pcgamer may2013

8/22/2019 PCGamer MAY2013

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1 1 1 1.= 4 4 f tW O R L D E X C L U S I V E !H E W I T H E R 3I L D H U N Tigger and bloodierhan Skyr im!

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C O N T E N T S# 23 9 MAY2013M O N I T O R

SENDYour letters, o u r r e s p o n s e s

LEAD NEWSKi cks t a r t i ng T o r m e n t : T i d e s o f N u m e n e r aTHESPYWh at ' s t h a t abo u t Thief?lc SPECIALREPORTG a s P o w e r e d 's b an k r u p t cy s ca r e

P R E V IE W S20 W i ld s t a r26 Grid 228 E urop a U n iv ersa l is I V30 Air lan d32 C o m m a n d & C o n q u e r34R e d O r c h e s t r a 2 : R i s i n g S t o r mFEATURES

36Marvel Heroes42T h e W i t ch e r 3 : W i ld H u n t48 T h e P r i n c e t o n R e v ie w r a t e s t h e bestgame design schools i n Nor t h A m e r i c aR E V I E W S A free-to-play MMO by the designer ofD ia b l o I I ? W e ' ll a s s e m b l e fo r t h a t !62D e a d S p a c e 368 l m p i r e70 S k u l l s o f t h e S h o g u n72Alien s : Co lon ia l M arin es76 Dungeonland77Fieldrunners27710,000,00078 Anodyne79S o ni c & A l l -S ta r s R a c i ngT r a n s f o r m e d79Re tr o v i r u s 34 ED OR CHESTR A 2 :R IS ING STOR M

B r i n g a n u m b r e l l a : a u th e n t i c a n d u n f o r g i v in gWWII s h o o t i n g p u s h e s i n t o t h e Pa c i f ic f r o n t

D E A D S P A C E 3

4 2 THE W ITCHER 3 :W IL D H U N TGera l t ' s f i n a l gam e co u l d turn ou t t o be t h eb iggest a nd b e s t f a n t a sy RPG we 've eve r p l ayed

A _ GET THE R IGHT SSD

0EXTRA LIFE80 NOWPLAYINGEvan bat t l es S tarbucks-Man in C o u n t e r -S tr i k e : Gl o ba l Offe ns i ve84 TOPIODOWNLOADSGrab a F is t f u l o f G u n i n t he Wi ld Wes t o rh a r ass w an d e r i n g t r i b esmen i n Extinct88 UPDATERetu r n t o M o r r o w i nd with Overh aul 3 .090 REINSTALLW hy you s hou l d p l ay I m p e r i a li s m 2

The Hard StuffREVIEWW e t e s t t h e D i g i ta l S to r m Bo l t T i ta n


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Whatever choices you make, she'llstill have a head like a penis.

Trickery w henw etA s y ou c a n s e e b y m yp h o to , I w as ly i n g in m y b a t h r e ad i n g P CG a m e r w h en I w as s t r uck b y t h e

m e m o r y o f a p i e c e w r i t t e n i n a p r e v i o usedition about the stagnation ink e yb o a r d a n d m o u se d e s i g n .

I am typ i n g t h i s f r o m my b a t h us i n gm y W i nd ows P hone , a nd I f i n d i t h a r dt o b e l i e ve I a m t h e o n l y p e r s o n t h a tg e t s t h e u r g e t o G o o g l e w h i l e s o ak in g i nt h e tub . In f a c t , mo s t o f my W oWtactics, X C O M plans and C i v V dreamsh ave i n vo lved t h e tub .W h y d o n ' t c o m p a n i e s , i n s t e a d o ft h i n k in g " l e t 's m o ve t h e P C t o t h e l iv in gr o o m , " t h i n k ab o u t mo v in g i t t o t h eb a t h r o o m ? O r t h e p a t i o f o r w h e n I h a v ea B B Q , o r t h e c a r ? J u s t i m a g i n e b e i ngab l e t o d o yo u r W oW d a i l i e s w h i l es o m e o n e e l s e d r i v e s?S e e , i t' s n o t s o m u c h t h e s t a g na t i o no f p e r i p h e r a l d e s i g n a s th e s t a g na t i o nof garners themselves that stopsa d v a n c e m e n t . T h e r e f o r e I s e t y o u , t h eg a m i n g i n d u s tr y , t h e c h a l l e n g e o fm a k in g a w a t e r p r o o f k e y b o a r d a n dmouse before-

f i n i s h t h i s . My p h o n e f e l l i n t o t h e b a t h .S a d f a c e .Khristian RawlingsYou may possibly just have se en thereason. Electricity and water aren' tgood friends, and there are 10 0-240verygood reasons to keep themapart. Maybe try voice commandsinstead of physical ones; many peoplesing in the shower. You could conqueralien worlds with a few orders and adramatic tone, and a much lowerchance of Game Over ending with ascream and th e smell of frying bacon.PC G

They're still working thebugs out of Bath Effect.

P C G A M E R N E T W O R Kle t [email protected] pc gam e rfacebook .com/pcgamermagazinewww.pcgamer.com/ forumPC Gamer,4 0 0 0 Shore l ine Ct , Su i te 400South San Franci sco, CA 94080

Water vs. electricity, shaky shooters, and "will it play my old 78s?'"

s As I've recentlybegun full-timework, become thefiance to a beautifulwoman and starteda journalist blog, Ifind myself prettystretched for time todip into a good gamethese days! As oneof my favorite genresto play is adventure/RPG, you can see mydilemma!Isaac McIntoshAw, poor you. Heart =bleeding. Sad face.

M inor cosmet icdifferencesI 'm s ome t i me s r a t h e r s ur p r i s e dby your cho ice s fo r Game o f theYear, but any unexpected p icksa r e usua l ly wel l enoughex p l a i n ed t h a t I c a n un d e r s t a n dwh y yo u ch o s e t h em . B ut t h i syear? I can ' t even begin tou nde r s t a nd w hy Mass Effect 3,

i n a f i e l d f i l l e d w i t h c o m p e t i t io nf rom big publ ishe r s and smal lind ie de ve lopers a l ike , couldposs ib ly dese rve to be Gam e o fthe Year .I c o u l d a r gue t h a t T o m F r an c i sse t t ing as ide the e nd ing i s justdod ging i t s p rob lem s, but I r ea l lytake i ssue wi th the c l a im tha t"everyth ing I'd done w asre f l ec ted ." I l e t the Rachn iQueen l ive , my f r i end ki l l ed he r ,we go t t h e s am e m i s si o n . I c h o s et o h ave An d e r s o n b e co m eam bas s ad o r , m y f r i e n d kep tUdina , and we o n ly ever saws l igh t c o sm e t i c c h an ge s t o r e f l e c to u r c h o i c e s .I unde rs t and t ha t BioWareco u l d n ' t m a ke a gam e t h a t m ad ed r a s t ic c h an ge s f o r a ll th e

po ss ibi l i ti es , but I do n' t think PCG a m e r sh o u ld l aud a g am e f o rt h o s e c h an ge s wh en t h ey o n lya m o u n te d t o m i n o r c o s m e t icd i f f e r ences .G r e g P a r a u b e kIts not about the gam e beingdifferent for every player; butfeeling like it. Mass Effec t is theonly game of i ts i lk where yearsgo into those rom ances andreveals, and while the war assetssystem isn't exactly great, the factt ha t there a re a n y differencesdepending on, say, your responseto the Rachni threat back in2 0 0 7, ha s m o reof an impact than m any of i tsdetractors give it creditfin:It'sprecisely these sma ll changes,c a r r i e d o ve r f r o m o n e g a m e toanother, that make the whole epicfeel l ike i t 's your story as m uch asShepard's, even Oickingat itafterwards reveals the secretsbehind the curtain.P C GBoot 'em u pSinglep layer shoo te r s have r ea l lybeen m aking me sad l a t e ly . A tf irst I thought i t wa s just the C a l lof Duty a n d M edal ofHonor-typegam es t h a t we r e l e av i n g m eunsa t i s f ied , but a f t e r r e p layingo n e o f m y f avo ri t e s h o o t e r s , FarCry 2, I found t he ho r r ib l er ea l iza t ion tha t i t t oo was l eavingme f ee l i ng th e s ame way .I f one o f my f r i ends was sho tr i gh t n ex t t o m e , I'd d o a l o tm ore t h a n j us t hop on t o am a c h i n e g u n o r du c k b e h i nd abar r e l and wai t to ge t k i l l ed . I

s I recently read yourMann vs. Machinepiece about all kidscursing. But not me.I've been taughtahead of time and Iwill never be the foul-mouthed kid on XboxLive that your otherreaders hear. This, Ithink, is because ofmy early exposure tomemes. Some faithin humanity has beenrestored thanks tome! Your's truly...Dav idAp ostrophes don' twork that way. Tsk tsk.Kids today..s Your first issuewas thrust unsolicitedthrough the letterbox when anotherPC games magazineclosed. At first I wasstubborn, believingyou'd never be ableto match the witand banter I'd grownto love, but I finallyhave to admityou've won us overcompletely. Yourlatest issue is alwayswhisked from thedoor mat.C indyThose other gamemagazines ain ' t nuth in:Except all those weused to read too, and


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1 4 1 Matthew AneiroC ur r en t ly p l ay in g :Dw ar f F o r t ressBeing a f an o fBe the s da ' s TE S ser i esI n a m e d m y c h a r a c t er

T iber Sept im, and I was to be akn i gh t . S e tt i ng ou t a c r os s t h e da rk ,m o ody dungeon , T ibe r Sep t i m k i l le dm a n y c r it t e rs a n d h e a d e d a s d e e pi n t o i t a s he c o u l d . At t h e bo t t om o ft h e s t a i r s, h e f ound a sm a l l r oomwi t h a si ng l e wooden d oo r . U ponopen i ng t he d oo r , T i be r found just asma l l p assag e en d i n g i n a s t o n ewal l ; no way out . T iber Sept im wasfu r i oush ow cou l d t h i s be t h e e ndo f t h e d u n g eo n ?

In ange r , he k icked t he end o f thes t o n e p assag e , r evea l i n g a h i d d e ndoo r . B eh i nd i t , s om e s o r t o fh u man o i d . Th e c r e a tu r e th r ew aknife, striking Septim in t h e r i bc age .

Being a relativelynew gamer, I havebeen looking out fora decent PC gamingrig. Although theylook great, they arevery expensive: thecost of a decent rig isabout $2,000-4,000.That's way too muchfor someone not yetin high school, and itlooks like PC gamingwill only get costlier!T i m DNot at all! In the '90st ha t wa s sadly thecase, but these daysyou can get a perfectlyrespectable PC for theprice of a next-genconsole if you turn downthe graphics a notch.And just think about thesavings with F2P gamesa n d S t e a m s a l e s .. .

I s a w that youtook a little heat forthat Medal of Honor:War f igh ter review(January 2013), but Ithought it was spoton. Warf ighter misseda chance to showhow every victory isachieved only at a highcost exacted on allthe parties involved.Or, even stuck to themindless shooterexperience that thegenre is known for. Asa society though, wecan't allow ourselvesto rewrite out historyfor the sake ofsimplicity.T i m DAnd thank you, Lucas,for your service to ourcountry!

-47

AA,A "lyJOIN U

Fight alongside uson the P C G a m e rcommunity serversC S : S o u r c e75.102.38.129:27016Te a m F or t r e s s 28.17.251.163:27015A r m A 2 : O A75.102.38.3:2332G olde nEy e : Sour c e75102.39.88:27015

Our game servers arep r o v i d e d b y A r t o fW a r C e n t r a l , PCG'sstaff-approved

Y O U ' R E P L A Y I N G

me et t he same gr i sly fa t e . Theb land A I and t h e p i npo i n taccuracy shoo t i ng c rea t es anexper ience tha t ' s jus t too easy.T h e n I r em em b e r ed p l ayi ngthe fi rs t Brothers in Arm sprobab ly the most r eward ingsingleplayer sho oter I 've everplayed . The enem ies f igh tt oge the r , your a im wobblesrea l is t i ca l ly, and each hard-ea rned kil l i s immense lysat isfying. Could your e com m end any m o r e FP Sgam es l ike Brothers in Arms?J o n a t h a n WIts been aw hile s ince we wer ei m pres s ed b y a n F P S A I t ha tdidn'tf tel scr ipted. M aybe i t' stime to step up to something elsewhile the technology develops al it tle? For exam ple, RedOrchestra 2 m ight scratch asimilar terrified, hand-shakingitch to BiA, but with the bonus ofreal players to replace tired ALP C GAbou t my generationBeing a gam er o f t he o lde rgene ra t i on , I have man y happy

YouTube for videos of gam es tha tI loved but can ' t p lay on la terve rsions o f W indows .A few nights ago, one part iculargame sp rang t o mind H a r d w a r ,which I real ly enjoyed, butwouldn' t work on XP.I t was so good t o s e e t he gamea ga in , a n d t h e c o m me n t a ry w a sgrea tespec i a l ly when t he guysa id t ha t i t ran on Wm dows 7.With ba ted b rea th , I t r ied i t .Hurrah ! It actual ly worked!Now, I know tha t o lde r gam eslike Hardwar re no t a lways toeveryone's taste, but you shouldt ry i tyou'l l pro bably bede l i g h t ed . Now I have t he bug,I am go ing t o t ry a few more o fmy o ld game s on Windows 7 t osee i f they work too .Morbin

HJ. L FS o m e w h e r e i n h e r e is a game.

You ma y have t o sq u in t .

AA A

'

rum ors o f r e s t o r a t i ve powe r s .Maybe th i s was h is sa lva t ion. Butno! Sudden l y he was su r r ounded bysnakes! Wel l , he wo uldn ' t go downwi thout a f igh t . . .

I hope you we r en ' t expe c t ing asuccess ful con c lus ion for th i s s tory,for th is is Dwarf Fortress.

It's surprisingly easy to get m ostold games running. Virtualmachines for old Windowsversions will no longer make thea v e r a g e P C a y , a n d D O S B o xdoes a blazingjob on older titles.H a r d w a r was an interesting one.GOGalready has a couple(Gremlin games from thateramaybe i t ' l l join them.P CG

Steam heats up LinuxEven i f som e PC gainer s aren'tin to Linux, we should al l ap plaudValve's rece nt "Steam For LinuxCeleb ra t ion Sale . " I t h ink hav ingsom e r e a l c om pe t i t io n i n t h e O Sma rke t would bene f i t us ga rne rs(a l t hough I expe c t dea l i ng wi thdrivers wil l be a n ightm are) .Maybe I' ll d i t ch Wm dow s andjo in the g rowing Linuxbandwagon some day.GrimWhile the fracturingofPCgaming into multiple competingoperating.systems would certainlyintroduce a whole new set ofchtdlenges to garners anddevelopers alike, that's what PC

LTiber pul l ed out h i s e lvish daggera n d r u s h e d a t t h e h u m a n o i d .

He s t abbed i t r i gh t i n t h e he a r t a ki l l i ng blow, but one tha t s t i l l l e f tou r he r o su f f e r ing f r om a m o r t a lwound i n h i s own r i bs. He was ne a rde a t h wh en he f i n a l l y l ucked upon ad r i e d - up f o u n t a i n . H e h a d h e a r d


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"' Gamer Paladin D827- Inter CoreT" i5-3550 Processor Intel CoreT. i7 Processor-3770K799-3770769 Intel' CoreTMi7Processor-3770K859-3770839 Intel'Core i5Processor-3570K699-3570689-3550679 Inter Core i5Processor-3570K749-3570739-3550729GenuineWndows 864-BitEdition -GenuineWi ndows 864-Bit Edition4,Gigabyte' GA-Z77-HD3Motherboard TRUEUSB 3 0SATA3Gigabyte.G A -Z 77 -H D3MotherboardTRUEU58 3.0SATA3Azza Armor Gaming Case+300WCertified Power Supply - Corsair Memory8GB DDR3-16 00 NZXT Source 210 Gaming Case +500WCertified Power Supply NVIDIA' GeForce T "GT 610 1GB

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12/99

TormentreturnsT he Planescape: Tormentsuccessor confirmed back inJanuary has taken its firststeps out of the darkness andinto the light. Torment : T ideso f N u m e n e r a will be an isometric old-school RPG set in the Numenerauniverse, the latest creation of Planescapedesigner and prolific D&D writer MonteCook. Numenera is a science-fantasy

successful Kickstarter campaign last year.The initial announcement defines aT o r m e n t game a s "a game of complex andnuanced morality, deep and reactivechoice and consequence, and immersioninto a n e w and strange vision." Ratherthan secure the rights to directly follow upon the history of the Nameless One, then,developers inXile have chosen to stepsideways. Where the original game was

change the nature of a man?" Tides ofN u m e n e r a posits this as its core quandary:"What does one life matter?"

It sounds like the strictly singleplayercampaign will have a strong focus on yourrelationship with the members of yourpartybut there's a line of cynicismrunning through Torment ' s take onfriendship. "You will earn companionsalong the way, and discover their value,"the introduction reads. "Perhaps throughtheir strengths, perhaps more literally byselling them "

In place of the multiplanar universe ofthe original game, the new T o r me n t i s set

S p i r i tu a l se q u e l to t h e l e g e n d a r yPlanescape g e a r s up f o r a K i c k st a r te r c a m p a i g n


13/99

W i n n e r sG a b e N e w e l lThe Va lve founde r p i ck s up aBAFTA fel lowship.AA

Nicho la s Franci sThe Un i ty co - foun der qu i t s h i s comp any t oma k e game s u si ng Uni ty .AIrra t iona l GamesBoShock Infinite g o e s g o t d !N ow r e l e ase i t , p l e ase .

Chris and R ichManage t o l ose a f i v e v s t h r e e Data 2 tournamentm a t c h . T h e y w e r e t h e f i v e .Activ i s ionL a y o f f s a s t h e c o m p a n y m o v e s a w a y f r o ml i c e n s e d g a m e s .

G e a r b o xAliens: C olonial Marines f a l ls to l ive up toe x p e c t a t i o n s . A n y o n e ' s.

m r, 2 DaysIN I Slim Spent 1 John C Re i l ly MONITORBLUM 'S BMR E - C O N V E N E CELEBRATION OF ALLTHINGS BLIZZ ARD RETURNSm m Bl izza rd ' s s o r t -o f ann ua l conven t ion re turnson N ovem ber 8 -9 . "Sor t -of annua l" becauseth is year ' s Bl izzcon wil l be the f i rst in a whi leBl izzard sk ipped 2012. The conven t i on d r aws

Bl izza rd fans t he g lobe ove r , who comet oge t h e r i n a b ig h a l l i n Ca l i f o rn i a anddress up in cos tumes of varyingqua l i ty. Expec ted to be shown a r eaDiablo II/ expans ion , mul t i p l ee - s po r t s e v e n t s, a nd p e r h a p s ,perhaps, a f i r s t g l impse o f t he devs 'ne x t m a j o r p r o j e c t , c od e n a m e d T i t a n .

Tickets wil l be avai lable when Blizzardg ive the nod . R M

One day we will look back at this concar t and lau h. Perh sthat da is toda .

D E E P E R D U N G E O N SGRIMMER L E G E N D O F G R 1 M R O C KGETS A SEQUELL'71 Devs Almos t Human a r e work ing on aCa s t r a igh t seque l to the i r l auded dungeonc r awle r . Leg end ofGrimrock2wil l f e a tu re a m a j o re ng i n e u pda t e a n d v a s t a m ou n t s o f n e w s tuf f t odo . The seque l s ta r t ed l i f e as DLC fo r t h eo r i g in a l g a m e b e f o r e t h e s c o p e o fwha t t h e d e v e l op e r s wa n t e d t o d opushed i t i n to fu l l -b lownsuccessor territory. "A DLC wouldha v e l i m i t e d t o o m u c h wha t wecan d o ," t h ey say in a b l og po s ton t h e o f f i c i a l s i te :www.grimrock.net C T

H E A L T H B A RC H E C K I N G T H E G A M E S B I Z 'S P U L S E

successive civilizations over theaeons. People of the Ninth Worldlive among the rubble of all of thesecivilizations, attempting to make useof powerful artifacts left behind

The only character described sofar is a human capable of livingacross centuries in a succession ofbodiespipe down, P l a n e s c a p e :Torment fansbut it's not clearwhether or not this will be themain character. In any case, thesubstitution of space for time is aninteresting extrapolation of thethemes of the original game.

gearing up for a Kickstartercampaign, and the community hasbeen asked to suggest backer rewardsin advance Tellingly, the mostpopular option is to "minimizephysical rewards"cutting back oncloth maps and other knickknacksso that more resources can bepoured into the actual game.

Say what you like aboutKickstarter being powered bynostalgia: old-school RPG fansappear to have their prioritiesstraight. Find out more atunow.bitiy/pcg-torment. s


14/99

BUT WHO WATCHES THE SPY?

T he S py c a s t s nos h a d o w, e v e nbeneath themidday sun .

he Spy can't remember the last timehe felt surprise. You don't make it farin this business without knowingeveryth ing t ha t ' s going to happen before it jumps out

and kills youspeaking of which, The Spy advises thatyou skip any "beef" lasagne frozen dinners that might belingering in the freezer. No reason. No reason at all.

The Spy maintained his stony disposition throughoutthe PlayStation 4 reveal event. If the Spy has learned onething, it's that you can't trick a trickster. The PlayStation4 is actually a PC in disguise. The barrage of buzzwordsfrom smart-casual corporate types did little to foil TheSpy's ever-reliable execu-speak translator. The messagewas clear. "We've made a moderately powerful PC foryour living room, and now we can all stop pretendingthere are no games coming out this year.

Disguised as a floorboard on thenference stage, The Spy endured thesmell of expensive aftershave to get closeto the action. A series of drab consoleshooters and racing games made him itchfor swift extraction, but then indiewunderkind and Braid creator JonathanBlow took to the stage to show T heWitness. An eyebrow raised for a splitsecond. A twitch. Nothing more. A glanceconfirmed that Blow's neck bore no Sonycontrol chipThe Witness will still comet o PC. But what is Blow's island puzzle game actuallyabout? That mystery is beyond even The Spy's powers.

Where were the big guns? The Spy's network ofdrones reported sightings of Battlefield 4 a t a behind-closed-doors showing for Gamestop employees. No

11 1

doors are closed to The Spy. Or if they are, there'susually an air vent nearby. That's how he made his wayinto the depths of Sega HQ searching for intel onCompany of Heroes 2's new release date. He was flushedout before he got a concrete answer, but he expects it tobe summer. The same trick proved similarlyunsuccessful when infiltrating Deus Ex: HumanRevolution devs, Eidos Montreal. They know everythingthere is to know about air vent infiltration, which is whytheirs are filled with crabs. The Spy hadn't fought thismany crabs since the deadly seafood market job of '83, sohe resorted to a more subtle form of espionagesurfing the internet in his pants. Notes on someex-employee resumes mention a new title that will berevealed "within the upcoming months." A new titlefrom the holders of the Thief license? That's worthputting trousers on for.

Sometimes a secret snuggles silently behind layers ofsecurity, like the last rose of summer beneath layers offrost and an empty bag of chips. Others are screamedloudly from the rooftops by execs trying to gauge thatsecret's popularity ahead of an important publisher

pitch. So it was that Obsidian's CEO mentioned anidea for a new Star Wars game set between episodes 3and 4, an idea they'll be keen to ship to Star Wars' newmasters, Disney. Will it ever happen? Clouded, thefuture is.One thing that certainly won't be happening isObsidian's long-dead Aliens: Crucible game. Videossurfaced this month showing xenomorph animationpasses attributed to the project, which was originallypitched as a survival-horror RPG, but was canned bypublishers Sega for unknown reasons. Maybe theycanceled the wrong game, given the state of Gearbox'sAliens: Colonial Marines. Allegations and accusations arealready flying in the wake of its disappointing reception,some suggesting that Gearbox outsourced significantchunks of development to TimeGate studios. A sourceclaiming to be an ex-Gearbox developer went online todescribe C olonial Marines' six year development cycle as

"a total train wreck."The Spy has no need to allege or accuse. He has

access to an extensive armory of silent killingdevices. He feels that literal termination at the endof employment is best for everyone, although Valvedoesn't seem to agree. It has jettisoned off a numberof staff without even slightly murdering themThose let go were rumored to be working onhardware, but boss Gabe Newell has said thatValve "aren't canceling any projects."

The Spy would feel sorrow, but the neuronsgoverning feelings of pain and fear were burnedaway by the debut showing of Titanic back in '97.Buying that ticket was, perhaps, The Spy'sgreatest ever mistake, but for a man who feels no

AiA new title from theho lders of theThief license? 01


15/99

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18/99

eaae ort' 4 1 1 8 1 1 1

W i ld m a n envisioned a world where yourhero would battle sentient animal species.

T om says...It's crazy that agame a s br il l i an tasSupremeCommandercan' t just i fy i tsmid - r an g eb ud g e t un d e rt h e c u r r e n tpubl ish ingmod e l . I hope i t sde a l w i t hW a r g a m i nga l l ows GasP owe r e d t o

R u n n in g o u t o f G a sGas Powered's bankruptcy scare shows brutality of mid-budget game market0n Fe bruary 11, GasPo we r e d Ga me s dev e l ope r s o f DungeonS i e g e a n d SupremeCom m a nde r we r e fourdays f rom the en d . The Kicks ta r te rc a m p a ign f o r t h e i r a c t io n RPGWildman was st i l l $600,000 sho r t ofi t s t a rge t , and founde r Ch r is Taylo rhad m ade i t ve ry c l ea r : i f the gam ed idn ' t ge t th e fund ing, Gas PoweredGames was over .I t was a bizarre si tuat ion , and thef a c t t h a t i t h ad r e a ched t h a t d e spe r a tepo in t shocked a lo t o f p eop le , mysel fi n c lu ded . Dungeon Siege, SupremeCommand er and the i r sequels so ldwe l l m os t o f t h em o v e r a m i l l io ncop ies each . More r ecen t ly, GasP ower ed h ad h an d l ed t h e l aunch ando n go in g d e ve l o p me n t of Age ofEmpires Online. They'd since s toppe dwork on tha t game, bu t tha t was on ly

i f th e i r newly announced K icksta r te rpro ject wasn' t successful .How the he l l d id i t ge t so bad, soquickly, for a com pan y so successful?Chr is 's despera t e pos i t i on gave h ima r a r e chan ce to exp la in i t wi thou twor ry ing about pub l i sher r e l a t ions .And the answer was a l a rming ,because i t r evea led h ow bru ta l andunfa i r th e wor ld o f m id -budge tvideogam e developm ent r ea l ly is .Chris m ade it clear:if the gam e didn't getthe funding, GasPowered w as over .

Gas Powered never took onprojects as massive or expensiveas MMOs l ike Star Wars: The OldR e p u b l i c , or sprawl ing open wor ldgam es l ike Grand Theft Auto IV

budget was in the region of $11mil l ion , and i t s sequel a round h a l fth a t . Tha t ' s m one y they were p re t tysure the game would m ake back, bu ti n t h a t t ime be twe e n d e ve lo p m e n tand r e l ease peo p le ' s sa l a r i es need edpay ing . So whi l e Gas Powered w ast e chn i c a l l y an i nd epen den t com pany ,i t was d ependen t on o ne t h i ng :publ ishe r fund ing .If you nee d $11 mil l ion to m akeyour game, an d a pub l i sher th inks i t 'l lse l l sign i f i can t ly m ore than tha t wheni t 's relea sed, the y'l l g ive you thatm on ey i n adv ance i n r e tur n f o r ash a r e o f t h e p r o f i t s. T he p r ob l em i st h e s i ze an d t e r m s o f t h a t s h a r e . T hepub l i sher t akes every penny the gam ema kes unt i l t hey 've r ecouped ace r ta in am oun t , but tha t f igure i sn ' tth e i r in i t i a l inves tmen tthe exampleChris gives is five times th a t ."When you ge t a royal ty advance


19/99

Gas Powered's RPG Dungeon Siege .\1 1,' l l i

il .4!

Creature c o n c e p t s f o r c a n c e l e dKick s t a r t e r ro'ect W i ldman.

K I C K S T O P P E D Gas Powered's last-ditch Kickstarter campaignW i ldman Kickstarter ProjectSource: Kicktrao.com

to earn in royal t ies now. If you got a$1 mi l l i on advance , you now m ustpay back $5 mil l ion ."And tha t doesn ' t jus t me an theg a m e has to m ake $5 mi l l iono r $55mil l ion , i f your budget was $11m.Y ou have to cover tha t eno rmo us sumwi t h t h e s l im f r a c t i on o f t h e p r o f i t stha t you 'd be en t i t led to i f t he gamehad "e a r n ed ou t .""So i f the gam e sel ls for $59 or $50,t he r e ' s cos t o f good s, insurance,f r e igh t , r e turns , marke t ingthe y ca l li t MDF. Deduc t ion , deduc t ion ,dedu c t ion . T hen o f t h e p i e c e t h a t ' slef ttha t could be $30you get your20 percent . You get $6. And you haveto pay back advanc es with that $6."Under th is s tructure, of course,the publisher m akes al l of i tsinvestment bac k, pays for a l l o f i ts i n t e rna l co s t s, has a hea l thy prof i t ,a n d then t he de veloper wi l l ge t pa id . "With the num bers skewed sobru ta l ly aga ins t t he develop er , jus tbeing successful doesn' t get youanywhere . You need a mega h i ta CallofDuty, a G ra n d T h e f t A u t o . "We'vesh ipped m any t i tl es tha t have so ld amil l ion cop ies," Chris says, "and w ehave no t h ad a ro yal ty st r eam f romany o f t hose ."I t' s t he c l ass ic advanc es-aga ins t -royal t ies mo del , a l so used in ther eco rd ing ind ustry . And i t works, ina sense: Chr i s go t to ma ke a bunch o f

001 C hr i s Tay l o r annou nces t ha t GasP o w e r e d G a m e s w i l l c lo s e i fKicksta r te r f a i ls .

0R e l e a s e s v i d e o o f P r o j e c tMer cur y , a c oo l s e t o f t o o ls f o rm o d d i n g Wildman.

good gam es, and pay h is s t a f f whi l ethey d id i t . But a t t he en d o f eachpro j ec t , i f t he next on e i sn ' t l ined up,you're in t rouble.And even i f you have severa l on thec a r d s as G as Power ed d i d when i t swo r k on A ge of Empires ended-

2482Pro j ec t ed t o t a l i f t he K i ck s t a r t e rp r o j e c t h a d c o n t i n u e d :$600,000.Minimu m t a rge t f o r fu nd i ng o fWildman t o besuccess fu t :

$1.1 million.

th e re ' s a lways the ch ance tha t th ey ' l lf a l l th rough . F i f t e en yea rs unde r ap ub l is h i n g mo d e l t h a t d o e s n 't r e wa rdm o de r a t e succes s le f t t h e com pa nywi th very l i t t le s l ack, and tha t ' s howt h e y e n d e d up w i t h t h e wh o l ecom pan y h inging on on e ve ry r i skyK ic ks ta r t e r p r o j e c t .And i t fa i led . I t took 26 days toreac h $500k; there w as no wa y theextra $600k was go ing to a r r ivein the la st four days. But that 's notwhy C h r is c an ce l ed t h e c am pa ig n .H e a c c o m p a n i e d t h e a n n o u n c e m e n twith a v ideo exp la in in g tha t he was int a lks t h a t m ig h t l e ad t o an o t h e r wayto save Gas Powered, and they 'd go tf a r enough a lon g tha t th e Kicks ta r te rwas no l ong e r app r op r i a te .Three d ays l a t e r , we go t a c a l l f r omWargam ing .ne t ' s PR to t e l l us tha tthey 'd acquired Gas Powered . Th eWorld of Tanks dev e l ope r h a s no t on lyb ecom e i nd epe nden t , b ut a l s oma ssively succe ssful f rom i ts f ree-to-p lay t ac t i ca l shoo te r . And no w i t hasswooped in to save the developer o fS u p r e m e C o m m a n d e r .

G as Power ed G am es m ay nol ong e r b e an ind epe nden t com pany ,but i t 's st i l l here. And with a ny luck, i twon ' t have to go back to theadvances-aga ins t - royal t i es modelaga in in th e future .Wh e the r i t ' ll c on t i nu ed e ve l o p me n t o f Wildman, a n d h o wmuc h i n f lue n c e Wa rga min g w i l l

8260D ay sWildman p r o j e c t c a n c e l l e d .C h r i s m e n t i o n s s o m e p o s s ib l e"good n ews " .W a r g a m i n g . n e t acquires Gas'7Pow er ed Games .C hns w i l l

c o n t i n u e t o le a d t h e c o m p a n y .

$1.2m -$1 m

$800k$600k -$400k$200k

. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .


20/99

W I L D S T A RPLA YED IT Carbine Studios is trying to create your perfect second MMOI 'm standing at the edge of theDeradune hunting grounds with amillion things to do. I've been playingMMOs like WildStar for more than adecade but, while I'm capable of parsingthe approximate meaning of all of thebuttons and objectives presented to me, Ihave no idea what I should do first. I havetwo options: the first is to lean on myexperience of other games and progress byinches, ensuring that I don't drop off thecritical pathbut I've been there, anddone that. The other option is to startrunning for the horizon and see how wellthe game can keep pace. I start running.

Deradune is the starting area for theDraken, a race of horned beastmen whoform the militaristicvanguard of WikEtar'simperious Dominionfaction. The zone itselfis modeled on theAfrican savannah.Winding paths link

spaces and predators lurking in thetreeline. WildStar sits square on theboundary between science fiction andfantasyspaceships might populate theskyline of the game's single planet, Nexus,but on the ground swords are just ascommon as lasers. You're liable to findyourself battling a pack of ravening spacepanthers one moment and a circlingenemy gunship the next.M y other option is torun for the horizon andsee how w ell the gamecan keep p ace. I run.

The game has a bright, heavily stylizeddesign, with action-figure characters andlandscapes painted in broad, colorfulstrokes. Animations are exaggerated andimpactful, from the lolloping run of theDraken to the full-body coil thattelegraphs an incoming enemy attack.

which determines how I go about killingthings, I've also chosen a pathin thiscase, that of the soldierthat determineswhy. In WildStar, your path provides a seto f ex t r a o b j e c t i v es t h a t a r e av a i l ab l eexclusively to you and that shape thecourse you'll take on the way to the levelcap. Other paths include the scientist, whofocuses on analyzing monsters; and thesettler, who is encouraged to play socially.There's also the explorer, but I'll get to thatl a t e r .

Running through the town gates, I passa quest giver of the traditional sort. A littleway beyond her is a computer terminalthat dispenses an additional, path-specificmissionin this case, I'm given a pile ofgrenades and a mandate to test them onthe local monkey population. There's alsoa public quest in the area, asking players toplace any skulls they've looted on a trophypile in the center of town.

On the way to the first cluster ofmonkeys, I receive a phone call from a

R E A D M ED E V E L O P E RCarbine StudiosP U B L I S H E RNC S o f t


21/99

MONITORThe gam e w orks insm art w ays to ensuret h a t I d o n ' t m i s s o u t .There's a cartoonish edge to

WildStar'ssu ti setting. Zones are approached d i f ferent lyd e pe nd i ng o n y o u r pat h .

Poachers have set up camp inthe Deradune hunt ing grounds.

of the game bending to accommodate mymomentumwhile I'd probably havebeen better off approaching Deradunemore methodically, the game works insmart ways to ensure that I don't miss out.This isn't an accident: according toexecutive producer Jeremy Gaffney, theway that experienced MMO playersapproach content has been a majorinfluence on WikEtar's design.

"Most people have an MMO they playedand loved," Gaffney says. "But were theyable to teleport back to the MMO they soblissfully remember, would they really putup with the stuff they put up with the firsttime? I loved EverQuest, but I had to standin line for mobs. Would I be willing to putup with that now that I've played so manyother MMOs?"

The answeras evidenced by WildStar'sattitude to contentseems to be no:hence multiple progression paths, questsbranching from other quests and newthings to do at every turn.WildStar uses a traditional action barsetup for combat, with a number of

sweeping red semicircles or long cones.As a consequence, it's quite difficult to playon autopilot.My sword attacks range from direct

strikes to cleaves and whirling blows thatdamage every enemy around me. It doesn'ttake long to settle into a rhythm, initiatingwith area damage before following up witha precision coup de grace Maximizing theeffectiveness of your own attacks whileav o i d i n g d am age i s b as i c a l l y s a t i s fy in g i nthe manner of a brawlerevery time you"I loved EverQues t ,but I h ad to stand inl ine for m obs. W ould Ipu t up w ith that now?"dodge a would-be crippling blow, it feelslike you're beating the game on your ownterms. This is a strong basis for combat inan MMO."If we do our jobs right, you feel cleverwhen you find the combination that worksfor youand you feel super clever when

monster, but now I'm doing it in aminefieldthe best way used to be tododge backwards, now it's 'kick his arseinto a mine and watch him explode'!"

I use a combination of grenades andregular sword attacks to wipe out a fewmonkey camps and yet another missiontype pops upin this case, a challenge.Designed to keep players on their feet,challenges suddenly up the stakes, askingyou to wipe out a set number of enemycamps within a time limit in return for arandomized reward. While working onone of these challenges I realize that thereare multiple types of exclusive questsavailable to my chosen pathas a soldier,I'm also capable of tracking downassassination targets or triggering point-defense sequences out in the wilderness.Honestly, even with my determination toplay as free-spiritedly as possible, thissudden onrush of options is paralyzing.I asked Gaffney if he anticipated this."We fractured it out intentionally," heexplains. "What we do is fracture it untilit seems like too much, and then condense


22/99

A giant r ibcage . I 'm sure that 'snot hing to worry about .

W a t ch t h e round to find out whatan enem is about to do. Or look u

Raid bosses are presenteven in early zones.

too far and ratchet it back a notch thann ev e r t ak e a s t ep f o rw a rd . " By sp l i tt i n g t h el i f e o f a s i n g l e c h a r a c t e r i n t o d i s t in c tc h a n n e l s w i t h d i f f e r e n t p l a y s ty l e s a n drewards, the team at Carbine hopes to makethe experience of playing an MMORPGmore generous and consistently engagingthan it has traditionally been. This basicl e v e l o f m e c h a n i c a l c o m p l e x i ty un d e r s c o r e st h e w h o l e g a m e . A s a s o l d i e r , I 'v e o p t e d t of o c u s o n c o m b a t . W e r e I a s c ie n t i s t o r as e t tl e r , h o w e v e r , I m a y h a v e o t h e robjectives, or other reasons to be huntings p e c i f i c s p e c i e s i n D e r a d u n e ' s w i l d s ." W e l e t t h e p l a y e r s d o a s m u c h a s t h e y c a ns imul t a ne ous ly , " Ga f f ne y e xp l a i n s ,d e s c r i b i n g th e i d e a l b e h a v i o r o f a l a t e - ga m eWildStar p l a ye r a s a l a ye r c a ke o fcomplementary mechanics. "'I'm in them i d d l e o f k i c ki n g d u d e s in t o m i n e s w h i l e a tthe same time I'm scanning them andstudying them, and I'm unlocking andquesting and doing a timed challengeandI 'm d o i n g a l l o f t h i s s tu f f a t o n ce b e cau se I 'mawesome.' That's very powerful, and ift h e r e ' s a p r i n c i p l e t h a t i m p a c t s a l l o f o u rde s ign s , i t 's t h a t on e . "

i n t h i s ga m e s e s s io n ? D o y o u w a n tt o w o r k o n y o u r p a t h s t uf f , o r d o y o u w a n tto try to get through the main story arc?That dilettante style is something that Ip e r s o n a l l y f i n d f u n . "

Here, then is my mistake: WikIStarfurnishes the player with a vast amount ofoptions, but attempting to do all of thema t o n c e i s n 't t h e w a y t o p l a y . Yo u h a v e t ochoose. With this in mind I make a beelinefor another of my path missions, involvingsetting up and defending a piece of tech"W e let the players doas m uch as they cansimultaneously. . . that 'svery pow erful?'from onrushing hordes of space panthers.As I fend them off I'm joined by anotherplayer, a Draken stalker who uses stealth toset up high-damage burst attacks.

Players can pitch in with one another'smissions regardless of path, meaningyou're not wholly locked out of theseother parts of the game, giving people a

Intrigued to see just how much of adifference your choice of path makes, Iswitch characters. As a human spellslinger,the way I approach combat changessubstantiallyarmed with a pair of laserpistols I focus on kiting groups of enemiesinto position for a mixture of channeledand charged ranged attacks. As an explorer,my path-specific missions lead me intovery different situations to the ones I foundm y se l f i n a s a s o l d i e r .

The exploratory approach is intendedfor players who would otherwise spendtheir time pushing at the fringes of eachzone, trying to reach impassable areas.Deradune is dotted with tall, winding treesthat are only climbable by explorers. Everyzone will have a number of these jumpingpuzzles to complete, and finishing thewhole set earns you a reward. This is what Idid first, and as a consequence my initialimpressions of the explorer aren't greatfollowing an arrow to a jumping challengewith a fixed solution doesn't feel likeexploring, and as these challenges aresomething that have to be completed solothere's no room for ad-hoc socialization.

M O N I T O R


23/99

power to unlock a long network oftunnels that link diverse parts of the zone.Stumbling across a highlighted patch ofground can lead to a drop into a monster-infested cavern and a new set of questsbefore emerging back onto the surfaceor, in one case, onto a cliff-top routepatrolled by enemy aircraft. Explorers canalso unlock shortcuts for other players,which will be their chief contribution tosocial play. Nonetheless, I found the patha little lonely in the time I spent with it.

The fact that I enjoyed one path overanother isn't surprisingplayers are, afterall, expected to pick the play style thatsuits them, and I wouldn't necessarilychoose to play in this way in the finalgame. I asked Gaffney whether he wasconcerned that giving players such asignificant decision to make right at thestart could backfireparticularlyconsidering the trend in recent MMOstoward reducing the amount of choicesmade at character creation.

"There are a lot of babies that getthrown out with the bathwater, youknow?" He says. "You don't want a

saved you from dying? Thosebonds are weakened when youdon't care that someone savedyou. As designers we need toknow when pain can be fun, orwhen the pain makes thingsmeaningful and when removing itcan trivialize things."In this sense, then, mypreference for one path overanothereven my confusionwhen faced with an overwhelmingamount of different things todois a negative response thatthe developers are willing to risk ifit means giving players morefreedom to meaningfully outline theparameters of their own gameexperience. It's an old-schoolsentiment wrapped up in a gamewith a lot of new ideas, an obviousdevotion to the traditions of the genremixed up with a studied effort to dothings better.

"We're not aiming for the lapsedMMO crowd because of grand focusgroups and research," Gaffney tells me.

I ovely incidental detail abounds

Nexus's prev ious inhabi tantsweren' t a cheery bunch.


24/99

$ 1ameraAdmntstr ato A AC0Mess a gi n g

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G am er Infinity 8800 Pro SEHOnW

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I n t e r Co re ' ' i7 P rocesso r Ex t r em e Ed i t i on3970X 3 50Ghz23253930K 3 .20Ghz1845 $15453820 3.60Ghz1545 illy ^ r'iC O R E i7G a m er X t rem e 2 00 0

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In tel" Core" i7Processo r3770K 3.50Ghz $ 8793770 3.40Ghz453570K 3.40Ghz $ 7693570 3.30Ghz74 93470 3 1GGhz72 93220 3 30Ghz65 5 Windows 8Gigabyte GL- Z77-D3H Mainbo ard w / LSB 3.0 & SATA 6Cor s a i r 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz Dua l Channe l Mem or y1 T B S A T A II I 7200 RPM HD 32MB Cach eNvid ia" Gefo rce' GTX 650 1GB Video CardT h e r m a l t a k e C o m m a n d e r G a m i n g T o w e r C a s e 4 3 0 W a t t Po w e r I n t e r C o r e " i 7P r o c e s s o r3770K 3 50Ghz $ 11293770 3.40Ghz10953570K 3.40Ghz $ 10193570 3.30Ghz99 93470 3.10Ghz97 93220 3.30Ghz89 9 Windows 8Gigabyte GA-Z77-HD3 Intel Z77 Chipset MainboardC ors a i r 16 GB DDR 3 16 00 M hz Dua l C hanne l M emory2TB SATAIII 7200 RPM HD 64MB CacheN vid i a Ge fo r c e GTX 6 5 0T i 2GB Di r e c t X 11 V ideo C a rdCo o l e r M a s t e r HAF 912 Gaming To we r C a s e 6 0 0 W a t t P o w e rAsetekCooling SystemFromFan gbook X plorer-7 100

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Windows 71 6GB DDR3 PC1 3 3 3 M e m o r y240GB Inte l 520 SATA III 6.0Gb Hard Di i e14.1" Full HD 1366 x 768Inte r HD Graph ics 4000 Direc t XS u p p o r t I n te g r a t e d V i d e o1000/100/10 Netwo rk Ca rdF r e e Carrying Case

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APREVIEW


26/99

,Sponsorsh ip l e v e l s a n d c r o w d swill Increase as ou ro ress.

Grid 2 will include real locationssuch as Abu Dhabi and Paris. IF

Grid's "TrueFeer handlin man es thetransition between different race car types.

n o v e r t fo cu s o nn arr a t ive dr ives Grid 2 'ssingleplayer mode.P ' 1 .

Z Z Z , Z e ' j f 3 Z i l . 2 d MONITOR


27/99

."7/7, 7 / F 7 J , / e / 1 3 / 7Full of fan dro t rollerskates

There's more lens flare thana JJ. Abrams movie at times.

G R I D 2The strong narrative focus goes back

to Grid 's origins in the T O C A series.

FIRST LOOK The wo r l d 's ra c i ng m ach in es f a c e o f f i n Cod em as te r s ' l a t e stThere 's no way of knowing who'st h e g rea t es t r ac i ng d r ive r onear th . Motorspor t is spl inte redacross m ul tip le d iscip l ines, so th evast major i ty of dr ivers never go he ad toh e a d . I wasn ' t aware o f t h e p rob l em whenI ar r ived a t Codem as te rs ' head quar te rs tose e G ri d 2's s ingleplayer m ode , but ch iefgame designer Jame s Nichol ls has justshown e ve ryone he r e a n ESPN c l i p abou tt h e i s sue , and now I 'm ve ry conce rned .Would a ra l ly king beat an F1 cham p in aci ty-based st reet race i f the y were bothdr iving Japan ese m uscle ca rs? I have toknow. Luckily, Codem asters has a so lution .The Wo rld Racing Ser ies i s thei r f i c t ionalcham p ionsh i p . I t 's an i n t e rn a t i ona l c ro ss -d i sc i p l in e c omp e t i ti on ,and i t ' s a l so the foc a lp o i n t f o r Grid 2's story.Mult idisc ipl ine rac ingR E A D M E tournaments don'tjust rev into l ife f ullyma nufac tured, youknow, and Grid 2 is thes tory about the W SR'sr i s e t o p rominenc e as

much as i t ' s your own, as you' re h i reda t t h e ou t se t o f t h e game by ambi t iousen t r e p r eneu r James Ca l l a han t o b e com et h e pos t e r boy fo r h i s n ew cham p ionsh i p .This over t focus on narrat ive dr ives Grid2's s inglepla yer mod e, wi th progressionma rked in thicker r ings ide thron gs a tevents, bet t er sponsorship for racers, andexci table ema i ls f rom wea l thy slave dr iverCal laha n updat ing you on the s ta tus of theW o u l d a r a ll y k in g b e a ta n F l cha m p i n a c it y -b a s e d s t r e e t r a ced r i vi n g m u s c le c a r s ?WSR. But i t 's a lso a narra t ive custom bui l tfor var ie ty, as the dem os Codem asters havep repa red ma ke c lea r .Fi rst up is a Barcelon a s t reet race a t dusk.T h i s i s taken f rom an ea r ly po i n t i n t h eWSR's l i fespana nd as such the crowdsare re la t ively th in , sponso rship- l ight andt he ca r s a r e mere ly h igh - end ro ad veh i c l es ,such as the BMVVM3 Evo I'm driving.The ra c ing c lub I 'm t ry ing to dazzle

special izes in an aggressive form o fel imina t ion racing that sees dr ivers a t therear of the pack cul led every 20 seconds,and the resul ting race i s a ser ies of ha rd,ul tra-com bat ive scrums to be a s far towardt h e f ron t o f t h e p ack as poss ibl e each t imethe klaxon sounds.Then we swi t c h t o mo r e t r a d i t iona lEuropean motorspor ta race on Austr ia 'sRed Bul l Ring in l ightweight , formula carsthat could ha ve dr iven st ra ight out ofCod em aste rs ' Fl se r ies . Grid's h a n d l i n gmod e l man ages t h e t r ans it i on , however :i t en sures t h e open -whee l r ace ca r s f ee lgr ippy and d is t inc t . The dr i f ty , high-perform ance spor ts cars I t ry last are thes t a r s o f a Ch i cago -based r ace f rom t h eend o f t h e gam eas t h e h eav i ng c rowdsand sponso rsh i p a t t e s ts .Grid 2 i s a r ac i ng game w i t h ambi t ionsr ival ing that of Codies ' f ic t iona l BernieEcc l e st one . An a t t empt t o c omb inemul t ip l e r ac i ng d i sc i p l in es unde r onehood , t h e r e a r e f ew o t he r r ac i ng devs w i tht h e expe r i ence and t echn i ca l p ro f i c i ency t oeven a t t emp t t h e i d ea . sC r a i g O w e n s

D E V E L O P E RCodemastersP U B L I S H E RCodemasters

L I N Kwww.gridgame.com

M A Y 'fill" I


28/99

I nva de La pl a nd a ndpunish Sa nta .

&Invading France is hardwithout the Channel Tunnel.

( - ) 1 -11 ANNM a - m a - r o o -my G ir ona.

T11'NN t,E U R O P A U N I V E R S A L I S I VN E W IN F O Learn s f rom h is tory, do om s p layers to repe a t i t .G rand s t ra tegy games aren ' tcom plica ted ; you only th ink theyare. Sure, Europa Universalisencompasses economics ,diplo mac y and w ar over a 300-year per iod ,as seen f rom th e perspec t ives of 250dif feren t countr ies . But th inking you needto know wh at you're do in g in E U 1 V f romthe m om ent you begin p laying is l ikeexpec t i ng t o know the e nd o f a s t o ry f romt h e m om en t you s t a r t r e ad ing a book"Be ing in t imida t ed by th e mech an i cs c anstop you from seeing the story," saysThom as Johansson , p r o j ec t l e ad a tParado x Developm ent Studio . "If you goin to i t and th ink 'how d o I win th is game?',then you get s tuck. But you don ' t have tof igure out everyth inga t on ce . I f you ins teadgo in a nd th ink 'I'mgo ing t o p l ay mycountry, and m y goa lis only to be b iggert h an m y ne ighbo r ',then you're going tof igure o ut things asyou go a long."

The s tory is what 's imp or tan t . Do youwan t t o t ake con t r o l o f Br i t a in and expandi t s g lor ious, prosperous em pire? You cando th a t . Do you want to play as the sma l lGerman s ta te of Kleve, and h ope on ly tosurvive the sh if t ing fac t ion s of Europeanpol i t ics? You can d o tha t , too."History isn ' t balanced," says Johanson ."You could see tha t as a gam e des ignproblem, because a smal l German s ta teiiThe key thing w ithE U i s to involve playe rsin the story of theirchosen nat ion f Owon ' t d e f ea t t h e Fr ench on i t s own . On th eo ther h and, i t 's an advantage bec ause ther ep l ayab il i ty becomes eno rm ous ."People have been p laying and rep layingEuropa U niversalis games f o r a l ong t ime ,but Parado x is keen to grow i ts audience bylearning f ro m las t year 's surpr ise hi t ,Crusader K ings H. The key lesson lay inh o w p e o p l e c o n n e c t e d w i t h t h e g a m e ."Peop le p l ay th e s to ry and no t t h e gam e

mechanics," says Johanson . "And so thekey th ing with EUis to involve people inthe s tory of the i r cho sen nat ion, and i tss t ra teg ic choices , i ts enem ies and f r iend s ."E U I Vha s two devices to make tha thapp en . The f i rs t is event cha ins, whichgive a lm os t every country i ts own uniquecon text-based s toryl ine . If you're Englandand you don ' t have an h e i r in the 50 yearsp r io r t o 1500, f o r exam p le , t h en t h e W ar o fthe Ro ses may take place . I t 's up to p layersto de a l wi th the se s i tua t ions as they a r ise .The seco nd d evice is a sys tem of uniquenat iona l ideas, which he lp guide youth rough th e s andbox towards i n t e r es t i ngand h is tor ica l ly re levant dec is ions . Again,t ake con t r o l o f Br i t a in and you' r e mo r el ikely to be pursuing the industr ia lrevolut ion than i f you're in cha rge ofBrandenburg-Prussia .For re turn ing p layers, i t might bewho lesa l e changes t o t h e t r ad e syst em th a texcite, but Europa U niversalisX i s o p e n i n gi t s a rms to welco me tho se of us who haveonly ever g iven a coward ly glance a t theser ies before . sG r a h a m S m i th

R E A D M ED E V E L O P E RP a r a d o xDe v e lo p m e n t S tu d i o

P U B L I S H E RPa r a d o x I n t e r a c t iv eL I N Kwww.bitly/pcg-eu4

U Y P O W E co m m e n ds W in d o w s 8 UNLOCKED


29/99

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W,1374 AR E V I E W


30/99

W A R G A M EA I R L A N D B A T T L EF I R ST L O O K The Cold War never looked so goodI shouldn't be impressed by a gameengine's zooming capabilities. It's2013. Nonetheless, here I am staringat Wargam e: AirLand Battle l ike a

monkey at a monolith. It's breathtaking.My first look at Eugen's RTS sequel toWargame: European Escalation, guided byl e a d d e v e l o p e r A l e x i s L e D r e s s a y , i s o f a

single Apache chopper. Those familiarwith the previous game's battles will knowthere's usually little time to appreciatedetails on units, but I could make out thewobble and swear I could even see thepilot. I wanted to take control, and fly itover the game's beautiful Scandinavianfields or admire the fjords. But this is not agame of sightseeing.As boss of one of 12 sides fighting underthe umbrellas of either NATO or theWarsaw Pact countries between 1975 and1985, you're here to command troops.Luckily for the aesthetically-minded

general, doing so inEugen's world is apleasure. A quick spinof the mousewheelyanks the camera up,parting the clouds.Below is a patchwork

furthest zoom it's like looking down onto amilitary commander's table. In the game,the table would be crawling with icons ofallies and enemies, and if I pushed in closerI'd see the infantry and tanks moving atfrightening speed.

But the map is empty to show off thegorgeous new textures and increased scaleof the game's Scandinavian setting. Thesquare I see represents a couple hundredsquare kilometers of Swedish land, markedout with glowing strategic sectors. TheseIt's a structurally m orecomp lex sequel, butAir La nd Ba t t le ssim p lifies things too.sectors give you deployment points: usingthese lets armies bring reinforcements in.These extra units aren't built as in astandard RTS; instead, they trundle infrom marked points around the world. Asin the previous Wargame: EE, land unitsroll in from the edge of the maps, butAirLand Ba ttle adds new air corridors, too.You'll need to have control of these beforeyou can call in a fighter squadron, or else

AirLand of the title,reflecting the military

doctrine of the '80s that created a greatersynergy between ground and air troops.The sequel allows for greater diversity oftactics with the winged beasts, letting yousend them deeper into enemy lands.They'll speedily swoop and dive at theirtargets before retreating to refuel andresupply.

The importance of their inclusion drovea plethora of new engine tricks that fedback into the game: the flat fields are nowsurrounded with snow-capped peaks, andcarved through with fjords. In a gamewhere line-of-sight usurps the unrealisticnotion of fog-of-war, and your every moveis preceded with recon units, theundulating landscape is an immenselyimportant addition.

But while it's a structurally more complexsequel, AirLand Ba ttles s i m p l i f i e s a f e wthings too. The problems in the previousgame's urban battles, where the infantryfighters in cities and towns needed to belooked after, have been smoothed over.The developers have solved that problemby designating "districts" within the cities,and infantry will always select the best

R E A D M ED E V E L O P E RFocus In te rac t iveP U B L I S H E REugen In te rac t ive

MONITOR


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T h e pre v i o u s ly f l a t land s c ape h as b e e n u pd at e dso you can make the most of your ai r uni ts.

t anks c rawl t h rough t he f i e l ds ,i n t e l l igen t ly using t he hedgero ws ascover wi thou t any p layer p romp t ing , bu twhen t h ey en t e r t h e open t h ey 'r erocketed in to burning pi les of scr ap. I t 's asma l l but we l come tweak. When Eugen ' sRTS gets going, there's al ready enought o worry a bout .The previous game's biggest weaknesswas a re l i ance on a s t anda rd na r ra t ive andskirmishes. AirLand Ba ttles' cam pa ign isnow dynam ic , wi th t he who le o f t heScand inavian reg ion i n con t i nua l f lux ,and wins and lo sses wi l l a ffec t the overa l lma keup o f t he reg ion .Weath er and p ol i t ics wi l l a lso causeshifts in power, wi th special eventsthrow ing part icularly cruel l i t t le twistsalong the wa y. An exam ple that was put tome : what if Margare t Tha tcher had ahea r t a t t ack? How would t ha t a f fec t t heUK's NATO presenc e in the r eg ion? I t 'dp robably c rea te a m ore e r ra t i c and l essfocused Bri t ish backup.When you f ina l ly f ee l p r epare d eno ughto take your skills online, you'll have toc rea t e your own a rm y. Wi th 12 coun t r i esand over 700 uni ts, you won ' t want forweapo n ry. The un i t s a re d rawn f rom at en yea r pe r i od , so some a rmies wi l ls t ruggle in certa in areas . If I were you, I'dstar t brushing up on your al ternate real i ty


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A N D & a I N Q U E RNo money, no problem for EA's ancient strategy seriesM MPLA YED ITTh e n e w C o m m a n d & C o n q uer isfree to play. And i t ' s from EA.Those two f ac t s toge ther sho u ldevoke a tank rush of unease,given that EA isn ' t above shovingmic ro t ran sac t i ons i n to eve ry c ranny i t canf i nd . So when I go t my hands on i t a t arece nt EA gam es showcase, I ma de sure topoke a round the in t e r f ace , l ook ing fo rs t ea l thy cash-sapp ing op t i ons .No th i n g . No t a p e e p . No th i n g bu tbut tons tha t m ake sweet , sweet war . Thereare tw o re ason s for th is: first, i t 's st i l l ina lph a, and a lot of wh at 's goi r ig to be int he r e hasn ' t been implem ented ye t .Second , t he t ransac t i ons jus t a ren ' t asin t rinsic to the game a s I'd feared. Youcan gr i nd o r buy newGenerals, XP boosts,and vani ty i tems, butt he r e ' s morem i c r o m a n a g e m e n tt h an m i c r opay m en t s .Wha t is in t rinsic is

i t rea l ly d id fee l l ike i t con t a ined t he DNAof a l l t he o the r C & C games. After a fewc rashes t ha t showed o f f just how a lph a t hegame was , I l oaded up a co -op game wi t h afe l low journal is t . The two of us werec r a mm e d i n t o t h e c o rn e r o f a ma p , a f e wbui ld ings a l r eady humm ing a long ,gene ra t i ng resources fo r o ur mi l i t a ry p lo t s.T he g am e i s r epu rposed f r om a c annedseque l t o t he o r ig ina l CI7C Generals , a n dI m ade sure to pokearou nd th e interface,looking for stealthycash-sapp ing opt ions .i t 's st i l l set in the Generals universe. Web o t h op t ed t o h e ad u p t h e t e ch -h eav y EUfac t i on f rom the t h re e ava i l abl etheguerr i l la-ish Global Liberat ion Army andthe la rge-sca le Asian Paci f ic Al l iance beingt he o ther s .The t r anspo r t e r s were hau l ing , the

c l ick, c l ick, and I had som e infan t ry. Som ehad guns, some h ad roc kets, but a l l had al eade r wi th a keen des i re t o send t hem in tot he ba t t l e wi th min imal suppor t and notact ical ad vantage wha tsoever. Lucki ly Ihad a deve lope r bes ide me who sugges t edI ga r r ison t hem in a pa i r o f ne a rby towersins tead o f send ing t hem in to t he fog o f wa r .The road t o our base would d i rec t a fa i rfew o f t he fo re ign i nvade rs th rough t hem,and having t he ne a rby bui ld ings andtowers s t ocked wi th f resh m ea t would s t aythei r pro gress. At least they were goin g tod i e wi th a purpose .To suppor t those plucky chaps, I had toplonk down an o i l -pump a nd wai t f o r t heblack gold to flow. With that in the ban k,I p l an t ed a war fac to ry and m anufac turedmo re war tha n you could shake a s t ick at inAPC form and , a bi t la ter, tanks. I c l ickedon as m any as I could m ake. These, Ireasoned , would be t he re as a second waveto t ake out anyone foo l i sh enough t o p assmy gar r i soned t owers . My reason ing was

R E A D M ED E V E L O P E RVictory GamesP U B L I S H E RElec t ron ic Ar ts

M O N I T O R


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I p lanted a w ar factory andm anufactured m ore w ar thanyou cou ld sh ake a s tick at

"You ha ve an a i rs t r ike," sa id a he lpfuldevelope r's voice in my ears . And there,along the bo t tom buff bar, was a del ight full i t t le icon dep ict ing an insta-ki l l a i r a t tack.I t seem ed t oo ea r ly i n t he game to use i t,but I wanted to be useful .Sc reeeeeee awwwwwww-boosh! Myl i t tl e v-shape d squad ron f l ashed over t hema p , and t he ga the r i ng fo rces o f t anksand i n fan t ry van i shed i n soo ty dea th .Beautiful ly so. The Frostbi te en gine, thes a me o n e t h a t p o w e rs Battlefield3, makesC & C a lovely, anim ated toy. With thatin i t ia l blast shocking th e co cky AI, I routedmy tanks and APCs a long to he lp o u tSoon a l l was quiet a t my pa rtner 's base,but the p e r i phe ry was now under a t t ack.I c l icked over t he re an d wa tched my bravel i t t le rocketme n fi r ing aga inst the AI'saerial assault .Luckily I 'd o versubscribed o n uni ts, andmy ho me base was surrounded by unusedtanks, APCs and inf ant ry. I c lustered th ema l l i n one huge group and sen t t hem o f f t ot he edge o f t he base . They swarmed o verthe broken wrecks o f t he de fea t ed e nem y.

fight , which in i tsel f was in terest ing to see.The des t ruc t ion f rom Battlefieldhas beenkept , so wal ls and bui ld ings are o nlyguides : you can break t hem up and re routethe f igh t i f ne cessa ry . Th i s time t hough , itw a s a h a rb i n ge r o f d o o m fo r t h e p l a ysession . The game c rashe d .If th is had been o nl ine, my stats wouldprobably be skewed. In a fi rs t for the series,as you're p laying you're both level in g upyour Generalshero-style uni ts yout a i l o r t o your p l ays tyl eand your ownpro f i l e . The deve lope rs ho pe i t ' l l give asense o f purpose t o t he gam e, and i t ' ll h e lpwi t h m a t chm ak ing . W hen p eop l e a r ecapabl e o f boos t i ng XP, t he game n eedsmo re t han jus t t ha t t a l ly t o makeme aning fu l conne c t ions , so do ubl ing upon the Gene ra l s and your own prog ressmakes sense.I asked a fe w of the d evs about whatwi l l be com ing a t l aunch , whene ver t ha tis. At least five Gene rals will be available,a l t hough t he re was no t a lk o f how m anywil l be free . All map s wil l be though, andwhi l e t he re migh t no t be ded i ca t ed se rve rs,

T h e m a g i c a l T i m e Bayonet


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MI S I N G S T O R

Chilly Stalingrad is out,tro ;cal islands are in.

A E U O R L N E S T A A 2

can stab people in the future.

"Hey, where did thatbayonet come from?"

PLAYED IT Tripwire's WWII shooter finds second life on the Pacific front.

you usual ly don' t get a sec ondoppo r tun i ty t o make a f i rs tim p r e s s i on . W hen Red Orchestra2 relea sed in 2011, it was anau then t i c , am bi t ious, 64-p layer W WIIshoo t e r burdened by bugs and a fewunpol ished features . Tripwire 's sel f-im posed r ush t o b ea t Battlefield 3 out o f t hega t e roughed t he edges o f an o the rwisebr i ll i an t f i r s t -per son shoo te r .The Georg ia-based ind ie s tud io pa t chedthe issues over t ime, even tual ly releasing a`Game of the Year' edi t ion that includednew Act ion and Class ic m odes t o ca t e r t ocasua l and ha rdco replayers . Butt h roughout th i s time ,they were alsoco l l abo ra t i ng wi th at e am o f m odd e r s onRising Storm, th e

Rising Storm isn' t simply RO 2 recast int he Pac i f i c . 'We have some th ing s t a r t edand c rea t ed by a mod t eam , but po l i shed t ope r fec t i on by a group o f p ro fess iona ldevelopers," says John Gibson, presidentof Tr ipwi re . What i s imm edia t e lyimpre ssive about i t is the way i t em bracesFrom 100 m etersthe shel l pu nts into m ygut, an im pos siblyaccura te shott he asymm et r i es inheren t to the Amer icanand Jap anese infa nt ry. It 's a seeminglyuncrackab le ba lanc in g prob lem, fo rexample , t ha t t he Japanese m a in ly usedbol t -act ion ri f les whi le Americans carriedt h e s em i - au t om a t i c M l C a r b in e a ndG ar and , t h e T hom p son , and t h e f u l ly

so ld i e rs ha rde r t o supp ress , a t ra i t cha lkedup t o t he i r w i l l i ngness t o d i e fo r t heem pero r . More t angib ly, t he i s l ande rs ge tbayonets and a Ban zai charge a t tack aspr in t ing move tha t m i t iga tes dama ge andsuppresses nea rby Amer i can s . Bo th o ft hese impro ve i n rad ius and i n t ens i ty whenused i n un i son wi th t eamm ates .So me m e mbe r s o f t h e Ja p a n e s e t e a m c a na l so ca r ry t he knee mo r t a r , a po r t ab lear t i l le ry p iece . "There ' s no th ing theA m er i c an s c an do o t h e r t h an r u n whenthey hea r that whist l ing sound," saysGibson . "So i t he lps ba l an ce o ut t heAmer ican s ' overwhelm ing ab i l i ty to pu tbul l e t s down r ange . "My f i r st enco unter wi th the knee mo r t a ri s on Iwo J ima, where a c rack mem ber o fTripwire QA fi res i t horizonta l ly off theh i l l like a cannon , d i a l i ng me i n f rom ahu nd r ed m e t e r s. T he sh e l l pu n t s in t o m y

READ MED E V E L O P E RTripwire InteractiveP U B L I S H E RIn-house


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/,"/ 7Private Ryan's barbecue's wereeettin a little out of hand .Red Orchestra 2 continues to be a

demanding game. Away from greyStalingrad, neck-deep in island vegetation,it's still a shooter that insists you use youreyes, ears and intuition to stay alive. Acingan American with the bolt-action Type 38or Type 99 is instant self-esteem. Thefamous plong of a spent Ml Garand clipsignals that a GI's run out of ammo butincredibly, Tripwire let the Americans fakethe sound by pressing a key.

This overlap of precision, authenticity,and thick danger is still the most rewardingaspect of Red Orchestra. Bu t a s I k eepplaying, there are more moments ofrelaxed mayhem than I experienced inHeroes of Stalingrad like taking a mortard i r e c t l y to t h e l i v e r . I f i l l my t e am ' sflamethower soldier slot on a tough roundon Guadalcanal. Under the blue-purpleskybox, I curl around a bamboo but andlock eyes with a Japanese rifleman inchesaway. My mouse hand flinches, his skin

capture point that's just been flipped by theJapanese. I linger, lost, outside thethatched, single-floor command structure.Some instinct rings inside me, and I flick arope of heat through the window. Secondslater, four kill notifications with my nameon them stack up.Letting a messy, powerful weapon like aflamethrower into a gritty game of inchesHis skin goesm olten, and I giggleas a lengthy deathanimation plays outmight seem like inviting a dragon to a warre-enactment, so it's remarkable thatTripwire have balanced the thing whilemaking it so absurdly fun. You're heavy ashell, only have seven seconds of burn timebefore you have to refuel, and any burp offire is a bright invitation to the Japanese to

Cannon, an ex-Epic, ex-Crytek, veteranFPS designer who joined Tripwire in May2012. Gibson pursued Cannon afterlearning that he was the author of hisfavorite Unreal Tournament map, Deck 16."We needed some input from someoneoutside the inner circle, that could come inand say 'This is what needs to bedifferent,'" he says. "Elliot came up with alot of the ideas that are making theasymmetrical gameplay work."

Tripwire's focus on taking Rising Storm'stheme and context to its mechanicalextreme is what has me excited. Modellingthe differences between the Axis and Allieshas already produced one insane tacticamong testers: katanas, which are onlycarried byJapanese squad leaders, becamea trophy weapon for American players.Noticing this, one Japanese soldier had thebright idea of dropping their katana inplain sight, then using the alternate fire fortheir hand grenades exclusive to the


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a 1 T e l l l e r o e s wasalmost a verydifferent game.lLur z 'el U n iz e rceO n lin e was unveiledM_Microsoft and Cryptic Studios in2006, only to he retooledintoC h am p io n s O n l in e when Microsoftdropped out of the project in late2007. But the Marvel licensewouldn't go unused for long. I nM arch 2009, sta rtup G azil lionEnter ta in m ent (form er ly N R2BResear ch) sig ned a 10-y ear dea l w ithM arv el to m ake onl ine gam es bas edon it s panth eon of la rger -t han-life

hero es an d vil la in s. T hat 's over 5 ,0 0 ch ara cte rs.T he new s ca ught th e attention ofD avid B revik , founder and fo rm erpre sident of BlizzardNorth,

M A R V EL H E R O E S


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Hey, Savage Land dudes, you're bringing aspear to a Thing fight? Seriously?

P R E - L A U N C H R E A D I N GF o r M a r v e l n e w b i e sGazillion recommends:

X-Men: God Loves,M a n K i l lsThis 96-page graphicnovel introduces thecharacter of WilliamStryker, who is set top l a y a c r i t i c a l r o l e i nMarvel Heroes.What If? ClassicVol .1Uatu, The Watcher,narrates classic taleso f W h a t I f ? , i n wh i c hestablished Marvelstories are givenunexpected twists.New Avengers Vol.1B r i a n M ic h a e l B e n d i s 'r e w o rk in g o f Th eAve n g e r s , in wh i c h amass breakout occurs atThe Raft super prison.Vol. I Breakout collectsNe w Ave n g e r s # 1-6.Fantastic Four: JohnByrne OmnibusTh i s c l a s s i c ru n byJohn Byrne includes

who's best known as the lead designerofDiablo and Diablo II. A Marvelsuperfan himself, the thought ofworking with Earth's mightiestheroes excited Brevik and he joinedGazillion later in 2009 (eventuallybecoming the company's presidentand CEO in 2011).

Brevik had big plans for the MarvelUniverse; the question washow todo it? Gazillion didn't want to makeyet another World of Warcraft clone.Brevik, inspired by his favoriteMarvel gamesMarvel UltimateAlliance and its sequelas well as hisown experience creating the first twoDiablo games, pitched that the gameshould be an action RPG and onlinefree-to-playMMO mixed together.The idea was readily accepted byMarvel. Brevik quickly assembled ateamincluding fellow Diabloveteran, Peter Hu, the leadprogrammer of Diablo H's game-changing v1.1 patchand choseUnreal Engine 3 to power the game'svisuals. The finished game will takeflight later this spring.H e r o e s R i s in gMarvel Heroes embraces an idea thathas been kryptonite to other

Watcherthe Marvel U'somniscient observerwho describesthe many wonders he's seen on Earthas flashbacks show the origins of TheFantastic Four, Spider-Man, TheHulk, and others. Only in the finalmoments do you see that he's beentalking to someonesomeone hebegs not to do what they're about todo. That person is Doctor Doomandspoiler alert!Doom kills TheWatcher with the Cosmic Cube.

Gazillion is cagey on specifics, butMarvel Heroes ' plot centers on DoctorIt em braces an idea that hasbeen kryp tonite to othersuperhero-themed M M Os.

Dooms efforts to use the CosmicCube's reality-bending abilities toreshape the universe in his image. Itspower to alter the fabric of reality isalso the official reasoning behindwhy armies of Hulks can appearonscreen together at once. But theunof

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