Play Station Official Magazine - UK (2019-12)

MULTIPLAYER MODES PUT

THROUGH THEIR PACES

online tests BY OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS

what we’re

playing now

CODE VEIN

Jess Kinghorn sinks

her fangs in once more

I decide to mess around in

multiplayer for the final

two bosses. After a few

knockbacks, I finally

acquaint myself with Code

Vein’s highly customisable

gesture system. My polite

curtsy and prim “Please,

lend me your guidance,” is

all but ignored by my online collaborator

as he charges off to paint the town

red. But what the revenant known as

‘Dienasty’ lacks in manners, he makes

up for in hacking and slashing. After

cutting a path straight through to the

not-quite-the-best-but-still-good-

ending, I’m considering answering a

few distress signals myself.

THE SURGE 2

Ian Dean’s glad society

is working (so far)

Jericho City’s brightly

coloured graffiti notes

could have ruined The

Surge 2’s atmosphere,

but the game’s social

system is a godsend. One

note warns me of a threat

around the corner, and as

I’m running low on health

I choose a detour. Another points to a

secret chest of Tech Scrap and

goodies. Thank you, Surge society.

What I love most, especially after more

people start playing and I’m running

through NG+, is to date no-one has

broken the trust. It would be easy for

bad ’uns to merrily point me towards

certain death instead of a bundle of

expected XP, but all is well. So far.

DESTINY 2 –

SHADOWKEEP

Can Oscar Taylor-Kent

change his fate?

There’s a lot to love about

Destiny 2, especially in its

revitalised form. The

latest paid-for update,

Shadowkeep, adds plenty

for long-time fans. Early

on, we get more pay-off

on some deep endgame

lore and it sends my mind reeling.

However, Destiny 2’s also a game

where simple acts like headshots

feel incredibly satisfying. There is

definitely masses to enjoy here, from

lore to those headshots. I just wish the

two had more to do with each other.

100

review

INFO

FORMAT PS4

PUB UBISOFT

DEV UBISOFT PARIS

REVIEWOPM#168,4/10

time. Though its matches

are plodding and the

brief moments when you

actually unload your gun

in the direction of

another player all too

fleeting, Ubisoft does

incentivise continued

play. For example, every

action you take

contributes to improving

your character.

Progression is shared

between the campaign

and Ghost War, so players

who prioritise PvP over

single-playergrinding

J

ust in case you missed last

month’s review of the main

game, we didn’t much care for

Ubisoft’s latest covert soldier.

Actually, we more or less

thought it sucked. Save for some

semi-strong gunplay, the publisher’s

latest open-ended effort is one of the

shabbiest sandboxes we’ve played on

PS4. Its PvP isn’t much better.

Ghost War isn’t bad, there’s just

nothing that makes it feel special.

Breakpoint introduces the Shrinking

Combat Zone, the most notable addition

to Ghost Recon’s take on multiplayer

since Wildlands. In non-nauseating PR

speak, that means: “Fortnite and PUBG

have decreasing play zone sizes. Let’s

copy that!” On the sweeping sandbox

map of a battle royale, a shrinking area

of engagement makes sense. In an online

shooter with boxy maps? It’s as logical

as installing solar panels on a nuclear

power plant... that’s mid-eruption.

Ghost War is split into

two modes: Elimination

and Sabotage. The

former is a pretty basic

team deathmatch where

every player is limited to

a single life per round.

The latter is similarly

vanilla, and boils down to

Breakpoint’s version of

a standard bomb defusal

mode. Both concepts are

as uninspired as the

half-baked, hugely

samey campaign.

At least Ghost War

triestorespectyour

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Uninspired PvP can’t save this open world

BOTH BREAKPOINT’S

PVP MODES ARE AS

UNINSPIRED AS THE HALF-

BAKED, SAMEY CAMPAIGN.