086
REVIEW
INFO FORMATPUB KOEI TECMO PS4 ETA DEVOUT NOW KOEI TECMOROMANCE OF THE
THREE KINGDOMS XIV
Romance is dead – almostS
pend too long trying to unify China
and all you’ll see in your dreams is
hexagons. These six-sided shapes
form the backbone of Romance Of The Three
Kingdoms XIV’s new strategy system. It’s
also perhaps the solitary interesting new
addition to the strategy series.
Gone are roads and battle maps. Now
the whole continent is covered by a hexgrid
which all your strategising revolves around.
Start conquering and hexes will turn your
colour. As it’s split into provinces and smaller
areas, capturing a city or town won’t give
you complete control of a region. You either
have to have a unit ride over the hexes to
colour them, or appoint someone to govern
that area who (depending on competency)
will expand control in that area over time.^1
This also means roads don’t matter as
much. Terrain does affect your units, but
every hex can now be crossed so you can
control it. The more troops there are in a
unit, the wider a formation it can reach. This
means you can quite literally see exactly how
each commander’s control unfolds on the
map, and use it to your advantage by doing
things like crossing out lines of supply to
cut-off key strongholds.
Setting you up with key scenarios from
across this period of Chinese history, there’s
plenty to play through. The only problem is
that with the zoomed-out approach to the
map, the detail has become more passive.^2
Unlike in the last game there’s no direct
control of battles, no debate system, and no
smaller-objective story mode.
It’s an interesting evolution,
though one that leaves you
bored on the throne more often
than not. Oscar Taylor-KentFOOTNOTES 1 Only by entirely capturing an area will you gain
access to all its resources. 2 Yet at the same time accessed
through clunky menus that require too many button presses.INFO FORMATPUB NACON PS4 DEVETA ZORDIXOUT NOWOVERPASS
Because you pass over rocks?T
he real-life version of this must be
heaps of fun, but it feels like a chore
on PS4. You’re given an ATV or quad
bike and asked to traverse a dangerous
course full of hazards (both man-made and
natural), shifting your body and managing
your differential and 2WD/4WD settings in
order to keep from sliding or tumbling off
the muddy hills. Predictably, this is easier
said than done, making for action more
reminiscent of Trials Fusion than, say, MX
Vs ATV. Even if you do start to get some
speed up, hitting a hazard with any kind of
momentum will cripple your suspension, and
repairs cost money or tokens, so you need
precision, patience, and skill to prevail.
Career mode has sponsors offering
discounts on gear, but the core activity is
always the same. The music – Born Ready
by All Good Things^1 – makes the menus and
selection screens feel a bit more lively than
the rest of the presentation suggests, but
sadly you’re left listening to nothing but the
rasping note of your engine once you get out
onto the course, which grates quickly.
This game might be one to avoid if you
ever suffer from motion sickness. The
exaggerated stretching of the virtual
camera lens even in third-person view
means the horizon tilts and sways constantly
as you navigate the dense undulations, which
can bring on sweats and worse very quickly,
even on a small telly.^2
Given its focus on just one thing, Overpass
doesn’t feel particularly realistic or weighty,
and you can certainly get more excitement
from conquering GTA V’s Mount
Chiliad. Still, it does what it does
without fuss, faffing, or frills, so
take it or leave it. We’d probably
leave it. Justin TowellFOOTNOTES 1 These guys just made game and movie soundtracks
until their fans demanded they do the ‘band’ thing. 2 First-person
view on a 55-inch TV is like playing Driveclub in VR: nauseating.INFO FORMATPUB RECLUSE INDUSTRIES PS VR ETA OUT NOW DEV RECLUSE INDUSTRIESSEPARATION
Can’t quite hold it togetherT
his is a difficult game to talk about. Not
because it is, from start to finish, a
metaphor for depression; but because
it’s a metaphor for depression that’s
uncomfortable to play for (mostly) the wrong
reasons. Such a shame, too, because it does
occasionally do some interesting or unique
with the ideas on offer.
You explore a purposefully melancholy
and oppressive environment in first
person, now and again stumbling across a
puzzle. Elements of the design – huge and
mysterious structures, large open spaces
with shadows in the distance, a pervading
sense of loneliness – hold echoes of Shadow
Of The Colossus. The similarities with Ueda’s
masterpiece stop there, however.
As we wander around the oddly angular
environment, we regularly find – especially
when walking uphill – that we’re brought to
an unceremonious halt, as though stubbing
our virtual toe on one of the ground’s many
corners. We rarely feel motivated to push
forward anyway, as the storytelling barely
provides enough content to qualify as
minimalistic. It’s often unclear where you
should go, or what you should do when you
get there.^1 PS VR does the game no favours,
imposing an awkward control system on you
that never would have been considered for
a 2D release (which Separation would work
better as). It’s interesting in bursts, but these
bursts are too brief, and too infrequent.
Three-quarters of the way through, the
experience becomes much more enjoyable,
as you get a new mode of transport^2 that
expands and speeds up your
exploration. This doesn’t last
long enough, though, and the
game ends as it begins; on a
slow, confusing note. Luke KempFOOTNOTES 1 It’s clearly a deeply personal game, but sadly to
the extent that few people will be able to easily follow it. 2 We’re
not talking about the boat. That thing’s rubbish.PS VR REVIEW