play station official magazine

086

REVIEW

INFO FORMATPUB BLOWFISH STUDIOS PS4 ETA OUT NOW DEV BLOWFISH STUDIOS

STORM BOY:

THE GAME

No lightning; just cloud strife

W

hen a game features a pelican

called Mr Percival, you might (not

unreasonably) expect it to be GOTY

material. When you discover that it consists

of nothing more than walking left to right

and playing a handful of minigames, however,

your expectations are likely to change.

An adaptation of the 1964 children’s book

by Colin Thiele, Storm Boy is in principle a

wonderful idea. You, controlling the titular

bad-weather boy, cause paragraphs from

the book to appear on-screen when he hits

certain trigger points in the environment.

There are optional minigames^1 along the way

to keep young minds engaged. It’s a great

concept, but the execution is terrible.

Each book extract disappears from the

screen when your character moves too far

out of an invisible box, meaning you must

literally stop and read. This, however, is the

least of the game’s problems. The biggest,

which causes lots of other little issues, is

that the book is enormously, and bafflingly,

abridged here. Storm Boy is a very short

book, yet huge chunks are missing from

this interactive adaptation. As a result, it’s

possible – likely, even – that most people

will thunder through the entire thing in 20

minutes or less.^2 This is not an exaggeration.

Even worse, the text has been edited in

such a way that the final result is sanitised,

purged of anything with even a remote

chance of upsetting little kiddywinkles, with

one unavoidable exception. Some things are

poorly explained, and the ending is changed

significantly by omission and

visual misrepresentation. It’s

a shame but, even at a penny

shy of five quid, this is hard to

recommend. Luke Kemp

FOOTNOTES 1 A few of the minigames are pleasantly relaxing, but

they’re not going to keep anybody coming back for more. 2 Add

another ten minutes or so for, incredibly, a platinum trophy.

INFO FORMATPUB MILESTONE S.R.L. PS4 ETA OUT NOW DEV MILESTONE S.R.L.

RIDE 3

No gimmicks, just bikes. Again. Again

R

ide 3’s enthusiasm for its motorcycles

is infectious, and the detail of some

of the loading screen reading is

deliciously nerdy. It’s an enthusiast’s game,

no question. But that same enthusiast

will compare this riding experience to the

excellent TT Isle Of Man, and wonder why

that game feels so much more immediate.

Ride 3 does little wrong, but just doesn’t

provide the same rush as many of its peers.

The gameplay is nonetheless

commendably balanced. A pop-up message

gently nudges you into harder difficulties

when you’re winning too easily, and the usual

ultra-hardcore simulation handling is there

if you want it. The default riding settings are

supremely playable, making for a pleasantly

accessible racing sim.^1 You’re still guiding a

two-wheeled vehicle, though, which is much

less stable than a car and requires care and

discipline if you’re going to get anywhere.

The lack of commentary or music during

races affects the sense of the importance

of what you’re doing, but well-earned wins

or gold lap times still raise a big smile. Just

so long as the oddly premature ‘Race Over’

message doesn’t trick you into stopping 100

metres before the finish, that is.

Ride 3 is disappointingly scrappy on the

standard PS4,^2 but is still fundamentally a

solid and detailed racing sim. The absolutely

humungous career mode is packed full of

variety and customisation options. From

overtake events to drag races, the wealth

of unlockable events should keep you playing

for weeks, even before you take it online. But

in terms of the most exciting

bike racers on PS4, this isn’t

even in the top three – and how

many bike games do you really

need? Justin Towell

FOOTNOTES 1 Falling off because you accelerated isn’t the most

welcoming introduction to a videogame. 2 But has a very welcome

option for a much more convincing 60fps on the Pro.

INFO FORMATPUB RIPSTONE PS4 ETA DEVOUT NOW AUROCH DIGITAL

ACHTUNG! CTHULHU

TACTICS

The Old Ones are still the best ones

T

here’s a certain type of person for

whom the words ‘it’s like XCOM but...’

are gaming catnip. In the case of

Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics, the rest of that

phrase goes ‘...but set in a World War Two

where the Nazis unlocked the powers of

the Old Gods’. It’s an effective setting, albeit

one well-trodden by the likes of Wolfenstein,

Hellboy, and Overlord. You control a ragtag

squad from the Allied Forces’ own occult

division, as they push into enemy territory

in the wake of D-Day, discovering an

increasingly historically-inaccurate bestiary

of fascist monsters along the way.^1

This is presented through turn-based

tactical battles which handle very similarly

to... you guessed it! XCOM. The biggest

difference comes in Achtung!'s use of the

rather old-school Action Points.^2 Each unit

gets 12 AP to spend per turn, which can

be used for movement or combat abilities.

This allows each weapon to have a more

distinctive character – a 4-AP pistol might

be able to rattle off two shots, even if

you need to reposition, but an 8-AP heavy

weapon will limit your options considerably.

Opening up your options further still is the

Momentum system, a pool of bonus points

that can be spent on especially cool abilities,

like firing a bullet that can penetrate multiple

targets or using psychic powers to siphon

an enemy’s life force.

The result is a competent if slightly

unremarkable tactics game, which offers

plenty of options in a firefight but lacks

the cinematic flair of XCOM or

anything to make really it stand

out in a world where ‘like XCOM

but...’ is an increasingly common

promise. Alex Spencer

FOOTNOTES 1 The greatest monstrosity of all is the accent work,

particularly where the Germans are involved. 2 There’s also Luck, a

meter which protects each soldier but drains as they get shot at.