New Releases
If you thought September was busy, your pile of shame is going to grow a whole lot bigger in October. 3DS fans are first up, with the release of Sonic Boom: Fire And Ice on Saturday October 1. The blue hedgehog hasn’t had a lot of luck lately, so hopefully this can finally steer the ship back on course.
Jump ahead to Friday October 7 and things get a lot more adult. Mafia III (PS4, XBO, PC) sends the popular gangster series to a fictionalised 1960s New Orleans where it’s you vs the Italian mob for control of the streets.
Meanwhile, action fans should hold out for Tuesday October 11. That’s because Xbox One gamers will finally be able to shoot down a brand new foe in Gears Of War 4, while PS4 owners will be able to continue Lara Croft’s adventure in Rise Of The Tomb Raider.
On Thursday October 13 however, the gaming landscape changes with the release of PlayStation VR. Designed specifically for PS4, the device will bring virtual reality to the mainstream with a slew of brand new games and experiences.
Wrapping things up on Friday October 28 is both The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (PS4, XBO) and Titanfall 2 (PS4, XBO, PC). The former will add of prettier coat of paint onto one of 2011’s best, while the latter takes everything you loved about the original Titanfall then improves upon it with a new single-player campaign.
News:
PlayStation Goes Pro
The long-rumoured PlayStation Neo has finally been unveiled as the PS4 Pro. Designed to provide a greater experience for hardcore gamers, the Pro will pack in a 1TB hard drive, double the original’s GPU power, and boast a boosted CPU clock rate. This will allow the console to reach resolutions not possible on the current model.
“Our goal is to deliver high-fidelity graphical experiences,” said PS4 Lead Systems Architect Mark Cerny at the reveal. “We aim to provide developers with tools to further their visions.”
Though the console will not feature a 4K Blu-ray drive, there will be a new Netflix app with 600 hours of 4K content to stream: provided you have an incredibly speedy connection, that is.
Run, Mario, Run
Forget about the death of the headphone jack, because the big news out of Apple’s iPhone 7 reveal was Nintendo’s beloved plumber finally making the jump to mobiles. Yes, Super Mario Run will grace your iPhones and iPads in mere months.
Designed with mobile devices in mind, Super Mario Run is an endless runner within the Mario universe – requiring players to tap the phone in order to jump and dodge enemies. According to Nintendo, the simplicity should allow gamers to easily play with a single hand.
It’s worth noting that unlike Pokémon GO, the game will not be free to play – Nintendo promise a one-time fee with no further purchases. It’s currently scheduled for a holiday release on iOS devices, while Android users will unfortunately have to wait a little longer.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4, XBO, PC)
In the world of Deus Ex – a cyberpunk interpretation of our future – cybernetic enhancements are par for the course. Need some new body parts? Too easy; just replace them with augmentations and not only will your woes be solved, you’ll also become far superior to your slower, weaker self. The only catch: you’ll be classed as an ‘Aug’ – a group not everybody within this new-age society is so willing to accept.
By the conclusion of 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Aug Incident had taken place, resulting in the death of millions at the hands of these enhanced individuals. Cut to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s 2029 setting and Augs have since been deemed as outcasts, relegated to a life of segregation.
Adam Jensen is one such outcast. The only difference is that he’s also an uncover Interpol operative who must use his state-of-the-art toolset to unravel a worldwide conspiracy. It’s a set-up that sounds more exciting than the final narrative actually becomes; a slightly disappointing reality, particularly considering the calibre of its predecessor.
Much like its 2011 older brother, however, what it opens the door for is far more interesting. Part shooter, part RPG, the game hinges on choice, with key decisions becoming paramount in preventing a serious terrorist attack.
As a result, most missions and objectives can be tackled the way you see fit. When presented with a keypad, for example, do you choose to hack into the system and open it yourself, utilise a single-use tool, or take on every nearby guard in an attempt to find a key card in the wild?
This level of freedom is strongly backed up by the game’s skill system, allowing you to upgrade Jensen’s augmentations to match your desired play style. Should you want to survive longer on the battlefield, maybe look into pumping up Adam’s health bar, or hold out for a more substantial skin shield that soaks up incoming damage. Alternatively, if you’re after something more blatantly aggressive, take a gander at the arm-mounted nanoblade launcher, one that will pierce flesh and armour with ease, often pinning corpses to the closest wall.
This is what makes Deus Ex: Mankind Divided so enjoyable: freedom. Few games allow such wildly varied opportunities, so if you’ve been looking to save the world, Adam Jensen is ready and waiting.
★★★★☆
