STACK #201 Jul 2021

GAMING FEATURE

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WHAT’S COMING IN AUGUST?

IN SOUND MIND Are you prepared to trundle through the deepest recesses of your brain? In Sound Mind promises a challenging psychological horror experience, as you wake in the corridors of a mysterious building, filled with victims of experimental therapy. You’ll be plagued by bizarre visions and imposing horrors, enough to have you questioning your sanity – but you do have a cat named Tonia to help keep things on track.

HUMANKIND If you’ve ever thought that you can do better moulding humanity than has been managed by the universe so far, then a: you’re a megalomaniac and b: you’re going to love this game! Humankind is a historical strategy game, which allows you to rewrite the entire story of human history from the Ancient to the Modern Age, mixing and matching cultures so as to create a civilisation tailored to your very own specifications.

MULTIPLAYER?

MULTIPLAYER?

PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR

3/8/21

STRATEGY

17/8/21

NO MORE HEROES III Legendary assassin Travis Touchdown is out of exile and back in Santa Destroy, ready to take on all comers to make it to the top of the Galactic Superhero Rankings. Why? Because it’s there, and, uh there’s something about stopping the evil Prince FU and his crew of alien assassins taking over Earth. Take on challenges to earn enough cash to enter each battle, and get busy with the hacking and slashing – onward to victory!

KEYWE It’s time to go postal as – a kiwi! New Zealand’s famous landbound apteryxes have joined the post office, and we get to help out two new star recruits, Jeff and Debra, in this challenging cooperative postal puzzler. They’re pretty clever considering their lack of hands, as they jump, flap, peck and even buttock-slam their way across various levels of levers, bells and buttons, all to get the mail delivered on time.

MULTIPLAYER?

MULTIPLAYER?

ACTION ADVENTURE

27/8/21

PUZZLE

31/8/21

1 What was the first game that you remember playing? Space Invaders as a kid at the Game Center close by where I grew up. After that I also remember playing Pac-Man and Galaga , but I didn’t have a lot of money and I wasn’t very good, so the amount of time I could actually play those games was very limited. That’s what motivated me to purchase a Nintendo Famicom when it came out, because it allowed me to play games for however long I wanted! 2 What’s your favourite video game of all time? My favourite games, all the way through college, were the Mario and Dragon Quest titles. I bought every game in both of those series and was always there to purchase on the day they released. I even remember staying up late (when I was supposed to be sleeping) so I could keep playing those games. I don’t have a lot of time now like I did when I was younger, and the number of games I play has decreased significantly, but to this day I still purchase any new games from those two series. 3 What do you think is the most underrated video game of all time? It’s not a specific title, but VR games are a genre that I would like to see get more recognition in the marketplace. It’s an experience with deeper immersion and a real feeling of being transported to a new world that you can’t replicate with other video game formats. I’m hopeful that technology will advance to the point where anyone can easily play VR games with others, and I would want to create a VR game when that time came. 4 Which of the games that you’ve created is your favourite? In the 29 years I have been at SEGA I’ve only developed titles for the Sonic series and the NiGHTS series – just those two. And both of those series are filled with titles that I really love, so it’s hard to choose, but if I had to choose absolute favourites it would have to be NiGHTS into Dreams and Sonic Adventure 2 . The development of both of those titles was very difficult and challenging, but I had a really fun time, and the warm messages from fans after those games launched really made me glad that we created those titles and saw them through to completion. 5 What are you working on currently? Next year we will have the sequel to the Sonic movie and are also planning for a new animated series, all of which I will be involved with. And, of course, we’re also working hard on the next new Sonic game! I will continue to work hard to make sure all the fans around the world will be able to get Sonic content across a wide variety of mediums, and I hope you all look forward to the next new adventures Sonic will have.

Creative force of SEGA and Sonic Team since 1993 TAKASHI IIZUKA

JULY 2021

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