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Our Verdict
Space Marine is just endless war.

Space Marine is just endless war. Thanks to powerful weapons and excellent pacing, that war is pretty damn fun.

I love my thunder hammer. I love the crackle of blue energy dancing across the weight on the end as my Space Marine – Ultramarines Captain Titus – hefts it backwards. I love swinging into the gurning face of an ork. I love chaining together three standard attacks, whirling and spinning with destructive force, before pressing F to slam my hammer into the floor, stunning every alien, monster, and monstrous alien in the vicinity.

But life is difficult, because I also love my chainsword, and I can't carry both. Oh, and can I tell you about my power axe? I want to explain how satisfying it is to boot a Chaos cultist very hard in his scarred face before burying a five-foot axe in his shoulder. Sorry, hang on. I've got too excited. Let me calm down.

Space Marine is a third-person action game that understands weight. A space marine is nine feet of purebred superhuman, dressed in power armour as heavy as half a car and the universe's biggest shoulderpads. That shit is massive, and Relic's greatest feat with Space Marine is making you feel it. Every step you take across the scorched earth of besieged forgeworld Graia is a mighty clomp. Start running, and it's so loud and screen-shaking that were I my mum, I'd ask Captain Titus if he was a herd of elephants. Then make him tidy his room.

But Space Marine isn't about walking. Ninety percent of my time in-game was spent up to my heavily armoured elbows in combat, and Relic have also brought weight and heft to the battles you fight. Which is why I got so excited about my axe.

Sprint Titus into a fight and press the right mouse button, and he'll begin a bullish shoulder-charge. Aim this at an armoured target – one of the bigger orks, or one of the lategame's Chaos Space Marines – and they'll stagger back. Charge into something squishier, like a goblinsized gretchen, and they'll just burst. For the first quarter of the game, I found it hard to employ any combat tactic beyond laughing madly and popping small green creatures with my shoulders. The Warhammer 40,000 universe says one space marine will happily eviscerate 20 orks in a stand-up fight, but Space Marine takes it to extreme levels. Titus is so gloriously overpowered that a sea of green is an invitation to wade in, chainsword swinging.

As if Titus's standard weapons weren't lethal enough, Relic have included little moments of ludicrous excess. From time to time, he happens across jump-packs and heavy weapons. The latter offer a few minutes of extra-swift murder, but the former is an absolute joy to use.

Any Dawn of War 2 veterans will know the drill: the pack lets Titus boost high into the air, before crashing into the ground and shattering anyone standing nearby. Space Marine gives you a little yellow reticule with which to aim your ultra-slam, and I found myself hanging for a few extra seconds in the air, savouring the oncoming carnage, before launching myself into the fray. The jump-pack is rationed in use, but every chance I had to use it began with an audible “YES!” on strapping it on, and an “aww” when the fuel ran out.

Back on the ground, the combos aren't complicated, and there's not much nuance to their deployment: the only consideration I had amid the mouse-button spamming was when to unleash Titus's fury meter – a buff to his attacks that's built up by killing enemies. But the hand-to-hand fights feel so meaty and so good that I didn't mind the simplicity.

I survived most of these battles by spamming the right mouse button to weave together four-stage attacks. Each weapon feels different in Titus' ham-sized hands: the chainsword is zippy, and cleaves through targets without stickiness; the power axe is heavier, and its killing blow is usually a jarring thwack rather than a deft slice. Each has a slightly different combo animation, but the end results are the same: right-mouse button four times ties four swipes of increasing intensity together. Three times then a tap of F adds an area-ofeffect slam to stun nearby enemies.

During that stun, they're open to Space Marine's glorious execution moves. Press E on a reeling foe and Titus will jab his chainsaw down their throat and open their skull. Or pick them up, hurl them to the ground, and stamp on their head so hard it pops. Or kick them in the ribs, wheel around and break their back with his hammer. As well as being so grimly over the top I wasn't sure whether I should be clapping or retching, the executions provide health regeneration. Titus's shield repairs itself after a short respite, but his health won't recharge without him getting his hands dirty.

It's a trade-off that forces you to weigh up risk and reward. If you take the time to execute that Khorne Bloodletter, you might recoup some lost health – but chances are his friends will jab you to death with their swords before the animation's over. It's smarter to dice through the main mob first, riding your last chunk of health, then isolate one foe off in a corner to eviscerate him.

Space Marine doesn't do a great job of warning you of imminent death. When it spawns a few rocket troopers who stand back and pelt you with missiles, Titus can go down easily. At such times you have to employ that most un-space mariney of behaviours: running away. Early in development, Relic were fond of saying “Space marines don't take cover,” but I repeatedly had to park Titus behind boxes to recover from some misjudged sprint into combat.

Fortunately, stabby time isn't your only method of murder. Titus can carry up to four guns, and each of these has a physicality only slightly less palpable than the melee weapons. His bolter is the mainstay. It's essentially a standard assault rifle, but Relic have imbued it with just the right kind of crunch. Take aim at an enemy's head, squeeze the trigger, and that head will disappear with a wet splat. Firing bolter shots – particularly with the 'kraken' upgrade found later – is like firing super-powerful long-range punches: you can feel each one connect.

The other weapons vary between satisfaction and usefulness. Perhaps the least impressive to fire is the lascannon – which launches a beam of light that only leaves a wisp of superheated dust in its wake – but it remains useful throughout the game, enabling the immolation of tough enemies from long range with minimum fuss. One of the most fun, the rapid-fire storm bolter, is less durable. It's inaccurate over distance and replaces your other long-range weapon slot, so I saved it for moments of cackling madness where I could unload an entire clip into a clump of Chaos cultists.

Space Marine is the first time Relic have taken their Warhammer 40,000 licence to consoles, but having tried playing with both a controller and mouse and keyboard, it's clear they've not jettisoned their PC heritage. Using a controller, I'd pick a fighting style – ranged or up close – and stick with it throughout the duration of a rumble. With the speed and precision of a mouse, I could flick between both, decapitating an ork nob's retinue, moving in to stun him with my chainsword, before ducking further out to take potshots at machinegunners firing from the surrounding masonry.

I quickly came to love all of Titus's weapons, but never the man himself. Space marines are the most boring thing – men in armour – in a universe full of wonder. Ultramarines – the perfect choirboys of the space marine school – are the most boring of the lot. At the very least, I'd rather play with one of the other chapters: give me a Dark Angel hero and reference their near fall to Chaos, or let me be a techno-viking Space Wolf.

And there's an underlying fascism to the space marines that Relic have sidestepped: instead, Titus is an unequivocal hero. The game's only real baddie is so pantomime that he might as well be tying a damsel to a train track the first time you meet him. He's even got weird, lank hair. He only needs a moustache to twirl to complete the image.

Space Marine is not a long game. It's not a complicated game, and there's little incentive to replay the campaign once you've stomped through its eight hours. There's little to the story beyond “kill all the ork troops because they're bad, then kill all the Chaos troops because they're worse.” But I didn't need plot investment to keep me playing: I just needed the next fight. Relic have Space Marine's pacing just right: playing in lengthy sittings, I'd repeatedly reach what I thought was the end of my tether with endless war. Then I'd round a corner, and be handed a jump-pack, reigniting my desire to carve the limbs off sentient beings all over again. The darkness of the far future is less grim when constant war feels so good.

The Verdict

Space Marine

Space Marine is just endless war. Thanks to powerful weapons and excellent pacing, that war is pretty damn fun.

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Peter Moore says EA would delay Star Wars Battlefront if it "isn't right"

Nobody likes it when games are delayed.

Nobody likes it when games are delayed. But nobody likes the PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight, either. I think most of us would agree that the latter is worse than the former, but even so, games hitting the shelves in various states of not-quite-ready isn't as uncommon a phenomenon as it should be. Battlefield 4was one such game: Not as disastrous as Arkham Knight, but still "unacceptable," as Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said last year.

That could understandably lead to concerns about similar issues with the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront, but Peter Moore, EA's chief operating officer, told MCVthat the publisher wouldn't hesitate to push the game back if it has to, just like it did with Battlefield Hardline. "You can’t ship it if it doesn’t work or the quality isn’t right," he said. "You just bite the bullet. Trust me, shipping Hardline in March was not the easiest thing to do from a business perspective, but it was the right thing to do from a player perspective."

It's the sort of "gamers first" rhetoric you'd expect to hear from a game company executive, but it fits with Wilson's promise from last year of a " fundamental shift" in EA's approach to making games, which includes delaying titles that aren't ready for the big time. That could be placed into the "talk is cheap" category too, but sooner or later, EA is going to have to be credited for following through on its promises.

But there's apparently no need to worry about Star Wars: Battlefront, anyway: Moore said it's already "rock solid," even in 40-player matches, and so a delay "ain't going to happen." Assuming he's right, Star Wars Battlefront will be out on November 17.

Zeno Clash developer ACE Team unveils new game: action platformer Abyss Odyssey

ACE Team , the developer behind the delightfully punchy Zeno Clash series, today announced a new game.

series, today announced a new game. Abyss Odyssey is a 2D action platformer flavored with the fine spice of randomly generated levels. The new game will also feature a deep fighting engine, along the lines of those normally found in competitive fighting games.

Abyss Odyssey's most interesting trick, though, is letting players explore the game again and again as conquered enemies. “Since most of the enemies in the game have a level of depth comparable to the player characters, we developed a special powerup that allows players to capture enemy souls which allows them to later turn into the enemies and play the campaign as those,” ACE Team's press release says. “Being able to play as dozens of different characters adds a huge level of diversity to the game, since each enemy features its unique moveset and special attacks.”

Fighting these NPCs looks like it will be a white-knuckle affair. In the game's reveal trailer, above, an encounter with a skeleton—a pushover enemy in every other fantasy world—flows back and forth as the player and the NPC trade strikes, blocks and special attacks. Fascinating.

ACE Team will release Abyss Odyssey during 2014. Check out the developer's websitefor more details.

Space Marine preview

I am winged death.

I am winged death. I am bounding through the skies, scouring the battlefield for targets.

A hapless Space Marine stumbles below my perch. I fire up my jump pack and pounce. Bam! Daemon maul to the face – and away I fly, back into the shadows to wait. If there was a single reason to be excited about Space Marine's multiplayer offering, this is it.

After years of making sharp strategy games set in the Warhammer 40K universe, Relic are turning their hand to third-person action, and they're focusing on that milieu's muscle-bound humans. So far all we've seen of their chainswords, shoulder pads and male-pattern baldness though, has been the singleplayer. That changes now.

It turns out that Space Marine's 8v8 multiplayer mode is rather basic, pitching Marines vs Chaos in just two traditional match types. There's the standard team deathmatch shenanigans of Annihilation, and the king of the hill stylings of Seize the Ground. It's a meagre selection, but one brought to life by the obscene amount of fun you'll have with the Space Marines' Assault class soldier, or the Raptor if you're batting for Chaos.

Of the three classes you can select, Assault marines are by far the most agile, specialising in melee weapons such as the Thunder Hammer and Chain Axe. More importantly, you're equipped with the jump pack which, despite needing some time to get to grips with, allows you to master rush attacks – diving in and out before the enemy realise they have a chainsword buried in their head.

If getting up close and personal isn't your style, fret not. Everyone begins their multiplayer career as a Tactical marine – your basic everyday soldier. As you begin to earn XP and level up, you'll unlock both the best-in-show Assault class, and traditional heavyweight bod, the Devastator. In comparison to the Assault soldier's agility, the Devastator moves like a glacier through golden syrup, and comes armed with monstrous guns such as the plasma cannon and heavy bolter.

In fact, all of Space Marine's grunts move with a degree of heaviness, stomping around like bulls at a plate-smashing competition. For those used to the silky speed with which the men of Battlefield 2 and Team Fortress move, it takes some getting used to. But let's be honest – fans of the 40K universe's various nutjobs aren't after a finessed display of tactical warfare. If you're making a game about Space Marines, it has to be about metal clanging on metal, and frantic confrontations. That's what you're going to get from this, thanks to the lack of a cover system.

This makes engagements a real case of kill or be killed, which Relic encourage and reward. Your Marine will regenerate his health every time you kill a man. A neat feature that compensates for absent environmental defences, and turns battles into a real clash of titans.

Given that Warhammer lore offers an entire universe full of life, it's strange that there are only two available races in multiplayer mode. Relic balance this limitation with their insanely in-depth customisation options.

There are apparently 1.8 billion combinations you can put together of Space Marines and Chaos Marines, so if you have a favourite Space Marine chapter, or warband from the Chaos Legions, you can create those guys. For the fanboys, that's a big deal. After having a quick look through the list of armour sets, I found everything from Black Templars to Emperor's Children.

For those who think Ultramarines are a branch of the US Navy, your needs are catered for as well. If you just want to create a crazy dude who's bright pink, you can do that too. The aim isn't to be slavishly canonical with this stuff, but to give people the tools to have fun with it. You can change all the different armour pieces on the marine – shoulders, helmet, mid section – and if you do love the official lore, you can paper yourself in logos from Games Workshop.

Admittedly, after spending a good 20 minutes creating a monstrosity in lime green and fluorescent blue with subtle hints of raving orange, it was as if I was back in my bedroom, tenderly painting my miniatures. Albeit with less chance of gluing my fingers together.

This customisation extends to your weapon loadouts too. You begin with basic gear – bolters, chainswords, frag grenades – but as you level up, you'll unlock the more exotic flavours of death, such as Power Swords, Vengeance Launchers and Stalker Bolters.

These are the same weapons from the game's hefty singleplayer campaign, but in multiplayer they all have perks and modifications. If you're good, and you play for just a while, you'll end up with an arsenal of extreme, over-the-top variations. And you certainly can't get more extreme than a Daemon Maul souped-up to enable one-hit kills.

Heroes vs Villains mode could return for Star Wars Battlefront

We know that EA's upcoming, annoyingly numberless Star Wars Battlefront will feature playable goodies and baddies including Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader—but what we don't know is whether the celebrated Heroes vs Villains mode will return from Battlefront 2.

We know that EA's upcoming, annoyingly numberless Star Wars Battlefront will feature playable goodies and baddies including Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader—but what we don't know is whether the celebrated Heroes vs Villains mode will return from Battlefront 2. Well, I say we don't know that, but we kind of do now, thanks to the Spanish version of the official website. It's just blabbed some or all of the multiplayer modes that will be included in the game: Supremacy, Fighter Squadron, Blast, Drop Zone, Cargo and Heroes vs Villains.

Redditor thementorassassin16 noticed said blabbing, translating it from the Spanish thusly:

"In addition to Walker Assault, Star Wars Battlefront will feature immersive, fun-filled multiplayer modes including Supremacy, Fighter Squadron, Blast, Drop Zone, Cargo, and Heroes vs Villains mode, that will be announced in the months ahead. Stay tuned for more information on these exciting multiplayer modes."

As PCGamesNnote, you can check the Spanish Battlefront site for yourself, by clicking this linkand opening it in an Incognito window in Chrome (or whatever the equivalent is in your browser of choice). Ctrl+F confirms that the words "Héroes contra villanos" are mentioned, which you don't need a degree in Spanish to figure out.

What was Heroes vs Villains? It was a big deathmatch mode that pitched famous Star Wars good'uns and wrong'uns against each other.

In other Battlefront news, EA have confirmedthat there won't be a map in the game based on the Death Star. Boo!

Bundle Stars deal offers 6 FPS games including Hard Reset, Zeno Clash 2

There's probably enough loose change in your sofa right now to get in on the latest Bundle Stars deal.

There's probably enough loose change in your sofa right now to get in on the latest Bundle Stars deal. $3.98 will get you eight first-person shooters, with a nice variety of games that are basically nothing but shooting, and some with a little less shooting, such as Zeno Clash 2.

The games in the FPS Warriors 2 bundleare Zeno Clash, Zeno Clash 2, Air Buccaneers, Hard Reset, Nuclear Dawn, Painkiller Overdose, Painkiller: Black Edition, and Chaser.

You have a whole 28 days to pull the trigger on this one. I can personally vouch for the quality of Hard Reset and the Painkiller games, both of which are very straight forward, throwback, "shut up and kill everything that moves" kind of games. Do note, however, that Painkiller Overdose and Black Edition are from 2004 and 2007, and not the newer, better looking Painkiller Hell and Damnationreleased in 2012.

Zeno Clash and Zeno Clash 2 are known for their melee combat and bizzare art style, and Air Buccaneers and Nuclear Dawn are both multiplayer games with interesting twists. Air Buccaneers has you and your team manning a slow, lumbering battle-balloon, while Nuclear Dawn, which is also the best reviewed game in the bundle on PC Gamer, combines FPS and RTS elements. We thoughtit was "surprisingly deep and well-designed."

I haven't played Chaser, released in 2003, but for $0.49, there isn't much to lose on the gamble.

Space Marine co-op screens and trailers show ONLY WAR

The first screenshots of the Space Marine co-op mode, Exterminatus , have arrived.

, have arrived. They show four players of various Space Marine chapters holding off an Ork horde. In addition, there are also trailers for the Power Axe and Chainsword, joining the previous Thunder Hammertrailer for more completely over the top Warhammer 40,000 goodness.

Space Marine is released in September, the co-op mode will be added, as free DLC in October. FOR THE EMPEROR!

The Chainsword is a chainsaw that is also a sword. It saws people as you slash them! This makes sense in Warhammer 40,000, honest.

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The Power Axe is an axe covered in power. No really, it's covered in powerful forcefield that makes it hit harder. As you can see, this tends to make Orks explode a lot.

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Screenshots for the screenshot god!

GOG Begins Rapid-Fire “Fall Insomnia Sale”

In an interesting twist on the traditional digital distribution sale, GOG.com has started their “ DRM-Free Fall Insomnia Sale “.

“. The sale features limited quantities of downloadable titles at a discount price. A game will be listed at the top of the home page for a discounted price, along with the amount of copies left. When that amount runs out, the game switches.

Occasionally, a limited amount of copies will be released for free. Hotline Miami and Evoland are just a couple of the titles that have thus far been free.

Games like Retro City Rampage , Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Platinum , and Sword of the Stars: The Pit have been on sale. Most of the games seem to have around 600 copies for sale before the game is sold out and replaced with a different sale. The sale doesn’t have a listed end date, so keep your eye on their home page to find out about these fantastic deals.

Games on GOG are completely DRM-free and almost always come with a nice handful of extras such as wallpapers, avatars, and soundtracks.

GOG.com was created in 2008 by CD Projekt Red , the Polish developer responsible for The Witcher series. The folks on Reddit’s /r/Gamedeals subreddit have created a listof all the games that have been on sale so far..

Rock of Ages screenshots released. Features stone ball in severe pain

Six new screenshots for Rock of Ages have been released.

Six new screenshots for Rock of Ages have been released. They show off the different environments you'll be rolling your ball through, each influenced by a different period of art history.

Rock of Ages revolves around the concept of two castles under seige. The two sides decide to resolve the conflict by rolling huge stone balls into each other's fortresses. PC Gamer approves this idea.

It's getting developed by ACE Team, responsible for the brain-twistingly weird, but Top 100-breaking, first-person puncher, Zeno Clash. Visit the official Rock of Ages site, join the Steam group, or scroll down for the latest trailer for more info.

The Warriors shot riot

Rockstar has released a selection of new shots from its upcoming adaptation of 1979 cult movie The Warriors. As we've come to expect from the GTA and Manhunt publisher, The Warriors promises to feature plenty of gratuitous violence as the action follows a persecuted posse fighting its way home through hostile New York gang turf. In addition to brainless brutality, there's also mindless miscreant mischief to be had in the form of looting, mugging and swiping car stereos. We a little while ago and, having seen it in full flow, are optimistic that Rockstar Toronto's effort will be a lip-splitting, teeth-spitting gang bang of perversely satisfying street brawling. The Warriors will be released for PS2 and Xbox in October Topics Action The Warriors We recommend By Zergnet Load Comments

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Rock of Ages trailer splats Da Vinci

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Rock of Ages is out next week, a little later than consoles, but with extra stuff to make up for it.

Rock of Ages is out next week, a little later than consoles, but with extra stuff to make up for it. PC versions of the game will come with the soundtrack, and the exclusive trollface boulder, which you can see below. It's available to pre-order now on Steamat the slightly reduced price of £6.29 / $8.99.

Rock of Ages has you smashing a series enemy castles across various eras of art history. You have to roll through their troops and defences to get to the gates of each fortress, and prepare defences against your enemy's orb of destruction. Along the way you'll have to fight dragons, topple little medieval men, and catapult your rolling ball of justice right into the statue of David's ... crotch area. It's out next Wednesday.

The Warriors: Street tough shots and movies

Rockstar has released a posse of new images and movies from its upcoming sidewalk scrapper The Warriors. Besides slugging it out with rival gangs - and as we reported in our - players will be offered a variety of criminal distractions to keep them busy, namely robbing stores and stealing car stereos. Both of these crooked activities are shown in the movies below and also demonstrate how 'war chief

Battlefront to receive content based on the new Star Wars films

At EA's press conference at E3 2016, several upcoming Star Wars games were briefly teased, as well as the news that Star Wars: Battlefront would be receiving additional content based on the new Star Wars films.

At EA's press conference at E3 2016, several upcoming Star Wars games were briefly teased, as well as the news that Star Wars: Battlefront would be receiving additional content based on the new Star Wars films. You can watch the video shown at E3, titled "Star Wars: A Look Ahead" above.

There wasn't much in the way of specific details, but a game from Amy Hennig and Visceral Games is planned for 2018, and will feature a completely original narrative and characters. The gif below is taken from a few seconds of early footage of the game.

Respawn Entertainment is also working on a Star Wars game, a 3rd person action adventure, though no date or further details were provided.

Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate edition to bundle all DLC into one package, out in February

Whoops, I seem to have accidentally put all the information in the headline, but it's still good news for those of us who didn't buy any DLC packs because we knew that it would inevitably end up bundled in a single, better value package.

VG247say that, along with the original game, the Ultimate Edition includes the Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Courier's Stash, and Gun Runners' Arsenal DLC packs, and will be out on February 7 in North America and February 10 in Europe. No pricing details yet.

Our own Tom Hatfield insists that he'll be skipping Skyrim on launch and picking it up sometime later in a similar deal once the mod community's had a good crack at it and any bugs and glitches have been ironed out. My prediction is that he'll break within a week. What do you think?

The Warriors

With its irresistible mix of colourful New York gangs, fiercely protected territories and head-smashing violence, 1979 cult movie The Warriors offers a rich-picking of source material, tailor-made for Rockstar's notorious portfolio of games. A recent visit to the publisher's London office revealed that while the game focuses on the bare-chested, leather waistcoat wearing band of brothers from the title

The Adventures Of Rubberkid’ A New Game To Educate About Bullying

‘The Adventures Of Rubberkid’ A New Game To Educate About Bullying
Often we forget that video games are not only a device solely for entertaining the masses but they can also be a powerful tool to educate people as well.

Often we forget that video games are not only a device solely for entertaining the masses but they can also be a powerful tool to educate people as well. Video games offer a great way for the players to interact with environments in games to better immerse themselves. Due to the interactive nature of games strong messages can be imparted on to the audience much better than many other mediums.

The Adventures Of Rubberkid (Rubberkid) is a game that has been developed by Charles Jackson in a hope to impart an anti-bullying message on the masses. Rubberkid is a small free to play game with a deep and heartfelt message, hoping to educate the masses on bullying by leaving behind everlasting impressions on players.

Each level in Rubberkid will pit you against bullies with your objective being to protect the innocent child/children. The levels vary across the school ranging from a child hiding in a desk fort to a sports field all offering slightly different scenarios along with wonderfully created environments.

On the completion of each level you see both what would’ve happened to the child if the bully continued on, along with what has happened now you have stood up to them. The game aims to educate everyone; both children and adults on what bullying can do to people along with the long-term ramifications of the events.

The Adventures Of Rubberkid is completely free to play either online or via download, however there is an option to help support further development by donating at much as you can. To find out more be sure to visit The critterverse site now.

Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road trailer seeks out Ulysses

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The fourth chunk of Fallout: New Vegas DLC hits in five days.

The fourth chunk of Fallout: New Vegas DLC hits in five days. It finally puts you in direct contact with courier six, also known as Ulysses, who's fast becoming the Keyser Soze of the Fallout universe. The mournfully named Lonesome Road DLC sends you into The Divide, a wasteland between wastelands, overturned by constant storms, and completely lawless. Fallout: New Vegas has taken an interesting new approach to DLC, turning a loose end from the main game and spinning it off into its own gradually unfolding story, one that's set to conclude when Lonesome Road comes out on September 20. Based on previous packs, it'll likely cost £7.49 / $9.99.

Space Marine hands on preview

"Of course, that's not the only race you'll be fighting.

"Of course, that's not the only race you'll be fighting. As well as Orks, you'll also be facing off against the forces of Chaos.” Involuntarily, I hear myself quietly say a word. It is “yay.”

I cough quickly, trying to mask my slip but I think it's too late. A few guys in the room turn to look at me. I've just admitted I have engaged in the dark art of Warhammer 40,000 to a room full of people I've never met. In most places, this is social suicide. I meet their gaze, and every single one is smiling. “Yay!” they say back.

I'm excited because – as much as I love Games Workshop's sci-fi opera of manly men beating up Orks, the green mushroom-men lack the sustained threat that would drag me through a campaign of third-person violence against them. Chaos have that threat in bucket-loads: one of their gods sits on a throne of skulls. Another was made from too many orgies. They're the epitome of 40K evil, and as a foe, they make 40K fans say things like “yay!”

We're in a safe place. Sitting in this room in Vancouver, home city of Space Marine developers Relic, we can talk about 40K without lowering our voices or obsessively checking behind our shoulders for girls. Later on, I speak to Matthew Berger, Space Marine's singleplayer campaign designer. I've got a short time to interview Matthew about his game – four vignettes of which I've just played – but like all 40K players, both lapsed and active, first we have to exchange our details.

“Who did you collect?” Matthew asks. I tell him I was always an Eldar guy. “My first army was Orks. Then Chaos Daemons, now I'm working on a Dark Eldar force.” A pause, then a nod. That short blurt of sound, verbal static to anyone not acquainted with Games Workshop's sci-fi universe, and we've seen deep into each others' nerdy souls.

I glance outside, onto Vancouver's snowy streets. People shuffle past. Normal people. These people wouldn't know a Tyranid Carnifex if it came up and bit them on the face, and Carnifexes – with their four attacks and strength of nine – are likely to do just that. Yet Space Marine is consciously targeting a wider audience than Relic's lovingly detailed Dawn of War games: how will they communicate 40,000 years of history and little plastic men to people who just want to shoot shit? In two ways. The first is to avoid too much duplicitous intrigue, and dodge the underlying subtext of 40K – that Space Marines are technically cruel fascists among the stars. Here, Ultramarine Captain Titus is a morally superb hero, making him easy to get behind. The second solution is simpler: by having a lot of shit to shoot.

Throngs of meat

The Space Marine is always outnumbered. In 40K's gloriously gruesome artwork, and in the tabletop battles themselves, the hyper-men inside the power armour seem to thrive on having throngs of meat around them into which they can insert bullets, chainsaws, and special axes that go “whirner- ner.” Space Marine makes this clear right out of the gate.

Despite the Chaos reveal, my first interactions in the game are with Orks. Space Marine is set on the Forge World of Gaia. An aside for non-geeks: Forge Worlds are giant, globe-wide factories, producing the machines necessary for the Imperium of Man's constant, grinding war effort. Gaia's specific remit is Titans. They're the biggest of the big in a big universe that engages in a war so big it eclipses all else. But there's a problem.

The problem is green and likes to eat people. The Ork invasion of Gaia has brought the planet to a standstill, halting Titan production and buggering up operations in other parts of space. To break the deadlock, a chapter of Space Marines is en route, but they're taking their sweet time. Enter Ultramarine captain Titus and his band of blue-armoured buddies – dropping down planetside to fry a few mushrooms. (That line only works if you know Orks are technically sentient mushrooms. Non-geeks, you may laugh now.)

Space Marine's Orks aren't clever, but they are numerous. Rolling into one of Relic's prepared fights, I was quickly mobbed. The combat is two-tone: both melee and ranged attacks have their specific applications, and can be near-instantly flipped between. At this early stage in development, I was reduced to using a gamepad. The ranged toggle sits up on the left trigger. Holding it down sends Titus into a familiar third-person shooter view, the camera tugging close to his shoulder. But I was more interested in Space Marine's close-quarter battles. Once I was sufficiently encircled by a snarling ring of green, I picked a direction and started cleaving my way out.

The first Ork I swung my chainsword into fell back, clutching a stump. A second took his place in the circle, only to find four foot of whirring death embedded in his shoulder. As I hammered the X button to continue the four-stage combo, my Titus yanked his sword from Ork numbertwo's torso, leaving him collapsed on his friend's armless corpse.

I was still wildly outnumbered. Gretchen had joined the fray. Shorter than Orks by a few feet, they're little more than cannon fodder in the 40K universe: here they were little more than globs of blood on the wind, the final slice of my chainsword disintegrating one of the overenthusiastic creatures who'd dared to step into my range.

Bolt action

When I turned back, the ring of Orks around me had turned into a queue. I brought up my bolter pistol and took aim, squeezing off five, six shots, popping five, six heads. The bolter itself is a standard machinegun, but – like everything in 40K – beefed up to king-size and decorated with more skulls than a goth's pencilcase. The pistol version trades rate of fire for accuracy; I was assured the heavy version – which I didn't get to see but appears in the game occasionally – is a monster, trading nothing for jesuschrist- look-at-the-blood.

As one of 40K's stupidest species, Orks don't need to have particularly complex AI routines. Most threw themselves on my chainsword. Some, though, were a little brighter, and forced a change in tactics. Nobs are the biggest Orks, and always your primary concern in a fight. The standard chainsword attack isn't enough to break through their armour, which forces you to use Titus's heavy melee swing.

At present, there's not enough fluidity between the two core melee skills: I would have liked to chain crushing sword swings into lighter sweeps, then back again, but the prealpha version I was playing didn't allow it. That being said, a previous build had a kick built into Titus' repertoire that may well worm its way back into future versions, making for smoother and more reflexive fights.

The Orks are joined on the planet by Chaos forces, let loose into the material world by the insalubrious research the previous inhabitants of the planet were involved in. That means mad, hooded cultists, lightning fast bloodletter daemons, and toughest of all, your dark mirror image: Chaos Space Marines. My Ork battles were generally fun: the simple formula of cleave, shoot, cleave more remained satisfying with repetition. I had less fun against Chaos's tougher foes.

Chaos theory

During a battle in a valley, I was jumped by Bloodletters. Thanks to their connection with the warp, they could phase quickly about the battlefield, dodging my swings and – worse – delivering some of their own without retaliation. Titus's simple control scheme is a blessing when surrounded, but without any specific combos or any way to knock the daemons off their attack patterns, I was repeatedly eviscerated. The only way past the section was to stand farther back and take potshots: an approach at odds with the developer's exhortation that “Space Marines don't take cover.”

That means no cover system, even if Gaia looks like it was previously inhabited by a race of sentient three-foot-high walls. Despite the developers' best efforts, it's tough to break routine: I repeatedly found myself running to hide when close to death. Space Marines use a recharging health bar, with a layer of armour protecting a layer of hit points. But when attacks start to chip away at the underlying health bar, instead of finding one of the game's abundant low walls and surreptitiously ducking your seven foot frame behind it, Relic want players to hurl themselves back into the action and earn their survival.

This is done with executions: long, slow animations cribbed from Dawn of War's 'sync kills' (think a Dreadnought squishing the guts out of a Tyranid). A successful execution – throwing an Ork to the floor and stamping on his head, or bisecting him with a chainsword – nets you health points, as well as 'fury'. Save up enough of this and you can either slow time to pick off long range enemies, or unleash a vast sword sweep that pops anyone in a forward arc.

These fury kills are the embodiment of 40K's rampant imagination. They're what I dreamt was happening when I played the tabletop game, what players across the world dream about when they dab paints all over small figurines.

In trying to bring Space Marine to an audience scared of dice, they might lose some of the nuance and depth of 40,000 years of war – but if any developer knows, respects, and loves Warhammer 40K, it's Relic.

Sky Patrol Gets Featured Under ‘Best New Games’ On iTunes App Store

Indie development studio Beartrap Games just successfully ported their mobile game Sky Patrol to iOS devices, quickly being featured under “Best New Games.” The game was initially released for the Windows Phone last year, and has been ported over with a handful of additional features.

Sky Patrol is a fast-paced, strategy combat game that requires players to fly through 2D levels and protect an allied convoy through the air from a bird’s-eye view. Players must defend against any enemies, using the touch screen to fire a variety of missiles, bombs, and other powerful explosives. Players can also direct the path of whatever weapon is used for a precise tactical advantage during the game.

Beartrap Games has added on some level balancing tweaks, as well as a new boss battle mode! The player can expect to find themselves dealing with challenging encounters and a large amount of mayhem during each level.

Sky Patrol is currently available on the App Store for $1.99and is playable on iPad and iPhone devices. To learn more, gamers can follow Beartrap Games on Facebookor Twitter.

Fallout: New Vegas patch to improve performance and crush dozens of bugs

The Old World Blues DLC for Fallout: New Vegas is out on Friday.

DLC for Fallout: New Vegas is out on Friday. The Bethblogannounes that a humongous patch is set to arrive alongside the expansion. The update will add make "massive world optimizations" and add a pre-ending sequence autosave for players who want to jump straight back into the New Vegas with all their gear. A swarm of miscellaneaous bugs have exterminated for good measure. You'll find the full list of patch changes next to lots of little red boxes below.

New feature: system save is automatically created prior to endgame sequence. After credits, user is prompted to load save game. This will allow single save players to play DLC without creating a new game. Fixed issue where Minigun audio could get stuck/keep playing indefinitely when fired out of VATS. Script fix to restore destroyed ED-E. This should address issues players have with attempting to use certain companions (e.g. Rex) or when the player needs to clear his or her companions before entering an area (e.g. Zion / Honest Hearts). New “Companion Dismissal Terminals” added to Gun Runners and Lucky 38. These will allow players with lost companions from earlier patches to force-fire if they are experiencing problems attempting to get into DLC or areas that prevent companions from entering. Arms no longer lifted above head when sneaking with certain weapons. Fixed sound cutting out after extended playthroughs. Massive world optimizations in major areas for better stability/performance with multiple DLCs installed. Players can now have six or more DLCs installed without encountering an infinite “loading DLC” message on startup. Navmesh fixes/NPCs no longer getting stuck. Scripts added to keep certain NPCs who were marked as dead from respawning. Extensive world optimizations for Hoover Dam. Fixed lockup with Ranger Grant's forcegreet at HD/NCR path. Fixed NPC AI packages so they don't get stuck at HD. Fixed bug where upgraded ED-E could be killed in non-hardcore mode. Post-assassination Kimball now gets removed prior to Hoover Dam battle. Fixed navmesh around Camp Searchlight to improve performance over long soaks. Searchlight Troopers don't bump into each other as often. Fixed navmesh on HD Observation Deck. New teleport locations for Legion path through Hoover Dam. Improves performance. Radio stations will work properly now if DLC is uninstalled. Fixed instances where it was possible to fast travel during Hoover Dam battle. Fixed case where recruited Remnants were hostile to player during HD battle on Independent and House paths. They will still turn hostile if you shoot them too much though. Two vending machines in Hoover Dam were facing the wrong way. Made it so Big Sal/Nero no longer accepts yield if the other is already dead. Removed Brotherhood objectives when ED-E is given to the Followers. Fixed rare instance where Cachino turned hostile on the player if player attacks Big Sal/Nero prior to Cachino entering the room. Fixed crashes in Ultra-Luxe. Fixed Alpha Squad snipers getting stuck when told to support player. Fix for Lily's weapon being displayed oddly on her back.. Improvements to navmesh and pathing in Great Khan Longhouse. Fixes crashes. Plasma Spaz now gives 20% AP reduction (was 10%). Fixed crash after hearing certain ED-E dialog triggers. Fixed instance where Boone would constantly holster his rifle in combat if player had lost rep with the NCR. Veronica no longer waits for player to speak to her before leaving after Hidden Valley is destroyed. Extensive optimizations in McCarran. Optimized NPC packages at Camp Golf to improve performance. Misfits now stay in a normal radius. Arcade now properly rants against Caesar (once). Motor-Runner Helmet now properly 0 weight. Also removed after quest completes. NCR Heavy Troopers will now attack player if you attack Hsu. Vulpes (and Alerio) now properly forcegreet if you somehow fast travel before their initial forcegreet fires. Killing hostages while helping Khans no longer fails quest. Gilbert/Ackerman now properly stay dead if murdered. Mr. New Vegas will only mention failed NCR attack on Powder Gangers if Troopers are dead and Eddie is alive. Fixed case where player could break quest with Orris if they fast traveled after he shoots thugs, but before forcegreet. Generic Powder Gangers now set as Aggressive (previously Very Aggressive). Fixed rare case of black screen during dialog at REPCONN facility. Fixed phantom quest marker remaining on Major Knight after he's killed. Fix for incorrect dialog if player meets Bryce Anders after killing Motor Runner. Player can no longer isolate the BoS virus by hitting “isolate virus” three times on a single console. Fixed crash related to Arcade leaving the Remnants bunker. Fixed Nightkin encounter at Tumbleweed Ranch to occur after user reloads a save. Arcade will no longer attempt to initiate his quest during Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam Boomer Bombing Run now works properly after save/reload. Cass now only barks (ahem, as in barkstring) once per gameday and not every two gamehours. Fixed XP exploits with MantisForeleg. Massive optimizations in Westside, North Vegas and The Thorn. Improves AI pathing and performance with high uptimes. Optimizations in Vault 19. Fixed issue where Oliver Swanick would respawn after three days if killed. Pathing improvements to The Strip and North Sewers. Moved teleport doors on The Strip so NPCs don't collide with players or other actors that stand in front of doors. Ethel, Walter, and the Station Merchant no longer wander or patrol to avoid collisions with other NPCs. Separated NPCs in the North Sewers. Fixed issue where window in Vault 19 let player see through the world. Greasers from Crandon's quest now become disabled when the player leaves the area. Fixed a Legion melee NPC near Nelson that was under the terrain. Modified Legion and NCR hit-squad NPCs to use new level lists. They now have a smoother leveling curve that takes into account new level caps. Legion and NCR hit squad spawning was also revised to make their appearance more consistent and less memory-intensive. Fixed issue where Omerta thugs wouldn't leave Freeside if you killed Joana and Carlitos. Cazador Poison Effect sound no longer plays globally if someone, somewhere gets stung. Only plays if the player is hit. Player can no longer repair the Grenade Launcher with the minigun. Fix for companions going into unconscious/conscious cycle over and over again when stung with Cazador poison. In normal mode (or against companions), Cazador poison now lasts 8 seconds, doing 18 points of damage per second. It is, in fact, even deadlier than the normal version, but lasts 1/4 as long. In hardcore mode or against the player, poison remains 30 seconds/5 damage per second. Casino slot scripts altered so their max bets do not produce game economy-ruining levels of cap overflow Hit the Deck and Stonewall now properly work with player's weapon condition. Hit the Deck is now +25 DT vs. Explosives instead of +50% vs. Explosives. Adjusted Deathclaw fatigue to make them less exploitable with certain attacks. Inconsistent health values for Deathclaws were also corrected (in favor of stronger Deathclaws). Cazadores are now properly flagged as fliers, so they won't set off mines. Increased radii for plasma and pulse grenades. Fixed bug where rescued Powder Gangers would return to the legion camp. Added Followers of the Apocalypse supplies to three areas of Hoover Dam if you gain their support and fight on independent or NCR paths. This also enables the FoA + NCR “good” ending through Julie Farkas. Optimizations for Westside. Fixed issues with Recharger Pistol animation. Fixed issue where Aba Daba Honeymoon wouldn't update if the player was running O My Papa simultaneously. Typo: “Night Stalker Blood” changed to “Nightstalker Blood” Yes-Man now checks both Loyal and Pearl's status before the player can tell him the Boomer leaders are dead. Removed “Intelligence” flag from Int Fixed scripting on Lonesome Drifter barter check so player doesn't get next objective with Tommy Torini if they fail. Legion Assassins moveto script no longer occurs every frame (frees up memory). Added recipe so player can now break down 12.7mm ammo. Four Eyes now works with ball cap with glasses. There is now always an option to give ED-E to Lorenzo, even if player has said no the first time. Mister Sandman no longer works on The Forecaster (XP exploit). Ultra-Luxe doors no longer disable player controls if player is an enemy of the White Gloves. Fix scripting conflict between “Cold, Cold Heart” and Mojave Ghost with Vulpes/Benny. Fixed issue where player could become control locked in Gommorah if they had installed Yes-Man. Player can now re-hire Arcade if ED-E is in the party. Ultra-Luxe now properly pays out in Legion and NCR money. Veronica's companion perks (as in the ones Veronica gets, not the player) now properly assigned. Waiting companions will no longer get teleported by the Vault 22 elevator. Changed objectives for How Little We Know to better reflect branching paths. “Return to Yes-Man” objective no longer reopens if player tells him to go to Lucky 38 in Wild Card: Change in Management. Player can no longer pickpocket Button Man to break the scene where he shoots Cachino. Player can no longer ask Cachino about plans if Bosses are already dead. Fix for ED-E combat dialog. Ranger Helmet now has weight/value. Fixed Gomorrah holdout scripting to properly affect companions. Lily now properly uses Stealth Boy when player is sneaking if told to keep it during her quest. Fixed exploit where player could get infinite XP for punching Big Sal's corpse. Fixed scripting for For the Republic II where exposing Karl would prematurely complete the objective to destroy the Khans. Fixed instance where fast travel was disabled when creating new game post-credits. Inventory will now show cumulative weight of item stacks instead of weight of a single item. Missile projectiles will no longer show in player's target HUD. Player will now unequip a weapon if consuming it in the crafting menu (fixes crash). Weapons with recharging ammo now display ammo properly. Fixed rare instance where player could be control-locked if loading an autosave created while lockpicking a transition door. Beamsplitter mod fixed to proper DAM/DPS. Crafting can no longer create weapons/armor at 100% condition. Repair kits can no longer repair to 100% condition. Throwing weapons can no longer take damage, and are dropped when shot at 100% condition. DT Perks that increase DT based on enemy weapon should function properly. Weapons using multiple rounds of ammunition per shot fired now show proper VATS damage estimate. Fixed rare case where broken stick of dynamite could crash game if thrown. NPCs will now play face cards on player's stack in Caravan. Various tweaks to audio system to improve memory performance. Fixed issue where looping reload weapons would get stuck, causing VATS camera to point to the ground. Fixed clock/calendar so that it doesn't reset on a fresh load. Fixed .45 auto pistol displaying incorrect condition/value on modding screen. Both DAM and DPS now display on workbenches when creating explosives. For ammo that reduce spread (like 12ga) effect is now properly applied to spread, not wobble. Fixed crash when attempting to enter DLC1 with equipped quest items.

Space Marine teaser screenshot features "a hidden evil"

Relic have released a new teaser shot for Space Marine.

Relic have released a new teaser shot for Space Marine. There's a Space Marine, and a hallway. It's a pretty big hallway, but what's this at the end of the hallway? Some sort of hulking shadow. VG247received the image, and say it's named "a hidden evil." It's not that hidden, it's standing right there in a shaft of light. Everything we've seen of the 40k third person brawler has shown Ultramarines chopping up Orks, but that doesn't look like an Ork, does it? HMMM, what do you think?

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros A gripping story of survival Making a real survivor out of Clementine Callbacks to your choices in the last season are a nice touch Cons Awkward pacing through the last two episodes Illusion of choice wears thin Too many QTEs Clementine’s been through a lot for someone who hasn’t even seen her 12th birthday yet. She’s watched countless people die at the hands

Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues screenshots show Muggy the mug loving robot. Also: a giant hammer

Four screens for Old World Blues, the third DLC expansion for Fallout: New Vegas have emerged.

Four screens for Old World Blues, the third DLC expansion for Fallout: New Vegas have emerged. One of which depicts a robot called 'Muggy' with a picture of a mug on his screen asking you if you have any mugs. Try and decipher the secret of the mug obsessed robot with the screens inside.

Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues comes out on July 19thand promises to let you "Discover how some of the Mojave's mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You'll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty in search of technology to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat.”

If you haven't played New Vegas yet, check out our review, if you fancy extending its life even further, try our 25 best mods.

Space Marine interview talks characters, multiplayer, customisation

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Good news for fans of bright pink Space Marines, Relic's new third person shooter has extensive character customisation in multiplayer.

Good news for fans of bright pink Space Marines, Relic's new third person shooter has extensive character customisation in multiplayer. In this interview, Kim chats to Relic's James McDermott about characters, story, multiplayer and taking inspiration from Dawn of War. Take a look if you plan to create an Adeptus Fabulous chapter when Space Marine is released on September 8th.

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Addictive exploration mechanics Fun interactions between familiar Persona characters Lighthearted narrative that keeps you guessing Cons Difficulty spikes early on Not easily accessible to casual players Over-egged jokes can grate Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a sugary sweet confection laced with the familiar darkness of the Shin Megami Tensei series

This week's releases

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We're back!

We're back! Welcome to our regular round up what new PC games are due this week in both Europe and America. A treasure trove of new releases lies within for those who still have some money left after the Steam sale.

Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues

July 19th

The third piece of Fallout: New Vegas DLC comes out this week, and it looks like an interesting one, at least if the totally mad traileris anything to go by. There will also be a massive patchcoming out along with it, so there's no better time to fire New Vegas up again.

Supreme Ruler: Cold War

July 19th

Have you ever wanted to play through the events of the Cold War from the perspective of any country in the world? Even Zimbabwe? Fearsomely in depth strategy sim Supreme Ruler: Cold War could be the game for you. Check out our preview, or get it on Gamersgate.

Runespell: Overture

July 20th

Runespell is an unusual RPG that combines poker mechanics, power ups and collectible cards with more traditional RPG gameplay. It's also on Steamat a budget price for those who like quirky mechanics.

Air Conflicts: Secret Wars

July 21st (EU)

Usually Europe is the one that has to wait for games to come over from the US, but this time it's the other way around with us getting Air Conflicts a full two months before the states. Fans of flight sims should check it out on Steam.

Anything we've missed readers? Do let us know in the comments.

An extremely interesting history of game packaging

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EA enters events space with EA Play

Do I have buzzwords for you.

Do I have buzzwords for you. EA has announced "an all-new experience" on account of its players being "the driving force behind everything we do". In other words it's holding a convention, on June 12 in London and June 12-14 in LA and over the internet.

We're excited to announce EA Play, an all-new event experience: https://t.co/BvRwnWfQjo #PlayEA pic.twitter.com/FTFNF7HbL9 January 27, 2016

At EA Playyou'll get to "experience hands-on game demos, live events, competition, special guest appearances, exclusive memorabilia" and other expo staples I don't immediately associate with an all-new experience, but details are thin on the ground, so I'm willing to allow EA the benefit of the doubt so long as we don't have to endure another marathon Garden Warfarepresentation.

What with the arrival of Origin Accesson PC too, EA is chanting that games-as-a-service mantra with alarming fervour.

Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues trailer has lost your brain

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"You will never survive my deadly robot scorpions!" screams a man in the middle of the new trailer for Old World Blues, the latest expansion for Fallout: New Vegas.

"You will never survive my deadly robot scorpions!" screams a man in the middle of the new trailer for Old World Blues, the latest expansion for Fallout: New Vegas. The phrase "old world blues" conjures images of a seasoned old man on a rocking chair with a battered guitar, wailing on a mouth organ as he strums the slow day away. That image could not be further from the terrifying Twilight Zone style horrors present in the new video. On Big Mountain, deadly robot scorpions are the least of your worries. The strange robotic overlords of the facility have stolen your brain. You'll can get it back when Old World Blues goes on sale this Friday July 19.

Soulcalibur 2 HD could get post-release content or Wii U version if demand is there

Right now, Namco Bandai has no plans for post-release content or a Wii U version of its upcoming HD remake of Soulcalibur 2. Instead, the team is focusing on getting the Xbox Live and PlayStation Network versions out the door with updated graphics and a robust online system. But just because it's not currently in the works, doesn't mean it's not in the cards. If there's a demand, anything is possible

EA Access arrives on PC as Origin Access

I was surprised that EA chose to launch its subscription service on Xbox before PC , so this news feels like confirmation of the inevitable: EA Access, now named Origin Access, is live in the UK, US, Canada and Germany.

, so this news feels like confirmation of the inevitable: EA Access, now named Origin Access, is live in the UK, US, Canada and Germany. For £3.99/€3.99/$4.99 per month, you can play any of the 15 games in the line-up, with more from EA's catalogue to be added over time. So far, 'The Vault' includes:

Battlefields 3 through Hardline The Dragon Ageseries The Sims 3 FIFA 15 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare Need for Speed Rivals The Dead Spaceseries This War of Mine

That's a varied cross-section of the portfolio, and even if you're only interested in a couple, there's still an economic argument to be made in Access' favour. You'll also get to play a time-limited demo of every EA game, though the idea of having to subscribe to such a service perplexes me, plus 10% off all Origin purchases. That might be useful, what with Origin being rather pricey.

All the details, and the sign-up, are on Origin.

Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues release date announced

The third DLC pack for Fallout: New Vegas, subtitled Old World Blues, will be released on July 19.

The third DLC pack for Fallout: New Vegas, subtitled Old World Blues, will be released on July 19. We'll also get a patch that promises to "Bring improvements to performance and stability in major areas."

According to Bethblog, Old World Blues will let you "Discover how some of the Mojave's mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You'll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty in search of technology to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat."

Have you bought the previous pieces of Fallout: New Vegas DLC? Read our review of Fallout: New Vegas here, and see the 25 best Fallout: New Vegas mods here.

Soulcalibur II HD Online revealed with trailer

Namco Bandai will welcome Soulcalibur II back to the stage of history this fall. The company revealed this weekend that the last-gen fighter will return after 10 years with updated graphics and online multiplayer in Soulcalibur II HD Online for download on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Series developer Project Soul worked on the updated version and its "brand new netcode." Aside from online play, all

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Great use of physics creates a substantial but conquerable challenge Incredibly addicting despite the difficulty Massively prolonged lifespan thanks to online leaderboards and level editor Cons FMX tricks are finicky and unintuitive City-based levels look overly similar Story elements feel totally superfluous In the sequel-filled gaming ecosystem we now live

Operation Flashpoint studio to close, Codemasters to focus on racing titles

Codemaster's official statement says that the publisher will be concentrating on growing the teams based at their Warwickshire and Birmingham studios, responsible for racing titles like DiRT, GRID, F1 Online and F1 2011.

News arrives from GamesIndustry.bizthat Codemasters is closing down its Guildford studio, which has previously worked on the recent Operation Flashpoint games, and the poorly received console shooter, Bodycount.

Codemaster's official statement says that the publisher will be concentrating on growing the teams based at their Warwickshire and Birmingham studios, responsible for racing titles like DiRT, GRID, F1 Online and F1 2011. The closure of the Guildford studio means we're not likely to see any more shooters from Codemasters in the foreseeable future.

The studio closure has affected 66 members of staff, who "are now involved in a consultation period." The Codemasters statement says that employees at Guildford "will be encouraged to apply for suitable positions on campus and in the Birmingham studio," where Codemasters plan to form another team to start work on a new racing title.

"As Codemasters looks to take greater leadership in the racing category, the company is proposing a studio structure that adds resource and strengthens our best-in-class racing teams." reads the statement. "The output from the studios on the Warwickshire campus and in Birmingham is on the increase."

Dirt 3 was the last racer Codemasters released on PC. We gave it a score of 88 in our Dirt 3 review. F1 2011 is out later this month.

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Titanfall 'Sand Trap' will dig deadly trenches through IMC Rising pack

IMC Rising will be the last map pack to release for Titanfall , so there's a fair bit resting on it.

, so there's a fair bit resting on it. Respawn has detailed the third and final map in the collection and, according to designer Chris Dionne, it's a marriage of old and new ideas.

“One of my main goals with Sand Trap was to use old ideas in new ways,” Dionne writes. “In the center is a buried bunker inspired by the buried architecture in Fracture; this lets Titans stomp around above while pilots scurry below. Across the map are deep trenches that create a well-run highway for pilots; inspired by wall running in Rise they give quick and (relatively) safe routes across the map.”

While the trench network may recall the rich wall-running possibilities seen in Rise, there is one twist: the trenches are filled with “unrefined fuel”, meaning pilots will have to scramble along the sides of the pits rather than hide at the bottom of them.

“All of this adds a unique feel to our game modes. In Last Titan Standing, the battle often plays out over the dunes and is reminiscent of a classic tank fight from hill to hill. In Capture the Flag, a long central trench crosses the map from one flag building to the other, offering relative safety (except for the central room which is perfect for an ambush…). On the surface, long sight lines offer snipers a unique advantage, especially in 8v8 pilot skirmish when Titans aren't around to keep them in their place.”

There's still no release date for IMC Rising, but you can read about the other maps in the pack, namely Zone 18and Backwater.

Jump to Section:Best Price

Comments
Our Verdict
Too restrictive to appeal to ArmA fans, too ragged for CoD people, Red River is a needless addition to a crowded sector.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River tells me that I'm a slick sonofabitch, commanding three other slick sonofabitch marines. It tells me loudly, repeatedly, and gratingly – via the mouth of staff sergeant Shouty McRacist – that I'm a Spartan and a devil dog, and all those other ultramacho things that make me feel terribly uncomfortable because I haven't seen combat.

My squad and I, we're told we're the best. We were the best at killing nebulous insurgents upset with America on first insertion in the dusty Central Asian country of Tajikistan; when the Chinese army arrived, the gruff man narrating the story told us we were the best at killing them too. But if we're the best – the last bulwark against virulent, encroaching communism – then it'd be a good idea to start practising your Mandarin. Because we're fucking terrible.

Red River's squad AI is infuriating. Playing as a blank faced squad leader, you have access to a radial menu that lets you deliver a set of commands. They range in scope from the order to lay down a blanket of suppressing fire, to a 'move' command. Every single one is broken.

Simple minds

“Hold that position!” I'd shout, aiming the helpful white circle at a square of sandbags. “Okay!” my men would parrot back, before giving each other the secret gesture that meant “Haha! Let's fuck with his head.” Let's zoom out from the desert to illustrate my point. I'm going to talk directly to you. For a moment, I'm going to pretend you're my soldier. We've seen some PTSD-inducing shit together, OK, and I love you like a brother. Even if you're a lady. Imagine we're in Tajikistan, being pressed by Chinese troops. I'm going to tell you to hold position at those sandbags.

What do you do? If your answer was any permutation of “Umm, I guess I'd probably crouch so the sandbags are between my soft skin and hurty bullets?” I want you transferred to my squad in place of Red River's artificial men, doubletime. Their answer – presumably delivered between bouts of dribbling and bumbling into furniture – was always: “Let's stand in front of the sandbags! It'll be fun! And if it isn't, we'll just wander around a bit until our circulatory systems churn more metal than blood!”

Occasionally – very occasionally – they'll get it right. I had the most success with the 'defend building' command. During a staggered retreat from the Chinese Army's first spearhead, the game asked me to protect a series of two-tiered structures. When I specifically pointed my sniper to an upper window and left the other two men behind reassuringly chunky masonry, I was left with a semblance of a defensive force. That was, until I also asked them to provide covering fire. The advanced multi-tasking necessary to process the twin orders of 'stand still' and 'point your gun at this' caused all three squadmates to run out the front door in a blind panic, lest the complexity of my orders force their brains from their ears. Don't worry, they were all shot before that could happen.

It's for the best, anyway. By the end of the game, I hated my squad for both their propensity for dying in the most inconvenient ways, and their general character. They're meant to be straight-talking alphamales lifted directly from cultural sources like HBO's Generation Kill – but where those soldiers are presented as morally questionable and damaged by war, the marines of Red River are deliberate heroes. There's no discussion on the nature of conflict to sweeten the nasty taste left by the game's incidental conversations; we just get Staff Sergeant Knox launching into another five minute, racism-tinged diatribe about the eating habits of the invading Chinese forces. These rants are meant to sound big and clever, but go on far too long and sound indelibly self-satisfied.

The enemy AI is as wonky as its friendly counterpart. Early on in the game, I flanked an infested compound as three squads opened fire on the front gate. Peeking through windows like a terrorismpervert, I murdered a handful of oblivious insurgents. This first part is Red River's best bit: I'd snuck behind a set of enemies as their attention was drawn away. But when I'd entered the compound, I found their equally dull-witted chums glued to their assigned windows.

The first one I spotted made me panic: despite the shift from military sim to linear shooter, Red River still runs with the tang of Operation Flashpoint's blood, making one or two shots deadly. I popped a few bullets into his back as he stood unmoving. When I met the second one, he didn't turn. I pulled out my pistol and fired over his shoulder, breaking the window in front of him. No reaction. Finally, I let loose a few shots at the dirt around his feet, trying to make him dance. Slowly, in three distinct movements, he turned to face me. I killed him before he raised his rifle, a full 50 seconds after I'd clomped into the room.

Dumb AI means traditional infantry battles are trivial shooting galleries: enemies distrust cover more than your own squad, and kneel in open fields, praying for death's sweet relief. This is the same enemy force that, when presented with the freshly exploded carcass of an APC on a wide track road, can't drive its convoy around it. The sight of an armoured vehicle gently humping its dead brother, in case you were wondering, is both hilarious and touching.

Applying vehicles to any of Red River's situation seems to be a recipe for incalculable disaster. In one of the later missions, an empty Chinese transport helicopter landed on the rooftop I was standing on. Both pilots sat in the cockpit, facing directly ahead, making no motion to continue their flight and giving no reason for landing their multimillion pound charge less than spitting distance from their enemy.

Best buds

Any chance to mitigate the use of the game's AI is a blessed oasis of competence in a sea of fuckuppery. Real humans are the best tonic. To its credit, Red River is thick with co-op potential, allowing up to three friends to join the main campaign mode, as well as four game modes built for groups. Last Stand sees you simply defending against waves of attackers, but the others are more nuanced. 'CSAR' has you inserting, finding and extracting a prisoner, and 'Rolling Thunder' gives you a humvee and full charge of a convoy, forcing you to clear a route before pressing on. Attempt these with a team of four and you're guaranteed repeat fizzles of enjoyment.

The campaign, too, regains some lustre in co-op, where less time spent screaming for the death of your AI squadmates means more time devising sneaky battle plans. Problem is, in order to play you're going to need friends willing to jump through the hoops of Games for Windows Live.

Multiplayer sessions seemed to smoke out Red River's bugs faster than singleplayer. Much of this is likely thanks to mankind's innate curiosity when put in a room with someone else. Pootling around the countryside with a friend in a humvee, we managed to drive directly through several threefoot high walls, only for our ride to permanently sink a few feet into the Earth's surface.

With the spirit of exploration in our hearts and a seemingly magic car at our grasp, we abandoned our convoy and pushed for the horizon. We didn't get far. Don't let the extensive environments mislead: go off the beaten track and you're punished: your screen goes wibbly, and you're ordered back into the combat area. It's the diametric opposite of the freedom of the first Operation Flashpoint.

Red River takes all the things the Flashpoint name is associated with – creative, emergent destruction and go-anywhere realism – and lets them wash away. It tries to be a bombastic shooter, but dodgy AI, a warren of bugs and an unpleasant tone mean the few gulps of fun you could draw from its waters are to be taken in multiplayer only.

The Verdict

Operation Flashpoint

Too restrictive to appeal to ArmA fans, too ragged for CoD people, Red River is a needless addition to a crowded sector.

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EA supports White House anti-sexual harassment initiative

Earlier this year EA lost its chance for a hat-trick of Worst Company In America awards when it was knocked out of the first round bracket by Time Warner Cable.

Earlier this year EA lost its chance for a hat-trick of Worst Company In America awards when it was knocked out of the first round bracket by Time Warner Cable. Clearly the company is doing something right. And, credit where it's due, it's important to note when a firm of its size and influence gets behind a good cause like the White House's It's On Us campaign.

Launched by President Obama last week, the initiative is aimed at raising awareness and stopping sexual assault on academic campuses. It asks supporters to pledge a personal commitment to "not be a bystander to the problem, but a part of the solution." EA's official Twitter accountis promoting the cause with tweets and a new profile image

— Electronic Arts (@EA) September 19, 2014 September 19, 2014

At the very least, the message will reach many of its 2.7 million followers, and more than 9,000 employees worldwide. EA is also the only gaming company featured on the partners pageof the It's On Us website, next to other companies like Viacom, tumblr, and College Humor.

If you want to take the pledge yourself and find out more about the It's On Us campaign, (or see more pictures of Jon Hamm's face), go here.

Duck, Duck, Duck, Robot – Odd Bot Out Releases February 1st

A lot of us are bad at Standardized Tests.

A lot of us are bad at Standardized Tests. And for those of us who are good at them, it’s because we break ourselves in half studying, and even then, we still might not do as well as we’d like. So it’s comforting to think that robots, paragons of perfection, might not be great at tests either.

Odd Bot Out , from Swedish developer Martin Magni, puts you in control of a robot that has failed its testing, and ended up in a recycling bin. Understandably, said robot does not want to be recycled, and so quickly attempts his escape. Your job is to help your adorable little trashcan robot solve physics and electricity-based puzzles to progress towards an exit from the robot factory. The game features around 100 levels, with a variety of puzzles in each one.

I should also mention that the game is really, really cute. Not even R2-D2, with his similar form, comes close to the little robot buddy swinging around on its stick-like, impossibly-small legs. The robots constantly look like they’re about to overbalance or fall over, and this constant appearance of clumsiness somehow seems to make them even cuter. The whole thing runs the risk of cute overload.

Odd Bot Out is releasing February 1 for both Android and iOS, and you’ll be able to buy it for just $1.99 USD. You can find out more about Odd Bot Out and its development on its website.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River creative director doesn't "get much fun out of military simulations"

Operation Flashpoint: Red River's creative director, Sion Lenton, thinks military simulations are “immersive” and “realistic” but not necessarily “fun.”
Speaking to PC Gamer, Sion directed gamers yearning for an accurately simulated warzone towards Bohemia Interactive's ArmA series, and claimed that PC is “Not the market to be in.”
Ooo-rah indeed.

Sion Lenton was Executive Producer on Codemaster's Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, released in 2009. PC Gamer described it as “An attractive and powerful sim that spoils itself by trying too hard to be a straightforward military shooter.”

We asked Sion about that decision to move even further away from the series roots with the follow-up: “We want to steer away from the idea that it's a simulation; we've banned the word in the studio. Authentic is fine, as it gives you some leeway to be creative, and that's what we are. We're creative, we're making an entertainment product, and it should be fun. I don't really get much fun out of military simulations. They're immersive, they're realistic, but I wouldn't call them fun.

“If you want simulation, then it's out there; go play ArmA. We wanted to do something different, in our own space, and we don't want the Op Flash brand tied down to simulation.”

I'd argue that it is possible to have fun in ArmA, even though it's an unforgiving beast. Evan has video proof. What's even more odd about the comments is that ArmA developers Bohemia Interactive are responsible for the first game in the OpFlash series, Cold War Crisis. By 2001's standards, it provided unparalleled scale and extensive realism. The developer left the Operation Flashpoint name behind at Codemasters when it switched publisher.

Sion also didn't seem enthused by our platform of choice either, despite some high profile developers considering it to be one of their strongest assets: “As great as PCs are, from a sales point of view, it's not the market. There's a bigger market out there and if you get success you can start to experiment more. You need to get the sales under your belt, and then that gives you the freedom to do other things.”

Operation Flashpoint: Red River is due for release on April 21 in Europe and April 26 in the US. For more information read our Operation Flashpoint: Red Riverpreview, or watch the latest trailer. What do you think of Sion's comments? Ever managed to have fun in a simulation?

The games that shaped a generation: GameCube

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Interview: Op Flash: Red River creative director talks realism, co-op, and the state of PC gaming

Earlier this month we reported on some controversial quotes from an interview with Sion Lenton, creative director on Operation Flashpoint: Red River.

from an interview with Sion Lenton, creative director on Operation Flashpoint: Red River. He spoke to PC Gamer about the current state of PC gaming, the importance of realism, and the new direction that Codemasters are taking the franchise.

We are now able to post the entire transcript for your reading pleasure.

PC Gamer: With a lack of competitive multiplayer, how are you going to make sure that Operation Flashpoint: Red River stays fresh to play?

Sion Lenton: I think really I counter that by saying it's online play that provides staying power. The distinction between competitive and coop is a fine one to make, but if you look at games like Left 4 Dead and Borderlands; even things like Counterstrike, I think coop has its place, and I also don't think that utilised enough, really. I very rarely play competitive games. I can't be arsed dealing with some kid on the other end swearing at me. I want to be playing with my mates.

It's going to take off, I'm really confident that what we've got works as a product. The coop, the fire teams, the skills and so on. I don't notice it's missing, I don't feel like it's missing. And to be pragmatic, in order to be competitive in that area, it's a lot of work, because, you'd argue that games like that have got it nailed. Cooperative is great because it puts us in a different place, which is always a good place to be, and I see it coming on leaps and bounds in the future.

PC Gamer: With a cooperative game, the longevity of the game often relies more on the volume of content available. Are there any plans for mod support?

Sion Lenton: Not at the moment, no. We actually went back to basics on a lot of our tools and tech, because there were several things we wanted to include. We wanted terrain manipulation into the tools, and actually making that into a public-facing tool was not something that we had scheduled in. It's not something we're ruling out, but we're playing a longer game here, as it were. We want to go on record and say that Flashpoint is every two years, and now that we know that, we can build in a longer term plan.

I hate to use the word 'reboot', because I think it's a bit of a cliche, but it is kind of a reboot, it's kind of similar to what did going Colin McCrae to DiRT, Toca to GRiD. It's a change, a modernisation, and the bottom line is, we wanted to start on an even platform on all platforms, so you get the same flavour of game on every platform. That's not to say the future won't be different, but for where we are now, that seems the most appropriate way to go.

PC Gamer: With that in mind, do you have plans to release your own missions and scenarios?

Sion Lenton: There's going to be a press announcement about DLC in the next month or two, I'd imagine.

PC Gamer: There's quite a hefty difference between the original Operation Flashpoint and Red River. Was that an active decision to move away from the simulation roots?

Sion Lenton: Absolutely. There are a couple of reasons for that. One thing of course is that the heritage of the franchise is PC. And, as great as PCs are, from a sales point of view, it's not the market, there's a bigger market out there, and if you get success, you can start to experiment more. You need to get the sales under your belt, and then that gives you the freedom to do other things, so again, that ties into the idea of the reboot of it.

Really, we want to steer away from any talk of it being a simulation. We've almost banned the word in the studio. Authentic is fine, because it gives you a bit of creative leeway in the studio, and that's what we are, we're creative. We're making an entertainment product, and it should be fun, and I really don't get much fun out of military simulations. They're engaging, they're immersive, but I wouldn't call them fun.

I know we get a lot of people going 'Oh, this is what I want, this is the kind of game I want to play', but, to be honest, it's out there. There's ArmA, play it. There you go. And they do a great job on that, and best of luck to them. We want to do something different, and we don't want the name, the brand, the franchise, to be tied down to that kind of thing. From where I am, at the minute, there's no reason that we can't do an RTS Operation Flashpoint game.

What we've done is elevate it from a single game to more of a DNA, rather than a feature set. So things like authenticity, global superpowers, future fiction; it's enough to give us a bit of leeway with an Operation Flashpoint game, but it also allows us to do something different. You've got to keep moving; you can't just do the same thing again and again and again. That would bore you silly, that's not why I'm in the business of making games. I want to innovate, I want to do things that are new. Sometimes that means hitting the reset button, sometimes that means changing course and doing something different with it. At the end of the day, people vote with their wallets, and if they don't like what we're doing, I'm sure they'll let us know.

I'm actually really confident that we've got something that's going to be really successful, and it's going to be really successful because it's something different to what else is out there, certainly from a console point of view. I sense a bit of genre fatigue with the big shooters that are out there at the moment, I don't think it's going to end tomorrow or anything, but I do think people are yearning for something deeper, something a little bit more immersive, something a little bit more challenging, and if we can supply that sort of experience, and then build on it in the future, I'd be delighted with that.

PC Gamer: With a game so based around Coop, are going you to be using some proprietary software like Steamworks or Games for Windows Live?

Sion Lenton: Games for Windows Live.

PC Gamer: Ah, ok. Well, one of the things that personally really annoys me in some multiplayer games is that they'll have unlocks, but they'll be vertical upgrades, outright replacing the first guns you get, and giving an big advantage to existing players. Being coop, is that something you've been able to sidestep by not pitting players against one another?

Sion Lenton: So what we've really tried to do with the guns, and one of the things I'm really proud about Red River, is that we've got a really great behind-the-gun experience, really solid. You've played it yourself, it's solid, it really is. But also, there's handling. Like on the cars in DiRT or GRiD, they're different, and they handle differently. I love the idea that you'll be able to master the weapon, yourself, not by modifying it or unlocking attachments, but by learning it, learning the recoil, and what the actual bullet damage is like on that gun. Obviously things like scopes and sights give advantages, and we've also got the B-Mods and Specialisations, which I guess are about as near as we've got to that kind of thing, but they're tuned to the classes, and giving them benefits, rather than competitive benefits. It's a cooperative benefit, a teamwork benefit.

PC Gamer: With coop games especially, it's often very difficult to play with strangers, because you've got to be so in sync with one another. How have you made the experience more streamlined?

Sion Lenton: One of the cool things that we've got, as you saw on the command radial, where you give orders to your AI guys, but it's also how you give orders to humans on the team as well. The great thing about that is that if you're playing with someone in Germany, your orders are translated to German. The really great thing we've got, though, is that the clients, (the host is the fire team leader), the clients all have their own quick command radial as well. It's responses as opposed to orders. 'I'm pinned', 'I need help', 'Corpsman!'. You can even paint a location, to tell your team that you've seen someone, and then put a marker in the world so they know where.

But at the end of the day, because of the way the game plays, you can't just jump in and be successful, you have to work as a team, like with anything, and if it encourages teamwork, that's great, and we try to break down those language barriers with the quick command radial, but, and it's kind of a weird thing to say, but it's not really up to us. We're giving you the tools to play this game, we're giving you the environment to play this game, but there's not reason people who haven't met before shouldn't be able to play and get a really great experience out of it.

PC Gamer: Well one of the things you mentioned earlier was Left 4 Dead, where there's automated voice commands to make it easier to understand what's going on. So 'Pills here!', 'Reloading!' and the like. Is that something you've got in game?

Sion Lenton: That's actually where we got the idea for translating the commands so people can play with people in other countries. I was playing Left 4 Dead with a French player, and I suddenly realised that they were getting the French version of 'Ammo here!', and I thought that was really cool. So for an authentic, US-army based military shooter, you'd be surprised how much Left 4 Dead and Borderlands actually inspired us from a gameplay point of view. 'Cause it's fun. We've got points in there, scores in there, because they're fun. Those games were the big ones for us.

PC Gamer: In the last few weeks, there's been a lot of activity in the Middle East, with protests in Libya and Bahrain. Has that made you anxious at all about placing your game so close to real world events and places?

Sion Lenton: No. I don't think that the Middle East influence, as politically charged as it is, I don't think it affects our world. What was interesting, and probably went under the radar, was the announcement that China is now the world's second largest economy, and that's actually much more interesting to me, because that's in line with what we're predicting with the game. People constantly ask why we keep on using the Chinese, why we keep using the PLA, and well, if you can come up with a better superpower in the world today, then go for it. But they are, they're absolutely massive. Biggest army in the world, second biggest economy. Japan is the only economy larger than them now, and China is bailing the US out now left right and center with loans.

I think it's interesting, but again, I think we chose well. There has been some news coming out of Tajikistan that has been bouncing over to us, where twenty four insurgents escaped from a prison and went on a rampage, stuff like this, and that's kind of telling. The ECIN, mentioned in the game, that's a real group, and for better or worse, we're predicting that they're going to get more hard core, and more well known in the next few years. But, as much as that stuff is going on, I don't think it really effects our world, that Flashpoint world.

PC Gamer: You've got a limited number of Coop missions in the game. How are you going to keep them fresh to play every time?

Sion Lenton: Ok, so there's a few ways with which we do that. First off you've got the classes, where you can play as a Scout, play as a Grenadier, and as you're playing through, in any game mode, be it campaign, or one of the stand alone missions, you're earning XP, which you can spend to improve your class. So whatever you play, you're improving. So you've got progression through those character types.

The other really cool thing that we've got is that the games are literally different every time. So, take Combat Search and Rescue. First time, the pilots are there, the helicopter is there, you go in, you get them out (if you're lucky, because it's a hard mission), and then you play it again, but wait a minute, the pilots aren't there, the pilots are in a different place. So while it's not random, we have several areas where things can be set up. Another great example is in Mission 4, where you have to go up a narrow ravine, and again, the placement is randomised, it's different every time. So from a replay standpoint, you walk in and suddenly something isn't where you expected, and your gameplan has gone out of the window. They're not here; they were here yesterday, but they're not here today.

And that's not just the placement; it's also down to how our AI works. It's not scripted, whack-a-mole AI, it's much more autonomous. I've described them before as much more improv actors. They know what the scene is, they know they need to get from A to B, but when we say Action!, they have to react to what's going on. So because we're in an open world, and you come down the middle, they'll try to flank you or get around you. Then if you go down the side, they've got to be able to react to that appropriately. So that randomisation, the class progression, and also just feeding back from what the player does. So if you play the game differently, the AI will react to the game differently. And that's in the campaign, that's in the stand alone missions, that's everywhere.