PC Powerplay - October 2013 AU

p. 42

One of adventure gaming’s

longest journeys concludes

DREAMFALL CHAPTERS

4PC P OW E R P L AY

50 5

FRONTEND

13 Release Schedule

14 Big Pic

16 Digital Curtain

18 Black Annex

20 The Indie Microbrewery

24 Indies @ Home

30 10 to Watch

34 PCPP Interview: Outlast

OPINION

36 Source Code

38 JAM

40 Generation XX

FEATURE

42 Dreamfall Chapters

TECH

52 Warranty Feature

58 AMD Interview

60 Hotware

61 My PC

62 NVIDIA Triple Threat:

GTX 700M

64 NZXT Phantom 530

65 Thermaltake Volus

Thermaltake Cronos

67 BenQ XL2411T

THE BUNKER

70 MSI Z87 XPower

72 Overclocking ARMA II

REVIEWS

78 Amnesia

80 Card Hunter

82 Dragon Commander

84 Influx

85 Magrunner: Dark Pulse

86 Beatbuddy

87 Megabyte Punch

88 Gone Home

90 Papers, Please

91 Space Hulk

92 Splinter Cell Blacklist

94 PayDay 2

96 The Bureau: XCOM

Declassified

STATE OF PLAY

101 Deus inexperienced

102 Spelunky

104 Extended Memory

REGULARS

08 Inbox

98 Subscriptions

106 Next Month

MSI Z87XPOWERp. 70

The Bunker-worthy

motherboard overflowing

with features

WARRANTY WORRIES

p. 52

How consumer

laws are protecting

your tech purchases

THE INDIE MICROBREWERYp. 20

Behind the scenes of Australia’s

new indie game publisher

AMNESIA: A MACHINE FOR PIGS

p. 78

More terrifying than swine

flu?

NVIDIA’STRIPLE THREATp. 54

How the new GTX 700M is

revolutionising laptop gaming

INDIES @ HOMEp. 24

The Australian indie games

that will change PC gaming

PC P OW E R P L AY

7PC P OW E R P L AY

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Daniel Hindes

[email protected]

GROUP ART DIRECTOR Malcolm Campbell

[email protected]

DESIGNER Oliver Barles

[email protected]

TECH EDITOR Bennett Ring

[email protected]

INTERN Zac Naoum

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTORSNathan Cocks, James Cottee, Anthony Fordham, Steve Holt,

Terrence Jarrad, James O’Connor, Meghann O’Neill, Stephen

Schulze, Dan Staines, Daniel Wilks, Katie Williams, Matt

Wilson, Theo, Wonkers

ADVERTISING

GROUP NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER

Cameron [email protected]

02 9901 6348

M: 0405 356 419

ADVERTISING TRAFFIC

Alison [email protected]

02 9901 6346

PRODUCTION MANAGER Alison Begg

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Carole Jones

SUBSCRIPTIONS www.mymagazines.com.au

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COVER DISC ENQUIRIES:[email protected]

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207 Pacific Highway

St Leonards, NSW 2065

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St Leonards, NSW 1590

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

David Gardiner

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Bruce Duncan

PC PowerPlay is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805

970, Building A, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW

2065 © 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may

be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission

of the publisher. Printed by Webstar Sydney, Distributed in

Australia by Network Services. ISSN 1326-5644. The publisher

will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of

information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material

submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be

taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage.

Privacy Policy

We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide

personal information through your participation in any competitions,

surveys or offers featured in this issue of PC PowerPlay, this will be

used to provide the products or services that you have requested

and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may

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event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers,

we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may

use the information you provide us to inform you of other products,

services and events our company has to offer. We may also give

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Dream A Little Dream For Me

When you go to E3 for a PC magazine, it’s an experience

that’s far removed from, say, my colleagues over at

HYPER. Ravenous over the impending launch of the new

consoles and gorging on booth previews of f rst-party

exclusives, such multi-platform magazines have their big

stories handed to them on a platter (read: blasted at them

on giant televisions amidst a hail of dubstep).

Me, not so much. Dubstep is more of a warning signal:

avoid, avoid. Our big stories weren’t projected onto wall-

high screens or conf ned to hardware showings in glass

cases. You may recall our cover story in PCPP#218 on the

Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty remake; a story that resulted from

an impromptu tweet at Lorne Lanning, then arranging to

meet “by the bin next to the Starbucks” just outside E3’s

South Hall.

Meeting with Dreamfall Chapters developer Ragnar

Tornquist the next day was slightly more glamorous (we

rendezvoused by Wargaming’s giant replica tank, because,

how can you miss it, it’s a goddamn tank), but the fact

remains: these people, and the projects they’re working on,

are of so much more interest to PCPP than the big publisher

booths dressed to the nines just a few metres away. All you

have to do is f nd them.

And so we set about conspiring to put Dreamfall Chapters

on the cover; the result - the issue you’re holding now. It’s a

game we want to champion for a number of reasons - which

you can discover by digesting Meghann’s thorough preview

on p.42 - but the most important is its legacy as one of the

most well-written adventure game series’ on PC, starring

some of the most true-to-life and strongest protagonists

ever put to in-game dialogue boxes. Chapters is all the more

interesting for how it will respond to the many missteps of its

predecessor, along with how it will set up an old-school, true-

to-its-roots successor if everything falls into place.

There are precious few strong female protagonists in PC

gaming. Beyond Good & Evil’s Jade; Syberia’s Kate Walker;

The Longest Journey’s April Ryan. Many would argue the Zoe

Castillo of Dreamfall isn’t worthy of such a list. Tornquist is

conf dent Dreamfall: Chapters will change their minds. Yet

we ourselves are torn, for we almost don’t want this journey

to end. But before it does, I’ll be spending next year’s E3

appointment times chasing down more developers by the bin

next to Starbucks.

Daniel Hindes

Editor

@dhindes

“Have you ever

done any Android

rooting before?”

“Great, you’ve

ruined gherkins

for me.”

“I’m way too

young for a

labiaplasty.”

8

fr

on

te

nd

0 8

LETTER OF THE MONTH

I’ve been an avid reader for about

three years now and every month

has me clamoring to get my hands

on the newest PCPP. Keep up the

good work.

Having said that, I was a little

dismayed at Terrence’s review of

MechWarrior Online in PCPP#218.

I can’t help feeling he was a little

harsh in his verdict. Maybe I’m

just biased; I’m a MechWarrior

fanboy. I have been since the

MechWarrior 2 trilogy and have

loved every iteration since, with

numerous gleeful memories from

my early youth, stomping about in

giant mechs and laying waste to

all in front of me.

I’ll admit the game is far from

perfect. Yes, it could do with more

variety in game modes and the in-

game menus are currently a mess

(soon to be addressed with UI

2.0). I’ve heard all the complaints,

read all the forum QQ’ing... I still

think if you just keep the right

mindset, you’ll have a good time.

If you’ve ever played a shooter, the

controls are easy enough to grasp

and as long as you work with your

teammates you’ll be okay. I’ve yet

to play Hawken. Frankly, my twitch

skills aren’t up to much so I may

struggle there, but hey... I’ll gladly

give it a go when I get the chance.

Granted, MechWarrior Online

may not be to everyone’s tastes

and that’s fne. At the end of the

day, if Piranha Games stay true to

the feel of the previous games and

keep up what they’ve been doing,

that’s more than enough for me.

Now where did I park my Atlas?

Michael Barrs

Thanks Michael! Though the

comparison between Hawken and

MechWarrior Online is perhaps a little

unfair – both are worth playing on their

own terms – it’s their close release

with near-identical free-to-play models

that makes it diffcult to commit to

more than one. MechWarrior Online

is clearly further behind in the polish

department than Hawken, but we trust

Piranha Games is up to the task. And

if the result is a signifcantly improved

game, we’re more than happy to re-

review it down the road.

DEAD AND CONQUERED

Oh, Command and Conquer, how

you have fallen. Obviously, I was

quite surprised and happy when

they released a trailer for C&C:

Generals 2 back in 2011. The

Frostbite engine made the game

look good, with gritty new graphics

while staying somewhat realistic.

This realism is what made the

original Generals so good and

possibly my favourite of the series.

My anticipation was dampened

when I hear that they had decided

to change the game to a free-to-

play format, and I instantly thought

it would be a pay-to-win RTS. Still, I

held onto my love for C&C.

Go ahead Michael, mech my day

However, when some of

the newer trailers came out,

it seemed they had cut out

quality for quantity. The detail

in the vehicles and units had

been traded for some pretty

explosions. But that wasn’t

the worst bit; the look of the

game seemed so cartoony. The

Generals (especially Thrax) and

units looked stupid (a sniper was

just a colourful hooded cloak

with a funny sniper-rife) and the

vehicles looked as though they

were pulled out of the Red Alert

reject-bin. And as far as I could

tell, nearly all the tanks had twin

cannons, something supposed to

be reserved for the Overlord.

I played and loved Generals

for its use of (mostly) real-life

vehicles and weapons, like the

Raptor and Scorpion tank, so I

don’t think that the zany look and

feel of everything belongs under

the Generals banner of C&C.

Alan Phan

It’s not all bad, Alan! Check our

PCPP#219 Strategy Special

interview with the devs for a closer

look at why this C&C is what it is.

Even if this former-Generals 2 isn’t

to your liking, its success could

pave the way for more of the old-

school C&C you love.

BOSSED AROUND

I know there is some tough

boss fghts out there. Two

of them were in Dragon Age:

Origins. Yet this boss fght is

easily the hardest and it took me

around sixty attempts and some

YouTube tutorials to break the

back of this monster. The game

is Deadpool, a game which only

got around a six out of ten on

your reviews. A game with such

a tough boss fght, I just want it

to go down in gaming history as

the hardest!

Mitchell Hall

We believe that was Mister Wilks of

HYPER magazine who slapped the

six on that game, and he doesn’t

recall any such diffculty spike. We

asked Deadpool himself, and he

told us to ask you if you’ve tried

not sucking?

LETTER OF THE MONTH wiNS!

Write in to PCPP with

your rants, considered

opinions, and endless

run-on sentences of pure

awesome. The address

is letters@pcpowerplay.

com.au. Each letter read by

hand! This month’s winner

scores themselves a

mesmerising Kisai Optical

Illusion LED Watch, thanks

to Tokyoflash!

PC P OW E R P L AY

10PC P OW E R P L AY

Welcome to the PCPP competitions page! With the office

positively overflowing in PC gaming goodies, it’s become so

difficult to do our ridiculously awesome jobs that we decided to

pass the savings onto you. And by savings, we mean free stuff.

Games, collectibles, swag, and all kinds of media that screams PC

gaming. Or perhaps those are the screams of the intern trapped

under the boxes of giveaways. Only one way to save them:

Head to www.pcpowerplay.com.au to enter!

To find the competitions, simply mouse over the “Community”

tab in the main menu at the top of the homepage, and click on

“Competitions”. Click through to each individual competition

page, fill out the form (be sure to agree to the terms and

conditions) and you’ll be in the running to win! Keep an eye

out for this page in future issues of PCPP, as we roll out new

competitions every month!

Corsair RM650The Corsair RM Series power supplies are built for

silence, modularity and supreme eff ciency. Thanks to

Corsair, we’ve got a RM650 to give away!

Splinter Cell BlacklistGet your stealth on with the return of Sam Fisher!

Thanks to Ubisoft, we’ve got 5 copies of the 5th Freedom

Edition of Splinter Cell Blacklist to give away!

Rayman LegendsThanks to Ubisoft, we’ve

got 5 copies of Rayman

Legends to give away,

with a bonus bundle that

also include the Rayman

Collection – that’s a total

of 5 Rayman games each!

TO ENTER:

Head to www.pcpowerplay.com.au

In 25 words or less, answer the following question:

Why does your PC need to be silent?

TO ENTER:



Where is the worst place to get a splinter?

TO ENTER:



How does Rayman jump with no actual legs?

1PSU

TO WIN!

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5PRIZE PACKS

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WIN

WIN WIN

COMPS

Tesoro Coladaand Shrike PackThe Colada is the latest in

mechanical keyboard input

with aluminium WASD key

caps! Plus, we’ve thrown in a

Shrike mouse! Thanks Tesoro!

Battlefield 4Get ready for the most

dynamic, destructible

multiplayer maps yet in

Battlef eld 4, along with a

return to epic and tactical

multiplayer naval combat!

Thanks to EA, we’ve got

10 copies of the game to

give away.

Total War: Rome IIThe biggest Total War

game yet sees you take

part in epic battles and

rewrite the history of

Rome! Thanks to Sega,

we’ve got 10 copies to

give away.

TO ENTER:



Why would the Tesoro Colada and Shrike increase your skill?

TO ENTER:



What vehicle have you always wanted to see in

a Battlefi eld game?

TO ENTER:



Who would make a good Emperor of Australia?

10COPIES

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10COPIES

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WIN

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS: 1. Entry is open to residents of Australia and New Zealand except employees and immediate families of nextmedia Pty Ltd and the agencies associated with any promotion. 2. Entrants under the

age of 18 must obtain the prior consent of a parent or legal guardian to enter. 3. Only entries completed with these terms and conditions will be eligible. 4. Entry is by fulf lling criteria noted with the competition. Competitions

are games of skill and chance plays no part in determining winners. 5. Competition begins at 19.09.13. Entries close at 24.10.13. In determining eligibility the judges’ decision is f nal and no correspondence will be entered

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BLACKLIST: Total prize value is $500. Five winners will receive 1 x copy of Splinter Cell Blacklist 5th Freedom Edition from Ubisoft. RAYMAN LEGENDS: Total prize value is $500. Five winners will receive 1 x copy of Rayman

Legends and 1 x copy of the Rayman Collection from Ubisoft. BATTLEFIELD 4: Total prize value is $900. Ten winners will receive 1 x copy of Battlef eld 4 from EA Games. TOTAL WAR: ROME II: Total prize value is $900. Ten

winners will receive 1 x copy of Total War: Rome II from Sega. TESORO COLADA AND SHRIKE PACK: Total prize value is $350. One winner will receive 1 x Tesoro Colada and 1x Tesoro Shrike from Tesoro. CORSAIR RM650:

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PRIVACY NOTICE: We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of PC PowerPlay this will be used

to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing

prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also

give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by

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1 2

THIS MONTH...

DANIEL HINDES

got blacklisted from everything@dhindes

MALCOLM CAMPBELL

caught the Bitch Tits on tour

FR

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ANTHONY FORDHAM

disregarded the squeegee mop’s safety card@popsciau

STEPHEN SCHULZE

earned the nickname Captain Crunch@jackablade

BENNETT RING

expired three days past his warranty@bennettring

STEVE HOLT

discovered how to super-power Chernarus

MEGHANN O’NEILL

fell down a Norwegian rabbit hole@fi rkraags

OLIVER BARLES

looked smashing in his new pink sweater

KATIE WILLIAMS

was a 90s kid, what of it?@desensitisation

CAMERON FERRIS

siphoned Eastern Europe’s finest@pcpowerplay

ZAC NAOUM

denied that twerking ever took place@zacnaoum

18 Black Annex

The solo Aussie indie that’s bringing Syndicate back

26 10 to Watch

Audiosurf 2, the return of the JRPG, Martian exploration and

more!

30 PCPP

Interview

Can you outlive the horror of

Outlast?

32 JAM

The chilling truth of the

Double Fine Kickstarter

JAMES COTTEE

has a way better camcorder in his phone@j_cottee

TERRENCE JARRAD

played a different kind of Bad Piggies@hailtonothing

JAMES O’CONNOR

worked off the sleeping gas in Everett ’s pad@jickle

DANIEL WILKS

needs to work on his quads@drwilkenstein


SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

T H E R E L E A S E S C H E D U L ELooking ahead to the upcoming PC game releases

FRONTEND

R AVEN’S CRYOCTANE GAMES, $TBA

BATMAN:ARKHAM ORIGINSWARNER BROS, $TBA

24th 25th

LEGEND: Good Old Games Download RetailSteam Origin uPlay

BAT TLEFIELD 4DICE, $TBA

31st

FIFA 14E A, $TBA

DE ADFALL ADVENTURESTHE FARM 51, $TBA

VOLGARR THE VIKINGCR AZ Y VIKING, $TBA

TAKEDOWN:RED SABRESERELL AN LLC, $14.99

PAC-MAN DXMINE LOADER, $9.99

SHADOW WARRIORFLYING WILD HOG, $39.99

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIIISNK, $29.99

AVGN ADVENTURESFRE AK ZONE, $14.99

LEGEND OF DUNGEONROBOT LOVES KIT T Y, $9.99

FOUL PLAYMEDIA TONIC, $14.99

TETROBOT & COSWING SWING SUBMARINE, $TBA

LILLY LOOKING THROUGHGEETA, $TBA

X REBIRTHEGOSOF T, $49.99

ASSASSIN’S CREED IVUBISOFT MONTREAL, $89.95

RISE OF VENICEGAMING MINDS, $TBA

ALIEN RAGECIT Y INTER ACTIVE, $TBA

27th

27th

NOVEMBER CALL OF DUT Y: GHOSTSINFINIT Y WARD, $TBA

NEED FOR SPEED RIVALSGHOST, $TBA

5th1st 16th 19thWATCH DOGSUBISOF T MONTRE AL , $TBA

22nd

14th 19th

20th 26th 26th 27th

28th

F1 2013CODEMASTERS, $TBA

5th

31st

COMMAND & CONQUERV IC T OR Y, F R E E-T O - P L AY

HOTLINE MIAMI 2DE NN AT ON , $ T B A

THIEFE IDOS MON T R E A L , $ T B A

MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECTA IR T IGH T G A MES, $ T B A

DYING LIGHTT ECHL A ND, $ T B A

CONTAGIONMONOCHR OME , $ T B A

PL ANETARY ANNIHIL ATIONUBE R E N T E R TA INME N T, $ T B A

PATH OF E XILEGR INDING GE A R , F R E E-T O - P L AY

SOUTH PARKOBSIDI A N , $ T B A

STARPOINT GEMINI IIL GM , $ T B A

CHAOS CHRONICLESCOR E P L AY, $ T B A

ARMA IIIBOHE MI A , $89 .95

ARMA IIIBOHE MI A , $89 .95

Q3

Q4

2014


1 4

FR

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Betrayer DEVELOPER BL ACKPOWDER GAMES

PUBLISHER BL ACKPOWDER GAMES

DUE TBA

www.blackpowdergames.com

From ex-developers of FEAR and No One Lives

Forever comes this highly-stylised f rst-person

shooter set in the New World at the turn of the

17th century. Check that visual style, ‘cause

this ain’t just concept art - the in-game graphics

have just as strong a Frank Miller vibe. Whether

this give you headaches as you explore the

environment and f ght ghostly Conquistados

remains to be seen. But what we have seen

looks beautiful. Now who is that woman in red...


1 5

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V I S C E R A C L E A N U P D E TA I L

WHY VISCERA CLEANUP DETAILFREAKS ME OUT- All the bad parts of abandoned space station

games... turned up to 11.

- The idea that geeks will play this while their

real-life flat gets steadily filthier around them.

- The yellow rubber gloves. Something about

yellow rubber gloves handling body parts...

- Space-mop is crappy normal mop with

metallic tube glued on the side.

CHOICE QUOTES“Don’t expect it to be perfect or resemble a

completed game at all!”

“The first version of the game was only built

in 10 days in a rather intensive work process.

V0.12 was only an extra week of work”

(Emphasis ours.)

“As the janitor, it is your duty to get this place

cleaned up.”

Half-eaten brains all over the CO2 scrubbers ate my brain!

DE V E L OP E R RUNES TORM

OR IGIN WARK ING HOARD AND FORCED IN SER TH EFFRIC A

runes torm.com /viscera

Hey guys, hey – hey you guys, you gotta

see this awesome YouTube video.

It’s like this joke Unreal Tournament mod

where a guy has to clean up a space

station after the lone marine gibbed all

the cacodemons or whatever, and there’s

goo on the walls and he has to mop up

the blood, and his mop gets all bloody so

he has to push a button to squeeze out

his mop and then throw the skulls and

mashed kidneys into the incinerator, it’s

an awesome piece of satire and... wait,

you mean this is a real game?

As in, a game you can play? A game

that Valve has actually Greenlit on

Steam? That you can download the

free alpha of and wander around a

space station and literally mop the

floors? Okay... uh... so what it is, is that

sometimes people take a joke too far.

Someone gets drunk and says (in a thick

South African accent): “How funny would

it be if you were the janitor on a space

station after the eldritch horror just got

defeated, hahaha?”. And the normal

response to that is either a kind of half-

laugh, or if you’re crazy, you’ll spend a

week making a joke YouTube video. Then

you get it on cracked.com and go back

to making your real game (Rooks Keep, a

fantasy melee deathmatch brawler billed

as UT with swords).

On the other hand if you’re not just

CRAZY but SHARLTO COPELY in ELYSIUM

crazy, is ACTUALLY MAKE a game called

Viscera Cleanup Detail and expect

gamers to engage with it. Runestorm –

a veritable torm of runes – has spent

hours, probably more than 100 hours,

building some test levels and modelling

the way the mop gets soaked with blood

and then just starts making the floor

dirtier again.

However, they have taken the time

to set up a pre-order form on their

website. You too can be part of VCD’s

development with a one-time $5

donation. Five bucks. Enough to feed a

starving child for a day. In Africa.

The best part of all this? At the

moment, the station is still just as

abandoned and empty as it was when

the demons were getting blasted.

Except this time nothing jumps out at

you. You just work your space-mop, over

and over, presumably cursing the son-

of-a-bitch who put you on... (cue title

card)... viscera cleanup detail.

PC P OW E R P L AY

16

Shall we to men benighted, the

lamp of life deny?

BLACK ANNEX

DEVELOPER MAN FIGHT DRAGON

DUE 2014

www.blackannex.net

Forty-one point eight megabytes. That’s

how big the zip file containing the

PAX Australia build of Black Annex is.

It’s impressive to think that compressed

within this file, is a playable version

of one of our most anticipated indie

games. Scratch that. One of our most

anticipated games, full stop.

Developer Lance E. McDonald, known

also by his studio name Man Fight

Dragon, feels there is still a lot of work

to do. “I need to create more missions

and agents so I have a lot more content

in which to test the game. It’s so often

that I get things working so smoothly for

every situation in a given mission, but

then I take things to another mission

and everything is unpredictable.”

He’s referring to Black Annex’s

world of corporate espionage with

influences harkening as far back as

1993 to Bullfrog’s Syndicate, and it

immediately shows. While pixel art is

hardly uncommon in this era of indie

resurgence, there’s something else

here: a cold colour palette and utilitarian

design that projects a tone of near-future

cyberpunk dystopia without a word of

exposition uttered.

Its retro approach belies both its

internal complexity and difficulty. Tasked

with a simple objective, to kill or capture

an enemy agent, we failed the first try.

And the second. Then the third. Fast

forward several hours, and success

materialised through dozens of failed

starts and near-misses.

What’s notable is not only the

unnoticed passage of time, but our

lack of internalised frustration. Pre-

alpha code or no, this element of Black

Annex is nigh perfect; it never felt like

failure was the fault of the game. Lance

doesn’t agree.

“It’s still not at that point, but I am

watching people play and learning things

I need to change to avoid those unfair

failures. The player needs to feel like

they have learned by failing, and that it’s

an important part of the progress.”

Asked whether he’s meeting his own

milestones, he responds, “There hasn’t

been a time-frame set out for

Black Annex at this point… I just

tell myself ‘If I don’t finish this

in 2014, something’s probably

wrong.’” It’s clearly going to

take some time for this one

man development studio to live

up to its employee’s own standards,

let alone to release Black Annex into

the wild.

So it seems that those forty-one point

eight megabytes contain so much more

than just a game demo. Compacted right

alongside code and sprites are thoughts

and ideas, certainty and possibility,

hope and ambition. Our hands-on was

a pre-alpha build, a wisp of what the

final version is striving to achieve, but

the hours following the file extraction

left no doubt in our mind that Lance E.

McDonald will fully realise his vision.

TERRENCE JARRAD

18 bLacK aNneX

20 tHE iNdiE mIcRobReWerY: sUrPriSE

aTtAck

Indies @ Home24 hAnD oF fAtE

aSsAulT aNdRoiD cAcTus

25 fRaMed

26 mUsE

fRaCtuReD sOuL

27 sQuAre hErOes

nInjA pIzzA gIrL

28 dUnGeoN dAsHerS

mEtaL dEAd: eNcOre

10 to Watch30 tEmPorUS

aUdIosUrF 2

hYbRis

31 MtbfrEerIdE

pRoJecT pHoEniX

pReCinCT

32 sNoW

sEcRetS oF rAeTikON

lAcUna pAsSagE

33 vOlUme

the Pcpp InterView34 rED bArRelS: Outlast


tHE nOvEltY oF tHiEveS

We cleared the demo level on the first attempt using an assault team to cut a bloody swathe to our target.

Deceivers can hack servers to set off a remote terminal, distracting enemy Decievers and allowing their capture.

Create a “solution” by selecting the team members and kitting them out with the right tools for the job.

Enforcers are your ticket to front-row seats at a bloodbath. Shoot through doors and enemies with equal disregard.

The stealthy approach frequently resulted in discovery, which quickly meant death at the hands of enemy enforcers.

CameraCreature Haseyes | QBASIC shenanigans

aside, what’s Lance’s

favourite feature so far? “I’m really happy with the way ‘sound’

works in the game. It’s mostly invisible, but under-the-hood, the

sounds your weapons make, or the sound of an alarm going off

or an agent calling for help; they all behave in a very detailed way.


PCPP: Indie publishing – that’s got to be an

oxymoron, right?

Wright: The inspiration I had was Indie

record labels, and that’s exactly the same

thing in music, but they view it in an entirely

different way. Indie record labels are loved,

they’re a stamp of quality and being on a label

that you love means you’re probably going

to buy a record because you love that band.

But with the bigger labels, you’re not going to

buy a record because it’s on Sony Music, just

like you wouldn’t buy a game because it’s an

EA game necessarily. All it tells you is that

it’s good quality, because they’re not going to

put out a game with really shitty production

values, so you can expect certain standards.

The same thing should apply for games.

Devolver Digital [Publisher of Hotline Miami

and the upcoming Shadow Warrior remake] is

my sort of reference indie publisher; I think

they’re doing it right and they have a really

strong flavour to each of their games; they’re

going to be a bit edgy. So we want to do

the same thing essentially, where you see a

Surprise Attack game and you think “Alright,

I’ve got a sense that that’s probably going to

be pretty good.

What are you doing as a publisher, in

a practical sense? Are you funding

development?

We’re not funding development; that’s

the goal, but we don’t have the resources

to do that yet. We take on all marketing

duties essentially, that’s where most of the

investment goes, and we also cover most

of the marketing card costs. We’ve got our

booth at PAX, if we want to do websites we

pay for that if we need it and so on. There’s

some hard money, but mostly it’s a lot of

time. We’re running a campaign for the team.

They’re involved in it, they’re co-owners of the

campaign; basically, we don’t try and exclude

the dev from the marketing, but ultimately we

take responsibility.

It’s crucial to give the dev creative input

into that, because a triple-A publisher is very

much about the publisher; the dev has a bit of

a say, but it’s a much stronger ownership. The

whole thing with indie is we’re trying to keep

that flavour and creative freedom, so if we

start taking freedom away from them, then we

lose that goal.

What would be involved in rejecting a game

from the label because it didn’t meet your

level of quality?

We look at the theme and quality of the

game, we look at whether we can make a

difference to the game, I don’t want to sign

something and feel like it’s too big for us.

Take, for example, Antichamber. It’s a game

that I never went anywhere near, because

Aussie indie marketing agency Surprise Attack has launched a new initiative into the world of indie game publishing. DANIEL HINDES shared a cold one in a Melbourne basement pub with brewmaster Chris Wright to distill what this means for Australia’s indie developers.


I took one look at the game and said to

[developer] Alexander Bruce, “You know

what, I would just get in the way, you don’t

need me, and if I did get involved, it would

just spoil the fact that you’ve got this single-

minded vision.”

We definitely have a sense of who the

audience is, what we call the connoisseur;

people who are typically older, and for them

it’s about the new game, not the big game, so

rather than playing Call of Duty, they want to

play a shooter that does something different.

Think about Carlton. It’s a very popular

beer, lots of people like it, but it can’t be too

offensive and it can’t change its ingredients or

its recipe because it is what it is. It’s the same

with a big triple-A game; they need to sell so

many units now that they have to take the edges

off. You can’t be edgy or risky, because you can’t

afford to have people not come. You look at a

game like Mirror’s Edge and the reason it didn’t

necessarily work so great the first time, yet you

start to see that some people embraced it and

loved it, but for most people it was too different

and they weren’t prepared to take the risk. Indie

games really opened up that audience, so for us,

all our games are targeted at that person.

So which beer is the Surprise Attack game?

I guess it’s a range of beers, in the way that

we’ve got beers today from Hawthorne and

they’re becoming a popular brew, they’ve got

a range of different flavours, but each of them

comes with the same attitude. For me it’s like,

the First SurprIses | Two of the first games

to come out of the

new Surprise Attack label will be on PC. Particulars is a

unique puzzle game in which the player is transformed

into a quark and must interact with rooms of other

control-modifying particles to proceed.

The second game, Burden, could not be more

different, resembling a tower defence game on the

move. Players construct static defences on the back of

a massive colossus as it roams the landscape under

threat from tiny climbers and flying nasties.

Our hands-on time with both games provided a clear

sense of the unique brew Surprise Attack is concocting.

We can’t wait to see what’s next in the pipe.s21PC P OW E R P L AY

there’s nothing wrong with Carlton,

and there’s nothing wrong with a big

triple-A game from a big triple-A publisher,

but I’m excited about the stuff at the

edges, the stuff that might not be a

particularly polished experience, but it does

something really different. Like Proteus; it’s

definitely not for everybody, but you play it

and if you get it, you just love it.

As a former Director of Marketing at the

now-folded THQ Australia, do you see the

lack of risk-taking in the triple-A space ever

reaching a critical mass and starting to

decline?

I call the triple-A games publishing

business an arms race, and this is the

thing; it’s not the publishers’ fault at all, it’s

the symptoms of the market that create it.

Since the beginning of games, there’s been

an arms race of technology; people are like,

‘Now we’re doing this new thing and I’ve got

to invest more, and now look I’ve got fancier

graphics or sound,” and it just escalates,

escalates, escalates. The price point always

stays the same. It isn’t based on what it

costs to develop; it’s an arbitrary price point

that dictates what you can do. We did all our

forecasting based on, for example, selling

a game for $80. Call of Duty sells over 20

million units every single year, so their dev

budget is fucking huge! So how can another

triple-A shooter compete with that?

So what we’re seeing is a thinning out of

who can do triple-A games, because only

some games can be big enough to justify the

production values that people expect at that

cost. You see games like Tomb Raider that

was one of the fastest selling games of the

year, one of the best rated games of the year,

but it broke even at over three million units.

It’s insane, right? So I think triple-A isn’t

going away, but it’s had to change. We’ll see

is a lot more games that are maybe coming

out at maybe $30 instead of $80, or $20,

or $10. Through digital distribution you can

make that work, because the pie goes back

and there are fewer people involved. We’ll

see more games that like that will serve the

connoisseur.

What’s going to stop Surprise Attack from

turning into another Activision; you know,

the big evil publisher?

There’s no room for a new Activision;

there’s no space in the market for that. And,

philosophy-wise, it’s not what we want to

do. Right now we’re self-funding, so we’re

bootstrapping, salary sacrificing as directors,

putting all the money from our agency side

into the publishing. We are going to seek

out investment, but we’re only going to take

investment from people that understand the

mission and the vision and that’s why they’re

buying in. As long as we keep the philosophy

right, and stay small enough – we don’t

intend to have more than eight or nine games

a year, at most. We’re currently on three

and we’re not looking to sign up anything

immediately because we want to focus on

what we’ve got.

“I’m excited about the stuff at the edges that

might not be a particularly polished experience

but does something really different”


ANY CARDFight your way through the hand you’re dealt

HAND OF FATE

DEVELOPER DEF IANT DEVELOPMENT

DUE Q1 2014

www.def iantdev.com

It’s ominous, to explicitly see your path laid over cardbacks; before you, the

unknown. Move your counter and reveal the next increment of your story. Pray

at the altar, yes or no? Choose to engage bandits or lizardmen, based on your

gear and taste for battle. Fight, or quietly hide away from rain in the monster

cave? Hide? Why, pick a card, any card; success, failure, failure or massive failure

(Massive failure meant f ghting 2 bandits and 4 ratmen, just quietly).

Developer, Morgan Jaffit tells PCPP, “Hand of Fate is a fantasy roguelike where

you build a deck that then becomes your adventure. It is a hybrid of lots of

different styles; action-RPG, card-based games like Dominion, and roguelikes

like FTL and The Binding of Isaac.” So, if you happen across a weapon or

armour card through chance or a choice well made and discard a lesser

alternative, you must then be prepared to use it. Flexible, action combat occurs

on discrete levels, against a range of enemies with differing fighting styles and

characteristics.

There will be consequences for the choices you make during the course

of the unfolding story, and an economy to explore alongside evocative

descriptions of the landscapes you travel through. But be wary of the

Field of Poppies. It shuffles all of the cards around your feet. Your route

may become frighteningly circular.

DIE, ROBOTS!Speeding up the shoot ‘em up

ASSAULT ANDROID CACTUS

DEVELOPER WITCH BE AM

DUE OC TOBER

www.Assaul t AndroidCac tus.com

Assault Android Cactus is intense, aggressive and pulses horribly when you’re about

to run out of juice. So, it’s one hell of an exciting game, an arena shooter meets bullet

hell with old-school arcade feel. As well as blending classic sound effects with a clean,

engaging soundtrack, brightly coloured levels are dynamic, with pieces dropping in and out

as you take down a variety of stylish robots.

Failure isn’t tied to a loss of hit points, of which there are few; it’s tied to a loss of power,

consumed very quickly and impossible to conserve. Power simply needs to be maintained

by destroying enemies and full battery drops won’t occur until a number of enemies are

down. Designer Sanatana Mishra says, “The battery’s purpose is to nudge the player

towards a more aggressive playstyle where they are not just strafing away all the time.”

Influences are cited as Smash TV, Radiant Silvergun, and late 90’s arcade games.

You’ll find temporary powerups to spawn drones for additional firepower, to shutdown or

freeze enemies and, if this wasn’t already fast enough for an old girl like me, accelerate.

It’s an experience that’s fresh while also being quite nostalgic. Interestingly, all of the

playable characters are female. Expect a unique weapon set for each, and to combine their

strengths for four-player, local co-op across 25 levels.

Australian, independent game development comprises a diverse range of options for PC, plenty of genre hybridisation and a wealth of original ideas. MEGHANN O’NEILL has spent hands-on time with ten of the best, many of which are releasing later this year.

Indies @ HomeeXpLorInG tHE

lOcaL IndEpEndEnT

dEveLoPmeNT

sCenE


OUTSIDE THE SQUARESBecause the little man inside them keeps dying

FRAMED

DEVELOPER LOVESHACK ENTER TA INMENT

DUE Q1 2014

ht tp : //framed-game.com

Comic books are great, I agree, but who wants to just read

them? Okay, I do. But, what if the silhouette of the man with

the suitcase needed a little help? You’d help, right? What

if there were cops, with guns, in the very next panel? What

if you could move that panel elsewhere, to after where the

character had scaled to a rooftop? Well, you’d be playing

Framed, described by Lead Designer Joshua Boggs as a

“narrative-puzzle game set in a noir, comic book world.”

It’s a clever idea that brings the medium to life and one

that relies on a combination of influences Boggs cites as,

“Alfred Hitchcock’s films, Saul Bass’ art style, Frank Miller’s

Sin City, Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and the

iconic silhouettes and characters in the animated series

Cowboy Bebop.” The demonstration PCPP

played was set to a very sparse cityscape

in greys, pinks and with well-defined black

accents, and some smoky saxophone. But how does

it feel to play?

Well, it looks like a platformer, but isn’t. It’s a bit

like a puzzle game, but it isn’t that, either. Although

you’ll find clues here and there, you’re never quite

sure how the little man will interact with a frame until

after you’ve moved it. As Boggs says, “This results

in a unique interactive narrative, where every action

is framed by the last, and the only thing tying the

narrative vignettes together is the context the player

carries in their mind.”

For those interested in level design, many frames

are deliberately disorienting in their perspective on

the same space. Or, they join seamlessly together.

No puzzle presented us a challenge, so far, though.

In fact, on some pages, the task is to

simply swap two panels and then interpret

events. Although Framed certainly has the potential to feel

gimmicky, and without a deal of replay value, the idea that

the puzzles could get meatier, more difficult and enigmatic

at the game’s release is exciting.

But this is not something to be mastered. You could

certainly try to plan a solution to each page, but failures

provide more insight into how the action works, as well

as fleshing out the many premature routes to “The End.”

For every improbable escape, it’s nice to be reminded that

there were so many potential bullets to the heart along

the way. There’s no dodge or block maneuver, only an

omniscient rearranging of routes.

The eight pages we played form a sequential story,

following the flight of the silhouette with the suitcase

through buildings and down drainpipes. Certainly, I want to

know more. Why is he running? What’s in the suitcase? Has

he been framed? Framed for what? All I know is that I was

complicit in his daring getaway and invested in helping him

through whatever else happens. It’s likely the interpretation

will be left to the player, though. Framed is fuel for the

imagination, more than anything.


HEAR METrip the light fantastic on a transformational journey

MUSE

DEVELOPER CURRENT C IRCUS

DUE Q4

ht tp : //currentc ircus.com /projec t s /muse

It begins with only an aural wetness, some bubbling and an occasional,

distant groaning; maybe a squeak or two from nearby, pulsing jellyfish.

Before you emerge from your tunnel of origin, however, you’ve collected a

simple combination of pitch and rhythmic material, represented by individual

polygons and loosely related in a consonant kind of a fashion, to a definite

pulse. One time I was something distinctly Trance. Another time, I was

almost World Music.

What made the difference? It’s hard to tell. In one sense, you have

absolute control over your composition, because you are collecting and

transforming objects. In another sense, I still have no idea how most of

this happens. But traveling through a tunnel of glowing rings accelerates, or

decelerates, the tempo. I got that far. Don’t worry, though. As you journey in

this strange and bright, open place, you’ll glean at least some understanding

of what you are and your aural your context within it.

Designer Josh Birse says, “Muse is a musical exploration game set

in an abstract and surreal world that encourages players to experiment,

collaborate and share their musical experiences. We are inspired by

games that offer deeply emotional and synaesthetic experiences like

Rez, Electroplankton, Flower and Bjork’s Biophilia.” Muse uniquely engages

the player in the construction of an abstract and unique aural self. (It would

make a great teaching tool, too.)

THE TWO OF MEWhen one dimension gives you lemons, drink lemonade in

another

FR ACTURED SOUL

DEVELOPER ENDGAME S TUDIOS

DUE OC TOBER

www.frac turedsoul.com

What’s special about this 2D platformer? It’s set in two

dimensions. Two parallel realities, that is. In one exists you, the

Entity; in the other, only a translucent possibility of yourself. So, if

there’s a problem, like gun-toting enemy robots, dimension-shift to

where they fail to exist. It’s a simple idea, utilised to great effect.

Going deeper, one reality may be submerged, or gravity inverted,

meaning that if you’re about to fall to your death, your possible self

can probably be perched on the bottom of whatever you’re standing

on. Or, if one dimension’s snowstorm is blowing you around, the

other’s passageway might be enclosed, but more dangerous. There

are 24 levels, plus 6 bonus ones, with backdrops ranging from

chaos and lava, to outer space in which you can control a ship.

Co-Founder of Endgame Grant Davies says, “Fractured Soul

is like Mega Man on two screens - a retro style, side-scrolling

platform game. For the duality aspect, we took inspiration from the

ultra-challenging shmup game Ikaruga.” As well as clever, often

reflexive puzzling, using level design to tell an enigmatic story has

twice the depth, here. What is, and what could be, get inextricably

muddled, somehow. That levels are named things like, “spite,”

“isolation,” and “suffering,” and deliver little pieces of lore at

loading, is icing on quite a menacing cake.


POIGNANT FACESIt’s hip to be square when you’re wasting

the bad circles

SQUARE HEROES

DEVELOPER GNOMIC S TUDIOS

DUE Q1 2014

www.gnomics tudios.com

This is going to sound slightly nuts, but it’s

the facial expressions that first command

your attention here. It’s the story of a

stressed-looking yellow square in a top hat,

who winces in pain and smiles so gleefully

when things are going well. He’s a Square

Avenger, collecting artifacts from revengeful

aliens and transporting them via teleporter/

time machine.

As sequel to Square Off, Square Heroes

is a charming arena shooter. As well as a

single player campaign, there will be online

multiplayer, co-op survival and deathmatch

modes. Lead Developer Aranda Morrison

says influences include, “Many old school

games including Worms, Joust, Smash TV,

The Chaos Engine, as well as Left 4 Dead and COD: Nazi Zombies.”

With a jetpack and choice of two weapons, it’s easy to glide right in.

The cuteness will keep you playing, especially when enemies explode

hilariously. Just like shooting a watermelon. I imagine.

IN A DAY’S WORKTwo pizzas, garlic bread and a hug,

please. People are mean

NINJA PIZZA GIRL

DEVELOPER DISPARI T Y GAMES

DUE JULY 2014

www.dispar i t ygames.com

As the average age of people who play

games rises, and designers seek to strike

out on their own, family-based developers

may start to become a lot more common.

This Brisbane-based team draws on the

experience of two generations, with the 2D

artwork being cre ated by sixteen-year-old

Raven Stark. She cites her biggest influence

as Hayao Miyazaki.

In her words, “Ninja Pizza Girl is a side-

scrolling platformer about a teenage

girl who faces the ultimate challenge of

delivering pizza, while learning how to be her

own kind of awesome.” With lighter than air

leaps, long slides and multiple paths to your

destination, through levels influenced by the

rooftop slums of Hong Kong,

it’s a pleasure to play.

Well, until the enemy ninjas start surprising you with some genuinely

hurtful insults. Being called a “loser,” or similar, is a surprisingly

compelling motivation to play well, as well as learning the skills and

timing required to progress.

A WAR OF RAINBOWSWhat a Jackson Pollock game might

look like

PAINTERS UNITE

DEVELOPER C ANVA S IN TER AC T IVE

DUE Q3 2014

www.facebook.com / Painter sUni te

Compared to, “we’re not ready to talk

about it,” it’s a treat to sometimes see a

game quite early in development. Painters

Unite is, in the words of Creative Director

James Betar, “a top-down, online, multiplayer

shooter, with no death or violence,” and

is influenced by schoolyard games, like

Jailbreak and Build up Tips.

It’s about a group of corporate house

painters, over vying for business the

traditional way, and recruiting through

paint. I played with three others to get

a feel for it. It’s surprising that being

covered in, and converted to, a new colour

only hurts momentarily. Once you’re no

longer yellow, but red, you then become

accountable to red teammates for

converting more people. Yellow is

old news.

PCPP would be interested in

seeing the concept expanded

before release, with a range

of objectives explored. Betar

adds, “Other modes will see

players finding invisible players

with paint, painting buildings for

territory control and trying to

avoid cleaners, who try to

wash paint off them.”


MISLAID TOGETHERSo, an elf, a fighter, a wizard and this other

guy walk into a dungeon

DUNGEON DASHERS

DEVELOPER J IGXOR

DUE Q3

www.dungeondashers.com

Do you dare enter the Passage of Rubicon, the only known path through

the Obsidian Blockage? No-one has ever returned to give counsel. Or will you

remain, and stagnate, in the Realm? I don’t know about you, but that’s exactly

the kind of introduction that compels me to kick that Passage’s butt. Dungeon

Dashers is a turn-based party game which developer Andrew Sum describes as,

“Streamlining the typical dungeon crawler experience to make it as fast and as

fun as possible.”

The demonstration we played shows a very carefully-crafted tutorial,

introducing you to characters and abilities, alongside related aspects of terrain

or combat. The enigmatic, possibly-wizard-disguised-as-rogue can blink across

chasms, the burly watchman can bash boulders and so on. There is also a more

obviously dressed wizard and elven archer to flesh out your strategic approach to

a range of enemies. We found lots of little details, like the rogue always getting a

critical hit to an enemy’s back.

With mystery to uncover and characters who always know more than you

do about the plot, it makes for an intriguing narrative. Who are the Prime

Architects? What is this place, really? And, with level-based puzzles you can see

the solution to before you reach, and conveniently placed teleporters, yes, this

game plays very quickly. It’s an immensely satisfying way to approach the genre.

It’s also shipping with a full campaign editor.

METAL MINDSETIt’s totally possible to point and click

with your hand making the horns

METAL DE AD: ENCORE

DEVELOPER WALK THRU WALL S

DUE Q2 2014

www.walk thruwalls .com

There’s something about the combination

of a heavy metal lick and an impending

helicopter crash that sets your heart

racing, there just is. Metal Dead: Encore’s

designers say they’d like to create the first point and click adventure game to

get an R18+ rating in Australia. We think they’re joking. Maybe. The quality of

the gratuitous, cartoon gore in the short scene PCPP played was nothing short

of, well, soaking.

In this unique take on the undead apocalypse, designer and writer Liam

O’Sullivan says, “We have a really strong story with an emotional backbone to

it, this time around.” It follows the well-received Metal Dead, described by our

own James O’Connor as, “more than capable of planting a big dumb grin on

your face,” and which you can buy through Desura, right now. Encore promises

both more of the same and some key improvements, however.

Most obviously, the all-important aural backdrop is of higher resolution.

O’Sullivan says that a fan of the original contacted them and asked to compose

music for the sequel. We heard both a very clean sounding, enduring climax,

with subdivisions and drum fills, that should make your fingers and arms ache

in sympathy, respectively, as well as a gentler texture behind a contrasting

scene. Somehow, it’s a formula that just works to light and typical adventure-

style puzzling. So, keep an eye out for this game (and a falling helicopter).


TEMPORUS

DEVELOPER F IREBELLY S TUDIOS

DUE Q4

www.tempor.us

Ever since Tyrian we’ve been fans of the little

shmups that could. Though Temporus probably

won’t ship with DESTRUCT mode, it is doing

some nifty things with the player’s ability to board

other ships. Upon a successful boarding, the

view switches to that of a sidescrolling platformer

chock full of environmental navigation, puzzles

and boss battles. You can even explore your own

ship and check out the various engineering and

research decks. Will Firebelly take a page out of

Mass Effect’s codex and include love interests?

HYBRIS

DEVELOPER MONS TERS

DUE Q2 2014

www.mons ter sarehere.com

Imagine Trine if it were terrifying, and you’re on

the way to getting a sense of Hybris. Developer

Monsters calls it a psychological puzzle-platformer,

with a Gaiman-esque magical world behind that of

the player character, a kid named Kevin. He’ll need

to pay close attention to his environment as he

solves physics and inventory-based puzzles in order

to escape danger and survive the night’s onslaught

of dark creatures. And who’s on board for the

soundtrack but none other than Austin Wintory, last

heard composing Monaco’s smooth ragtime tunes.

AUDIOSURF 2

DEVELOPER DYL AN F I T TERER

DUE TBA

air.audio-sur f.com

Okay, so, remember how this whole

indie game revolution started? That’s right:

Audiosurf. As one of the f rst super cheap,

high concept indies available on Steam –

a digital distribution platform that, really,

until then, was for Valve and other triple-A

games – it helped us be more inclusive of

the entire indie scene. Audiosurf 2 probably

won’t be as revolutionary, but a switch to

f rst-person that allows you to “ride, sprint

and swim” your music is just as intriguing

as the original idea. We should check on our

high scores.


MTBFreeride

Developer MTBF Te aM

Due TBa

mtbfreer ide.wordpress.com

Imagine if Trials Evolution was

a hardcore, realistic bike riding

simulator. It wouldn’t really be Trials

Evolution anymore, but that’s the game

MTBFreeride is taking on in the helpful

graphs on its Steam Greelight page that

explain how physics actually works. You’ll

still be going over jumps, but you’re not

going to be catapulting into the heavens.

What MTBFreeride DOES offer is a full

physics simulation of suspension, so

when you’re barrelling down those offroad

slopes, you’re going to feel it in the force

of your frst-person view. Now, where’d we

leave our Oculus Rift?

ProjecT Phoenix

Developer Projec T Phoenix Te aM

Due Q3 2015

www.projec tphoeni x . info

This could possibly be the most

successful indie Kickstarter campaign

ever. Yes, we say that for nearly all

of them, but check this out: Project

Phoenix reached its funding goal in

NINE HOURS; quadrupled that cash in

FOUR DAYS, and did so all with some

sweet pieces of concept art and a few

big names behind it. Yes, big names;

devs from Final Fantasy, Diablo III, LA

Noire, and more. What’re they making?

The frst big Japanese Kickstarter

game, and it’s something of a real-time

strategy crossed with JRPG bits.

PrecincT

Developer j iM Wall s reloaded

Due 2014

www.precinc tgame.com

From the creator of Sierra’s adventure

series Police Quest comes this frst-

person reimagining of the cop-based

adventure game. So, Police Quest for

a new generation, then. This ain’t no

point-and-clicker; Jim Walls is promising

car chases, shootouts, shooutouts

whilst in car chases, chases on foot,

and interactive bar fghts where you can

indiscriminately pepper spray perps. After

an unsuccessful Kickstarter attempt, the

devs are now taking funding through their

own site. At the time of writing, it’s not

even 3% there. Go give them some love,

or the mayor’ll have their arse for this.


Snow

Developer PoPPermos t Produc t ions

Due tBA

www.snowthegame.com

The indie dives into downhill sports

continues with this open-world skiing sim,

Snow. Developer Poppermost Productions

is most proud of what it calls a massive

and dense mountain environment, packed

with various slopes to slalom (Alliteration

SLAM -Ed) and jumps to pull 1080s off in

a more realistic interpretation of winter

sports. Are 1080s still realistic though? I

hope so. Anyway, there won’t be a minimap,

so you’re free to explore the mountain

as you see ft. Or, if you want to look at it

another way, it’s like Skyrim except the only

direction you can go is down.

SecretS of raetikon

Developer Broken rules

Due Q4

secre t s-of-rae t ikon.com

An exploration game set in a mysterious

alpine wilderness, Secrets of Raetikon

follows on from Broken Rules’ Wii U

exclusive aerial racer, Chasing Aurora.

Why’d they branch out to PC? Because

being indie doesn’t mean you only want

three people to play your game. As

mentioned, this is more about exploration

that fying around collecting pickups, as

it sees the player character’s wild animal

on a quest to restore pieces of old

machinery. We didn’t know animals could

use machines! Oh no, lock the doors!

Lacuna PaSSage

Developer r Andom seed GAmes

Due decemBer 2014

www.randomseedgames.com

Space is awesome! If you don’t think

so too, you probably haven’t looked up

in a while. Do so, and you might see a

little red dot in the night sky. That’s Mars!

And this game goes there! But it ain’t no

Bohemia Interactive rover-simulator, oh

no – Lacuna Passage is about surviving

on Mars as a PERSON after the frst

manned mission to the Red Planet goes

awry. What results is a System Shock-like

archaeological exploration of the events

leading up to the disaster, with mission

logs to fnd, audio logs to listen to and

a hostile atmosphere to contend with.

Space is awesome!


Volume

Developer Mike Bi thell

Due 2014

mikebi thel lgames.com /volume

Developer Mike Bithell is fast on his way

to becoming London’s own indie master of

minimalism. The creator of Thomas Was

Alone – an existential exploration of self-aware

geometry – is upping the visuals in his next

game, Volume, but keeping something of a

minimalist approach.

This ain’t no indie platformer, however.

As the game’s tagline states, Volume is

a stealth game about being heard. This

implies a more active, rather than reactive,

approach to stealth: taking action and using

distractions rather than sitting and waiting

for an opportunity to slip by. As you move

through the game, you’ll become more

notorious and fnd more items flling your

inventory, including more advanced tools for

aural manipulation.

But it’s the super-accessible approach to

creation that intrigues us the most. Bithell

wants Volume to be a stealth game that is

continually added to and modifed by the

community. He’s inspired by Metal Gear Solid

developer Hideo Kojima’s approach to frst

making levels out of Lego. Rather than hand

the result over to players, why not let them

dive into the brick pile themselves? Partners

in crime, then.


After a distinguished career designing camera controls for PoP: The Sands of Time and Uncharted, PHILIPPE MORIN set his focus on indie development. The result is Outlast, a horror game so intense it’s left play-testers scarred for life...

Red Barrels co-founder

Philippe Morin is pleased

with the way PC gamers have

been responding to his new

horror game. Outlast is proving

so successful at inducing fear,

it made a man playing the E3

demo faint clear away.

“He just collapsed. He

fainted for half a second, and

that was enough for him to

collapse. Sometimes people

become so tense that their

legs just lock. And then, at

some point when the tension

releases, they just: [smacking

sound]. Their legs just bend,

and they fall down.”

Outlast saw similar results

at PAX. “Three times we had

people knock the walls of the

booth, because they jumped,

and they would hit the wall.”

The game has even veteran

play-testers sweating profusely,

and taking frequent breaks to

escape the existential dread.

Why is this game provoking

such strong reactions? Because

its creators have strived

to make the purest horror

experience possible, untainted

by the extraneous trappings of

mainstream horror games.

For starters, the only way you

can escape the game’s setting,

an eerie mental hospital, is by

hiding and running. There are

no weapons. None at all. “It’s

almost as if your camcorder

is your weapon. That’s why we

treated it as a gun. You have

to f nd ammunition, which in

our case are batteries, and you

have to reload. And that’s your

only tool. So it’s really about

immersing the player in the

game world. Making him feel

like he’s stuck in there with

all those patients, with very

different personalities.

“It’s a little bit like if you

walk down the street, and you

see Hannibal Lecter, you would

never know he’s a criminally

insane person. It’s the same

feeling we’re going for. You walk

down a hallway, and there’s a

patient further down, and you

don’t know if he’s going to talk

to you, or if he’s going to jump

on you, chase you, ignore you...

So it’s the unpredictability of

the patients’ behaviour that will

help create this atmosphere of

tension.”

Beyond the main priority

of survival, the protagonist,

an investigative reporter, can

pick up clues regarding the

horrifying medial experiments

that created the deformed

freaks baying for blood. Or you

can just ignore the scrawling

on the walls and run for your

life. “It’s up to the player to

decide how much investigation

he wants to do. And while he

has the camera up, he’s going

to be able to record stuff that

will give him more background

information. But if players just

want to focus on surviving, and

getting out of this place alive,

they can do so. But those who

take the time to

explore, and use the camcorder

to record stuff, will get more

information, more backstory.”

Run and hide, live or die;

Philippe was proud of the purity

of the experience his team

has created... and lamented

the way mainstream horror

titles had become so watered

down. “What they’re always

trying to do is to reach a wide

audience, as much as possible.

And so what’s been happening

over the years is that they’ve

been incorporating stuff in

their horror games that might

make it more appealing to

some gamers, but at the same

time it turns off horror fans.

At the end of the day, it’s like

everybody wants to become the

next Call of Duty. I guess that’s

why they keep putting more

and more shooting, and more

and more action set pieces in

those horror games. And in a

way, maybe it helps to reach a

wider audience. But it def nitely

makes the game feel less and

less about horror.” In contrast

with Dead Space 3, Philippe

assured us there would be no

microtransactions.

Outlast will take around eight

hours to play through, and will

sell on Steam for $30; perhaps

a bit less. Philippe sees this

premium budget title space

as the niche where a small

studio is most likely to survive.

“That’s the bet we made when

we started this thing, ‘How can

we keep on making the games

that we’ve been making so

“So successful at inducing

fear, it made a man playing the

E3 demo faint”

THE PCPP INTERVIEW

W HO PHIL IPPE MORIN

W HE R E RED BARREL S

W H Y OUTL A S T

FR

ON

TE

ND

far, and try to bring the same

production value we’ve been

bringing to games like Sands

of Time, Splinter Cell, and

those other games? But keep

in within a certain scope that

we can manage it with a small

team.’ We’re ten people right

now. So for us, it made sense

to go for a game of that length,

and try to sell it at a price

point where it makes sense for

gamer to try a new IP.”

Kickstarter was not the

f rst choice for funding

Outlast, despite its success

in getting indie game projects

off the ground. The reason:

government largesse. “We’re

very fortunate in Canada. We

have something called the

Canada Media Fund. That’s

where about 70% of our

budget comes from. Of course,

crowdfunding might’ve been

an option if we couldn’t rely

on the Canada Media Fund.

Personally, I haven’t dealt with

it. But I’ve heard people say it’s

a lot of work just to work out

the page. Most people told me

it’s about a month of work to

get it started on the website.

So I guess in our case, we just

f gured that that month would

be best spent working on the

game, instead of trying to raise

more money. Obviously, if we

were to reach a point where we

desperately needed money, we

would consider it. But currently

we’re almost done with the

game, so we’ll be f ne.”

On the other hand, Quebec’s

oft-lauded games industry tax

breaks were no help at all.

“The way it works, you have

to complete your f rst f scal

year before you can submit

and receive money. So by the

time we get that money, we’ll

be done with the game for a

while. So it’s not really helpful

for start-ups, unfortunately.

The Canada Media Fund was

a big help to get us started,

but the Provincial Program is

mostly helpful to big studios

who already have a cash-f ow.”

In other words, it’s just another

form of corporate welfare.

That said, Philippe is amazed

at the progress of the Montreal

indie scene. “At E3, I think

there were four indie studios

from Montreal. That’s new. We

never had that before. I think

the Montreal industry right now

has reached a point, a certain

level of maturity, where we

feel like we’ve learned what

we needed to learn from big

studios, and now are ready to

move on and try other things.”

We also asked what

advice he had for aspiring

indies. “Stick to your guns, I

guess. Don’t forget, it’s just

money! [awkward gales of

laughter]” Philippe stressed

the importance of paying down

one’s personal debts, and

being in a f nancial position

where you could, say, survive

for 18 months without any

positive cash-f ow. “The funny

thing is that now, knowing what

we know today, we would’ve

been able to get it going within

six months. But that’s the

thing, you know. You have to

learn as you go. And learn

from your mistakes. Try to put

yourself in a position where

you can adapt to whatever

happens, because unexpected

things will happen.”

Yet in spite of the risks,

Philippe has fallen in love with

the freedom that the indie

lifestyle brings. “We’re just ten

people. We need to discuss

something, we just get up

and talk about it, and make a

decision on the spot. No need

for some people across the

ocean, or six hours away, to

have them take a meeting and

eventually come back to you

with some feedback. It’s just us,

and we’re making it happen.”

Even if his new company

never discovers any cities of

gold, there’s no doubt in his

mind that going indie was the

only way forward. “A grown man

cannot spend his whole life

in his parents’ basement. It’s

the same thing for us. We just

f gured that we’re ready to make

the move. And we haven’t had

any regrets since then.

“It’s great. I would never go

back. I would rather change

career than go back to working

for a big studio. I’m having

way too much fun right now.

[laughs]” JAMES COTTEE

Oh, my stars! *faints*

I find you searching for me to be quite disagreeable


OP

INIO

N/

SO

UR

CE

CO

DE

The bar door slowly swings open and a large

group of young men and a few women

stumble through, eyes barely open, struggling

to keep their heads up. They slump gratefully

onto chairs and barstools as one approaches

the bar. The bartender looks at the assembly.

“Bloody hell mate. Have you lot been out

fighting bushfires or something?” “Nah”, says

the producer. “We’re game developers. We’ve

just finished crunch”. “Ah”. The bartender

nods sagely as a tester falls off a stool with a

loud thud and begins to snore.

Game development is an industry of

extremes. The expense of making games

and high rate of financial failure means

a few small mistakes can kill even a very

successful development studio. As we saw

recently with THQ, a few larger blunders can

even fell a major publisher. Because of this,

the publishers who provide the funding for

games have to become ever more ruthless

when dealing with studios. Along with putting

a clamp on creativity in favour of the familiar

and well tested, this will mean a very rigid

schedule of milestones and tighter deadlines.

This is seldom more evident than towards

the end of a project when those time

restrictions really come into play. This time

is universally known as “Crunch”, a period

where the amount of overtime required to

complete the game drastically increases, the

typical 8 hour working day ballooning to 12,

14, 16 hours or even beyond in particularly

extreme cases. In an ideal world, a well

planned project shouldn’t require crunching

at all, but it is extremely rare for a title to

ship without at least a few late nights for the

team. Developing a game is an organic and

very complex process and elements will often

take longer than expected to create while

new ones will no doubt be added over the

process of the development cycle.

There’s a certain novelty to starting crunch

that will last for a day or two, particularly if

you haven’t been through many of them in the

past. You’ll likely start on a fairly manageable

extra 23 hours. You have a little excitement

from moving on to the final push on the game

you’ve been on for months or even years. The

management will bring you a pizza dinner. If

you’re lucky you might even be generating

time in lieu for a holiday after the game

ships, assuming you’re not immediately laid

off. It’s kind of fun.

From there, things will begin to

deteriorate. If the team is really behind that

initial nine o’clock finish will drift towards

the small hours of the morning as deadlines

loom. Taxi fares will likely be provided

when the team start finishing too late for

public transport. In particularly extreme

circumstances it’s not unheard of for

breakfast options to begin appearing in the

studio kitchen to feed those staff for whom

there is little point in going home before

returning again the following morning.

Even minor crunches can take a toll on

developers physically and emotionally. It’s

the fatigue you’ll feel first. Even if you’re

only doing a few extra hours and not actually

staying awake any longer than you normally

might, the extra hours focusing on the

task at hand are draining. You’ll become

progressively more tired as days pass, which

will leave you more stressed, slower in your

work and more likely to make mistakes. All

likely to make your tasks take that little bit

longer, which will in turn exacerbate your

stress levels and the tension between your

colleagues.

Health can also suffer if the crunch is

prolonged. Long sedentary periods with

minimal time for exercise; a subsistence on

coffee, energy drinks and greasy fast food;

late night after late night and that heightened

stress level are a recipe for any number of

ailments during a period when you absolutely

cannot afford to take sick leave. Depression

and the occasional angry outburst are also

not uncommon as the physical duress, tense

environment and enormity of the task at hand

take their toll. In my own experience one

of the biggest contributing factor to crunch

time blues came from the lack of sunlight.

Getting in early in the

morning, working in lowlight

conditions all day and

then getting out after dark

meant never really seeing

the sun, something which

I found had a surprisingly strong negative

impact on the emotions.

It takes a certain type of person to survive

in the games industry for long. One who’s

prepared to make a few sacrifices for the

love of their chosen discipline. One who’ll

endure some hardship to make the best

game they can, even if that game is about

ponies. Game developers are one and all

a little mad, but they’re some of the most

chilled out, fun and entertaining folks you’re

likely to meet. There’s a lot of fun to be

had in games, but there are a lot of tough

times too. Whether the project is triple-A or

shovelware, it’s the team at your side that

make it worth persevering.

“It’s not unheard of for

breakfast options to begin

appearing in the kitchen”

CRUNCH TIMEThe grim final charge for the gold master disc

STEPHEN SCHULZE is an Australian developer

whose worked at Sidhe and Tantalus spanned

over 15 shipped titles.

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OP

INIO

N/

JA

M

JAMES COTTEE thinks you’re all a

bunch of no-good icebergs. He budgets

videogames for breakfast.

“The tiniest miscalculation

could set off titanic disaster

dominoes”

Backers of the Double Fine Adventure

Kickstarter have reaped incredible

rewards from their modest donations:

kudos, cachet, street cred, and glimpses

of the development process thanks to an

exquisitely lit behind-the-scenes video series.

They’re also getting a novel insight into the

emotional roller coaster ride that Majesco

Entertainment executives experienced when

working with Tim Schafer eight years ago,

back when losses from Psychonauts helped

push them $18 million into the red, causing

the Majesco CEO to resign in disgrace.

One could describe the crowd-funded

Double Fine Adventure, now dubbed Broken

Age, as a victim of its own success. Originally

budgeted for 300 grand and a 2012 release,

the overflowing Kickstarter war chest blew out

the estimated cost by an order of magnitude.

It also activated a slew of stretch goals,

which inexorably led to a dramatic increase in

complexity and scope. With this multiplier in

effect, the tiniest miscalculation could set off

titanic disaster dominoes, and Schafer soon

found himself looking at projections where

his team would run out of money long before

the new 2015 release window.

Suspicions festered. Would funds from the

Massive Chalice Kickstarter veer off course

into Schafer’s rapidly dilating black hole? Was

the Double Fine empire a house of cards?

Something had to give. And so, with the

wisdom of Solomon, Schafer decreed that his

baby would be cleft in twain, with funds from

its early-access Steam release (hopefully)

funding the project through to completion.

It’s the 11th hour, and all is well. But how

and why did it all go so wrong? To be fair, this

whole Kickstarter business was unknown

territory for Double Fine. But once the funding

levels got locked in, it seems amazing that

an industry veteran and entrepreneur of such

standing, experience, and virtuosity couldn’t

budget his time and money with an adequate

margin for error.

We may never, ever find out what the

deciding factor was. But there are certainly

clues scattered around, clues which laymen

might collect and combine with every single

object in their mental inventories; clues with

which one could, just maybe, cobble together

into an explanation. For one thing, Double Fine

is located in the heart of San Francisco, one of

the most expensive cities in the world to live

in. Rents, salaries, expenses; by necessity,

all must be sky high. It’s a burg replete

with every distraction imaginable, and more

besides. Coincidentally, Double Fine staff have

traditionally identified their secret projects by

naming them after their favourite dive bars.

This would suggest an enlightened office

culture where employees are encouraged to

maintain a healthy work/life balance.

But there are other ways to get things

done. Irrational set up its Australian studio

in Canberra so their staff wouldn’t be led

astray by beaches, culture, or fun. Fred Ford

and Paul Reiche III reportedly went one

better, retreating to Alaska before putting

the finishing touches on Star Control II. If

they ever abandon the Skylanders racket to

return to their roots with a Star Control IV

Kickstarter, one would hope that their stretch

goals would all be skewed towards isolation.

For three million, they might set up a dev

studio on an abandoned oil rig. Five million:

the South Pole. Twenty million: in space.

Come to think of it, Fez might’ve come out

a tad closer to its initial 2009 release date

if Phil Fish had forgone swinging Montreal

for a shack amongst the lumberjacks. And if

George Lucas has taught us anything, it’s that

once one becomes fabulously successful, it’s

easy to get ensconced in the Comfort Zone –

a two-dimensional prison from which quality

entertainment seldom escapes...

As an addendum, I’d like to apologise for

a factual error in last month’s column. The

second annual Molyjam, Molyjam Deux, was

not a global programming marathon which

challenged participants to make games

inspired by the ‘Peter Molydeux’ comedy

Twitter account. Rather, it dared

participants to make games

inspired by quotes from the

man himself: “I keep finding

myself rejected by men, which

is a new experience for me.”

“What do the taps mean?” “The engine isn’t

finished. Her buttocks are wrong.” The man is

truly God’s gift to gaming.

Just as the futurists promised us, the

unending growth and convergence of

technology has led to a kind of singularity. Not

the primordial goop at the end of Evangelion,

but the power to make impossible dreams

come true. A decade ago, Peter Molyneux’s

thought bubbles would waft out into the ether,

their perfect forms doomed to dissipate and

die. Today, entropy has reversed. The human

race toils as one, and a grand soufflé rises:

food for thought, the food of the gods. I might

just shed a tear.

The God ThaT FailedWhat really went wrong with the Broken Age Kickstarter?

The truth might be too disturbing to contemplate...


OP

INIO

N/

GE

NX

X

Generation XX is a strange column. It

started with an empty page and a desire

to more widely represent the population who

play games. Yes, I wanted to fill it. No, I didn’t

deserve it, based on years of experience

blogging, or such, but I can certainly string 800

words together, make a deadline and happily

change stuff when it’s not good enough. Over

time, my page evolved from the absurdity of

being the weird lady in Games Wizards to one

person’s unique take on the medium.

In some ways, I fit quite snugly into the

female gamer stereotype. I don’t like shooters,

I want my game to tell a story and I got scarily

into The Sims 2 for a while there. (But if you’re

mistaking me for some kind of casual gamer,

finish FTL without shields and we’ll talk.) Of

course, there’s actually nothing wrong with

being a casual gamer, or the silly mum who

doesn’t like shooters. Everyone has a different

perspective, coloured by who they are.

Recently, I found myself listening to people

arguing for greater diversity among game

designers, so that resulting content might

more accurately represent less stereotyped,

less culturally-damaging conventions. It was

part of a panel discussion held by Australia’s

Human Rights Commission in Sydney. As

expected, there were a lot of questions raised,

most left unanswered. Do stereotypes make

it easier to relate to characters? Should your

white male designer be expected to portray

anything else? Is stereotyping just lazy writing?

Despite now having six years of experience

at least helping to represent a not-male

point of view, both in this column and the

magazine in general, I still didn’t quite have

the guts to raise my hand and outline what I

think would be a really simple place to start.

In my mind, it’s not about affirmative action,

as was a debate that emerged concurrently

online, in the following weeks, although you

could certainly argue that this kind of process

provided me with an initial opportunity.

Instead, seen through the lens of human

rights, and this is something I’ve studied at

tertiary level; if game designers are going to

become a more diverse group, from a range

of ethnic/religious/economic backgrounds,

genders, sexual orientations and whatever

else, people need to not be prevented from

gaining employment based on any of this,

but they also need to have equal access to

methods of appropriate skill acquisition and

feel very welcome.

Consider Twine, a tool that has been

embraced by a range of people, including

a proportionately significant group of

transgender designers. Content ranges from

typical narrative adventures, to the inclusion

of protagonists with a gay lover, to explicit

depictions of what it’s like to be transgender.

Because of this, the Twine community

increasingly feels warm towards everyone. It’s

also easy to use, there are heaps of tutorials

online and it’s absolutely free for any purpose.

With accessibility in mind, I contacted

Rebecca Fernandez, IGDA Sydney’s

chapter leader and programming teacher

at AIE. As further places to start, she

recommends Unity and GameMaker. She

also suggests, “For those looking at getting

into programming, Pygame or XNA would

be good choices, with Pygame having more

practical uses.” As well as these tools

having resources readily available, she

advises linking up with local IGDA groups

and checking out Pixel Prospector, TIGSource

forums and GameDev.net for support.

Further, when asked what key skills game

designers most need, Fernandez outlines,

“Willingness to learn would probably be

number one and, for a designer specifically,

communication skills, ability to work well in a

team, creativity, perseverance, determination.”

She highlights the difference between enjoying

playing and enjoying making games and says,

“Watching people enjoy a game I’ve helped to

create is the greatest motivation.”

So, if the medium feels a bit saturated

by stereotypes at times, that doesn’t mean

that designers can’t create something

authentic based on unique experiences.

With increasingly better access to tools and

supportive communities,

the idea that literally anyone

could engage with game

making is exciting. Will

this eventually translate

into a diverse population

being employed across all tiers of design and

development? I hope so. If your current triple-A

developer still wants to ship White Male

Protagonist Shooter, sure, he can do that, too.

If you want to play it, go for it.

If not, or concurrently, try something like

Papo & Yo, and soak up some South American

art/level design, created by people who

innately know what that is. Diverse designers

mean authentically diverse games. Just like,

if you’d never imagined going into EB with

a toddler and a basketball shoved up your

jumper, Generation XX is happy to bring that

experience to you, alongside batting eyelashes

at Geralt, of course. (I probably should write on

serious topics more often, shouldn’t I?)

“People need to have equal

access to methods of

appropriate skill acquisition”

MEGHANN O’NEILL doesn’t fit the mold of

the usual PCPP contributor. She’s far more

fanatical about hoarding watermelons.

Speak for yourSelfForget fitting the usual mold. It’s full, anyway. Vive la différence

CO

VE

R F

EA

TU

RE


DREAMFALL CHAP TERS: THE LONGEST JOURNEY

DE V ELOPER RED THRE AD GAMES

DUE NOVEMBER 2014

www.dreamfallchapters.comMEGHANN OÕNEILL has experienced increments of this saga during episodes

of her own life, the first with a flatmate at university, the second after leaving

teaching to travel around the world. For Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest

Journey, she’ll be putting her kids to bed before journeying onward.

Let’s take a look into the near-enough future...


The overarching series

title, The Longest

Journey, is apt. This is a

story that is taking its sweet

time, both in years measured

between releases and in narrative

structure. As the third game, Dreamfall

Chapters is the continuation of Zoe Castillo’s

story arc, from dispirited dropout to currently,

shall we say, indisposed. It would be quite

inadequate to claim that Dreamfall ended

with a cliffhanger. It was more a tangle of

loose ends and enigmatic semi-resolutions

that were hard to truly believe (in the best

possible, but also maddening, kind of a way).

Do players still crave insight into Zoe’s

journey and the seedy machinations of the

corporations and empires who framed it? Yes,

we do. Dreamfall Chapters was successfully

funded through Kickstarter at $1.5 million, far

in excess of its $850,000 goal. Director and

Writer, Ragnar Tornquist, says, “We would like

to thank backers profusely. Profusely! This

was the only way we could make the game.

We did start the company before getting the

funds, but if the Kickstarter had failed, the

company would have folded. This allowed us

to get on our feet, get started and be where

we are today.”

With intended release still more than a year

distant, what can we learn? It’s clear that Red

Thread Games intends to craft an experience

that is most reminiscent of the first game,

although it will remain 3D, like the second.

Tornquist also emphasises, “It’s important

to point out that we are passionately making

an adventure game. Dreamfall tried to be

something else and didn’t quite pull it off.

We don’t follow the model of more recent

“We don’t follow the model of more

recent adventures. We are more

traditional than The Walking Dead”

adventures. We are more traditional than

The Walking Dead, for example.”

Where to BeginOur first excursion into the parallel worlds

of cyberpunk Stark and magical Arcadia

occurred in 2000, where April Ryan, the

original protagonist for the series, was

introduced and widely lauded for her

detailed portrayal. At a time when the

adventure genre had branched into kids’

games, 3D experiments and interactive

movies of the full motion video variety,

The Longest Journey was a rare treat for

those so fondly recalling the relative glut

of (largely) Sierra and LucasArts titles in

previous decades. It was, very simply, a

detailed, loquacious, 2D game with puzzles

to solve.

Mechanically speaking, Dreamfall

Chapters harks back to The Longest

Journey by entirely eschewing the

combat and stealth sequences Dreamfall

introduced. These were widely criticised,

largely due to a lack of reactivity in fight

scenes and the pointlessly frustrating need

to solve puzzles while dodging giant trolls.

Could this decision diminish the experience

in a 3D world? How will that tension, like

desperately clinging to a dark wall as an

Azadi soldier passes by, now be created?

Design Director, Martin Bruusgaard, says,

“We want to prove that it is possible to

create tension with just the sound, the

camera and the writing.”

He provides the following example, “In

Kian’s escape from Friar’s Keep, he has

a friend who helps. Kian needs to move

because the guards are coming and we

make sure that the player knows this.

You hear prisoners screaming, the friend

How much for the stretch goal to get Kian to take his shirt off?


iNdIgeNoUs InFluEnCesPlayers have long speculated that the series’

narrative is influenced by Aboriginal belief,

specifically The Dreaming. The setting

to The Longest Journey features a

distorted time/space where stories

are told and, potentially, realities

created. So, how deep does the

comparison run?

Tornquist says, “The cosmic

backstory is based on the idea of

dreamtime, the world being created

by dreams and the essence of a

story being created by the dream

of someone. We’re not saying that

this is the same, but we are taking

inspiration. This will continue in

Dreamfall Chapters. It’s key to the

story’s secret.”

Consider Eingana. Aboriginal

knowledge describes her as both

creator of life and connected to every

living creature. In Dreamfall, Scheve

calls the entity they named Eingana,

“the organic computer controlling the

dreamer technology.” Her story is, as yet,

unresolved, as she grows stronger, but

more unstable.

So, the treatment is essentially more

a literal interpretation of the word,

“Dreamtime,” rather than a deeper

depiction of Aboriginal belief. If the pacing/

structure of the journeying of ancestral

beings again sounds similar to that in The

Longest Journey games, it’s likely part

intentional, part coincidence.

is telling him to ‘hurry up’ and this creates a real sense of urgency.

You can’t just linger.” And, with the action still framed dynamically

in this way, Tornquist assures us, “We are remapping the whole

control system. It’s going to feel good for the mouse and keyboard,”

addressing the other criticism of Dreamfall’s action sequences.

Further, questing and puzzling are also approached more

conventionally, if lightly reimagined. Writer, Dag Scheve, explains,

“Some quests are about speaking and making the right choices.

Others involve combining items in the inventory. Compared to The

Longest Journey, there will be fewer inventory objects, though. It won’t

be a matter of trying everything on everything, just because you can.”

Interestingly, Tornquist adds, “We’re making it less convoluted. You will

get a notification which tells you, ‘these two items interact,’ or with

something in the world around you.”

So, less likelihood of accidentally solving problems through

aimlessly manipulating a rubber ducky? Bruusgaard says, “We’re not

trying to make it too easy, we’re trying to make it less frustrating.

A lot of people found Dreamfall too easy, mostly because of the

very linear nature of some stretches of the game. Chapters will

be more demanding, in terms of problem solving, but it will be a

streamlined and easy to understand experience. The quality of the

puzzles in Chapters will be much higher. The goal should always

be that the player should say, ‘Ah, okay, I get it now.’”

On the return of Dreamfall’s minigames, like hacking and

lockpicking, Tornquist continues, “I know our players appreciate

a change of pace. Minigames just have to work really well and be

something that’s fun to do, over again.” The designers then joke,

somewhat ominously, about fishing, perhaps an Arcadian challenge.

Gameplay will be varied, both in order to illustrate the narrative and

for the kind of pacing this unfolding story demands. The motivation

for solving puzzles, in both games, was always to experience the next

increment of compelling plot.

an Opening to neW SpacesAlso on pacing, players of The Longest Journey will recall that it

was several chapters before the magical world was hinted at, let

alone revealed. April, and her context within the generally dystopian

Newport, had already been firmly established, mostly through her

own commentary on people, places and events. Dreamfall provided

a similar introduction for Zoe in Casablanca, although the

plot unfolded more rapidly. For Chapters, Tornquist says,


nOt alL ThoSe whO wAndEr arE LosTJust in case you’re confused about how

the series works, the games are named, in

release order, The Longest Journey (2000),

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (2006),

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey

(2014), The Longest Journey Home (TBA).

Still confused? Okay. Anything with Dreamfall

in the title is Zoe’s cycle. Anything without is

April’s cycle. So, April, Zoe, Zoe, April.

Of course, as Tornquist says, “the stories

do interact and intersect. In The Longest

Journey Home, we will learn more about

why the optimistic and lively girl from The

Longest Journey became the embittered and

hardened rebel of Dreamfall. We will fill in the

‘missing’ decade of April’s life, and also take a

step forward into the future and reveal more

of April’s destiny, and origins.”

He continues, “The Longest Journey Home

will go back to the point and click adventure

game. It’s going to be very traditional in terms

of the mechanics and presentation. The point

of that game is to restate our roots. It would

be more right to return to April after the

completion of Zoe’s story and it will make a lot

of sense why this is so.”

“I’d say that around half the game is dialogue-style sequences and

conversational. That may sound like a lot, but that’s par for the

course when it comes to this saga. Both of these games had a lot of

talking.

“People like that. They want strong characters, winding dialogues

and tonnes of topics. It’s going to be voiced by great actors. There

will be decision points and branching. This is part of the joy of these

games. Again, we’re taking inspiration from The Longest Journey

because Dreamfall had less talking.” As to the other half of the

game, designers outline new approaches to exploration that promise

to make it far more open than previously seen in the series. In fact,

precisely how the game is paced could be quite player directed.

Bruusgaard explains, “We have a new concept called

‘gamespaces,’ where you follow the storyline and at

certain points the game opens up. You might find yourself

in a forest or a city, or you may have multiple objectives.

We’re telling the player that there are no time limits and you

can complete this in whatever order you want to. We want

to encourage curiosity.” Curious interaction in The Longest

Journey, and especially Dreamfall, was indeed often limited to

townies, under the mouth icon, delivering a contrived description

of the immediate location.

And, yes, both games were exceptionally linear, with puzzles

sometimes just lined up sequentially; find Crazy Clara, liberate

Crazy Clara’s “baby,” get the information you need and so on.

In Chapters, Bruusgaard says, “There will be things you have

to do to in order to progress, so when you have completed

a gamespace the story will become linear again. But, it’s

about that opening up and converging.” Similarly, although

conversation in The Longest Journey and Dreamfall

sometimes allowed a couple of options for dialogue, it was

almost always to just lightly colour the characters’ reactions,

rather than to create meaningful consequences.

Branching story in Chapters is unlikely to result in significant

differences between playthroughs or close off large swathes of

content. Within a structure that painstakingly and provocatively

reveals every secret, this isn’t necessarily desirable, anyway. When

asked how meaningful choice and consequence might be, Tornquist

answers, “It’s important to note that it’s not a game about branches

that will lead to 25 different endings. We have one ending. It’s about

what happens along the way and the choices you make. You do have

to live with them.”


Might the player’s choices decide

the fate of the magicals in Marcuria,

say, by Zoe becoming the first elven

representative of the ghetto? No wait,

that was Dragon Age: Origins. Sorry. (And

Zoe is entirely human, or so we currently

believe.) But, could player decisions perhaps

lead to ending this segregation? So far,

there is nothing to rule out this magnitude of

consequence in Chapters, although it would

alter the story significantly. Scheve does say,

“Some consequences will be very subtle and

some might be very dramatic.” Like traveling to

either side of Arcadia with Iorveth or Roche?

(I’m fired, aren’t I?)

More likely, decision making will allow for

greater variation between Zoes and Kians

through wider roleplaying. Bruusgaard says,

“There are choices that often provide very

different outcomes. That doesn’t mean there

is one right and one wrong way, they’re just

shades of grey. We also didn’t want you to ask,

‘Do I want to be a nice person or do I want to

be a bad person?’ We wanted the decisions to

reflect life, where there aren’t obvious good

choices to make. There is a decision very

early on, however, that hopefully defines

the way the entire game is played. It

activates one of two storylines that

follows you throughout the game.”

Intriguingly, designers also outline

their intention to allow dialogue

between playable characters to result

in divergent content, too. Tornquist

does say, “I think people really liked, in

Dreamfall, where Kian and April meet

and you get to play both points of view.

It was a good conversation but it didn’t

give the idea full justice. There was no

consequence. There will be points when the

playable characters intersect and interact. We

will emphasise playing both sides but we want

to do it much better this time.” Scheve adds,

“Last time it was more of an experiment.”

Those Along the wayYou know what? That “talking to yourself” bit

in Dreamfall was pretty weird. But, you know

what else? Raw sovereignty over wild ideas

is as intrinsic a part of the series as any

other thing. A talking crow for a sidekick?

Why not? A talking crow for a sidekick who

You can hardly tell she’s hiding a crow under there


has a conversation with himself in Chapters?

Entirely possible. Allowing Kickstarter backers

to become fingerpuppets in Roper Klacks’

puppet show? Yes, that happened. Also,

puppet show? Roper Klacks? Really? We hope,

at least, that this is one journey that won’t

become “too perfect.” Idiosyncrasies are so

easy to love.

Of course, you may be asking, “Who is

Roper Klacks?” Well, that’s a very long story

involving a flying castle and an artifact of

unimaginable technology. Do you have to

play The Longest Journey and Dreamfall to

adequately immerse yourself in Chapters,

which surely relies on intricate knowledge

of the world? According to Tornquist, “This

is a very important consideration.” And,

ostensibly, “no.” He says, “Probably 90% of

our Kickstarter backers are fans of the saga

and have played the previous games but we do

want to allow new players in.”

How will this be achieved? Tornquist says,

“We’re also going to release material before

the game comes out, like an app that is an

interactive storytelling tool recapping the

story of previous games. We have a graphic

novel and short story. All of this will contribute

to creating familiarity.” Of course, as PCPP

discovered, even if you have recently replayed

the series, it’s shocking, all over again. Oh

yes, that lady was that character’s mother. Oh

no, the Tyren are coming. And, seriously, what

the hell happened to that guy at the end of

Dreamfall?

Certainly, Red Thread’s designers

discovered a very similar thing as they

replayed The Longest Journey for a video

stream, as part of a Kickstarter event, and

forgot how to get April into orbit. So, you’ll be

in good company. Tornquist says, “We want to

integrate recapping into how you experience

the story. There are lots of ways to do it.

The TV series, Lost, for example, allowed

characters to jump back to see what made

them who they are. We’ll take time to flesh

out our characters and recap as the game

progresses. Within a couple of hours everyone

should be up to speed.”

By a Longest Journey measure, an hour

has always been the time it roughly takes

to play one chapter, with thirteen chapters

each, in all three games. Bruusgaard says,

“We’re distributing gamespaces evenly. We’re

also doing the same with decision points.

So, if we’re to look at an hour’s slice of the

game, you’ll have engaging dialogue which

will probably lead to decision points, you’ll

probably see a gamespace. We tried to keep

it like this so people will have a little bit of

everything in an hour to an hour and a half of

playtime.”

Scheve continues, “We’re trying to make

chapters bite-sized, like episodes of a

television show.” And Tornquist adds, “Our

audience is older now and they have about

an hour. At least, it will allow for slow-paced

playing. I rarely have time for a game for more

than one hour at a time.” The mini-cliffhangers

at the ends of chapters that characterised the

other games will fall within this overarching

structure, too. So, if you play as intended,

be prepared to lose sleep worrying over

tomorrow.

ARE WE THERE YET?So we’ve learned that Dreamfall Chapters is

an adventure game that relies on traditional

mechanics and generous dialogue. Its

extensive locations will be opened into

gamespaces to allow for greater freedom in

meeting objectives and player-driven pacing.

Gameplay will comprise a variety of mechanics

and problem solving will be intuitive and

streamlined. We also hope the series will

retain the quirky, experimental qualities for

which it has become known. There’s just

one question that requires emphasis. How

important is it that this story is told, continued

and brought to conclusion?

If you’d asked players thirteen years ago,

they might have said, “I’d play more.” If you’d

asked the same question after Dreamfall,

you would have heard a resounding, “Yes,”

now evidenced by the successful Kickstarter

campaign. As momentum escalates, so

does our hunger for answers. In Tornquist’s

words, “We are tremendously grateful for

the opportunity and the confidence.” So,

what might happen next for Zoe, in Dreamfall

Chapters, at this likely-to-be penultimate

waypoint? It is with incredible impatience that

we wait to find out.

WE ARE GOING CLUBBING


PCPP: Zoe Castillo is the central protagonist. Given her predicament at the end of Dreamfall, how will she be introduced?

Tornquist: We are going to pick up

right where Dreamfall ended. We will

reintroduce Zoe to established fans and

also introduce her to a new audience,

close to the beginning of the game,

don’t worry.

Scheve: We have three playable

characters. We have Zoe and Kian, but

we’re not going to talk about the third

character, yet. You’ll switch between

these characters at set points in the

game. The structure is roughly the

same as in Dreamfall, in terms of how

much screen time each character gets,

although Kian is getting a bigger role.

He is a more fleshed out character.

Can we expect the playable characters to have opposing perspectives on the action?

Scheve: The characters will react

to situations and see the world quite

differently. We aren’t including combat,

so we can focus on that. We have

some mechanics specific to each but,

for the most part, this game is about

storytelling, the differentiation between

characters and the world.

Bruusgaard: The choices available

to characters will affect who they are in

this world and how they perceive what

is happening to them, too.

Can we expect characters to develop, in a personal sense, over the course of the game?

Tornquist: The theme of Dreamfall

Chapters is about the phases of life

and how we constantly change. The

characters are required to change,

both their in perspectives and their

approach. In the first Dreamfall, Zoe

was a very immature person. She was

privileged, she was sorry for herself and

lacking direction. As Chapters begins,

Zoe has to very specifically confront

that, in order to move on. As the game

progresses, characters have to accept

who they are and become the people they were

always meant to be.

How will Stark look, this time? Where have you taken influence?

Tornquist: Europolis has been referenced

in the previous games but it’s never been

shown before. Europolis is a cyberpunk city, a

dystopian future. It’s the state capital of former

Europe. It’s a Europe gone to hell, basically.

But the place that Zoe lives in, because she

has moved to Europolis near the beginning

of the game, is a very nice and friendly

neighbourhood. It’s not all darkness. We tried

to establish something that feels homely.

You can walk around Europolis for a good

couple of hours, it’s always raining, talk to

people, get a sense of what the place is like.

As the game progresses, we’re getting hints

that everything is not as it should be. You’ll

see more and more of that and the setting will

evolve. It’s a land of European influences and

visual references from things like Blade Runner

and cyberpunk fiction. It’s a great playground

for storytelling.

Bruusgaard: I love how The Longest Journey

captured the everyday life of a girl in a really

weird future.

Scheve: Yes, Casablanca, in Dreamfall, may

have felt too present day. Although there was

technology, we didn’t go far enough showing

what the future had become. We had The Wire,

but The Longest Journey had

space travel. We’re trying to be

more explicit about what the whole

world is really like.

And Arcadia?Tornquist: Arcadia will, of

course, centre on Marcuria. I think,

for the first time, players will be

able to experience Marcuria the

way it was always meant to be

experienced. The Longest Journey

introduced you to this beautiful,

mystical place, but there were only

certain points you could go to.

You could jump to key locations.

Then Dreamfall made that into a

3D world and it lost some of the

magic, in the process. Although

locations were bigger, it felt more

restricted, smaller in scale than

the Longest Journey. This time

we’re taking all of the locations

from The Longest Journey and

Dreamfall, we’re hoping to connect

them so you can wander more

freely.

Bruusgaard: As Marcuria is

one of the gamespaces, you’ll

see it’s much more mazelike. In

Dreamfall it was more, go right or

go left. Just the simple fact that

now we don’t have any loading

space makes a huge difference.

Of course, the city is still under

the Azadi. You will see the city

change as various plans come

to fruition. Marcuria is growing

and it is becoming, increasingly, a

bad place to be for all the magical

people.

We’re also creating spaces for

quite a bit more of Arcadia; other

locations than Marcuria, larger

locations, places that make more

sense for magic. Again, we’re

looking to The Longest Journey,

not Dreamfall, in terms of variety

and how a magic world feels.

Tornquist: Arcadia is influenced

by more obscure references,

nature, culture, fantasy literature,

art, a good mix. On the story side,

Arcadia always had a sense of humour to it.

For me, it always had a bit of Discworld in it, in

terms of being slightly obscure and slightly

mischievous. A return to whimsical magic is

important to us.

Scheve: One of my inspirations is the Persian

Empire and its historical weapons, to create

that more human face that is starting to take

over. We’ve become a bit caught up in the Azadi

empire and their repelling of magic. It ended up

that way.

Bruusgaard: Although the art influences are

varied, we’re trying to get a distinct visual style

in Dreamfall Chapters, away from Dreamfall

and back to how things looked in The Longest

Journey.

All My Stories Are TrueReading between the lines with Writer/Director Ragnar Tornquist, Writer

Dag Scheve and Design Director Martin Bruusgaard

“The choices available to

characters will affect who they

are in this world”

Ragnar TornquistMartin Bruusgaard Dag Scheve



TECH

52 Warranty Feature

58 AMD Interview

60 Hotware

61 My PC

62 NVIDIA Triple Threat:

GTX 700M

64 NZXT Phantom 530

65 Thermaltake Volus

Thermaltake Cronos

66 Samsung Versus SanDisk

67 BenQ XL2411T

70 Menagerie

WHAT, ME WORRY?The Tech Editor doesn’t need consoling

By the time you read this, the next-gen consoles will be just a

few short weeks away. In the past, this has been a terrifying

time to be a PC gamer, as our $3,000 investments are suddenly

outshone by $400 boxes of custom technology. However, as we

discovered while chatting to AMD and NVIDIA over the last two

issues, PC gamers have nothing to fear. This time around, the

PC will remain the most powerful gaming platform right through

the introduction of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, thanks to

the huge leaps in graphics technology of the last few years. It’s

simply not possible for the consoles to match the huge amounts

of money and energy that goes into a high-end PC’s graphics

subsystem, which is why even a mid-range PC will still have

more graphical oomph than the new consoles.

And with the news that John Carmack has just signed on as

the Chief Technology Off cer at Oculus, creators of the Rift VR

headset, it appears the PC will have one f nal trump card come

2014 – it’s shaping up to be the only platform that will have the

grunt to meet the incredibly high performance demands of VR.

So rest easy guys – all that cash you spent on your PC

hardware hasn’t gone to waste, and be assured that the PC

version of Battlef eld 4 is likely to make the console versions

look decidedly last-gen.

Bennett Ring

Tech Editor

[email protected]

SSD

CORSAIR NEUTRON www.corsair.com

GPU

RADEON HD 7970 www.amd.com

PSU

CORSAIR AX860I www.corsair.com

DISPLAY

DELL U2711www.dell.com.au

CPU

INTEL I7 3770Kwww.intel.com.au

MOBO

GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3Hwww.gigabyte.com.au

RAM

8GB PATRIOT DDR3 2,133MHzwww.patriotmemory.com

PCPP TESTBENCH

EDL:RALAR9w w w . p c p o w e r p l a y . c o m . a u

SMART BUY

w w w . p c p o w e r p l a y . c o m . a u

Our Power

Award is

given to

products

that are best

in class no

matter your

budget.

Our Smart

Buy Award

goes to

products

that balance

performance

with price tag.


TE

CH

FIGHT FOR

YOUR RIGHT TO

WARRANTIESDo you buy PC hardware? If so, protect your investment and learn how the Australian Consumer Law

delivers much better warranties than you realise. BENNETT RING steps down from the bench to cut

through the legalese.


WARRANTIES

Our computers are magical creations,

the end result of the last 50,000

years of human evolution. These boxes

of technological wizardry are some of the

most complex things ever built by humans,

intricately constructed from billions of

infinitesimally small transistors at the atomic

level. They can do amazing things, but there’s

also one minor issue with such complex

devices: shit breaks down. Due to their high

levels of complexity, computer goods tend

to have a failure rate that exceeds other

products, at around three to five percent of all

computer products sold. Yep, there’s a one in

twenty chance that something in your PC is

going to break in the near future. This is why

the issue of warranties is so important to PC

owners. Sadly, the vast majority of you guys

have absolutely no idea that you’re covered

by some of the planet’s most protective

consumer laws. Fear not, as I’m here to save

you bucketloads of time and money in the

case that something goes wrong.

Ask your typical Aussie about the warranty

covering their new CPU or monitor, and

they’ll either have no idea if their product is

covered, or they might mention that there’s

a warranty for twelve months provided by the

manufacturer. That’s what the pimply teen in

the store told them, so it must be right. Well,

it turns out that we have something down

under known as Australian Consumer Law,

which covers something else called Consumer

Guarantees. If you ever buy hardware, this is

something you absolutely, positively need to

know about, as there’s a very good chance it

will save you hundreds, if not thousands, of

dollars.

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER LAW

Up until 2011, purchases made by Australian

consumers were covered by laws that had

been around since the 70s, and weren’t

designed to deal with the range of products

that had only sprung into existence since

the computer and technology revolutions of

the eighties, nineties and naughties. Each

state had different laws, which made the

issue of consumer protection a complex and

confusing issue. Delia Rickard, Deputy Chair

at the Australian Competition & Consumer

Commission, explains the need for national

legislation. “It was about getting a national

regime in so that manufacturers, retailers and

consumers were all conscious about which

laws were to be obeyed.”

On the first of January 2011, Australian

Consumer Law commenced. This single

law replaced over twenty different state,

commonwealth and territory laws, simplifying

consumer protection across the entire country.

It turns out that these comprehensive new

laws were inspired by our cousins over the

ditch, as Ms Rickard explains, “It’s fair to say

that consumer guarantee legislation derived

a lot of legislation from the New Zealand

regime.” They might kick our butts at rugby, but

we owe the Kiwis a debt of gratitude when it

comes to consumer protection.

The key part of the new legislation that

we’re most interested in was the introduction

of the new Consumer Guarantees, a set of

rules that ensures consumers aren’t sold

dud products. This is especially important in

the world of PC hardware, as product failures

are relatively commonplace. The Consumer

Guarantees lay out exactly what to expect

when purchasing a product, as well as what

entitlements exist if the product doesn’t

live up to the seller’s claims. If you’ve never

heard of the Consumer Guarantee, you will

DOWNLOAD THE ACCC SHOPPERIt’s very important to keep receipts of all of your PC purchases,

as it’s undeniable proof that you bought a product from a retailer.

To make this easier, the ACCC has created a free app for Android

and iOS called the ACCC Shopper. This can store photos of your

receipts, and also has all of the ACL and Consumer Guarantee

information in an easy-to-read format. If you find a store isn’t playing ball, simply show

them the Consumer Guarantee section of the app. It’s hard to deny the legislation

when it’s right in front of their face.

HOW LONG SHOULD IT LAST?A rough guide to the lifespan you should expect you kit to have

SHOULD LAST: 1 to 2 years SHOULD LAST: 2 to 3 years

Delia Rickard, Deputy Chair at the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission


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be amazed at just how well Australians are

protected when products fail. Even more

amazing is how few people know that this

guarantee even exists.

CONSUMER GUARANTEES

The first part of the Consumer Guarantee

explains what a consumer can expect when

buying a product. Every product sold in

Australia must be safe, lasting and with

no faults. Yes, it sounds like obvious stuff,

but you’d be surprised at how many dodgy

retailers try to sell junk. It also must do all the

things that the consumer expects a product

would normally do. For example, if I buy a new

graphics card and it causes my computer to

crash every fifteen minutes after installing

it correctly, that behaviour is not what I’d

expect the product to do, and I can return it.

Obviously, if a component dies entirely, it’s

also not doing what I’d expect it to do.

The Guarantee also states that any product

sold must not have any hidden debts or charges

associated with it – every cost must be clearly

explained up front. Finally, every product must

also have a spare parts and repair facilities

available for a reasonable time after purchase,

unless the retailer explains otherwise at

the time of sale. Basically, this part of the

Consumer Guarantee explains that when you buy

something, it should work, and it should also do

the job that it’s advertised to do. Pretty simple,

self-explanatory stuff, right? It’s what consumers

are entitled to when this doesn’t happen that

most eye-opening though; specifically, what

happens when a product breaks or stops

working. As you’ll see, there’s a reason not many

retailers are shouting about this new legislation

from the rooftops, as it takes a rather large

chunk of change out of their tills.

WARRANTIES?

Most Aussies only know about two forms

of warranties – Extended Warranties and

Manufacturer Warranties. Extended Warranties

are usually sold to you in the store, and are

provided by the retailer. Walk into any Harvey

Norman, Dick Smith or other electronic store

and buy a TV or computer, and you’ll probably

be bombarded with “helpful advice” on why

you should spend several hundred dollars

more on an Extended Warranty that will allow

you to return the product any time in the next

two or three years. It’s a nice little racket that

earns the major retailers big bucks.

These Extended Warranties provide

protection that usually lasts longer than

the other type of warranty you’re probably

familiar with: Manufacturer’s Warranties.

These types of warranties are provided by

the company that built the product, and are

usually printed on the box. For example,

most graphics cards usually have a 12-month

Manufacturer’s Warranty, while SSDs have a

three year Manufacturer’s Warranty. These are

the only two warranties the vast majorities

of Australians are familiar with. Now, are you

ready for the secret information that retailers

don’t want you to know?

Generally speaking, neither Manufacturer’s

nor Extended Warranties are worth the paper

they’re printed on.

WARRANTY SCHMORRANTY!

Both Extended Warranties and Manufacturer’s

WARRANTIES

HP GETS PWNEDWhile many claim the ACCC is a

toothless tiger, the organisation has

had several major wins regarding the

ACL. Most recent of these was action

it took against Hewlett-Packard, which

came to a conclusion in July of this

year. The ACCC took the company to

court for several reasons, chief among

them that:

• Consumers were required to have

their product repaired multiple

times before they were entitled to a

replacement

• Consumers were required to pay

for remedies outside HP’s warranty

period

As a result of the case, HP was fined

three million dollars, as well as having

to contribute to the ACCC’s legal

costs. More importantly, it resulted in

HP changing its policies in Australia

regarding repairs, returns and

replacements. Nice work, ACCC!

A READER’S EXPERIENCEGregory Lloyd is one of

the many PCPP readers

who shared his warranty

woes with us. His issue

centred on problems

faced when trying

to get his brother’s

iPhone fixed, which had

developed a screen

fault after 14 months.

Gregory claims that

his brother visited

several Apple resellers

and was informed

the warranty was only for

12 months. Gregory then stepped in

to help, thinking his law degree and

knowledge of the ACL would make

getting a repair a breeze. After phoning

AppleCare, he was informed that he

would have to pay for the repairs, as it

was outside of Apple’s warranty period.

It was only after a lengthy conversation

that the phone was finally given an

“exemption” and Apple agreed to have

it repaired in a corporate store.

This tale of woe is not unique, as we

had several readers share their horror

stories with us. In most of these cases,

though, the readers didn’t know about

the ACL. We wonder if they did whether

they’d have a happier story to tell?

SHOULD LAST: 3 years


Warranties are superseded by – you guessed

it – Consumer Guarantees. If a product

fails to meet the Consumer Guarantee – for

instance, it stops working – the consumer can

claim a remedy from the retailer who sold the

product. This remedy can take one of three

forms: repair, replacement or a full refund

(cash – not store credit). In certain extreme

cases, you can even claim compensation for

damages or loss. This is totally irrespective

of the Extended or Manufacturer’s Warranty. If

the store claims they only provide a 12-month

warranty, too bad, as the Consumer Guarantee

overrules whatever the store claims.

Note that it’s the retailer who must provide

the remedy, not the manufacturer. If a retailer

asks you to send the product back to the

manufacturer, they’re breaking the law; the

retailer is legally obliged to fix the problem,

not the manufacturer. Also, if the retailer asks

for the product to be returned, if the cost

of returning the product is substantial, the

retailer must pay for it.

Unlike the other types of warranties, which

have fixed lengths of time, the time limit on

the Consumer Guarantee protection for a given

product is a little bit vague. The legislation

states that the product must work for a

“reasonable” length of time, based on the

product. Ms Rickard explained why there is a

need for such vague terms. “It is a little vague,

because obviously one piece of legislation

can’t work it out for every single product. It’s

about looking what claims have been made by

retailers and manufacturers about the life of

their products, or average life for that product

is. What does the product cost – was it one

of the more expensive or one of the cheaper

ones? There are no hard and fast rules looking

at what’s reasonable.”

In non-legal speak, this basically means

that the more expensive and higher-quality

the product, the longer it’s expected to last.

For example, computer components such as

high-end graphics cards and CPUs should easily

last three to five years, whereas a very cheap

mouse might only last a year. As Ms Rickard

mentioned, there are no hard and fast rules, but

there is a way to find out what period of time is

reasonable for your product. “You can call your

nearest Fair Trading office and get an idea of the

lifespan, because there are people there who

have really spent their life working on electronic

guarantee issues,” explained Ms Rickard.

You can probably understand why retailers

aren’t advertising the Consumer Guarantee

in stores, as it makes most Extended

Warranties obsolete. Considering these

Extended Warranties can cost hundreds of

dollars, the retailers stand to lose a bunch

of income as more people start realising

they’re already protected by the Consumer

Guarantee. In some cases, if a retailer does

the hard sell on an Extended Warranty, they

could even be breaking the law. “If they’re

selling them [Extended Warranties] in a

way that implies that if you don’t buy the

Extended Warranty, you won’t have any rights

if there’s a problem with the product, then

that is illegal, and it’s something the ACCC is

taking action in regard to.”

Ms Rickard went on to explain how to find

out whether an Extended Warranty is worth

considering. “What we say to people is that

often there is no point in buying an Extended

Warranty. A lot of them will not provide you

with any additional rights over the consumer

guarantee. If you are thinking about it, ask the

THE CHEAT SHEETA summary of the Consumer

Guarantees applying to goods

1. Suppliers and manufacturers

guarantee that goods are of

acceptable quality when sold to a

consumer

2. A supplier guarantees that goods

will be reasonably fit for any purpose

the consumer or supplier specified


guarantee that their description of

goods (for example, in a catalogue or

television commercial) is accurate

4. A supplier guarantees that goods will

match any sample or demonstration

model and any description provided


guarantee that the goods will satisfy

any extra promises made about them

(express warranties)

6. A supplier guarantees they have

the right to sell the goods (clear title),

unless they alerted the consumer

before the sale that they had ‘limited

title’

7. A supplier guarantees that no one

will try to repossess or take back

goods, or prevent the consumer

using the goods, except in certain

circumstances

8. A supplier guarantees that goods

are free of any hidden securities or

charges and will remain so, except in

certain circumstances

9. Manufacturers or importers

guarantee they will take reasonable

steps to provide spare parts and repair

facilities for a reasonable time after

purchase

Consumer guaranteesA guide for businesses and legal practitioners

SHOULD LAST: 5 years


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WARRANTIES

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?If a retailer refuses to give you a refund, repair or replacement, you should call your local Office of Fair Trading. These guys take care

of one-on-one investigations, whereas the ACCC concerns itself with retailers with repeated, ongoing violations of the ACL. To find

out who your local office of Fair Trading is, head to www.consumerlaw.gov.au and check under “Consumer Questions & Complaints”

for a list of offices by state.

Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionGPO Box 3131 Canberra ACT 2601 T. 1300 302 502 accc.gov.au

AustralianCapitalTerritory

Office of 5egulator\ ServicesGPO Box 158 Canberra ACT 2601 T. (02) 6207 0400 ors.act.gov.au

NewSouthWales

1S: Fair TradingPO Box 972 Parramatta NSW 2124 T. 13 32 20 fairtrading.nsw.gov.au

NorthernTerritory

Office of Consumer AffairsGPO Box 1722 Darwin NT 0801 T. 1800 019 319 consumeraffairs.nt.gov.au

Queensland

Office of Fair TradingGPO Box 3111 Brisbane QLD 4001 T. 13 QGOV (13 74 68) fairtrading.qld.gov.au

SouthAustralia

Office of Consumer & Business AffairsGPO Box 1719 Adelaide SA 5001 T. (08) 8204 9777 ocba.sa.gov.au

TasPania

Office of Consumer Affairs & Fair TradingGPO Box 1244 +obart TAS 7001 T. 1300 654 499 consumer.tas.gov.au

9ictoria

Consumer Affairs VictoriaGPO Box 123 0elbourne 3001 T. 1300 55 81 81 consumer.vic.gov.au

WesternAustralia

Department of CommerceLocNed Bag 14 Cloisters Square WA 6850 T. 1300 30 40 54 commerce.wa.gov.au

Australian Securities and Investments Commission PO Box 9827 (in \our caSital cit\) T. 1300 300 630 asic.gov.au

WHEN YOU’RE NOT COVEREDWhile the ACL and Consumer

Guarantees provide excellent

protection for consumers, there are

cases where a consumer isn’t able to

claim for a remedy. These include:

• Products bought before 1st January

2011 (thankfully, they’re covered by

the Trade Practices Act, which has

similar protections)

• Products bought from sales by

private sellers (eBay, garage sales,

etc)

• If the consumer simply changes their

mind about the product

salesperson “What does this provide me with

that my Consumer Guarantee doesn’t?”

It’s interesting to note that the ACL and

Consumer Guarantees also apply to second

hand goods, but there are some caveats. For

starters, obviously a second-hand product

isn’t expected to last as long as a brand new

product. Secondly, if you buy the product

through a retailer, you’re still entitled to all of

the protection of the Consumer Guarantee,

including a remedy if the product fails to

meet its expectations. However, if you buy

the second hand good through a private sale

– say a guy on eBay who is selling off his old

gear – you’re not entitled to a repair, refund

or replacement. With so many of us buying

components second-hand off other PC gamers

on eBay and community forums, this lack of

Consumer Guarantees on private sales is

something to be aware of.

There’s another loophole in Consumer

Guarantees that is a bit of an issue – repair

times. There is no acceptable length of time

for a repair to take place. As you can see from

our case example, sometimes it can take

up to six months for a faulty product to be

rectified. However, you can still take action if

you feel it’s taking too long. “I think you would

find if there was a pattern of the store taking

too long, then you’d get a consumer protection

regulator interested in investigating it,”

explained Ms Rickard. You can also demand

a refund if you believe it’s taking too long, or

even take the product elsewhere for a repair,

and invoice the original supplier.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

It’s been two and a half years since the

ACL and Consumer Guarantees become

the standard in Australia, but sadly most

consumers and retailers still aren’t aware of

it. Walk into your nearest major electronics

chain and ask the salesperson whether their

Extended Warranty offers protection that

exceeds the Consumer Guarantee, and watch

the look of confusion that spreads over their

uninformed mug. That doesn’t mean you’re

not protected, though – by being informed of

your rights, you’re now able to insist that the

retailer lives up to its end of the deal. If they

don’t, make sure you complain to your Office

of Fair Trading, as well as the ACCC. Retailers

found to have broken these laws face fines of

up to $1.1 million per offense, so it’s in their

best interests to play ball.

Despite the excellent protection offered by

the ACL, it’s amazing how many Aussies are

still wasting money on Extended Warranties, or

giving up when trying to get broken expensive

items repaired or refunded. Help stop this

needless waste of cash – the more people

that know about this, the more retailers will

have to acknowledge these laws exist and

abide by them. And that’s a good thing for all

of us.


TECH

BENNETT RING speaks to Neal

Robison, Senior Director of Global

Software Alliances, about the impact

AMD’s unique CPU and GPU combo

powering the next-gen consoles will

have on the company place in PC

gaming.

PCPP: Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way

first – can you give us an update on AMD’s

stuttering issue?

Robison: The latest release of our drivers

has addressed most of the issues that were

brought to our attention. We spent time with

engineering resources and feel we’ve gotten

a grip on most of the issues many users have

posted.

So totally fixed then?

Yeah, Absolutely. This was the focus of the

last major driver release.

Glad we could get that out of the way. Onto

the interesting stuff about your work with

next-gen consoles and how it’ll impact

PC gaming! With both PlayStation 4 and

Xbox One using AMD’s Graphics Core Next

(GCN) architecture, how will that impact

performance on ports that feature on both

consoles and PC?

I’ve been involved in game dev and the

gaming industry for over twenty years, and

this is the first time that I’ve ever seen this

much alignment on architecture with the

consoles and PC. For us, it signals a huge

benefit that developers can really spend

the time to create the content on the x86

architecture, and that’s going to work across

both consoles and PC. Obviously, there are

going to be optimisations for each one of

those platforms, but overall this will help

reduce a lot of time and cost in game dev

that’s done today.

In terms of performance, though, do you

think this will give your PC parts a benefit

over NVIDIA in cross-platform games, and if

so, what are the strengths of the GCN that

NVIDIA can’t replicate?

You’re talking about the very basics of

the game being coded to take advantage

of the GCN architecture. If you start from

that very base layer, if you have that same

architecture in a PC, you’re going to get the

best experience possible. We were chosen

because the AMD GCN architecture was

seen to be superior, giving better flexibility

especially thanks to heterogeneous

compute, using the graphics architecture for

computation beyond standard graphics.

So do you believe the optimisations that

are unique to GCN, won’t be able to be

replicated by NVIDIA?

It makes it really difficult. NVIDIA’s still

going to do a good job with PC graphics,

certainly they’ve built up a good reputation in

many areas. But I think overall the fantastic

performance you’re going to see in these

games, NVIDIA won’t be able to touch those

unique optimisations. If they do, it’ll come at

INTERVIEW

THE DRIVING

FORCEWhat AMD has in store for PC gaming


the performance of their cards.

We know both consoles are using GPUs

based on GCN architecture, but are they

identical in their designs, in the same way a

Radeon HD 7950 is simply a cut-down 7970?

We know that the Xbox One has 50% fewer

cores than the PlayStation 4, but in terms of

the actual layout of the GPU, is it the same

method as PC graphics cards, where one is a

pared down version of the other?

They’re actually unique designs, but they

come from the same architecture. I can’t go

into any more detail as my friends at Sony

and Microsoft will get upset with me. But

overall, they’re derived from the exact same

architecture.

AMD has had eight-core CPUs on the market

for a few years now, and you were a few years

too early as nobody was coding for so many

cores. Now that we are going to see eight

cores in both consoles, how will this impact

the use of eight cores on the PC? Do you

think this is going to turn a corner in the next

year or two, where it becomes the norm?

You’ve hit the nail on the head. We’ve

seen that many PC developers have

embraced multithreaded coding in their

games, but this opens it up to a much

broader audience. Because these types of

cores are now available in the consoles, it’ll

give the developers a lot more security and

confidence that all the work they’re putting into

multithreading is going to carry over and mean

something for traditional PC gaming audience.

These cores have been around for a long

time, we’re seeing other software developers

starting to take advantage of the threading.

The clock speeds of these chips haven’t

increased a great amount over the last few

generations, but you’re starting to see greater

use of multithreading to improve performance.

How much harder is it to code for eight

cores? We’ve had four cores for years and

yet we still see brand new games coming

out that rely on just one or two cores. Is the

switch going to take 12 months? Two years?

Five years?

I think it’s a much shorter term. If you

look at multithreaded, it’s been around for a

while. The PS3 even had lots of cores that

had to be juggled. This isn’t new for anybody.

But what you’re seeing now is something

that hasn’t happened before, that is a very

uniform approach across the platforms that

the publishers and developers care about.

Therefore it’s a lot less risky to explore and

expand into multithreading than ever before.

At this year’s E3, many keen-eyed PC gamers

noticed that the next-gen demos on Xbox

One and PlayStation 4 didn’t look as good as

the PC demos. This is a new phenomenon. In

the past, the new consoles always looked as

good as the PC, if not better, at launch. Yet

it feels like this generation the PC will stay

out in front of the new consoles. Why do you

think this is?

I think it depends on the games you looked

at. It was still very early with the tools and

environment for a lot of those games. I think

if you looked at the lectures given by Mark

Cerny, a lot of the things that Microsoft and

Sony are doing to customise the performance

out of these machines, I think you’re going

to see some fantastic looking games. At the

same time, the PC has always been on the

front. With the increase in performance over

the last couple of years, we’re literally at a

breakneck pace, delivering more and more

graphics performance for PC game devs. I

“This is the fi rst time that I’ve ever seen this

much alignment on architecture with the

consoles and PC”

INTERVIEW

think that’s going to continue to be the case.

The PC will always be out in front, because

the cost of the part, and the type of the part

we supply, are much more expensive, bigger

and hotter than anything you’re going to see

in a console. Games are going to look great

on both sides, but if you look at pure visual

fidelity, the PC is able to display on multiple

screens, driving a tremendous number of

pixels on the PC, compared to the consoles

which use a single 720p/1080p screen.

What’s the most exciting thing for you

happening at AMD in the rest of 2013?

For me personally, the work we’re doing with

DICE on Battlefield 4. This game is unique in

all of the PC game market in terms of visual

fidelity. Our team have been very deeply

engaged with them on optimisations. In fact

they used our hardware to debut the game at

E3. 64 people all playing on AMD hardware – all

running Radeon HD 7990s. Frostbite 3 is one

of those few engines that can harness all of

the horsepower that the 7990 has to offer. It’s

going to look great on other graphics cards,

but for that ultimate experience the 7990 was

the one. So optimising games like that is really

exciting. At the same time, working with our

other partners at Sony and Microsoft to make

sure that all game devs across all platforms can

harness the power of the GCN architecture and

AMD technology behind it is one of the things

we love about being about this industry.


TECH

05

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W I T H T E R R E N C E J A R R A D

02

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1. 1920s German Light Bulb Voltage Tester BarPrice: $2,000 • Distributor: Restoration Hardware

www.restorationhardware.com

What appears to be a bathysphere for

alcohol (how do you think they got booze to

Rapture?) is in fact a repurposed light bulb

voltage testing device from the 1920s.

POWERED UP: A unique piece of furniture,

salvaged from a factory in Germany. There’s

almost 100 years of history right here, and

you could be drinking from it; three shelves,

three stemware racks and f ve slots for wine

bottles.

PLAYED OUT: The postage calculator

doesn’t recognise Australian postcodes, and

it weighs 120kg.

2. Nokia Lumia 1020Price: $TBA • Distributor: Nokia

www.nokia.com.au

So here’s another smartphone. Wait! Where

are you going? This one has something

interesting, we promise! 41 somethings

to be precise. Those somethings are

megapixels.

POWERED UP: Video recording naturally at

1920x1080. Actually takes two photos, one

5mp for uploading to The Social Medias,

and a 35 or 38mp for high-detail snaps.

The built in pro-cam app lets wannabe

photographers mess with various settings to

get the perfect pic.

PLAYED OUT: Megapixels maketh not the

camera and there’s still a long way to go to

replace even dedicated quick-shot cameras.

Also, Windows Mobile.

3. SigmoPrice: $30 • Distributor: Sigmo

buysigmo.com

An Indiegogo project that’s already doubled

its $15k funding goal and still has 40 days

to go, the Sigmo is probably the closest

thing we’ll have to a babelf sh in the near

future.

POWERED UP: The device, which is only a

couple of centimetres across, promises to

translate 25 languages.

PLAYED OUT: How does it do this? Well,

it hooks up to an Android or iOS

device via Bluetooth and uses

existing translation services,

such as Google translate. So it

seems it’s pretty much a glorif ed

Bluetooth speaker.

4. Wacom Intuous Creative StylusPrice: $100 • Distributor: Wacom

intuoscreativestylus.wacom.com

With so many people owning various iWhatsits,

the market for dedicated graphics tablets

must surely be declining. All you really need is

a decent app to combine with your iPad (no,

Draw Something doesn’t count) and with this

stylus, you’re good to get your art on.

POWERED UP: Over 2,000

levels of pressure sensitivity,

and palm-rejection which

ensures you don’t ruin your

masterpiece by resting your

hand on the iPad.

PLAYED OUT: Digital art,

shmigital art. Get yourself a

canvas, some oils, and knock yourself

out (seriously, don’t breathe paint fumes).

5. Saker S-1 Personal JetPrice: $7,000,000 • Distributor: Saker

www.sakeraircraft.com

Let’s be honest for a moment. The morning

commute can be a nightmare. Public

transport sucks. The roads suck. What’s

left? The Sky!

POWERED UP: With a top speed of Mach

1.1 (approximately 1168km/h) you’ll be at

work in no time.

PLAYED OUT: There’s a possibility that you

already accidently spent the SEVEN MILLION

DOLLARS you found between the couch

cushions, and therefore are unable to buy

this jet. Also f nding somewhere to park it

is going to be a pain. Oh, and you’ll need a

pilot, or some decent training before taking it

for a spin. We recommend DCS World.


1. Glen has discovered the

wondrous technology known as

“shelves”, designed by scientists

specifically for storing all the

crap that comes with today’s

collector’s editions.

2. If Glen ever gets lost in a strange

land filled with dragons, thieves

and vampires, he’ll know exactly

which way to go.

3. Yep, yet another PCPP reader

with dual monitors. Thanks

guys, way to make the staff feel

inadequate.

4. We hope Glen has since learned

from his sins, and now worships

the god of Battlefield instead of

the false prophet COD.

5. Awww cute, Glen’s mum obviously

bought him this “Boyfriend” card

so that he didn’t feel like a sad, solo

gamer on Valentine’s day. Or maybe

that was our Tech Editor’s story.

GLEN AGE 29 | ELLENBROOK WA

FOUR MOST IMPRESSIVE FEATURES:

1. Coolermaster HAF 932 Case for awesome

airflow

2. Core i5 3570k with Noctua NH-D14 running at

4.2GHz

3. Gigabyte GTX 670 OC Edition

4. Dual BenQ RL2450H monitors

LAST UPGRADE: The dual monitors. I was using

a 46-inch 3D TV beforehand which was good for

big screen gaming, but dual screens at a desk is

much more comfortable for extended sessions.

DREAM UPGRADE: I think a GTX Titan or two would

be a nice upgrade, or a nice big SSD to eliminate

load times.

FAVOURITE FEATURE: That I spent the time

researching (mostly through PCPP issues) and

picking the right components to build a machine

that can run all my PC games comfortably and

reliably hopefully for some time.

MY PC IS SPECIAL BECAUSE: Every component

was carefully selected to make it run fast, cool

and silent without breaking the bank.

GLEN WINS!

An Ear Force Z300 headset from

Turtle Beach and QV Software! This

wireless 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound

set of cans provides an immersive

audioscape for PC gaming!

Send your MyPC entry today to [email protected]. Include the four most impressive elements of its hardware, your last

upgrade, your dream upgrade, your favourite feature and what you think makes your PC special. Make sure to include your name, age

and location. And last but not least, attach a 5MP or bigger image of your PC! No camera phone shots, and make sure itÕs in focus!

01

02

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This monthÕs MY PC

brought to you by


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• GTX 765M isn’t fast enough for 1080p

• Beautiful chassis and display

• Powerful CPU

• Small for a gaming laptop

VERDICT With such lacklustre

performance, the high price tag

of the Alienware 14 just doesn’t

make sense.

6

P R ICE $ 2,699

www.alienware.com.au

Alienware 14Pay more for portability

It might only have a 14-inch screen,

but this welterweight packs a decent

punch thanks to the Intel 4th Gen

Core i7-4900MQ CPU, which peaks at

3.8GHz whilst gaming. It’s matched

with the NVIDIA GTX 765M, which sits

around the middle of NVIDIA’s new

700M series. As serious PC gamers,

we wouldn’t recommend going any

lower in the 700M product stack than

this part, as you’ll see that even this

card struggles with prettier games. The

765M uses four of the SMX blocks

that are the basis of Kepler products,

delivering a total of 768 CUDA cores. To

give you an idea of how that compares

to a desktop GPU, the GeForce GTX

760 has six SMX blocks, for a total of

1152 CUDA cores. The GPU runs at

850MHz, but ramps up to the 1GHz

mark thanks to NVIDIA’s GPU Boost 2.0

technology, while the memory bus is

clocked at 4GHz.

The rest of the laptop

is up to Alienware’s usual

impeccable standards. The

chassis uses Alienware’s slick

LightFX system to glow a range

of gorgeous colours, while the

1920 x 1080 display is a stunner.

16GB of memory is plenty, but the

64GB SSD is a little on the slim side,

despite being paired with a 750GB

mechanical drive.

As the benchmarks show, the

GTX 765M just doesn’t have the

horsepower to run at this laptop’s

display’s native resolution. Drop

things down to 1280 x 720 and it’s a

happier story, but at this price we really

expected much better performance.

The Alienware 14 might be conveniently

small, but this level of performance

shouldn’t cost close to three grand.

NVIDIA’S TRIPLE THREATThe GeForce GTX 700M series has fi nally arrived in force

The GeForce GTX 700M is the same architecture powering the kick-arse GTX 600

and 700 desktop series. BENNETT RING got his hands on three laptops, each using a

different 700M series part.

Hitman: Absolution:

1920 x 1080; Ultra Quality

3DMark 2013 - FireStrike Test, 1920 x 1080 PowerMark Battery Life

Metro: Last Light: 1920 x 1080;

Highest Detail; PhysX disabled

Tomb Raider: 1920 x 1080;

Ultra Detail; TressFX disabled

Origin EON15-S

Toshiba Qosmi

Alienware 14

Origin EON15-S

Toshiba Qosmi

Alienware 14

Origin EON15-S

Toshiba Qosmi

Alienware 14

Origin EON15-S

Toshiba Qosmi

Alienware 14

Origin EON15-S

Toshiba Qosmi

Alienware 14

51

5180 129

101

63

3157

2339

42 9 56

32

24

9

5

29

21

25

Minimum FPS

Score (higher is better) Minutes (longer is better)

Minimum FPS Minimum FPSAverage FPSAverage FPS Average FPS

68

41

31

14

11

36

26


• Still struggles with more demanding

titles

• Lovely big screen

• Speedy CPU and GPU

• Built tough

• Plastic chassis

• Scary price

• Loud fan noise

• Stupid fast

• Surprisingly portable

• Quality display

VERDICT Rich in features,

built to last and with very

respectable performance, the

newest Qosmio is a great mid-

range gaming laptop.

VERDICT It doesn’t get much

faster than this… or more

expensive.

Toshiba QosmioX70-A014Qosmic portability

8

9

P R ICE $ 2,999

www.mytoshiba.com.au

P R ICE $ 4,422

www.originpc.com.au

Origin EON15-SBurns through benchmarks and bank accounts

By the time we got around to testing

our third gaming machine, we were

a little concerned that we’d never

see a laptop capable of playing the

latest and greatest. Thankfully, the

little laptop that could from Origin

proved those doubts incorrect. It might

look relatively demure, thanks to the

smaller chassis dictated by the 15-

inch screen, but thanks to the high-end

kit within, this baby ripped through our

benchmarks.

This is mostly thanks to the top-of-

the-line GTX 780M tucked away inside.

This uses eight SMX units, delivering

a whopping 1536 CUDA cores, a

huge step up compared to the GTX

770M’s 960 cores. It’s also got faster

memory, running at 5GHz instead of

the 770’s 4GHz, and it’s also running

over a much wider 256-bit memory

bus. These specs simply wipe the f oor

with the rest of the 700M series, and

makes the 780M a very close relative

to the GeForce GTX 680 desktop GPU.

Origin has paired this potent GPU

with the Intel 4th Gen

Core i7 4930MX, the

fastest Haswell part

available, topping

out at 3.9GHz under

load. 32GB of memory is

overly generous, while twin Samsung

840 SSDs in RAID 0 round out the

stupid fast specif cations.

Unsurprisingly this machine

absolutely blitzed the benchmarks.

As it should, for over four grand.

Sure, it sounded like a small aircon

unit when things got hectic, but most

gaming laptops at this performance

level do. The EON15-S proves just how

damn fast the GTX 780M is, and is

one of the fastest gaming laptops on

the market. Pity about that price tag

though.

Built using a similar Qosmio chassis

to those we’ve grown to love over

the last few years, this behemoth is

dominated by the massive 17.3-inch

display. The style is matched by rock-

solid construction. It weighs as much

as a Corolla, but it’s not designed to be

a lightweight road warrior.

At the heart of this laptop is

NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTX 770M

GPU. Once again, we see the Kepler

architecture wheeled out, but this time

it’s built on the foundation of f ve SMX

blocks; one more than the GTX 765M,

delivering a total of 960 CUDA cores.

The memory bandwidth has also been

increased compared to the 765M,

increasing to a 192-bit bus over the

765’s 128-bit bus, which helps deliver

better high resolution performance.

This upper mid-range GPU is matched

perfectly with the

Intel 4th Gen Core

i7-4700MQ CPU, which

tops out at 3.4GHz during Turbo mode.

16GB of DDR3 memory is plenty for

today’s PC games. Whilst our review

conf guration came packing twin 1TB

mechanical drives, we’d suggest

replacing one of these with an SSD.

The hardware still struggles with the

most demanding games on Ultra, but

on more reasonable detail levels and it

should be more than playable. Still, the

gap between the 770M and the 780M

is so darn high, buyers might not

realise this given the product naming.

But we’re rather enamoured by the

new Qosmio, with the excellent build

quality, huge screen and rock solid

performance making this a winner in

the three grand price bracket.

POWERAWARDw w w . p c p o w e r p l a y . c o m . a u


TE

CH

• A tad expensive

• Poor noise control

• Only two fans included

• Striking looks

• Plenty of room

• Fan hub controller

VERDICT The Phantom 530

stands out from the crowd with

its combination of good looks

and high build quality.

NZXT Phantom 530An eye for design

8

P r ice $179

www.pccasegear.com.au

c a se

We don’t usually devote a

full page to PC cases, but

considering this is the frst chassis

we’ve had from the LA-based

designers, we fgured it’d be worth

taking a closer look at the Phantom

530. This is the latest version of a

very successful series of cases that

debuted overseas in 2010, and the

end product shows how years of

iteration and evolution combine with a

unique eye for design, creating a case

that stands apart from the rest.

Before we delve inside the

cavernous interior, we simply have

to comment on this case’s striking

apperance. Obviously, aesthetic

appeal is a subjective matter that

boils down to personal taste, but here

at PCPP we know we’ve got better

taste than most. Hey, it’s part of

the job. We think this a sexy beast,

one that delicately straddles the line

between bombastic and classy. It

manages to be striking and distinctive

without being crass or cheap, a

lesson many lesser Taiwanese brands

would do well to learn. Whether or

not you agree will likely determine

whether this is the case for you. Steel

is the predominant material used in

the construction, but the front white

door and overhanging top lip is built

from plastic, so we’d be rather careful

when lugging this case around. The

top rear two thirds of the case is steel

mesh; great for ventilation purposes,

but absolutely useless for noise

control, making this case unsuitable

for those on a quest for silence.

An integrated fan controller is

mounted on the top, right next to

a button labelled I/O. This unique

feature activates a series of LED

lights around your motherboard’s

I/O panel, so you won’t need to go

digging for a torch when you want to

plug in your TrackIR unit.

This whopper of a full tower is

designed for ATX systems, and

has plenty of room even for EATX

motherboards. Eight expansion slots

on the rear make this perfect for

triple or quad GPU solutions, while six

3.5 inch drive bays offer more than

enough space for torrent addicts.

Each bay includes a silent mounting

system. There’s a huge amount of

room inside for cable management,

and more fan bays than you can

shake a water cooler at, though only

two of them are occupied. There’s

also plenty of space for even the

biggest radiators. The entire interior

uses a relatively traditional layout,

and the tool-free design lacks any

nasty sharp edges.

There’s no denying that the

Phantom 530 is a head turner. It’s

also cavernous and well built, but the

price tag does feel a little hefty. At a

tad under $200, it’s up against some

stiff competition and lacks some

of the extra goodies of this price

range, such as silencing material,

fans or external drive bays. Still,

looks alone are enough to make this

worthy of your consideration, and

we look forward to seeing what else

NZXT offers across the range of case

prices. BENNETT RING


• Button placement is awkward

• Upper end of price range

• Plenty of buttons

• Mouse movement feels accurate

and smooth

• Slightly flat soundscape

• Above average sound quality

• Sexy LED lighting

• Decent

microphone

VERDICT The VolosÕ range of

motion is smooth and accurate,

but the large number of

programmable buttons feel like

they could have been better

positioned.

VERDICT Whodathunkit Ð

Thermaltake, the PC case

and cooler maker, actually

turned out a decent set of

headphones.

Thermaltake Volos Gaming MouseTake it for a test drive first

7

7

P r ice $ 90

www.thermaltake.com.au

P r ice $ 80

www.thermaltake.com.au

Thermaltake Cronos Gaming HeadsetWorth a second look

We’re wary of cheap gaming

headphones made by companies

with no audio expertise, especially

when a key feature is huge red LED

strips that glow in the dark. So you can

imagine our surprise when we checked

out these Cronos headphones, made

by a company that specialises in PC

cases and with more glowing red lights

than a Sydney Airport runway, and

found they weren’t actually terrible.

A few hours of Beethoven in FLAC

always gives headphones a good

run for their money. To our delight,

the Cronos exhibited a clear, rich

soundscape, delivering a warm tone

that wasn’t bass heavy or too tinny.

Next up was some good old Acca

Dacca, and the electric guitars of

For Those About to Rock carried

just the right amount of distortion,

although overall the sound was a

little fat compared to the lively Audio

Technica ATH-A500Xs PCPP uses as

a benchmark. Still, for $80, we were

quite impressed.

In gaming, where it really counts, the

Cronos does a fne job. The cans aren’t

brain-meltingly loud, with a top volume

that is still comfortable to listen to. The

bombastic soundscape of Battlefeld

3 remained relatively clear even during

the most intense frefghts.

They’re not the best in their class,

but the Cronos are a damn sight

better than we were expecting. Throw

in a decent microphone, detachable

speaker cable (though it’s proprietary,

which might make replacing it tricky)

and a great price tag, and you could do

a lot worse than these headphones.

BENNETT RING

When you frst swipe this mouse

across your surface of choice,

you’ll be forgiven for thinking somebody

has cranked up the gravity under your

desk. It weighs a tonne, but its six

4.5 gram weights can be removed,

making it less of a wrist-wrecker.

You’ll then notice how the Volos flls

your palm, thanks to its larger-than-

usual dimensions. It’s odd, but soon

becomes comfortable, offering more

support than skinnier rodents.

We’re not sure why Thermaltake

went with Xbox-style buttons under

the thumb. They’re well placed for

MOBA abilities, thought the blue

button was too far forward for this

reviewer’s miniature digits. Another

two buttons sit towards the rear under

the thumb, but they’re very awkward

to reach. Three more sit under your

pinky fnger, where the positioning is

less than ideal. In total, there are 14

confgurable buttons, one of which

will be used as the DPI selector. This

controls the top-quality Avago 8200

DPI sensor; arguably the best on the

market right now and explains why the

Volos feels so accurate. Thermaltake

also includes macro software for

customising each of the buttons, but

the clunky interface isn’t our favourite.

We appreciate the number of

programmable buttons and accuracy of

this mouse, but the button placement

felt a little awkward. However, this

could simply be caused by our child-

sized hands, so if you can get your

mitts on the Volos and like the way it

feels, you should have no hesitation in

purchasing it, especially if you’re part

of the MOBA set. BENNETT RING

iNP U T

A UDiO


TE

CH

• More expensive than EVO

• Slower overall than EVO

• Very good overall performance

• Respectable price

• Huge 5 year warranty

• Won’t make you popular at school/uni/work

• Blazing performance

• Low price per GB

• Healthy warranty

VERDICT Samsung has done

it again, delivering a drive that

fi ts the bill in every conceivable

way. Our top pick for SSDs.

VERDICT The Extreme II is

still an excellent drive, but it’s

been pipped at the post by

Samsung’s EVO.

Samsung 840 EVO 250GBThe best just got better

10

8

P R ICE $ 210

www.samsung.com.au

P R ICE $ 259

www.sandisk.com

SanDisk Extreme II 240GBClose, but no cigar

As one of the world’s largest

manufacturers of f ash

memory, SanDisk is uniquely

positioned to build cheaper SSDs

than most. So why is the Extreme

II selling for $1.08 per Gigabyte,

a price that would have been

seen as ridiculously cheap a

year ago but now fails to excite?

Given the rather chunky price

tag, we expected absolutely top

tier performance, but sadly the

Extreme II didn’t quite deliver.

It’s not that this is a slow

SSD. Our benchmarks show that,

depending on the f le size, it’s got

the chops to beat the 840 EVO

some of the time. However, it’s

usually by a slim margin of a few

percent, yet when it loses against

the EVO it often gets thoroughly

trounced. Take the 128K test,

which is great for smaller f le

performance; the EVO leads by

almost twice the speed. It’s not the

memory that is the problem, with

the Extreme II using speedy 19nm

MLC NAND modules. We think it’s

more likely to do with the Marvell

88SS9187 controller, the one

and the same found in the Crucial

M500 we recently reviewed.

If it is a controller

issue, there’s hope

that a f rmware

update will extract

top tier performance out of

the Extreme II in the future.

Until then, it’s slower and more

expensive than the EVO, so

you know which one we’d buy.

BENNETT RING

When a new high-speed SSD

arrives, it’s only natural

to assume it’ll come wearing a

ridiculous price tag. Not so with

the new 840 EVO. At just 84c per

Gigabyte, this is one of the most

affordable SSDs in the 250GB

range on the market. Given how

cheap it is, we naturally assumed

performance had taken a nose

dive, but on that count we were

wrong as well.

As the benchmarks show, this

SSD happily occupies the top rung

of the SATA 3 SSD performance

ladder. It’s not always the fastest

in each individual test, but

measure the average across

all tests and it’s currently the

speediest SSD to mate with our

testbench’s SATA port. Samsung

has achieved this brilliant balance

of price and performance by

using new TLC NAND memory

manufactured on a 19nm process.

Paired to the existing Samsung

MEX controller found in the prior

840, the controller has been

given a sizeable speed boost, up

from 300MHz to 400MHz in the

EVO. It’s one of the few affordable

SSDs to offer AES-256 encryption,

perfect for storing your

thermonuclear warhead

designs. Obviously, it’s

also utilising a SATA3

connection, necessary for such

high storage speed results.

Throw in a three year warranty

and we have an SSD that is simply

perfect. We can’t fault a single

thing about it. Time to go update

The Menagerie. BENNETT RING

SAMSUNG VERSUS SANDISK


The Extreme SSD Face-Off

Read Performance (MB/sec – higher is better) Write Performance (MB/sec – higher is better)

108.49

171.04

4K QD4

128K

117.05

289.56

31.62

122.87

4K

32K

35.53

183.44

516.91

281.35

Seq 4MB

4K QD16

506.81

271.57

65.59

297.63

4K

4K QD16

67.33

252.3

468.86

257.81

Seq 4MB

4K QD4

486.23

254.9

SANDISK EXTREME II 240GB SANDISK EXTREME II 240GB SAMSUNG 840EVO SAMSUNG 840EVO


• Needs to be calibrated

• Expensive

• Poor stand

• Flicker free tech

• 144Hz

• Solid colour and contrast performance

VERDICT Even ignoring

the fl icker free tech, this is a

high speed gaming monitor

for those who demand the

ultimate in smooth motion.

BenQ XL2411TWhy eyegonomics matter

9

P R ICE $ 429

www.benq.com.au

DISP L AY

BenQ took the gaming world by

storm with its prestigious, not to

mention pricey, XL2410T monitor back

in mid-2011. Since then, it has gone

on to release new models aimed at PC

gamers and the XL2422T is the latest.

Incorporating BenQ’s new f icker-

free technology, can it live up to the

reputation of its predecessor?

With a top refresh rate of 144Hz,

this high-speed display is perfect for

those who demand the ultimate in

blur-free PC gaming. This fact alone

helps to account for why a 24-inch

display costs so damn much, but the

$400+ price tag is nothing compared

to the two GTX Titans you’ll need to

play your games at 144 frames per

second. As expected, given the high

refresh rate, this display is certif ed

for NVIDIA’s 3D Vision 2 standard,

although it’s not quite as bright as

some of its 3D-capable competitors.

The key new feature is support

for BenQ’s f icker free technology.

Most LED monitors f icker when

the backlight adjusts for changing

brightness levels, due to a technology

called Pulse Width Modulation.

Extended viewing of this f ickering can

apparently cause eye strain and even

damaged sight for screen-addicts

like us, so BenQ’s new monitors use

different techniques to change the

brightness. We should point out that

BenQ isn’t the only ones doing this –

there are over 25 other monitors on

the market that are f icker free, from

brands such as Dell and Apple.

It’s hard to judge the impact of this

technology, as we use a Dell U2713H

for most desktop duties already, which

is also f icker free. However, if your

current monitor isn’t f icker free, I’d

highly recommend getting a demo of

the XL2411T to see if it feels more

comfortable. And given that BenQ

has several optometrists on record

as saying that f icker-free is good for

the eyes of heavy computer users, it’s

def nitely a feature worth considering.

As a gaming monitor, the XL2411T

sits very close to its predecessor. The

stand isn’t as f exible and there’s no

nifty prof le switcher, but the image

quality is top notch for a TN panel…

once it’s been calibrated. Out of the

box, the colour prof le and gamma

settings aren’t ideal, but an hour or so

of calibrating helped deliver acceptable

colour and contrast performance.

Where this really shines though is in

the fact that it’s such a low latency

display. Best of all, it’s compatible with

a new hack dreamed up by display

enthusiasts that eliminates motion

blur entirely, delivering CRT levels of

crispness. This is thanks to the NVIDIA

LightBoost 2.0 tech used for 3D, but

it’s instead used for 2D gaming. The

only catch is that your game must run

at 120fps for the technique to work,

but it’s stunning when it does.

The XL2411T might not be a

massive improvement over its

predecessor, and in fact is inferior

when considering the stand and

prof le adjustment. However, the all-

important increase to a 144Hz refresh

rate makes it even better for twitch

gamers, while the hack to enable

motion-blur free gaming has to be

seen to be believed. Finally, if the eye

doctors are right, this thing will also

save your eyesight, and that fact alone

makes it stand out from the rest.

BENNETT RING


W I T H B E N N E T T R I N G

It’s the quiet before the storm, with some big news

hitting next issue. We’ve upgraded the monitor in our

Performance system to BenQ’s new XL2411T and

installed the Samsung 840 EVO in our Performance

and Premium builds, both reviewed this month.

TOTAL – $5,291

PREMIUMCrank everything to Ultra, including your credit card limit

CPU

Intel 4th Generation Core i7-4770K + Corsair H100i Water Cooling Kit$399 + $180 www.intel.com

MOBO

ASUS Maximus VIHero $285 www.asus.com.au

With a new CPU socket comes an entirely

new motherboard.

RAM

2 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 Low Height Kit$144 www.corsair.com

16GB should be more than enough.

VIDEO

2 x GainwardGTX 770$958 www.gainward.com

Twin GTX 770s will smash anything.

POWER

Silverstone Strider Plus 850W$158 www.silverstonetek.com

A high end PSU to ensure stable overclocks.

SOUND

Creative ZXR +Audio TechnicaATH-A500x $266 + $120

www.asus.com / audio-technica.com

OPTICAL

Samsung SH-B123ABlu-ray Combo Drive $89 www.samsung.com.au

Blu for you!

DISPLAY

Dell 30” U3011UltraSharp$1299 www.dell.com.au

Delivers pixel-perfect 2560 x 1600 resolution.

CASE

Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower$366 www.coolermaster.com

Big is best!

KEYBOARD

Razer Black Widow+ Razer Orbweaver $93 + $120 www.razerzone.com

Mechanical keys... drool...

MOUSE

SteelSeries Sensei$69 www.steelseries.com

Amazing performance without paying

through the nose.

STORAGE

W.D. Caviar Black 1TB + Samsung SSD 840 EVO750GB $96 + $649

www.wdc.com / www.samsung.com.au

TOTAL – $1,101

BUDGETThe perfect entry-level gaming PC

CPU

AMD FX 6300$141 www.amd.com

It’s time to upgrade our AMD chip. Six-cores of

updated architecture are just what we need!

MOBO

ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 AM3+$107 www.asrock.com.au

Our new CPU needs a new ASRock home.

RAM

Kingston DDR3 8GB1333MHz CL9$27 www.kingston.com

For those times when four just ain’t enough.

VIDEO

Gigabyte GTX 760 Windforce$329 www.gigabyte.com.au

This card came out tops in our GTX 760 review.

POWER

Cooler Master 500W$59 www.coolermaster.com

Unlike high end PCs, the Budget build doesn’t

need a lot of juice to get up to speed.

SOUND

Sennheiser HD201+ ASUS Xonar DG$56

Headphones plus soundcard – yes!

OPTICAL

Lite-on DVD-RW$21 www.us.liteonit.com

We’d happily retire the drive, but some of you

guys still believe in physical media.

STORAGE

Toshiba DT01ACA050 500GB HDD $55 www.toshiba.com.au

Half a Terabyte should handle everything.

DISPLAY

Samsung S24B300H 24”$175 www.samsung.com

Crystal clear 1920 x 1080 resolution.

CASE

BitFenix Shinobi$64 www.bitfenix.com

Nice for the price. This is the little brother of

the case used in our Performance build.

KEYBOARD

Tt eSPORTS Challenger $45 www.thermaltake.com.au

Built for PC gamers. Macros, shortcuts, the lot.

MOUSE

Gigabyte M6900$22 www.gigabyte.com.au

A sensor resolution of 3200DPI will make

your headshots count.

TOTAL – $2,312

PERFORMANCEMost of the bells and whistles, without breaking the bank

CPU

Intel 4th Generation Core i5-4670K + Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM$270 + $43 www.intel.com

MOBO

MSI Z87-GD65$205 www.msi.com

This was one of the cheapest, best-performing

motherboards in our Z87 roundup.

RAM

Corsair CMX8GX3M2-A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3$69 www.corsair.com

VIDEO

Gainward GTX 770 $479 www.gainward.com

At around $150 cheaper than other brands,

this is one of the most affordable GTX 770s.

POWER

Corsair 650W VS650$72 www.corsair.com

With minimum removable cables, this

overclock-ready PSU delivers!

SOUND

Audio TechnicaATH-A500X$120 www.audio-technica.com

These headphones offer very solid quality.

OPTICAL

Lite-on DVD-RW$21 www.us.liteonit.com

This is the one bit of kit that stays the

same between most of our machines.

DISPLAY

BenQ XL2411T$429 www.benq.com.au

BenQ’s new 24-incher not only looks great,

it’ll also save your eyesight. Apparently.

CASE

BitFenix Shinobi XL $151 www.bitfenix.com

Just like the beloved Shinobi, but biggerer.

KEYBOARD

Thermaltake Meka G1 $105 www.thermaltake.com.au

Might as well go for a premium keyboard.

MOUSE

Razer DeathAdder V2$44 www.razerzone.com

Doesn’t bite!

TECH

STORAGE

W.D. Caviar Black 1TB+ Samsung 840 EVO250GB $96 + $210

www.wdc.com / www.samsung.com.au

www.sennheiser.comwww.asus.com.au


TOTAL – $17,942

THEWhen overkill is barely enough...CPU

Intel 4th GenerationCore i7 4770K +EK-KIT H3O 360HFX Cooling Kit $399 + $349

www.intel.com

www.pccasegear.com.au

MOBO

Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5$550

www.gigabyte.com.au

This high end Z78-based board has

an excellent 3D BIOS tha makes

overclocking a breeze.

RAM

Corsair Dominator Platinum 4 x 4GB DDR3 2400MHz$429 www.corsair.com

It doesn’t get much faster than this.

VIDEO

3 x ASUS GTX Titan $3897 www.asus.com.au

Welcome to crazy town,

population 200fps.

POWER

Thermaltake ToughPower 1500W$339www.thermaltake.com.au

1500W should be plenty for the three GPUs

running alongside an overclocked CPU,

as well as the storage within.

KE YBOARD

Razer BlackWidowUltimate StealthEdition + RazerOrbweaver$199 + $120

www.razerzone.com

You name it, this keyboard can do it.

SPE AKERS

Paradigm Cinema 110with dual subwoofersand Paradigm monitorcenter channel +Pioneer VSX-921 amp$3299www.eastwoodhifi.com.au

OP TICAL

SamsungSH-B123A Blu-rayCombo Drive$89www.samsung.com.au

Putting in a Blu-ray drive allows your

PC to double as a powerful media box.

HEADPHONES + SOUND CARD

Creative Sound-Blaster ZXR + AudioTechnica ATH-A500XHeadphones$208 + $120www.asus.com

www.audio-technica.com

STORAGE

OCZ 240GBRevoDrive 3 X2 +OCZ Vertex 4520GB + 2 x WD1TB Velociraptor$469 + $799 + $552www.wdc.com / www.ocz.com

DISPL AY

Panasonic AE8000$2800www.panasonic.com.au

Beautiful 1920 x 1080 gaming.

Unfortunately you won’t be able to

do 3D gaming at anything higher than

720p due to the limitations of HDMI 1.4.

CASE

Cooler MasterCosmos II UltraTower $366

www.coolermaster.com

It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’s also nice

and quiet. The compartmentalised interior

ensures everything runs ice-cool.

INPUT DE VICES

Razer Mamba WirelessGaming Mouse + Xbox360 USB WirelessDongle + Xbox 360wireless controller$179 + $40 + $40www.razer.com / www.xbox.com

STEERING WHEEL

Fanatec CSR Elitewith pedals andshifters $1199

www.fanatec.de

There’s nothing better than

“Germangineering” to deliver the most

precise force feedback around.

JOYSTICK

Logitech G940$399

www.logitech.com

With a force feedback joystick,

separate throttle and dedicated

rudder pedals, the G940 is perfect

for any flight sim.

COCKPIT

Obutto oZone withButtkicker gamer 2and TrackIR 5 Pro$1100You’re going to need somewhere to

mount your wheel and joystick, and the

Obutto frame is a favourite of ours.

MSI Z87 XPOWER

As MATT WILSON concludes, the Big Bang was only the beginning

P R ICE $ 499

http ://au.msi.com


BU

NK

ER

MSI launched itself aggressively forward

into the overclocking market with the

previous Big Bang edition of its motherboards,

though this time around a slightly more subtle

name has been decided upon. The “XPower”

is the current overclockers offering in the MSI

Z87 line up, sporting everything the aspiring

overclocker needs, along with a couple of

extras should you find yourself actually

wanting to do more with this board than DICE

or LN2 benchmarking.

The first thing that you will notice when you

unwrap this monstrous board is the sheer

enormity of it. With a full 7 PCIe slots, it’s no

surprise that it comes in a XL-ATX form factor.

This not only allows room for all of the PCIe

ports and a plethora of other connectivity, it

also allows for more on-board technology like

the PLX8747 and tracing.

Before everyone throws their hands in

the air and says “oh gawd, not another SLI

chip!” this one is different, we swear. While

the PLX8747 may have the same task as its

four-way-SLI capable predecessors, it has

one crucial difference when installed on the

XPower – the ability to be bypassed completely

(and use the Intel PCIE 3.0 16 lanes) when

only using a single GPU. If you are using

multiple GPUs, however, there are 32 lanes

available, divided evenly amongst the number

of connected GPUs.

This is an important feature, as it means

not only is this board a good choice for four-

way SLI benchmarkers, it enables PC gamers

to just as easily remove additional cards for

single-GPU benchmarking without the need

of a motherboard change. This is something

many overclocking boards in the past have

overlooked.

As mentioned, there are other useful

features on the board should you plan on using

the XPower for more than extreme overclocking

and benchmarking. There is a 802.11n wi-fi

chip (2x2:2 Centrino N-2230, which means

2.4 GHz), a Realtek ALC1150 audio chip, two

onboard USB 3.0 headers, 10 SATA ports, 12

USB 3.0 ports, a Killer E2205 Gaming NIC and,

to top it all off, a three year warranty.

MSI would have been wise to exclude a few

of these features in exchange for a lower price

tag, palming off the extra fat to the MPower

Max instead (the “extreme enthusiast” board).

It would have been nice to see MSI take more

of a lead from the Gigabyte OC series, rather

than the ASUS ROG series for this board’s

inspiration, but an odd blend of the two is

better than a direct copy of either.

At the time of writing, there were a few

teething issues with BIOS, most of which were

remedied with a new version, though some

problems still remained. There is a long POST

when running multiple GPUs, something that

you don’t want while using LN2, as the system

can become unstable with cold temperatures

at POST (depending on CPU and cold bug).

This means you need to be constantly reaching

for your heat gun after crashes, and you burn

through much more LN2 getting the pot back

down to benching temperatures, resulting in

more condensation on the pot / board / CPU

socket.

Hopefully, this is just a teething issue and

not a permanent fixture for the XPower, as –

LN2 overclocking aside – this will become very

annoying for enthusiasts wanting to run a high-

end gaming machine only to find out that their

uber gaming system with 10 SSDs takes longer

to boot up than our $300 Compaq laptop.

Given this motherboard has a gigantic 32

power phases, it’s no surprise that there is

quite a chunk of metal bolted around the CPU

socket to keep things cool. This shouldn’t be

an issue for most air coolers, though Noctua

D14 users may be left out of this one. Of

course, if you’re running a board like this (or

should we say, making the most of a board like

this) then you’re going to be running multiple

videocards and your CPU on at least water

cooling, if not a phase change or DICE setup,

so clearance over the PWM heatsinks shouldn’t

be a concern.

The next point of interest for us are the

overclocking buttons. There is no doubt they

do come in handy, especially the “OC Genie”

button, which is useful for newbie tweakers to

quickly reach a stable overclock with a simple

button press. There is, however, a difference

with this motherboard layout, and that is the

inclusion of a switch sitting above the OC Genie

button reading “OC Switch 1”. This enables the

OC Genie key to clock 200MHz higher than the

default overclock for an i7 4770K, and possibly

a different increment for other CPUs, though we

only had the 4770K to test this on.

“Good sound, more than enough SATA and

USB connectivity, expansion slots galore

and even wi-fi options”

The other buttons present are for quick

overclocking without the use of a case or tool

to short out the front panel pins in order to

power up, shut down or reset the PC. There

is also a pretty sweet feature added to this

board’s buttons: a new lightning button, which

acts as a hard reset. This button essentially

acts in the same way as removing the BIOS

battery from the motherboard whilst the power

is disconnected, resetting everything, including

the BIOS itself.

Overall, the XPower is nothing short of

superb. It’s got everything you need for PC

gaming, with good sound, more than enough

SATA and USB connectivity, expansion slots

galore and even wi-fi options. The problem

with this, though, is the board begins to

become unfocused. Are we dealing with a

32 phase LN2 board with 4-way SLI/CFX?

Or are we dealing with a Hi-Fi LAN machine?

We can’t help but feel that. if you are taking

full use of the gaming features and general

connectivity options of this board, you’re not

going to be utilizing the OC development and

features available here. Conversely, if you’re

only interested in the OC functionality, then

there is a whole heap of gaming and media

focused technology that you won’t use either.

It seems whichever your focus is, there has

been R&D and real estate spent on features

you don’t need.

8

VERDICT If you can afford it and what a board

that has it all, go for it. If you’re after something

a little more focused and restrained, there are

smarter ways to spend your money.


THINKING LATERALLY

How STEVE HOLT overclocked a single game with... an iPhone?!


BU

NK

ER

Quite a few years back, when Bohemia

Interactive’s massive military sim ARMA

II touched down, many machines were brought

to their knees under the sheer might of the

game’s massive open world. Including mine.

With 225 square kilometres of sandbox map

on Chernarus alone, we were all invited to pit

our wits against each other and battle it out

just to stay alive.

A problem for many was that their PC

often got bullied by the sheer scope of the

game, causing low frame rates and terrible

stutter. This forced folks to tone down

the textures, reduce view distance

(something you NEVER want to do in

ARMA II) and basically let someone else

fly the helicopter.

Many made the choice to upgrade.

Some decided it was time to give

overclocking a go. I was in the latter group.

With the aid of an extra fan here and there,

and a sweet new CPU cooler, I managed to

transform my little Socket 775 rig from a

minor slug at 3.2GHz to a bit of a mover at

just over 4GHz.

RAMMING SPEED

The increased speeds helped, but still didn’t

stop ARMA II’s in-game stutter. Continuing my

reading on the net, I came across some guys

on the community forums over at Bohemia

Interactive that had been experimenting with

RAM disks - partitioning a section of their

system memory (full tutorial in PCPP#215’s

Bunker!) and loading ARMA II on to that

partition. With the promise of increased

frame rates and silky smooth squadplay, I

was hooked on the idea of coming up with

something that could help.

Remember, this was a number of years

ago. In those days, the idea of buying an SSD

was tantamount to selling a kidney, but with

ARMA II being over 8GB in size, there was

no way I could offer up that much space to a

RAM disk. I needed an alternative.

With the understanding that ARMA II

was coded to constantly stream textures, I

learned that my particular brand of in-game

stutter, or micro freezes, was being caused

by inefficient data retrieval. The concept for a

solution involves moving communally-loaded

source data to a faster drive. I was already

using a Western Digital Raptor and even that

was showing it still wasn’t fast enough!

Watching my girlfriend loading music on to

her iPhone, I got a crazy idea: could try that

as a alternative to a SSD?

Doing more swatting up on the net and

running a few tests, I was able to identify

what files ARMA II regularly thrashed.

Connecting my own iPhone via USB and

accessing the compact flash drive, I copied

the majority of the game’s common files onto

to its storage.

This was an experiment, so all was cool,

but in the back of my mind I was thinking

it’d be silly to compare a Raptor’s read/write

speeds with an iPhone’s USB transfer rates.

Still, I pressed on.

PHONING HOME

Using a small program found online, I was

able to seed the files transferred from ARMA

II onto drive C: and change the source links in

the game directory to point at the files copied

onto my iPhone, drive D:.

What a pleasant surprise it was to see

that, even though the transfer speeds of the

compact flash through USB were slower than

the peak of a Raptor, the latency, seek times

and burst rates combined averaged out to be a

much faster combination than a regular HDD!

Actual smooth gameplay and a mild

increase in frame rates followed. The ability

to stay alive longer, if only for a bit, plus no

longer having to have the level of detail and

“Seek times and burst rates combined

averaged out to be a much faster

combination than a regular HDD”

This one’s for Jobs

textures dumbed down so hard that it was like

playing DOOM again, was amazing.

The idea of speeding up data retrieval to

enhance your gaming experience is not a new

one. Everyone loves to load PC games fast

and being the first to hop onto a new map

is pure win. With the cost of RAM and SSDs

plummeting, fast storage is not only becoming

part of the norm, but is pretty much expected.

With many motherboards being released

with inbuilt mSATA, small SSDs coming

tangibly close to the $1 per GB mark,

RAM being so cheap it’d be silly not to be

running eight gigs of the stuff, this kind of

overclocking ingenuity is going the way of

the dodo. However, Intel’s RST, and AMD’s

RAIDXpert software, is now being bundled

onto driver CDs, making cacheing a plug and

play feature - but that story is for another

time. Still, cacheing games is as valid today

as it ever was. 1-0 to the lateral thinkers!



When it comes to

overclocking your

RAM, there are

really two different meanings

depending on who you talk

to. If you’re talking to Intel,

anything over 1,333MHz is a

memory overclock, as that is

the default frequency of the

Haswell IMC.

If you’re talking to a RAM

vendor, the response will likely

be that RAM overclocking is

running RAM above its own

rated frequency, regardless

of the stock IMC frequency.

Today, we’re going to give

a brief guide on the latter,

focusing on this new kit

from Corsair, the Vengeance

Pro, which gives you more

than enough overclocking

headroom and more than

respectable performance for a

very reasonable price.

GETTING STARTED

The first thing you should do

before overclocking any RAM

kit on Haswell is first enable

XMP mode (within the BIOS)

and reboot the PC. This should

load the RAM at its optimal,

or “rated”, specification. In the

case of the Corsair Vengeance

Pro kit we’re using today, that

is 2,666MHz with a fairly tight

cache timing of 10-12-12-31.

You can test this overclock

has been successful by

simply opening up CPU-Z and

selecting the Memory tab.

From here, we know that

your kit is functioning fine

and you IMC is capable of

running your RAM kit’s rated

specifications. One of the

strengths Haswell possesses

over previous Intel iterations is

a very strong IMC, so numbers

of 3,400MHz+ are not

uncommon with very high end

memory kits. Anyway, enough

stalling, let’s get to the guide!

MANUAL CONTROL

The first step is to disable

XMP mode, if it’s enabled, and

switch memory control to

manual. From here, we want

to balance the BLCK of the

system along with the memory

divider and CPU multiplier

to achieve a balanced and

stable clock across all of the

motherboard components. This

will become important once

you find the upper limits of

your components and want to

push for every last megahertz.

We’ll begin by changing the

memory divider from the XMP,

or stock ratio, to something

a little more aggressive. The

way to calculate the final

frequency of your RAM with

this divider is to multiply the

second number by 100. For

example, if the ratio is 1:11, for

every 1MHz on the system

BLCK, 11MHz will be applied

to the memory clock. This

would calculate to a 1,100MHz

clock, or, after Dual Data Rate,

2,200MHz. Given the Corsair

Vengeance Pro is a 2,666MHz

CORSAIR

VENGEANCE PRO:

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CORSAIR’S 2,666MHz RAM KIT

The Vengeance Pro ships in four colours, for all your designer needs

HOW TO

kit, we can push it a little harder.

If your motherboard supports it,

we’d suggest beginning with a 1:14

divider and working your way up.

INCREASING POWER

The Corsair Vengeance Pro needed

a small voltage bump at 2,800MHz

to remain stable running the same

cache timings as XMP, though

this is to be expected. To do this

should be fairly straightforward.

Simply locate RAM voltage within

your BIOS (sometimes referred

to simply as DRAM or VRAM). It

should be 1.65v by default, and at

a 2,800MHz clock you may need

somewhere around 1.7v.

Pushing the RAM further may

require a few tweaks to the

motherboard BIOS. From here,

you will begin to find certain

instabilities when mixing high

memory clocks with very high CPU

clocks. While testing the upper

limits of your RAM kit, it would be

wise to run a default CPU clock to

help eliminate CPU instability from

the process of illumination when

dealing with system crashes.

VCCSA voltage and CPU PLL

voltages are very important to

memory overclocking above

3GHz. On some boards, the

automatic function for these

settings will be adequate, though,

depending on the manufacturer

and the BIOS, they may need a

slight manual boost.

THE LITTLE TWEAKS

If you run into troubles pushing up

to 3GHz on your kit, try applying

a manual voltage increase of

+0.25v to the CPU PLL. This

should raise it enough over the

default to regain stability of the

IMC. If this does not work, do not

keep applying CPU PLL voltage,

as it can overheat when pushed

too far. Even on LN2 cooling, the

maximum over voltage we would

recommend is +0.55v. VCSSA

can be increased by +0.15v to

+0.3v to help alleviate any IMC

instability, though again this

should be managed adequately by

the motherboards BIOS on most

decent motherboards.

If you continue to run in

to trouble finding that 3GHz

benchmark, try loosening up the

cache timings from 10-12-12 so

something like 12-13-13. This, with

any luck, will help you narrow down

whether or not cache timings are

the cause of your instability.

CHARGED PERFORMANCE

For reference, the Corsair

This new kit givesyou more than enough overclocking headroom

Vengeance Pro achieved a

maximum frequency of 2,933MHz

with the rated cache timings of

10-12-12-31 at 1.75v. We were able

to hit a maximum frequency of

3,140 by loosening the timings

up to 12-14-14-31 at 1.8v. As you

can see in the results, however,

it is best to keep as low a cache

timing as possible whilst remaining

stable, as performance quickly

drops once you loosen the timings

back up. If you’re after very tight

timings, we managed to run 9-9-

10-24 with the XMP frequency of

2,666MHz under 1.65V.

BENCHMARKS

AIDA64 READ WRITE COPY LATENCY

1333MHz CL10 20385 21112 10234 62.8ns

2666MHz CL10 31791 41569 33281 43.3ns

2940MHz CL10 34789 43121 35762 40.6ns

3140MHz CL12 34723 43791 35873 43.2ns

CORSAIR ADVERTORIAL

Gives new meaning to striking gold

BUILT FOROVERCLOCKING

facebook.com/PCPowerPlay

I never asked to like this.


Though we weren’t exactly impressed with indie

developer The Chinese Room’s rambling interpretation

of exploratory narrative in Dear Esther, it’s hard to

deny the talent that went into creating the game’s

accompanying environments. With almost every angle of

the game’s f rst-person perspective illuminating something

that looked like a beautiful piece of concept art, The

Chinese Room established itself as one of the go-to indie

references for the creation of an immersive virtual space.

And now, the studio is tackling the Amnesia series; an

indie horror world that original developer Frictional used

to redef ne the meaning of sheer terror. What results is

a slightly different interpretation of not just the horror

formula, but the Amnesia formula; something no doubt

informed by The Chinese Room’s work on Dear Esther prior.

Also branching from similar roots is The Fullbright

Company’s debut exploratory title, Gone Home. Where we

criticised Dear Esther for its complete lack of interactivity,

Gone Home is overf owing with it – though it’s less about

making items interact with one another, and more about

using micro-level examination as an extension of the f rst-

person exploration that grounds all three of these games.

Each brings something different to the dinner table (like

bacon), but all are notable for the same reason: it’s so

refreshing to play a game where you don’t have to shoot

anything.

DANIEL HINDES

Editor

[email protected]

SCORING SYSTEM | PCPP scores its games on a 1 to 10 scale. The

higher, the better – though 10 is by no means a “perfect” game. We’re

not convinced such a thing exists, so consider a 10 a masterpiece of PC

gaming, despite its inevitable f aws. A 5 is a decidedly average game; one

that doesn’t excel in any particular area, without being an affront to our

senses – the ultimate in mediocrity. Below this, you’ll start to f nd the games

our reviewers suffered an aneurysm getting through; above it, the titles truly

worth your time and money. And remember: a score is only a vague indication

of quality. Always read the full review for the def nitive opinion!

RE

VIE

WS

WE PLAY WITH TURTLE BEACH!

When we are looking to get our game on, without the rest of the

world hearing us, we strap on our Turtle Beach Ear Force Z6A cans.

Packing an amazing eight acoustically angled premium speakers,

including dual 40mm woofers, the Z6A’s are powered by a powerful

5.1 channel amp with bass amplif cation, its perfect for

tracking those pesky footsteps. The Z6A amplif er

gives you quick access to independent

controls for all 5.1 audio channels, letting

you tune your Z6A for any gaming situation.

The headset and amplif er also feature a

quick disconnect so you can easily detach

it without having to unplug the 5.1 outputs

from your computer. Don’t just take our

word for it, grab a pair yourself. For more info

click through to www.turtlebeachau.com

REVIEW CONTENTS

78 Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

80 Card Hunter

82 Divinity: Dragon Commander

84 Infl ux

85 Magrunner: Dark Pulse

86 Beatbuddy: Tales of the Guardians

87 Megabyte Punch

88 Gone Home

90 Papers, Please

91 Space Hulk

92 Splinter Cell Blacklist

94 PayDay 2

96 The Bureau: XCOM Declassifi ed

WE PLAY ON ORIGIN!

During our frequent trips across

Australia and around the globe, when

we get that gaming itch, we just grab

our EON 17S Origin Laptop. Extreme

is the word, our lappy runs a 4GB

GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M

Graphics card pumped out through

an amazing Full HD 17.3-inch display at

1920x 180, and has the brains of an Overclocked Intel Extreme Edition

Core i7-3920XM Quad-Core 4.5GHz chipset to run everything. Add to

that 32GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory and a 480GB Intel 520 Series -

Solid State Drive and you have one serious mobile gaming solution.

Don’t just take our word for it, you

can check them out yourselves at

www.originpc.com.au and tell em’

PCPowerPlay sent ya’!


RE

VIE

W

It seems Frictional knows the

old adage: when you’re on to a

good thing, stick to it. Amnesia:

A Machine for Pigs is the latest

game from the masters of

horror, and though the studio is

actually acting as the publisher

for newcomer The Chinese

Room, there’s some very heavy

involvement from Frictional staff,

and it shows.

From the outset, the mood

of A Machine for Pigs bears

the hallmark creeping terror

and oppressive ambiance that

so brilliantly defned The Dark

Descent. Unchanged too is the

game’s general premise: our

protagonist, Oswald Mandus,

suffers from the titular amnesia.

He’s aware only that he must

fnd his children, and with the

guidance of a mysterious voice on

the phone, must follow the path of

a saboteur into a pork-processing

factory, restoring the machinery to

functioning status along the way.

Without quite the same degree

of mechanical complexity as

The Dark Descent, this comes

off a teeny bit like - dare we say

it - survival horror streamlined. A

Machine for Pigs lacks the more

nuanced interplay between light

and darkness we saw in The Dark

Descent; moving between light

and dark areas doesn’t mess

with Oswald’s vision, his lantern

doesn’t run out of fuel (though

it will still attract foes) and, bar

a few lamps, there’s no ability

or real need to ignite other light

sources, so tinderboxes don’t

make an appearance here either.

This also means Oswald

doesn’t lose “sanity” when in the

dark. In fact, there’s no sanity

mechanic to speak of. Vision

blurs and swims when recalling

past events, or when something

frightening happens, but that’s

the extent of it. This also means

the player is free to observe the

terrors stalking the factory halls

without consequence.

The problem is that The

Chinese Room enjoys its

creatures a little too much, and

consequently wants to show them

off. It serves to remove the fear

of the unknown, and much of their

impact and the resulting horror is

lost in the last third of the game.

The Dark Descent worked

around this by forcing players to

hide and look away, which kept a

portion of the fear in players’ own

minds; the horror imagined was

so much more powerful than that

rendered by Frictional. In removing

this restriction, A Machine for Pigs

also removes a lot of its power

over the player and its ability to

control the mood of the game.

The fnal stages therefore

focus more on telling the story

of the mysteries surrounding

the machine, the events that led

to the sabotage, and Oswald’s

missing children, than they do on

scares. This is not a failing; the

story is well written and pieces of

the larger mystery are parcelled

out to the player at satisfying

intervals, giving enough of a

glimpse to keep one pushing on.

And don’t take this to mean

the game lacks in the horror

department, either. The frst two

thirds host scares a-plenty, with

several of those exploding into

moments of pure, adrenaline-

pumping panic. It’s glorious.

The key, of course, is the

sound design, which is, once

again, outstanding. Distant

wails and screams create a

defensive and cautious approach,

blaring musical stings punctuate

dramatic events while dissonant

sounds set teeth on edge. And

then there’s snuffing. Ye gods,

the snuffing.

Gameplay consists of much of

the same style of apprehensive

advancement, fnding written

notes along the way that fesh out

the pre-1900s environment. This

is one aspect which actually feels

improved from The Dark Descent;

The Chinese Room is more

focused on telling the story and

the writing quality seems more

refned and of a higher standard.

The notes give insight into

Oswald’s current situation, or

provide clues to the game’s

frequent puzzles. These are

similarly unchanged from the prior

game, being fairly straightforward

fnd-piece-of-broken-machine,

insert-into-obvious-place-to-fx and

then climb-the-walls-while-screen-

shudders-and-lights-go-out affairs.

Combat is, again, non-existent,

but since this is essential to the

type of horror being wrought, we

welcome its continued exclusion

from the Amnesia experience.

And it’s an experience we’d

recommend knocking it over

in a single session in order to

maintain the mood, because the

game is very short. Our play time

clocked in around fve hours, and

that was with some fairly thorough

exploration of each environment.

It’s an impressive outing for

The Chinese Room, having so

perfectly replicated the feel of

what we’ve come to recognise

as Frictional’s signature horror

design philosophy. In some

ways, having played the previous

Amnesia game is detrimental

to the experience on offer here.

We’ve seen it all before, as this is

mostly more of the same. By the

same token, the small mechanical

tweaks that have been introduced

also make A Machine for Pigs

slightly weaker in the horror

department, so we couldn’t

recommend this over The Dark

Descent if there were, for some

reason, a choice between the two.

Really, though, the negatives

of A Machine for Pigs are cast

like shadows upon the wall by the

distant light of The Dark Descent;

they appear much bigger than the

object creating them. Once that

illusion is revealed, it’s not quite

so troubling. The fact remains that

this is still an excellent survival

horror game, made by people well

practiced in the art of terrifying us.

TERRENCE JARRAD

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Hey Look! There’s something a pig-thing would like!

De v e l op e r The Chinese Room

p UBl ISHe r FRiC T ional Games

p r Ice $19.99

AvA Il A Bl e AT steam, GoG, Desura, Gamer sGate, Direc t Download

www.frictionalgames.com

8

VERDICT Familiar design

that’s thankfully still

thoroughly unsettling. You’ll

never look at bacon the same

way again.Dear estherThe Chinese Room • 2012

The Chinese Room’s other game!

If it’s a “game”

InvaDer ZIm: GaZ, taster of PorkJhonen Vasquez • 2001

Piggy piggy piggy piggy

PORK

• You love a good scare

• everything tastes like a pig

• You are prepared to receive the power of the shadowhog

• You want to enter the hall of the stinking piggy of

stinking piggyness

amnesIa: the Dark DescentFRiCTional • 2010

scary as hell

scary as hell

“Scares a-plenty, with several

exploding into moments of pure,

adrenaline-pumping panic”


01

02

03

04

The voice on the other end of the phone offers

help, but we don’t know his motivations, or how he

knows us.

FILTHY PIGGY FILTH

1. Much of the game is grotesque; its writing often more so

than its imagery. This bizarre depiction of a pig carcass

on the cross (as well as the pig head in the stained glass

chapel window) bears direct relevance to the story.

2. The lantern is the only way to actually see anything in

much of the game. When it starts flickering on and off,

it’s probably time to consider putting it away and hiding.

3. The UI is, quite obviously, extremely minimal. When

entering new areas, a journal entry is often made and an

icon briefly displays here. There are few other “gamey”

elements to draw one out of the moment.

4. The darkness. It is safe. You will hide in it often.

Some disturbing period art adorns the walls of

this mansion, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Hold the mouse button and “pull” open

things like these drawers. Expositional

notes are often found inside.

1. That grunting, snuffling sound; what is that shuffling in there in

there dark? Oh god, don’t let it see us.

2. Okay, it’s gone past, let’s bring out the lantern and make a run for

it before it comes back!

3. AHHHH IT’S SEEN US! RRRRUUUUUUNNNNNNN!! GO! HIDE!!

BLESSED WITH PIG SENSES


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Card Hunter is a free-to-play

browser-based game made

entirely in Flash by an indie

developer based in Sydney’s

Surry Hills. Depending on your

tastes, that could be fve, maybe

six, big red fags right there.

Free-to-play? Browser based?

Surry Hills...? Jesus. Why bother

reviewing it at all?

Well, here’s why: it’s designed

by Jon Chey. If you don’t know

who that is, then here’s a quick

curriculum vitae: co-founder of

Irrational Games with Ken Levine

and Robert Fermier, project

manager and lead programmer

on System Shock 2, director

of product development on

BioShock, and now programmer

and designer at Blue Manchu.

He’s done a lot, and most of

it has been pretty great. Card

Hunter is no exception.

The elevator pitch is that it’s

Dungeons & Dragons meets

Magic: The Gathering – an

isometric dungeon crawler

where collectible cards act as

your ‘verbs’ in the game world.

Movement, attacks, defenses,

spells, and other miscellaneous

abilities are all represented as

cards, which are in turn attached

to equipment that can be found,

bought, or won. The goal is to

construct a powerful deck for

each of your three party members

using different combinations of

armour and weaponry.

Whether or not a character can

use a given bit of equipment is

determined by their race, class,

level, and available talent points.

There are presently three races

and three jobs to choose from,

each conforming to familiar

archetypes. That said, it can

be worth your while to resist

typecasting: my elven monk is a

godsend (pun intended) on the

battlefeld.

In the singleplayer campaign,

every piece of equipment in Card

Hunter comes with a talent point

cost. By and large, the more

powerful the item, the more

talent points it costs to equip.

This makes for a simple, but

powerfully enticing, carrot. During

most of the 25 hours it takes to

complete, there’ll be something

in your inventory, some awesome

weapon or bit of armour, just

sitting there, waiting to be used

for want of talent points. It will

call to you in a voice seductive

and sweet: “Pleeeeease equip

me. Only one more level to go.

You can do it.” It’s crass and

manipulative and totally effective.

We love it.

The tone of the singleplayer

narrative, and the game’s

overall fction, is lighthearted

and self-aware, but without the

cloying preciousness the latter

term often implies. Rather than

set the game in Card Hunter’s

endearingly sincere world of

Cardhuntria, Blue Manchu has

wisely opted to set it instead in

a bizarro version of the 1980s

in which Card Hunter is a highly

successful pen-and-paper RPG.

You are not the grizzled dwarven

warrior fghting through dungeons

in search of treasure and glory

– you’re the nerd pretending to

be him.

Your goal? To help ubergeek

Gary and unlikely love interest

Karen complete a 24-hour

marathon run through Card

Hunter’s catalogue of modules,

showing up snooty brother/

antagonist Melvin in the process.

It’s an affectionate and playful

parody of nerd culture that also

manages to be a cute coming-of-

age story.

Within the campaign there are

two different kinds of modules:

free and premium, the latter

purchasable one-at-a-time or

in a pack. Premium modules

comprise one of the basic

“products” in the Card Hunter

business model: they’re what

the free singleplayer campaign

is there to sell – a gateway drug

to the money spinners that are

Randimar’s Rarities and Card

Hunter Club. The thing is, each

premium module guarantees

a unique, high-level item upon

completion, which gets you used

to the idea of spending money

for items.

Which you don’t ever have to

do, by the way. If you wanted

to, you could play through the

entire singleplayer campaign

and then use the cards earned

therein to play multiplayer without

spending a single red cent.

Card Hunter Club membership –

which costs 300 pizza slices, or

roughly eight bucks, for a thirty

day membership – comes with

certain privileges, of course: you

get extra items from chests and

can create custom multiplayer

game-types. But it doesn’t

make for a huge advantage,

competitively.

The same is true of buying

high-level items from one of

the in-game stores, such as

the aforementioned Radimar’s

Rarities. Because of the skill

token system, even players who

possess the means to purchase

a crapload of elite gear won’t

be able to equip it all at once.

They have an advantage over

non-paying players, sure, but not

an insurmountable one. That’s

important – I mean, how many

trading card games can you say

that about?

In closing, a disclaimer: At the

time of writing, Card Hunter’s

multiplayer infrastructure was

still anemic by most standards.

Matchmaking for casual and

ranked game types has been

implemented and works well,

as do the leaderboards, but

tournaments have yet to be

implemented and the options for

custom matches are limited. Blue

Manchu plans to address both

issues post-launch, and perhaps

even add co-op. If and when they

do, you have our permission to

add another point to the score

below. DAN STAINES

Card Hunter The game of fantastical adventure limited only by your imagination!

De v e l op e r Blue Manchu

Dis t r ibu t or Blue Manchu

p r ice Free-to-pl ay

AvA il A bl e At Browser

www.cardhunter.com

8

VERDICT Delightful and

thoroughly addictive genre-

blending fun teetering on the

cusp of greatness.

Magic 2014 – Duels of the PlaneswalkersStainleSS GameS • 2013

Approachable and pretty

But also quite limited

Magic the gatheringmicroProSe • 1997

Shandalar! Still awesome even

to this day

Slightly unstable on Windows 7

• Jon chey

• magic: the Gathering creator richard Garfield had a

hand in it too

• rPGs and tcGs go together like PB&J. See also:

microprose’s m:tG rPG

• it’s free. mostly

hearthstone: heroes of warcraftBlizzard • 2013

A Blizzard-developed TCG

Not actually out yet

“An isometric dungeon crawler

where collectible cards act as

your ‘verbs’ in the game world”


01

02

03

04

Modules are usually preceded by a brief bit of dialogue

between Card Hunter’s protagonists, Gary, Karen, and

Melvin. (Melvin is kind of a jerk, but a likeable one.)

EXCELSIOR!

1. Those with cash to spare can spend it on premium

character figures like this one, which I acquired from

Cuthbert’s Costumes for a mere 80 pizza.

2. Note the talent point cost – one silver, one gold. It’s

worth it, though: check out all those gold-title attack

cards.

3. This screenshot was taken after a victorious battle,

hence the treasure chest. Note the extra booty I get as a

member of Card Hunter Club. Awww yiss.

4. This is all my shit. As you can see, I have lots of it.

Although the interface is clean and logical, selling loot

can still be a bit of a chore, so I tend to avoid it for as

long as possible.

This is the world map, where you can select new

modules to play, go shopping, recruit new party

members and cry into an empty bag of Doritos.

The little “Firestorm” card here indicates

that the green jelly suffers two points

of “burn” damage per turn. Yeah, take

that, green jelly.

1. Volcano turns every occupied square into fire, damaging occupants

for 10 points. This includes squares occupied by your guys.

2. For Volcano to be successful, your party should have move cards,

and your opponent shouldn’t. They did. Nuts.

3. Not only did my Volcano fail to hit any monsters, it caused them to

rush my position and beat the crap out of my guys.

VOLCANO FAIL


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Playing Divinity: Dragon

Commander evokes memories

of, what increasingly feels like, a

bygone age for strategy gaming.

This heady mix of different

strategy styles calls to mind

such PC classics as Ground

Control, Sacrifce and Giants:

Citizen Kabuto. Not because it

is a similar game, but because it

comes from a similar mindset. It’s

developed by a team clearly bored

with the relatively predictable

scope of most strategy games

these days. Even if they haven’t

made the best genre entry of all

time, they’ve certainly made one

of the most refreshing.

While plenty of other strategy

titles have combined RTS combat

with a turn-based campaign

mode, Dragon Commander

distinguishes itself by adding

an additional layer of domestic

diplomacy. So what? It is in

the way Dragon Commander

so effortlessly intertwines

these three disparate gameplay

elements, ensuring each feeds

into the other, that makes it so

thoroughly fresh and enjoyable.

Set in the Divinity world’s

distance past, Dragon Commander

places you as the bastard son

of a now-deceased emperor.

Unfortunately for the denizens of

your father’s realm, issues over

succession have led to an all-out

civil war between your legitimate

siblings. It is into this confict

that you step as the eponymous

dragon commander - so named

due to your existence being the

result of secret congress between

your father and a dragon (dragons

can assume human form in this

game - despite some loose sexual

politics, Dragon Commander

doesn’t advocate sex with giant

winged lizards).

Maxos (the same Maxos from

Divinity II) deems you the best

chance the realm has at peace,

so it us up to you to reunite the

land and defeat your kin. You

must also govern your growing

empire and ensure the happiness

of its many and varied denizens.

No one said being a Dragon

Commander would be easy.

Your road to conquest is

broken up into three parts: RTS

battling, a boardgame-esque

campaign map and conversation

tree-driven diplomacy.

As an RTS, Dragon Commander

plays like a scrappier game than

others of its ilk, but the basic

premise is the same. Secure

production, build units and blow

up anything that isn’t you. Not

that this area is fawed, but the

fne tuning of a title like StarCraft

isn’t present here.

Where the RTS elements do

stand out is in the inclusion of

the Dragon Commander as a

playable unit. For a small sum of

resource points, you can spawn

on the battlefeld, instantly

turning the traditional top-down

RTS into an action packed hybrid.

Flying across the battlefeld with

explosions all around is not only

thrilling, but tactically sound. The

presence of your dragon form can

turn the tide of any given battle

through extra frepower, and a

variety of spells you can research.

The campaign map is not

as exciting by comparison, but

is, nevertheless, a critical part

of play. There’s solid tactical

decision making here as you

can enhance particular zones to

provide more research, gold or

even special ability cards that you

can play during or prior to battle.

It’s not especially deep, but still

demands considered weighing up

of available options.

What is going to endear the

game to most is the unique

and somewhat silly diplomacy

aspects. While it’s no Crusader

Kings II, this conversation tree

driven aspect to the game is not

only engaging – thanks primarily

to some great writing and voice

acting – but also ties into the

campaign map, impacting your

ability to produce units.

As you progress, you are

approached by representatives

of the various fantasy races

that populate the land. Each

race aligns with a particular

political ideology; dwarves are

capitalists, the undead represent

fundamentalist religion, and

so on. Between turns, these

delegates will approach you

with proposals to further their

interests. Some of these have

no strategic impact, while others

may make units cheaper or

research more expensive.

Moreover, this impacts your

relations with each faction and

no decision is going to please

everyone. The impact plays out

on the campaign map with each

‘zone’ belonging to a particular

race. The better your standing

with the owners, the easier it is to

deploy forces. It’s not enough to

completely override your decisions

on the map, or successes in

battle, but it does impact things

enough that diplomacy is always

in the back of your mind.

The proposals themselves dare

to cover contemporary issues.

Gay marriage, environmental

protection, censorship of

the press and other issues

are frequently present. The

communication can be ham-fsted,

but you’ll often be tempted to sell

out your own political views for

the in-game advantage.

It’s a silly, light-hearted

package where you play a dragon

wearing a jetpack and can fnd

yourself married to a skeletal

bride with lipstick smeared

over her skinless mouth. As a

piece of entertainment, Dragon

Commander is a great success.

It’s endearing and, at times, laugh

out loud funny. But it goes beyond

its slick presentation to provide a

truly inventive game. Its elements

work to produce a whole that

is greater than the sum of their

parts and is certainly one of the

freshest strategy games out

there. NATHAN COCKS

Divinity: Dragon Commander Courting a lizard, turning into a dragon and legalising gay marriage – all in one day

De v e l op e r L arian

p ubl ishe r L arian

p r ice $ 39.99

AvA il A bl e At S te am, GOG.cOm

www.divinitydragoncommander.com

8

VERDICT Inventive, funny and

a whole lot of fun. An excellent

way to break up the over-

serious grind of most strategy

titles.Crusader Kings iiParadox • 2012

Detailed, intriguing diplomatic

strategy

Can overwhelm more casual players

ToTal War: shogun 2The CreaTive assembly • 2011

Still one of the best grand strategy

titles available

Artificially unintelligent

• Who doesn’t want to be a dragon?

• you think strategy games take themselves too seriously

• you’ve always wanted to marry a blue skinned lizard

ladysaCrifiCeshiny • 2000

inventive action packed strategy

gaming

A tendency to force stalemates

“You can spawn on the battlefield,

turning the top-down RTS into an

action packed hybrid”


1. Put Andrew Ryan in a silly mechanical hat and you have the

gnomes. They prefer scientific progress over ethical concerns.

2. The undead represent the fundamentalist church of the game and

are pretty much party poopers for anyone looking for a good time.

3. The lizard folk are a libertarian bunch, which can make things a

little difficult in times of war. Especially if you plan on conscripting.

0102

05

03

04

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

DEATH FROM ABOVE

1. Bringing the dragon out on to the battlefield gives the

game the flavour of a third-person shooter as you lay

fireball strafing runs.

2. Enemy forces are outnumbered by my own units.

Granted, the giant winged beast raining down death isn’t

helping them much, either.

3. A wide array of steampunk flavoured units are at your

disposal. Land, sea and air must be dominated if you

hope to win.

4. Your abilities bar is where you will find your offensive

and defensive spells. Research more to gain the upper

hand.

5. This bar helps you gauge comparative army sizes. As

we can see here, I may need to up the ante somewhat

to avoid defeat.

You’re a dragon… with a jetpack. So use it. With a

quick button press you can zoom to any part of the

map in a flash.

Your top level strategy is decided on the campaign

map. Move forces, deploy units, see the impact of your

political decisions.

Deploy expendable ability cards to give

yourself an edge in combat. Be warned,

your enemies can deploy cards too. Use

them wisely!


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Infux opens on a clear night

sky as a bluish... something

streaks across the heavens

like a meteor and plummets

to the ground. It’s a somewhat

alien-looking ball, lit from the

inside like an otherworldly

lantern. This is your avatar

through which you explore and

experience the game. You could

call InFlux a puzzler, adventure

game or even a Marble Blast

Ultra rip-off if you were feeling

especially narrow minded – but

it’s most easy explained as a

game in which you, quite simply,

go places.

There is no narrator, there

are no cutscenes and not a

word of dialogue. Even without

any kind of imposed narrative,

there is still a desire to see

InFlux out to the end. You

make your way through deserted

villages, the inhabitants

seemingly having just stepped

away to leave torches and

campfres still burning. What

happened to all these people

– did they die? Were they

abducted by the spherical race

of aliens you might represent?

You have no way of knowing,

or even asking; you’re only

there to roll around and solve

puzzles (and kick ass and chew

bubblegum).

Enormous, futuristic glass

greenhouse-looking structures

rise out of the environment at the

end of each exploratory segment

and are completely at odds with

the primitive, natural setting. You

enter straight through the side,

the glass rippling, transporting

InFluxLike Limp Bizkit, we’re rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

7

VERDICT Beautiful and

mysterious, though more for

lovers of tranquil exploration

and spherical geometry than

serious puzzle fanatics.

De v e l op e r Impromp tu Games

p ubl ishe r Impromp tu Games

p r ice $ 9.99

AvA il A bl e At s te am, DIrec t DownloaD

www.influxgame.com

Marble blast UltraGaraGeGameS • 2006

Similar puzzle style!

Only on Xbox

ProteUsed & david • 2013

Have fun exploring an island on

your own terms

Literally nothing else to do

• You felt marble Blast Ultra didn’t have enough feels

• exploring basically unrestricted, uncluttered concept art is appealing to you

• Spheres are an underrepresented minority in today’s media

shadow of the ColossUsTeam ico • 2006

Similar exploratory gameplay

Only on PlayStation

you to a funky plane of existence

seemingly entirely inside the

weird glass cube you’ve found

yourself now contained in.

They act as giant puzzleboxes,

and while the puzzles are by

no means disappointing, they

certainly detract from the overall

experience, to an extent. They’re

interesting, most relying on fairly

cool gravity-bending mechanics,

but are let down by the imprecise

controls. Being a ball, you are

subject to physics much more

than a standard character, which

is a great part of the experience

when exploring the outside

world, but these particular puzzle

segments require a more deft

touch and we were too often

left merely hoping that the

momentum of the puzzle ball

carried itself to its destination.

You’ll often fnd yourself solving

something due to chance rather

than a comprehension of the

puzzle itself.

Somewhere along your journey,

whether it’s the mysteries

presented to the player, the

beautiful environments or the

bizarre puzzles, you’ll fnd that

you have the motivation to

continue and you’ve been playing

far longer than you realised.

It’s a tried-and-true approach to

storytelling in an indie game,

presenting the base elements

of a narrative confict and have

the player decide what may have

happened, what events led to

this and even what your role

in it even is. It is by no means

exactly unique, but defnitely an

underrepresented method of this

scene. And as you comprehend

the nature of existence, you roll

ever onward. ZAC NAOUM

The cube/sphere war rages

on, an eternal struggle

perpetuated by indie

developers worldwide.

“Being a ball, you are subject to physics much more than a

standard character, which is a great part of the experience

when exploring the outside world”


The promise, “technology

meets Cthulhu,” may be

compelling, especially to a

background of fuorescent

cyberpunk, but expect this

only literally. From the studio

known for the Sherlock Holmes

adventures, Magrunner is an

ample puzzler wrapped in a

shallow narrative. Actually, its

fnest quality is how contrived

levels gradually open into

something truly breathtaking.

The game begins with a

lengthy barrage of backstory

for Dax, orphan and potential

tester of magnetic technology.

His foster father is mutant,

although the plot barely

references this again. Similarly,

we’re told LifeNET is an

ominous behemoth of social

interconnectedness but it then

fails to play any role in unfolding

events. Instead, Dax is put to

a tutorial of puzzles and the

world, inevitably, starts to come

inexplicably undone.

Yes, a straightforward start

makes sense, providing a few

objects sequentially, as well as

that these can be charged either

red or green, with like charges

attracting and opposites repelling

(it takes a bit of getting used to.)

But no, this doesn’t make for

a gripping tutorial, with training

only broken up by holographic

congratulations and snippets

of lore. It’s only when the game

changes that you can appreciate

such a forced opening.

The game’s pieces include

moving platforms, catapults,

blocks which can be explosive or

Magrunner: Dark PulseMagnets are red, magnets are green, blood is also red, look after your spleen

6

VERDICT Thematically

undercooked, but this

clever puzzler does feature

progressively exciting level

design.

De v e l op e r Frogwares

p ubl ishe r Focus Home Inter ac t Ive

p r ice $19.99

AvA il A bl e At s te am, gog.com

www.magrunner-thegame.com

AntichAmberdemruth • 2013

Disorienting, original puzzles

Not for the easily-confused

the bAll teotl • 2010

Scary setting and level design

Less control than bowling

• Somehow, your life needs both more Portal and

Lovecraftian horror

• You can jump from a lofty, rotating platform to a floating

rock without being sick

• You can tolerate the occasional, maddening pixel hunt

• You can love a guy with six arms but no real plot

relevance

PortAl 2valve • 2011

Satisfying solutions to clever

problems.

No Cthulhu, nor magnets

boarded, padded boxes, turrets,

monsters, your mag glove and,

eventually, a robotic dog. By

charging objects, a route is

navigated from entry to exit of

each room. Soon enough, you’ll

fnd yourself using known items

in creative ways and fghting

against every system as the

game literally “hurls one of

everything at you.”

The puzzles are challenging,

not always in a good way. Missing

a shot while you’re travelling at

speed can mean reloading the

level. You are also expected to

land sweetly on tiny platforms

from great, often dynamic,

heights. Sometimes there is an

object you need hiding in the

very corner of a mirror pointing

towards an area you can’t

otherwise see. There is, however,

always a sense of, “I know

how to do that,” over mindless

experimentation.

And, this is a weird criticism,

but the game is too long.

Without more storytelling, the

genuinely convincing tension

created by dissonant music and

escalating diffculty becomes

grating, especially when you

start needing a second crack at

some of the levels. The game

delivers little holographic insights

into characters and setting, as

you play, but they’re few and far

between.

Is Magrunner for the lover

of Lovecraft and cyberpunk?

Not so much as it is for the

appreciator of great level design

and a transforming world. The

setting itself tells a subtler and

more satisfying story than the

explicit narrative, and there is

defnitely momentum provided by

the sick wondering of what you

might fnd behind the next door.

Whether it’s a nightmare worth

having relies on this. MEGHANN

O’NEILL

While not really fleshing out either

lovecraftian or cyberpunk themes,

magrunner nevertheless presents them

as an interesting juxtaposition.

ÒThere is always a sense of, ÔI know

how to do that,Õ over mindless

experimentationÓ


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Beatbuddy relies on the

player’s sense of rhythm

to solve beat-based puzzles

– it is, in a sense, a rhythm

based puzzle/adventure game.

A concept which is a sure-f re

recipe for a confused and

ultimately poorly-executed

game. However, Beatbuddy

pulls it off with f air and

f nesse whilst managing to be

downright fun.

The story frames you as the

spiritual embodiment of Beat

out to f nd your sisters Melody

and Harmony because the

total arse-hat Prince “Joffrey”

Maestro is stealing… all the

music of the world? There

was a superbly well-narrated

intro that explained all this we

recall, yet ultimately, it doesn’t

really play a huge part. What

really gives you purpose is the

phenomenal artwork, instilling

the atmosphere of a world

overgrown and creating a unique

sense of scale, at once being

enormous, or your character

seeming miniscule – frame

upon frame never anything but

beautiful.

And, of course, there are

the tunes. The music, which

is necessary for both the

atmosphere and some of the

core mechanics, is fantastic. Of

course, electro-swing/jazz isn’t

everyone’s cup of techno-tea

(even though, c’mon, it’s electro-

swing!), so if you can’t get into

the music, you’re going to have

an irritating time with Beatbuddy.

Try looking up the music of Parov

Stelar, as he wrote the theme

Beatbuddy: Tales of the GuardiansThese Guardians knew how to get down

9

VERDICT With an ambitious

concept, it’s easy to

forgive smaller mistakes –

fortunately, Beatbuddy barely

has any.

DE V E L OP E R THRE AK S

P UBL ISHE R REVERB

P R ICE $14.99

AVA IL A BL E AT S TE AM

www.beatbuddy.com

RETRO/GRADE24 CARET • 2013

Rhythm space shooter, in reverse

Aesthetic can get confusing and messy

RAYMAN LEGENDSUBISOFT MONTPELLIER • 2013

Similar aesthetic

Not nearly as unique

• Electro swing jazz is real neat

• You want to prove you have rhythm, white boy

• You want a little extra depth out of your puzzler (but

not difficulty) AQUARIABIT BLOT • 2007

Much more focus on exploration

Music is considerably less funky

to the f rst level, and his style

is indicative of the game in

general. Other artists include

Austin Wintory, Sabrepulse and

La Rochelle Band – each one

makes a spectacular addition to

the game.

One of the great strengths of

Beatbuddy is the ability to match

the pace and complexity of the

puzzles with the mood through

the music. This is all down to

the design of the enemies.

Being primarily a puzzler, these

aren’t your ‘jump on head to kill’

type foes; rather, each enemy

acts as an obstacle – but also

as a layer of music. There’s a

hermit crab tapping out a hi-hat

beat, as well as a bassline

f ower that acts as a launch

pad, and many more. It creates

kind of a language between the

player and the puzzle elements,

as you already know what to

expect from it just by hearing it.

This all kicks into overdrive

during the Beatbuggy segments.

Breaking up the relaxing, slower

paced portions, your character

climbs into a funky machine that

moves to the beat. During these

segments, the music really hits

its climax; with it comes faster-

paced action. These segments

take the most advantage of the

gameplay and music interaction,

as they’re less about slow,

languid puzzle-solving and more

about blowing through obstacles

with f nesse by moving to the

beat. In fact, the Beatbuggy

was so much fun that the game

would have probably benef tted

from being focused on these

segments rather than the

slower-paced, laughably easy

puzzle sections. ZAC NAOUM

The developers, Streak, first started on

Beatbuddy as a student project. It’s

impressive, given the fairly flawless

execution of a convoluted concept.

“One of the great strengths of Beatbuddy is the ability to

match the pace and complexity of the puzzles with the

mood through the music”


Okay, confession time. I’m a

huge fan of Super Smash

Bros. I know! A console game!

And on your little cousin’s

Nintendo, too! Look, I own a Wii,

though it’s less a Wii and more

a small white box that makes

Super Smash Bros happen. I

only play as Snake, I swear.

Have I mentioned I also like

robots? Especially when they

fght? Fight me in One Must Fall

2097, bro.

It’s no surprise, then, that I’d

take to the concept behind indie

beat-‘em-up Megabyte Punch

with glee. Here’s a game that’s

essentially Super Smash Bros

on PC, but instead of iconic

Nintendo characters, there’s a

bunch of robots. Perfect, right?

No! Look, this is going to take

a little explaining. Okay, so, the

thing about Super Smash Bros

is it doesn’t follow a traditional

fghting game format. Landing

a blow on an opponent doesn’t

decrease health; it increases

their damage percentage, which

makes every subsequent hit

knock them fying a little bit

further. To win, you don’t reduce

their HP to zero; you knock them

off the boundaries of the stage

by eventually punching them so

hard they zoom off the side of

the camera boundary.

Super Smash Bros is also

super accessible. There are no

ridiculous combos to memorise;

every character has the same

simple inputs, but those

inputs change based on the

character and their direction.

Forward punch, back punch, up

Megabyte PunchInto a Gigabyte Kick

6

VERDICT A brilliant idea

brought down by its visual

style. Fun for its adventure

mode, but otherwise buy a Wii

and stick to Smash Bros.

De v e l op e r Rep t ile

p ubl ishe r Rep t ile

p r ice $14.99

AvA il A bl e At S te AM, DeSuR A , GAMeRSGAte, DiRec t DownloAD

www.megabytepunch.com

Cave Story+Nicalis • 2011

Customisation-filled adventure

Few robots

Super SmaSh BroS BrawlNiNteNdo • 2008

Yes, you’re allowed to like it

Where’s PC gaming’s all-stars

brawler? Gordon vs G-Man!

• local multiplayer, with a few gamepads! More of this,

please

• You don’t own a Wii

• You like dressing up robots

• You’ve lost your oMF 2097 install floppies

one muSt Fall: 2097diversioNs eNtertaiNMeNt • 1994

that music

Forget OMF Battlegrounds exists

punch, etc. That accessibility

is important because, once

characters rack up a lot of

damage and start fying every

which way, the camera pulls back

to ft everyone on-screen and it

becomes rather diffcult to make

out who’s who.

All of this applies to Megabyte

Punch. However, rather than

seeing iconic Nintendo characters

finging up into oblivion, this

game’s robots are a mess of

low-poly, stylised geometry that

makes distinguishing them

extremely diffcult. On top of this

is a layer of customisation that

further hurts recognition. Special

moves are bound to various

interchangeable parts – changing

your torso will change the move

that is attached to that torso

piece. Thus, consistent abilities

are not bound by character, as

characters can mix and match

their moves with what’s unlocked.

Which makes identifying the

match-up of these individual,

low-poly components an even

greater nightmare. And what fun

is a fghting game if you’ve no

idea what moves your opponent

is capable of, because their

character looks like every other?

When Mario goes fying across

the screen, you can still tell it’s

Mario because there’s a blob of

red, blue and moustache.

What does work rather well is

the game’s singleplayer romp,

though its combat simply doesn’t

compare to the frenetic pace

of a local multiplayer match.

Look, I would likely include a

game called Megabyte Punch in

my top ten games of all time.

Unfortunately, it just isn’t this

one. DANIEL HINDES

the art style of the levels also obscures

similarly-low-poly characters. it’s

frantic, sure, but frustrating.

“Special moves are bound to various interchangeable

parts – changing your torso will change the move that is

attached to that torso piece”


RE

VIE

W

Trudging the halls, peeking into

cupboards and cursing the

lack of a jump button with which

to view the top shelves, I’m oddly

reminded of the stiff, emotionally-

assaulting Dear Esther. I fnd

letters strewn about, wistful

missives from my sister, and am

taken back to revelling in Proteus’

dreamscape, a celebration of the

sheer joy of existence. I put on a

cassette tape containing a single

riot grrrl track, and echoes of the

mid-90s instantly send me back

to the era of arcade machines and

8-bit soundtracks – the foundation

of every retro-aesthetic game

released these past few years.

Gone Home checks all the

boxes. It’s an indie game, through

and through.

It’s 1995 and you’re home after

a year abroad, though none of your

family members are around to

welcome you. All that’s available

to you is the boarding pass in

your inventory screen – which

goes pretty much unused for the

rest of the game – and a spare

house key hidden under a rubber

ducky. Gone Home is kind of an

adventure game, though thankfully,

don’t expect that ducky to become

the cornerstone of any inane

makeshift-clamp-to-pick-garbage-

off-a-train-track puzzles. Instead,

it’s purely about narrative. You’ll

spend the entire game picking

up objects with no purpose other

than to look at them, trying to

piece together the story of your

missing family from the scribbles

and debris they’ve left behind.

Where the hell did they all go?

Who left the television on? Why

didn’t they clean up all the grease-

stained pizza boxes before they

left?

I’ve got to give Gone Home

some credit for its unconventional

method of narrative delivery.

Put together by a team including

former BioShock developers, it’s

not surprising that one thing they

absolutely nailed in Gone Home

was that use of environmental

storytelling. You poke around as

Kaitlin Greenbriar, but really, the

story that unfolds is that of your

sister Sam – as well as that of

your mom’s unhappiness with

her marriage, and your father’s

tanking career as a writer of bad

conspiracy novels, and even your

once-reclusive, now-deceased

oddball of a great uncle.

While you’ll often hear snippets

of Sam’s thoughts shadowing your

examination of more signifcant

objects, it’s tiny details that

really highlight the nuances in

the family’s stories’ depth here.

The two sisters’ responses to an

assignment on the reproductive

system speaks volumes about the

differences in their personalities,

and you may forlornly note that

class loser Sam has checked off

everything on her what-to-bring-to-

school list – except for “a positive

attitude.”

As much potential as there

is for all sorts of joy, sorrow,

and humour to emerge from the

humble house’s junk and scraps,

Gone Home’s star is undoubtedly

– and unfortunately – sister Sam.

Her story tackles subject matter

that’s been largely unrepresented

even in the more accepting and

experimental indie gaming scene,

and the territory it explores

bears relevance to conversations

happening both within and outside

of gaming culture right now – for

this, Gone Home must be saluted.

Sadly, though, Sam’s chronicles

of teenage strife merely come

across as maudlin and bizarrely

breathless, especially towards

the end of the game. Meanwhile,

the more intriguing strands of

narrative are often cut short and

bluntly, or simply left to trail out

into nothing.

With the appearance of old-

school video game cartridges,

portraits of hilariously big hair,

and reference to feminist punk

bands, there’s a tangible, stinks-

of-the-‘90s nostalgic value to

Gone Home – but I’m not quite

sure why. It doesn’t seem to add

any body to the central story;

it merely favours it with the

occasional reference to plaid-

clad musicians. There might be

something to relive here from the

long-buried teen years of gamers

within the late twenties to early

thirties age window, but even

then, only if they’d lived through

a very specifc, Western strain of

the era. Don’t expect any powerful

feelings if you grew up as anything

other than a got-it-good teenager

in a white-as-can-be suburban

nuclear family.

Gone Home gets some points

for including graphical options

than even many modern shooters

don’t allow players to easily

twiddle with (when was the last

time you could adjust the feld

of view without having to edit a

.ini fle?) but, ultimately, it feels

poorly-optimised. On maximum

settings, this game about an

empty, unmoving, and almost

soundless house runs sluggishly

on my more-than-capable gaming

PC. Gamers shouldn’t theoretically

have to worry about long draw

distances of fancy particle effects

here, but I still found myself having

to turn down the graphics settings

to get Gone Home into a more

acceptably playable state – on

a machine that managed to run

recent frst-person blockbusters

without issue, mind you.

Indie gaming is often looked to

as a celebration of unheard voices

in the industry, or a championing

of emotional depth over aesthetic

fnesse; we know, by now, what to

expect. While Gone Home must

be applauded for the excellence

with which its story is delivered,

the central thread itself feels

unsatisfying and underwhelming, a

wannabe-revolutionary call to arms

acknowledgeable with little more

than a shrug. Like most big-name

indie games, this is something

you’ll probably fnd yourself playing

at some point, though hopefully

the future will see Gone Home’s

unique gameplay focused on a

wider, more interesting range of

stories and characters.

KATIE WILLIAMS

Gone HomeThe lights are on, but…

De v e l op e r The FullbrighT Company

p ubl ishe r The FullbrighT Company

p r ice $19.99

AvA il A bl e At S Te am

www. gonehomegame.com

6

VERDICT Gone Home’s got

serious potential, but doesn’t

quite succeed in bringing the

house down.

PaPers, PleaseLucas PoPe • 2013

Fun in a mundane setting

Tetris effect, but with stamps instead

Proteused & david • 2013

Musical exploration fun

CanÕt pick up bunnies

• The un-interactive debris that litters game

environments? You’ve always wanted to touch that stuff

• You’ve never felt you could know TMi about your mother

• Your ridiculous, cringe-worthy childhood crushes are

validated by Gone Home’s celebration of teenage woesDear estherTHecHineseRooM • 2012

a haunting, gameplay-less game

Brutal end boss

“It’s tiny details that really

highlight the nuances in the

family’s stories’ depth here”


01

02

03 04

Plot twist: Dexter dyes his hair in this bathtub.

BAG OF HOLDING

1. You’re just back from a year-long trip overseas. We can’t help

but feel that that would have made for a more interesting

game than Parents’ House: Operation “Unlock the Door to the

Kitchen.”

2. You can tell this is the 1990s, because you were still allowed

to smile in passport photos back then.

3. A map magically draws itself as you explore the house,

Silent Hill-style – though maybe with a little less of that

foggy hell-world seeping through.

4. Certain objects will trigger vaguely creepy, non-diagetic

audio diaries from your sister.

I’m not sure why my baggy t-shirts and scrunched-

up socks haven’t earned me any friends yet…

The complex writing process

behind PCPP’s reviews.

1. Now you know what gets your mom all hot and bothered. 2. Yes, that’s exactly what you think it is in your parents’ drawer. 3. Dad puts on his robe and wizard hat…

THREE THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR PARENTS


RE

VIE

W

Some of the most exciting

gaming experiences have

come from recognising the

mundanity of real life in digital

form. It’s sort of thrilling when

you realise that your Sims need

to eat and sleep and go to the

bathroom, or that Niko Bellic

is a slave to his mobile phone,

just as you are.

The mundane in Papers,

Please is well beyond what

most games would dare. It’s

not the privileged version of the

mundane that so many of us

are familiar with; it plops you

behind a border control booth in

the fctional communist country

of Arstozka and tasks you

with inspecting entry papers.

You’ll be begged by women

who desperately need to join

husbands, bribed by desperate

men, revisited multiple times by

drug smugglers, and ultimately

grow numb to the misery

passing through the checkpoint

as you struggle to earn enough

money to buy the medicine your

family needs.

Papers, Please is a political

game, but not one that comes

out with an agenda per se. It’s

more about inserting yourself

into a situation that is inherently

political in nature, becoming

a poorly-oiled cog in an unjust

system, and falling in step for

the sake of yourself and your

family. The action never leaves

the booth, your family’s well-

being delivered in text-only

updates at the end of each

day, and a strong performance

is essential if you want to

Papers, PleasePleased with papers

8

VERDICT As much as it can

wear you out, Papers, Please

is a game to reflect upon and

cherish.

De v e l op e r Luc a s PoPe

p ubl ishe r Luc a s PoPe

p r ice $ 9.99 us

AvA il A bl e At s te am, GoG.com, Direc t DownLoaD

www.dukope.com

Grand ThefT auTo IVRockstaR • 2007

Refugee seeks American Dream!

PC release for GTA V, please

deus exIon stoRm • 2000

Papers, Please isn’t like other games

So ignore this list and play it

• You suspect that you take life for granted

• You’ve felt nervous in a customs line, irrationally or

otherwise

• You didn’t vote for one nationThe WalkInG deadtelltale Games • 2012

FEELINGS

I’m not crying. YoU’Re cRYInG

keep them all alive. Cruelty is

encouraged – the moment you’re

offered a bonus for detainees,

it’s easy to drop your veneer

of compassion whenever you

fnd a discrepancy in a person’s

documents.

Papers, Please has the good

grace to not explicitly judge

you for any of this. You’ll be

abused and threatened by the

people you turn away (and even

a few you let in), but you’ll

know that it’s not your fault,

nor theirs. There are broader

narrative threads running

over the top of everything,

seemingly happening just off

to the sides of the game’s

borders, with daily newspaper

headlines revealing unrest and

violence, and a shadowy cult

member occasionally appearing

to slip you demands that you

can choose to ignore or take

seriously.

And during all of this, you’re

stuck behind a desk, poring over

paperwork and adhering to daily

rule changes. Papers, Please

can be exhausting and boring if

you play through more than a few

days at a time, as condensed

as the drudgery is. But it’s never

less than totally compelling,

because drudgery is sort of the

point. When games are so often

about ridiculous power fantasies,

Papers, Please is about wielding

real, terrible power – the power

to change or ruin people’s lives

– all by looking over pieces of

paper and laying down a stamp.

You’ll get more out of being

bored by Papers, Please than

you’d get out of having fun with

many other games. JAMES

O’CONNOR

“You’ll be begged by women who desperately need to join

husbands, bribed by desperate men, revisited multiple

times by drug smugglers...”

The screen can get pretty hectic

when you’re juggling a lot of

documents, but it’s still not as

messy as my work desk.


To gauge how much you may

like Space Hulk, you need to

ask yourself two questions; the

frst being, “how much do I love

Space Hulk, the board game?”.

If the answer is “a whole lot”,

you’ll probably love the core

mechanics of Space Hulk the

PC game, as they are all but

identical to the original tabletop

version. Yes, even right down to

virtual dice being rolled to see if

a giant Space Marine hits with

his giant bolter. The second and

perhaps most vital question

is, “do I like my games to be

fast-paced, feel modern and

have a high level of polish?”.

If the answer is “yes”, you

might want to steer clear of this

interpretation of Space Hulk. It

looks rough, moves at a glacial

pace and plays just like a board

game that was frst released

nearly 25 years ago.

At its core, Space Hulk

is still a brilliantly-designed

game. A player takes control

of a squad of powerful but

slow moving Terminators and

the AI, or another player, takes

control of the traditional enemy

of the Terminators (at least in

Space Hulk), the fast-moving

but rather squishy Tyranid

Genestealers. The asymmetrical

sides are beautifully balanced

– the Terminators have fewer

Command Points to play with

per turn, making them trundle

along slowly and rely more on

reactive combat techniques, like

Overwatch, than searching and

destroying. The Genestealers,

on the other hand, have no

Space HulkIn the grim darkness of the far future, there is only slow trudging

5

VERDICT As a replica of the

board game, Space Hulk is

a success. Unfortunately,

as a videogame, it’s barely

average.

De v e l op e r Full Control

p ubl ishe r Full Control

p r ice $ 29.99

AvA il A bl e At S te am

www.fullcontrol.dk

Galactic civilizations 2Stardock • 2006

Conquer the galaxy for the

human race

only set in the 23rd century

WarmachinePrivateer PreSS • 2003

totally rad steampunk miniatures

combat

PC version not out until next year

• You worship the God king of Mankind who sits in eternal

vigilance on his golden throne

• You share inquisitor kalistradi’s view of the Genestealer

menace and racial purity

• You think paint dries way too fastXcom: enemy UnknoWnFiraxiS • 2012

Superlative, gritty turn-based

combat

No terminators anywhere

ranged attacks but can utilise

more Command Points, move

further, are more numerous

and, until there is a direct line

of sight, only appear as blips

to the Terminators. Think of the

motion tracker in Alien. This is of

vital importance to Genestealer

strategy, as the blips might

indicate a location, but in no

way reveal numbers, allowing

the feral, slobbering aliens to

effectively set ambushes.

So, the core mechanics and

strategy are sound, but that’s

entirely thanks to its design

foundation as a board game.

The problem with this PC version

is that there are some board

game remnants that simply

make the game feel old. Combat

is essentially binary, with each

attack being hit or miss. If it’s

a hit then the enemy is dead.

If it’s a miss there is no effect.

This either/or style of battle

saps combat of much of its

excitement – there are no narrow

scrapes or troops fnishing a

battle with only a few drops of

blood left; just a single dice roll

that decides if a unit dies or

not. The lack of any real troop

customisation, aside from the

occasional new banner, also robs

much of the game of personality.

It’s a real pity considering how

much 40k love has gone into

the voiceovers. The most grating

problem, however, is the pacing.

The Genestealers move at a

clip, making their turns fast

and fuid, but the Terminators

lumber around so slowly that

any maneuver more ambitious

than taking a step forward and

entering overwatch is a chore to

sit through. DANIEL WILKS

“It looks rough, moves at a glacial pace and plays just

like a board game that was first released nearly 25

years ago”

the tool tip displaying “4+3”

indicates how many minutes it

will take a terminator to trundle

to that location.


RE

VIE

W

Many people will be shot,

stabbed or otherwise

relieved of consciousness over the

course of Splinter Cell Blacklist’s

campaign, but the most signifcant

casualty is the loss of Michael

Ironside as the voice of Sam

Fisher. Exiting the series due to

Ubisoft Toronto’s new focus on full

performance capture, Ironside has

handed the role over to newcomer

Eric Johnson, whose interpretation

of the super-spy is imbued with

the charisma of a plank of wood.

Fisher has become a facsimile

of Mass Effect’s male Commander

Shepard, now leading his

espionage outft from the bowels

of an explorable cargo plane.

There are no love interests on

board however; unless one

counts the awkward bromance

with Fisher’s co-operative mode

partner, Isaac Briggs (you just

KNOW they’re going to bang as

soon as they get back on board).

The plot is like a terrible season

of 24, with a villain played by one

of the side characters from the

show, whilst mission briefngs see

mo-capped mannequins huddling

around a word map, exchanging

concerned glares and spitting

Clancynian techno-babble.

This brand of gibberish has

always been Splinter Cell’s modus

operandi. The difference is, it was

once delivered with a world-weary

charm through Ironside’s Fisher.

One only has to recall the dialogue

of the impromptu interrogations

in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory to

see the intelligence and wit that

Blacklist has snuffed out. But

the move to performance capture

isn’t necessarily the culprit. Elias

Toufexis – better known to PCPP

readers as the voice of Deus Ex:

Human Revolution’s Adam Jensen

– steals the show as villain-turned

ally Andriy Kobin. The capacity is

there for the Sam Fisher we know,

but it’s absent in Blacklist.

More time is spent fetishising

the curves of Fisher’s new knife,

now symbolic of one of the

multiple approaches to Blacklist’s

gameplay. This is a stealth game

that supports a wide spectrum

of non-lethal, deadly and loud

acts of violence. It’s clear that

whilst Chaos Theory was the third

iteration of a hardcore stealth

formula, Blacklist is the second

iteration of Conviction’s fashier,

accessible nu-stealth.

The thrill inherent to the series

no longer comes from having to

sneak because any other option

spells death, but because it’s the

cleanest option; one that requires

a heady combination of mastery

and restraint. Score breakdowns,

slightly weighted toward rewarding

a non-lethal ghost approach, help

to reinforce such goals that have

now become player-defned rather

than demanded by the system.

What elevates Blacklist far above

Conviction is that it now has the

capacity to support this player

expression, whereas Conviction’s

tunnel vision thrusted Fisher ever

forward as he put skulls through

television sets and cleared rooms

in seconds.

That Mark and Execute function

is still present, but it’s no longer

the instant-win button that littered

the DC Metro area with corpses

in 2010. Enemy archetypes

have been introduced that throw

a spanner in front of Fisher’s

perfectly-aimed bullets – heavy

infantry wearing bullet-proof

helmets and riot shield-wielding

bastards require positioning from

above or behind to eliminate.

Sneaking within these systems

is a lot like playing with a rubber

band. Undisturbed, there is a

relaxed pace to the methodic

disposal of hostiles. As players

are pushed to attempt riskier,

faster manoeuvres, the rubber

band stretches, becoming

taut with palpable tension if

Fisher gets spotted. It’s then

that Blacklist’s systems come

into their own; what previously

felt like concessions made for

accessibility transform into crucial

tools for players to improvise,

react and overcome equally

responsive and deadly AI. Though

the performance capture founders

in the campaign’s cutscenes,

in this unscripted gameplay it

lends the animation of Fisher’s

deadly hugs a startling, brutal

effciency; his dives between cover

a desperation and urgency.

That visual effectiveness

also highlights how cover is

more important than shadow,

and how positioning within the

environment is more important

than manipulating it. Fisher can

break lights and hide bodies,

but there’s little reason to do so

when levels are designed as a

linear series of small sandboxes,

rather than whole and consistent

locations. Checkpoints lock

doors behind Fisher, allowing

the geometry to fush from what

would be the game’s console-

based counterparts, as those

systems have the memory of a

goldfsh. Most areas still allow

a satisfying range of movement

and gadget-based trickery, though

less-engaging scripted sequences

come in hard and fast toward the

end of both singleplayer and co-op.

But it’s the return of the

asymmetric multiplayer where

Blacklist’s mechanical nuances

feel most appropriate. This fast

and brutal interpretation of Spies

versus Mercenaries takes the

game’s economy-based upgrades,

and separates them into distinct

classes that demand coordination

to succeed. Though there are

only a handful of maps to run,

gun and sneak through, there’s

enough variety in the game modes

on offer to keep you playing long

after you’ve exhausted Fisher’s

own outings. The balance of

superior information for the Spies

with superior frepower for the

Mercenaries is near-perfect.

Blacklist’s singleplayer, co-op

and multiplayer are faster and

more accessible than Chaos

Theory’s. The result: Splinter Cell

for everyone. Though Blacklist may

not be a better Splinter Cell game

than Chaos Theory, it’s easily the

best one since. DANIEL HINDES

Splinter Cell Blacklist Sam Fisher controls the redistribution of stealth

De v e l op e r Ubisof t toronto

p ubl ishe r Ubisof t

p r ice $ 69.95

AvA il A bl e At s te am, UPl ay, re ta il

splintercell.ubi.com

8

VERDICT Though it lacks the

subdued intelligence of Chaos

Theory, thereÕs still some

cracking good sneaking to be

had.Far Cry 3Ubisoft Montreal • 2012

Similar stealth, but in first-person!

Jason Bro-dude

Mass EFFECt 3bioWare • 2012

Bang everyone on the Normandy

Ending rage

• it’s the game splinter Cell Conviction should have been

• Plenty of singleplayer and co-op missions

• spies vs Mercs is still awesome

• You’ve always wanted to dress up sam fisher splintEr CEll: Chaos thEoryUbisoft Montreal • 2005

The highlight of the series

no one’s playing spies vs Mercs

ÒMost areas still allow a

satisfying range of movement

and gadget-based trickeryÓ


1. We’re playing co-op with the Tech Editor, whose relative

inexperience is making us jumpy. He’s right near you, Bennett!

2. Room cleared. We enter some codes simultaneously into these

computers to start moving the missile. Beep beep boop.

3. More guards have flooded the room! We’re down! If Bennett doesn’t

get here quick, it’s game over! (Spoiler alert: it was game over.)

0102

05

0304

MISSILE COMMAND

QOD OFF

1. An enemy! For this part of the mission, Fisher isn’t

allowed to hurt anyone. Time to get super-stealthy.

2. What’s this? A camera! It projects a light that shows its

visual range, so it should be relatively easy to avoid.

3. This guy has a flashlight attached to his gun, making

shadows less valuable. Later on, enemies may even wear

night vision goggles. Quit copying us.

4. The lights on Fisher’s suit aren’t flaring, showing that

he’s not in shadow; only cover. If that guy steps forward,

he’s going to see us!

5. The radar is a compulsory upgrade that removes some of

the fun of stealth, but can thankfully be turned off in the

options menu. We highly recommend doing so.

Lasers? Lasers are so... 90s. And also really hard to

avoid in this particular room. Helps to feel like we’re

not meant to be there, though.

You want to give Sam Fisher pink goggles? Of course

you do! Why wouldn’t you! They’re proven to increase

stealth and fashion sense by up to 43%.

Sonar vision helpfully highlights climbable

objects along with enemies. On Perfectionist

mode, it can’t see through walls.


RE

VIE

W

PayDay 2 isn’t just about

robbing banks, though that

is the most thrilling scenario it

offers. Rather, its classic heist

flm inspirations result in only

a small portion of the kinds of

crimes you’ll be committing.

You’ll be moving cocaine, stealing

paintings, breaking into the FBI…

but it’s not until you’re given the

objective “defend and cook meth”

that it becomes clear: PayDay

2 is less Point Break and more

Breaking Bad.

This is a frst-person crime

shooter; the kind of game that

takes the threadbare scenarios of

a Grand Theft Auto mission and

turns it into a smaller but more

detailed multiplayer space. With

this sequel’s introduction of a

mostly-viable stealth option, along

with a stronger focus on systemic

gameplay, PayDay 2 turns these

spaces into remarkably deep

explorations of what is possible in

a four-player co-operative shooter.

Stealth allows PayDay 2 to

recontextualise many of the basic

mechanics of the frst game. This

isn’t a stealth game in a Thief or

Splinter Cell sense; here, stealth

is about fnishing a mission

without the police showing up.

This means bursting into a room

and yelling at everyone to get on

the fucking ground. Cable-tying

civilian hostages is no longer

about building a resource for

hostage trades, but keeping

them from pulling a mobile phone

and calling the cops as soon

as you turn your back. This is a

game where you need to control

a crowd; keeping civilians down

and making sure they don’t try

anything stupid. Now imagine

trying this whilst dealing with

security systems, cameras, locked

doors, pagers and the like. It’s a

dirty, hands-on and intoxicating

approach to stealth that we

haven’t seen anywhere else.

But it’s all-too-easy to screw up

this stealth approach and revert

the mission to its default state,

which sees the crew defend an

objective (usually a drill working

its way into a safe or vault) from

waves of enemy law enforcers.

This is the most common kind

of gameplay you’ll encounter

in PayDay 2, and it’s also the

game’s least-interesting. Where

the game’s unique approach to

stealth requires a whole range

of systems to be taken into

account, open-combat enjoys

little such complexity.

There are still systems at play,

mind you. The police may land

on the roof and food gas into

one of the rooms below. Crooked

cops may see an opportunity

to steal your loot bags out from

under you. Hostage rescue

squads attempt to free cable-tied

civilians, thereby depleting your

resources for future negotiation.

But such intricacies are lost in

the heated exchanges of gunfre

that really begin to drag on.

Yet there’s a good reason

for that – PayDay 2 isn’t so

much about twitch aiming and

pulling off headshots as it is

about attrition. These assault

waves inevitably deplete the

crew’s ammunition and medical

supplies, gradually increasing

tension and encouraging a

quick and effcient heist. It’s on

this side of desperation that

the emergent drama in PayDay

2’s combat begins to unfold.

As ammo runs low, people are

downed and taken into custody,

whilst the rest of the crew might

decide to cut their losses and

make for the getaway car.

The capacity for such drama

is wholly dependent upon the

game’s revised skill trees, which

now separate abilities into clear

and distinct classes. Working up

these trees requires cash and

experience points, so the reward

for completing heists is the

chance to attempt a cleaner run

with newly unlocked mechanics.

At a low level, your opportunities

for expression in frefghts feel

limited; it’s not until you can start

bagging and moving corpses,

shouting down guards and making

them cuff themselves, or even

turning law enforcers over to your

side, that PayDay 2’s combat

becomes as engaging as casing

the joint beforehand.

This is totally fne, because

there is much to learn about

the intricacies of each level’s

mechanics before you even have

the chance to pull off a good run;

skill unlocks or no. Practicing

a heist has never been such

fun, because so much is left to

players to discover themselves.

There’s a bit of Dark Souls in

PayDay 2; you can level up all you

like, but unless you’re levelling up

your understanding of the game

concurrently, it’ll count for naught.

Also new to this sequel are

multi-day heists, the longer of

which considerably ramp up

the tension – especially when

going for a perma-death “Pro”

job. The physical size of the

levels feels slightly smaller

than the previous game, and

you’ll see the occasional re-use

of an environment with a new

objective, but it’s offset by a

degree of geometric and NPC

randomisation that requires you

to scope a place out no matter

how many times you’ve played

it. Though the total number

of heists available at launch

feels a little low, there’s a high

degree of detail and mechanical

signifcance to most of them that

will keep you playing long after

you’ve exhausted other games

thrice its price.

What results is the ultimate

test in co-ordination amongst

four players you can fnd on

PC. In the levels that support

a more analogue spectrum

of approaches, you’ll actually

experience a pre-heist rush as

you dance between guards and

security systems, prepping for

the right moment to mask up

and burst in. In stealth, PayDay 2

is most thrilling when things go

right; in open combat, it’s when

things start going wrong that the

game shines. DANIEL HINDES

PayDay 2 I caught my first tube today... Sir.

De v e l op e r Overk ill

p ubl ishe r 505 Games

p r ice $ 29.99

AvA il A bl e At s te am

www.crimenet.info

9

VERDICT It’s not the desire

for cash or gold that’ll keep

you coming back, but the

desire to pull off the perfect

heist.Killing FloorTripwire • 2009

Point defence plus zombies

Not as mechanically complex

ChemistryHigH ScHool • 19TH cenTury

Learn about science!

Don’t use it to cook meth

• it’s far deeper than the first payDay

• unlocks! you like unlocks, right?

• you’ll learn with failure

• SAy My nAMe leFt 4 DeaD 2VAlVe • 2009

Four player co-op fun

Can’t cable-tie the infected

“Crooked cops may see an

opportunity to steal your loot

bags out from under you”


1. We’ve tapped into the building’s camera feed, so we can safely

cycle through various viewpoints and scope the place out.

2. We can mark a couple of guards through the camera; they’ll

appear as red silhouettes to stealthy teammates.

3. Oh dear, someone saw us. Alarms blaring! That’s a lot of dead

bodies. Well, we’re nothing if not good at our jobs. Assault incoming!

0102

05

03

04

STEALTH FAIL

VAULT HUNTERS

1. The Tech Editor is done lockpicking the safety deposit

boxes, so we’ve got enough cash to make a run for our

escape van. It’ll be slow, as we have to haul the loot.

2. Problem is, there’s an army of SWAT, FBI and dudes with

tasers between it and us. Things are looking desperate.

3. Police assaults come in waves, throwing more heavily

armoured dudes at you on higher difficulties. We could

hold out until the assault is called off to make for an

easier getaway. But we just have to conserve ammo...

4. Whilst we’re waiting for the assault to die down, we

might as well crack open a few more boxes. This would

be a lot easier if we unlocked the circular saw...

5. This dude has a bad-arse custom skull mask. Our suit is

better though.

This is Crime.Net; a fancy in-universe server

browser. Missions appear with random payouts and

difficulty levels. It could do with an ‘in-lobby’ filter.

We’re shot! If our partners in crime can’t revive us in

time, we’ll end up in custody and they’ll have to trade

a hostage for us.

Props to Overkill for including

actual Windows desktops on

their in-game computers.

Which icon launches PayDay 2?


RE

VIE

W

It’s easy to be cynical about a

game calling itself XCOM in

a time when modern franchise

reboots seem to be at an all-

time high. There are always

concerns about whether this new

reimagining will be true to its

roots, whether it will live up to

its name, and whether a whole

bunch of people are going to get

angry about it on the Internet.

Thankfully, XCOM has had its

reboot – it was called Enemy

Unknown – and if you want a

“traditional” XCOM experience, go

and play it instead. Think of The

Bureau: XCOM Declassifed as an

expansion of the XCOM universe,

a tale told from a perspective

unfettered by nostalgia, to

present a new experience.

Take our player character:

William Carter. He’s a hard-

as-nails agent with history of

insubordination that barely

toes-the-line. He’s a loner, a solo-

operator. He doesn’t care what

anyone thinks, though is beset

with guilt over a family trage...

hey, wake up!

Okay, so, it’s not the most

creative of lead roles, but the

supporting characters add

dimension to the story. There’s

the scientist with a shady past

and loose ethics, the grey haired

do-whatever-it-takes Bureau

director, the high-ranking no-

nonsense snarky professional

female... yeah, okay, they’re

hardly original either.

This is the largest criticism we

can level at The Bureau: it feels

very safe. But given its years of

troubled development and the

multiple redesigns that have

entailed, we can hardly blame

2K for trying to hit an inoffensive

middle-ground to get the game

out the door.

There’s a heavy Mass Effect

infuence throughout. It’s present

during combat in the squad

dynamics, in the ability to slow

the game’s real-time execution to

issue orders to squad members,

and even in the special abilities

the player and squad members

can unleash upon the invading

alien forces. It’s present too in

the conversation wheels, the

ability to answer questions or

approach situations from different

philosophical angles, and it’s

present when roaming The

Bureau’s base of operations after

each mission.

Outside of combat, it doesn’t

really go beyond superfcial

mimicry, however. There’s not

enough depth in the conversation

to give it that weighty RPG

sensation of dialogue exchange.

Sure, characters will rattle off a

bit of information in response to

your questions, but it’s as though

they have a laundry list of items

to discuss, rather than an interest

in engaging with the player.

Being able to amble around

the base post-mission and hear

random NPCs chatting about

your latest achievements is cool,

but where are the interactions

with squad mates? Where is

the relationship development

that sees their loss in battle an

unacceptable outcome? It’s all a

little faceless; a little impersonal.

On the other side of the coin,

the mission-based campaign

structure holds up fairly well. You

might not care about Carter or

his motivations, but none of that

really matters out in the feld.

Each mission begins with

selecting which two agents from

the pool of those available (read:

not dead) will join Carter on his

next foray into enemy territory.

It’s possible to create and

customise new agents if those

The Bureau pre-supplies don’t

quite ft the player’s demanding

expectations or playstyle. The

remaining agents can be bundled

off on other less-critical missions

to retrieve alien technologies and

gain experience.

For Carter, the third-person

combat with a bullet-time focus

mode feature bears the illusion

of giving the player the luxury

of time and planning. On the

higher diffculties, it does not.

Tactics lean towards the frantic

end of the spectrum while the

player scrambles to assess the

situation, avoid incoming fre,

dodge grenades, deploy special

abilities and revive downed squad

mates without dying.

Agents lost in the feld are

lost from the duty roster, and

the pain of this loss is directly

proportional to the agent

level, plus a certain level of

frustration with the controls.

These are clearly designed with

a gamepad in mind, and exhibit

a cumbersome execution on

keyboard. We considered plugging

one in, but decided the loss of

accuracy required for headshots

wasn’t worth the trade-off.

Successful missions grant

experience and technologies;

the latter is a simple process of

picking up any new items, and

they are immediately added to

the player’s arsenal, ready to be

equipped at designated stations

mid-mission (or after the mission,

if playing on the toughest

diffculty). The former increases

the agent’s rank, unlocking new

perks. Some ranks unlock a

designated perk defned by the

agent’s class and specialisation.

Other ranks provide a choice,

forcing the player to meditate

briefy on how best to utilise

them, and which would be more

benefcial to their playstyle. They

are thoughtfully designed, with

pros and cons fairly weighted.

In truth, we would have liked to

have seen the game with more

active research elements, as

well as a grander global strategy

system, and though perhaps not

as accomplished or polished as

the aforementioned Mass Effect

series, The Bureau holds its own

as a tactical shooter – provided

this is the only expectation you

approach it with. TERRENCE

JARRAD

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified The very model of a scientist Salarian

De v e l op e r 2K Marin

Dis t r ibu t or 2K GaMes

p r ice $79.99

AvA il A bl e At s te aM, re ta il

www.thebureau-game.com

7

VERDICT A competent

tactical shooter that doesn’t

push any boundaries and is

only peripherally related to

XCOM.Mass EffEctBioWare • 2007

Epic space action drama thing!

“Streamlined” as series went on

X-cOM EnfOrcErMicroprose • 2001

XCOM does third person shooter

Worst. XCOM. Ever

• You’ve already prepared a rage-filled forum post about

how this isn’t XcoM, and just need the ammunition

• Your XcoM gaming philosophy can be summed up as

“Turn-based, shmurn-based”

• You like a challenge on high difficulties

• You’re a sucker for gravel-voiced lead characters

XcOM: EnEMy UnknOwnFiraXis • 2012

classic gameplay re-skinned

can be punishingly difficult

“We can hardly blame 2K for

trying to hit an inoffensive

middle-ground”


01

02

05

03

04

Flesh out the world by finding various photos, notes,

and audio recordings scattered around the place. Or

just chat to people.

CARTER. WREX.

1. In Battle Focus mode, enemies are clearly highlighted.

We have told Smith to focus-fire on the Muton miniboss

because he packs a punch.

2. These command toolbars are how we order our squad

around. It’s a bit clunky and not super-intuitive given the

same info is represented below...

3. ...In these general tool bars. They show health, skill

cooldowns, level, and experience. We kept clicking on

these to activate skills, which doesn’t work.

4. We’ve activated Carter’s heal ability, but his Lift is still on

cool down. We can’t shoot while in battle-focus, so need

to disengage it for Carter to be useful.

5. Battle areas often have environmental hazards. This is an

enemy mine, but watch out for explosive barrels to turn

on the enemy.

Ding! You can apply new perks mid-mission

straight after levelling up, giving you the benefit

of new abilities immediately.

The Shield Commander generates

shields that protect other aliens.

He’s therefore annoying and

needs to be brought down quickly.

1. Time to recruit some new agents. I can have two of each class,

ready for duty with me, or to send on other missions.

2. Select a class and background. This determines weapon loadout

and passive perks like increased endurance or damage.

3. Customise the new recruit’s clothes to make them easy to

distinguish on the battlefield. Don’t worry, this can be changed later.

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ST

AT

E O

F P

LA

Y

104 Extended Memory

Returning to the The Longest Journey’s twin worlds

102 Spelunky

Indie gaming’s own precious jewel returns in glorious HD


ST

AT

E O

F P

LA

Y

Deus inExperiencedPart 12: There’s Something About Morgan

If there’s one thing Deus Ex is really

good at, it’s setting up red flags. You’ll

wander into someone’s home, you’ll talk

to an NPC, you’ll take a quiet stroll, and

something about your experience just

won’t feel right. A detail won’t ring true.

An item will be misplaced. Objects that

appear fixed will move when you touch

them. Alarm bells will ring in your head.

Morgan Everett’s home base is a

phenomenally designed gameplay

experience, from the moment you awaken

from your drug-induced sleep until you

(almost inevitably) run your sword through

the dodgy mechanic outside. You needn’t

spend more than a few minutes in this

location, but anyone paying attention will

spend at least twenty. The true genius of

this section is that it’s not the obviously

crazy set-up that make you wary; it’s the

smaller details you pick up on over time.

It’s not unusual that Everett has heavy

steel doors, or an industrial workspace

out the back, but it’s damn strange that

there’s a giant bloody aquarium right in

the middle of his home, one that you

can find the key to, unlock and swim

around in. It’s unsettling that he has a

maid and a cat (which appeared out of

nowhere midway through my exploration

of his place) that strongly resemble the

maid and cat I sedated back at Chow’s

place. It’s downright alarming that, on

close inspection, the people in one of his

paintings are actually primitive robots. And

yes, alright, the fact that he’s an Illuminati

leader doesn’t exactly set one at ease.

Denton is PC gaming’s greatest detective

if you’ll let him be. It only takes a little

curiosity to discover Everett’s secrets,

but when you do… damn. Off behind the

computer room is Morpheus, possible

cousin of Zordon from the Power Rangers;

a giant floating A.I. head who practically

pulls you aside and encourages you to

consider writing an academic paper on

the role of surveillance in Deus Ex’s

game world. It’s a damn creepy set piece;

Morpheus is a voyeur, a philosopher, and

a reminder that you should probably be

very, very worried about the increasingly

hostile presence of Icarus in your ear.

And then there’s DeBeers, the ultimate

validation of one’s ‘something is not right’

instinct, a skeleton wrapped in bone that

rasps its credentials at you from a cold

prison. I killed him, because seriously, what

good could possibly come from letting that

thing live? For a moment, I drop all pretext

of thinking from Denton’s perspective – the

creature locked in the basement frightened

me, and I wanted it gone from the world.

By the time I encountered the

comically overdone ‘Odd Mechanic’ out

near Jock’s chopper, I was too damn

freaked out to be concerned with how

lazily the game sets up this particular

mystery, or to get a kick out of finally

catching up with that whole ‘bomb’

meme. This game, guys. This game.

“It’s damn strange that there’s a giant

bloody aquarium right in the middle of his

home, one that you can fi nd the key to”

JAMES O’CONNOR can’t even deal with this

People don’t usually have wheels, do they?

Once again, JC’s swimming training comes in handy.

When it wants to, Deus Ex can glue you to a conversation.

This was going to be a shot of DeBeers, but…*shudder*


It had been a while since I had played

Spelunky, having briefly messed around

in the original free version for PC and later

bought it on XBLA. It was good and I was

terrible at it, but most of all I never really

understood the love that the diehard fans

had. The randomly-generated, platforming,

roguelike elements really appeal to me,

so it was with some respect but also mild

confusion that I started into the PC version.

I may have neglected to mention the level

to which I suck at Spelunky – I suck a whole

lot. Nigh on biblical levels of sucking, is

what we’re talking about here. Regardless,

I managed to blunder my way into beating

Olmec, the “final” boss. There, I thought,

I’ve beaten the game. But

it was in the borderline

existential, seemingly-

pointless runs that I

was doing afterwards

that I found the true

point of Spelunky. On

a whim, I decided to

follow the purple, alien-

looking structure up

to the top – and at

the top I found a door,

which took me to an

alien mothership.

What. Entirely new

enemies, obstacles...

there was even a

unique score. Suffice

to say, I died almost immediately (the new

enemies primarily involved little aliens in tiny

bomb shooting tanks – both adorable and

explosive).

I had a friend in primary school who told

me about how you could find a Mew in the

original Pokemon if you looked underneath

the truck in Vermilion City. I don’t know how

many hours I spent either trying, or thinking

about how to move that truck to get to that

Mew – there was even some who were

saying you had to fight the Elite Four one

hundred times for it to appear, “I know cause

my uncle works at Nintendo” or something

or other. There was no Mew under that damn

truck; maybe a small part of me knew that,

but there was definitely a larger part that

was thoroughly disappointed. This story is

not unique; there have been myths kept

alive through the childlike hope of young

gamers for generations, but they’re almost

always completely made up. But Spelunky

represents the collective satisfaction of

generations of gamers’ disappointment.

After reading a little into the secrets of

Spelunky, I came across this obviously fake

sounding piece of info – apparently if you

put the damsel on the weird sticky orange

thing on the second Jungle level and wait,

then a giant worm comes out and eats it.

More than that, if you’re on the weird orange

thing and let the worm eat you, you go to

a secret worm level, where you can get a

crystal knife that replaces your standard

whip attack and does maximum damage.

Total bullshit? Not at all, completely and

totally true – I know because I did it (and

my uncle works at Nintendo). After

you realise that behind every out

of the ordinary occurrence

is either a secret level or a

hidden, unique treasure then

Spelunky really opens up

– it’s the game you wish

you had when you were

10. And as a word of

advice, pretend you

have the technology of

yourself at 10 as well;

stay away from too

many internet guides

and explanations, as a

huge amount of the fun

in starting out in this game is

finding out the secrets for yourself. Although,

if you find out how to get to King Yama on

your own. you’re a Man amongst men.

And you can always rely on the

randomised elements and terrifically hard

difficulty to sustain your interest long after

you’ve discovered all there is to see. Also,

with the Steam copy, you’ll get access to the

Daily Challenge, a run which is generated

randomly per day and is the same for

everyone – but you can only try it once.

No longer does death only mean a simple

retry, but now you have the eyes of your

Steam friends and the rest of the Spelunky

community on you – which actually makes

you play significantly better.

So this may be the second re-release

Spelunky has seen, but it’s easily the best

– and still one of the most enduring indie

games out there.

ZAC NAOUM descends into history as he tackles the apocrypha of Spelunky’s PC re-release

ST

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F P

LA

Y


GO TO HELLOkay, some MAJOR SPOILERS for

those not wanting to ruin their

adventurous experience. There’s

a “true” ending beyond just

killing Olmec that requires some

high-level play (and borderline

black magic) – and most of all it

shows off the ridiculous string of

events that is necessary to fully

complete Spelunky. Here’s how:

In one of the Mines levels, there

will be a golden key – use it on

the chest with the golden lock to

acquire the Udjat Eye item.

On one of the levels of the

Jungle (the very next area), the

Udjet eye will begin blinking,

showing the location of the Black

Market.

Purchase the Ankh from it for

$50,000 (this gives an extra life).

In the Ice Caves, there will be a

level with the Moai Head (it looks

kind of like a blue Easter Island

Statue) – kill yourself in this level

and you’ll respawn in the Head

with the Hedjet.

Still with us? Okay, in the

Temple, kill Anubis (bombs and

the paste are usually the easiest

method) and he’ll drop the

sceptre – which, with the Hedjet,

will allow you to enter the City of

Gold on the next floor.

Near to the center of The City

of Gold is The Necronomicon.

Picking it up will cause Anubis II

to spawn, who you’ll have to kill

(again, bombs and paste).

In the room during the Olmec

fight, the Necronomicon will start

a kind of munching animation

over where the door to Hell is,

just above the lava at the bottom

of the arena. Make sure you ride

Olmec’s head down and use it as

a platform to enter Hell.

Now just beat a series of the

hardest levels in the game and

you’ll be up to the King Yama fight

– don’t ask me how to beat him... I

regularly die on the Jungle.


The LongesT Journey

Newport is a chaos of contradictions,

from the shamelessness of Metro

Circle, with its towering highrises, Sextasy

and Liquid Dreams, to the serene Catholic

cathedral, behind Hope Street, where the

Amathin addled lie, prone. This is where

heavily-armoured Police, who diligently detain

even the lowliest skateboarder, can be

short-circuited by a carefully shaken soda.

It’s a setting the outside observer could

appreciate, but never properly know.

Partly why Funcom’s The Longest

Journey is so special, however, is that the

protagonist has such a distinctive take on

her surroundings. Having moved to the city to

study at the Venice Academy of Visual Arts,

April Ryan examines the large painting of its

founder, Mary Samm and remarks wearily,

“Assassinated by some corporate hired gun

right after the school opened some 90 years

ago.” Then, the poster reading, “Actresses

wanted for snuff movie parody. Meet at Dock

12, Saturday, midnight, and keep quiet about

it,” elicits that unique April-style blend of

amusement and concern.

In Newport, a parent could sell their family

into indentured labour on an off-world colony,

in return for a lifetime supply of Amathin. It’s

a harsh reality. April affords one hardened,

runaway son limitless dignity in her dealings

with him. Another time, however, when she

sees a talentless busker, she quips that when

you’re high on Amathin, your “sense of rhythm

is the first thing to go.” The setting isn’t all

about the plight of the desperate, of course.

It’s also about power. As the story progresses,

April uncovers some truths about The Church

of Voltec, genetic engineering and the very

ominous Malkuth Technologies Incorporated.

When her quest leads her to the upper

levels of the city, April writes in her diary,

“They’d never give access to a lowlife, like

me, so I have to fake it.” Yet, it is literally

the lowest levels of Newport that are the

most vibrant and colourful places to be, and

where April wants to be. Between rampant

outbreaks of graffiti lies the Border House

and a wall adorned with “a pretty mural.” It

depicts a lush forest, a passageway forwards

and a lone figure with outstretched hand, the

promise, perhaps, of a gentler alternative?

The Longest Journey is only set in a cyberpunk dystopia if the idealistic, young art student says it is. MEGHANN O’NEILL explores the Stark side of the Divide.

FLASHBACK

You’d think a space stationwould flummox April. Nope! She comments on a

window cleaner, “We used to run simulations of similar pods, back in school.”

Getting around by low-tech subway only requires money

and the right genes. Screens broadcast propaganda. As

April says, “There’s no escape, anywhere.”

Faster than Lightning | Burns Flipper, “spare parts dealer” and purveyor of “hardcore

porn cubes,” is the perfect, paranoid product of Newport’s

ubiquitous, but offhand, attempts at control.

When both legs were amputated as warning against hacking, he invented a “hovercraft chair.”

When the chair starts to wobble, threatening to pitch him into the pit, only the merest chink in his

belligerent bravado can be seen.

In their very first conversation, Flipper verbally abuses April many times, in rapid succession.

Then he forgets her in the time it takes for her to walk across one room. She handles him

empathetically and adroitly, as only she can do.


BEGINS

“To think that two days ago, all I had to

remember was whether a customer

ordered a double decaf latte or a low-fat

cappuccino… There’s a lot to be said for

simple ignorance.”

From the boisterous yet warm environs

of the Journey Man Inn, to the island of

Alais, the world of Arcadia is one that is

consistently inconsistent. Far from the

predictable, mundane world of Stark, this

world is one in constant flux.

It is a world where a crow can become

your best friend and a wily magician can be

defeated with the power of a calculator. In

Arcadia, nothing is as it seems. It is a fairy

tale land of magic and wonder, of whimsy

and chaos.

“Apparently, I’m simply supposed to

accept, without question, that magic does

exist. Which is impossible. But clearly not

impossible enough because here, there IS

magic.”

It’s one that April finds constantly

startling. Even the mundane can leave her

surprised. A quick peruse of a Marcurian

fishmonger’s wares leaves her disconcerted,

remarking that only the presence of fins

and scales serve as clues as to what’s for

dinner.

But it is in the chaos and magic of

Arcadia that April begins to grow, to step

outside of her comfort zone. In Stark, April

was in an illusion of control. She was able

to abandon her past life and her abusive

father. She had plans; she was going to be

an artist. Then Arcadia comes along and

everything changes.

Arcadia’s fanciful world is a jolt to April.

Its strange peoples, ancient lore and

breathtaking landscapes have no place in

April’s world, but she comes to accept them

and her role. It is a world that brings chaos

and upheaval into an existence she thought

she had figured out. The Longest Journey is

a personal one; for April, it begins with the

acceptance that there is more to the world

beyond her experience.

“Mystery is important. To know

everything, to know the whole truth, is dull.

There is no magic in that.”

A double-faced look at April Ryan’s futuristic world. Er… worlds.

Order can only be maintained so long, such it is when chaos enters her life thatApril must grow. NATHAN COCKS explores the Arcadia side of the Divide.

The bustling harbour of Marcuria is full of wonder, not to

mention religious sailors who think they can disobey their

gods if music is playing.

April’s journey’s even take her to the bottom of the sea as she seeks the

assistance of merfolk. Remember, she can breathe underwater now...

THE ROLLING MAN | Despite also hailing from Stark, it would be a mistake to consider Brian

Westhouse to be in a similar situation to April.

The ‘rolling man’, so called due to his insistence on riding his bicycle (a contraption foreign to

Arcadia), came to this magical world of his own free will. And it cost him dearly. Trapped in the

divide between worlds for 300 years, Westhouse is positively a relic in April’s eyes.

Despite the age difference, in many ways, Westhouse acts as a filter for April’s vision of

Arcadia. It is through him that she can truly come to accept Arcadia as a real place. For a short

time, he is her connection to her homeworld, but also a stark reminder that discoveries such as

her don’t come without cost.


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OCT. 24

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