STACK #149 Mar 2017

with Amy Flower

GAMES PREVIEWS

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GENRE: ACT/ADV PLATFORM: PS4 | XBO | PC RELEASE: 23/03/17 MULTIPLAYER: YES

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA

We were going to start this by getting all deep, down, dirty and analogous with Star Trek . But The Simpsons did it... probably. Enough said that the Mass Effect series means a lot to many people, so some performance anxiety would have been experienced during production of this fourth iteration. Yet BioWare weren’t so frozen with fear as to not tweak that which they’d previously established. Andromeda takes a slightly lighter tone than the often heavy predecessors,

embracing open world elements – and more mobile combat – in the name of exploration. The story? Well, it’s the year 2185. You step into the shoes of either Sara or Scott Ryder, green recruits to the Andromeda Initiative. Their goal? To boldly g- uh, to venture forth into uncharted reaches of the Andromeda Galaxy in order to find new places for humanity to set up shop. New worlds will be found, new species will be encountered and new weaponry will be utilised, as the path

of a pathfinder rarely runs smoothly. While the tone may have been tweaked, Andromeda still delivers a captivating mix of third-person shooter, storytelling and deep RPG strategy, as you prep your squad for every new encounter – all with the aim of allowing humanity to live long and... aww, you know the rest. From the people who brought you... Dragon Age: Inquisition, Star Wars: The Old Republic

MARIO SPORTS SUPERSTARS

NIER AUTOMATA

GENRE: SPORTS PLATFORM: 3DS RELEASE: 11/03/17 MULTIPLAYER: YES

GENRE: RPG PLATFORM: PS4 RELEASE: 07/03/17 MULTIPLAYER: NO

Being a tradie is hard work, so as a superstar tradesman Mario must toil even harder. All that full-on labour is a great workout though, which may explain why when he’s not busy platforming Mario has the stamina to hit the courts, the track, the links... This time around, he and 17 of his friends

You know when you’ve scored the primo barbie at the park, but a horde of yahoos invades and sends you packing to the crappy one? That’s basically what happens to the citizens of Earth thousands of years after the events of the original NieR, as an army of terminator-like invaders (actually, they kinda look like Teenage Mutant Ninja Robots) send us packing to

(and enemies) opt for a spot of variety, with full versions of soccer, golf, baseball, tennis and even horse racing – all jammed into one cartridge. Each outing has three cups to aim for, and up to six humans can band together to play head-to-head. Sporty 3DS owners would be plumb crazy to miss this one!

the moon. But we have our own tech to fight with – scores of YoRHa androids. You take control of one that’s designated ‘2B’, and in a manner not a million millennia removed from creators PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta get all action RPG on those invaders’ shiny metal asses to snatch back control of Earth.

From the people that brought you... Mario Tennis Open, Mario Golf World Tour

From the people that brought you... Bayonetta, Anarchy Reigns

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MARCH 2017

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