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Tom Orry, Editorial Director – The Last Guardian, PS4, Super Mario Maker for 3DS
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Are you ready for some big news? I haven’t played FIFA 17 in over a week! What is the world coming too?
Anyway, that’s because I’ve been busy playing two pretty big games. The first, Super Mario Maker for 3DS, is a neat port of the Wii U game that’s only really let down by having no online level sharing. Madness. But you’re probably more interested in my thoughts on The Last Guardian. Well, the bad news is that I can’t say a thing about my views on The Last Guardian, but expect thoughts on Monday along with a review score. Has it been worth the mammoth wait? You’ll find out pretty soon.
Alice Bell, Content Editor – Final Fantasy XV, PS4
Another game that’s been in development for an absurdly long time. Final Fantasy XV could have alternatively been called ‘Final Fantasy: J-Pop Boy Band Tour’ or ‘Final Fantasy: Four Go Camping’ or ‘Final Fantasy: Scouting for Boys’.This is a long winded joke to get across that the majority of the game is four best friends (who are coincidentally beautiful young men) on a boys’ own road trip together. Also you can change their outfits.
It’s obviously been through several different drafts in development, with the result being these versions cut up and stitched together. Logically speaking it shouldn’t work, and yet it does. I went back and kept playing it after I’d finished, so I must have liked it quite a bit. Also if you like all the mad epic fantasy bollocks from classic Final Fantasy this one still has water dragons and mountains which are actually giant tortoises, and all that noise. It’s pretty good.
Sam Riley, Junior Content Editor – South Park: The Stick of Truth, Xbox One
Ah South Park: The Stick of Truth. Who would’ve thought that this oft-delayed tie-in title — involving a seemingly played-out franchise — could succeed so spectacularly? In truth I should have played it earlier, but after spotting it for cheap during the recent Black Friday sales I finally decided to buy.
Issues of censorship and the occasional cutscene quirk aside, this really is a fine little title, full of cracking battles and some solid customisation options. As a game it succeeds beyond all expectation, offering many fun and irreverent twists on established gaming tropes. But it’s as a tie-in product, and as a legitimate addition to the South Park mythos, that the Stick of Truth truly succeeds. Packed tight with knowing winks and funny fan service, without ever once pandering to its fanbase, SoT feels more like a lost second movie than the quick, soulless cash-in that sceptics may expect. As fun as it is outrageous, the Stick of Truth is a must-play for all fans of the franchise. I for one can’t wait for the sequel.
Colm Ahern, Content Editor – Watch Dogs 2, PS4
At first glance, I hated the characters of Watch Dogs 2. I thought they were a group of subreddits being represented through a collection of polygons and dialogue on screen and to be fair, they pretty much are. But they’re also a group of best friends that would do absolutely anything for each other. More often than not in a video game, this dynamic includes some military attire and multiple firearms, but Dedsec in Watch Dogs 2 are the type of people that you’d expect wouldn’t hurt a fly and only want to have a bit of a laugh, while bringing down “The Man”, of course.
Part of the way through Ubi’s sequel to one of 2014’s most disappointing titles really captured this for me. One of the hacker buddies was after making a bollocks of a particular thing but was also very quick to to say sorry for his mistake. Straight after the apology, his pals jump to his aid, exclaiming that all is ok and everybody f***s up from time to time. It’s that type of genuine camaraderie that we don’t see often enough in the medium — I truly believe that these people would be constantly chatting in their What’s App group, or sitting at the high stools in their local.
Many theorised that Ubisoft would take the sequel to Aiden Pearce’s dry-as-s*** outing two years ago and do it well, in the same vein as they did with Assassin’s Creed, and while Watch Dogs 2 has a few annoying issues like poor checkpointing, this is what the original should’ve been — a fun, hacking adventure with a group of nerdy bastards.
