STACK NZ March 2017 Issue 82

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Being a tradie is hard work, so as a superstar
tradesman Mario must toil even harder. All that
full-on labour is a great workout though, which may
explain why when he’s not busy platforming Mario
has the stamina to hit the courts, the track, the
links... This time around, he and 17 of his friends
(and enemies) opt for a spot of variety, with full versions of soccer,
golf, baseball, tennis and even horse racing – all jammed into one
cartridge. Each outing has three cups to aim for, and up to six
humans can band together to play head-to-head. Sporty 3DS owners
would be plumb crazy to miss this one!
MARIO SPORTS SUPERSTARS
know when you’ve scored the primo barbie at
park, but a horde of yahoos invades and sends
u packing to the crappy one? That’s basically what
ppens to the citizens of Earth thousands of years
er the events of the original NieR, as an army of
minator-like invaders (actually, they kinda look like
nage Mutant Ninja Robots) send us packing to
the moon. But we have our own tech to fight with – scores of YoRHa
androids. You take control of one that’s designated ‘2B’, and in a
manner not a million millennia removed from creators PlatinumGames’
Bayonetta get all action RPG on those invaders’ shiny metal asses to
snatch back control of Earth.
NIER AUTOMATA
From the people that brought you...
Mario Tennis Open, Mario Golf World Tour
From the people that brought you...
Bayonetta, Anarchy Reigns
GENRE: SPORTS PLATFORM: 3DSRELEASE: TBC MULTIPLAYER: YES GENRE: RPG PLATFORM: PS4 RELEASE: 10/03/17 MULTIPLAYER: NO
32 MARCH 2017
visit GAMES PREVIEWS with Amy Flower
We were going to start this by getting all deep,
down, dirty and analogous with Star Trek. But The
Simpsons did it... probably. Enough said that the
Mass Effect series means a lot to many people,
so some performance anxiety would have been
experienced during production of this fourth
iteration. Yet BioWare weren’t so frozen with
fear as to not tweak that which they’d previously
established. Andromeda takes a slightly lighter
tone than the often heavy predecessors,
embracing open world elements – and more
mobile combat – in the name of exploration. The
story? Well, it’s the year 2185. You step into the
shoes of either Sara or Scott Ryder, green recruits
to the Andromeda Initiative. Their goal? To boldly
g- uh, to venture forth into uncharted reaches
of the Andromeda Galaxy in order to find new
places for humanity to set up shop. New worlds
will be found, new species will be encountered
and new weaponry will be utilised, as the path
of a pathfinder rarely runs smoothly. While the
tone may have been tweaked, Andromeda still
delivers a captivating mix of third-person shooter,
storytelling and deep RPG strategy, as you prep
your squad for every new encounter – all with the
aim of allowing humanity to live long and... aww,
you know the rest.
From the people who brought you...
Dragon Age: Inquisition, Star Wars: The Old Republic
MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA
GENRE: ACT/ADV PLATFORM: PS4
| XBO | PC RELEASE: 23/03/17
MULTIPLAYER: YES