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Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Welcome to the EarthrealmSpring is on its way, so what better way to celebrate than watching psychotic demigods pull each other’s spines out? Mortal Kombat may not shout ‘new-gen might’ – it’s too much of an old reliable for that – but this doesn’t mean NetherRealm can’t have a hell of a lot of fun bringing its unique brand of brutality to Xbox One. Read all about it on page 28. If you fancy your heroes a little less decapitated, check out our massive Halo 5 interview on page 56 or turn to page 78 to discover 40 ways to unlock the true potential of Xbox One. Enjoy!“WHAT BETTER WAY TO WELCOME SPRING THAN WATCHING DEMIGODS PULL EACH OTHER’S SPINES OUT?”EMAILmatthew.castle@futurenet.comLIVE OXM Pesto TWITTER @mrbasil_pesto…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILSCry me a riverA Special Edition of DMC4 is coming to Xbox One, too, with Vergil teased as an extra character. It was the last DMC before the reboot, and original director Hideaki Itsuno is helping out.What’s the story?Ninja Theory is revisiting its lovely Devil May Cry reboot, addressing pretty much every rational complaint and bundling in all the DLC, in addition to a load of new content. That includes new difficulty modes and costumes (including original blond Dante), along with rebalanced stages and a manual lock-on feature. Oh, and it’s presented in 1080p and 60fps.Why should I care?It’s a surprisingly major reworking. The biggest change is that doubled framerate, bringing the reboot’s speed in line with that of the original series. DMC combat is supposed to be fast and…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015RETURN OF THE KING ('S QUEST)Best. Apology. Ever.Played the troubled Master Chief Collection between launch and Dec 19th? You’ll get a free remaster of Halo: ODST next year for free.The Odd Gentlemen – creator of whimsical puzzle-platformer The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom – is rebooting the beloved King’s Quest series under Activision’s newly resurrected Sierra label. If you’re not familiar, these were games of myth and heroism set millennia ago: a time when harpies hung out with Dracula and that bore Rumpelstiltskin.The two constants of King’s Quest were the kingdom of Daventry and its royal family frequently being tasked with saving the world. Fans came to know King Graham, Queen Valanice and their children pretty well across the series, as they pointed and clicked their way through a vibrant fantasy world, pocketing everything that wasn’t…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015VICTORIAN SECRETSBloated Unity patch causes problemsThe latest Unity patch – promising to finally fix many of the game’s issues – managed to be bugged itself, eating a massive 40GB unless you reinstalled the game from scratch. Whoops.Ah, the Victorian era. A time of uncomfortable clothing, horrible factory-related deaths and respiratory problems. Leaked as the setting for Assassin’s Creed Victory, this is the most recent historical period in a Creed game yet – no, we don’t count Desmond’s exciting office adventures – and arguably formed the backbone of modern British society. (They’re all wearing corsets right now.) It was an age of reform, change and invention, filled with luminaries in technology and art. But how will this translate into a game about offing naughty chaps? We’ve whittled it down to seven things…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015NEROPublisher storm in a teacup / Developer Storm in a Teacup / Format Xbox One / ETA 2015Let me guess – it’s a game about terrible emperors?Nope, nothing to do with our favorite incestual Roman madman, Nero. This game is part puzzle, part visual novel, taking inspiration from the diverse likes of Journey, Myst, Studio Ghibli and Sigur Rós. Add to that its visual similarity to Avatar and we’re left feeling a little bit confused. Storm in a Teacup is being quite vague about the story – other than it being “deep” and a tale of love – but this might be because the team wants it to be a personal experience.Hrmph. If you can’t tell me about the plot, what can you tell me?Well, we know a bit about…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Social ServicesThe Elder Scrolls Online is a great game, if you don’t expect the wrong things. Example, thinking it’s going to be anything like Skyrim…Marshall SharmallWill the English Assassin’s Creed characters have French accents?Joshua BlackwoodI guess nobody can blame Ubisoft for milking the Assassin’s Creed cow. I found myself unwilling to repeat the same stuff over and over again, that’s what Destinyis for ;)Alex FreyAnyone wanna swap a Sega CD with Sewer Sharkfor Xbox One withGTA V?Michael ReidI found Kyrat better than Rook Islands. The only thing Far Cry 4was missing was its own version of Vaas.Zachary Weidner[Tomb Raideron Xbox 360] was pretty good, shockingly. Story was nice, the graphics were nice and the controls were superb. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do with a bigger budget.Caddy Jefe ManeYay…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015(Re)Enter Kung LaoTaking cues from Capcom’s slow, intravenous drip method of revealing fighting-game characters over many months, NetherRealm and Warner Bros Interactive announced Kung Lao as the latest addition to the Mortal Kombat X roster. He’s been a fan favorite since his introduction in Mortal Kombat II, much thanks to his bladed hat, inspired by James Bond villain Oddjob. Even as a familiar combatant who was in the 2011 game, the new Variation movesets mean that even those who use him as their go-to fighter will need to learn several new techniques.Kung Lao’s base group of moves appear in all variations including his dive kick, teleporting and, of course, his hat throw. The hat becomes the basis of his three variations. Tempest allows for horizontal and vertical throws that can yield potent…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015The Deer GodPUBLISHER CRESCENT MOON GAMES / DEVELOPER CRESCENT MOON GAMES / FORMAT XBOX ONEBluffer’s GuidePossibly the most in-vogue game of all time – a 2D, procedurally generated survival platformer. Oh, and you play as a baby deer.All of us are a single soul, travelling endlessly between bodies; fleshy wrapping paper covering the gift that is universal existence. You’d do well to remember this – that life is the story and death mere punctuation – especially when a hungry fox has just torn your throat out. The Deer God is a survival game, first and foremost. No matter what happens, you concentrate on bars signalling health or hunger.You look for ripened apples, avoid standing on porcupines. The game’s message – that life is precious – feeds directly into its gameplay. You play…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015OlliOlliPUBLISHER CURVE DIGITAL / DEVELOPER ROLL7 / FORMAT XBOX ONEBluffer’s GuideThe 2D skateplatformer almost no one was waiting for and everyone needs to play.Skating games have traditionally been as much about exploration as your ability to pretend to do exercise. They turn a mundane environment into hundreds of possibilities, every route a miniature platforming level. OlliOlli – perhaps appropriately for what began as a handheld game – simplifies that process. It’s a 2D skating game, played out like a high-speed platformer where the developer only makes ice levels. Stripping a whole dimension turns every level into a single line, to be learned and mastered.In a way, it’s not a skating game at all – not our words. “When you think of skating in videogames, you think Tony Hawk,” says Roll7’s…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Blood Bowl 2PUBLISHER FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE / DEVELOPER CYANIDE FORMAT XBOX ONEA s much as, from the title, you might be looking forward to some vampire prom, Blood Bowl is actually a fantasy footballseries set in the Warhammer universe. Sorry.It’s a little bit NFL and a little bit Space Jam – if Space Jam wasn’t shy about goring Bugs Bunny on spiked shoulder pads. You can play as eight races, including Dwarf, Orc and Dark Elf.New game modes are designed to welcome newcomers, while the new engine was designed specifically for the game, to capture every act of assault in glorious HD. The stadiums are huge, with seats so steep top rows should come with a low oxygen warning. It looks like a vast improvement, graphically and technologically.ETA SPRING…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015GAME OF THE YEARHonorable mentionsDragon Age: Inquisition, TitanfallThe lack of a stand-out candidate makes this one of the closest GOTY contests in living memory. There were as many as ten games in the running for Gaming’s Ultimate Prize (we’ve decided just this second that this is Gaming’s Ultimate Prize from now on). Should it go to Titanfall for its high-flying reinvention of multiplayer? Or should the gong go to Dragon Age: Inquisition for delivering where Fable III stumbled on the power fantasy of making world-changing decisions from atop a golden throne?Check our play history, on the other hand, and it would seem churlish not to give the prize to Bungie – Destiny’s delicious big-scale combat had us falling off the Raid wagon on a weekly basis. And then there’s Forza Horizon 2, Far…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST PUBLISHERHONORABLE MENTIONSMicrosoft, KonamiThis was actually a really easy award to call. While most of the other publishers greeted the arrival of a new generation of consoles by slipping into their conservatisim bunkers and firing out safe-but-steady updates of existing series, Bethesda bucked the trend by taking a punt on two of the Xbox One’s most unorthodox offerings to date – Wolfenstein: The New Order, a bold and brassy (if not especially tactful) thought exercise in what the ’60s might have looked like if the Nazis won WWII (and had giant robots), and The Evil Within – a murky trawl through Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami’s mind, and the game we’re calling the true sequel to Resident Evil 4.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST ART DESIGNHONORABLE MENTIONSDark Souls II, Rayman LegendsAssassin’s Creed Unity is a beautiful game. Milling about in the crowds or watching the sunset from Notre Dame’s roof while some rousing tune about murdering rich kids filters up from the streets – oh, there’s nothing like it.The attention to detail is breathtaking. From the historically accurate graffiti and the painted café wall signs to the individually designed interiors and the rich, sumptuous fabrics – you’ll often find yourself mid-mission appreciating the velvet of a chair or the way the sunlight glints off a piano. New-gen AC gives us the glossy, spectacular historical playground we’ve always wanted. Shame it’s about chopping heads off.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Alex’s TOP 4 GAMES OF THE YEATAlien: IsolationYou’ve got to set the mood to experience this at its best. Draw the curtains. Smash the lightbulbs. Sit back and do anything but relax.Forza Horizon 2Forza’s brilliant driving model, made accessible for normal people who don’t know complex things about cars, such as what ‘tires’ are.Geometry Wars 3: DimensionsTen years of Geometry Wars, and I still haven’t worked out a good way to kill those green turds, damn it.Far Cry 4Unlock the wingsuit and Kyrat’s landscape opens up in magnificent fashion. There’s always something to do, someone to shoot.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST ONLINEHONORABLE MENTIONSGTA Online, Call of Duty: Advanced WarfareWe cheekily described Destiny’s online multiplayer as the ‘real game’ a few issues back – and we stick by it. It’s a baffling minefield of indecipherable nonsense to anyone who hasn’t played the main game, but the grind for Legendaries and the dazzling variety of options will all be worth it once you’re prancing around with your new Exotic armour.Not to mention the dancing. Oh, the dancing. Never before has a simple emote been able to sum up so perfectly how we feel about a game. If we’re honest, we sort of wish Destiny was the real world and we could all sit down together and gaze serenely up at the Moon, holding the hand of our loved one, xX420_Sn1per_BlazeXx. We love you,…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015HAIL TO THE CHIEFHalo 5’s multiplayer beta will be winding down by the time you read this. Was it three weeks of genre-defining bliss, or did the curse of Halo: TMMC’s’s servers strike again? Either way, 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross will be taking stock and calibrating the game to be the best it can. In this exclusive interview she lays out her plans for Guardians and gets to the heart of what makes Halo tick.The playlists in The Master Chief Collection reveal Halo’s variety, but what, for you, is the essence of Halo?I’ll talk about that from a couple of different angles. For me, when we first put the feature in to unlock all the campaigns, it was like it unlocked a whole new Halo for me. I like to traverse and…7 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015THREES!PUBLISHER SIRVO / DEVELOPER HIDDEN VA RIABLE STUDIOS / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWREVIEWERKATE GRAYLive OXM Kate@hownottodrawTHE KNOWLEDGEWHAT IS IT?That math nightmare you had where all the numbers had faces.WHAT ’S IT LIKE?Your newest, most shameful addiction.WHO’S IT FOR?Anyone with thumbs itching for the next big little thing.A while back, I used to have to commute on the bus for an hour to get to work. Some people might take that time to learn a hobby. Others might read books. I played Threes!.It’s this charming little mobile game, simple and easy to learn. All that’s required from you is a swipe – left, right, up or down – and all the numbers on-screen obligingly follow. The goal is to combine them into ever-increasing figures: first a 1…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015RABBIDS INVASION: THE INTERACTIVE TV SHOWPUBLISHER UBISOFT / DEVELOPER UBISOFT BARCELONA FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWUbisoft’s Rabbids are still a thing. We’re not sure how, but what started as a Rayman spin-off has seen the furry-critters spawn toys, games and even an animated TV show. The latter two are smashed together for Rabbids Invasion – a Kinect affair that sees episodes of the cartoon play as you flail like a loon.Our first problem with this is that ‘interactive’ bit in the title. It’s not really true. Most of the time you’re stood watching an episode unfold, when you’ll suddenly be asked to grab at something on-screen. First one to move their arms when it appears wins the points. It’s not really interacting, and the more these lackluster mini-games go…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015THE HOUSES OF XBOXTEROSSPENCER"Q4 is coming"The hand of the king to Xbox One's unruLy monarch, Spencer keeps his master's house in order, makes the tough decisions and dipLomatically reaches out to third-party kingdoms to procure exclusive trade. Spoilers if you haven't read the first book: he gets his head cut off at E3 2015. Brutal.CROFT"Hear me whimper"Meirto an ancient family, Lara Croft drove away former allies by signing an exclusivity treaty with a sworn enemy. Not that she can't defend herself - she learned at young age to stick them with the pointy end. 'Them' being endangered species, that is, and 'the pointy end' being more of a 'bazooka'.DARK SOULS"Prepare to die"They say "Vaiar morghulis" - ali men must die. in DarkSouls they say "Vaiar morghulis vo morghot vo morghot, bai mit 'ay…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015FAR CRY 4PUBLISHER UBISOFT / DEVELOPER UBISOFT MONTREAL / FORMAT XBOX ONE / ORIGINAL SCORE 8/10REVIEWERPaul TaylorLIVE Paulus McT @mynameisptWE SAIDIt’s the fun you make for yourself that makes Far Cry 4. It’ll give you the biggest thrills of the year.Far Cry 4 is really a tale of four quarters. There’s the boisterous, familiarbut-wonderful singleplayer, a co-op option that squashes progression in the campaign for out-right fun, the asymmetrical competitive multiplayer, and a map editor.Let’s point out the obvious: Far Cry 4 is never going to compete with Call of Duty or Battlefield for multiplayer eyeballs, and its competitive multiplayer options are skinny at very best.We’re looking at three modes, 10 maps, and two of those modes have about as much going on in them as a Friday night in Wyoming. The…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015FORZA HORIZON 2: STORM ISLANDFORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONE / REVIEWER PAUL TAYLOR / PRICE $19.99It feels a bit Jurassic Park. A secret island that’s frequently assaulted by pounding rain and winds, where the trees tip sideways almost as much as a Rally Raid Ford Ranger that’s stomping over a fence made out of neon-colored barrels. Okay, it feels a lot Jurassic Park.Forza Horizon 2 was all about beauty, its rendition of Italy and France a thrilling and glorious display of rolling hills blanketed by vineyards, stucco buildings and poppy fields. Isola Della Tempesta is a little more dramatic and brooding. Sure, there are rolling hills, but there’s a lot more dirt and gravel with the odd stretch of tarmac, and it’s usually very, very wet as you barrel across – well, through –…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015PANDORA’S BOXXBOX ONE TIPS#01 SNAP A VINELoad delays remain a sporadic irritation on this side of the next-gen warp jump. But you can now snap six-second Vine videos to gameplay while you wait. New to Vine? Think dogs eating bubbles, people slapping each other in time to Beyoncé tunes and young lads singing at cake.#02 USE TWITTER TO SEE WHAT’S TRENDING ON TVThe OneGuide isn’t just a satellite TV-style channel hub – it now lets you see which shows are trending on Twitter, and among users in your region. You can catch real-time tweets about those shows via the MiniGuide, and weigh in using the appropriate hashtag. You can also browse the most popular on-demand movies – click one to automatically switch to a supporting media provider.#03 CALL FOR PIZZACurrently only…5 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015#40 DIG UP A FEW CULT HITSCHARIOT($14.95, Xbox Store)Throwing your pa’s corpse into a trolley and using it as a counterweight during physics puzzles might not be respectful, but it makes for an entertaining platformer. Playing alone or with a friend, you’ll haul the coffin through jungles and caverns while Daddy Dearest complains in spectral form.RYSE: SON OF ROME($59.99, Xbox Store)Ancient Rome gave the world poetry, central heating and a road network, but all Crytek cares about is making arms and legs fly off like punctured balloons. Forgive the microtransactions and turret sequences, and the clangy combat should hold your interest.THE GOLF CLUB($34.99, Xbox Store)If you’ve never played a golf game before, don’t worry – The Golf Club is basically all of them, multiplied by infinity. Its big trick is a procedural course generator, backed up…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2Dave Rudden is playing…LOVING Tackling an old fave in a new way HATING That none of my friends will ever knowMy affection lessens with each new Geometry Wars game that passes, and I think I’ve realised why; leaderboard clutter. The original had just two, and the sequel had six. Geometry Wars 3 (reviewed on page 67) has a whopping 50. It’s lost focus and I’ve lost direction. Whereas my friend Craig and I would regularly trade bragging rights on the original threadbare leaderboards, we’re now so spoiled for choice that the chances of us even replaying the same stage seem remote.In my quest to regain a sense of purpose, I recently revisited Geometry Wars 2. After a quixotic attempt to solve the Sequence mode, I happened upon my old nemesis,…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015OutRun 2THE OXM REPLAYRevisiting the resolutionally-challengedDETAILSDev AM2/Sumo DigitalPub Microsoft ReleasedOct 2004Scored 8.5/10Where better to start with OutRun 2 than the evocative words from one of its in-game songs? “Everything a surprise /Your beautiful machine never slows/Never stops/This was really neat!”Hang on – that’s actually absolutely terrible. I completely forgot that OutRun 2’s song lyrics are silly enough to make your eardrums clamber out of your ears and dive onto the mute button themselves. Let’s do better.OutRun 2 is a great big exclamation mark of a racing game that’s as pure a reimagining of Yu Suzuki’s 1986 original as it’s possible to imagine. It’s got its daddy’s big blue skies, and the same dedication to speed, sights, silliness, and samba. It’s not even a racing game really: just a drive from A…4 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Meet the… OXM CONTRIBUTORSAlex DaleDeputy editorLive ChocoboofdoomTwitter @sporadicdalerAlex was so won over by Geometry Wars’ spherical playing fields that he now won’t deal with anything in ‘tedious’ 2D. Production editor Emma had a fit when he submitted his MGS preview printed on a 3D pyramid.Emma DaviesProduction editorLive OXM EmmaTwitter @emceteraAs OXM’s go-to gal for quality control, Emma made it her new year’s resolution not to allow a single mistake to make it into the magazine. With four peerless pages already under her belt, she’s really off to a storming stort. Oh dear.Kate GrayStaff WriterLive OXM KateTwitter @hownottodrawWe wonder if Dragon Age’s romances are taking their toll on Kate – the other day we saw her flirting with the office photocopier. Needless to say, that three-meter man-bull picked a terrible week to come in…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015SOULED OUTTelltale working on Minecraft: Story ModeContinuing its mission to mutate every series in the world into a morals-powered branching yarn, Telltale Games is partnering with Mojang on Minecraft: Story Mode. Steve will remember that.Debate will rage endlessly about the true quality of Dark Souls II. Is it a masterful refinement of the sickeningly well-constructed original? Is it an imperfect fake, the gaming equivalent of those suspiciously cheap bottles of ‘Chalen’ perfume? Is it, in fact, a critique of sequels in general, and meant to be a bit dull by design?This is the fate of the sequel to a classic – it needs to prove itself not only on its own merits, but the merits of what came before. Like a professional footballer’s child, it lives in the flickering glare of…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINEPUBLISHER BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEVELOPER ZENIMAX ONLINE STUDIOS / FORMAT XBOX ONE / ETA 2015FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICEYou will now be killed on sight by the law.It’s still not out?Er, no. But it’s coming! Eventually. Game director Matt Firor stated in his developer blog that the team is “continuing work on the console versions” but there’s “still some work to do”. Don’t camp outside the store just yet. Considering it hit PC in April 2014, and the original Xbox One release date was set for June, this hasn’t gone down too well.I’m beginning to wonder if it’s even worth it.Well, by the sounds of it, ZeniMax just wants to make sure it fixes all the bugs and stability issues. The PC version has been plagued by difficulties, but November’s 1.5.2 patch…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015The Annotated… Metal Gear OnlineNow this is how co-op should be done… hope other games catch on.Jensen StilesStop complaining guys, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence had multiplayer and it was amazing.Rafael LucasSnake has a tiny smile.Gideon Turner“Gonna kill this guy but first, let me take a selfie!”Edgar ZamoraIt’s Metal Gear Online. Do you [‘guys’ – antihostility editor] even know how fun and amazing the multiplayer on MGS games has been in the past? For [‘goodness’] sake.Aaron JacksonAdded honey badgers still can’t overcome an insistence on meh story/leads.Muppetman51 on both the good and the bad of Far Cry 4I would also like to see Watch Dogs 2 in London. It has one of the highest numbers of surveillance cameras in the world…Preacher09 wants to hack Big Ben500GB is also nowhere near enough for my “pictures”…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Ori and the Blind ForestPUBLISHER MICROSOFT STUDIOS / DEVELOPER MOON STUDIOS / FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONEEven now, after four years, I find myself playing Ori almost every day and still enjoy it so much.” Show-off. The rest of us have had to put up with a lengthy delay to Moon Studios’ console-exclusive debut. But, as director Thomas Mahler explains, Ori’s entire existence can be put down to the waiting game.“When I worked at Blizzard,” he explains, “we had a mantra that the game will be released when the developers spend more of their time playing it than they do developing it. To me, that’s the sign of a great game. For Ori, we spent years just polishing everything and ensuring that people just can’t put away the controller.”That lengthy development, undertaken totally in…6 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Metal Gear OnlinePUBLISHER KONAMI / DEVELOPER KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS / FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONEBluffer’s GuideOnline accompaniment to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which plays out like Rainbow Six with toy dogs and booby-trapped balloons.Looks like the Les Enfants Terribles project is up to its cloning shenanigans again. Our latest glimpse of The Phantom Pain shows around 16 Big Boss replicas, splintered into two factions, attempting to outflank one another using guile, gadgetry and – obviously – a stuffed toy wolf.It is, of course, Metal Gear Online – the follow-up to the short-lived but cult favorite of the same name on PS3, and it takes your standard team objective game types and gives them a Tactical Espionage Action twist.This means stealth and teamwork are more critical virtues than they might be…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015ON THE RADARPUBLISHER CAPCOM / DEVELOPER CAPCOM / FORMAT XBOX ONETo channel the foolish spirit of Resident Evil 1’s cast: What is it? The sequel to Xbox 360’s Resident Evil Revelations! What is it? An episodic series running every week for four weeks, starting mid-February! What is it? Er, a survival horror game, featuring old favorites Claire Redfield – the game’s protagonist – and serial line-fluffer Barry Burton!It looks stylish and atmospheric, focusing on the relationship between Barry and his daughter, Moira, who works with Claire to de-zombify the dank holes they find themselves in. You can switch from Claire to Moira at any point, though Claire’s got the big guns – literally and figuratively, as Moira’s only packing a torch and a crowbar. Claire, on the other hand, has a pistol,…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Hazelight ProjectPUBLISHER EA / DEVELOPER HAZELIGHT STUDIOS FORMAT XBOX ONEHazelight, a new studio built by some of the team behind the gorgeous Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, announced its formation at The Game Awards, with an enigmatic teaser for its debut venture.The team is a month into the new, untitled project, expected to take two years. Writer-director Josef Fares kept it vague in the trailer, but gave us a little insight into the setting. Two men shelter in a boxcar, with the full moon in the background. And, well, that’s it. It’s probably going to be tonally similar to Brothers, and the studio’s website promises to “push the boundaries for interactive storytelling and engaging emotional experiences”. I got three words for you: secret third brother. Oh yeah.ETA TBA…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST MOMENTHONORABLE MENTIONSRodeo killing a Titan in Titanfall, revisiting the mansion in The Evil WithinUbisoft Montreal is a studio with a lot of talent in its ranks, but writing isn’t exactly one of its stronger suits. Take Far Cry 4 as an example: lead Ajay Ghale has all the charisma of a packet of Imodium tablets, and the game’s attempts at comic relief characters – here in the form of hapless stoners Yogi and Reggie – are some of the most heinous pieces of writing we’ve seen during our time on this Earth.But give the devil its due, the Far Cry series does a great line in bad guys. And Pagan Min – the pink suited, camp-as-Christmas ruler of Kyrat – doesn’t break with tradition.The flamboyant despot isn’t as straight-up menacing…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Matthew’s TOP 4 GAMES OF THE YEARThe Evil WithinIn terms of sheer, relentless pace, it’s about as close as a game has got to Resi 4 – and those gooey headshots are, literally, to die for.D4: Dark Dreams Don’t DieEpisodic constraints rein in the often tedious excess of Swery’s Deadly Premonition, giving us his unique brand of weird on tap.KalimbaI’m a big Nintendo fan, and this is one of the crispest platformers I’ve played outside of Mario. Shame the co-op destroyed all my friendships.Metal Gear Solid V: Ground ZeroesKojima’s sliver of sandbox stealth had me from the second I diveheadbutted a man off a cliff.INNOVATION MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDORThe Nemesis system put us in charge of our enemies’ fates – and careers – like never before. Having trouble with an orc? Level up another by letting…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST MUSICHONORABLE MENTIONSThrees!, Rayman LegendsYou can stuff the first-person view or the ability to stroll around town as a pig: the new-gen exclusive feature that convinced us to parachute back into San Andreas was the expanded soundtrack.162 new tunes across 17 radio stations spanning every genre – from punk to acid techno – are available for your listening pleasure during your homicidal rampages, including tracks by the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Lorde, Moloko, Kendrick Lamar and… well, we’re just aimlessly listing names now, but you get the idea. Add these tracks on top of the 100+ existing songs and the many hours of witty radio-presenter banter, and you’ve got an aural package that’s so generous it’s almost being sarcastic.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST XBOX 360 GAMEHONORABLE MENTIONSDark Souls II, Ultra Street FighterFor the purpose of this award, we disqualified any game that also appeared on Xbox One, because it would be weak sauce to give the award to Alien: Isolation or Far Cry 4 or some other glory hog like that, no matter how impressively they’ve been ported.With the crowd thinned, the choice was clear – Obsidian’s rib-tickling South Park RPG, which stands as testament to how onthe-mark a videogame tie-in can be, when a show’s creators muck in and get directly involved with the creative process. Inevitably,The Stick of Truth fell foul of international censors, but it managed to take this setback in its stride, offering a straight-laced text description of the offending scene over a facepalming European statue or a teary-eyed Aussie koala.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST MULTIPLAYERHONORABLE MENTIONSGeometry Wars III, ChariotThe Trials series is the ultimate in on-the-couch, pass-the-pad multiplayer – it’s as fun to watch your friends repeatedly pratfall against a steel girder as it is to hop on the bike and attempt to nail the perfect landing yourself.If a group of you fancy sharing the same ambulance, however, the four-way local multiplayer is certainly a thing of beauty. True, the camera angles become a bit of a problem when the pack begins to separate, but this isn’t a race that anyone’s meant to take at all seriously. This is old-fashioned multiplayer gaming, at its most absurd and riotous best. Emergency room trip for four, please.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015The CrewPUBLISHER UBISOFT / DEVELOPER IVORY TOWER FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWA little insight for you, readers: there’s no greater euphemism for ‘interesting but impotent’ than the word ‘ambitious’. See it in a review and you run/drive for the hills. The Crew is a textbook example of a really ambitious game. That word has a double edge to it, though, because it can also inspire hope. Ambition can pay off. Unfortunately, thanks to an arcade driving model that’s never less than frustrating, hope has little place in The Crew.The Crew is handicapped by its own scope and definitions. It’s a racing game that’s really an MMO RPG, but it’s an MMO RPG that’s crippled by the racing structure. It’s a racer with a vast, open…7 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015GEOMETRY WARS 3: DIMENSIONSPUBLISHER SIERRA / DEVELOPER LUCID GAMES / FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED)/ RELEASE DATE OUT NOWREVIEWERAlex DaleLive ChocoboOfDoom @SporadicDalerTHE KNOWLEDGEWHAT IS IT?Twin-stick arena shooter that sees you under siege from an army of fluorescent shapes.WHAT’S IT LIKE?Entrancing – once you’re in the zone you’ll find yourself pulling off moves you thought were beyond your reflexes.WHO’S IT FOR?Fans of shooters, duh. Also: fans of rubbing your eyes until shapes appear.As the tagline hints, Geometry Wars 3 can’t decide whether it’s 2D or not 2D. In the end, it manages to be both. Adventure mode is the main attraction – a succession of 50 very distinct score-attack challenges, each built around the established rules of the Geometry Wars universe.And that means you, in a fixed arena, being bombarded by wave after…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015SHAPE UPPUBLISHER UBISOFT / DEVELOPER UBISOFT MONTREAL FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWAmid the continued quest to marry videogames and exercise, it seems Ubisoft has finally stumbled across a winning formula. Titles such as UFC Trainer, Kinect Training and Ubi’s own Your Shape: Fitness Evolved take themselves too seriously. The impossibly toned coaches are more intimidating than aspirational, as they perform routines with perfect form – a stark contrast to you doing lunges while trying to avoid kicking the dog. Shape Up replaces conventional exercises in a bland space with fun arcade action.Ubisoft disguises the tough work well. Squat thrusts are taxing, but it’s exciting when you’re racing towards the Moon. Push-ups can be difficult, but when you’ve got virtual elephants on your back, it adds a competitive edge…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015LIMBOPUBLISHER PLAYDEAD / DEVELOPER PLAYDEAD / DOUBLE ELEVEN STUDIO / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWREVIEWEREMMA DAVIESLive OXM Emma @emceteraTHE KNOWLEDGEWHAT IS IT?Classic black-andwhite XBLA puzzler in which every step heralds death.WHAT’S IT LIKE?Tricky, tense and totally compelling.WHO’S IT FOR?Anyone who didn’t get around to playing it on Xbox 360.Stepping with a snap into bone-crunching bear traps. Being impaled by a jab from an outsized spider’s leg. Getting zapped by electrified surfaces, body ragdolling limply. These are just a few of the ways in which you’ll die in Limbo, an intriguing platform-puzzler in which everything is out to get you.You play as a young boy, silhouetted in black against a gorgeous grayscale 2D background. All you can do is start making your way through the forest you find…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015ON THE DOWNLOADLatest add-ons and indie games ratedHave you ever known an expansion to make its game feel smaller than it did before? It sounds an impossible feat, akin to cooling your soup with a flamethrower, but alas that’s exactly what’s happened here.On paper, the new content sounds just fine, if disproportionately pricey. And appraised in isolation, a fair amount of it is. There are three new story missions, centred upon long-lost Guardian Eris’ campaign of vengeance against the Hive. Although fairly slight, the last one in particular scales up rather well to create a ferocious challenge at higher difficulties. The same is the case for new Strike mission, the Will of Crota, a blistering rampage of strategic assault that demands tight team tactics throughout. Lovely stuff.The endgame showpiece is the new…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015LEGO BATMAN 3 LEVEL PACKSFORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONE / REVIEWER MATTHEW CASTLE / PRICE $2.99 A PACKWith its 150-strong cast of characters, Lego Batman 3 wasn’t gasping for DLC . It was arguably over-crammed with DC lore, blurring distinct characters into a mass of lycra and samey powers. The three add-ons avoid the bloat by offering self-contained scenes: the lorry hijack in The Dark Knight, Man of Steel’s prologue and a skit about the Joker throwing Batman a 75th anniversary bash. Sold as ‘whole new levels’ they are much shorter than the real things, taking ten minutes to beat and a quick freeplay repeat to mop up any leftover trinkets.What they lack in longevity they make up for in laughs, with Traveller’s Tales reminding us of its keen eye for parody – something…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015DOWNLOAD THE BEST FREEBIESWARFRAMESpace shooting along with your palsReleasing this on Xbox One alongside Destiny seemed utter madness at the time, but Digital Extremes’ parkour-prone cyborg ninja thingy actually benefits from the comparison. It offers as much as Destiny and more in terms of new classes, weapons and gadgets.XBOX FITNESSWorking out without the gym membershipYou may have heard of this exotic new game, ‘exercise’, in which muscles in your arms and legs stand in for those of a videogame character. Far-fetched, right? Sumo Digital has put together a tutorial in the shape of Xbox Fitness, free with Xbox Gold. You’ll get access to one routine, allowing you to level up the ol’ chest pump.KILLER INSTINCTScrapping with the very best of themDouble Helix’s restoration of Rare’s cult fighter is still the best free-to-play game…4 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Recreation theoryOXM INVESTIGATESUncovering the other side of Xbox gamingCynics would have it that Team Dakota’s ‘digital canvas’ is great for making games, as long as they look and sound and play like Fable. Nonsense. Well, okay, it is great for making those, since the default fantasy skin set is the only one you don’t have to shell out extra for, but that’s nothing a little ingenuity can’t get around. Though there are some great original efforts around, it should come as no surprise that remakes dominate the community creations. Here are seven examples that showcase the surprising versatility of Project Spark’s world-builder.The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimTitle: Skyrim Reborn v.01Creator: GamerX420It goes without saying that this remake doesn’t match the scale of Bethesda’s sandbox sprawl, but is decent at capturing the freeform…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Fantasia: Music EvolvedChris Schilling is playingLOVING Playing for fun HATING Playing for high scoresHollaaaaaaaaaaaa!” The very best music games make you feel like you’re contributing to the song you’re playing. Fantasia’s approach is slightly different to the norm: you’re half-dancing, half-conducting, swiping and thrusting your arms to hit markers. It feels a bit like semaphore. But Harmonix knows how to connect player to music, so somehow it just works.So as I’m flapping clumsily along to Missy Elliot’s Get Ur Freak On, when the aforementioned shout goes up, it’s the most natural thing in the world to stretch out both arms in a victorious V to hit the two cues at the top corners of the screen. It’s one of my favorite gaming moments of the past few years.Almost as thrilling is the…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Wolfenstein: The New OrderMachine Games revisits…NOW PLAYINGThe games we’re still going back to, and whyThere’s nothing more relaxing of an evening than curling up by the fire with a nice hot cup of cocoa, quiet except for the noise of jazz crackling away on the record player, and the visceral sound of Nazis being shot in the head. We caught up with Wolfenstein: The New Order creative director Jens Matthies to find out about Inglourious Basterds, the subtleties of evil and why it’s good to go OTT.You’ve got one of the best console shooters on new-gen consoles – how does that reflect on you within [parent company] Bethesda? Do you now have more control, or do you have more freedom with what you do next?I think with Bethesda, it already gives us so…6 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015From the OXM MUSEUMIssue 118 / Date January 2011 / Cover BulletstormJanuary issues are always the most fun. You can practically smell the hangovers wafting from the page as the bleary-eyed, confetti-strewn team photos glare out through the glossy paper.//You can practically smell the hangovers from the pages//It’s a nice surprise to find bizarro-biblical game El Shaddai within the depths of the magazine – a cult favorite among OXM writers for its stylistically insane and “phantasmagorical” visuals that twist the Old Testament into something beyond explanation.And if you love being baffled, you’ll adore page 25 – a weird wall of text seemingly written by an MRA type about how to attract women. It’s… uh… terrifying, but apparently it helped a “5’7” loser from Texas” get a permanent “adventure partner”. Good for you, Texas…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015THIS MONTH: HOW TO SCARE THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF GAMERS1 Get into a horror headspaceYou have to put yourself into a different headspace when working on each element, more than in a ‘standard’ game – horror is a genre where the experience can be ruined by inattention. Horror games rely on keeping the audience captivated, and if music, pacing, audio or challenge aren’t just right, it can spoil the whole thing.2 Spin a killer yarn…You’ve been killed in a break-in and you find yourself in a wasteland filled with strange people and hideous monsters. The man who killed you is in this world as well, so your only hope to escape the nightmare is to track him down.3…but don’t give too much awayI don’t want to say too much because discovery is a big part of the experience. I’ll…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015HOW TO SPEAK DEVELOPER“We’ve really tried to honor the sacrifices of our servicemen…”…by creating this bellicose, borderlineracist military fantasy in which you mow down thousands of foreigners, while fist-bumping your bandana’d gun-bros and leaping between helicopters as they explode in slow-mo.“We’re really trying to focus on the community.”Everyone outside our dedicated forum is going to hoof this game right in the happy sack.“We want to stay true to everything the fans love, while moving the series forward.”Dear Caterwauling Fans To Whom We Are Sadly Beholden, please allow us the meagerest space for creative autonomy. Thanks.“None of this is going to be printed is it?”Don’t make me call the PR in here.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX SIEGEPUBLISHER UBISOFT / DEVELOPER UBISOFT MONTREAL / FORMAT XBOX ONE / ETA 2015A new Clancy game? I assume lots of shooting.That kind of depends what kind of player you are or, indeed, what side you find yourself on in this counter-terrorist vs hostage-takers face-off. Going in guns blazing is one (poor) solution, but so is manipulating next-gen destructible environments (drop through the ceiling!) or, as revealed in a recent developer blog, using next-generation leaning.But what does that even mean?As the brilliantly named Chase Straight explained in his regular dev blog, Rainbow Six Siege will let you lean out – even if you’re not actually behind anything – to get a better angle on things, although when performed out in the open it looks a bit like you’re trying to get…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015MessagesCONTACT US f facebook.com/oxmonline t @oxm e oxm@futurenet.com w totalxbox.com yt youtube.com/officialxboxmagResolutions for 2015? Ours are to successfully manage a half-hour in Resident Evil Revelations 2 without being reduced to tears of terror, to contain our bubbling excitement for Halo 5: Guardians and… oh yeah, read and respond to your missives of love, hate and ‘you were so wrong about X’! We’d best get cracking…Assassin’s greedYour reviews and recommendations have never steered me wrong… until now. Reading your review of Assassin’s Creed Unitymy first thought was, ‘I wonder how much Ubisoft paid them for that?’You’ve completely glazed over all of the horrible problems it launched with. The amateurish framerate that detracted greatly from the beauty and the glitches that occasionally left you looking at a pair of floating eyes. I…4 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015FATAL ATTRACTIONStepping into NetherRealm Studios for the first time, we weren’t sure what to expect from the office that the notoriously violent Mortal Kombat series calls home. Water coolers that dispense blood? Interns staggering around with no arms? Keyboard wrist rests fashioned from freshly-severed spinal columns? As it turns out, and probably for the best, NeverRealm’s Chicago office is more functional than ostentatious, with nary a hint of blood splatter or brain matter decorating its clean hallways and cubicles. Only the trophies, plaques and merchandise samples on display hint that this is the building where the latest chapter in Mortal Kombat’s incredible legacy is being forged. This is a series, remember, that famously traded blows with Street Fighter in a high-profile scrap at the top of the fightinggame mountain two decades…12 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Adr1ftPUBLISHER 505 GAMES / DEVELOPER THREE ONE ZERO / FORMAT XBOX ONEBluffer’s GuideEssentially Gravity: The Videogame, Adr1ft is the first game from new studio Three One Zero, a team founded by former Microsoft creative director Adam Orth.The debut teaser trailer for Adr1ft isn’t easy watching. A single-shot, first-person journey through a wrecked spacecraft (the cause of the disaster is unclear), it follows the game’s protagonist as she desperately seeks an oxygen canister. Desperate because, as her suit keeps telling her, she only has a few seconds of air remaining before she dies.Halfway through the video, she swipes helplessly at a floating tube, only to send it spiraling away with clumsy fingers. It’s empty anyway, so no use even if she could control it. She drifts past useless debris, looking around…4 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Blues and BulletsEpisodic gaming. It’s popular right now. Popular like the last slug of rye from the last bottle in the last bar in town. Or like that time everyone bought yo-yos. It all started with a studio, Telltale Games. Old kids on the block with a new take on this Febreze-sprayed funeral suit of a medium we call games.Telltale set the scene. Or should that be the scenes? If we were going to be cynical – and we are, because this is hardboiled games criticism – we’d say that multi-part games are a cheap parlor trick, a way of taking a single, unfashionable point ’n’ click adventure and squeezing out interest by inserting cliffhangers. Gunshot – shocked face – is the dame dead? We hope not, because she hadn’t paid her…4 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015The Evil Within DLCThe game’s season pass grants access to two story-driven missions where you play as protagonist Sebastian Castellanos’ partner, Juli Kidman, and a third which has you as The Keeper (a dude with a safe on his head).The Evil Within’s extra content solves some of the mysteries of the main game – while creating new ones, like how you can see with a safe on your head? Tango compares the DLC to Chapter 5 of the main game in terms of horror, atmosphere and progression. That’s the bit with the invisible attackers, so the promise of new “unthinkable enemies and areas that reveal hidden motives and harrowing evil” gets our pulses racing. More harrowing than a man with a safe for a head? A terrifying prospect.ETA 2015…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015XBOX AWARDS 2014Come see FPSes stumble through speeches in the year’s most prestigious awards ceremonyThis hasn’t been a vintage year for gaming. That’s the narrative many critics have written for 2014, but is it true? Well, maybe, but there’s a boatload of caveats. While there have been no top-tier, era-defining killer games on the level of a Red Dead Redemption or a BioShock (remasters, such as Grand Theft Auto V, don’t count), it’s not fair to write off an entire 12 months of entertainment based on that alone.2014’s release schedule may have been top-light, but it played host to a glut of strong, confident supporting acts as developers made the leap from Xbox 360 to Xbox One with ease. And considering that these transitional years between generations are sparse by their very…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST DEVELOPERHONORABLE MENTIONSBungie, Ubisoft MontrealTelltale has been a busy little bee this year. If it was an actual bee, it would have made enough honey to make Winnie the Pooh look like the Gluttony guy from Se7en. [Piglet will remember that.] But it isn’t – it’s a game studio, so it just made lots of lovely games for us to play.The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead on Xbox One, followed by the excellent (spoiler: award-winning!) Tales from the Borderlands and the diplomatically challenging Game of Thrones, all in one year. It’s no surprise Telltale has won Developer of the Year, because it’s not only prolific, it’s brilliant. Every one of those games has taken us on a rollercoaster ride packed with twists and cliffhangers to keep us coming back…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST WRITINGHONORABLE MENTIONSWolfenstein: TNO, South Park:The Stick of TruthWith Telltale Games, it’s quite difficult to properly wring any emotion out of the consequences of your actions, because most of the time you kinda knew what you were doing. Do you want to a) give him a hug, b) scold him gently or c) rip his face off? Oh dear! His face just got ripped off! What a shock.Tales from the Borderlands changed that. Not only were your choices able to elicit some kind of emotion from you, they were funny. Games are rubbish at funny, but not this time. Whether it was slapstick, buddy comedy or visual gags, TFTB kept the laughs rolling. If this is just the first episode, we’re incredibly excited about the next.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST SOUND DESIGNHONORABLE MENTIONSKalimba, The Evil WithinThe alien’s behaviour is too random, detractors say. How are you supposed to track the movements of a beast that spends ages staring at a wall, then suddenly sprints at you? Isn’t AI consistency everything in stealth?That’s a valid criticism from their vantage point. But then, their vantage point is the inside of a beaten-up locker. So how do you pin down the movements of a monster you can’t see? Answer: your ears. Through trial and error, you learn that each of the alien’s wails symbolizes whether it’s lost, or is all over, your scent. Attempting to pick these out over the creaking Sevastopol is an aural experience sure to keep your ears pricked.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015BEST INDIE GAMEHONORABLE MENTIONSGuacamelee, Volgarr the VikingCome for the simple distraction of a cute game; stay for the catchy music and the supremacy of the top score among your entire friends list. Threes! is delightfully easy to pick up, with no mechanic more complex than basic addition at its heart: 1 + 2 = 3, 6 + 6 =12, and so on. We’re pretty certain that even elementary-school kids could grasp it.But its appeal runs much deeper than its minimalist design suggests, and we encountered several occasions when we were trying to watch a movie or TV on Netflix with a sneaky game of Threes! snapped to the side, but we ended up neglecting poor Dexter’s murdersome adventures in favour of focusing our attention on giggling digits. Oh, sorry, who was the…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Kate's TOP 4 GAMES OF THE YEARDragon Age: InquisitionI love a good RPG romp, and this doesn’t disappoint – twists, dilemmas and sexy men abound.Tales From the BorderlandsIf it carries on in the same hilarious vein, this silly and incredibly fun series could be Telltale’s best ever.Assassin’s Creed UnityA wonderfully realized version of Paris that had me exclaiming ‘sacré bleu!’ more than I’d care to admit.KalimbaA last-minute entry but no less deserving than the rest, it blew me away with its addictive simplicity and gorgeously funky art style.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015KALIMBAPUBLISHER MICROSOFT STUDIOS / DEVELOPER PRESS PLAY / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWREVIEWERKATE GRAYLive OXM Kate @hownottodrawTHE KNOWLEDGEWhat is it?The rhythmiest non-rhythm game you’ll ever get your mitts on.WHAT’S IT LIKE?Juggling knives in one hand and babies in the other while going up the stairs.WHO’S IT FOR?Time-wasters, completionists, anyone who enjoys fun and YOU. Yes, you.This time could have been spent playing Destiny. I could have been glitching my way through historically confusing assassinations in Unity. Hell, I should have been taking care of my tangled web of flirt interactions in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Instead, I sat cross-legged in my bedroom at 11pm, eyes lit up with the pallid glow of the TV screen, promising myself that this was definitely the last time I’d attempt this level,…5 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015LARA CROFT AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRISPUBLISHER SQUARE ENIX / DEVELOPER CRYSTAL DYNAMICS FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOWREVIEWERMatthew CastleLive OXM Pesto @mrbasil_pestoTHE KNOWLEDGEWHAT IS IT?Tomb Raider hit by a shrink ray and turned into a run-and-gun arcade rampage.WHAT’S IT LIKE?The posh, animalslaying Croft of old, as performed by a cast of fleas.WHO’S IT FOR?Lone wolves (despite what it says on the packaging).Featuring puzzles designed to scale for multiple players, this isometric action romp begs to be played in co-op. The catch? It’s best when your friends are dead. Play alone and buddies that could pad out a party appear as canopic jars, organ-filled urns that mark where they died in their own game. Finding a spike pit littered with jars lends the room a frisson of risk.Crystal Dynamics muddles the co-op formula that…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015GTA ONLINEPUBLISHER 2K GAMES / DEVELOPER ROCKSTAR NORTH / FORMAT XBOX ONE / ORIGINAL SCORE 10/10REVIEWERRichard Stanton Live Robot Hemingway @richstantonWE SAIDSo good you can’t believe it: like a CG trailer of what the highest level of fun might look like.There are moments in Grand Theft Auto Online where, without even realizing it, you stop playing and just watch. In one mission a friend and I were trying to take down some thugs exchanging ‘merchandise’ in a dry riverbed. It kicked off, my buddy kicked the bucket and respawned a short distance away, leaving me pinned down by 20 gangsters.I shouted over comms for him to get back, panicking we were going to lose the score. Twenty seconds later his 4x4 flew down from the road above them and slammed into…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015ALSO RELEASED1 D4 - RÉPUBLIQUE CLOTHING SETWe’d love to hear the pitch that apparently sold this as a fantastic and not at all nonsensical partnership.Price: FREE2 Minecraft -Festive mashupYou know it’s Christmas when Santa’s chasing after you with a pickaxe. Shouldn’t have been such a naughty boy.Price: $2.993 SHADOW OF MORD OR – FLAME OF ANOR RUNEMakes your sword all flamey. Also, it’s a thing Gandalf says in The Lord of the Rings! References.Price: $0.994 ROCKSMITH 2014 – RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE SONG PACKThere are two song packs to choose from – but this is the one with Killing in the Name, so that’s that sorted.Price: $7.995 FORZA HORIZON 2 – NAPA CHASSIS PACKFive new cars, all very shiny and pristine – until you drive them through a vineyard and crash…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Indie RoundupDATE THE BOSSIn which your interviewer quizzes you on trivia, then suggests you seal the deal by buying her gifts.BILLY’S JOBKick keyboards onto a conveyor belt while avoiding the attentions of a predatory baldie. Awful.BOOT HILL HEROESRootin’ tootin’ retro RPG inspired by the likes of Earthbound and set in the Wild West. Well worth a look.ONE NIGHT, TWO CR AZIESKeep track of home intruders using CCTV cameras. The ‘gotcha!’ moment will cause a few shrieks.NEVERENDING GAMEIt may be infinite, but this score attack game is too fast-paced and random to hold attention for long.…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015#29 BUY FLASH ADD-ONSALL-IN-ONE MEDIA KEYBOARD($39.99, Microsoft Store)If thrashing out tweets via SmartGlass or a controller is too much bother, consider this sleek devil, which comes with a dinky wireless transmitter for Xbox One’s USB socket. Bear in mind that at the time of writing, the trackpad doesn’t work with the console – Microsoft may update Xbox One to support this down the line.XBOX ONE KINECT TV MOUNT($19.99, Microsoft)Rather than balancing that expensive, brainy sensor atop your wafer-thin HDTV, you might consider placing it on this no-frills mount, which clips securely to the edge of the screen. The sensor is screwed into place, so you don’t need to worry about backhanding it while sweeping your hands across the dashboard like a rubbish street magician.SQUIDGRIP CONTROLLER ACCESSORY($14.90, Amazon)This isn’t quite as exciting as it…5 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015The Evil WithinJon Denton is playingNOW PLAYINGThe games we’re still going back to, and whyLOVING THE ATMOSPHERE AND MULTI-LAYERED GENRE REFERENCESHATING THE CRAPPY FRAMERATEShinji Mikami and I are kindred spirits. And it’s not just because we both have a predisposition for wearing awesome hats. I know little about the man beyond his professional career, but his work as a game director has colored the past 17 years of my life, ticking every box I never knew I’d even drawn.The Evil Within is, according to the man himself, his last game as director – and as such, it draws on all of his experience. This is the man who created ‘survival horror’, and The Evil Within demonstrates just what that genre is, why it’s so powerful and how nobody else out there is…3 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Game of ThronesEmma Davies is playingLOVING Seeing The Wall for myself HATING Actually being expected to fightTelltale’s inaugural Game of Thrones episode may not have been quite the big-hitter we’d been hoping for (see page 70), though it certainly sowed enough seeds of intrigue to be worth my while. But two hours of game is not enough for me, so what better to try than 2012’s much maligned action-RPG? Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize that HBO has spoiled me. I should have taken the hint when I paused for several minutes at the title screen, just to hum along to the theme tune.I wasn’t expecting to start with defending Blackwater Bay, but I was still taken aback by the stats. There are so many stats to set, before you really know what…2 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 2015Potted reviewPUBLISHER BETHESDA / DEVELOPER MACHINE GAMES / RELEASE DATE MAY 2014 / OXM SCORE 9/10Nazis are a classic shortcut. Put a Nazi in your game, and you’ve got a reason to shoot things without moral conflict. So quite why Machine Games has gone to such extraordinary lengths to make this Wolfenstein revival something bigger and more thoughtful is anyone’s guess. From the outset, it’s obvious that the scriptwriters are not just competent – they’re actually really good. We felt more for our squad of multicultural heroes in the opening 90 minutes than we managed for Lara Croft’s crewmates over the course of the whole game.The New Order addresses some problematic themes, and ducks predictable tropes. A conversation with a fellow resistance member briefly demolishes the good vs evil rhetoric. The…1 min
Official Xbox Magazine|March 1, 201514 ALTERNATIVE 2014 VIDEOGAME AWARDSTHE FINAL COUNTDOWN01 Biggest Letdown of a Title: Watch DogsA game about watching dogs? A game about dogs that can tell the time? The possibilities were endless. But no, apparently what the market was missing was a game about a guy who can do stuff while wearing an iconic hat.02 Worst Use of New-Gen: Grand Theft Auto VWe were having a great time punching people in first-person – and then we saw Trevor. No one should ever be subjected to an upscaled version of that face.03 Best Punch Bag – Disney Infinity 2.0The combat is so lumpy that we can’t recommend the actual in-game punching – but being able to dropkick the characters is a plus. The wonderful thing about Tiggers is… *PUNT*04 The ‘Don’t Look, Grandma!’ Award: Dragon Age:…3 min
