HEROES bo) a | STORM CMe a) Conc mea Mensa crac) ae , et ef Roma Drier Perit cd AGAINST A SINGLE I RCL NO) Cea MONSTER. WHO WINS? Ca Perot Coa Pasa} er ca LJTHIS WORLD DOESN'T NEED A HERO IT NEEDS A PROFESSIONAL Le Become a witcher, one ofthe last monster slayer fr hire. Track down the child of prophecy, a ling weapon capable of untold destruction, Journey through war-tom kingdoms and sly legendary creatures : Explore towns rife with corruption and sai to untamed isles, home eA thy to clans of seafaring warriors. n a world descending into turmoil, oh v your actions shape history Steabook™ rch Ue The Compendum Game ara SoundOVER 160 & vA ¥ 4 AWARDS y Defines Next-GenEXCLUSIVELY FEATURING VARIABLE MOUNTING 46 4 DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD ORIENTATIONS ECG Cece So Ce ADDITIONAL FEATURES © Exclusive ORIGIN PC industrial design estereg ttt Pan eW a Eer ence) Syne estes a= fe lester cae ie lg Sere mine tence (configure to open left or ight) ‘© Remote controlled lighting with 16 colors Eine Clear Eo NG H IT Fae Melee ee eer =a Re = ta ae eel ed Sans , Ome OTe of a enh ee eae emee olay . el Seed Pere iet olen oe ee Pi CO eee eae ee Co eee once eer ae cL eeINTRODUCING THE MOST ADVANCED AND CUSTOMIZABLE CASE IN THE WORLD’ Available only on ORIGIN PC’s GENESIS and MILLENNIUM Line of Desktops oe ORIGIN SeteTHE WITCHER 3 paz Hands on with tne write Watt's final adventure.INTERVIEW: HEARTS OF IRON IV pee FRONTENS ‘The future of WWI atrategs 14 Release Schedule a3 ypc 14 Nowe 28 aig Picture 22 PCP? Interviews 26 10 the Watch opinion, 20 JAM 24 Gen xX 30 Far Canal 96 The Last Were 32 Lets Pay 38 Incies 42 The Wnener 3: Wil Hunt GAME REVIEWS 55 vole 58 Apotneon 60 Hand of Fs 62_Life i Strange 62 Homeworld Remastered 64 Total War: Ata BUDGET CASE ROUNDUP: pce Groat cases for under $200. a rN a7) p55 ans anal Ag 61x 960 rae irene eae 138 Sudget Case Roundup 72 NVIDIAGTK 960 76 NVIDIA GT 960 77 Philips eomsarour 7B Minitar AC Repeater 78 Plontronics Backbeat PRO 79 si6s30 80 Hotware 86 Tech Menagerie THE BUNKER 36 Guia Raspberry PLEX 92 Fun and Games 94 Extendes Memon: ‘cyverpunk 2020 REGULARS 33 Inbox 90 Subserptionst Win of42, Ture Boneh Enr Fores 2300 Hondestel 98 Nest Month omenUOTES OF HE MONTH Machinations Fists acet tomate on song nino sine Sse! issue (296) we made a joke, referring to Cltzen. The joke was meant tobe We obvi wo've actualy contributed @ not msignifeant amount of money to the game. We've eagerly anticipating the fl release ust a8 reference tothe that refered to Star Citi implying thatthe game itsetis @ seam. ‘dnt come across thet way io print To make i font tink Star Citizen ie @ seam In fact, between ‘Ben Mansi, Davia Holingwortn ana mysett hve some realy big plans going forward to extend the PCPP fend you i F ways. Within the next month or sa we © ofthe official PCPP padeast (still con't nave a name aa yet. 0 ffwe use your idea. Were also stating to put togetner lets play videos forthe website, We really nope to bring a lot of eary hands on fo tage to you in the coming year. We sae the wabsite and magazine a8 being ‘complimentary, so plan on using the onl depth tech an space to dever lang form investigations, fe lao have the frst Unerade ‘Australis tach expe (onthe same day tis issue goes on sae Wat this means, aside from ghving mysel a all of aot ‘more things 10 40 n 8 month, is tat We of lot more community interaction. Moro events, ‘early nands on seasions with upcoming planned for 2018, and the online spa bing and how you ci Stings we can use inthe po Dianning ona net euing 0s Us lots of space ner te It's play videos, night tits of what kinds of things wel ‘exciting time herein the PPP bunker. 9 of good stut in lolvding a 100k tthe origins of Let's Pay (Tortuous, nun) hangs on witn The Witener 3, Pilars of Eterty and Heroes of other goodies you've come to expect. Il metaphorically see Daniel Witks Editor aarwikenstein =. elRowerblayl ic TOLL FREE ¢ 1300 Cee Cad= NOR Ses . yy GEFORCE’ i je, copy . cp AG ae ae } J Wllilittlellttlllll es ) , STRIX GTX960 eee LAGU Ue eRe TG eT uC RS eect adTHIS MONTH... DANIEL WILKS. ALCOLM CAMPAELL A BENNETT RING wi JAMES COTTEE gy" MEGHANN O'NEILL 2 JAMES o'cONNOR % 2 Hearts of Iron IV Interview ‘Anew leavel of realism brought to Wil strategy SEN MANSILL ts OBERT NORTH ANGUS SAILLIE, 38 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Hands on with Geralt’s tinal acventure £ ‘si a mi a 3 + Heroes of We roundup the best the Storm Blizzard's Hero Brawler is ‘accessible and fun oePUT rae a PTC cL Mian) ia Ca Lavy Prt rm 0 Pe wanton Pane TTA roo Oat TORN Ey Bena Sy cA) Neer ros smo =a) mat] g PI Staats suc PIE am ‘moiR Ug CAE CU took rity tate ee Paley Bes : “02 H AUR EN ANH Aye oR ORB BEER HEH BMH MEHERHE RUE MAES ERHEE HELE S|dl gong though your games ofthe year article reinforced what a good year it was. NYE Is wel over now and | look forwars to more games anc ‘more issues of PC POWERPLIY. Koop up the good work and Mitchel Hot ‘ya Mitchel 2014 was an Interesting year for games. There lias a lot of quali tes spread throughout the yeor meking it 2 pretty muet constant jo, What wos tray interesting about 2024 lias that tant havea many Fhe it rs or lows that most reviews. My faith has been restored Keep up the good work ‘Simon Lene GRUNTLED ing @ PCPP subscriber LETTER OF THE MONTH Wins! look forward to spotting each ‘months issue in my letter box. It always puts a smile on my face and | usually eagerly stip off the plastic steove and do a quick skim through of your mag right at my leter box before even making back to ny house, | eonfess to beng pretty Aisappointed wih last months Issuel (PCP 1236) Wie | Hi Simon ~ the Sim Special was the fat (0 tech) issue we've done entirety deateated to one thame. it was something ofan exneriment to tes ho waters fo future epecile could comfortably sit on stands over January period We wil probably un ‘another special around the same time this year but wel probaly go ‘anpreciate the work that went ita for samething that i es limiting, cesehdessrnon tere was nothing ni ata of fke@ Games of he Future spel ‘iusewres Sitrser”"” interest fora noni tan. Even orfock at atneme ike science oune’loycam ou £3ch after second more thorugh ‘ton or fantasy other than 9 ass through tna issue wont straight onto my PCPP ile prety genre ‘much unread leaving me reeling disgruntled, Maybe next time you doa focused “eatur’ syle issue mixin few articles or game reviews that ‘are nat so focussed on the theme 10 keep it balanced and interesting to readers who are not into whatever the feature theme I. Fastforward to txe March Issue (POPP #237) an I would have to say this last PCP issue \nas one ofthe best Ive ead! Thank youl I foved tho ‘game of the year’ and "tech ofthe year articles, the awesome Warhammer features (who doesn't love arything Wamammer?) and piliant game 2016 Jel the call has gone out fom the curent editor about how is PC Powerpiey is going? And you know what? think you are going wel. The anticles nave been good, the game reviews have been current and lke the photos you choose to put in the magzzine 2014 was a good year fr PC saming. was gaming rough the year and never wont one week Without something to ply And itelps a PC games ‘magazine when you do have something to talk about,JACORSATR’ FOURMOST IMPRESSIVE FEATURES 1 So much orange! 4. 2xSii Geforce GTX 760 Ista Usd 2. Even more psychaclalically 2. Intel? €790k 4, 00GHe swirly orange! 3. Tx Corsair Fans (Extreme colour eee ey iS {| think we're seeing a p scheme) cee hare. Wecan only assume 4, Corsair H60 Water Cooler arene! thet Brent wes raisedin LasTul orsair H6O Water for Brent. Enoy! the forast by a bushel ot Cooler wild oranges and ne snow REAM UPGRADE: 4k sereen eo | can paying trloute to his tbe se what all the fuss Is about ! Gaming co (Geriausty though it lok Mouse or keyboard. Anything to do away mip ‘reat) wiht my old alle junk. : 4. Hal Your new mouse is FAVOURITE FEATURE: Dare we say the | black, nat orange, POPP ORANGE colour scheme? SU TTTE oy} is destroying your dask WHY 80 SPECIAL?: My ist build evertt 7 H colour scheme! My wicked colour scheme. nat to many i 1. Always goad to see abit coxanee sytems out there s r of sucking us ina My PC not. cramped, WANT FREE STUFF? Send your MyPC entry today to mye ‘owerplay com.2u. include the four most impressive elements of ts hardnare, your last ‘upgrade, your dream upgrade, your favourite feature and what you think makes your PC special. Make sure to Inclide your name, age ‘and location. An last but not least, attach a SMP or bigger image of your PO! No camera phone shots, and make sure isin focus! en ')eiire eles B bagels tet) PCT a Clg imeem (Cartel tits) But it's not out ~ kinda. 1 C Feneehar oer eee mame OEY pee eee! ese Ther ee ee es — Ce The WoW Token wil launch in an massive gola hordes the abit to buy See ee See nee Dee Ear et ee ea eee te Pure ener ee eee mee eee ier enna New game makes the move from mabile to PC with style. snot often if ever -that hese the term ehitout czating ano cy building game", but that's exactly what te team at at Earth Games have bul, with Towneraft. Released forthe Pag back in 2013, Townerat ie ‘ut now an Steam, alongside Frat Ears second game, Metrocise But Online Heists will be there at day ane. I's pretty much a elassic ety buleing game, but much more slowerpaced and relaxed. I's cartoonish eto graphics hark back to an older period of PC on the device. after it went wel Jel, itwas meant to be probably fair Fora lot of people gaming and since it was ereated in next month, but tuens who've already plajed it on “The ie at the outset was the Image of esktoo games, ‘out getting everthing shiny congole rales hana) geting te create the kind of indepth moving to desktop Was the next and road to r0b in Grand Theft nto GTA Online wil e ft thing simulation game for'Pad that logeal chole! Auto for PC is a bit harder than they want to do on PC. TV enjoyes on PC, said Ronan The games out now on ‘expected - tho game's now Thanktuly, Rockstars being Hari, cofounder of Fat Earth Steam, and wil be coming to been pushed back to Apil 14 generous. if youve preordered, Games. “The processing power the Humble Store, Greenman for its launch oul find $200,000 i your was there, andit bothered me Gaming, and Gamers Gate Rockstars saying that theyre Online bank account, which will that couldn't play the kind of (man, do eel sory for those ‘working hard onthe Online certainly make for better start complex games that | wanted gy) shortly experience ofthe game, whichis ta the game weEo ee [aiStS F TeOvig uC as SOME Your Build, Your Choice. The 2015 Hydro Series. = F = Pr AT aed OS is iB Z == HIO0IGIX = re aoe Crk A Post XS ere CS Kos Rang ee eae ee a ee aur Lcd Reh uu eto eee aut Sede uC oa ee a ene pears peeve ietes ‘excellent heat dissipation you need for highly overclocked CPUs. v9NGAME & TECH NEWS Fallout 4? Dishonaured 2? Whatever it is, Bethesda must have same big news this year Birterst Sete. tnt btn auch eple games 08 Skyti, Fallout, and Dishonored, has announced that Ws going Bie forts years Elestonie Entertainment Expo And willbe hosting a dayzer0 press event. Every year, on the day before E3 starts, ig pubishers tke Ubison, Sor, and Microsot host singular events to launch thelr big ame tiles. Ithelos cu through the buze of the three days of £3, geting out brand anc platform messages in 8 period of relatively ‘lear ai. So if Gethesca's ponying up for ‘edicated event ve, on stage, with guest talent and dems, in ont of a packed Cerrito a=) environment - BCs (oa tel arom Cl ay iar i i artificial reef in the League of Legends oie oon Pe eee ef ot wil be building an artical ret rr ane omer ‘audience of journos and industry types. the ‘company must fe! i's on to something, There's afew wings that ae tely on the radar. The Daom reboot ls the abvous contender and we can even dream about @ possible Fallout 4. Speaking of prayers, even though it was cancelled last yeer, | til pray that Prey 2 might get a miraculous second lite, Because afer seeing it at £38 ew years back, it really di look stunning, eteit erat eens pe ee eects ond eee eet It's also been a couple of yoars now since Jrkane's Oisnonored, and that makes perfect sense for development into a tranehise. \Whien could easy happen with Wolfenstein, too, gvon that games popularity. Holl Bethesda may even be planning on surpesing everyone with a holy new IP that would certainly justify such an event. Regardless, we'l hopefully nave some reports when E3 rll around in tune.Pe fear ee Uy Pre) an Manin SOa PTT hbk 3s x ae : = PTL J NUR na inet i ee eer eee erate ea ee ee eos Armed with a variety of guns, a moddabio pendoe" THE TEENA FLOPPIES rol or Godus? We've purchased a ticket on the Hype Train to find out. Which will tardock is all over the news. Four years ago founder and CEO Brad Wardell cided that his company hac too many irons in too many fies, and 80 he sold off his cgta distbution platform, Impulse. ther then, say buy @ LA. mansion with @ candy room, he instead chose to iwest this \wirdfal back into the communi backing @ Constellation of new satelite stuci. Those space seeds are now bearing ru. ‘The good nows: Stardock Is now projecting the launch of atleast four major now games 1 yea forthe foreseeable futue i they'e all fas good as Offord Trading Compary, that's ‘ory 08 noms indeed. The bad news: the new Star Control isnt launching until 2017. "nave many fond memonies of Star Control 2: tooling around the universe in an absurd {art deco mothership, pareying with smack talking aliens selling my erew nto slavery alto a ocking MOD file soundtrack Feminiscont of sick Amiga demo. Abow al, Star Control was a game of cueling, which is something you rarely see Fighting games arent quite the same thing. You pranee around for a minute or two, belting someone unt his arbitrary “health bar reaches zero, but its very rare that @ {game lke Nidhogg or Bushido Blade comes ‘along that captures how a duel shoud fel ‘Star Control nailed it, yet going by some of the forum eommenta there i a danger thet the dovs in charge of tio now one might forget that ts core genius was ripping off ‘Spacowat, and thatthe exploration and ‘wading and ship customisation were just ‘pace icing onthe space cak. Brad Wardell admits openly that is greatest enemy is his own cognitive dissonance, and on more than one occasion It's brought his company tothe brink. If you hhave an hour to spare, | strongly recommend listoning to Binpress Podcast #24 in which Mr. Wardell is amazingly frank about his blunders, and what he's lated fom them. ‘hare are some fascinating insights into how he bul his business, too. Every so often ‘Someone with deep pockets comes along offering to buy part oral of Stardock, ut because the operation is entirely selffunded, Mi. Wardell aay deciines. He doesnt need the money! Will the new Star Control be a worthy ‘successor to the works of Fred Ford and Paul Reich Il? Whatever happens, past ‘experience would suggest wo can expect rathing but cheerful honesty from Wardell ‘and his ew. If only the same could be ééparleying with smack- talking aliens, selling my crew into slavery... 99 ‘aid for that wage, fang sta of game evelopment, Peter Molyneux. I you's tke to watch 17 minutes of the mast awkward cantenton YouTube, goto the ‘22eans channel and check out the Godus (Community Update trom February 3 in which Mr Motmeux attempts to explain why he's scaled back the Gadus development team to fee up stat fora fruity new project anc iy ie iekstarter backers wil get what {they pald for very lat, Ifa all. Two years Into velopment, and he's stl tying to “find the game that Godus shoul be Bosise him sits the new lead dev of Gods, Konrad Naszynski, and he clearly doesn't want tobe there. His grim countenance fs & picture that speaks more than a thousand weasel words As for Molyneux, his delivery is stale, ‘and he makes some batfing grammatical errors as he points out that he's never run ‘2 Kickstarter before, and that realy, this ‘could've happened to anyone. “Hindsight 's 20/20... | apologise to everyone for the mistakes that I've made... | wish 1 was someone who didn't make mistakes, ‘nd think have to learn from those: mistakes.” This tne of thetorc is intended to make the viewer think: AM, shueks, ‘make mistakes too! | have no choles but to forgive him!" yot after 30-00 years of game development, you would think that ‘2 man might have made every project ‘management mistake there is, and learned from all of them. if someone is stil making, ‘catastrophic blunders after that much experience, then maybe, just maybe, he nas no right to expect people to pay for his games In advance. With Peter, ie always been about the hype, and now he's created a business madel where his paying customers get hype, and nothing else. I's a raged, real, because no sooner than he perfacted the shell game he's been practising since the 1880s, he had a big, ‘Sook inthe pages of The Guardian: * think people are jist sick of hearing fom me. ‘They've been sik of hearing fom me for 80 ‘many years now. You know, we're done." ‘Oh, But we're not done, Peter. Once & ‘eughing stock, always a‘LOLcow’ and your Cisgrunted fans wil be milking your rubbery words forthe rest of your ite. 8re eS to water cooled Gaming Rigs Computers as CU Dee ee Ray mera se Pier ens urd Sr BENTLEY 1083 Albany Hwy COCKBURN 30 Hammond Rd 1300 PLE COM WANGARA 46 Buckingham Dr ve na www.ple.com.au HEATHERTON 1 Kingston Rdye With Hearts of Iron 4 due to blitz on to Steam any month now, we talked to producer DAN LIND about how fan feedback inspired a complete rework of the games interface, and haw its new mechanics: can uncannily mimic some iconic WWII movies, nthe ettors to balance raliom wih pay, ne ‘game makers at Paradox have Nit upon a nove! system for affecting how tity players can ‘1p the eins of power i Hearts ‘of ron 4 As producer Dan Lind ferplainac tous, this system Is celled Poitical Power’ Though the denizens ofthe notorious image board chan call it something else: Fuhror Mana “ILauas}. Yean, aktnouen wo should probatly not call t ‘that more laughter” To ge ‘an example of how it works Ingame, Dan recaiea Hitie’s precarious potial position in the early days of WML “Germany onthe warpath ‘nd France and the Unites Kingcom are extreme'y ted lof nar ater Works War | And ‘Germany is supposed to not hhave military at this time But thoy cua 9 mitry ‘nobody stopped thom. They which fs the border of ance, where they weren't alowed to ‘actualy have ay troops. And ‘nobody stopped them. And they started claiming land, which they managed to get potialy. ‘not actualy trough wat, Until they pissod off me otror ourisles enovgh to start tne war. But during this time peopla tought Hier was basicaly crazy, and people wore just solngto stop him. “But nothing happened, se people actualy startet beliowng wnat ne said Because he could prove it. Hold 599: On,'m going to say os, and thoy're not going to stop me: in game terms, you ean pull this sort of thing off you get something called ‘Plticl Power, and that means that you can control the cabinet you can control industies, to do yourbidcing.” Ths tansiates Into specie bonuses, ponding on wrich ristoncal ‘igures nave fai in you 'A major brakthrough boing Tern) fine a also been complately re knowledge, Don is sure that no other stategy game has implemented air combat inthis manner: 2 high vel simulation system, where most of the Input Is through control of your Ingustres, and trying to feo your air foree war machine we have the wot dhided into 2ones. Fai large zones, so thot there's actualy 2 hierrehy ‘of zones. The smallest areas ‘we call provinces, and they affect troop movements. Above those there's something ealed states whine a proup of provinces, where you ean bul bulings and stuf ke that. And ‘they neve names, ana such, ‘And wire you hav cts. the denizens of the notorious image board 4chan call it something else: Fuhrer Mana. 41s tho now planning systom, Rather than mieromanaging the ‘movement of every sing unit, YoU can create invasion plans that manifest as big arrows on the map, just Ike the graphics in classic war documentaries, “t's a way of contoing lange amount of units easy ‘ana being abe to setup the pln before the setual battle takes place, so that when shit hts te tan you ean just go ‘Execute’ and worty about the Ine bits wnere you need to worry, and not the grand pan, at Strategic air warfare has the strategie gions, which is where you're going 1 be tating your air batts. Potan contains ‘moment. And what you dois 20U assign the type and number of araft you want to be ‘hore and ge them diferent (Once these araers ae in piace, it al plas out a8 9 simulation. While you're doing ‘otter tings you't see airpianes buzeng about, autonomously ‘uying tofu hex missions to shoot down enemy bombers and support area “There's three main types of planes you'l be using in these zones. You have fers that shoot down other planes, basicaly, and contol the skies, Bombers: and theres both smaller dambers for more tactical targeting and states hombers for laying waste to enemy factories and such. Ana when Is close air support; airplanes that go lrectly in fand help your guys on the round infants” “Tare are iis tothe ranula ofthis system, however: youre not going to be abe to pty asthe UK and re-enact tne events of The Dambusters. we nave twee Aiforont types of industy rmatary industry, enitan industy and naval industry. You have enough inte yout be able to 800 in a state what kind of stuff s being bul there, anc make sure that you target those areas. You cant specitcally say target factory buicing Tiger ‘tanks. But you can target 50 tmat youre gong 1 be going for an area wih aot of miltary Industies; you know tat youre ‘ing to be hurting ther tank production.” ‘oe fans complained about the naval combat in Hearts of ran 3, Dan and his team Aida major rethink on how to handle the war at sea, “Whet Ite Bit ike what explains with te area in tat thoy work in zones. So when you have a fleet. you can dice how spreas out it shoul be, Say youre trying to hunt down submarines, you want to spread out your feet, anc‘ey and hunt tem, ght? Ort read out and ry and fi te find the convoys, assuming ou ‘Tre Germane call ese of havor. Bees and its kind of hard to find 52. But the danger as the UK o duard ‘Thus the game engine is built 8, So people ended it youre youre teaming up yf you can hold of lot ofthe Roy Nowy with your shenanigans, that wl ko them from putting pressure Italy and serewing wth them in ‘me Meaterranean” The opaque supply 5 a lotof ervcism, and has been completely | reworked with a more Imtertace. Te new system of Tomplatss its you leaving plenty of meta game to out think your ric in exiting units, The tech trees, or Dottines’, now enemy, But i's weak on the ‘ter taking to Da 0 out af all the myriad upgrades in ne new enjoying the most? ve gota Sn ayaters that ru trough te pisnning systems been having fun tying to invade the United kingdom. with Hearts of rn 4 is dus to lauren on Steam in ES COTTECRUS Drop the difficulty? I'd rather die, at least in ways related to lack of skill, if not bugs. ragon Age is a series | know very wal 1 played Origins, reviewed Dragon Age 2 and read all the books comics. Being a “ter rather than a "complalner” when DA2 hd ne item descriptions, I wrote unofficial ‘versions myself, to the tune of 23,000 words | penned inot sex) fan fction, paced ina BioWare creative wrting challenge ard | ‘made a standalone mocule for Origins about 2 raving troupe of demons pertorming tering plays inthe minds of magi users. Yes," fanatical. No, PCPP cid’ ask me te review Drogon Age: Inquisition. eoe! with that | couldn't do it objoctvely now, anya, and reviewing massive RPGS doesn't pay well per hour, ust me. Not enaugh dslosure, Yet? also became good frends with a Dragon ‘Age designer through mading and common interests: gaves. But you stil wat to hear my etaied cntique of Inquistion’s comb, rght? Relatively few play on Nightmare and exclusively 0. In inquisition, this mode Is described as, “for masochiste and the truly mad" enjoy I's not impossible, Wis also ‘marginal easier Uian in Dragon Age 2, a lng as you keep an eye on level scaling Tis difiulty, however reveals aspects ofthe comiat systems, interface and implementation (specificaly for PC) that are otracting feo my enjoyment ofthe game, even if most players won't notice a care Wien you'e fighting for every level and new ability, reving on combat’ supoactve systems, the crafting, is essential. Encounter ‘design, lot dons and alternatives 10 Comba, ke “stealth” are something you must consider carefully tao. Even an Understanding of the way levels and quosts are structured can keep you alve. But let's Sart atthe beginning, This should be @ short ‘enough tale, as ve only made itt level seven, $0 far, ne of the mos atcut sections on Nightmare, hilariously, s the tutor. Before ou are allowed to contol Cassandra, her behaviours constantly put her in mortal anger When she dies, the game ends, 1 (hick ceased there was noting could do to stop her drinking the eat healing potions ‘and engaging the enemy so | developed quite specific, “Cassandra protection stateses, \whien most certainly involved stunning het ‘Corwersely the game then inttacuces Iivinetoe friendlies at every quest related choke point Ive seen, thus far Many a batle hhave | viggored only to watch, bored, as the blue rings Templars dispose of enemies, rather than take damage myselt. ft al, on 61 penned (not sexy) fan fiction, placed in a BioWare creative writing challenge 39 [Nightmare and at iow level, each charactor Wil be murdered in two hit, Unies you've calectes a milion elroot to ungiade your potions already, you need a potion pe hit and have to preserve eight. [As theyve allowed a friendly fire tle for the frst time, use Shield Bash with The Ion Bull a step too close tothe party and end the ame immediate. 'm not absolutely positive Cf tis. because inquisition aso suffers trom ® lack of cocumentation, ut | havent seen {enomios camaging eachother. This was one ofthe things | most enjoyed about combat in ‘DAZ; luring darkspawn into the ogres path before a charg, then backflpping t safety In fact, a8 unpopular an opinion as this might be, my favourite combat so far in the series was in DA2's Legacy expansion. Hostile creatures damaged each other while Someties trying to avoid ng so and GOO heralded tir arg attacks. The small ones were harder to dodge, due to them switching hands or siles. And cross-class combos provided really meaningful opportunites for twctical play, especialy a higher levels, while {groups of enemies were diverse What Inuisition oes wel however, Is whet Uinta thought of as an “anticomiba” Han {enemy is frozen hitting them wth an “impact {etonator wil shatter, but nat inthe way that ‘would kil instant, ke In Orin, ut alow ‘thom to move again. Tis combo does deal hefty damage, so its a vadeaf between rond contol and ting. AL higher levels, the really powertl eects are accessed with the correct detonator per stat Then, there ate the blocking moves, tke Shiels Wal o¢ Bloc and Stash ‘ahi allow for both waror ‘ype ta take no damage tom ‘one nantanking enemy. In combination witn Challenge and HP boosting blves, ie Bare, toa melee portion of your pay is now realy fun to play, Inguiston's Comba, insolation, I charged fo both better ‘and wore, in my cucent opinion. ove Dragon Age, fo its stor. inclusiveness and comb, bt when your party starts climbing imaginary ladders to shoot clevated enemies, t's time to walt for 8 pate Unfortunate a patch won't fx the massive levels you hae to traverse jst to get tothe ‘ext, sential nit encounter. Or he eeling ane walt calisions you have to wrestle the camera ‘round, Wi ish it? Probe. Eventual 1 lot you know i te Nightmare achievement is Dugged. That would be hilarious. EmKeeping You Connected Itis easy to see why the BIPAC 7800NXL all-in-one modem, continues to be a favourite amoungst Billion fans. With Gigabit Ethernet and 300Mbps Wireless-N, plus support for 3G/4G networks and Network Attached Storage (NAS), the 7800NXL. RRO a a ROPE end Cen leas Sassen os SMC Ue ACU Serer dT Cee aU ease ene For more information on the Billion BiPAC 7800NXL or fora full list of Billion stockists tee MRO ee BILLION, LU | Ls ys ATA mals eisai als TM) Mteeen iceman cat eee i. the appeling Ce ee re ee es reer CUPHEAD eve a A [e ye Ty Te rm Steet poeta pees eu ee ere Stn) ee ee eer eee et ar ae"ORI AND THE BLIND FOREST MFR itunes ant Cr and the and Forest is shaping un tae one of the most visually charming Movroicvania games we nave ver soon. Lite has been reveaied about the story 0 fa, but we do know that layers wil be controling Or and a companion called Sein, who assists both in combat and lrecton. Or was orphaned as a child ‘ond adopted ty an adorable, yettike creature - 80 you can bet there willbe some heartstrings being tusges here one vay or anctner. THE WITNESS Eta PARSER. Me ‘The Witness is frst person puzale venture gome fom the mind of Jonathan Blow, the creator ofthe 2008 Inde ht Braid. The Witness 1 set on an Isiand that is broken up into ten eistinet ‘areas, each with is own set of pues ‘and mazes but arcund a cereal tome. The goals to solve these puzies to gain access tothe mountain Inthe mide, The ideas descrived in The Witness sound simple, subtle and deep thought out - something that shoud soune quite familar those of us who played Baia NO MAN’S SKY LPR ns Pot ns nt Sot in a proceduraly goneratod universe, No Man's Sky wil allow payers taexplore an entre planet and then hop aboard your space ship to explore ‘an entirely new one with unique it, landscapes and atmosphere conctons. The game boasts thot every star you see in te ehy wil be a Gun that you can travel to, with ts own solar system of planets to land on and imestigate, How this entre universe Is explored is up tthe play, ‘but each planet and veyage wil present new challenges and dangers as well as resources for upgrading your ship or su. ooDARK SOULS II: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN | cect rr with limited 2 of being ingle ener gu ‘also manipulate the flow incoming bulyea Neils t-t] (8) | fs co30"" GODUS SCHMODUS ‘voryone who wants to bea famous game develope stand up. Great, that's almost everyone. Now, everyone who wants to be Peter Molyneux stay standing ll others be Seated. Right. Thought so. Now stand up again if you'd rather enjoy the reputation and Publi adoration of, say Renard Non, than Poter Molyneux? ‘Oh my, Wht 9 alsaster. What 9 total destruction ofa man we have winessed, what an embarassment we have variously endured, and ft footing for tho poor souls trapped on the dev team bullding Gods. With ro greater sympatty than that reserved for Konrad Nasynski ang Jack Atridge, who sat ‘most uncomfortably though an agoning 22 ‘minute video alongside Molyneux recent (search ‘Goous Community Update’) they attempted to reassure us that Godus was banging along trical But C3 nt. could nat be more of & mess. ina series of pummeting body blows, CGoaus has allbut complete colapeed. e's hard to plek the biggst blow. Lets see. 1 late, tore Lat, There are the Kickstarter stretch goals that have been abandoned. Oh, tts nt forget tha the PC ‘version - being the one that was backed on Kickstarter and the one that people want — was put on hold so the goddam mobile version could take priory. ‘ith the motile version mare or less released, was the PC game back on track? \Wry, no! Most ofthe team at 22Cans nas since been tasked to new ttle, which nobody gives a shit out. What do we Know ‘about? Tati isthe latest roadbick in the way of Godus ever being finished, Tats al, Fewer developers than you have fingers ‘on one hand axe now apparenty lett on Gadus. Poor Konrad, who was hire from the ‘community, Seems 0 be the only ane ett Applying scorched Earth to one’s self. paying atonton to actual game deta, and bos been musing in hs pasts thatthe game thoy hhave needs 2 total overhaul in design inorder to be something anyone would want to play. But the train wreck sil hada fly ‘exploded. No ro. in a particulary punishing revelation, Eurogamer tracked down Bryan Henderson, the fellow who had won the very sity Cufosity RSIsim, eaming the tile God of Gods inthe game wnen it was oleased, as well 95 8 cut ofthe profits, Incredbiy, nobody ‘at 22Cane had bothered to sty in touch with him after the win. More than a year passed. ‘Bryan stopped caring, because Molynoux had stopped caring Tho Molyneux MO is taking shape here Make a big noise, promise many wonderful things, then soak up the spotlight and move é¢Bruised, and with growing fear, Molyneux then tried to deflect 99 fon without actualy delivering, We've all own that for years, we were al ted of is putty pontificating, leading to ultimate isappointment ong ago. What was needed, right at this disastrous juncture of yot another disintegrating Molyneux game, was an intervention, ‘Tat was delivered in one ofthe mast profound takedowns in tal poppy histonk. ‘The bullet to the head was Joh Walkers ‘gonsmacking interview with Motmeux on Rock PPapor Shotgun. Do please read it. No mercy was shown, no rast allowed, in the hourlong, estruction of the Molyneux persona, The interview opened withthe question “are you a pathological ar? and before you had time ta tink to yourself “thats ‘it harsh’, the tone worsened and the bloodletting was on. It was quickly apparent that thatthe opening question had clesr context, as Walker relenuessly hammered Molyneux with evidence over the years of promises made and broken, There, unfolding before our eyes, was a human being stpped bare of his veneer ana pretences. It was hard to read. Even if ene Started to read it and enjoy alte ofthe tall ‘oppy synctome that's undeniably present ‘nour DNA, thinking, pemaps that he had it coming, it was nevortholoss uncomfertablo to atch Molyneux swing through the gambit of faflex emotions. At fst he was defiant, eager ta prove that in each and every case his promises wore kept. But Walker was ready, ‘and knocked doun every shallow attempt by is quarry to pany and shift the top Bruised, and with growing fear, Molineux then tried to deflect iin his actual past successes which were ‘dismissed as Iretevant and of topic. Walker was a courtroom prosecutor, ‘staying on point, cutting short any ‘meandering trom his man in the box, and only ‘moving on once Molex was boxed into concoding the point. Towards the end Molreux was a shattered ‘mess, “jst want to make good games!” he wailed, finaly realising that his usual theatrical bravado was his own worst enemy and anya sporate plea for compassion was lf. Inthe closing minute or two ofthe Interview he knew the tine fr talking was over To ‘protect what was let of his eg0 and reputation “Molyneux promised Waker that ne would do no mote press intervios until Gocus wes fished. ator that day, Melynoux did two more.Lang feldgatay Rug GAINWARD op PERFORMANCE UPGRADE New Phantom cooler design Cee Leaner Ones Cae Ra a Renee ust Cua e111: PAW RK. Ya Rar Lad 1) Removable fan design - each fan body can be removed eccmaeec iad eee Ce ae eee Ceres’ EDU Rc iastis With this new outstanding innovated thermal design and Cer eat Cerra aay CO Ree ata ae eed PeesThere is decent money to be made on YouTube ‘these days, but the Let's Play phenomenon had to start somewhere. HEIDI KEMPS investigates the birth of an Internet sensation.almost any other technologea! advancement, ramaticaly transformed the way we interface with games. Some of reso ways ate obvious: we now have easy ‘lable, speedy online olay and tne ‘bity to downiaas rt games to our systome witha ow button stokes. Ut the Intemet as also granted vs | worldvie platform to showcase foursetves interacting wih games. No longer are play sessions sol, feting ‘experiences: n the case ofthe newer Consoles, sharing our game time i @ par of he system's functionality. Ane part of what has defined tis aradiem hit that's turned watening people diay games into ts own frm of own a8 Let's Pa. It you've searched for game videos no doubt come across some matter of Lets Ply video. t's a pratty simple format to grasp: somebooy plays 8 game and then offers commentary ‘bout the action happening on sereen. The means by which the video creators do ths, however, are wide {and varod, and several prominent Lets Players” have been abie to translate their knack or paying (2 geme wile amusing 2 viewing audionee into genuine earoor, HUMBLE BEGINNINGS: It hard to pinpoint exactly where ‘and nhen Lets Play began. Most wil _26Fee, however, that the Something tu gaming forums were a crucial part of te dovolopment of tho format. ‘38 “Slowbeet", was around onthe Torums dung ine genesis of Let's Pay. “Tho frst one I can remember was back in 2005, done by someone under the name of Lg They, called Lot's Pay Oregon Tal” recollect Slowbeet. i was a sereenshotand: text sort of thing, andthe poster shes other people in the tread to participate. Hots name charactors in tne game aner them, $0 you's 00 funny stuf ko ‘Postar gots cysertery.. people got invested ini ‘and others started to emulate it th stuff ike RPGS, which didn't really work 28 wel” 1 think the rst proper Let's aoventure game I Have No Mouth fand | Must Scream by Viaphor” continues Slowbeet. “He played the whole thing through. he added his commentary, It was @ gome most hadn't near of, 20 twas interesting to see someone document ther playthrough of i. I's the frst thing tat agneres of tne format oF wnat we'd cal a “Let Play" now. Up unt round 2007, most Lots Pay threads wore intext anc ctue formats: a screenshot, @ few sentences about what wos happening Ingjame, another screenshot, and so fon, When Slowteet posted a thread about PC action/adventure game The Immortal honever, he decided to.o things a bit aferentiy: show the action asa veo with ive plaer commentary. “h was aetally kind of ‘nappy accident he explana, “The recording mic was having trouble Picking up game auco, sot came up with the tea of running commentary” While the thiezd for The immortal was weilzeccied onthe forums, wasn't Untl Slonbeef made a similar video in 9 seemingly abandoned sereenshot Lets Play tread for Super Metroid that the vdeo wi-commentary format for Lets Play realy caught tre Slowbet alo inited guest to commentato on his pay over Sipe, wien resulted in some engaging banter over the course of pay Full Aisclosure: the author of hs pce was 8 quest commentator in one of said videos.) The format immediately Arew alt of attention, and many Jumped on the idea of making their ‘en videos for games they enioyed. But nat everyone there was quite ‘8 enthused, “Te moda got sek ot Ital oer the Games forum, says Slowest, so ne got new subforum Just for Lot's Pay” Not long after that, Slowbeef found himself as 2 seoneenen tree aneensunyesnan ‘moderator forthe new forum - and viewed one of the founding feures of Lets Play as 2 whole “33MEDIA FOR THE MASSES knowa by is ais, “Protondon” ~ ns college stusent ia Abeta, Canad ‘making vidoos inbetween classes ‘apd nis job. These 6a, Jon is fone of three members of group called The Runaway Guys. He and fellow members ChuseaConrey and NintendoCapelSun nat only make Lets Pay videos for YouTube ~ both Indivisualy anc as group — Dut they aso put on panels and make backed by Makor/Polais, who also “Tl soe four thousand subs youTuoe, ana realy need sprees = Proton neteod iat his Youtuoeevbecroor Let Pay ot wveryone was nappy avout = JON WAS Sonuranerverinawe estay —thentee ourané mactoes co Wenesvamiee tapi seaucper ONE Of the personalise Ke the Game Giumpe I sated doing colabeaton videos infators. You could ee they wre FIP St WAVE tnd PenOlePo, the mostaubserbed with others, and making a secondary step behind us. certain people person/chennel on YouTube Channel think the starting point never got the memo for things, we OF FOTUM Protonlon was one ofthe West wave [ot my suber cease] was just ‘you cat make a camcorder wok cttorum uses tokmpon the vido estrevemeckLatsPeysone Thedststeforowastiywees — USETS tO Lets Ply 00m on the forums. "Iwas regular basi mantestes sees Rese’ UM ON oe cng Unversity and saw By TNs pont around 2008: Lets wee forums members woud watch these guys onthe forums doing these Pisy had begun o spread farbeyens and actwolymockawul tvs Ply — the Video Sn suctwitaceteek: Soon Want somgupstoerw.ne, penssemnecn Let's Play fatter one of Jon's videos ~ part of a though the forums denizens were By tnis ume, ters Playnad see QOOM II roup effort to take down levels in the terribly enthused by the quality of established names and personales Notoriously vious Super Maro World many ofthese videos. “At the time, People who frequently appeared in romback Kaizo Mario = unexpectedly YouTube was a realy erappy vdeo host each other’ videos formed groups became a viral ht. for gaming stuf" notes Siowocet. wlth names like The Freelance ‘ARer Jon started making videos of “But people ike Potonion put stutfon Astronauts and The Tipping Historical Archives | 1 ‘astrecant = are mirrored in have wrapped up ust visit ww Iparchve.rg a take a tip ‘Play history (The author takes nobleme forthe lengthy amounts fof time youtlikely spendin thls pags, nawever)Eastern Connection | tors? ort sso woo premio rat henomenen, either. Japan has vary simi commentary in much the same way as Let's Pay does. The atmosphere n be abit alitterant -the way scaling comments display nsereen on onularJenanese sharing site Nica Nica Dauga at se times makes for» vary unique experience - but much ofthe atent isthe same Ie was algo around this time when aevelopers ‘and publishers began to tako notice. After competing 2 marathon video plyehvough of the infamously awful Sonic the Medgohog 2006 ~ and creating one of tne most popular threads to ever grace the SA forums members ofthe Lets Play group informally called “The Posse,” consisting of Frum members KungFulesus, Pokecapn, Mecibat ‘2nd Illuminatusvespocc, found themselves in Contact with Twistes Pee! games, ‘Dan Teasdale fat Twisted Pel nag been lurking the forums for 3 we,” €9y8 Pokoceen. He sav the thread, and thought wes funny. Mo had tis game he was working on and ho lust ought, ‘Since we nave this game nee, ‘and Ws Kind of near experience, wouldnt ite great f we had some commentary?” As ‘2 result, the group soon found themselves recording a special commentary tack for The {Gunstringer. Dan Teasdale continues to work with people from the SA Let's Pay subforum ‘this new company No Gabi: voices of sovorl forum personalities canbe heard as naracters in the game Roundabout As Let's Ply and livesteaming have ballooned in populaity, corporate awareness ofthe trends has also grown And ke many unexpected and disruptive evolutions in technology, developers ana publishers arent oncioly sure what to do wth to Lets Play oom. On the ane hand ts tre public a popular YouTube personality can expose Your gare quickly an easiy to nunareds oF thousands of poople fr ot less than paid svertisng. On the other hand. you can't contol the message ofa ive player the some way you can caatral an ad. On top ofthat, can be argued ~ especially for storyheaty ‘games ~ that Let's Pay an lvestreaming the whole experience fom start o fish removes ‘the motwation to experience it for onesort. Even indie developers are torn: while many it popular YouTubers and streamers Tor helping thei games tad an euaience, thors like the aivays-outspoken Phil Fish have posited that Let's Ply deprives these. struggling artists of revenue. Ina series of row-delated tweats, Fish wrote “YouTubers should have to pay out 8 huge portion of ‘their revenue to the developers from which they stea all their content. [Ad] revenue shouldbe enared with developers. Thie should be bul into YouTUDe. Anything else Is basicaly pracy. Fiat's sentiment seems to be shored by some other devs and publichers, Nintendo spurred on a great deal of rama last year ‘shen they began flagging Let's Ply videos featuring thelr games on YouTube, causing ad revenue tom sais videos 10 goto them rather than the vgge crestor, While Nintende ot America Ngurenead Reggie FisAume commented onthe controversy at that yoars 5, saying "a we've done Is take the frst stop to protect out I” Nintendo soon raversed thelr stance, however, eventually opting to develop 9 mutual evenue-sharing program Instead. ‘YouTube ist has also enacted changes that impacted te abit for players to ear ‘money tom views of ther videos. The ever: ‘muri waters of intamatonal copyrights come some serious neadaches. Most recently, Yourbe’s rater capricious content 10 matching system has caused rashes of false copyright claims agains videos. When this heppens, revenues from videos are diverted fram the creators te the companies fling the claims, no matter how spurious ntl the ‘aim i successtuly disputed. Occasional content ID matching eutomation cen cause this process to happen even ifthe game developers themsoves are okay with gemeotay footage being monetizea Live sveaming nas algo necome a huge part of tho Lats Pay ecosystem, with popular personales using subseriptions to stream channels 2s a source of sional revenue But with rapa gronth comes the need toé@ Inthe future, I think you'll be seeinga lot more sponsored streamers ” Death By Hat forexample, was the result a waird frum dare."Some guy oosiodvidans of Kalza thi. they ean il est my hat” Dus tom A forums rue eae the "Too aus however, nat tlloning raced to get the video Sas: nange ana adaot.Titon, fans and pubishers One controversy ‘tho most popular game | that cropped up recent involved Lets Steaming Service, rolled Players who were ven prerelease out some changes earlier _copios of Shadow of Mordor - copies archived videos and automaticaly luting not saying anything negative muting parts of recordings if ‘bout the game. “Isms ite funny conyrghted music was detected: that when yout given 9 prerelease copy Caused seriaus problems for some of but youre not allowed to react tot” its most prominent players. Thovth Twiton was recent purcnaced by LES PLAY LEGACY morchanalsing megaith amazon, Jon Protondon intially met his Runaway ‘ols that thats postive ou Guys partners whon they came to Teresa ot of elie, sctuaty, hie expressing thelr appreciation people wore worried that f Google ‘for his vidoos. Though he's beon acquit Twitch they would o the doing this for 2 while, ne stil fee's & ame things they di to YouTube. We litle awkward ~ but fattened - when probably won't see ary major charges fans come to him, sometimes with unt next year” very emotional stories about what “There ave some other ethical his videos mean to them, “I's weird ilemmss now 00, notes Slowbee. when people come up to you and t's tough when you intocuce money say you actualy had an impact on into tings... People ae geting aid thelr ves. ITS te rghtening ta Lets Pay games ae @eromational in game ways, out i realy element. !have mixed opinions on neartwarming to near” that don think there's anything Were does Jon ee Let's Pay Inmererty wrong forgetting paid to do neading? “In he future, think yout something you enjoy but sometimes be soeing 3 lot more sponsored Ifthe people can get exlotatve steamers. | hink media companies with teirfans, especial the really are eathing on = that’s the way the big Les Players..Some of them ara money and views are going. The ac Just outright asking fr things from revenues don't compare to YouTube, yack thvaad saying, Nobody ners ean got past ave three upon that pseuo-promise could potentially gamer a ban. up. iReraly dit because | wanted ose 9 guy em his hat at but the sunsorotion revenue more than makes up fort” Ho also offers scvice to those looking to get nto doing Lets Plays oftheir own: “IF Youre going ito tn just to make ‘maney, youre doing forthe wrong reasons. | dd this stuff as hobby for years = it was jst coincidental that | evontually made money off of if {y0U'e doing to da it, doit for fun oF do somethng orginal. ‘Slowbeet no longer mogerates ‘tho Let's Pay subforum on SA, he scone with froquent cocommentator Diabetus from nis Retsupurae channel. He admits 1 having 3 state of Let's Py. “When | see some ofthese videos... feels Uke the videogame is secondary tothe personaly 3 almost tothe point ‘ere you don't realy need tne game, ies usta means to got videogame 0 porsonaltyarven, people lose eeatnity... they do the same tings cover and over again” He isn't ently pessimistic about the format, however On the contrary, Slowboe! feels good about what Let's Play has been able to secomplish __ ‘Let's Play is a great way to get people invested in something they woulan't have e0en or known about. you can expose them to new games. 1's 2 silly, stupi thing woe we play eeogames for the internet. But we things ke giving poople a piekrmeup Ws stuf ne that which makes me step back and say ‘wow, we've realy {Et something”. VICTORIOUS | rd It takes a lot to be victorious. Disciplined practice, chasing perfection and an ultimate drive gets you there. And that's just what our SSDs have in store for you. A rich mix of real consistent performance, high quality Toshiba flash and a super reliable aluminum casing combined with the unique ShieldPlus warranty program and yet remain affordable. It's our everyday goal to bring you the winning SSD; the OCZ ARC 100 series. Be victorious. Pe eter elec aioe een eee Sf ‘Toshiba 19nm Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND - Available in 120GB - 480GB & pan Ale GO OCZ v0.20Remember, maybe 6 years aga, when It felt ike there wasn't much to play? Sure, maybe the next iteration of some big budget shooter, but not a lot in the way of really challenging, or different, games. in 2015, with more ways for players to support developers financially, as well as hardworking designers taking risks and innovating, there is a real glut of worthwhile content. This month, MEGHANN O'NEILL interviews a range of designers about the features that make their games special. CHILDREN OF MORTA HM owns Its Lote of developers are seeking funding on Kickstarter. This is great and we wish them the best of luck with ther endeavours. With a lotof games to Sort tough, noweves, it ‘can be hard to see which demonstrate the ‘most intorestng concepts and how realistic ‘inal targets might be. Occasional, of course, you catch sight of 8 screenshot on ‘Social media ard just know you have to back the thing, based on the strength of ts ug alone. Its rug? Yes. Chitren of Morta isa game with beautul ug In washed out orange Durple, green and re tis elaborately pattecned while algo being frayed atthe ‘edges, worn and loved. R speaks of history and family, pechaps for generations. The pixel art, general's absolutely beautiful The colours are sometimes gentle, Sometimes garish ll mixed to illustrate the setting nd action. Look closely ne you't leven see each wooden board on the house's staircase is unicue, What else do we knew about the game? Not a ot 5 fr, PCPP spoke wih Team Lead, ‘Amit Foss, who oulines an experionco "with Boing abo to play 26 any family momer, with such a vibrant mix of poople. At the very \shioh sounds both compeling and deeply _replayabilty seems assured least, as Fasshi says, “Different gamers Comforting. He says, “We nope players enjoy ‘So, whois the tary withthe beautiful have ciferent play styes and should prefer fan adventure in he fantastical ands of ‘ug? The Bergsons centre around John and thelr character of choce. It gves verlety to Mount Morta while witnessing the struggles, Mary, father and mother. He isa warrior the game experience,” as may the contast rama and ove of unique family. The idea’ with two basic attacks and a shield. It between actin combat in dungeons and the {came to usin one of uF fia brainstorming n't clear, yet, what Mary's support role Is warm feeling of home. ‘sessions andi ust clicked, having various but, interestingly, she does appear to be For me, anyway, an instant back” on characters with efferent abilities, Dregnant, Mark's the eldest and practices Kckstarter is elatwely ae, but usualy Is tan adventure game? Altnough martial arts, ike a monk class. Linda is an occurs a the result of one, standout feature. designers promise 2 “specito narrative arc.” archer who Is algo pictured plevng a fiddle. | may not precisely understana the artmaking ‘lomonts of roguelto stuctue will be used. Kevin throws daggers and Lucy wields magle. techniques that render Childron of Morta 60 Random story events wil occur and ot ‘and, of course, there are two uneles for Incredioy gorgeous, although Fassihi ads, Content might be procedural generated, rafting and a grandma fr aleneny, “We do not have the constraints thatthe pethaps level design. Fasshi says, ‘Our {don't know about you, but |am starting oldschool games had in piel art and we ean developers are fans of te gore, wo really Ho to wish this was my fam. There is ‘add modern lighting and bx to come up with the infite replay value, continuous surpises enough information to aleady imagine the a unique look and feel,” but | do know I want, ‘and exctements in roguelines.” Combines camaraderie and freon that might come 10 a0k at if, ad play, very mech, 38°"THIMBLEWEED PARK MULE urn wanee itis on Gilbert Is direct. When earnest asked what he most hopes people wll experience in playin ‘Thimblowoed Park, his rep fs, “2987 Being once the gi who ran home from schoo in her hightop sneakars to play Maniac Mansion, I can app that. Fuded tough Kickstarter for USS625,250, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick are relvng on nostalgia, humour ‘and threatening to microwave a hamster, ta tind their aucience again. We are clearly, eager for more. It 00ks,ifyou don't mind me saying, kind of brown and unattractive, which & brilliant. The characters have oversized neads ina way that you may nover have noticed in the 80s, but retrospectively ‘associate with a tabla journalist on his way to finda two headed squiel,o the rather sexually en ne Elson Not sute ofthe references? That's OK There wil be new “in kes” soon enough ostensiby imolvng a balloon animal and 2 corp. ‘Surely the mest excting feature of these early LcasAfs games, partioulary Day of the Tentacle, was switching between character, allowing for grester complonity in purzie stuctur. Gilbert ‘adds, "Maniac Mansion had seven total characters, three playable ata time, and it provided a nice reason ta have mutile endings and atemate puzzes, allowing players to take a break from one puzzle path and pla another" It vemains @ technique many adventures overlook. ‘Another throwback, which was never ute epiaced by 8 walk, hand, eye, mouth interface if nat just a general interaction, vl be the use of vers, cant recall actually using Push and Pl, for exampie, a Pane lo, Bur, iF they are ther, tne opportunty to MUMS Ria Tea SS design puzzes around them ie inviguin. Gilbert tells us, *Maniae Mansion had Pee eer tety lot more verbs than Monkey isang ‘Thimbleweed Park will most key use the Monkey stand verb set since it eoresonts loa the pinnacle, ta my mind Peers Thimbloweed Park is described 0s, “dar, ote satical and bizate” the story of two on ‘washed up detectives clown, ¢ dead man and, possiay an heiess. The tovn nas a pillow factory and there is 0 sorcenshot of AAA ea two people drossod as bids and holding 2 Sees ‘ollt plunger. Is there much else we need amunina te know? fr ane, am looking forwacc to running home from school pick up and sharing the madness with my hileeon all ny and whara tha play cover again, more than | can say. Might Parneeee even buy some new high tops oe “39NINJA PIZZA GIRL UE amas its changes. iy funded var Ie stil fun to ply, ory and meehanis. 18 shor tia with the game, 1 rom feeling rustrated and humiliated, to having a quat eonee of CEO ee Pot ees) Nee eae Cente Paras 4o"—"QUARRIES OF SCRED, Peg SEAS OF SCRED NOBLE KALE att : Peetess sta meas aa aaiasng ct make the gam en tough ith. o x ee eeeae Men & Monsters heres 2 marked tonal aference ‘betwoon Amerean and Jepanese Eastern Europe. Thore are outers, Sure that dave into themes and topics more commonplace in the other tenors, but forthe most part Euopean RPGs are more sombre and lacking in overt heroies. America land Japan seem to focus mainly on chosen fone, rand destinies and, above al ise hope, wnereas there seems be a stranger oous on survival ara doing what takes to get by in RPGs created in Europe. “The roots for what you re speaking about He, think, In culture and history. Europe saw countess wars and was a glant bated countless times, This influencad the way Evropeans 8 valour and herolsm, I's really more down to earth here", say Macin Blacha, Lead Weter for The Wiener 3. “The hero isthe Euy who's dealing with everyday stuff and this can be very tougn on its own. At the same time, Europeans are proud and aware of ‘hoi history, and are not staid t ave deep Ino ns darter eoeners in searen sodlties fe, oF the modern word ana he mechaniams ts gaveres by. There area ot at eterences inthe game that dkecty touch upon problems people try to tacko everyday" the samo ideas, “Ii say that in both Japan and the US, the archetype of noble, sees hero, who alway sticks tothe rules and saves ‘the wodd, remains popular and is vested very seriously. think its que teling that, for ‘example, Kurosawa's Seven Samra was 50 alluring to te American audience and tim makers and was adapted a5 The Magnificent ‘Seven with ite move than te ehange of the setting. Both Japanese and American RPGS tend to tell stories of good versus evl, allowing players to become larger than ie, be what people shouldbe rather than what ‘they are. In Europe onthe other hand, the noble nero gute is something ofthe past something we cant realy belewe in any more. ‘Our stories tend to be more ambiguous, our stontelers = more dsiusioned and nicl. Having sald all that, though tink that beth ‘approaches van resut in reat for inspiration. With games tke WENIRINE WUT stores and t don't think one is ‘The witener we want not only to entertain th player but also provide him oF her with food for ity, pessimistic wordviw is efiritely one ofthe detning thought be Rene chatenges that Mf wmttecmnmay features ofthe Witcher universe”,LEAD WRITER MARCIN BLACHA ‘The Witcher games have received ‘almost unanimously positive reviews from all around the world ‘and the original novels hi bboen translated into at loast 17 languages. What ist yu think ‘accounts for such widespread appeal of Geralt as a character? Geral is very interesting hero he's @ monster layer touah ‘and fearsome, He's en axcallent ‘swordtighter he's petty witty, one ‘ets the attention af many women. irs ust conto became a character tks that ina video game, think. Cr ‘outcast despised by scity. He gots fired to do the ciety work everyone le ig ata to, Hes alzo a mutt not capable of feling emotions the ‘same way normal people do, and tis affects his ability to form relationships ‘with others. Pease treat himasa ving weapon and demand trom hin ‘to actlikeone, whilehe rimsetf asta remain nautral At the gemetime, he ‘encauntersalot of everyday problems ‘andinas to make alot of down-to- fearth choles, Al this is really potent combination, layers feel realy ‘empowered when they becomehim and atthe ssme time solve problems that are sometimes resonating vith ‘them ona personal level. far, COPR has been all about Witeher. How "0 finishing the story and moving on toother things? ‘ke going on a vecation without your family - you have alot of time ‘and you can spendit amever you ice, but stil you miss them. ‘This pessimistic view of te ‘word is palpable fom the frst ‘moments of The Witsher 2, The came begins, as The Witcher stories alvays seem todo, with Gera, vying t get lad, He reatines in a bat, naked and relaxed. A segmented creature, a ite reptilian and atts Ineeotle eras Int the tub ané apparently “vies to werk its way up the White Wolts fundament. Yernifer @ Denutful naked wemen serene the room lauens ‘a Geri dlevomtort and Danlahes net maglally ‘sonetrueted nuleanee, Ite ‘a eweet soene of loving ‘couple, comfortable with ‘eachother and playful Ite ise not real. i's nothing bit a comforting dream distracting Geralt from the rigours of fe. He has to taln Cl, ls youn charge Yalring to be a Witcher. He has tohunt monsters for people who hate and fear him. He hae to deal with the conse ‘of ee Mitgeerlan invasion. The éream and really are far apart but one informe the other Throughout the Wither games way oF another, lost love, Yennifer, or haw eought to dlevact ‘melt by becoming embolled wih wordysatfais he has no business belng ivoived with, or between the legs of nis mary sexual conquests. The same is true of The Witener 3. Gerait knows Vernier has opeared, andthe search for the woman that “smells of tla and gooseberies ves him ever forward Ria as nevar been the napplest of ‘laces in The Witcher, ut in The Witcher 3 ‘the outlook is grimmer than ever botre. In ‘he frst town Geratrindsnimsen on the tral of Yennfer, fear of outedere, Witches especialy is paipabe. Ningaaraian soldiers patrol the streets and keep brutal o1der he st port of call is a tavern in which Gera must search for elves as to who may have seen Yenoifer and in which diection she is traveling. Getting information fom the population isn'tessy ¥~Whatisa “ Nobody wants to alk of hate for the invaders and those seen to be collaborating wih them. What s 2 Witcher to do? Hunt man lke he would hunt @ monstac Rely on his keen senses to find and folow tracks and markings. Find the cult nthe same way one would 1 werewolf or vampire. Fackng the cupnit doesn only serve to complete the quest it also feshes out the reality ofthe town, ‘tho long browing racial cvido, th fear of Invaders ana tne growing resentment of anyone even a ite ctferent. Completing the quest reinforces now everthing in via ie a remarkably dark shade of ery. In te presious games, much ofthe investigation when comes downto tracking monsters or tnding clues was, tie in 0 conversation. The decision to fly implement ane mingcoot = Witcher ta do? a mecnanicat ana magle ean quickly storyteling tashir corn rrpiott HUNtAMANTIKE corte concer teow cecteer he would hunt a — :tvetoestner on turer apart tom the peopic of White §=— MONSter IF had a grand story we Orchard, leading to a fant wih some local outs, They prove no {rouble fora tained warior the witnesses know to fear The Wiener even mor. The town serves as an intial quest hub, but rather than busywork quest, the jobs ‘om otter not only take Geral bak tone ‘oot of monster nunting, they serve 0 tl the story ofthe post inasion worl. One ofthe intat quests sees Gerat neting @ ‘varven smith discover who burned down bis forge. The ouartis a pariah amongst the townsfolk, Anough he wos once Counted as 2 frend, singe the Ivasion he thas been forced to repair the gear of the ‘ifgsarion sedis and the people ef the {own are sure tat the emith i erowin. fat of the cain ne mae, There are no Shortage af suspects everyone ist we have the chance to show many sides to your choices and consequences: and iso involved in that we could show whet Geralt does and now colour, mysterious, ano sometimes tering ts what he oes fora ving: monstor hunting. That ot course lvohes te activities leading up to tracking down these monsters, which is Investigating and that kind of ie in wit everthing else you cand in the game. It the a secondary layer of exploring the ‘wot, getting tothe bottom of things, nd getting a taste ofthe lore. i's a realy cool thing in my opinion. Kis greatly ferent ‘tom experiencing al tne knowledge trough dialogue, because ts completely up to you how you pace, and how you ‘The Witcher games have recived ‘almost unanimously postive think Gerais are ies in that helen ant-ner, rather tnan nar, Yes, ne’ @graat warrior, pearl ‘ewordmaster, but he doesnt want tasave the word. Deep down, he's probably not even sure whether the work's really worth saving People con't ike him and he soesnt tke ‘mast of ham, either. Theretare, his ‘oats are more persona dawn to farth, easier for ust rete to, He ‘doesn't treet himset ta seriously, thas 2 wicked, black senso of humour, ‘anc many weaknesses. Alin il he's Just tun tread about ~ and play ‘gama featuring hm asthe main characte, 80 far, COPRhas been all about ‘The Witcher. How does it feel to be finishing the story and moving on to.ather things? ‘Were very excited - and cant walt for the gamers to get theirhands on ‘The Witcher We've prepared most 100 hours of non-tingar exciting ‘quests curing whieh Gert aos everything trom hunting blood lusting beasts to going to mask balls anghorse racingPerret Prner ELT [Aquostinter inthe game clearly ‘Mustates both the Wither sense end the choi of ow to observe the emironment. ‘Abunquet on Stalige wih a OUP ‘of ngtne noblemen a retinue sine whist others tye fod then, a tng you rely have the ensue of wing, surpise bears. The doors tthe hall are sealed shut, but ffom out of nowhere tres beat, big biter visual eignposting, upon eeelng the beare,Geralt mediately awe Is lver sword n Whcher lore, the silver sword Is used exausiey on ‘monsters. Without a word belng utered the players Informed that ‘hese ere no nonmal bea. They dont prove to much ofa challenge to. seasoned monstariler-a fw sequences of light and heavy attacks evung togeter with hime dodges to get cut the way of foaming awe ard slashing ‘laws are enough to pu them down but nobody Geral included can dlspatch them fat enough to soo them carving thous the noble f2miles inthe ha. nother, accusing thom of setting the bea on each omer to kn00k o any peleal apoceiton or for long stencing family rugs. Tis may be me wh, bu ta discover the voracty ofthe acusati ‘Gera must do what ne does best. Hunt monster. How he hunts i another attr The two aicton ofthe Jar couldn't be ‘any more citferent For each other The 00, hot ek some hands to loosen tongues, The dover a ‘retest, ants to investigote the scene fof fe ene ond flues to point to & suspect, thereby nopotuly avoiding further Inning tne situation. Do you ‘expediency or tnoroughness? Dircet action ot eroumepect investigation. The choice | your, Just be prepared to dea withthe coneequences. £3LEVEL DESIGNER =i GELENCSER BW: The two areas saw during the hhands on session were very diferent in look. How di you set about establishing these environments? Are they based in real environments? PG: The wo mast important Inspirations wore of course story and reaistc the Witcher universe = that its always rooted In something realistic; medieval environments imbued witha tite bit pf believable mapic and fantastic and riyterious events and monsters and things. So when we were designing locations we ahveye rooted them in something youan alraaty experiance in rel fe, an then we scded athe extra things that maka the witeher univer, With the actual landmark bil castle things lke that. Some of them were given tous of cours by story. When we started developing the locations for tre witcher we were glen a lesa grid of lncations that were required bythe story progcession. "We will need to ‘et here thera, thera, and they are placed Inthis ang tnat ena thet region, 6 we wit ‘need that, ne thi willrasultin something that looks leosaly ke this” We haves macieup map that was already made before the game before the Wild Hunt = owe had something that we could start work with but we tit had ala af white canvas tat we needed to caver the gaps between lacations. tis actually avery nice ‘method at developing an environment for ‘videogame. This is what listo say how the craation went: was almost automat, bbecause we went withthe proportions and Flag af Mother Nature We established Some mountain, valleys, vars, argos + allsortsafthings ike that and placed altho key locations on them, an for the inbetween places we went Ike, “Right we wil probably need aviloge here because there's forest far hunting, a river for ater makes sense, il were setter Iwould definitely settle nara because it makes sense" Then you establish kind of an infrastructure or aciose community, lke the Skelige islands where you have to makoaliving-youhava to gat meat, crops; make bosts; harvest wood; make linen; hard shesp; ancl al gots of things you might find in maiaval community, soit makes sense, the whole location. We ‘ried te place them in locations that were ing fra community, that were nat unreachable there ara natural paths valleys or whatever leading to them - and in the end itresuttedin samatting that Is very comfortable and feos natural to.explor including the vegetation and everything you expect 1 500. How do you work out the optimal distance betwoen places? Lots and nts of tasting. and finding out ‘what fees comfortable. itll a course we ‘90 with natural propertans and placement Just ke Lexalained, but then ofcourse you have to ryt You have a play tha story ust ‘loring taking a watkal around, andit wilbe ther feel good or nat so gond.and ‘then you recansidarthedlstance between these two locations because you havato go between them andi’ it too long, there's rot much happening hare ots ty to get ‘samething hppening thers anc that's when youlimvoive quest design and community design: encounters, minor landmarks, some ‘events tht can haapen to spice tings up ‘80 could be a matter of shortening ‘the distance or place something in the ‘midale to break t up? Exactly, sometimes we modi tarain, ‘sometimes we makat easier to traverse the lands. Other timas wo ust ad extra content ‘Whatever fas batt and mars natal Where did you start on the project? What was the first thing you had to do? ‘The frst thing had tado | wes given the loose arid a the acations, story locations, and the large infinite empty ‘8729, and the tank: a's make thie coo let's maka this partot tha Witcher game ‘That nas hnoredible, First wes super scerybecauee, oh my goodness have ta do so many things here. ut than again it was magical ast happend with the help with atthe other people wha use! to work ‘on the gama for 3 long longtime, plus the ingpration thatthe new people brought. Ital esuted in sometning fresh but very respectfultothelore You're kind of responsible for the scope. fof the game from the original planning? Will tha layout ana the plan the donsity bf the points af ntereste, nd the ganer fled ofthe game worie. “The delay - polishing, more work hail to bbe done? Polishing, Absolutely The game content is locked naw. We are not aiting anything se. We are getting ido small nuisances ‘and gltchas thet we might tind. Wa ere ‘ecicating these extra months soley for that eo that when tha game releases you dont have to wait for patches or whetever You'regoing to gat cometning thats vary pleasing nea very accessible experience top.Pillars of Eternity DSI) DN ed ener es lush painted backgrounds and combination Pere eres eee sen Pee ree ee eee Pee eee ee rere) ener bennnne whore games such as Siyrm and Dragon Age: i eres ee eee! eee en Cree ee eter Pee eee erent nea Engine games fram the moment it's booted Pee eee eee nes eo a rents evelopers, with Temata mes | Cn ee eee eee eee eens To eee rene) for anjone even vematelyfemllar with RPGS. eee enn Cer) er enc) ere td ee een rte ee coe Cee per earner ca ee een any eee went fom being cagey to being dstnetiy ee eee ne eek entry Een ret ey penetrate et ee ees een ry eee Se ay Se ee ce eer ee et air ke geo re os eerie) Cece eee era Pen eeee eere d Ps Cees ec eee en Se ee Peereaeenrenet eer] ee ee ener ts eee ed aHf you're looking for that ultimate optimi- sation for your performance system we're happy to let you know that your search today comes to an end, The new Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G PSU offers industry leading precision monitoring and control of your system. 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Allowing you to build a rig that's more powerful than ever through multi-GPU configura- tions Get the most out of your system. ‘Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G.Hero . 1 brine corr ernrenerirent Beer ee eee en ees pene ee en Cee een Se ees ees eer Peete rs ee cerned Een eee! ee eee eid a Enea etter eee ee eee en eet nee ee eee ere eas te es of the Sain - Asident MOBA newbie ROB NORTH takes on ciel a fe youre putting [the game] ina box with avery entree ae oc eter ete) Cer ee) Se eet) coer Pee ea Pe ee eee eee re er rr ened Woreraft e melee assassin, eee een es balancing issues) alongside een ery cirri Se er Cee eee rennet eee eee edRoad KAEO VIS SRC mC | ACCESSIBILITY coeeerer riers ee Serer coer eet Pees oan eee eer ee eres rd Se eee Pere en ea See a eet neti iz. Peat) accessible and enjoyable nels) Wines experienced to [ol)t- EEF eT See eis See ee uk eee) er ry eens Cee ey Bees a? ee ey eee) eee Eee eens Ce ee cae ee et age eas Seer etcetera galery but thought it was best to leave this Ifyou dafeat thom. ae scattored around te | mightiberarder fr now players to get Ponte ere ery ete eer tet ee eo Totter eee ee ee eee ae crete en reer Seater eerie eet teen more team oriented game that features for aur enemies, When bath thelr heroes Bee ee eee me ee Se eet See en ee en eee Ce ee eee eee ee ee ere maps also each have unique objectives, toam wipe. po eee Creer enna ttt ae eee eer pee on eee rere Cee Pern enter tei cere at en eas ee ee eee) Se as eee ecm etdPed Pe el Naan Ce eC 0 1 Secelptenaaeeaaaaiaa ee ee) eee ery Ce a ea eee eed conversions come with some advantages 98 ee foxporince remains largely the same. the creation of eigtal boardgames that don't ieee erecta oe eee ee Pens ee eee eee tes ee en ny Pee eee es eee net coor ett preter ier ta a ETc cme heavily abstracte, eee Tn Se ees eee crete ee tie) eee ee ee eens ors Pee ey eee ee eee) eee eee eee re teers Se eer Ts Core tet eres ee eee Cee ea ees ee eee Ce ee ee eee eee eet ee en og ees eet men rey eee oe ey Ce em ee Poona eee ee ions ee eee one res er eer eats i was fished. The ough edges only show ee eet nee ee ert eee ee oreo Cece ec eos ae ee ets a eee oad@audio-technica Rt anal Ras aS wae F a ° re eects (rumen atest oo © Premium 40mm GCAW drivers See Leneyrevernes uM eMe NNSA an ast) Sa aE pie Suen aU eT es SEAM UTl ye US UTIL IU ese NOE Te phones, the POGI's deliver a evel of aucio precision iia is hard tomatch’=Bennett Ring PC Pea Hh Pe esa Sane RNA ONO EN See LUSH e Cl TIS SCUDN ashlynn ne ? © Includes detachable USB DAC ANE ea ORR Ve NTE aR NIN UNH ag ea TU Lee PA ee os PLE |san 's amazing how cyclical the games Industry seems right now. Jon the one hand, you've got games ike Total War: Ati 2 ‘sequel toa game that was realy not at all popular. But Creative Assembly has token all the negative reviews and ectualy ‘essembled a game that’s fun, and very, very challenging. but ‘obviously Bult on what nas come beter. ‘Ten youve got the Homeworld Remastered Eaton, whichis evidenee of a Whole other kind of cyte. We're used to seeing Holywood churn out romakes (man, someone pointed out the ther day that we're tkely ton years away from a Lord of the Rings remake, which is odd), but now the games industry is Going the same In this caso, though, i's pretty welcome, The Remastered Collection keeps the classic, and stil remarkably fresh eating gameplay, and melas with modem, hives graphics. I's a ‘Stunning combination, and given the proliferation of romakes right now from Grim Fandango to Abe's Oddysey something, that's quite weleame. I's great to go back to ald games, but ‘they often much better in recollection than n fac ‘Maybe someone can do a remastered Dark Forces. DAVID HOLLINGWORTH (Online Editor hollingworth@nextmedta.com.au ovary i) \ REPUBLIC OF GAMERS: { review contents 55 Evolve 58 Apatheon 80 Handof Fate 61 Lifeis Strange 62 Homewarld Remastered £64 Total War: Attila WE PLAY ON ORIGIN! Core 1739203 QuadCor 4. SGie pact ta un everthing. A 2 Sala State Deve ana have one senous mie gaming oun ORIGIN WE PLAY WITH TURTLE BEACH! tracking ose posly footsteps, The 268 orpEvolve Dave Kozecki and David Hollingworth are on the hunt. DHE: You know, EvoNe seems to bo one of those games tat’, 2) 4009 10 realy aviae people, ‘and 2) be one of those tiles ‘that you only get out of what you putinto tI has a really quite afcut learning curve, based on the necessity to earn nypical weapon sil, and understand the flow of mans and game modes. On top ofthat. I€8 not he kind of game where you can simpy apply yourselt instance, you ean focus on being 12 good Recon/ sniper; Evone, though, because you never quite now what Hunter role you'e ‘king, off youll be the big bad Monster, the initial dozen ar 30 hours ean be auiteeontontng BK: vel, 'm nopoy 10 ley the Riggs to your Mursugh in this instance eue sexy saxaphore ‘Adapt wit the times, Rog." ‘28suming youre taking about Evolve's moltnayer system, where you dump your ehoie in order of preference and get 2 lucky ep on which class you play when you lad online, oF even fine Yyoursetling the big brtehes of ‘8 monster? thir oe to 8 "umpea staignt into the ruliplayer and loves the chatlenge of pcking it up on the 4 Tho weaponry. while diverse i Hea, te on sereen tips and prompts were informative rounds it hits you wth» mini tutorial on the class and arsenal | thought twas # retteshing change from the usual super obvious tutorial phase and (000 styes acvancement and enjoyed unlocking new Hunters attaonments orgptier ings that go pow pow. Fi, rm focusing onthe rmutiplyerslone because why win 9 erew of baderses tracking a monster and dong your best to avod the 2minutes dropship respawn known as death i's 3 i autying to know that the fture of gaming inckides The Fit Element syed instant body reconstruction f you hapoen to bite the big one But enough about re, what were your fetings ont? DDH: War, youre witingt be Me Gibson? Tats... courageous. ink ve got to aame that overall my foelngs on tho game shooter quite ike it, anda you 441’'m happy to play the Riggs to your Murtaugh in this instance (cue sexy saxaphone) 99 ‘earth would you even play the ‘ingle payer other than touse ‘9 tuto? | ink ts rock solid for these three poops inthe world who game without an ntenet connestion first wold eis, notte) oF don ike iting up with random gamers. Trth be tol, t's seus quite robust you od yourself midetustortu 59) the amazing options open to the monster player, and he ronards of good coop play aro very impressive. Te problem is that, more than other competitive for even coop games, It EvoNe really does take your abity to contol and enjoy your experience fut of your hands, The abwious and possibiy unale comparison to make here isto Len 4 Deas, because in any given round you never really ft altroadea ito 8 run gun,foeus on heating. whatever you wanted. Ang sian, you nad choices playing "adit, have had some gre, remarkaby tense rounds, but Ive also had alot of very lackluster, ‘ones, especialy playing 2s the monster Te learning cure to understand monster powers, the layout of maps. and how best to deal wit erent nunter combos, areal challenge. DK: eal intorosted to know, lust now much id you play as the monster?! don't know ts ecades of gaming which has insite in me a none too-subse hero complex but! seriously preter to olay a8 2 team of {0s styles action cliches ies. 2 comatiment ent maturing the tales ae Goliath or Sau t0y ‘andthe Wan and thou the wealth of atacks fr each was surpisingyceep, out aa't realy bold my interes fo long, ‘et around Iwas Heng to take something lager than ite down The fact it nas powared by @ fercely human intellect meant no ‘wo games fl the same. Some Diayea mide and seek thers bretered more acect te on spplesen ow were downegnt evious and ratty, snaking to not a)eave wack, doubling back on itself fand ayn in wal, siting us up and tearing the tam apart when never knew what to expect, anit apt me on the edge of my seat eager simost hungernd for more. This split in gameplay is obviously what Turtle Rock hs in min fam te stare, to present the best of ot wera, and it eetntety succeeded in my book. think choosing to go ‘down ether the hero path or could be usta polarising as the pala you made atthe start of this review Colour me nosy, but given your well dooumented predisposition to snipeing. sniping, er Wesley Snipes, you know whet mean, Aid you predominantly favour Val the weokpet targeting longdistance medic (whe really realy enjoyed playing), or a you branch out more the i fand enjoy the radically ferent Whitman's Sampler of classes? In case you hada't satice. | Kinda dg everthing about the Hunters In Eveive,parteulary ming Up and svapping between the dilorart perks and speci weapons wii eaen class. 1a was abays uncovering something ew to play win ‘The way the Hunters’ abies fac off each ther was aly ‘ute clever. Things ike using 9 tranqullzer or harpoon to slow 18 beast down so twas ripe for an orbital ste, peppering it wit precision armour pete 2 lghiing gun toting ay could 0 10 town up close or even the Sinper things or burstneating oF hileing from afar... i shut tun now. Thoughts? DE: Like sod, when Evohe comes totter i's unmatched fand te tension owning down the monsters heath, and then losing a teammember and ten simply let the Al handle al that Just eying to old out unt your annoying wave, ane it eas partys up ofl strength again is better at using the fomppack than Tily ep. As to classes, generally lot of payers. went with he bg guns, because But the nestest tick this wile lem by nature bit of a tow offers isa really handy get out down dty sniper Exehe's tae on ofl free cord if you're feeling the css realy ft about sniping, beset asthe monster. The Al Aer al you cant real oneshat may not cere about feeding the monstor soit just fais tke or attacking too much, but a aterent tempo of damage ICs exoetlent at neeing, ana deat, Ans, realy sniping’s nat will almost cortaily take you tmatenaracters plnt is ealy all straight to the Dest hang place. about keeping people aine,and ‘i's a great way to learn the map, "Ne never been a giest rece. even though it does feel the bit Playing as the monster of chest was arguably 2 lot more fu, So fa you seem pretty hyped personaly, because tremoves about the game 1 couldn’t tell you exactly what's missing, except maybe for any kind of narrative 99 any possible teamwork issues BK: Wel, it wasnt all sweet from the equation Dug hunts ond brewskis. & fe Speaking ofthe monster, things, speci to ening play though, i's worth mentioning iked me, The servers were fone ofthe game's more curious pretty schizophrenic, ether Teatures. You can basicaly let immediately ropoing me into ‘the Altako over for oufor a meteh er keeping mo wating can, don'thnow, go pee or get dumping me into a mate jst 26 ref ot your favourite beverage. ended onto be pushed Deck ‘The Al's not great, butt a least tothe Lobby. Another hing that means youre never siting thete grinded my gears was with such @ wih your vital self zoned out distinct spit between playsyes, and just walting tobe pounced why not have a simple Huntr/ fon, Ang at times, the relentless Monster option before you enter ‘rack. fehteack pace of tne game matchmaking? These wore only can got abit much, go Re nice to pedestrian ngs, ca Peary TcHUNTER MnPace TURKS 20) MENS aN6 IE ‘The gameplay is insanely tense and trapped me complete, the level clsign is fresh and nuanced, yu go tin single Player the Al bet teammates are competent enough to hep you ‘trough and | high commend you spend most at your ime in Evaeustion Mode whete you ay ‘we aferent game types with he Winning team grabbing 3 boost for the next round. Yes, m aushing but ust granbed me, and my gosh is so dam prety DHE think wee going to have to agree to asap on this one it seems your minor nies are ‘much anger gies forme, and | have to adit ts relly not pulled ‘me into an kind of on erm 239 habit Jt fot Cnet gute & complete game; cousin tt you fexocty wnat missing, except maybe for ary kind of marae sense tothe wnole ting beyond “Monsters are ba, may” think, for me that would certainly helo to ene all the camage some ‘context. t's very prety carnage, btit just doesn't seem al hat ties. can log ito Batted 4 land hrow what ging to et and pay te class that want volo fs a bit too random frm both in now it wants mea (Ge, | coud realy go the Monster oop." and the quality of rat ay (B10, do you even hea") So, cant cute get behing this tie, whieh leaves us with bt of {8 quandary when comes to somtng '¢ sai ny oldman pec, 50 et lave the game with 2 more posite score, ast sooms Evoke realy is 2 mater of ase Dave, do you want to close the pice out wth ane more gush? BK: Gush! BH: Perec. 08” HOLLINGWORTH, DAVE KOZECKI {VERDICT Not for evervane, but if youtike a mix of sola and .0-ap play nel bl monsters vole is very gold indeasAMONSTERS FEApotheon The gods should learn to leave it in their pants NUE wan funy ene ny [wteeatianedn Jn tne before time, the lon, ong ago, Jordan Mechner cyeatee a game tnat tres the template for side sorling Platformers. Prince of Persia es a londmork game, featuring clever level design, hard melee combat and besutful animation tania to Meenner using his brother for rotescoping Apotnaon takes a very cfferent sual approach tote onginal Prince of Persia, but the legacy ff tne legencary platformer ie stil eviont inthe way it plays fand feels. This is detntely a 00d thing Payers tke the role of 1 humble soldier named Nikandreos, a heros igure but ‘one whois defintely human, ‘for saving nis vilage from levagers, Nkandreos draws, é¢It’s a remarkably pretty effect and one that the atomien of Hors, Queen of ‘olympus and motner of gods. informs gameplay as well as style 99 ‘Sho is more than aile arary inner cvinebretiten in Greek Inspiration from Greek pottery, during adventure. Each of __commpletea before Nkancreos rytoogy the gods are awed Characters appear and move thes weapons has differant. ean move an, No two are entirely creatures, as prone to whims and almost ke shadow puppets. attack ranges. damage and alke - one may see you trying to follyas humans, and itis this ‘hinged at joints but otherise ‘timing. If holding @ shield, both unt a lant boss creature whist flawed nature has angered Hera static. W's @ remarkably prety the player and enemies can black another may require a stealth so much Zeus con" keen tin effect and one that informs in the direction they're facing. approach as any direct combat his pants. constant csguising gameplay a5 well as style. The Rather than being something will prove nigh impossile. This himserr and Deaaing mortals but hinged animation plays ito ke timed immunty to damage, mixing of challenges Keens tne thie lant all that nae tamed Hera the cont echeme, wth tne shields are arectional, eo ‘action rash ana compeling ‘against him, Zeus hos grown to Keyboard being used for basic angling attacks aver and under throughout. Combine this with hate humanity and nas vowed movement and the mouse being shields is essential for survival. a cratng systom tat allows to destroy them, gatenng tne used for orantation. Nandieos What intially appears to be a Nikandreos to create potions and other gods to his ede and cuting faces inthe diction and rather simple combat system special items to hea, summon fil but the most aggressive es angle ofthe mous ponte ao _prowes to nave move than enough ghostly wolves, become invisible with Earth As Heras champion, ability thats tally important depth to remain challenging and more, and you have an old Nikandreos travels to Mount in combat. A huge varety of and entertaining throughout the fashioned side scroling action Olympus to gather power and do weapons ranging from simple entre game. platformer that has al the bottle witn the gods, ‘wooden clubs through to magical Each level features multiple hallmarks of ing avery modern ‘Avotheon draws is visual —_—_orlfacts can be found and used obectves that must be dome, DANIEL WILKS 23 {VERDICT A chatienaing, Dbeautiul and rewarding old heal action patfarmer with co , ‘a very made twit. por PRINCE a ease ‘vel xn SINT -x08 ERRNO PACERS 204 3 sen"GIGABYTE’ insite TEES Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE Aco Fy eT rg 3 amy GIGABYTE 9 Series rr. a Fes a Motherboards z : uHand of Fate The real cards against humanity. UE eset BH a LEAT he Australian mage insie Hands of Fate ie 2 dificult game to pigeonnote as toraus sloments from so many genres Ie part deck building cara fzame, port loot based action PG and part choose your own ‘venture naratve in which the Player battles against the dealer ‘and hones that the next card they draw is the one thay nee It's about resource management and tactical movement. fast paced Batman style cambat and geating right to moet the challenges. maybe a stenge mesh of ideas and styles, anc fe that take a litle getting used to, but once you grasp the ganeral mechanics, Hand of Fate shows tol to be an ‘extremely clever and equally Sperone tea endnote, co enjoyable game. 66 Hand of Fate shows itself to be an extremely Tne game piys sersswe aver and equally enjoyable game J9 aigunet styles movement ana ‘encounters. Cards from the A dealers aeck form the map. At rewarding payers witha token the bogining ofeach map the that can Be exchanged for now cards ae all placed face down cards once the sequence of 30 8side fom knowing that ether maps is fished, Battles drop Aan eut, or the boss onthe last the player into a third person in seres of meps is under _scton mode in whieh they must fone, the contents ofthe rest are defeat a certain number of Unknown. The player cen move monsters native tothe map, 0% fone space ata time, Landing on in the fnal map of a sequenc 2 cad tips revealing an event a basa. The combat engine 12 ora bate. Events incluce things simple, with an attack, a shield Ike meeting @ dew who orfers @ slam, 2 dodge rol and a Batman: choice of combat challonges for Arkham Asylum syle counter 2 reward to starving peasants but the variety of monsters and who need food. or stumbing the layout of the arenas makes ‘cross a tap filed maze with them a fun distraction. Kling fa treasure chest atts centre, __mansters rewards the player with Some of ese events nave loot eras. These ean he in the special objectives within them, form of ld, ood or equipment ‘lA YD playors can construct a deck of equipment cards they have been rewarded by Shishing maps. This gear isn't avaiable from the outset. but goed deck sear gainered during a map is pulled from the player's cock. So far 0 good, but then 28 i fact, that every move takes ono food can bo be bought from shops, but as they are random cards there's no gustantee there wil be 2 shop on ary given map. Do you make extra moves to hea wth no guarantee of fnding a shop before you run out of food! and ‘aroun eARHSTONE niganie RI seam SSS ts-08 begin to take starvation damage, ‘or do you press on inthe hops ‘that you won't encounter any Inaly dangerous foes? There's 9 similar dice when comes to ‘deck building. As the character completes maps. more cards ‘are fewarded and tne number ‘of args tht ean be inched nthe deck grows. You ean put all your good cards in te dock, to rewards, You can limit the numberof cards but tis also limits the numberof possibie remards, What's 2 eard/action hero to-do? tes a neas scratonar Ws also realy fun, OAVIEL WILKS 2 { VeRDICT Oceasionaly utters toma bitor eloweown but otherwise Hands of Fate is hight polished and idinsyncraticjayLife Is Strange: Episode 1 - Chrysalis Something about a butterfly flapping its wings. | townie etzenia 1 we + yeneh videogame doveloper Dontnod lott, debut game, Remember Me, garnering praise and condemnation in equal measure forthe story, combat and platforming but alsa gathered quite bit of praise forthe strong female protagonist and the ‘amoition of he stosteling. Dontnod's second outing, Lite ta Strange fs a very atterent afar eschewing many of the troublesome aspects of Remember Me and instead concentrating on proven stengths - ambition and @ strong female lead. The result is 9 wonderful, melancholy ‘a troubled nomecoming, 66¢ At any time Max can rewind time a little enabling mumblaeore and time wave the player to change outcomes or decisions 39 in.a memorable and extremely conoyable way. Maxine Cautfeld is @sty Acadia Bay Max also discovers doesn'tknow the answer. When the decisions Max makes photography student, recentty she has the ability to contol another student answers, Max _bacome satin stone. Knowing retuined to her hometown, time, allowing hero rewind to ean rewind time and answer the Immediate consequences Arcacia Bay in Oregon to study certain points and rethink her the question again, this time of decisions makes these fat the prestigous Blackwell inital decisions. Using an exta dialogue prompt moments quite powertl as Academy. Ostacised fromher The time control concept withthe correct answer as you're forced to decide between former bestfriend. Chloe dus 1o permeates every aspect of Life provided bythe ether student short term gain and ong, ‘2 0k of contact over the fe f@ Strange and forms the erux in the future. These back and term, unknown ramvcations. years of her absence, Maxine of the action in this otherwise forth games witn time form the Despite a few overly contrves 1S something of an outeast, not faily vaditional polnt ana Dockone of the puzzling in Lite puzzles, an at times ratner ool erich enough tobe part click adventure. At any times Strange and forthe most painfully repettve soundtrack fof the intuential Vortex Club Max can rewind time atte part work well and te in with and some pretty terrible ip- Sn vo ougang av rancy ong te lyre change‘ ower thomos ofthe Fae. syme Lee Svan. Epeode Gnough tohovee nsdecicle’ outcomes ordecsions.cr Onlyatew standout ss being, 1 Chysas ges Dortnads moreotangereyas: dupa clam: Onecl"”alrappare prperetmun to tiorg aur Wen med insecure women, voon waking Monn’ fst use fhe Bowes ad some wing bt tese,manulte time ite oa fomawngtmereinaich tien towasge. She's” are thectogton rete le. eee elses mre evetabe Simostne hricae obiertes eda aestonmeags but Aero porto he come ow, DANIEL WILKS ‘VL i YW Wee avay avora ea sense BanroneromeBovoGc wFMTE NER fan Se Seba 3 iewcom geen amieHomeworld Remastered Collection have seen the neon vapour trails light up the debris fields of broken conquest ure aT eo deeo space, my old eng. n the decade ana its sequel graced my sere, 1 searened to recapture the magie feeling i imparted, a fecting tad long forgotten. Sls of @ Solar moire become my Homeworld substtute ling te vad when the need to ide through a paused star nate caked to the the exotoment of pausing ana ‘seeing my lovely eet dash about, sowing engine vals painting a bau abstract picture of Inthe opening hour ar so of the Homeworld Remastaced ceaperience, starting a the beginning with the fest game 8 8nd, Sin & beter much better, at evertning, | mousnt. : ; . Hiraacampraceiens 66 You will never feel the grind, you will always be came convo tsetse Prepared for radically different gaming 97 got the viow you want auikly ‘and precisely, 2nd 19 move ‘awakening tue love for @ great sill way YOU wil never feel he Instead of shoehorning some ‘around freely the way you would game, So free of hihenerty aver. rind, you wil always be prepared ganerc stor crap in wth even lke. Memories were etuming. amped excitement that prevals for radically diferent gaming as more bynumber game py Iemember teeing exacty the today, instead being grand yet each hicks hour posses. When Homeword was frst Same frustration back in 1999. gently delvered tale of survhal They feel Ike proper so released it establihed a genre. Oh nes. and discovery. rendered wih ust missions, too, as you, as Neet_ Today. through Remastered, it But,oh mys itbeautiu. Tse the right tone a Back and white commander, siowy bud your _—_resuscitates ot only a genre textures and atfeets are lush, cut scenes and momentous mide Reet hich caries overt The tet Behind, but rekinaes @ ae, Homeworid 2 Remastered locks gore twits next chapter. Paying is excting pace and beautifully challenging, even better, with sharper and ‘The story envelops the ve no game today challenges. varity tactieal of space gaming ‘more detallod surfaces. This missions harmonious usualy Tho answer to good game design that is essontial inte modorn ‘could easly pass a a brand new —bresking nt the acton as Is net to tow move, louder, more landscape, amo, today youre midtbattle with a dramatic oxplosh at tho playr. It's todo Is, by ar, the highest quality Playing on the gaps in my development. Each mission has as Homeworld does, and open _-HDificaton ofan alder game 50 recollection began to fil, and conse context, nd that is the door to immersion vio gentle, for Wth med support wl go with good tings. Things that are translated into the objecthes in eulised and italigent story ‘far and last for years more. Good uch, much better than Sins. each round. AS the game evokes teling that is matched by game jab, Genrbor, anda tin ofthe hat Its te story andthe ongoing along. eachnew missions very play that matches the story and to Relic, the Gearbox of ther day. narrative that foods back, diferent tom the last, and nat inthe vibe ofthe universe perfect, BEN MANSILL Co DICT Mesmerising ting, story and batting Just aout, SINSOFASDARENPIRE —SWORDOFTHESIARS ——MELUSTHE UPR Iannone RAKHI RIDE 3 resus ‘tina ISMNSee Ones Lobera Prd ae ee ae ete] SC RO ee COL ‘You oun find this product & more in the following retailers: render EoscersyTotal War: Attila Creative Assembly almost makes up for Rome 2 UE encase BK Asus cA Ofte ecu ray ight here and up front. ves, weve one of many Total War fans that fel that Rome 2 was easiy tne worst o te series, and generally a poor game inks ‘it. So, hopefully you ean trust Us when we say that Attia, the Napoleon to Empite, as were, is 2 far superior game. Ie’ one you wil actualy want to keep playing, whereas, for a ot ot people Rome 2 was unfun and a Tot of nara work. Fam pacing to salting and atmosphere, tothe the game's signature realtime combat, Ata is, nota great Total Wor game, its at least a very good one. Which isnot to say itis without Its faws, but well get to them. ‘Te game ts set n avery fascinating ponod, which Creative Assemoy nas usea te offer up some quite rch gamepiay options. In the fourm cantury, the mighty Roman Empire has spit into two, much weaker Easter and Westorn Empires, while around its borders nation and ety states, nortnem barsarans, ‘ancient easter cvisations, and traveling hordes all aay ‘memaeivea, Tis isthe opening of the Dark Ages, and while mary histouans may protest tat term in ight ofthe cultra chness of the period, Creative has grasped the phrase with both hands, land crated a game where the darkness realy descending The Total War games nave atways been visually impressive fan whe Atlas not the prattiest- that woul be Shogun 2, wih ts nahiy torannepies colour plete -It is possby the mast artist, Even sunny days ae intensely gloomy, ond as the sun sets onthe bates you fight over. shadows lengtnen into wraithke gloom. Most striking ~ and this also has @ tersiyng mechanical affect fre ‘stars out ike some brent an dangerous thing, making taming arom, burning buldings, ana torch bearing toops more visually Ati uses a fre motif even on the strategic map. Here, its possible for invading armies to lay waste to entre rglons, at towers, smoke tom the cy ana bulings. and streams of burning arrows and snot tram siege ‘ongines - downright spectacular matched by huge Improvement In Al sl, and overall pacing. Rome 2s battles coud he over vor fast, wth units oreaking and running before you can do anything about i ut Attia as slowed tings down a te. Stl doesn’t feet gute right, but ‘or's 8 weigh tothe nants now that feels much more natural, land is much easier on the player ‘eying to control them, Silay, unts are more thal orally ater breaking of so there's 2 bit more Aeniblity 66 Thankfully this visual fidelity is matched by a huge improvement in Al skill, and overall pacing 39 ich pont its lsh forests and felds are reducing to ash and ‘lowing embers, Watching 28 2 {ibe be the Huns or Vandals march across the map, tery burning as they go. ean give you {quite tre intimation of wnat those times must nave fet he, poworul on tho tacteat map bouldings 25 they pass, and 26 buldings eatah alight in tona, their neighbours are nt far behind. Even tees can be set lint, This makes any battle somethin to behold, but t ‘makes sieges = with burning ca themes, bats are what youve come to expect rom Total War = unit placement is key. a8 is exploring the enemy’s flanks and securing your aw, while hole 4 strog line ‘But this aute te cnatienge, now 9 Atta’ Al seems to nave had 3 major overnaul. Sure, te intial doplopments arent a that clever, but i's very good now at sending cavalry units on Ranking attach, which can be que dangerous, This newfound skill Is also apparent on the strategle imap. where the Ais row more than nappy to launch seabome raids and attacks, oan" USADEREINGS| OME TOTAL WAR EOLESSLESEND Pies AMASERToae UENO ‘This i almost essential to the fame, though. win nations tke the Saxons, who consistant raid England unt they ove the Romans out and ofcourse the precursor Viking tes, ot including this kind of beta raiding woul be an egregious oversight. Speaking of factions, there reallyis an amazing mix ‘Tere aren that many, but the breadth of amopiay on offers unique. At one end you've got the aforementioned Saxons, ‘wo lige armies, and a single region; atthe other, you've got the Roman Empires, and the easter forces ofthe Sassanid Ech represents a vory diferent flavour frm the roaming. lanless vandais to the emote bulaing Franks and Saxons. But playing 2s tne Romans is tne real heart ofthe game, I think. You're outnumbered, lack any working friancial base, and you inecally start losing fm turn fone = it’ brutal, but i's also really quite engaging watching your Empire fal No wonder Creative as set tose campatans as representing Lagendarycifeuty! ‘veal, hough some systems lke the neatly mpenetaie rage ‘on feeling provincial system ~ stl don’ feel quite righ, Ata is Makes us fel prety damn been for Total Warammer DAVID HOLLINGWORTH [VERDICT Aeon” this Total War game is a return ta form for Creative Assembly, with 3UnShya US i ll BIGSCREEN A 7 | oe iy SHOOTOUT Subscribe online anytime myMagazines.com.auOutliers Living on the edge of tech the Tech Ector at PC PowerPay it's easy to get caueht up inthe performance ofared by tne fastest goocis. Halt the time | get to use these high-end products over extended poriods without having to buy thom. Andi can't borrow one, ''m hapoy to use my 30-something, singe with no kids salary to spend $600 or $0 on a GPU. Yet Valve's haraware survey shows, ‘that I'm onthe outlier of haréware purchases; there aren't mary gamers who are happy to spend a couple of grand a yoar (on PC hardware. It tans aut that you guys have much more important things to spend your cash on. This is why cards tke NVIDIA's GTX 960 are 0 highly anticiated. The vast majorty af PC gamers can only spend around §300 or so on a graphics car, whichis the sweet pot of perarmance vs price that NVIDIA latest mainstream offering is targeting. For once NVIDIA is wel Detind the &bal (on ths price segment; t's usually got competiively priced cards targeting this segment wihin a month or two of AMD. Yotits taken six months for NVIDIA to rol out the GTX 960, which ls why Ive spent four pages examining this new chioet. Can it keep up wth AMD's offen, especially considering Team Rec nas been sloshing and burning prices like there's no tomottow? ‘Youll have to read the GTX 960 feature to fd out Bonnett Ring Tech Editor bring 2next.com.au PCPP TESTBENCH Inte 7 370k oan neuron 868 PATRIOT ODRS 2.1330He «<= RADEON HO 7970, CORSAIR AX860! that are best fous to procucte that balance 88 rR 7 7a ‘Budget case roundup rx 960 rx 980 Philips BOMS740UP Mintar RC Repeater Plantronics Backbeat PRO ‘Msi 6530 Howvare Tech Menagerie ‘Bunker m6)a PCPP CASE ROUNDUP I's time to put BENNETT RING back in his box. ty he poor PC ease. When ulding 2 new gaming box, we ai get oxcted about the GPU and (CPU tat wit be powering its interiox, yet itio thoughts pale to the ‘haste that wll house everning. Seloctng a now case usvally bois down to neuring out Now much ot your budget is left ver, and then Peking something that doese't look totally uh Yet the case is probably one of the components thot win the longest, 80 here at PC PonerPay ne think ts worth spending 8 tte more thought on which case your compononts il tho latest PC cases priced below $200 to see whien one deserves to vein your gaming den, tryout locking to bull @ machine with 9 huge eATK motherboard, youre going toneed to get an cxratarge case, if you game with neadphones. tnere's probably no need to look for a case with soundoraoting. On the otner hd, youre me us ‘and game with suround sound ‘speakers sllent case is tehly desirable 8 it stop the whine of the CPU and GPU fans frm driving you eazy Exeme overlochers ‘components (cough AMD GPUS ough) should look for a case provided by two or threo case be too concerned with runing 3 wind fer oder our desk, (CASING THE JOINT When I comes to selecting a case the very fst thing to considers the size that you'l need. A tower ‘ease s the standae back box cerpect a study rte but rom that we're al familar wt, packing thicver atest or aluminium, with @ ‘enough interor space to Ro an seneraty niger quatty trish. At ATX motherboard, Most tower the budget ond ofthe spectrum tases asonaeroomtoraracice 66 The final facet to exaMIN@ iS yor aramicn more pest The final facet to examine & ull quality, and e's here that your budget wil determine what's ‘avalabe. Pay more and you can Geamgeweyeccouna DUI Quality, andit’s here that yuo Secnveemaeu nw rr your buclget will determine iat ht cheap to mate but tomers oe ag smaterveraons Docks ebeoutely no sound ofa tower yet sil hove jst enough what's available 9? Keep these points in mind room to aqueere an ween buying your ATR boot ise. Sal next case and you't Farm Factor cote are Youre prosebiy wancering why someatthe end up wth just tne rernorserancomy MISSING IN AGTION | S wnat te the greatest hard SF film of al time? een aNEw-! ECH15 JULY 31-AUG 2 | SYDNEY SHOWGROUND aS eae AN allie TECHNOLOGY AT AUSTRALIA'S TSA el dS AMIN ne el TECHNOLOGY TOWARDS TOMORROW w www.chestergroup.org |e fewterhlau@chestergroup.argSUBSCRIBE 10 (sell-itietirleyy FOR YOUR CHANCE 10 H Uae ate RU Gar aiI! Le Pro onWHY SUBSCRIBE TO PC PowerPlay? HUGE SAVINGS on cover price FREE delivery to your door NEVER miss an issue! *BONUS t-shirt mymagazines.comeu) my YES! I'LL SUBSCRIBE To [@iaEiz) seo ena rss 20 1 Gl tape wet yonesiovn + Me it DG zsorscuess sues yeast BB sspscuess sues 0 year Enclosed i cheque/manny order fr AS made payable to nextmada Pty Lid OR plaate charge my cre cad [vise] mastercard CJ americn Exess OOOO O00 OO00 OOOO Name on card Expiry Date Signature My Details: Full Name: Address: Poteode Daytime Telephone: | E-mail Address: Pesce proute phone a aman case of ale iesves Please Send this Gift Subscription to: Full Name. adress: Postcode Daytime Telephone: E-mail Address Ma/PC238| A FANTASTIC ATTRACTION ae" Hirenir esa eso of tine stories of tne paranormal he bizare, the unthinkable andthe fantasti. Ris no surprise that once interactne methods of {engagement with stones were avaible, that fantasy realms became a popular intual seting Certain you can #39 table top and card games nave an immense infuence on the fantasy video games that arose, but leven without them Iii thar ta believe fantasy ames wouldn't have 0° their own: people lve fantasy Fantasy domes are, when mage wel equally 2s daunting, dangerous and exotng a8 the words that inpived them: words that have ony existed in the mins, tie in these words, ven as characters \witn humble or even abysmal Degionings, that people with tru sil can become W's © wonderful thing to eve peo Ccertaialy for some it can become a netative distraction from ite laying fers on the sie of action, but for ‘most entering te lands of ores, gla, 3m embracing, Interesting that t unberses. What is this place? Who are the poopie? Are ‘there only humans? i earth? Wht iste technology le? le tere magic? YoU can apply fantasy to most setngs, the most famous non acitonal bang Star but rather a space fantasy and opera, What we know of Star Wars we can apply fare sides, theve isa universe that these character ne in. Ans isnt our own, This ie where Poputarn tim, part release of Star Ws fim. Peter Jac Rings trilogy. é Fantasy is becoming more widely accepted, more mainstream 9 se has grit, decay dusty and, under thou it was of sours, design delivers a place rena trough the mage of art and evel design, where people go about ther ives as we do here on earth ‘Ad it's ust walting for us to come venturing through In the days of lower resolution textures, say fiteen years ago (two for console Eamere, amirte??), 0 much of what we drew rom fantasy Imagination. Ex ana i's part of wry isometie ana tap down became so popular with fantasy games: wit sometic and top cown aesigns you can not only establish gameplay ‘mechani that work wal inthe fantasy settings, but also depict avast rity work! without having o go very far beyond two dimensional elements. In some cases, not stall ‘nis s Now the epic Fantasy tales of iad! & I ware tole, amiong 20 ‘And ite th the ‘coming generation of vicoogames the beliewabilty ‘and immersion of tings was in our jant art design helped, fantasy settings ‘nil become Lunoaraletes. A for neneomers Me me, ‘that immersion wil hop. becoming more widely Young | nad Iti to no interest in Yentasy works, especialy in videogames, Ive never been into magic Uust The Fore). and aside from a few franchises mast lore tended to leave me yenning But eventual I began to aporecate fantasy worlds, and what | have always loved is beng a warror. tm be precictabe, may 60 borng so some. But Hove to wie @ nora in one nand an a shld inthe other. tong to side clad in armour, tough the word painstakingly Aoveloped fr me, ready clash wth my fenamias. And m sure many millons of thers fel the same way