STACK #188 June 2020

GAMING PREVIEWS

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GAMES OUT THIS MONTH JUNE

THE LAST OF US PART II

GENRE: ACTION ADVENTURE PLATFORM: PS4

RELEASE: 19/6/20 MULTIPLAYER: NO

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us hit the PlayStation 3 mid-2013, and raised the bar for what gamers could expect in an action-adventure title. Its splendid blend of action, drama and top writing soon saw it receiving plaudits from all over, and its success continued when ported to the PlayStation 4. Naturally expectations have been high for the

Did you know? A television series based on The Last of Us is in development, and is currently set to air in 2021. It’s being developed by Naughty Dog creative director and VP Neil Druckmann along with Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin.

sequel, which seems to have been coming longer than it takes your average zombie – or “infected” – to shamble from A to B. But after a handful of false starts, we finally get to experience it this month. We met Joel and Ellie as protagonists in the original story, and they lead the way in this tale set five years after their eventful trip across the US. Now settled in a colony of survivors in Wyoming, they’ve found a certain amount of peace, but it’s soon shattered and the now 19-year-old Ellie finds herself on a quest for justice and closure. While retaining the survival horror action, systems have been tweaked and upgraded to deliver what just may be the most anticipated PS4 game of this generation.

G: STRATEGY P: PS4 | XBOX ONE | PC M: NO R: 16/6/20 Tabletop games rock, but they can be messy, fiddly, and you can forget playing them in the back of a car on holidays. Enter this handy compilation, gathering a whole bunch of solo and multiplayer classics together in portable Switch style. From boardgames like Chess, Draughts and Chinese Checkers, to card games such as Blackjack, Sevens and Texas Hold ’em and beyond, and usually less portable pursuits – Darts, Billiards and Bowling – there’s something here for everybody. 51 WORLDWIDE GAMES RPG specialist Obsidian’s wild trip into the future now touches down for Nintendo’s Switch. Start off by building your character, then awake many, many years after your colonist ship took off, only to discover that while you were sleeping, a deep conspiracy has emerged to destroy the colony of Halcyon. Damn! You’ll lead your crew, explore the colony and deal with all manner of factions that are vying for supremacy in this captivating first-person adventure quest. THE OUTER WORLDS Head into the Wild West and find out what made the desperadoes what they are in this prequel to the hardcore tactical stealth series. Runaway bride Kate, shady hitman Doc McCoy, strongman trapper Hector and the mysterious Isabelle join John Cooper on his quest for redemption. Journey from rural towns, over swamps and riverbanks, and finally to a dramatic showdown worthy of Wild West legends, combining your team’s special skills to surmount challenges in style. DESPERADOS III Switch players, you finally get to drop into Paradise City and let loose on the streets, in a sizeable open world arcade racer that remains one of the greatest such games of all time. Explore, or enter various challenges against other real world or virtual racers. The more you do, the quicker you’ll graduate to the next license – and better cars! From all-out racing to ploughing through billboards because you can, Burnout Paradise Remastered is all about fun. BURNOUT PARADISE REMASTERED G: FAMILY P: SWITCH M: YES R: 5/6/20 G: ACTION RPG P: SWITCH M: NO R: 5/6/20

G: RACING P: PS4 | XBOX ONE M: YES R: 23/6/20 Some car games are all about the arcade action, while some aim to simulate the actual experience of real-life driving as accurately as possible. This latest iteration of Assetto Corsa (Italian for “race trim”) aims for the latter camp, and steps up its game in every way imaginable as it brings the FIA GT3 championship – and all of its tracks – home. From realistic handling physics to photorealistic graphics, driving sim fans should be itching to get behind the virtual wheel. ASSETTO CORSA COMPETIZIONE Absorbent, yellow and porous is he – that “he” being, of course, everybody’s favourite walking, talking sponge. Perhaps his greatest ever gaming adventure is coming back to us in lovingly scrubbed-up form, as the 20-year-old game now looks shiny and new. So, it’s time once again to play as SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy and show evil old Plankton that crime pays even less than Mr. Krabs, as we use our bubbles to save Bikini Bottom from his throngs of rampant robots. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM REHYDRATED The Weekly Sh ō nen Magazine fantasy-adventure comic comes alive as you play as formidable mages from different guilds dotted throughout all of Earth Land. Become a dragon slayer, summoner, shapeshifter, enchanter or other style of mage and experience a captivating story of fighting – and friendship! Fight and win to become the number one guild, while completing requests, strengthening alliances and upgrading facilities to increase your guild’s rank. It’s magic! FAIRY TAIL The revolution is about to start! Step into the boots of indie rockers Mayday and Zuke and set out upon a musical adventure, aiming to take back your city with music! Your metropolis has been overrun by the sounds of the evil EDM empire No Straight Roads, so you need to cut through the corruption – and the relentless BPM – by harnessing the power of rock (and other genres) for musically-inspired combat that, of course, all takes place in time to the beat. NO STRAIGHT ROADS G: ACTION RPG P: PS4 | SWITCH M: YES R: 25/6/20 G: ACTION ADVENTURE P: PS4 | XBOX ONE | SWITCH M: YES R: 23/6/20

G: RACING P: SWITCH M: YES R: 19/6/20

G: ACTION ADVENTURE P: PS4 | XBOX ONE | SWITCH M: NO R: 30/6/20

14 JUNE 2020

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