variety of forms
and the result, suggests David
Pottinger, is a market that is much
more diverse even if major releases
shift fewer copies apiece. I think there
are two kinds of RTS games out there
these days, he says. Its not easy to
compare them. There are the games
MARCH 2016
53
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
is
y
r
st rd
u
d
in owa
e
h
T ving t play r
mo orter faste
sh s and esult
n to-r
o
i
s
ses ision-es
dec cycl
R E M E M B E R I N G T H E FA L L E N
A few RTS warhorses that dont get enough love today
GROUND CONTROL
DUNE II
WARCRAFT III
A quintessentially Blizzard
blockbuster that introduced
levelling heroes to the genre
paving the way for the MOBA.
FREE TO PLAY
AGE OF MYTHOLOGY
It offered Civilization at warp speed,
with upgradeable towns, god
powers and dramatic tech shifts
from era to era.
54
MARCH 2016
F E AT U R E
Strategy games
HARDWARE JUMPS
Like their peers in the action genre,
RTS teams have wrestled at length with
the implications of new interfaces and
peripherals from the frustrating
ambiguities of motion or voice control,
to the explosion of touch-sensitive
games on tablet and mobile. As Comes
points out, strategy game developers
have found success on mobile with
tower defence, a type of game that can
generally be played with one hand.
Wardell contends, however, that
true RTS games for touchscreens are
a dead end, because the interface isnt
responsive or precise enough to allow
micromanagement. Hence intriguing
departures like Offworld Trading
Company, which doesnt feature units
Ca
mp
diffi aigns
cos cult are
and tly to and
eve mak
to m n mo e,
ake re s
wel o
l
NEW ARRIVALS
For Brad Wardell, the future of the RTS
is a question not of interface but of raw
computing power. The biggest
opportunity we have going right now is
the rise of DirectX 12, plus 64-bit and
multicore processing as a standard
game setup. Its a point illustrated by
Stardock and Oxide Gamess Ashes of
the Singularity, a behemoth of an RTS
which supports clashes between
thousands of units simultaneously.
Wardell concedes, however, that
Steam and HTCs Vive headset which
uses two lasers to track your movement
around a room, in addition to wand
controllers for gesture input has the
potential to give rise to new flavours of
strategy game. Imagine being able to
walk around a space battle that is
happening in a space the size of a large
room. You could walk around and give
orders to individual squadrons and
move your finger to link them to their
target and watch them fight it out.
By happy coincidence, a project
corresponding to this description does
in fact exist, though its too early in
development to discuss at any length.
MoonStrike is the work of former Gears
of War designer and Bitmonster
co-founder Lee Perry. For Perry, the
real-time strategy genres recent
troubles follow a familiar narrative, and
setbacks shouldnt be taken to heart.
Theres this thing that happens
with many genres where the first,
formative games establish the norms,
and then its iterated on, and before you
know it you end up with a genre that
primarily appeals to the diehards. I love
when any designer is willing to step
back and reassess the foundation, and
attempt to make it more accessible to a
new batch of players, or even just do
something novel with the presentation.
If the RTS now sits in the shadow of
the MOBA and other genres, Perry
argues that it will always be worth
returning to, because theres so much
that can be achieved with the basic
mechanics. Coming from a relative
newcomer to the genre, its a hopeful
note to end on. How combat works,
how units are produced, what the
terrain and different elevations offer,
initial setup and build phases, the scope
of conflict, campaign structures, the
depth of the tech trees, where tactical
decisions are presented to the player...
how many other genres have that many
knobs to turn? Its a truly inspiring
canvas to work on for a designer.
MARCH 2016
55
SEND
Star letter wins a copy of Assassins Creed Syndicate.
USER REVIEWS
The Witcher 3. Its
one of the most
beautiful and well
written games Ive
ever played. Said the
same thing eight
months ago.
Alex Hill
It does take about
eight months to
finish. Longer if you
get into Gwent.
Binding of Isaac:
Rebirth. Limitless
possibilities and
maximum fun. Who
doesnt like being a
naked baby shooting
tears at monsters?
Ivan
Every sane person on
the planet?
Every ounce
Ive just crawled around a hospital
for an hour with minimal control and
weird shit going off all around me.
This isnt what I expected Metal Gear
Solid V to be like. The tutorial takes
so long and is so demoralising that,
by the time you do get control, you
cant be arsed continuing. Your
review expounds the virtues of this
games open world greatness, but
neglects to warn that itll take every
ounce of patience you have to get to
it. This is a console game ported to
the PC with no thought whatsoever.
Im sure if you use consoles as much
Super excited
Just recently I walked into my local
grocery store and saw issue 287.
WINNER!
StarCraft II offers
plenty of replay value.
So much replay
Im a subscriber to your
magazine going on four years now. I
was once a console fanboy, but have
since found my calling in StarCraft II.
The recent Legacy of the Void
campaign is Blizzards best yet; the
third instalment of a game I wish I
could go back and play over for the
very first time. Even after beating all
three campaigns on hard, theres still
so much replay value in trying to get
all of the achievements, as well as
watching YouTube videos on how to
Richard Garms
It sounds like youre already getting
plenty of joy out of StarCraft IIs
singleplayer, Richard. If you do want
to convince your friends, point them
in the direction of Chriss review
from PCG 287. PCG
Chose to ignore
Its a period of civil war. Rebel forces
fight for control of three Gonk droids;
perhaps for data, or technological
power, or resources. The evil Galactic
Empire does not send its leader into
frontline combat against Leia Organa
on Endor. Rather, he goes because
people are complaining that this
Battlefront isnt just Battlefront II,
and not including the Emperor
would cause a fanboy apocalypse.
Meanwhile, the evil lord Darth
Vader takes time out of his busy
schedule to hunt the smuggler and
Rebel General Han Solo as he did in
the Empire Strikes Back on a
volcanic planet that was mentioned
in Return of the Jedi and despite
claims has had an on-screen
appearance in Star Wars: Rogue
Squadron that people conveniently
chose to ignore.
Look, we get it, Battlefront wasnt
great. But you tell me one Star Wars
game that was as authentic. Despite
its lack of content and DLC antics,
Battlefront was pretty good.
Greg Andrews
Greg is complaining that we were
unfair in pointing out Star Wars:
Battlefronts inauthenticities on the
back page of PCG 287. To be clear,
Greg, that page is a joke page. The
words on it are jokes. If you turn back
to p70 of that issue, youll find our
actual review. To summarise, we say
that, despite its lack of content and
DLC antics, its pretty good. PCG
CLICK
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56
MARCH 2016
2016
58
MARCH 2016
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MARCH 2016
61
REVIEW
HOW WE REVIEW
Wherever possible, we finish a game before finalising the
review. We review each game on its own merits, and try to
match it to a reviewer whos a passionate expert in the field.
The main aim of the reviews section is to help you make
buying decisions.
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
DLC might be hours-long new missions for a game, or it might
be a single new item. Either way, if we think you want to know
about it, well review it.
THEYRE BACK
Whenever theres a bargain or re-release of a significant
game, our expert will revisit it and tell you whether it holds
up today. With jokes.
OUR SCORING
SYSTEM EXPLAINED
00%-10% A game of absolutely no value. Are you playing
one of these games? Take 3d6 emotional damage.
Examples Big Brother
11%-39% Yikes. Technically broken, or so fundamentally
flawed that its ultimately not worth any time or money. Bad.
Examples The War Z, Sonic: Lost World
40%-49% This game is functional, but majorly flawed
and disappointing.
Examples Firefall, Star Trek, Armikrog
50%-59% Mediocre. If it has any interesting ideas, they
dont work well. Might suffer from bugs or technical issues.
Examples Primordia, Painkiller: Hell & Damnation
60%-69% An interesting idea poorly expressed, or a
derivative idea executed averagely. Comes with caveats.
Examples SimCity, Just Cause 3, Blood Bowl 2
70%-79% Good, but not a classic. This score is
a recommendation, just not a glowing one.
Examples Broken Age, Batman: Arkham Knight
80%-89% A great game with exceptional moments or
features, and touches of brilliance.
Examples Elite: Dangerous, Soma, Fallout 4
Tough
choices ahead
This should be a quiet month. At
the other end of the office, console
mag editors are looking pale and
gaunt. Our review section tells a
different tale, featuring a multitude
of great games. This issue, theres
something for everyone.
Fans of brutal, glorious failure
can throw themselves against the
exceptional XCOM 2. If youd
rather some enjoyable, streamlined
action, theres Rise of the Tomb
Raider. Fancy taxing your brain
meats? Thatll be The Witness.
Want an eerie, atmospheric horror?
Check out Oxenfree. A
subversively deceptive comedy?
Pony Island. A clever, sprawling
RPG? Dragons Dogma. Or, just
pretend to be a trucker with
American Truck Simulator. With
such an amazing start to 2016, the
only downside is deciding what to
play first.
62
MARCH 2016
PHIL SAVAGE
DEPUTY EDITOR
phil.savage@futurenet.com
LET US KNOW
WHAT YOU THINK
Get in touch via our
Network section on
page 56, or simply tweet
us your thoughts
@PCGamer
68
72
64
Contents
64
68
72
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
XCOM 2
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The Witness
American Truck Simulator
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Aviary Attorney
Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen
That Dragon, Cancer
Tharsis
Oxenfree
Pony Island
Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
The Westport Independent
THEYRE BACK
96
97
97
97
97
TOM SENIOR
PHIL SAVAGE
Specialist in
Strategy, aliens
Specialist in
Action, bows
Currently playing
XCOM 2
Currently playing
Rise of the Tomb
Raider
This month
Became humanitys
last, best hope for
survival, but was too
busy playing XCOM 2.
This month
Got really good at
killing animals. (In a
game, PETA.)
EDWIN E VANSTHIRLWELL
A N DY K E L LY
MAT T ELLIOT T
Specialist in
Sims, trucking
Specialist in
Adventure, law
Currently playing
The Witness
Currently playing
American Truck
Simulator
Currently playing
Aviary Attorney
This month
Was lost in the maze
of Jon Blows mind.
Had a great time.
This month
Had CW McCalls
Convoy permanently
stuck in his head.
Specialist in
Puzzles, brains
This month
Called upon his latent
legal skills to review a
game about birds in
19th century Paris.
ANGUS
MORRISON
J O N B LY T H
Specialist in
Retro, dinosaurs
Specialist in
Indie, ponies
Currently playing
Turok
Currently playing
Pony Island
This month
Was thoroughly
impressed by Satans
pony collection.
This month
Took a trek through
Steam and GOGs
Cretaceous
collections.
MARCH 2016
63
REVIEW
XCOM 2
X-TRAORDINARY
The aliens strike back in the exceptional strategy sequel, XCOM 2.
By Tom Senior
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A turn-based strategy
game about fighting
aliens whove
already won.
EXPECT TO PAY
35
DEVELOPER
Firaxis
PUBLISHER
2K Games
DEAD OR ALIVE
64
MARCH 2016
LINK
www.xcom.com
MULTIPLAYER
Two-player turn-based
battles
R U N BL I N D LY
INTO WOODS
2 AT TACK ENEM Y
REVIEWED ON
Intel i5-7690K, 8 GB
RAM, GTX970
HIDE BEHIND
CACTUS
4
3
4 TBAE KH EI NCDO RV OE RC K
Correct. The rock
protects from all
enemies, and gives you
flanking bonuses.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
The moment the timer freezes during
a scan, I stop breathing. Theres a
notification screen you have to click
through to find out what is about to
try to kill you I swear this is
intentional, to let the sense of dread
register for a second or two. If youre
lucky, its the council getting in touch
to give you a thumbs-up and tell you
theyve dropped some sandwiches
for you in South America. If youre
unlucky youll be faced with XCOM
2s equivalent of Enemy Unknowns
MARCH 2016
65
66
MARCH 2016
REVIEW
XCOM 2
SUIT UP
Attachments
dropped by the
foe can improve your
weapons. You also
change colour and
patterning, for
fashion's sake.
Specialist drones
are cute. More
importantly, they
can heal and revive
allies in dangerous
positions at no risk
to their operator.
The rangers
sword, used well,
can take out mighty
enemies in a single
blow, but it can also
leave your soldier
badly exposed.
To hear your
international
team cursing aliens
in their own
language, check the
international audio
box in the options.
MARCH 2016
94
67
REVIEW
Rise of the Tomb Raider
FIRMER FOOTING
RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER is a substantial improvement on Laras last outing.
By Phil Savage
CARD TRICK
WHAT IS IT?
The second action
adventure outing for
the rebooted Lara
Croft.
EXPECT TO PAY
40
DEVELOPER
Crystal Dynamics
PUBLISHER
Square Enix
REVIEWED ON
Windows 10, 8GB RAM,
i5-3570k, GeForce GTX
970
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.tombraider.com
ON POINT
Lara has access to a small selection of
weapon types pistol, rifle and
shotgun and theres a variety of
styles available in each category. Most
feel good to fire, the panicked
inaccuracy of the automatic rifle
b
being the only real exception. Pistols
feel lightweight and clinical, while
the pump-action shotgun is a chunky
and gratifyingly deadly option. Once
again, the bow is star of the show.
Having to draw back and charge
shots provides a nice rhythm to the
combat, especially in conjunction
with some of the skill upgrades
TIMEQUAKE
Wield magic
arrows. Why
not?
EASIER
68
NEED TO KNOW
GR AY
HENLEY
SHIRT
Its a shirt.
Thats it.
BIG HEAD
LARA
This is
definitely
someones
fetish.
GAMBLER
Deemed too
messy for
casinos.
ONE LIFE TO
LIVE
If you die in the
game, you die
in the game.
HARDER
MARCH 2016
Wheeeee... oh wait,
I should kill that guy.
MARCH 2016
69
A damning indictment on
Soviet safety regulations.
Given all the ziplining, youd
expect Lara to be more ripped.
70
MARCH 2016
REVIEW
Rise of the Tomb Raider
AT TA C K T H E B L O C
1 MURALS
Level up your
language proficiency
in Greek, Russian or
Mongolian by looking
at a tiny plaque.
2 CRYPT
3 CT OH MA LBL E N G E
The best bits of the
game. Each also grants
a unique skill on
completion.
4 SHOP
1
2
Capitalism comes
to Siberia. Spend gold
coins on special
weapons, attachments
and outfits.
STEPPE UP
Despite arriving months after the
Xbox One version, the PC release of
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a quality
product Square Enixs ongoing
relationship with Nixxes again paying
dividends. The graphics options are
plentiful, with a variety of ways to
tweak and customise the experience.
While my 970 GTX couldnt keep up
with the demands of running every
option at maximum, a few sensible
reductions had it running smoothly
and consistently at 60 frames per
second. And the game looks luscious,
full of sweeping vistas showing off
the harrowing beauty of a harsh and
icy wilderness.
In many ways, Rise of the Tomb
Raider is peak sequel design: a game
remarkably similar to its predecessor
with a set of expanded and additional
systems. But Rise is also better,
because it lets you spend more time
engaging with those systems. While it
doesnt fully eradicate the missteps
around the edges of interactivity, it
does let you spend longer enjoying
the core action and exploration. As a
result, its an incredibly competent
action platformer.
VERDICT
Although a little too
streamlined in places,
Rise of the Tomb Raider
does a lot to improve
upon its predecessor.
MARCH 2016
83
71
REVIEW
The Witness
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A series of increasingly
complex maze puzzles,
set on an idyllic island.
EXPECT TO PAY
30
DEVELOPER
Thekla Inc
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
i5, GTX460M, 4GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.the-witness.net
TORTURE GARDEN
STUCK?
72
Dont fire up a walkthrough just yet try one of the tactics below
1 CS UH RE CR KO UYNODUIRN G S
2 EI SXLPALNODR E T H E
3 FP IUVZEZ-LPEA RS TT R I P S
4 INSE CI TE S S A R Y ?
MARCH 2016
MARCH 2016
73
Later interiors
recall Portal.
Shades of
Prometheus here.
Clues to puzzles can be found
in their surroundings.
I was half-expecting
Slender Man.
74
MARCH 2016
REVIEW
The Witness
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Other wistful metaphysical brain-ticklers
PNEUMA:
BRE ATH OF LIFE
FEZ
QUANTUM CONUNDRUM
MARCH 2016
89
75
REVIEW
American Truck Simulator
LONG HAUL
Our favourite route-em-up crosses the pond in AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR.
By Andy Kelly
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A truck driving and
business management
sim.
EXPECT TO PAY
20
S TAT E O F P L AY
76
MARCH 2016
RETURN TRIP
Anyone who played Euro Truck
Simulator 2 may find the game a little
too familiar in places. The interface
and structure are pretty much
identical, and it feels like theyve
picked up the old game and dropped
it into the new location. Even
different colours or visual flourishes
on the interface would have been
welcome, just to remind you that it is
indeed a new work.
As a result, if you were already
burned out on ETS2, the new setting
might not be enough to reignite your
passion. Its a very similar experience
overall. The trucks of which there
are only two available at launch
dont really feel that different to their
European counterparts. Its more like
an iteration than a fully-blown sequel.
If the SCS team are as tireless and
passionate with ongoing updates as
they are with Euro Truck Simulator 2,
ATS will only get better as it grows.
America is a vast, varied country with
a lot of different scenery, and more
states to drive through will make for
more interesting journeys. For now,
this is a polished, strangely enjoyable
simulator that you can easily lose
hours to. But if you want to travel
further afield, you might want to wait
until there are more places to go to.
VERDICT
A great start, but
American Truck
Simulator will really begin
to take shape when more
states are added.
80
Get out of my
way, pipsqueak.
Thats about as
American as it gets.
Vegas, baby!
Sorry.
MARCH 2016
77
REVIEW
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
JUST DESERTS
In HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK, all of this has happened before
(and its as good as you remember). By Rob Zacny
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A ground-based prequel
to the classic space
RTS.
EXPECT TO PAY
30
DEVELOPER
Blackbird Interactive
PUBLISHER
Gearbox Software
REVIEWED ON
Intel i5 3.1GHz
quad-core, 16GB
memory, GeForce
GTX 770
MULTIPLAYER
Up to 6 players
LINK
www.desertsof
kharak.com
CARRIER COMMAND
The two factions, the Coalition and
the Gaalsien, feel similar. In general
the Coalition units are slightly more
versatile while the Gaalsien are more
specialised. The main difference,
however, is that the Gaalsien can
produce units practically wherever
they want, while the Coalition are
tied to their carrier, which completely
changes the relationship each side
has to the map and makes for some
terrific blind-mans-bluff-style
multiplayer matches.
Kharak sounded almost
sacrilegious at first. Over a decade
since the last Homeworld, it was
going to take a game about its
spaceships and 3D movement and
turn it into a ground-based RTS with
tanks? And it was a prequel? Yet
Deserts of Kharak succeeds on almost
every count. Its not only a terrific
RTS that sets itself apart from the
rest of the genres recent games, but
its also an excellent Homeworld
game that reinvents the series while
also recapturing its magic.
VERDICT
A great tactical RTS with
all the gorgeous
aesthetics and
atmosphere of the
original series.
90
5
4
Gunship recovery
underway.
MARCH 2016
79
This is a
recurring theme.
PELICAN BRIEF
AVIARY ATTORNEY is an adventure about law, revolution and murderous cats. By Matt Elliott
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A visual novel about
legal eagles set in
1840s France.
EXPECT TO PAY
11
DEVELOPER
Sketchy Logic
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
i5-3230 CPU, 8GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.aviary
attorney.com
78
REVIEW
Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen
PAWN SWAP
Open-world RPG DRAGONS DOGMA: DARK ARISEN has finally been ported to PC.
Should we believe in it unquestioningly? By Leif Johnson
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
An open-world RPG
with excellent combat
and a unique
companion system.
EXPECT TO PAY
24
corner theres the dastardly secret
Below, however, a mages spell had
DEVELOPER
society, in another, the artefactset my groups weapons aflame. My
Capcom
stuffed ruin.
ranger let loose a mighty arrow,
It works because its all told with
igniting the monsters wings. It
PUBLISHER
In-house
enthusiastic gravitas. Gransys is a
brought us slamming back to earth.
land that tries to stick to the real,
I already knew how this would
REVIEWED ON
favouring utilitarian armour designs
end. I spent many sleepless nights
Windows 10, 16GB
RAM, GeForce GTX 780
with Dragons Dogmas appealing mix over flamboyance, and the
of Western RPG stylings and Monster interactions impart a dutiful lets do
MULTIPLAYER
this sense I admire.
Hunter-inspired
Share NPCs online
This extends even to
combat years ago when
LINK
the open-world
it first dropped for the
Theres a
www.dragons
dogma.com
landscape, which
Xbox 360. Graphics
satisfying
boasts coastal cliffs,
have advanced, dozens
Pokmon-like mountains, and
of better and lesser
appeal to trying towering Norman
RPGs come and gone,
architecture but never
but there on the stones
out pawns
quite inspires the kind
of the Bluemoon
of visual rapture you
Tower, I still relished
the return of the same rush of victory get from, say, The Witcher 3. (Worse,
its prone to pop-ins and muddy
that overcame me in 2012.
details at long distances.) Saving the
Now, at last, we have the PC port,
world is a job, dang it, and Dragons
which takes its guise from 2013s
Dogma makes you feel it.
Dark Arisen, a retooled version of the
Jobs can be fun, of course, and the
initial release with a ridiculously
game also delivers a challenging
tough endgame zone and numerous
tweaks to various annoyances. It does brand of action thats rousing
regardless of whether its played on
little to distinguish itself from its
keyboard or gamepad. Greatswords
console forebears aside from nifty
crash with hefty weight, arrows fly
features such as better textures and
with satisfying thwaps, and spells
uncapped framerates. (Apart from a
single crash over 50 hours, it ran
beautifully.) Scarred with
imperfections but entertaining to the
end, its easily one of the most
Junk can be combined into useful gear
memorable RPGs of the last decade.
It achieves this distinction almost
KEPT SOUR
SKELETON
in spite of its story. Its not bad, and
AMBROSIAL ME AT
KEY
its capped on one end by a dragon
Stamina food that doesnt rot!
Useful for opening doors. Obv.
who eats your heart as though hes
x1 Hunk of ore
x1 Airtight flask
sucking Nutella off his claw and on
x1 Shackle
x1 Sour ambrosial meat
the other by a deliciously bizarre
SLEEPER
FLASK
conclusion. In between, though, it
ARROW
OF OIL
relies excessively on backtracking
Makes baddies go night night
Keeps lanterns bright!
and indulges too many humdrum
x1 Harpy pinion
x1 Backfat oil
sidequests. It clings to predictable
x1 Pine branch
x1 Empty flask
Western RPG conventions: in one
TRASH COLLECTOR
82
MARCH 2016
81
Thats definitely
its tail, right?
Im amazed lizardmen
even bother, frankly.
MARCH 2016
83
BOY STORY
A family processes their sons terminal illness in THAT DRAGON, CANCER. By James Davenport
his is a true story. Amy and Ryan Green lost their son, Joel, to
brain cancer in March 2014. Games as documentation of
actual events are largely untested how do you communicate
grief and healing in a medium preoccupied with
entertainment? The answer isnt all that different from any
other medium: tell the story. That Dragon, Cancer is a tour through a series
of point-and-click vignettes that document Joels battle.
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A point-and-click game
about how a family lost
their child to cancer.
EXPECT TO PAY
11
DEVELOPER
Numinous Games
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
Intel Core-i7 6700K,
16GB RAM, GTX 980 Ti
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.thatdragon
cancer.com
75
REVIEW
Tharsis
DIE IN SPACE
Hopefully Earths real first trip to Mars doesnt go anything like THARSIS.
By Tyler Wilde
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A turn-based
strategy game
that gives you ten turns
to get to Mars.
EXPECT TO PAY
11
DEVELOPER
Choice Provisions
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
Intel Core-i5 3570, 8GB
RAM, GTX Titan
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.totallychoice.
com/games/tharsis
DICE CALLS
Some of the ways you can spend your dice during deployments
A
Fifteen is the value of this disaster
event. Drop is as many dice as it takes
to reduce that number to zero.
B
C
LOADED GAME
Chance is your opponent in Tharsis.
In theory, you can win any game
through quality risk management.
But with luck as bad as mine, no
strategy seems viable. Sometimes you
encounter an event with three cursed
hazard numbers, each of which
causes injury, and everyone you send
in to fix it dies. Sometimes every
event that occurs conspires to
damage the ship, and youll never roll
all the dice you need to solve all of
them. When the numbers are against
me, I fail. When Tharsis is being nice,
the ten turns are a breeze.
Ive run the gauntlet enough times
now to know that most voyages are
going to end in failure. If I ever earn a
high score, itll be because the trip
was easy. If the randomly assigned
events treat me well, then sure, Ill
make it to Mars. If everything goes
wrong, Ill lose, no matter how clever
I was with my resource management.
Tharsis only kept me going until I
beat it, and my motivation was all
spite. I will beat you, you damn
stupid game! I dont see any reason
to go back. I was bored as soon as
Tharsis let me win. Its is a tough, fun
game when random events and dice
rolls conspire to make it so, but its
winnability is more dependant on
chance than thought.
C
A die with a value of five or more can
activate my class skill.
86
MARCH 2016
VERDICT
Tharsis is well made, but
not well designed an
attractive, interesting
board game idea, but
only the first draft.
44
Yeah, thats
not going well.
Resorting to cannibalism
turns the dice bloody.
MARCH 2016
87
REVIEW
Oxenfree
RADIO STAR
Five teenagers unleash something unpleasant in OXENFREE.
By Andy Kelly
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A supernatural
coming-of-age mystery.
EXPECT TO PAY
15
DEVELOPER
TUNING IN
88
MARCH 2016
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
83
Before it all
kicks off.
The art is
beautiful.
Now thats a
cool statue.
MARCH 2016
89
REVIEW
Pony Island
HORSE PLAY
PONY ISLAND will claim your soul, your sanity and your sugar cubes.
By Angus Morrison
90
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
An arcade game made
by Satan himself.
EXPECT TO PAY
4
DEVELOPER
Daniel Mullins Games
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
Core i5-3570K, 16GB
RAM, GeForce GTX
780Ti
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.pony-island.com
Denizens of Hell
???
Aw, look, the
blue thing
has a lil smile on its
face. You should
totally do what it says.
EXPRESS PONY
Its a pity that these asides begin to
verge on repetitious, but a late-game
reskin gives them just enough life to
carry the puzzles through to the end
of Pony Islands four-hour lifespan.
That window is flawlessly judged.
Short and incisive, its impossible for
Pony Island to outstay its welcome.
For the length of its brief run it
snowballs, gaining momentum until
the conclusion crashes down on you
in an avalanche of meta-commentary
and ARG elements.
Pony Island picks up themes and
ideas until its large enough to reach
past its videogame constraints and
start messing with your reality. Thats
you, the reader, not you a
hypothetical Pony Island player it
creates the illusion (oh, please let it
be an illusion) of toying with the real
world, to the degree that when it
ended I stood up, in an office I had to
myself, and mimed the splatter from
my blown mind hitting the corners of
the room.
LOUEY
Unfortunate lackey, evil
taskmaster or something more?
Maybe its worth blasting him from
existence with your pony lasers just to be
on the safe side.
VERDICT
A sharp, multilayered
satire that remembers to
be a game even as it
makes fun of us for
playing it.
91
Enjoyment is mandatory.
MARCH 2016
91
REVIEW
Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
DERAILED
RESIDENT EVIL 0 HD REMASTER is a beautiful, frustrating prequel.
By Andy Kelly
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A survival horror game
set before the original
Resident Evil.
EXPECT TO PAY
16
TA G T E A M
92
MARCH 2016
REMASTERFUL
Its a shame, because this is a lavish,
loving remaster, and the combination
of detailed, atmospheric prerendered backgrounds and real-time
lighting and shadows is excellently
done. I love the subtle animations
too, like the wine bottle rolling
around on a table in the dining car.
As well as the option to switch from
the old tank controls to a more
modern movement style, theres a
new mode that lets you play as
regular series villain and sunglasses
aficionado Albert Wesker. He has a
range of superpowers, courtesy of the
Uroboros virus, including running
really fast and unleashing a blast of
energy from his glowing eyes. Its a
classic Resi gimmick mode, but
doesnt make up for the fact that the
core game is so disappointing.
Resident Evil 0 looks amazing,
especially considering its almost 15
years old, but it feels like a pastiche of
a much better game. Some people
might find the need for constant,
careful item management satisfyingly
challenging, but to me it feels like
unnecessary busywork.
Throw in a messy, ludicrous
storyline (even by Resident Evil
standards) that clumsily tries to slot
itself into the larger series mythology,
unimaginative enemies, and a general
feeling that youve done all this
before, but better, and youre left with
a game thats very hard to love.
VERDICT
Tries to recreate the
magic of the original, and
fails. But, hey, theyve
done an amazing job
remastering it.
63
MARCH 2016
93
PAPERS DISPLEASE
Battle an oppressive government as editor of THE WESTPORT INDEPENDENT. By Matt Elliott
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A story of hardboiled
journalism under a
fascist regime.
EXPECT TO PAY
7
DEVELOPER
Double Zero One Zero
PUBLISHER
Coffee Stain Studios
REVIEWED ON
i5-3230 CPU, 8GB RAM,
256 MB VRAM internal
card
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
www.doublezeroone
zero.com/westport.
html
67
2016
5 6 March
The Old Truman Brewery, London
TOTAL WAR:
WARHAMMMER
DARK
SOULS III
STREET
FIGHTER V
www.pcgamer.com/weekender
TICKETS
NOW ON SALE!
THEYRE BACK
RE-RELEASES REVIEWED by Jon Blyth
Running around, shouting,
stabbing I am a fearsome hunter.
NO CEREBRAL BORE
TUROK: DINOSAUR HUNTER is neither dull nor brilliant
There was also an element of console the portals. It didnt even bother to
have a triceratops kill my family or a
tribalism this was a Nintendo 64
pterodactyl kidnap my girlfriend. All
exclusive, six months before
there is is the human instinct to move
Goldeneye came out. We were
forward and kill everything.
walking around, sure, but you
The level design is genuinely
couldnt say we were alive.
interesting, though.
You might be
After finishing level
surprised, after these
Give me a
one, Id got all of the six
sarcastic opening
keys I needed to unlock
passages, to find that I
seven-yearthe next two levels, but
kinda, almost, enjoyed
olds idea of
no sense of having
the original Turok.
whats cool
explored, beyond going
It was a surprise to
through the next door
learn that Turok has a
any day
to open. Returning to
comic book history, in
the level revealed that I
an action/coming of
hadnt missed out on too much: I was
age story of a teenager in the Lost
just being guided through a world
Valley. This valley was a place where
dinosaurs, demons and aliens all lived that felt open, by a designers hand so
conniving and subtle that the tunnel
together, in thrilling disharmony. Its
felt like one of my own making.
like a breathless seven-year-old tried
to find an excuse to get everything he Thats some canny design, there.
As for shooting, well the
liked in the same room, fighting. Who
first-level levels are large and sparse,
hasnt got time for that? But Turok:
with dinosaurs that run at you, and
Dinosaur Hunter asks you to locate
men that fire guns. Your own
the hub and collect the keys to open
96
MARCH 2016
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A famous game in which
dinosaurs occur.
EXPECT TO PAY
13.29 (GOG)
DEVELOPER
Iguana Entertainment /
Night Dive Studios
PUBLISHER
Acclaim / Night Dive
Studios
MULTIPLAYER
None
FIRST REVIEWED
PCG 51, 88%
LINK
www.gog.com/game/
turok
65
REVIEW
SAUR LOSERS
GO HOME DINOSAURS where home is apparently extinction
hen a whimsical
coupling of objects go to
war, its... well, its just
what games do, isnt it? Pigs and
birds, plants and zombies, humans
and everything else if there isnt a
Stoats vs Goldfish RTS in some
pipeline, Ill give every last one of
you a grunty, slobbering kiss. Here,
dinosaurs are trying to disrupt a
gopher BBQ, and its up to you to
tower defence your way out of it.
This is tower defence at its most
casual, touch-screen and pre-teen.
The levels are short, and theres no
selling, moving, or upgrading your
units. But that doesnt mean the game
is sloppy, or lazy: in fact, its a relief to
not feel like theres a multidimensional spreadsheet to consider
when youre placing a damn piece.
Instead, theres a simple coconut
currency thats self-contained on
every level, forcing you to you divide
NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
Mismatched animal
BBQ defence.
EXPECT TO PAY
7
DEVELOPER
Fire Hose Games
PUBLISHER
In-house
MULTIPLAYER
None
FIRST REVIEWED
N/A
LINK
gohomedinosaurs.com
God damn it I am a
massive game baby.
71
I know youre up
there somewhere.
JURASSIC PARK:
THE GAME
CARNIVORES: DINOSAUR
HUNTER REBORN
58
66
SNAKEBIRD
78
MARCH 2016
97
CONTENTS
H A RDWA RE
GET THE PC YOUR GAMES DESERVE
100
GROUP TEST
Seven SSDs for you to choose
from, offering different
speeds, capacities and prices.
106
108
REVIEWS
BUYERS GUIDE
MARCH 2016
99
UPGRADE
GROUP TEST
By Dave James
MARCH 2016
HARDWARE
Group Test
Q&A
What are the basic
SSD designs?
Theres the classic
2.5-inch SATA, although
performance has
stagnated due to the
~600MB/s bandwidth of
that interface. And now
were seeing PCIe-based
drives too, some offering
a theoretical maximum
throughput of 4GB/s.
Are all PCIe SSDs the
same?
The old mSATA interface
has largely disappeared
and SATA Express was
dead on arrival, so we
only need concern
ourselves with the M.2
interface. But even M.2
drives are not all the
same. The first used the
old AHCI protocols for
standard hard drives,
which limited their ability.
Non-Volatile Media
Express protocols
(NVMe) are designed for
the speed of SSDs.
Can any PC use PCIe
SSDs?
You need a motherboardmounted M.2 port if you
want the most direct
connection, but you can
also take advantage of
the same PCIe
connections you use for
graphics cards. And you
can pick up a PCIe/M.2
adapter to fit a spare slot
for just 25.
How big an SSD should
I buy?
The 500GB mark is
probably the sweet spot
right now, offering the
best combination of
performance, value and
space for a decent Steam
library. The 240/250GB
mark is still a decent
compromise for the
budget-oriented.
Dictionary
PCIe The high-speed
interface that connects
your PC to your graphics
card, also perfect for new
SSD tech.
MARCH 2016
103
HARDWARE
Group Test
www.intel.com 889
www.samsung.com 260
88%
104
MARCH 2016
91%
CRUCIAL BX200
www.crucial.com 210
www.ocz.com 228
75%
81%
MARCH 2016
105
CRUCIAL MX200
www.samsung.com 120
www.crucial.com 66
The MX100 drive was one of the stand-out SSDs of the last
generation, offering a great combination of performance and
price... but only at the 512GB level. At 250GB the MX100 was a
bust, so what of the 250GB MX200?
90%
106
MARCH 2016
79%
HARDWARE
Group Test
STACKEDUP
PRICE ()
COMPRESSION /
TRANSFER SPEED (s)
Lower is better
5GB compression
30GB mixed file transfer
SEQUENTIAL
PERFORMANCE (MB/s)
Higher is better
Write performance
Read performance
1175
69
2136
120
260
1423
82
2022
163
Crucial BX200
210
443 506
92
455
OCZ Trion
228
421 497
109
428
74
208
Crucial MX200
66
464 508
91
www.hyperxgaming.com 76
76
218
Capacity
Memory controller
Memory
Interface
1.2TB
Intel NVMe
PCIe
512GB
Samsung
UBX
Samsung 128Gbit
MLC
M.2
960GB
Silicon Motion
SM2256
SATA 6Gbps
960GB
Toshiba
TC58
SATA 6Gbps
ESSENTIALS
500GB
Samsung
MGX
Samsung 86Gbit
TLC
SATA 6Gbps
84%
481 500
250GB
Marvell
88SS9189
SATA 6Gbps
279
240GB
Phison
PS3110-S10
SATA 6Gbps
MARCH 2016
107
UPGRADE
4
REVIEWS
The very best in gaming
hardware, reviewed
By Zak Storey
1
THAT OC
GRAPHICS
4.2GHz speeds on
an i7-5820K processor
are not something to
sniff at. Couple that
performance with six
cores and this thing is
nothing short of a
rendering monster.
16GB RAM
VR READY
Looking to jump
aboard the virtual reality
hype train? Rest
assured, the Titan
Riptide is VR ready, and
with hardware like this,
youre not going to be
disappointed.
106
MARCH 2016
www.overclockers.co.uk 1,244
GAMING
RIG
Skylake is one of Intels greatest achievements; shrinking down to a 14nm manufacturing process is
an incredible achievement. Yet that achievement didnt come without a cost, and at 336 for the
i7-6700K its one that we, the end users, have to bear. Or do we?
Overclockers doesnt seem to think so. Late in 2015,
the company came to me with a build that I just
couldnt turn down. A six core extreme edition
processor, 16GBs of DDR4 RAM, and an MSI
GeForce GTX 970. The premise? To build a PC that
ran faster than one using Skylakes prodigious
processor, but for less bucks.
So did they do it? Youre damn right they
did. Clocked at a comfortable 4.2GHz, the
i7-5820K runs rings around Skylakes
6700K at almost every opportunity. Couple
86%
CPU: INTEL CORE I7-5820K @ 4.2GHZ / MOTHERBOARD: MSI X99A SLI PLUS /
MEMORY: 16GB TEAM GROUP ELITE DDR4 @2400MHZ / GRAPHICS: MSI GTX
970 / STORAGE: SAMSUNG SM951 128GB NVME SSD, 1TB SEAGATE HDD /
WARRANTY: 3 YEARS (2YRS COLLECT & RETURN, 1YR LABOUR)
HARDWARE
Reviews
ROUND-UP
ASUS PG279Q
www.asus.com 712
MONITOR
No matter how you try to rationalise it, 712 for a monitor isnt cheap. But
if youre looking for one of the best monitors money can buy, this 27-inch
screen definitely fits the bill. Just look at its spec sheet: 165Hz refresh rate,
IPS panel for perfect colour reproduction, 1440p and G-Sync. If thats not
enough to convince you, I dont know what is.
In the world of screen technology,
colour reproduction is king, and
unfortunately TN panels just dont cut
it. Think back to the first time you
watched a 1080p film: theres that
much of a difference between
TN and IPS. The same can be
said for that 165Hz refresh rate.
77
83%
MY CLOUD 2TB
Western Digital 95
Ever fancied owning your own
cloud streaming service? Western
Digitals stunningly simple My Cloud
2TB is one solution. Able to store up
to 2TB worth of movies, photos,
music and other files, this NAS
can stream its content to
any of your devices.
%
www.wdc.com
MIONIX CASTOR
www.mionix.net 45
81
Z170A TOMAHAWK
MOUSE
89%
MSI 100
For 100 youre not going to get a
better value motherboard. MSI has
managed to cram in two M.2 ports,
right-angled USB headers, separated
audio PCB and all manner of other
gadgetry into this ATX mobo. You do
lose out on some of the more
aesthetic features, and high-end
overclocking utilities, but its
ideal for any looking to build
a new Skylake machine.
%
www.msi.com
91
MARCH 2016
107
HARDWARE
Buyers Guide
YOUR NEXT PC
BUYERS GUIDE
Build the best PC for your budget
ADVANCED
MID-RANGE
BUDGET
KEY
Budget build
Mid-range build
Advanced build
108
MARCH 2016
HARDWARE
MOTHERBOARD
PROCESSOR
GRAPHICS CARD
COOLER
MEMORY
SSD
H81M-P33
POWER SUPPLY
Buyers Guide
MSI 34
A bargain-priced microATX board that pairs
nicely with the Pentium G3258, letting you
overclock into 4GHz+ territory.
Intel 48
Ludicrously cheap and overclockable, the
dual-core G3258 rivals far more expensive
processors in gaming performance.
Sapphire 159
AMDs R9 380 is a refreshed R9 285, but it
still packs enough power to handle 1080p
gaming at a decent price.
Cooler Master 25
A legendary cooler, still the best for its very
reasonable price. Overclock to your hearts
content with this.
Crucial 40
Cheap, low-profile, and reliable. Does its job.
The best 8GB youll find.
EVGA 33
A reliable PSU with enough juice to run your
CPU and a reasonably power-hungry GPU.
BX100 250GB
CASE
DISPLAY
T O TA L
787
JOYSTICK
HEADSET
VX2263SMHL
MOUSE
BUDGET
BUILD
Carbide 200R
KEYBOARD
Crucial 67
Thinking about skimping and going
HDD-only? Dont. The BX100 is much faster
and a fantastic performer for the price.
Corsair 50
The 200R gets the job done with toolless
trays and plenty of space. ATX-sized, so you
can upgrade that microATX board later.
Viewsonic 118
An affordable 1080p monitor with vibrant
IPS image quality and low response times. A
real bargain.
Coolermaster 83
A no-frills mechanical keyboard with a
standard layout and Cherry switches. We
recommend Browns or Reds for gaming.
HyperX Cloud
Kingston 50
Our favourite gaming headset, and it
happens to be as cheap as plenty of inferior
cans. A good buy for any gaming rig.
Flight HOTAS X
Thrustmaster 30
You dont necessarily need a joystick for
your new PC, but this is a decent cheap
option for a flight sim player.
MARCH 2016
109
HARDWARE
MOTHERBOARD
PROCESSOR
i5-6600K
GRAPHICS CARD
GTX 970 4G
COOLER
MEMORY
POWER SUPPLY
CX600M
SSD
Buyers Guide
Asus 120
The latest revision of our favourite gaming
motherboard, with an M.2 PCIe x4 slot, Intel
network port, USB 3.1 and SLI support.
Intel 156
Intels new Skylake processor is nearly as
fast as an i7 for gaming. Comes with some
important memory/storage speed boosts.
MSI 270
Offers the best price/performance ratio
right now, and MSIs model is cheap and
overclockable, with a quiet cooler.
Cooler Master 25
If it aint broke... the Hyper 212 EVO is a great
cooler for the price. Save a bit of money in
your mid-range build.
Corsair 50
8GB of reasonably fast DDR4, and one of the
cheapest deals youll find. Corsair is reliable,
and the RAMs overclockable to boot.
Corsair 61
80Plus Bronze efficient, with enough power
for a good gaming PC. Modular design is a
great perk that cuts down on cable tangles.
CASE
KEYBOARD
Deathadder 2013
110
MARCH 2016
JOYSTICK
T O TA L
1476
Acer 282
A step up from 1080p to 1440p territory,
with a vibrant IPS display and good response
times at a strong price.
K70 Vengeance
HEADSET
G257HU
NZXT 57
The stylish S340 has some nice touches,
such as removable dust filters and space for
huge liquid cooling radiators.
MOUSE
MID-RANGE
BUILD
S340
DISPLAY
Samsung 75
Samsung retains its top spot on the SSD pile
with the fantastically priced, very speedy
850 EVO. Still the best price/performance.
Corsair 101
A great, full-size mechanical keyboard with
an ergonomic wrist rest. We recommend
Cherry Brown or Red switches for gaming.
Razer 59
Theres not a huge range of price differences
on the best mice, so stick with the best for
your mid-range build too.
HyperX Cloud
Kingston 50
Even for our medium build, we still
recommend this decently-priced headset.
Theres nothing better for the money.
HARDWARE
Core i7-6700K
GRAPHICS CARD
SSD
POWER SUPPLY
COOLER
Intel 263
Intels new top-of-the-line Skylake processor.
Its new chipset includes important memory/
storage speed boosts.
MEMORY
PROCESSOR
MOTHERBOARD
Buyers Guide
MSI 415
Right now the GTX 980 is the best value
single-GPU card for ultra 1080p and 1440p
gaming, bar none.
Corsair 92
Quiet, cool and capable of providing even the
most aggressive overclocker with more than
enough headroom to hit that 5GHz mark.
Kingston 100
Thanks to insanely low timings, these two
8GB sticks of DDR4 are more than enough.
T O TA L
2685
CASE
DISPLAY
MOUSE
Ducky One
Acer 600
Simply the best: a 27 1440p 144Hz IPS
display, with Nvidias variable refresh tech.
Ducky 100
An elegant set of keys from mechanical
keyboard fan favourite Ducky. Renowned for
their impeccable feel and build quality.
Deathadder 2013
Razer 59
Even if youve got money to burn, the
Deathadder really is the best mouse you can
buy right now.
HEADSET
Predator XB270HUbprz
144Hz G-Sync
NZXT 110
Thanks to its innovative interior layout and
daring design, this case is a pleasure to work
in and a beauty to behold.
H Wireless
JOYSTICK
ADVANCED
BUILD
Noctis 450
KEYBOARD
Samsung 133
The 850 EVO is so good, theres not much
need to step up to the more expensive 850
Pro for a gaming rig. Just get a bigger drive.
HOTAS Warthog
SteelSeries 249
Our favourite wireless gaming headset, with
great sound quality and a convenient battery
swapping system for long gaming sessions.
Thrustmaster 280
Expensive, but so worth it, with impeccable
flightstick and throttle control, as well as a
beautiful metal casing.
MARCH 2016
111
EXTRA LIFE
CONTINUED ADVENTURES IN GAMING
Warwicks coming
for you, Middlesex.
112
MARCH 2016
PHIL SAVAGE
THIS MONTH
Got ideas above his station.
ALSO PLAYED
The Witcher 3, South Park:
The Stick of Truth
DUKES IN HAZARD
Earl of Warwick a middle manager of
the English feudal system. My campaign
starts on September 9, 1087, when,
according to the game, de Beaumont
took control of the region. This isnt
quite accurate, but Im not about to turn
this into a history lesson.
Pretty soon, I realise that I dont
really have anything of import to do. Im
a vassal of William II and dont have
much autonomy. So I decide to hold a
feast. It goes well, which wouldnt be so
bad if I was actually living this. The
opulence would be a tangible thing, and,
as I learned at Warwick Castle, there
N O W P L AY I N G
THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW
ALSO PLAYED
Hot Date
MARCH 2016
113
N O W P L AY I N G
THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW
Dont judge.
Weve all done it.
114
MARCH 2016
M AT T ELLIOT T
THIS MONTH
Drank a whole bottle of sherry,
fed spider webs to urchins.
ALSO PLAYED
Dont Starve, Knights of the
Old Republic
A STIFFENER
Id love to pretend that the game got
darker and sterner to match my tipple,
but it didnt. It comes close when I meet
Count Fulchmuckle: a servant of
Cthulhu found devouring a giant
woodlouse in a sewer. But it turns out
hes rather nice, too. Nerves steadied by
the brandy, and with the Counts sword
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WHY I LOVE
MUST PLAY
BEN GRIFFIN
THIS MONTH
Temporarily became very
smart by being nosey.
ALSO PLAYED
Just Cause 3
ENGLISH LESSONS
Later under Big Ben I hear people
entertain the absurd premise of having
ladies in politics. One guy is all like, No
Rhubarb rhubarb,
rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.
MARCH 2016
115
TOP 10 DOWNLOADS
FREE GAMES STUFF FROM THE WEB by Tom Sykes
SPINTIRES
VEHICLES
CARS You spin me right
round, Spintires
he off-road Soviet truck
sim was given official
mod support recently,
and if youd guessed that
the community spent the last few
weeks making all manner of
outlandish vehicles, youd be dead
wrong. Theyve been making very
old-fashioned, utilitarian vehicles,
some straight out of The Sweeney.
E VAKUATOR
ORCHIDS
TO DUSK
116
MARCH 2016
GAZ 21
Though its not really built for Spintires
muddy, bumpy terrain, the GAZ-21, or
Volga, is a highpoint of Russian automobile
history, and its great to see it appear in
the game.
www.bit.ly/Spintires2
ZAZ 968M
The ZAZs best feature is its roof rack,
which lets you carry accessories
including a fridge around Spintires
muddy world. Good luck with this heap of
junk youll need it.
www.bit.ly/Spintires3
DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/OrchidsToDusk
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EVOLUTION OF
COMBAT IV
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WHY I LOVE
MUST PLAY
REAP
THE CURSE
OF ISSYOS
FREEWARE Save your
daughter in ancient Greece
very couple of years,
Locomalito will emerge
with another freebie that
shows the rest of us how
its done. If youve played Hydorah, or
the Ghouls n Ghosts-like Maldita
Castilla, youll know how
accomplished he is at making
classic-style arcade games with all
the polish and character youd expect
from authentic retro titles. The Curse
of Issyos is no different. Its a
platformer set in ancient Greece,
which means its chock-full of
mythical creatures that would do Ray
Harryhausen proud. Fight skeletons,
lizardmen, harpies and more, in a
game that recaptures the simple
pleasures of platformers past.
RAFT
Crafting a raft is as
simple as introducing cut logs
to water, and it opens up the
game world considerably.
TREASURE
Its mostly turnips, but
there is treasure out there too.
These maps help you get the
lay of the land.
DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/CurseOfIssyos
MARCH 2016
117
TOP 10 DOWNLOADS
FREE GAMES STUFF FROM THE WEB by Tom Sykes
DOWNLOAD AT www.bit.ly/TickTockIsle
118
MARCH 2016
GMDX
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A WAD WINNER
Three masterfully modded
Doom worlds
1SKULLDASH
This mod adds a strict time limit to Doom,
with the threat of a gory death if you fail to
collect the various Skulltokens and escape
in the allotted time.
www.bit.ly/2015Cacowards1
2015 CACOWARDS
2VALIANT
10
3RETURN TO HADRON
If you like your mods chock-full of monsters,
you might want to return to the site of the
Large Hadron Collider for this add-on.
Hadron is pretty brutal, so prepare to die.
www.bit.ly/2015Cacowards3
TIMRUK
FREEWARE I can read you like a book
tudio Oleomingus
mythical larger game
Somewhere cant come
soon enough, given these
exquisite tantalising glimpses. Timruk
is the latest short adventure from a
world very like our own: an alternate
India, perhaps, where stories affect
reality, and where people find
themselves trapped inside the pages
of books. As you read about such a
MARCH 2016
119
U P D AT E
WHATS NEW IN THE BIGGEST GAMES
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
DEVELOPER
Out now
Kojima Productions
PUBLISHER
LINK
Konami
www.konami.jp/mgs5
CROC CAP
RICKY
DIVINE EQUINE
FISHY BUSINESS
120
MARCH 2016
SPIRIT OF MGS
Cloak and Dagger is the most original
mode, with one team attacking and
the other defending. The attackers
Yeah, I think
hes probably dead.
MARCH 2016
121
R E I N S TA L L
OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES
Its as endearing as it
is unpolished
122
MARCH 2016
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LITTLE BIG
ADVENTURE 2
Underappreciated classic, or casualty of nostalgia? By Phil Savage
will admit, I was
nervous about
returning to Little Big
Adventure 2. For the
most part, the games
of my formative years have held up,
but LBA2 is different: it never
found its place in the PC canon. Its
a niche, cult adventure intensely
loved by a group of people who, for
all I know, were equally deluded.
When stripped of the comforting
blanket of nostalgia, its probably
rubbish. Right?
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASED
DEVELOPER
1997
Adeline Software
PUBLISHER
LINK
EA
www.littlebigadventure2.com
UPPERS AND
DOWNERS
Twinsen can do different
things in the game
depending on his mood
NORMAL
Open doors and talk to
NPCs. The same actions
can be performed
through a shortcut key,
rendering this useless.
SPORTY
Run and jump, all with an
exaggerated swing in
your gait that would
render even professional
athletes exhausted.
AG G R E S SI V E
Get up in an enemys
face, assuming they
dont use ranged
weapons on you. Makes
you look drunk.
DISCREET
Twinsens impression of
Elmer Fudd hunting
wabbits. Each step is
accompanied by a bass
note, which is brilliant.
MARCH 2016
123
R E I N S TA L L
OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES
My new fighting
technique is unstoppable.
LITTLE CHANGES
By the start of Little Big Adventure 2,
Twinsen is established as the hero of
a world that seemingly doesnt need
saving. His ceremonial tunic and
magic medallion are on loan to the
local museum. The intro pans
through the rooms of his house,
showing pictures of his previous
adventure before moving through to
the half-built nursery that announces
the pregnancy of his girlfriend Zoe.
With its serene, slow pace and
haunting musical refrain, the
moment is ruined only by Twinsen
himself his brash, jarring voiceover
lowering the established tone.
124
MARCH 2016
LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING
Soon after this, the aliens turn up.
The opening of LBA2 is pretty sedate:
your only problems are a storm and
an injured flying dinosaur pet called
Dino-Fly. Twinsen must clear the
storm by rescuing a lighthouse
keeper. Its this that triggers the alien
invasion. They espouse peace and
friendship, but pretty soon the
planets wizards and children go
missing under mysterious, clearly
extraterrestrial circumstances.
One of the strangest things about
the campaign is how backloaded it is.
Much of the early quest revolves
around collecting things and
completing tasks across Citadel and
Desert Island. Youre constantly
hopping back and forth between the
two heading to Desert Island to
find the wizard academy, to Citadel
Island to fix your car, and then back
to Desert Island to jump that car over
a cliff (the wizards require this as a
condition for joining their order, even
though car tricks are not inherently
magical). Twinsen travels back and
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MISPLACED BALLS
The biggest issue is the tank controls.
Twinsens turning circle is appalling,
which hurts when your primary
attack is so geometric. Twinsen is
armed with a magical bouncing ball,
because his life is ridiculous. But
aiming it in the isometric indoor
levels is a nightmare. More often than
not, youll miss your target multiple
times before landing the hit. Its
125
WHY I LOVE
WHAT MAKES GAMES SPECIAL
HOPE IN
FALLOUT 4
The sequel represents real progress from Fallout
3s bleak post-apocalyptic world. By Samuel Roberts
RIGHT: If you linger
in Sanctuary Hills too
long at the start, the
nuke goes off and
kills you. Serves me
right for defying
canon, I guess.
126
MARCH 2016
EXTRA LIFE
NOW PL AYING
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASED
EXPECT TO PAY
November 2015
40
OUR REVIEW
LINK
88%
www.fallout4.com
DOWNLOADS
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NUCLEAR FAMILY
In Fallout 4 your character still faces
a grim start: he or she is searching for
their kidnapped son, their partner
having been shot dead. But from
there, youre surrounded by mostly
supportive and exciting allies. They
cant be killed, either: permadeath
has been taken out. Fawkes died in
my Fallout 3 game moments after
telling me he couldnt possibly ally
himself with someone horrible
enough to blow up a town with a
nuke just for a neat apartment.
Fallout 4 isnt as concerned with
presenting a miserable world full of
loss and experiences you cant
recover from no matter how bad
things get, we can rebuild, we can
find purpose again. This is echoed in
companions like Piper and Nick
DIAMOND CITY
GOODNEIGHBOR
SANCTUARY
THE PRYDWEN
WHY I LOVE
MUST PL AY
MARCH 2016
127
EXTRA LIFE
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PHIL
SAVAGE
DOWNLOADS
UPDATE
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WHY I LOVE
MUST PLAY
BE AT THE HORDE
WARHAMMER:
END TIMES VERMINTIDE
GUILD WARS 2
www.battle.net/d3
www.vermintide.com
MUST
BROGUE
www.bit.ly/broguegame
P L AY
A PERSONAL LIST
OF THE BEST
GAMES YOU CAN
PLAY RIGHT NOW
by Phil Savage
southpark.ubi.com
KICK AN ORC
SHOOT A GUN
DARK MESSIAH OF
MIGHT & MAGIC
FALLOUT 4
www.mightandmagic.com
128
www.guildwars2.com
MARCH 2016
www.fallout4.com
www.crowscrowscrows.com
CELEBRATING
BATMAN & SUPERMAN
WITH 22 PAGES OF
INTERVIEWS AND
THE ORIGINS OF
ON
SALE
NOW
FIND IT ON THE
NEWSSTAND
OR ORDER YOUR COPY FROM
MYFAVOURITEMAGAZINES.CO.UK
BIT.LY/COMIC_HEROES
N
IO
IS
IV
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BE TOM CLANCY:
TO
G
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D
EN
ET
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P
ITER
PRAISE FOR THE WR
LITERARY REVIEW
.
ce
ra
sg
di
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le
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th
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GLOBAL MAIL
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lif
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Its not that you cant
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m
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OUS
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This is not, it has to be
PC GAMER
FROM THE AUTHOR
TOM
CLANCYS
OF:
TOM
CLANCYS
N B OW
X IEGE
U RA H
RE PACK
...UNTIL
MARCH
10
9000
9001