2020-05-01_Official_PlayStation_Magazine_-_UK_Edition

093

REVIEW

LAST MONTH

ON PS PLUS

STAYINDOORS.Donottalkaboutthe

event.Donotthinkaboutthatmost

heinousofcreations.No,dearreader,

donotacknowledgeit! Don’tlookit in

thedeeplydisturbingeye!Mysecret

shame,mydarkpast,my...SonicThe

Hedgehogoriginalcharacter.

BeforeI turnto

dustthrough

embarrassment,let’s

runyouthroughlast

month’sPSPlusofferings.Asyoumight

haveguessedfromthatearlieroutburst,

SonicForceswasinvolvedin the

Marchlineup.A to-the-pointadventure

witha robustcharactercreator,Forces

allowed your fast and furry creations

to take the lead. In a world conquered

by Eggman’s evil empire, Sonic and

company were desperate for new blood

to lead the charge and strike back.

Sounds perfect for fulfilling a few spiky

fanficfantasies...notthatwe’dknow

anythingaboutthat!

Changing pace, last

month’s headline act

was Shadow Of The

Colossus. Bluepoint

Games’ from-the-ground-up remake of

Team Ico’s original vision is a must-have

for any PlayStation fan’s game library.

A lone swordsman, Wander, makes a

deal with a powerful and terrible being.

Alongside his horse, Agro, he must

search a vast and lonely land for 16

titular colossi, and kill them. This is not

a story with a happy ending... aside

from the fact that we gave it a 9/10

back in OPM #146.

Talk about an odd couple! Though we

suppose Plus has offered far more

weird and wonderful pairings than this

over the years. [Great, now we’re back

to fan fiction – ed.] If you’ll excuse us,

we’ve just thought of the perfect pen

name for our planned 20,000 word

Bayonetta-and-Dante-eat-pizza-and-

generally-have-a-nice-time-fic. It should

be done, oh say, this time next month?

See you then, and don’t be stingy with

the pineapple on our Hawaiian!

@KoeniginKatze

ELEMENT SPACE

It’syourturnto savethegalaxy

T

hreeyearsafterthe

endoftheGalactic

War,thereisa fragile

peace.Butwhenthat

calmisshatteredbya deadly

terroristgroupcallingitself

Tempest,CaptainChristopher

Pietham(that’syou)andhis

smallchosensquadofbrave

comradesmustfightto

protecttheentiregalaxyfrom

catastrophe.Luckily,they

havesuper-powerfulspace

guns–andlotsofthem.

Asa turn-basedcombatgame,

mostofElementSpace’saction

takestheformofhead-to-head

confrontationswiththeenemy

ona gridspace.Eachmember

ofCaptainPietham’steamis

equippedwithdifferentskills,

andduringfightsyouneedto

callontheirstrengthstoturn

thebattleinyourfavour.The

eightrecruitablecompanions

allhavediscreteskilltrees,

allowingyoutopickthe

rightoneforthejobathand.

Likewisewith 32 weapons

you’reabletoselectthe

appropriatetoolforthejobtoo.

Eachroundgrantsevery

charactertwoactionpoints–

oneprimary,onesecondary.

Theseallowyoutomakeone

attackingmove(forexample,

firingyourweapon)andto

repositiona teammember

behindnewcoverobjects(all

ofwhichoffervaryinglevels

ofprotection)toimproveyour

situation.Theturn-based

systemworkswelland

INFO FORMATPUB INCA GAMES PS4 ETA OUT NOW DEV SIXTH VOWEL

@Rebeccastow97

VERDICT

BRAVE THE ELEMENTS

provides ample opportunity

for strategic thinking, but it

doesn’t really offer anything

new to the RTS genre.

MAKE YOUR MOVE

Between battles you’re able to

move around levels, pointing

and clicking to get your squad

to run in the direction you

want. Unfortunately, this

system is slow and frustrating,

and something that could easily

have been rectified by allowing

use of the analogue stick to

control your fighters.

Alongside the action you’re

given occasional dialogue

options. These moments allow

you to form the values Pietham

holds and, as a result, shape

the Galaxy’s view of him. Do

you want to be pro-debate

and democracy? Or do you

favour the way of bullets?

Sadly, there is no voiceover,

although a decent science-

fiction soundtrack does swell

and fall in line with the action

unravelling on screen. It’s just

about enough to mitigate the

missing voice track.

And really that’s Element

Space all over: by no means a

bad game, but one that offers

little in the way of ambition or

unique ideas.

Transposes the turn-based

shooter into a futuristic setting

competently, but ultimately is

far from essential. For genre

completists only. Rebecca Stow