STACK #153 Jul 2017

GAMES FEATURE

visit stack.net.au

NAMCO

and short-range attacks that you can use at your leisure, as well as four abilities that are bound to the d-pad for use at your discretion. It really is, to put it simply, a JRPG that anyone would love. Paul : I’m a sucker for plane games. Always have been. Throw combat into the mix, and I’ll be sat in front of the screen for days. The quirkiness in the Ace Combat series has always been appealing and I’ve probably played most of them, so when I spotted Ace Combat 7: Unknown Skies, playable in VR in Namco’s media area, I nearly dragged the guy playing it off his seat. I’ve avoided VR titles on the whole – they generally make me nauseous after several minutes of playing – but at this E3, I didn’t experience that once with the handful of titles I played. Anyway, back to Ace Combat. The level began with a takeoff from an aircraft carrier and then you’re straight into the action. It’s satisfying getting a missile lock on an enemy and watching it burst into flames, but for the true ace, it’s all about downing the opposition – up close and personal – with your cannon. If any genre of games lends itself to VR, it’s ground and air vehicles – full 360 vision dogfighting in Ace Combat 7 is like having a third hand. After completing the level, I walked away nausea free. With 15,000 additional folk filling the space at E3, having all the games in a media-only area to play was a welcome relief. Namco look set for a cracking end to the year.

full 360 vision dogfighting in Ace Combat 7 is like having a third hand

Ace Combat 7

more often than not – each with their own unique move-sets and combos you’ll need to master to get your Power Levels up. Buu turns people into cookies and eats them, for crying out loud! The art style is very close to the anime, and the animations themselves look awesome. Fans of Dragon Ball won’t be disappointed. We also had a play on Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. The first one was well- received, and as such the sequel has a fair amount of hype surrounding it. Thankfully, our short playthrough gave us the impression that this one is a game JRPG aficionados are going to fall head-over-heels for, even if it’s just for the Ghibli-esque art style and the adorable, Pikmin-like Higgledies. It’s the combat of Ni No Kuni II that really stands out. You’ve got a mixture of long-range

McLaren’s 720S is the latest superpowered car to be added to Project CARS 2 ’s line-up. It’s a beast of a machine, with a top speed of 341 kph, 770 nm of torque, and a 7-speed transmission. You can hit 100 kph from standing in 2.9 seconds. This thing is meant to be driven, and while most of us don’t have the $515,000 handy to pick one up, you can take one for a spin in Project CARS 2 , out September 22. the McLaren 720S

Project CARS 2

064

JULY 2017

jbhifi.com.au