STACK July 2016 Issue 141

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changes, will undoubtedly test the team in
Australia when it comes time to present it to
the ratings board – we’d love to be a fly on the
wall for that submission. Elsewhere on the
stand, time spent with Watch Dogs 2, now
set in San Francisco, revealed a game that
felt tighter than the original, and offered more
gameplay options when completing missions.
With no Assassin’s Creed this year, Ubisoft are
banking on this one filling the gap.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands gave us our Tom
Clancy fix – annual leave has already been
reserved for this release and the four-player
co-op mission we played through merely hinted
at the sheer size of the game; the ambition
here is admirable. For Honor also stood out at
E3. This is a thinking person’s hack ‘n’ slash
title. In the game, blocking a riposte is as
important as delivering an offensive stroke, so
a great degree of thought has to be applied to
your combat strategy.
If you’re looking for a booth of E3 award,
2K had it in the bag for Mafia III. It was two
stories, had fortune tellers inside, and even a
jazz band on hand. We were here to see the
aforementioned game, and it didn’t disappoint.
Inside a room designed to look like an old
cinema, gameplay was presented across a
giant screen, outlining more
about the story. The setting,
New Bordeaux, will feature ten
districts spread across a huge
gameplay area.
This year, Bethesda’s big
focus was Dishonored 2, with
the first gameplay video on
show at the publisher’s press
conference. In the sequel,
players can flip between original
Dishonored protagonist Corvo
Attano and his daughter, former Empress Emily
Kaldwin, each versed in different powers.
The rumours surrounding a current gen
upgrade of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim proved to be
correct – our Alesha is still barely controlling
herself at the news. While Todd Howard did
confirm the existence of an Elder
Scrolls VI game, he also said there
are two big games due before
we can expect to see it.
Prey, due in 2017 and now in
development at Arkane Studios, is reportedly
not a direct sequel to the original game
released back in 2006, and will replace the
troubled development behind Prey 2. Quake
is finally returning after an extended absence,
with id Software’s Quake Champions; an
eSports focused title coming to PC only.
Saints Row fans will be happy to hear
that Volition are back with Agents of
Mayhem , a game vaguely tied to
the SR universe. Choose from three
agents, each with their own unique
abilities and all of which are playable,
in this insane mash-up of comic books
and cartoons. After about 20 minutes of
gameplay, we declare it’s a lot of fun.
The Square Enix booth was the usual hive
of activity, with extensive queues forming for
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue,
due out in December of this year. A 25-minute
gameplay for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
welcomes back Adam Jensen in another, and
somewhat darker, adventure, with emphasis
on options for players. Go loud, or stealth – the
choice is yours.
While Final Fantasy XV wasn’t playable at E3
this year, a gameplay demo at the Microsoft
press conference kept the faithful happy ahead
of its September release.
Upstairs in the meeting rooms, Namco
Bandai were showing off Tekken 7 – built on
Unreal Engine 4 and featuring Street Fighter’s
Akuma – in a behind-closed-doors session. In
a second presentation, the developers behind
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 told us that all the
improvements were based on player feedback.
They also promised to support the game for up
to a year after release.
The only one of four (at the time we played
it) to blow up the bridge in the Sniper Elite
4 level on show at Rebellion, we received…
a handshake. There is always something
visit
62 JULY 2016
GAMES
Saint’s Row fans will be happy to hear
that Volition are back with its latest...
Dishonored 2
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
That's an E3 fact...
More decibels were
measured in the
toilets at E3 than on
the show floor.
That's an E3 fact...
Twitter registered
seven million E3-
themed posts.