STACK #121 Nov 2015

GAMES

ED’S DESK

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Editor’s Letter

Super Smash Bros.

O h, sweet November, how you furnish us with the finest. The bookend of a busy year, this is the month that always delivers an endless stream of games that you simply have to play. 2014 is no different. Of course it wouldn’t be November without Call of Duty making an appearance. This year, Sledgehammer Games is stepping up to the plate with its first full operation in CoD colours. It’s a real crossroads for the franchise, and Activision need Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare to, pardon the pun, come out shooting. We got some time this month with Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey, a man whose excitement for the release is palpable. Remember the biggest game of all time that swept away all in its path last year? Well Michael, Trevor and Franklin are back, now in High-Def, and ready to wreak more GTA V havoc on PS4 and Xbox One. Why should you buy it again? We give you seven good reasons on page 50. The last time we spoke with Australian Alex Hutchinson, he was busy putting the final touches on Assassin’s Creed III. He’s just completed work on Far Cry 4, and took some time out to tell us all about it. In a rare treat for Assassin’s Creed fans, this November yields not one but two new adventures to enjoy. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue sets sail on PS3 and 360, and Assassin’s Creed: Unity has been built from the ground up for the new generation of hardware. We cover both games in this issue. And finally, while Halo fans are patiently awaiting the arrival of Halo 5: Guardians (due next year), 343 Industries have something to keep you busy in the interim. Halo: The Master Chief Collection hits stores on the 11th November. We lend our ears to franchise development director Frank O’Connor. What a belter of a month!

The Smash Bros. series hasn’t changed too much since its original debut, but that really speaks to its strengths – it’s fun, it’s fast, and it’s completely unpredictable. Change wasn’t really necessary for Smash on 3DS, but refinement definitely was, and this was achieved thanks to the guiding hands of Bandai Namco. While Smash is a glorious, frenzied fight fest, seasoned gamers will appreciate the more professional leaning of the latest iteration. Every character has their own strengths, eaknesses, recovery times, skills, etc, and these are readily apparent to players who investigate the game in any depth.

That’s not to say you’re going to need to be able to count frames in order to win – there’s a damn good chance it’s not going to help you anyway. Between the slew of new (and stupidly powerful) items, and the constant hazards of the stages, that guy that normally lands twenty hit combos on you in Street Fighter will probably be falling off the stage when a random blue shell drops out of nowhere. There’s an old school sensibility to Smash that gaming veterans will be sure to appreciate – characters and menus unlock with play as opposed to being instantly available or trapped behind a paywall. It’s a philosophy of incentive that makes the journey into mastery all the more fun – you’re actively being rewarded for fighting. It has all the faces in gaming that you’ve ever loved, and is absurdly entertaining. And the frenetic combat makes the new Smash Bros. an instant classic that has found a perfect home on the 3DS.

DID YOU KNOW?

Voice actor Michael Mando lent more than just his voice to the role of Vaas Montenegro in Far Cry 4 . His appearance and movement was also captured for the game. In PES 4 , Chelsea goalkeeper Yves Makabu Ma-Kalambay is portrayed as a Caucasian man, despite the fact that he is black and of Congolese decent.

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ME: Shadow of Mordor (Xo/ps4/PC) NBA 2K15 (Xo/360/ps4/ps3/PC) FIFA 15 (Xo/360/ps4/ps3/PC) the evil within (Xo/360/ps4/ps3/PC) Destiny (Xo/360/ps4/ps3) Alien: Isolation (Xo/360/ps4/ps3/PC) forza horizon 2 (Xo/360) Borderlands: The pre-sequel (360/ps3/pc) skylanders: tt (PS4/XB1/PS3/X360/Wii/WiiU/TAB) sid meier’s civilization: beyond earth (pc)

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

QUOTE THIS

The EvilWithin Frustrating at times, absorbing for the rest. FIFA 15 On new-gen is the only way to play FIFA 15. WHAT WE’RE PLAYING

STACK’s MOST WANTED

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MGSV:The Phantom Pain

“The world is a diagonal... I am the balancing point.”

The Order 1886 Halo 5: Guardians

Vaas Montenegro in Far Cry 3.

NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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