STACK #129 Jul 2016

GAMES

FEATURE

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that – much like the Far Cry titles – there are factions throughout the gameplay world and various vehicles that can be taken and used to complete any given objective. After obtaining the intel, the foursome work their way to a helicopter pad, set two opposing factions in the area against each other, kill off the remaining soldiers, pinch a helicopter and head off to the village holding Alvarez. The rescue demonstrates the flexibility of the game; with two Ghosts remaining airborne while two more move stealthily to the target. But stealth can only last so long – cue the monumental firefight. The game doesn’t have to be played with four players; one can lead a team of three AI-controlled Ghosts and issue commands.

Wildlands is still pretty raw, so we don’t expect to see this until late 2016 at the earliest. Unfortunately our timing was out each time we tried to get hands-on with For Honor . We’ve got a lot of interest in this title, where knights, vikings and samurai face off in an alternate history third-person hack and slash. A combat system, known as the Art of Battle, grants players complete versatility over attacking and defensive options. We almost breathed a sigh of relief at the Ubisoft media presentation when no wizards, magic or dragons appeared in the gameplay trailer. It’s refreshing to see a publisher take risks and continue to invest in new IP.

With so much content announced at the PlayStation media briefing, it quickly became a destination hot on our list. This began with a behind-closed-doors gameplay demo of Uncharted 4 , which extended the clip shown at Monday’s media briefing. We were hoping to get hands-on with the game, but had to make do with an impressive sequence that introduces vehicular integration and continues to deliver the big set pieces we’ve come to expect from the series. Simply put, there wasn’t a better looking game at the show. Uncharted 4 is a visual tour de force and Naughty Dog has once again raised the benchmark. If there are any PS3 owners out there who have not yet invested in a PS4, this will be the title that will force their hand. After seven years, The Last Guardian finally made its appearance at E3. A behind- closed-doors extended gameplay demo with Fumito Ueda leading from the front ended in a flurry of questions, with him countering the obvious, “Why has it taken so long?” with a simple, “It wasn’t ready”. We were only privy to a short segment of play but it’s a game that will demand a lot of time and attention, and clearly features the clever, offbeat and curious gameplay design we’ve come to expect from Team ICO. Thankfully Guerrilla Games’ invite to E3 this year wasn’t to unveil another Killzone entry, but rather to court us all with Horizon: Zero Dawn, a game featuring a female protagonist. This is a new direction for the developer, swapping sci-fi shooter for an interesting mix of Tomb

JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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