ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYSSEY
Listen, I know that Assassin’s Creed
titles are well known for being absolutely
littered with icons, missions and location
markers. But AC Odyssey’s map is great
in spite of that. Yes, there are hundreds
of icons across the map, but thankfully
it’s so freaking massive they don’t cover
anything up. What’s more, until you
explore the world, everything appears as
if on an ancient Greek map – complete
with drawings of sea monsters and gods.
Once you’ve unlocked the world, you’ll see
a 3D recreation of the game world that
you can zoom into to find small details
from on high. Navigate to a mountain and
zoom around and you can feel it poking up
towards you, fully rendered with lush grass
and the odd statue.
SEA OF THIEVES
OXM has talked about Sea Of Thieves’
incredible map before. What makes it so
good? It’s designed to support the main
premise of the game – teamwork. When
you’re sailing on a four-person ship, it’s
impossible to work everything at the same
time – and that goes for navigation. When
you’re at the helm you don’t have time to
run below deck, check the map and scurry
back up to adjust course, because by the
time you get below you’ve already hit an
island or sailed four nautical miles in the
wrong direction. So your crew needs to
work as a team. Add that to the treasure
maps you’ll find (X marks the spot, natch)
and you’ve got the best, most piratey
example of great map design on Xbox.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 109extra