ACTION
Make sure you’ve got some space, it’s time to cut loose
HORIZON CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN
Climbing to the top of the pile
ETA 22 FEB / PUB SONY / DEV GUERRILLA GAMES / PLAYERS 1
Not making Aloy the playable character in Horizon’s first spin-off is a smart choice on the part of Guerrilla Games. The person you play here, disgraced Carja warrior Ryas, is much more of a blank slate, meaning when you fumble the action in this incredibly immersive PSVR2-headlining adventure, the mistakes feel like your own. You didn’t expect to be able to match up to Aloy, did you?
Despite that, you’ll try to be as good as she is, which makes those moments of victory all the more satisfying. Where Aloy can clamber up cliff faces with nary a care, small actions like that take on much more weight in Call Of The Mountain. Holding climbing axes in your hands, you’ll feel the sensation of chopping them into rock to support your weight with each strike, while using a simple zipline becomes almost stomach-churning as you look around yourself in real time and see the world whizzing by. COTM revels in the mundanity of exploring Horizon’s lush world, making simple actions wondrous – so it’s perfect for getting to grips with the new hardware.
PEAK PERFORMANCE
But this is more than a mere tech demo. Sending you all over the Carja and Nora homelands, Call Of The Mountain is dense with things to keep you busy and a meaningful story that expands the world of Horizon (and will see some familiar characters putting in an appearance as well).
Far from being confined to a set path, you’ll explore different routes to find your own way to answer the titular call, with combat versus machine-beasties putting you through your paces in between. And pulling taut your bow, taking aim, and having your arrow hit its mark is a special joy when you’re directly responsible for all those motions. The mountain isn’t just calling, it’s calling for you.
STAR WARS: TALES FROM THE GALAXY’S EDGE – ENHANCED EDITION
Whoda man? Yoda man
ETA 22 FEB / PUB DISNEY INTERACTIVE / DEV ILMXLAB / PLAYERS 1
What better way to get used to new hardware than by geeking out in the familiar Star Wars universe? Here you’re cast as a droid repair tech and, while fixing things could have made for an interesting simulation in itself, you instead stumble into a situation that’s more about fighting evil than soldering circuit boards.
You’ll get to chat with legendary characters such as C-3PO (again voiced by Anthony Daniels), throw grenades, wield blasters and rifles, use tools, look around your environment to deal with threats from multiple angles, and even duck behind cover when things get rough. In case you were wondering, you get to be a Jedi too, specifically one in the pre-Skywalker High Republic times (the first time a videogame has taken players to that era). Imagine being quite literally in the Star Wars universe! Soon you won’t have to…
JURASSIC WORLD AFTERMATH COLLECTION
2023 COATSINK SOFTWARE COATSINK SOFTWARE 1
