STACK #210 Apr 2022

GAMING REVIEWS

visit stack.com.au

OUT NOW at

GRAN TURISMO 7

RACING MULTIPLAYER

OUT NOW

As we hoped, the 25th anniversary celebration Gran Turismo 7 is the best iteration of the simcade racer yet. After a few preliminaries, it’s into the main event, and in classic GT style things unravel gradually, rewarding the persistent with more and more goodies. The single player nerve centre on

the World Map hub is the Café, where you race towards unlocking everything from new tracks to shiny vehicles and roulette wheel bonuses. It’s a slick and, more importantly, fun way to progress. Unlocking everything isn’t by any

CAUGHT SNAPPING Photographers could spend all of their time burrowing deeper and deeper into photo mode Scapes, setting up shots of shiny machinery at a myriad of locations worldwide, including dozens of obvious and not-so-obvious places here at home in Australia.

ranging from everyday runabouts to pickups, and dream cars to concepts, it really is a cornucopia of “Ooh, want!” Serious detail has gone into every curve, every nuance of the wonderful machinery that we get to play with. Once everything’s unlocked, it’s a breeze to flit between the various options, ranging from car showrooms to the very necessary Tuning Shop and the unnecessary-but-nice GT Auto for cosmetics, for your vehicle or you. Then, naturally, local and online multiplayer options abound. The racing is top notch, but the graphics truly floored us. At times the line between video game and photorealism truly is blurred. If you crave a realistic driving experience that can be as arcade as you want, or as sim as you can deal with, there’s nothing out there like Gran Turismo 7 . AF

means easy. You’ll encounter the odd chore – we’re looking at you, licence tests – but it’s all necessary to get such much-craved unlocks as the legendary Nürburgring and the even more legendary Mount Panorama at Bathurst. In all there are 34 locations, with some 97 track variations to get to grips with. While we’re talking numbers, the cars! This time out we’ve 424 to lust after. From really old classics to recent releases, via classes

ELDEN RING

ACTION RPG MULTIPLAYER

OUT NOW

Built within a huge open world map on which kicking over any stone seems to reveal more mystery, Elden Ring revels in its sheer overwhelming size, opening the door to a world full of dangerous

temptations and nudging you through… If you’ve played anything by FromSoftware before, this experience will be familiar. It leans

heavily on the Dark Souls combat systems and adds heavy doses of RPG. Handy RPG features include weapon and armour upgrades that look great on your character, and crafting systems to make throwing weapons and helpful potions or other exploration equipment.

SITES FOR SORE EYES Scattered around the map are Sites of Lost Grace, which act as checkpoints. These play like the bonfires from Dark Souls and allow you to rest and level up. They also act as fast travel points to zip around the map, as well as return points for when you inevitably fall in combat.

a trap. Anything that looks like a trap, is a trap. Basically, everything is a trap and it’ll get you the first hundred times that you try to explore openly! Some of the most magical moments come from boss fights. There are multiple tiers of boss types, some crucial to the story, others guarding precious treasure. None of them are to be trifled with. The heart palpitations that you get from defeating bosses, even some of the low-level dungeon guardians, are very real. It’s an exhilarating accomplishment. Talking about Elden Ring wouldn’t be possible without considering what came before it. All three Dark Souls games, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice contribute elements, adding to the rich stew. Elden Ring is a much gentler kind of torture that’s accessible for newcomers, while offering exciting challenges to experienced players. DN

The story can only truly be appreciated once you’ve a moment to rest. The lore was created by George R. R. Martin, while the main story comes from Hidetaka Miyazaki. For the most part the story is hidden and rewards players for exploring the world’s concealed nooks. Exploration is always tinged with danger. Anything that looks too good to be true is

38 APRIL 2022

jbhifi.com.au