Issue 142 december 2017 gamesradar.com/opm
rootin’-tootin’ return
Bank jobs! Bows! Bears! Back in the saddle with the Van Der Linde gang
20 years of GTA
Guerrilla Games thaws out Aloy – exclusive interview inside!
Making the unapologetic PlayStation classic – how it changed everything
rover the top exclusive!
Devote yourself to PlayStation 4’s best new shooter chopping mall
Issue 142
dead rising 4 Frank West is back on PlayStation
Jurassic world evolution details how Mgs inspired Left alive Zone of the enders embraces PS VR
ISSUE 142/ Dec 2017
Future Publishing Ltd, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, United Kingdom Tel +44 (0) 1225 442244 Email opm@futurenet.com Twitter @OPM_UK Web www.gamesradar.com/opm
Welcome D
ogs in games – how can you not love a game that’s willing to put man’s best friend front and centre? Our cover game, Far Cry 5, does just that. And we’re willing to bet its star-in-waiting Boomer is going to capture your heart. Of course there’s more to Far Cry 5 than a literal gun dog, as Ben discovered when he paid a visit to Ubisoft Montreal for an exclusive look at the game. Read his impressions, and see more of Boomer, on page 52. Back in the UK, I got to put Dragon Ball FighterZ’ online credentials to the test. Read how Bandai Namco’s brawler performed on page 32. Then, of course, there’s another 2018 hit-in-waiting in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. We cast our eager eyes over the recent trailer on page 6. It’s not all about the future, though, as we take a reflective look at the original Grand Theft Auto – a true PlayStation classic that’s celebrating its 20th anniversary* – and meet the original developer for first-hand insights into how it was made.
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 Vikki Blake, Matthew Clapham, Adam Cook, Anne-Marie Coyle, Carlos Dattoli, Mike Diver, Joseph Donnelly, Jordan Farley, Samuel Horti, Leon Hurley, Phil Iwaniuk, Alex Jones, Luke Kemp, Jessica Kinghorn, David Meikleham, Dominic Peppiatt, Christopher Schilling, Chris Scullion, Justin Towell, Alan Wen, 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 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 Hob Favourite game dog? Jake (Dog’s Life)
CIRCULATION Circulation account manager Tom Cooper tom.cooper@futurenet.com Production & Distribution Head of production UK & US Mark Constance Production Project Manager Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Controller Vivienne Calvert Management Managing director, magazines Aaron Asadi Art & design director Ross Andrews Group editor in chief Tony Mott Senior art editor Warren Brown Printed in the UK by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future Distributed by Marketforce, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU
The ABC combined print, digital and digital publication circulation for Jan-Dec 2016 is
28,120 (Print 24,769 Digital 3,351) A member of the Audited Bureau of Circulations
“Far Cry 5, and its starin-waiting Boomer, should be top of your most-wanted list for the new year.”
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.
Ian Dean
Editor opm@futurenet.com @IanDean4
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this month’s dog lovers
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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)207 042 4000 (London) Tel +44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath)
Ben Tyrer
Phil Iwaniuk
Miriam McDonald
Milford Coppock
game of the month FIFA 18 Favourite game dog? Riley (COD: Ghosts)
game of the month GT Sport Favourite game dog? Amaterasu (Okami)
game of the month Danganronpa 3 Favourite game dog? Dogmeat (Fallout 4)
game of the month GT Sport Favourite game dog? Parappa The Rapper
Games editor Ben talked to so many devs at Ubisoft Montreal for our cover feature (page 52), he’s now got a husky voice. Strangely saucy.
Guest writer We let Phil off the leash this issue to interview gamer-turned-pro-racer Jann Mardenborough. Read his story on page 72.
*GTA released October 1997, and 12 December on PlayStation.
operations editor When deadline looms Mim turns to her cooking skills for energy, so it’s woofles for breakfast. Just don’t try the chow chow mein.
managing art editor Milf’s been hounding Ben all month for a play of Destiny 2. It’s the least Ben could do for our art editor. [These puns are so corgi – ed]
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December 2017
highlights The big 10
006 red dead redemption 2 004
More information emerges, from characters to a lush Louisana setting. Go west, young fan. preview
032 dragon ball fighterZ We go hands-on with the anime scrapper’s online play modes and dish out some pummellings. feature
052 far cry 5 We venture to Montreal to see how Ubisoft is going about creating a cult classic. feature
060 the big interview With two episodes to go, Life Is Strange: Before The Storm writer Zak Gariss discusses the game. feature
064 grand theft auto Crime stays as well as pays: we look at 20 years of one of PlayStation’s best-loved franchises. feature
072 Gran turismo sport Pro race driver Jann Mardenborough talks about how GT took him from PlayStation to the track. review
078 middle-earth: shadow of war Take control of the armies of darkness in order to defeat them? Now you’re orcing… review
084 fifa 18 The Journey continues, while FUT is ready to suck even more of your time. Football is life.
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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 048 a rk park 087 battle chasers: nightwar 040 code vein 017 crazy justice 086 danganronpa v3: killing harmony 036 dead rising 4: frank’s big package 100 destiny 2 048 digimon story: cybersleuth – hacker’s memory 083 dishonored: death of the outsider 019 dissidia: final fantasy NT 044 doom vfr 032 dragon ball fighterz 039 dynasty warriors 9 048 elevate combat league 047 extinction 052 far cry 5 046 fe 084 fifa 18 102 fortnite – battle royale 093 fragments of him 064 grand theft auto 072 gran turismo sport 095 gundam versus 092 hob 010 horizon zero dawn – the frozen wilds 043 iron harvest 016 jurassic world evolution 018 left alive 060 life is strange: before the storm 048 little witch academia: chamber of time 101 marvel vs. capcom: infinite 078 middle-earth: shadow of war 082 NBA 2K18 093 NBA live 18 048 octahedron 101 PES 2018 088 project cars 2 087 radial-G: racing evolved 094 raiders of the broken planet 006 red dead redemption 2 097 ruiner 093 the lego ninjago movie video game 038 we happy few 087 WRC 7 012 zone of the enders: the 2nd runner – mars
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The Big10 Stories everyone’s talking about
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Dutch Van der Linde is very much alive and kicking.
Arthur Morgan’s at the centre of the story this time – but we’ll wait and see if he’s the only lead.
10 Frozen for freshness
Aloy’s back; Guerrilla Games reveals all
12 End game
Zone Of The Enders comes to PS VR
16 jurassic perks
New details on the dino park builder
TheBig10 Stories everyone’s talking about
Red Dead Redemption 2: it’s a big country
What the latest trailer reveals about possible characters and settings The original Red Dead Redemption remains arguably the first, and last, great western videogame. Despite acclaim from critics and fans alike, however, it seems developer Rockstar wasn’t in a rush to churn out a successor, remaining curiously silent on the subject of a sequel for six long years, until it unceremoniously dropped the announcement almost a year ago. That’s right: A YEAR AGO. It’s taken 11 long, painful months, but a new video for one of gaming’s most anticipated sequels, Red Dead Redemption 2, has finally arrived. The new teaser’s just one minute and 29 seconds long, but Rockstar is masterful in its delivery of a trailer that intimates much, but, in actuality, gives very little away. Let’s break it down, shall we? We’re throwing around the word ‘sequel’, but that’s not actually what we’ve got here. Red Dead
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Redemption 2 is technically a prequel, predating Marston by half a decade or so, we reckon. Dutch Van Der Linde – the scoundrel you chase for much of the original game – is very much alive and kicking here, with nary a salt-and-pepper hair to be seen. The Dutch we encountered at the end of Red Dead’s original story looked older and… well, it didn’t turn out so good for him, did it? And that’s how we know this is a prequel. DEAR JOHN We’re just going to say it: there’s no sign of John Marston. Yet. When rumours of a sequel first surfaced, some people hoped Red Dead 2 would focus on John Marston’s formative, less lawabiding years, perhaps even on the time we know culminated in Red Dead’s original protagonist being shot and left for dead in a robberygone-wrong. But apparently not. The single-line video description tells us that Red Dead 2 is “the story of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the Van Der Linde gang as they rob, fight, and steal their way across the vast
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The Big10
Red Dead Royale
The big question left unanswered in the recent trailer is: how will the success of GTA Online affect Red Dead Redemption 2? We’re hoping for an epic battle royale mode. Though persistent online Wild West would also be awesome.
Stories everyone’s talking about
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and rugged heart of America in order to survive.” Although his name suggests he might be a miner from the Rhondda, turns out Arthur Morgan, like Marston, is an outlaw, seemingly a debt collector of sorts. Think Scrooge, but with a cowboy hat. Unlike Marston, though, Morgan seems to take great delight in being a *blorp*head (at one point he cheerfully suggests executing a young chap so his mother can remain in her mourning clothes), so it doesn’t look like he’s seeking redemption any time soon. But just because we haven’t seen Marston yet, it doesn’t mean he won’t return. After all, Rockstar is known for holding back a secret or two prior to launch. One of Grand Theft Auto V’s early trailers focused purely on Michael, whereas, as we now know, the game actually charts three individual protagonists. Could this happen again with RDR2? Maybe it’s another member of the gang we ultimately play as, perhaps the cowgirl (possibly called Abigail) we see insisting that someone (no idea who, though) is the only one of “these fools” she believes in? Somewhere bayou It’s not yet clear where in the Wild West the events take place. But given a voiceover laments that the gang have been chased out of three
states, chasing them “from the West” and “over the mountains”, with a little map work and a rusty Geography GCSE, Louisiana is a plausible guess. Not convinced? That’s okay. But what if we told you there are alligators taking out unsuspecting piggies (sorry, Porky), glimpses of swampy bayous (which may or may not mean we’ll finally get to souse ourselves in RDR’s numerous waterholes), and huge plantation houses ablaze? It’s possible, right? Of course, it’s also possible this story will take us across all three of those aforementioned states and beyond, as coupled with the scenery you’d expect – campfires, sunsets, that kind of thing – there are also cowboys hotfootin’ it through the snow… so numerous locations aren’t totally out of the question. the wild bunch Rumour has it you’ll be able to individualise your crew for your missions, a little like you do in Mass Effect, although who’ll be available – Marston? Abigail? – is anyone’s
Train heists, bank robberies, stabbings, dual-wielding pistols, hunting; it’s all here.
guess. The trailer intimates it’s the end-days of Dutch’s gang, and it looks as though Dutch wants his boys to go out with a bang. Train heists, bank robberies, street brawls, stabbings, lassoing horses, dual-wielding pistols, chasing down debtors, and hunting with a bow and arrow (yes, finally); it’s all here, with our man Morgan usually front-row and centre for the carnage. And it’s stunning. From the craggy mountains to the sun-drenched vistas, the weatherbeaten towns to the soupy bayous, each backdrop is gorgeously realised, and stuffed with detail. Oh, and there are still bears on the prowl. Excellent. Can’t wait to be mauled by one of those again. Incidentally, there are many parallels to draw from The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, including the bandana’d bandits, the landscapes, the overall aesthetic – even how Dutch’s gang take down the train. Homage, inspiration, or an example of devs using a movie on which to base an entire design? (Silent Hill, we’re looking at you – we know Midwich Elementary was based on the school in Kindergarten Cop.) Who knows? Guess we’ll find out soon enough. We’ve waited six years, so six more months won’t hurt… Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 in Spring 2018.
Grizzly bears once extended as far south as New Mexico and Arizona – but those mountains don’t look like western plains to us.
■ The plantation house looks similar to
the real Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana.
■ The Native American gent features in
the original RDR2 art. Playable, we hope.
Finally we get to have a go with bows and arrows. We don’t need those guns! (Much.)
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■ Definitely not Texas. But America’s not short of mountains, so this could be anywhere from Yosemite to the Rockies.
This tough lady’s someone we don’t want to mess around with. Will she join our gang?
We’ll be seeing plenty of snow this Christmas, if only on our PlayStation.
The Big10 Stories everyone’s talking about
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Guerrilla looks to broaden its Horizon We chat with the Dutch studio about The Frozen Wilds With the release of Aloy’s debut DLC on 7 November, there’s a lot of mystery about what Horizon Zero Dawn – The Frozen Wilds will offer returning fans. Well, we’re far too eager to return to this world to wait until then (and you might already be playing it), so we are going straight to the developer to find out what to expect.
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territory, it’s a very dangerous territory. It’s also primarily inhabited by the Banuk, so there’s been a lot of back and forth and warfare between the Carja and the Banuk, who have kind of settled into this area.” Sounds like The Frozen Wilds describes both the climate and state of relations between the two tribes. But what brings Aloy into this? McCaw is a little more secretive, only telling us that she’ll have a new mystery to explore that will touch upon the spiritual belief of the Banuk. But considering that nearly all of Aloy’s quests will come from the Banuk, we expect to learn a lot more about these machineworshippers from this slice of DLC. The good news for slowpokes who have yet to finish the main story is
Aloy will have new tricks and items.
Winter is coming While we saw at E3 that the Banuk will play a large part in The Frozen Wilds, lead writer Ben McCaw sheds some light on their situation in this expansion: “What we’re seeing in the DLC is a border zone between the Carja and the Banuk, it’s a disputed
dev talk “[With writing the DLC] we wanted to do all the things that the main game did. So we wanted to provide a new area, a new culture, but we also wanted to give Aloy relationships to delve into and ultimately a storyline that does what a lot of the other quests in the game do.” Ben McCaw Lead writer
that this new area will open up around halfway through the base game’s storyline, but lead quest designer David Ford has some advice: “We consider it to be more of a mid-to-end game in terms of the difficulty set.” Basically, follow the Boy Scouts’ golden rule of always being prepared. (Metal) Devil’s in the details Fortunately, Aloy will have a few new tricks and items to help her explore this winter fun-derland. Ford explains that this includes a new branch on Aloy’s skill tree: “We focused on some quality of life improvements in the new skills and also added a little bit of a pizzazz. There are some cool new skills that add some new combat dimensions and some new ways to interact with machines.” Don’t worry about not having enough skill points to unlock
Vote now!
To cast your vote in OPM’s Game Of The Year poll, simply visit bit.ly/opmgoty17 and let us know which game, released between 1 December 2016 and 1 December 2017 should win.
The Big10 Stories everyone’s talking about
Best of the best? Vote in this year’s GOTY poll and have your say Days get shorter, leaves become scarcer and TV adverts get grander. Yes, it’s that time of year again where we need to choose a game of the year. And, as ever, we want you to take part. In issue 144 – on sale 19 December – we’ll be bringing you the results of our valiant research into what you think should be taking home the award. And what a year it’s been. Some big franchises, such as Mass Effect Andromeda, failed to deliver while old favourites came back strong – hello Crash and Sonic. While Persona 5 put JRPGs back on the PlayStation map, What Became Of Edith Finch was also seriously impressive. Plus, PS VR wasn’t to be left out; Starblood Arena, Statik, and Farpoint have all vied for our time. But what of the blockbusters? It’s been one of the best years for
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these new upgrades, either, as the level cap is shifting from 50 to 60. There will also be new weapons for Aloy to try out as Ford tell us: “We have both upgraded versions of weapons you’ve seen in the past and we’ve some brand-new weapons which explore some different ways of fighting. We’ve been experimenting with some tweaks on the game’s systems and we think they’re a lot of fun to play with.” Any amateur in-game photographers should also take note that there’ll be at least one new pose with this DLC, according to Ford. Considering this meaningful expansion only comes in at £15.99, there seems to plenty to dig your teeth into, with Santa Guerrilla bringing presents for every fan. Fancy showing off your photo skills in The Frozen Wilds? Tweet @OPM_UK
PlayStation 4’s big hitters, with Resident Evil VII: Biohazard making an early claim to be the year’s best game alongside Nioh, Nier: Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Injustice 2. There’s also the end-of-year rush to impress. The silly season began early this year with Uncharted: The Lost Legacy proving even expansions can challenge the major releases. Then Destiny 2 launched and sucked away our time with its blend of finely-tuned first-person shooting, loot grinding, and multiplayer. This was hotly followed by Assassin’s Creed Origins, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and Call Of Duty: WWII. Finally, there’s the small matter of the age-old argument: the tussle between PES 2018 and FIFA 2018 for the year’s best football game. It’s time to let us know your GOTY!
The silly season began early this year with Uncharted.
Come back for issue 144, on sale 19 December, for the GOTY results.
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The Big10 Stories everyone’s talking about
missile trails and lasers flow across the screen.
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