Issue 141 november 2017 gamesradar.com/opm it’s to Jedi for
star wars battlefront II It’s the X-wing-versus-TIE-fighter
h a p p y b i r t h d ay !
PS VR
dogfight you’ve always wanted
One year on: the past, present, and future of PlayStation VR
W OR L D E X C L U SI V E A C C ESS !
Single-player, multiplayer, Zombies… We explore every scorched inch
Issue 141
we play Monster hunter: World discover how planet of the apes will change narrative gaming god of war’s runes revealed
ISSUE 141/ Nov 2017
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EDITORIAL Editor Ian Dean @IanDean4 Managing art editor Milford Coppock @milfcoppock Operations editor Miriam McDonald @crinolinerobot Games editor Ben Tyrer @bentyrer Shaming editor The Goat Of Shame @TheGoatOfShame CONTRIBUTORS Louise Blain, Jack Cooper, Anne-Marie Coyle, Zoe Delahunty-Light, Mike Diver, Hannah Dwan, Jordan Farley, Ben Griffin, Leon Hurley, Alex Jones, Luke Kemp, Samantha Loveridge, Kirk McKeand, David Meikleham, Dominic Peppiatt, Chris Scullion, Edward Smith, Alex Spencer, John Strike, Hal Tarrare, Richard Wakeling, Robert Zak ADVERTISING Media packs are available on request Commercial director Clare Dove clare.dove@futurenet.com Advertising director – Games Andrew Church For Ad enquiries contact andrew.church@futurenet.com 01225 442244 International Official PlayStation Magazine is available for licensing. Contact the international department to discuss partnership opportunities. Head of international licensing Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com +44 (0)1225 442244 Subscriptions Campaign manager Helen Harding UK reader order line & enquiries +44 (0)344 848 2852 Online enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email contact@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk International +44 (0) 344 848 2852
game of the month PES 2018 Favourite Cod? Black Ops
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“2017 is the year to re-embrace the classic shooter franchise.”
All contents © 2017 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.
fter meeting with Sledgehammer’s Michael Condrey at this year’s Gamescom to chat about Call Of Duty: WWII, I was left with a clear impression that this year’s COD is a work of passion. On page 48 we’ve gathered all the facts to date, plus Condrey’s insights and our handson impressions to offer a one-shot overview of just why 2017 is the year to re-embrace the classic shooter franchise. There was more from Gamescom than COD: WWII too, as I got to spend some time with Monster Hunter: World (p6), Assassin’s Creed Origins (p40), and Star Wars Battlefront II (p32). Plus, gaming legend Yu Suzuki revealed a little more about Shenmue III (p16) in our one-to-one interview. We’re also in celebration mood this issue as PlayStation VR hits its first birthday. Starting on page 60 we take a look at the year that was, and look forward to the big releases coming to PS VR in the next six months. Virtual success? No, PS VR is now an established reality.
Ian Dean
Editor opm@futurenet.com @IanDean4
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Ben Tyrer
David Meikleham
Miriam McDonald
Milford Coppock
game of the month Everybody’s Golf Favourite Cod? Modern Warfare
game of the month Destiny 2 Favourite Cod? Modern Warfare 2
game of the month Life Is Strange: BTS Favourite Cod? Large, with chips
game of the month Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Favourite Cod? Modern Warfare (Remastered)
Games editor He’s played every COD and could write a thesis on each one, but that wouldn’t be fun. Instead read Ben’s A-Z of WWII on page 48.
Guest writer Dave’s in the grip of Destiny and has no time for ‘realistic’ shooting when he can lay waste to Titan with an Exotic.
operations editor Our Mim has never picked up a pad in anger to headshot a fellow gamer. She’s a Dragon Quest Builder, not a destroyer.
managing art editor OPM’s longest-serving staffer has the thousandyard stare of a man who’s seen too much COD. He doesn’t like close contact.
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November 2017
highlights The big 10
006 Monster hunter: world 004
Capcom reveals a massive new area, with equally sizeable new monsters to stalk. the big 10
012 planet of the apes: last frontier Discover why collaborative decision making means there’ll be no monkey business here. preview
032 star wars battlefront II We reach for the stars, and do a spot of dogfighting there, in Starfighter Assault mode. feature
048 the a-z of call of duty All you need to know about COD: WWII ahead of release! Plus, Sledgehammer interviewed. feature
056 the big interview Hazelight creative director Josef Fares reveals the challenges of creating A Way Out. feature
060 ps vr comes of age We look at the first 12 months of PS VR – and ahead to future virtual reality releases. review
074 Destiny 2 It’s the game everyone’s playing – so why haven’t we given it a score? Let us explain… review
082 PES 2018 Football season has begun, on the pitch and on our PlayStations. Could this be this year’s winner?
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s e c t i o n s at a g l a n c e
the big 10
previews
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Latest info, screens and playtests All the hottest news
features
reviews
network
retro STATION
To-the-point, detailed analysis
In-depth verdicts on every big new game
Max out your PS4, online and off
Classics revisited
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THE Games index 089 absolver 081 agents of mayhem 040 assassin’s creed origins 014 attack on titan 2 056 a way out 042 call of cthulhu 048 call of duty: WWII 043 crossing souls 074 destiny 2 065 doom vfr 079 everybody’s golf 088 F1 2017 010 God of war 043 god’s trigger 043 immortal: unchained 011 jurassic world: evolution 080 knack 2 096 lawbreakers 078 life Is Strange: before the storm - episode 1 086 marvel vs capcom: infinite 081 matterfall 019 metal gear survive 006 Monster hunter: world 065 monster of the deep: final fantasy XV 064 moss 081 nidhogg 2 038 ni no kuni II: revenant kingdom 065 obduction 092 observer 082 PES 2018 092 pillars of eternity: Complete edition 018 raiders of the broken planet 043 secret of mana 039 Shadows: awakening 016 Shenmue III 092 sparc 032 star wars Battlefront II 088 the escapists 2 044 the evil within 2 065 transference 090 uncharted: the lost legacy 088 undertale 036 Vampyr 043 where the water tastes like wine 093 windjammers 112 world of tanks 020 yakuza 6: the song of life
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a sizeable new area, with even more monstrous beasts. Stories everyone’s talking about
The Big10
006
11 Park worse than its bite?
Sims + dinos = Jurassic World Evolution.
12 monkey business
We land on the Planet Of The Apes.
14 calling MR Kratos!
Thinking big for Attack On Titan 2.
TheBig10 Stories everyone’s talking about
Monster Hunter shows dinomighty breadth
More space, even more monsters – what a wonderful World For years now, the only gamers lucky enough to get a taste of Capcom’s dino-hunting series this side of the world have been those brandishing a 3DS. But with Monster Hunter: World, the publisher is bringing Monster Hunter back to PlayStation, and launching a living, breathing, dinosaur-filled world onto PS4. Capcom’s not being stingy about it, either, recently revealing a sizeable new area, with even more monstrous inhabitants. The big appeal of Monster Hunter: World is that it takes the eponymous animal stalking into more of an open world than previous games in the series. The setting won’t quite be on the scale of something like Horizon: Zero Dawn, but it will feature a living, breathing ecosystem of dinosaurs and other beasts just waiting to be er… well, clue’s in the title. It’s also why ‘World’ is in the title instead of
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The newly revealed Wildspire Waste is quite the change from the lush greenery of the forests we’ve seen so far.
this being a numbered entry – that, and the fact it’s launching across the globe on the same day for the first time ever. So why the return to a Sony console? Monster Hunter: World producer Ryozo Tsujimoto explains: “The power of the current generation of PlayStation consoles lets us bring together the concept we had in mind, which is a very rich, expressive, living world, with all kinds of beautiful details in it.” A whole new World Capcom’s adding another area, Wildspire Waste, to the one we saw at E3. It’s quite a contrast from the Ancient Forest. Gone is the lush greenery, replaced with purple lavender and expanses of desert mixed with swamplands. It’s a far more varied landscape than we’ve seen so far, which should really make it pop on a PS4 Pro. But it’s not going to be the visual quality that appeals most to budding monster hunters: the big draw is the raft of new scaly critters roaming Wildspire Waste.
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The Big10
Palico passions
Your feline comrade is back for Monster Hunter: World too, and has more personality than ever. The first thing you’ve got to do is head for water and watch your Palico jump in the world’s most adorable dinghy.
Stories everyone’s talking about
They mimic some of the most recognisable dinos from history, from pterodactyl-liked winged beasts to the kind of things that lurk in the dark depths of the ocean. There are more than reptiles frolicking in the lilac, too. Wildspire Waste is also home to the KuluYa-Ku, a bird that steals other monsters’ eggs, and the brutish Barroth, which is known for marking its territory with mud. (That mud will no doubt be a clue for the scout flies when you’re on its trail. These glowing bugs gain strength the more clues you find that point towards the location of your target, and they lead you straight to the beast in question.)
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Big, bad and scaly Capcom won’t confirm exactly how many monsters are stomping their way across World’s map, but it’s safe to assume they’re all intelligent beasties well worthy of your best combat and hunting moves. “The monsters are believable in their behaviour, so you’ll have to observe how they behave and their particular quirks, and learn that in order to hunt them,” explains executive director Kaname Fujioka. “The thing is, if they were too clever, after a while you just couldn’t use your tactics any more. I think it wouldn’t really be the right kind of gameplay we’re looking for.
We still want, fundamentally, to have battle action gameplay, so they’re smart, but they’re not so smart that eventually, you’re going to be unable to defeat them.” Despite the introduction of Wildspire Waste, most of the critters are returning faces, so anyone who’s played Monster Hunter before will probably know what they’re up against. When we play a preview section of the game, it’s pretty clear which monsters want to bite our faces off and which are strictly vegetarian. True fans might just see some hidden gems too, if they look hard enough. Fujioka drops a few hints about those: “One of the smaller animals that has come back for the first time in a long time is the Moss Slime. It’s a pink-like creature that loves to eat mushrooms. That’s something that we haven’t seen for a long time in the game, so I think that’ll make players smile when they see it if they recognise it from the old games.” That attention to detail and care comes through as we play. We’re
dev talk “We want to make sure that everyone can communicate together even if they’re not speaking the same language… We’ve got emoji-style stickers, where if you don’t want to have a specific text message, you can just throw up a sticker that’s showing how you’re feeling about the hunt going on right now.” Kaname Fujioka
executive producer, Monster Hunter: World
it’s clear which of the monsters want to bite our faces off and which are vegetarian.
back in the same zone as the E3 demo, the one with the leathery, feathery Anjanath and those lizardlike Jagras, rather than Wildspire Waste. But as we stalk our prey, it’s evident some lovely gameplay tweaks have been made to make this feel like a proper console game. The idiosyncrasies of Monster Hunter games of yore have been styled out, so now you can do things like drink potions on the move, run without using your stamina until you start attacking a big monster, actually access your armour and weapons from the hunting map, and even just spawn at different camps across the world. Ground control The combat has evolved too, with the scenery much more a part of our arsenal. In our battle with the huge Anjanath we manage to use higher ground (accidentally, we admit) to leap upon his back and deal a killer blow. Well, not killer yet, but it definitely helped. We also spend a while just taking in the wide, wonderful world Capcom has created, as what we experience feels as alive and aggressive as our best Jurassic Park fantasies – even if Jeff Goldblum isn’t there to share it. Monster Hunter: World releases early 2018, so start thinking up Palico names.
Thanks to a simultaneous global release, all players can come together to hunt from the start.
■ The weapons are almost as big as the
monsters, but that makes us feel safer.
■ Kulu-Ya-Ku birds are egg stealers and
rock throwers, so watch out.
The brutish Barroth uses its heavy head as a plough to smash through the environment… and you.
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■ Using the monsters and the environment, as well as your weapons, to your advantage is key to success. Seize every advantage possible.
Capcom is keeping quiet on how many monsters are in World, but we’re not looking forward to facing this guy.
Concept art shows the realms differ in tone. Who doesn’t love a mossy walkway?
The Big10
Stories everyone’s talking about
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God Of War will rune your social life How script and language will play a key role in Kratos’ return The God Of War hype machine is in full swing. This month creative director Cory Barlog took to the PlayStation podcast to share some new info on the part language will play in the Nordic return of gaming’s angriest beard. First he expanded on some of the ‘contextual’ detail he exclusively revealed to OPM last issue by explaining how everything is kept inside the game, rather than you having to navigate menus. For example, to open new areas you will need to use a book. It will enable you to understand the base language, Elder Futhark, and by discovering common links between
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this language and others you can access new regions. Barlog said on the PlayStation blog, “There are certain realms where you can learn their entire language and translate that back, and that might help open the game, reveal a quest line for something.” Originally Barlog had the idea of having everyone in the game speak ancient Norse, other than Kratos, who is, of course, Greek. Atreus would then become his translator and connection to this new land. “But it proved, I think, to be too difficult to carry the kind of narrative we want to carry, the player was so isolated that he just became too separated.” What came out of this desire to make use of language was a world
if you see a rune, it has a message.
dev talk “Any runes that look like actual readable runes will mean something. Every single thing that we’ve made obvious and clear that you see are either Elder Futhark or runes from another realm, and all that will be translated. There’s stuff in the E3 demo that’s all over the walls and it actually means something.” Cory Barlog
Creative director
that feels authentic and real, one where nothing is throwaway or random. If you see a rune in the world it’s because it has a message or magical purpose. “Everything we do in the world is real, it’s not just gibberish. We don’t just throw runes up for decoration, it’s language, it’s the way people communicate with each other,” said story lead Matt Sofos. “We’re giant word nerds and we believe the words have power,” added Barlog. from lad to norse Despite a shift from going ‘full Futhark’, the idea of Kratos’ son Atreus being the gateway to the Norse world remains. Often Atreus will translate the runes for Kratos, who will then need to decide how to proceed. “It’s also involved in the combat system,” revealed Sofos.
new frontier
Frontier is planning to reveal more on Jurassic World: Evolution at the Frontier Expo on 7 October. Tickets are still available at the website: expo. frontier.co.uk.
The Big10 Stories everyone’s talking about
Yeah, we’ll bioengineer one of these to make it extra-killy. What could possibly go wrong?
Jurassic Park life Your chance to build a disaster-free dino park If you’ve ever watched a Jurassic Park film and remarked, “I could do better than that; there’d be no escaped dinos on my watch!” then you’ve missed the point, but Frontier Developments’ forthcoming worldbuilder Jurassic World Evolution is definitely for you. Fresh from bringing Elite Dangerous to PS4, Frontier is partnering with Universal to deliver Jurassic World to our consoles next summer, just in time for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s cinematic release in June. “As long-time fans of the entire Jurassic series we’re thrilled to be putting players in charge of their own Jurassic World,” said Frontier’s chief creative officer, Jonny Watts. “We’re excited to bring over 15 years of management, simulation, and creature development expertise
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“The kid has runes tattooed on him by the mother, the mother was someone who taught the kid magic, and all of that involves language.” Barlog interjects: “That language imbues the person with power so that not only the speaking of it but tattooing things on their body will sometimes hide them from the gods, or give them a truer aim, or a clear head.” Kingdom for a norse The RPG-like use of runes, language and staves to add magical properties and new abilities to the characters and their weapons – which could include becoming more lucky or turning briefly invisible – piques our interest. We love good word play, even if it is ancient Norse. What do you make of God Of War’s Norse rune craft? Write in and tell us.
to a destination and franchise that remains an inspiration to us.” As the architect of your own Jurassic Park, you’ll be in charge of building a park on Isla Nublar and the islands of the Muertes Archipelago, as well as researching and breeding new dinosaurs. You’ll naturally need to balance bioengineering dinosaurs with safety, researching and constructing containment areas alongside creating the kind of exciting attractions that will get the biggest crowds through the gates. There’s a threat of disaster in every decision you make, with research and design choices leading to new paths and unforeseen events. If we’ve learned anything from the Jurassic Park films it’s that ‘life will find a way,’ and that usually means dinos chewing on theme park guests. We can’t wait.
You’ll be in charge of building a dino park on Isla Nublar.
We’ll be taking a closer look at Jurassic World Evolution next issue.
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do you torture the ape or reason with it? talking about Stories everyone’s
The Big10
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