PC Gamer

MADDEN 19

T

his was a long time
coming: EA’s other
major sports series –
the one that doesn’t have the
perfectly spherical balls – is
finally returning to PC. If you’re a
fan of American football, that’s
good news. And if you’re not,
Madden is actually an

accomplished strategy game,

with deep tactics, endless stats

and ruthless opposition. Sure,

there’s less evisceration than

your average strategy game, but

that’s the price you pay for

realism. I’m impressed by the

effort EA has put into this PC

version. Yes, you can use a

control pad, and probably should.

But also there’s new mouse and

keyboard support, letting you

control players with the mouse

using a thumbstick overlay that

lets you adjust direction and

speed. It sounds terrible, but I

found it pretty natural to use. PS

RELEASE
August 10, 2018

DEVELOPER

EA Sports

PUBLISHER

EA

NEED TO KNOW

METAL WOLF

CHAOS XD

I

n 2016, indie

provocateur Devolver

Digital sent a tweet.

“Count us in to help Metal Wolf

Chaos get out to more gamers if

FromSoftware wants some help,”

it wrote. “#FreeMetalWolf”.

FromSoftware said yes, and two

years later the Dark Souls

developer’s batshit mech shooter

is finally coming to the west. It’ll

offer resolution settings and

framerates unreachable by the

original Xbox release, but

otherwise this is just a remaster,

not a remake. All of the weird,

janky controls, shooting and

voice acting remains intact –

Devolver Digital sees that as part

of its charm. This is a game about

the President of the United

States fending off a coup by the

Vice President by donning a

large mech suit and shooting

traitors on the lawn of the White

House, after all. PS

RELEASE

2018

DEVELOPER

General Arcade

PUBLISHER

Devolver Digital

NEED TO KNOW

NEO CAB

I

n this narrative game
you play as Lina
Romero, a driver-for-hire
operating in the neon-drenched
cyberpunk city of Los Ojos.
Developer Chance Agency
describes it as a game about “gig
labour and tech disruption”
which lets you experience life as a

driver for an Uber-alike taxi

company in the far future. The

game is promising an

“overarching noir mystery” to

solve while you’re on the road,

but there will also be dialogue-

driven encounters with random

passengers along the way. I love

the sound of the “persistent

nuanced emotion system”,

whatever that is, which will

apparently shape the overall

story. After experiencing life as a

future-bartender in The Red

Strings Club, I’m all for another

game that takes a look at a small

part of a cyberpunk setting. AK

RELEASE
2019

DEVELOPER

Chance Agency

PUBLISHER

In-house

NEED TO KNOW

FORZA

HORIZON 4

T

he next game in

Playground’s superb

open-world racing series

is set in the United Kingdom,

which is an inspired choice. The

game will take you through

England, Scotland, and Wales,

each of which offers a variety of

driving terrain. And a new

changing seasons system will

dramatically alter how each

stretch of land looks and feels.

The drivatar system returns, with

‘ghosts’ of other players

populating the roads, but you can

also connect to the internet and

have real players skidding around

alongside you. Each server can

support a huge 72 players, so

you’ll never be short of folk to

race with. You can even play

against your Xbox-owning pals

thanks to cross-play. And with

over 450 cars to choose from,

there’ll be plenty of ways to tear

up the roads of the UK. AK

RELEASE

October 2, 2018

DEVELOPER

Playground Games

PUBLISHER

Microsoft

NEED TO KNOW