PLAY! ; PLAY! Zine

REVIEW: The Park

Non-violent adventures with little interactivity usually in a short format, the so called “walking simulators”, are used more and more by the developers who want to make an interactive story. After Dear Esther, this subgenre gained a lot of popularity, but also a lot of criticism that “it’s not a real game” because there’s usually no real danger for the main character or no way to get stuck. Beside the story, another major attribute of this approach is the atmosphere, and it’s exactly what the Funcom studio made the most of with The Park. Like a large number of horror movies, this adventure starts in a seemingly cheerful manner – playing as Loraine, you took your son Calum to the amusement park. Colorful, cheerful place…

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REVIEW: The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

I don’t know how long you’ve been waiting for this, but if you are as big of a Zelda fan as I am, surely you couldn’t resist the urge to play this title as soon as possible. And if you haven’t yet, worry not – you’ll now have an opportunity to perceive a new different Zelda through the following text. Excited? Well, let’s just say you have a good reason to be, because however each upcoming Zelda title is, it shouldn’t simply leave you indifferent. Before we begin, I must point out two important things. First – no, Tri Force Heroes isn’t a recycled Four Swords Adventures. The difference is greater than simply having three instead of four heroes. Unlike the old title, here the…

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REVIEW: Tearaway Unfolded

You probably know that the Media Molecule development team became famous with their Little Big Planet games. Almost nobody felt indifferent towards the charming Sack people, and this franchise, in a way, became a trademark of the whole PlayStation brand of the previous generation. As LBP grew and became a ‘must have’ game for each Sony platform, the team was looking for a new challenge – and Sony gave them a chance to work on something completely new for their exciting new platform called PlayStation Vita. As a result of their work, at the end of 2013 we got the game named Tearaway, which to this day remains one of the brightest points of this hand-held console which, sadly, didn’t become even remotely as popular…

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REVIEW: Sword Coast Legends

There was a salvo of excitement among the die-hard fans when the guys from N-Space announced a new game set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. The game has been advertised everywhere as an heir to the great game series Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and will have a DM module for the creation of custom campaigns, dungeons, quests, a broad class system, an infinite number of monsters from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, as well as faithfully translated rules from the latest, fifth edition. Sadly, upon it’s release, salvos of excitement were replaced with disbelief and dismay, and great expectations were replaced by great disappointment. So what is it all about? Sword Coast Legends has a single player campaign as well as a multiplayer…

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REVIEW: Renowned Explorers

Renowned Explorers: International Society is a turn-based strategy game that comes from a small studio in Holland which released a game called Reus earlier this year for which it received good reviews from players and critics alike. Whether this game will be as successful remains to be seen, and we’ll try to persuade you to try it out, because we liked it a lot. The game places you in the thrilling world of explorers who discover various hidden dig sites all over the world, while gaining fame and prestige that goes along with it. Many different obstacles and dangers await on this journey, and it’s up to you to get past them all and become the best in business. At the start you’ll have to…

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REVIEW: Pro Evolution Soccer 2016

FIFA and PES have waged a battle for the title of best football simulation video game for years now. Even though PES reigned supreme for over a decade, in the last couple of years FIFA came dangerously close and even surpassed Konami’s hit title. Konami might have ‘helped’ them by making some bad decisions and with not the best realization of their version for the previous seasons. But, it all seems to change once more with Pro Evolution Soccer 2016. PES 2016 is a football simulation that simultaneously marks 20 years since the creation of the first Pro Evolution Soccer, i.e. Winning Eleven as the game was called in the past (and still is in Japan). Konami has successfully extended their license until the year…

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REVIEW: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Good ideas don’t necessarily have to be created in some laboratory or a huge studio. They don’t require a tremendous amount of money and time spent. Sometimes all it takes is a weekend and a huge coffee supply. For Steel Crate Games that weekend was last year’s Global Game Jam, where they made a concept for an Oculus Rift game where only one player sees what’s happening on screen. Luckily, the final version of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes doesn’t require any kind of virtual reality set, but it still needs one very important component – co-players. The game is impossible to play solo and you’ll need at least one more person in the same room, or the next room if shouting across the apartment…

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REVIEW: Go! Go! Nippon! 2015

Travel to Japan is sort of a pilgrimage to many people. The wish to visit the country that brought us anime, manga, specific video games, as well as the otaku subculture, connects people from all over the globe. With the development of the internet, better data flow and cheaper plane tickets, many lived their dream and got to visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura and many other places throughout the Land of Rising Sun. But, many still remorsefully gaze into the distance and wait for the day to finally make the trip. In the meantime, they fill up their spare time enjoying the virtual images of this godly place, which includes the game Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip to Japan, along with the add-on bearing the…

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REVIEW: Franchise Hockey Manager 2

For years now, we (a few dozen of us in Serbia) have longed for a good hockey manager, and then in space of one year we’ve gotten three excellent ones. And now we’ll explain why the latest being one is the best yet. For a couple of years, in certain circles, Out of the park Development has been considered the creators of the best manager simulation. No, not the great Football Manager, but Out of the Park Baseball. Last year they expanded to another sport that’s not too popular in our country, and again succeeded in making a top-notch game. Franchise Hockey Manager 2014 had the depth, addictiveness and that ‘something’ which makes a game great. But it also had some growing pains. Franchise Hockey…

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REVIEW: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

Filling the gap left behind by Ezio Auditore was obviously one of the hardest issues that the Assasin’s Creed series has to face. The fact that neither Connor, nor Edward, and especially Arno have managed to do that could be considered alarming. And while the AC3 was a miss when we consider the barely used setting and it’s mild protagonist, here the situation is much more complex. We have reached the point in which AC looks less like it should, and more like a generic action adventure that Ubisoft cranks out every 12 months. That trend of yearly releases is obviously taking it’s toll. The different attempts to spice up the AC formula seem more and more forced and bring nothing innovative into the series,…

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