006
THE 100 GAMES TO PLAY NOW
Sly 2: Band Of Thieves
Sneakingonto the list...
FORMATPS3/YEAR 2004 /PUBSONY/DEVSUCKER PUNCH/ISSUEN/A/SCOREN/A74
Moving away from the cartoony level-based platforming of the first game, Sly 2 sees the Cooper Gang carrying out full-on
heists. Each daring act of thievery takes place in a different area of the world, with hub areas from which you embark on
different missions as one of the three playable characters to set up the heist itself. Sly the Raccoon takes on stealth missions,
Murray the Hippo brings the muscle, and Bentley the turtle hacks his way past obstacles. Once these are done you play the
heist itself. Seeing those set-pieces come together is extremely satisfying, and it really feels like all that work paid off.The Wolf Among Us
Te llinga ttall taale
FORMAT PS3 / YEAR 2013
PUB TELLTALE GAMES
DEV TELLTALE GAMES
ISSUEOPM #91/SCORE8/1073
Based on Bill Willingham’s
Fables series of comics,
this episodic adventure
follows the exploits of
Bigby Wolf, who must investigate a
murder and unrest in a hidden
fairytale community in Manhattan.
This was Telltale’s first game to
follow on from The Walking Dead,
and it sticks closely to that
formula, but differs in tone and
structure. This is a focused story
that, thanks to its prequel status
to Fables, requires no fore-
knowledge. It remains one of the
best narrative-focused adventure
games out there, and the murky
grey world of these fables-in-
hiding doesn’t make choices easy.Middle Earth: Shadow
Of Mordor
It’sMordor ouut there
FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2014
PUB WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
DEV MONOLITH PRODUCTIONS
ISSUEOPM #103/SCORE8/1071
If you’re going to set
yourself up for
comparison with JRR
Tolkien, you’d better
bring your A-game. And Monolith
did just that. Ranger Talion finds
himself bound with the wraith of
Celebrimbor, an Elf Lord, giving him
supernatural powers. The pair
team up to infiltrate Mordor and
avenge both of their loved ones,
using Assassin’s Creed-style
parkour and Batman: Arkham-like
combat in the process. It feels as if
your own personal story is
unfolding based on your actions.Metal Gear Rising:
Revengeance
RaidenthheMGGSfranchisee
FORMAT PS3 / YEAR 2013
PUB KONAMI / DEV PLATINUMGAMES
ISSUEOPM #81/SCORE7/1072
Canonically at the
furthest point in the
Metal Gear timeline,
Rising has you stepping
into the heeled robo-boots of
Raiden – Metal Gear Solid 2’s
protagonist-turned-cyborg-ninja
mercenary. Not unlike Sekiro,
Raiden’s combat is all about using
his electric sword to counter
enemy strikes, entering into
slo-mo when you stun them, and
using the analogue stick to freely
chop them up – while taking their
spines. It’s the perfect fusion of
Metal Gear’s penchant for OTT
cheesiness and Platinum’s
amazing action-packed gameplay.LittleBigPlanet 3
HappySaack
FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2015
PUB SONY / DEV SUMO DIGITAL
ISSUEOPM #105/SCORE8/1070
LBP3’s adventure mode
doesn’t have the same
scale as those of
previous titles in the
mainline series. However, the
game makes up for it with a wealth
of new creator tools; in fact
LittleBigPlanet 3 shines most when
you’re making your own levels and
sharing them online. Given the
treasure trove of games available
on PS Now, this addition to the
streaming service represents
something completely different.
New characters and over 70 new
tools, plus those retained from the
previous game, ensure you’re
never short of ways to let your
imagination run riot.Tearaway Unfolded
Sharpasa paapercut
FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2015
PUB SONY / DEV MEDIA MOLECULE,
TARSIA STUDIOS
ISSUEOPM #115/SCORE9/1069
Help either Iota or Atoi
deliver a letter to ‘the
You’ in the sky in this
whimsical platform-
puzzler from the combined minds
of Media Molecule and Tarsia
Studios. Rather than taking direct
control of the game’s heroes, you
instead fiddle with the world
around them to urge them on
towards their postal goal. You can
spin platforms, throw objects at
switches, and blow gusts across
the landscape to aid your posties.
Other gamers can lend a hand too,
pinning notes into the handmade
world with helpful advice.Vampyr
It’sgoodtobeebad,andthhen
goodagain.And thenbad
FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2018
PUB FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE
DEV DONTNOD INTERACTIVE
ISSUEOPM #151/SCORE7/1067
Not all vampires are bad.
Not all bloodsuckers are
Kiefer Sutherland-sexy.
Some are though. This is
the pitch of Vampyr, a game that
casts you as doctor Jonathan Reid
who’s turned into a vamp during
the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak in
London. Does chewing on people’s
necks go against the Hippocratic
Oath? Will you be bad or good, help
or hinder, hunt or be hunted? The
choice-led RPG centre of the game
works beautifully, though the Dark
Souls-like combat could have been
left on the boozer’s sawdust floor.Beyond: Two Souls
Paranormmal innteractivity
FORMAT PS3 / YEAR 2013
PUB SONY / DEV QUANTIC DREAM
ISSUEOPM #90/SCORE8/1068
Ellen Page. A haunted
ranch. The power of
possession. Traumatic
teenage birthday parties.
Horse riding. Scribbling notes in an
Arab dignitary’s bathroom with a
terrible nosebleed. Begging for
change. “Sounds like a winner
Dave, get it made,” someone,
somewhere, must have said. And
are we ever glad they did. Quantic
Dream is a risk-taker, and while
not all the risks it takes in this
star-studded interactive drama
pay off, it’ll long be remembered
for its absolutely distinctive
interaction methods, narrative,
tone, and shockingly pretty looks.Tricky Towers
A chipoff fTetr ris’block
FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2016
PUB WEIRDBEARD
DEV WEIRDBEARD
ISSUEOPM #126/SCORE8/1066
The simple explanation is
Tricky Towers plays like
Tetris piped through a
physics simulation. Drop
a shaped block too hard and it can
topple your stack. Unevenly pack
your blocks and the whole thing
will fall. Just when you’ve got the
hang of this physics-based
block-stacking malarkey the game
will alter the bricks on the fly,
changing weights, sizes, and even
surface texture – no-one wants a
slippery block. The simple premise
proved a hit here on OPM, and the
versus mode is one of the best on
PS4. This is one great puzzler.