STACK #148 Feb 2017

with Amy Flower

GAMES PREVIEWS

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GENRE: RTS PLATFORM: XBO RELEASE: 21/02/17 MULTIPLAYER: YES

HALO WARS 2

While PC users have no shortage of great real time strategy games, those who’ve hitched their wagons to consoles have been left wanting. As such, 2009’s Halo Wars on Xbox 360 was a shining beacon for fans of the genre – not just because it existed, but because it was also really good! Total War people Creative Assembly have been drafted for this sequel that’s (obviously) set in Halo’s sci-fi universe. It’s the year 2559, twenty-eight years on from the events of the first Halo Wars and not

long after those of Halo 5: Guardians . As part of the UNSC Spirit of Fire crew (should you wish to be on the side of all that’s good, of course), you awake from cryosleep to discover that as far as the UNSC is concerned, your entire ship is MIA, presumed dead. Much has changed; with the Covenant defeated there’s a new enemy in the Banished, led by big Brute Atriox. The main campaign mode deals 13 missions, and co-op gameplay is go. That’s not the only multiplayer

option though, as up to six players can battle online. From the card-influenced sorties of ‘Blitz’ to ‘Deathmatch’, ‘Skirmish’ ‘Stronghold’ and ‘Domination’, there’s plenty to keep master strategists coming back for more.

If you liked this, you may also like... XCOM 2, Tropico 5

SNIPER ELITE 4

LEGO WORLDS

GENRE: SHOOTER PLATFORM: PS4 | XBO RELEASE: 14/02/17 MULTIPLAYER: YES

GENRE: ACT/ADV PLATFORM: PS4 | XBO RELEASE: 01/03/17 MULTIPLAYER: YES

When Mortal Kombat first drenched our screens in human innards, games lost what little innocence they’d been clinging to. Since then, as hardware has improved the dive into the most forensic examinations of violence, games have kept pace. This allowed Sniper Elite’s system of letting your sniper bullet fly and following along as it – assuming you were accurate – ripped apart some poor baddie’s insides. Ouch! But hey, it was them or you, yeah? Following on directly from Sniper Elite III , this fourth

If you’ve ever gleaned a LEGO-ish vibe from Minecraft then you’re scarcely alone. The toy box-conquering Danish brick purveyors have certainly noticed, and in a vaguely chicken or egg kind of situation have come up with LEGO Worlds , which is more or less Notch’s thing with LEGO- monogrammed studs. This, of course, is a great thing. Delivering an open environment consisting entirely of LEGO bricks, players can create giant landscapes, populate

them with houses, vehicles, bizarre creatures – whatever can be imagined – then interact with them in numerous ways. You’re free to do what you want with an endless box of blocks – even in your jocks or moccs while reading Fox in Socks !

incarnation of the popular stealthy, strategy-infused third-person shooter sees further gory advances as you help the Italian resistance bring down WWII fascists. Hey, we hate WWII fascists – spill their bloody guts!

If you liked this, you may also like... Tom Clancy’s The Division, Call of Duty: Ghosts

If you liked this, you may also like... Minecraft, Terraria

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FEBRUARY 2017

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