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& Games for Windows

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May contain content

inappropriate for children. Visit www.esrb.org for rating information.

ANDY McNAMARA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF andy@gameinformer.com

уу А

Read my column or comment on this letter at

gameinformer.com/mag or follow

visit gameinformer.com daily for the latest and greatest, and follow @gameinformer on Twitter

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@GI_AndyMc

The Golden Cartridge Heard Around the World

know some Game Informer readers were not playing games (or perhaps even born) yet when The Legend of Zelda was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but you can take it from someone who was there in 1987 when it hit North America: It's hard to believe it has been 25 years since the ground- breaking title debuted in Japan back in 1986.

The odd part is not that the release feels recent; it is that it seems so much longer ago. We have seen so many innovations and changes in the industry over the last two and a half decades. The graphics, the design, and the technology behind every aspect of gaming has taken massive leaps forward in such a small span of time. Yet The Legend of Zelda still stands as one of the greatest of all time.

Imagine if you saw a game of the same graphical style being sold for your phone today. Most people would say that it looks like garbage based solely on the visuals. Zelda, of course, is about the furthest you can get from garbage. This game - this entire series — has defined gaming for years. The classic tale about a hero saving the world and the struggle between good versus evil is timeless; don't be surprised if gamers continue to celebrate Zelda's anni- versary (and new installments) for many more decades to come.

Game Informer has let too much time pass since our last celebration of the world's favorite little hero in a green hat, and this month we fix that with an amazing cover story that both commemorates the series’ anniversary and explores its future with a 10-page cover story on Skyward Sword.

Enjoy the issue. Cheers

The Legend of Zelda: 25 Years of Magic and Master Swords

Link has secured a special place in the hearts of the Game Informer staff through the decades. To cel- ebrate, Gl editors share their personal experiences with the legendary series and Phil explores new areas, gameplay mechanics, and design philoso- phies that will carry the franchise into the future in our 10-page story on Skyward Sword.

РДА НИИ

и

regulars

J) 6 Feedback

This month readers complain about impolite gamers, get burned out on Call of Duty, and discuss their favorite ЕЗ announcements.

J 12 Connect

Find out what happened at this years Gamescom con- vention in Germany, which games are the cream of the bountiful co-op crop, and exactly how much money free-to-play king Zynga

is making.

Saints Row: The Third

22 68 Previews

Learn all about Reiner's stay in the vast fantasy world of Skyrim, check out Dante's new tricks in Devil May Cry, and find out what һарре! when a scantily clad, chain- saw-wielding cheerleader encounters zombies.

» 88 Reviews

Tired of the same old zombie game? Dead Island injects the walking dead into a

huge open world with tons of deadly weapons, quests, and loot to busy you and your friends.

by Tim Turi

» 100 Game Over

Have you ever wondered how much your hard-earned in-game currency would be worth in the real world?

by Ben Reeves

contents 3

Gamescom 82 NBA 2K12

4 contents

games index

Battlefield assesses 72

Bit Tip Complete... 29% Bodycount............. و‎ Crimson Alliance ......................... 96 Dead B eere ..90 Deus Ex: Human Revolution. ................ 91

бий Маубу...........................74

D —XÁ—Á—— 80 Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.......... .98 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2........... .98

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Тһе.................70

Escape Plan... eee eene 85 o «P ае,» 83 LL ое 98

God of War: Origins Collection .

Gunstringer, The .............. EE

Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, The . . . 95

Kirby: Mass Attack. .................. ....97 Lollipop Сһаіпзан....................... 76 Totoro 92 NBA 2K12...

NHL 12 DES 93 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012.................. 83 Ratchet & Clank: All 4 0пе................. 78 Resistance: Burning 5кіб.................. 84 Resistance 3... een +... 94

Saints Row: The Third .....................86

Star Рох 64 305 m + B

Stronghold 3....... ere ee |

Syndicate ......... ———— 88

99d ного EN Е з ste E ceni tm n I iei

feedback@gameinformer.com

his month in

Feedback, read-

ers take a stand against online loud- mouths, sympathize with a burned-out Call of Duty player, discuss their favorite ЕЗ announce- ments, and uncover a Halo/Demolition Man conspiracy, that may shake.the gaming indus- try to its core. Or not.

DINEM

on e П | am incredibly excited for Dishonored! | have been yearning for a good stealth game forever. Everything about it looks amazing, especially the fact that there will be nonlethal ways to

take out guards. | also like the world that it is set in. It seems like it might be a refreshing change of pace from the standard monotony of first-person shooters.

Danny Austin Novato, CA

Bethesda will be the death of me. | just read your cover story оп Dishonored, and seriously that's one of the best-looking games I’ve ever seen. Between Fallout: New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and now Dishonored, there just won’t be enough time. If they release a Fallout 4, then | may as well break up with my fiancée and quit my job to give these games the time and atten- tion they deserve.

Dane Bankston

Willis, TX

Don’t worry too much, Dane. Not only will it be a while before Dishonored comes

out – not to mention a potential Fallout 4- but when your fiancée hears you joking about dumping her for a video game, we're guessing you'll have a lot more free time on your hands.

| simply want to thank Andy McNamara for call-

ing out the crude gamers who verbally abuse

others for their voice or cultural background

(The Highest Court, issue 220). | am a southern

man, and | have a southern drawl. Far too often

I'll be playing a game, say one word, and then

be harassed. Just because I'm from the south

doesn't make me a racist or a farm boy. Thank

you for addressing this issue. Maybe | will plug in

my microphone next time | play online.

Samuel T. Blackwood via email

| agree completely with Andy's views on the online gaming community. | often turn my 360 on and just enter party chat by myself so | don't have to worry about the slander that hap- pens online. | mainly play Halo: Reach, and l've heard thousands of comments making fun of everything you outlined: race, gender, language, etc. It's sad that the online community is such a nasty place that | can no longer play games with my little brother with- out muting everyone in our

lobby. If only one person reads what you wrote and changes their online behavior, you've done us all a giant favor. Jesse McDonald via email

We received a considerable amount of let- ters from gamers agreeing with Andy's call for a little more civility from online gamers. They may not outnumber the number of slander-spewing jerks you'll run into during an average night of online gaming, but at least it's a start.

Growing Pains Robert, not Ryan. | was very amused by this Short Answers to

| am 23 years old and living with my parents. misprint. Thanks for the laugh. | shall call him Readers’ Burning Ryan from now on.

| am desperately trying to get a job to move 2 "

out. My question is, how do | get my parents to Topher Bowling Questions

play more video games? They treat me like I'm Ft. Knox, KY “Could | get a real explanation mentally deficient just because | like to play a lot р : of what the bill from California of video games. The only game they play is that Our sincere apologies to Robert - both was going to do? Because it stupid frog collecting one on the iPhone. They for accidentally misprinting his name, and seems like the ESRB was already blame my inability to find work on video games for supplying the fuel for some sibling-on- doing it.”

and have stated multiple times that if | were to sibling griefing. Actually, it seems like you quit gaming І а be able to easily get a job. | think have a good grasp of the that if | could just get them playing some games

pre situation.

that they would see that gaming isn’t all bad. Any - and а! advice would be appreciated.

Christian

Stockton, CA

“when will they make a new black

Е Y % ops is there a bully 2 and is there

$ қ emer ғы Wrii j i diaital ontortaf T a new fallout in the making?" 20" А ile your love of digital entertainment is й

Kicking The Habit admirable, Christian, don’t forget that you’re Punctuation.

In issue 220, a reader named Matt Bernsdorf a gamer, not a missionary. Your parents

poured his soul out concerning his relationship don't sound interested in playing games,

with Black Ops. After reading his opinion on CoD and that's okay. Instead of trying to con- "Where can | get more 3D glasses

aoe over his m mon to myself, “Wow, d vince them that they're wrong, focus on the for my Nintendo 3DS?" another gamer feels the same way as me,” anı i i 4 ae | expected a decent response from the writers. epee aron па ER ант) You're doing it wrong. It concerned me that you guys didn’t feel any and you'll have the added bonus of actu- sympathy for Matt or feel even a little connected ally being able to buy things with your own with his situation. | know | do. 10 days, 4 hours, money when you're employed. and 21 minutes.

Christian Hensley

via email

| just would like to say that Matt Bernsdorf's = pesi S Worst re T af letter is completely right. Why get frustrated over , " a game that truthfully doesn't matter? As soon Don Draper He Ain't "all these games that are com- as the next Call of Duty game comes out no one Thank you, thank you, thank you for highlighting ming out for either systems will care about what you did in the last game. Mr. Caffeine in The Good, The Bad, And The couldn't be some of the best ones

Ugly (issue 220). As a big fan of various Ubisoft ever made." series through the years, | was sorely disap-

pointed with someone who has clearly never

picked up a controller and was so full of generic

salesman bull that it oozed out of my video feed

One should play the game for fun, not to be tenth prestige. Video games were and are made for fun, not for people to get angry over them. | am with you Matt; after playing the Call of Duty series religiously for many years, | quit.

Ben Klick during their press conference. Ugh. That guy via email made my ears bleed. Liz

Based on the responses we received, Matt's via email Welcome to letter seems to have tapped a group of the World, gamers who are tired of the Call of Duty беи ET Mr. Caffeine's performance was so bad, ме Ganondorf Ortiz grind. We didn't intend to sound emotionally 9 thought Ubisoft was trying to be ironic in a Dear Game Informer Не disconnected from his plight — in fact, we've Name Calling hipster performance art kind of way. Here's Tetter appears in pii nt Wi all been burnt out on a series at one time In your August issue you said that Ryan Bowling hoping that next year the company cuts out has des dio ДІ ur bany or another. The best advice we can offer is from Infinity Ward debuted Modern Warfare 3 the hammy attempts at humor and focuses Ganondorf that once a game stops being fun, it’s time (Microsoft Pushes Kinect, Teases New Halo, on the games that E3-goers are there to see to play something else. issue 220). In actuality, my brother's name is in the first place. Miko Ortiz

22 2/22 gag 2, 5/2 CES LEER DELI WEG 2

(Left) Conan O'Brien still looks surprisingly peaceful, considering he has Dan Ryckert hanging on his shoulder (Center) Bryan, Jeff, Ben, Tim, Dan, and Phil responded to the loss of 015 Longest Fighting Game marathon record by breaking/setting six individual records in a variety of game series and genres. Way to go, guys! (Right) THQ's Neal Pabon is such a dedicated gamer that even his dog Zoey gets in on the action

GAME INDUSTRY eae

CANDID PHOTOS FROM THE VIDE:

feedback 7

RRR 8 ЕЗ Cheers And Jeers 29% № Dishonored Excitement 24% E Online Etiquette (Or Lack Thereof) 19% E "Why Wasn't [insert game] In Your E3 Hot 50?!" 14% E “Why Weren't [insert characters] In Your Top Ten Rivalries?!" 9% № Capcom Cancelling Mega Man Legends 5%

What video game character are you going to dress as for Halloween?

continued from page 7

Ben plays the fool with a couple of female Halo cosplayers at this year's Comic-Con. At least we think he was playing

) Also at Comic- Con, Phil ran into G4's Adam Sessler and comic book guru Todd McFarlane

continued on page 10

8 feedback

110 In issue 219, we asked readers what their favorite announcement was at this year’s ЕЗ. Halo 4 was the easy winner, but gamers were also excited for other projects in

the works.

My favorite announcement from E3 was when 343 Industries revealed Halo 4. When | heard that Bungie would no longer be producing the series, | was heartbroken. They did such a good job, | wasn't ready to give it up. But when | saw the announcement for Halo 4, my heart leapt with joy. | can’t wait for the game.

Brandon Bohn

For me, it was Darksiders 2, hands down. Watching the trailer gave me chills down my spine, and seeing your cover of issue 219 made me scream like a little girl in front of all my friends. Hearing about all the upgrades that they're making to the gameplay is making me count down the days.

Timothy Hubata

The moment Nintendo announced Luigi's Mansion 2, | jumped up and down in my chair and screamed from excitement. It was my favor- ite GameCube game because | have always favored Luigi over Mario. | have not owned a handheld since Game Boy Color, but I will be hugging my husband with one hand and stealing his cash with the other just to get a 3DS to play this game.

Marie Ellison

My favorite announcement from E3 would have to be Minecraft Mobile. | can't wait to play Minecraft on my phone!

Randy Sautel

3)

Hi-fidelity 7.1 |

ЗР 1

us updates’

headset stati

PlayStation. Official Product

“Virtual surround sound on the PS3™ system requires system sofware version 3.70 or later. Virtual surround is not available for some PS3™ system audio formats. For details, visit us.playstation. com/support. **On-screen headset. status updates available on the PS3™ system only.

he “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks and "PS3" and the PlayStation Network logo are

= ^ PlayStation.3 PlayStation.Network trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

SONY

make.believe

Enter the Game Informer Reader Art Contest. All you need to do is draw, paint, scratch, spit, or carve the best darn art you can think of and send it to us. Please include your name, phone. number, and return address. If you're the monthly winner, we'll feature your work in бі and you'll receive a video game prize from the Game Informer vault. All entries become the property of Game Informer and can't be returned.

Game Informer Reader Art Contest 724 1st St. N.,

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Mpls, MN 55401

continued from page 8

(Left) Playing MW 3 can work up an appetite. From left to right: Activision's Robert Taylor, Beachhead Studios' Chacko Sonny, Dan “I only own one shirt" Ryckert, freelancer Taylor Cocke, Activision's Joshua Selinger, Infinity Ward's Ryan Robert Bowling, EGM's Ray Carsillo, and Sledgehammer Games’ Guy Beahm (Right) After playing a bit of Skyrim at this year's QuakeCon, Reiner and his fellow industry friends had a real life high fantasy adventure at Medieval Times.

10 feedback

1 Aaron Damico This Nathan Drake action figure may have the trademark half-tuck, but we were hoping for a drawstring that triggers a Nolan North quip. 2 Destinie Corbane Considering both the Star Wars and Star Fox franchises started strong and then lost their way, this comparison isn't much of a stretch. 3 Rienzi Gokea We're not sure what the hell Peach did to that turnip, but we wouldn’t advise eating it at this point. 4 Lyndsey Schoonmaker

su patiently sits and waits to hear news of an HD re-release of Okami

CORRECTION:

In issue 221 we ran a retrospective on the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film. However, we failed to cite the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive (smbmovie.com), which proved to be a valuable resource, providing us with some behind-the-scenes information, images, and concept art.

Ж ЖЖ

-THROTTLE SUSPENSE AND TERROR...”

амс | SUN OCT 16 9/8¢

NOTABLES

18 со-орей up! 22 afterwords: bastion 23 top 10 one-off peripherals 24 impulse 27 freeto pay: how zynga's empire influences everybody

massive: the secret world

interview: rocksteady's sefton hill

GAMESCOM, in Cologne, Germany, maintains an interesting position on the industry calendar. E3, where

most of the big a made, sets the to

nouncements are ne for the coming

year in June, while Gamescom is the

companies' best-

may be tempted

ast major convention stop before

aid plans come to

ife in the fall and holiday season with all due respect to the waning Tokyo Game Show in September). You

о see Gamescom as

just another convention, but it's not. ts influence extends beyond Europe, and this year it not only set the stage or the holiday season, but also for 2012.

connect 13

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SONY'S PS3

PRICE CUT & NEW PSP

At its Gamescom press conference, Sony announced that the worldwide. price of the PS3 was lowered. The 160GB and 320GB systems in North America are now $249 and $299, respectively, and a limited edition Infamous 2 bundle (320GB PS3, a copy of the game, and a 30-day PlayStation Plus membership) is also available for $299. Industry analysts foretold the move for quite awhile now. The price drop won't dramatically alter the console land- scape, but it will undoubtedly help maintain the system's momentum

Specifically for Europe, Sony also introduced a new version of the PSP for 99 euros that will come out this fall. No word on if or when it will be released in other territories. The unit sports.

a matte black finish, and what it loses in its price it also loses in a few features. The unit doesn't have Wi-Fi, but it will still play any PSP games you have either on UMD or from download (via the Media Go software and a PC).

It may seem odd that Sony would be trumpeting a PSP when: the Vita is on the horizon, but given the big price difference between the two, they certainly aren't competitors. Furthermore, Sony's traditional strategy is to create and maintain fans on the backend of a console's cycle so they eventually become fans of the new system in the future:

In related handheld news Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS weeks before Gamescom from $249.99 to $169.99, but Sony said it didn't feel pressure to respond in kind with the Vita,

x Whieh will come out at $249.99 (МІ model) sometime early next year.

not all about \ookS. by showcasing its Ез. Even news at didn't help: portly after the col until sometime in 2012. s Larian Studios, of ty Mo 63 ore hands-on Apart from disappointing jans aited in V for nours only to see a on-gameplay trailer of Ù me (th playable action was of pec Op: and SU jival Y es, behind 00 doors); М2 multipl yer didnt ow minds (see ge 4 for more) Maybe Activist 255 i of t ff tor its own Call of Duty XI fest, ^ дет Los Angeles.

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Minecraft's Markus

Persson (known as Notch) o challenged Bethesda to & а Quake З duel аз a way а to settle the two's recent 7

legal battle. Bethesda is and ;

suing Notch's Mojang to the g | 7 change the name of its E upcoming game called

Scrolls because the com-

pany says it sounds too news with a sarcastic spin i 3 E close to Elder Scrolls. If When Konami announced that the Silent Hill HD Collection was a only more disputes were PlayStation 3 exclusive, Xbox 360 fans’ hearts stopped — and it wasn't solved this way.

because of the series’ scares. Now, However, all is well. The game will indeed appear on the Xbox 360 when it comes out this fall. The collection features HD remakes of Silent Hill 2 (shown) and Silent Hill 3 with new

voice work.

Red Faction: y,

Atari has sent its lawyers to shut down some long-running, non- commercial Atari fansites dedicated to nefarious, corporation-crumbling activity such as 2600 homebrew community building and program- ming tutorials. Atari may have taken over the domain names of those sites, but the hearts

and minds of 2600 fans remain elusive.

THQ is halting its MX vs. ATV franchise, and has indefinitely stopped the Red Faction series. THQ charged that both games weren't selling well enough, and CEO Brian Farrell characterized sales of the last two Red Faction games as "niche." Speaking of niche games, it'll be interesting to see what THQ does to the Saints Row series

when its sales numbers come out.

French website 01Net (which nailed some Wii U specs before the system was released) has a rumor that Nintendo is planning a $10 3DS peripheral that would add a second analog stick to the handheld in another attempt to bolster sales. Furthermore, this would be a stopgap solution to the additional stick being added per- manently in a newly designed 3DS that would also scale back the 3DS effect and possibly have a new name.

If these rumors are

anteno:

ate for the handheld to ! succeed. The company

true, it proves that

Nintendo is truly desper-

has already dropped its ME S| price to $169.99. an

Gamers are brandishing pitchforks over Electronic Arts’ Origin download service. Whether it's making games like Crysis 2 unavailable on Valve's Steam service, Star Wars: The Old Republic’s exclusive Origin limited edition, or requiring Battlefield 3 players to install the client on their PCs (even if they bought the game at retail), people aren't happy.

Ironically, many of the practices are not exclusive to Origin - Valve also has a Steam requirement for its retail games — but people never pass up a chance to hate EA.

“Welcome to the big leagues Eric — | know you're new in the job, but someone should have told you this is a competitive industry. You've got every reason to be nervous... you'li be out of the category in 2-3 years. If you don't believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or

Tony Hawk."

Jeff Brown, EA corporate communications vice president, responds to Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg's request for a verbal cease fire between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and EA's Battlefield 3.

connect 17

Save The Planet...

Guess what? The world is in trouble, and only you and your partner can save the day! It’s a good thing your team is equipped with heroic powers and loads of loot.

Gamers have been cooperatively exploring dungeons in real time since the days of Gauntlet. Fortunately for all of us, things have gotten a bit more sophisticated since the glory days of arcades. At the very least, our health isn’t constantly draining in an obvious quarter-gobbling ploy. Dungeon Siege III is a solid action RPG with plenty of gear and weapons to collect, as well as a robust character customization system. The solo game is passable, but it doesn’t spring to life until you add a second player. The Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Crimson Alliance is amore action-oriented approach to dungeon crawling - think more along the lines of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy than a Diablo - and it's a blast in multiplayer. Its bold, colorful presentation is easy on the eyes, too, which is definitely a plus for those marathon adventuring sessions. Don't think that dudes with swords and armor are the only ones who can break crates and scoop up loot, however. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an older game, but it still holds up well in the multiplayer arena. This who's who of classic (and not so classic) Marvel characters lets players assemble their own teams of heroes and villains.

The sequel is a relative disappointment, so stick with the original.

і Dungeon Siege Ш

or

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

If you want to play with a friend, you have plenty of | options. Here are our recommendations based on ито : Ш you're playing with and what you're in the mood for. :

be set whether you're entertaining kids or looking for an epic adventure.

7 7 И % It's а great time to be а co-op gamer. But just because you have a lot to choose from, it doesn’t mean that every i Cooperative experience is the same. Just like with movies and music, some games fit particular moods better. With 2 2 that in mind, we've broken down a variety of current-gen games into several handy categories. Read on, and you'll 4 и. 1 7 y қ “уи s $ 1 7 к ey Į 1 hen р i " 7 MN "a ý ) E d 4 а 4 са 1775 es

SANS

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

...Or Blow It Up Real Good Rx n

Sometimes the price of victory can be calculated in lead.

The enemy forces are a diverse lot, but none of them

Stand a chance when they're in your team's crosshairs. 29

Even though the following games are based on firearms, headshots, and swarms of bad guys, they couldn’t be more different. The Call of Duty series has dominated online multiplayer since its release, giving players plenty of reasons to band together and take on opposing teams. Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops mode is a great option for fans of couch co-op, letting players take on high-stakes missions across the globe together. Epic's Gears of War series puts an emphasis on co-op multiplayer, and it’s more interesting than just plopping two players

into the world. Players are routinely split along branching paths, often with different types of gameplay. Left 4 Dead forces players to work together, too. If you stray too far away from your group, it’s more than likely that you'll be serving up dinner for a few lucky zombies. If you enjoy horror movies and teamwork, you can’t go wrong with this one. And it wouldn't be a co-op list without at least mentioning Borderlands. If you like to balance your time between single player and co-op, it's

a must-play. Players have the flexibility to level up іп one mode and easily transfer their progress to the other. Once you play it cooperatively, going back to the wastelands alone is tough. For a mix of these last two games, check out Dead Island, which we reviewed on page 90.

s

Borderlands

The Kids Are Here!

Whether you're babysitting, playing host to young relatives, or hanging out with your own kids, these games show that "family friendly" doesn't have to be synonymous with suffering.

A million kid-friendly activities exist that don't involve parking down in front of a television, but sometimes it's rainy outside. Or you're lazy. That's when it's great to have a few co-op games on hand. The LEGO games are uniformly good choices, with the exception being the pair based on Indiana Jones. Later installments allow players to explore levels independently, which can be a godsend when your young part- ner insists on hanging back for no good reason. Older kids will get a kick out of LittleBigPlanet. Its content is appropriate for all ages, but some of the platforming sections are tricky and the grab mechanics can be tough for people with little hands. New Super Mario Bros. Wii also gets difficult later on, but it's an all-around good pick for family Co-op. It's a great place for fledgling gamers to start, since much of its gameplay could be seen as a crash course in Video Games 101. Just try to resist the temptation of throwing your teammates into the abyss.

Rock It Old School The more things change, the more they stay the same. These co-op games combine the best of retro gaming with modem game design.

The downloadable game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair takes the series' familiar 2D exploration and adds a thrilling element of multiplayer. Up to six players can explore the game's massive levels, each with its own unique boss battles. If you can't round up a party, however, give this one a pass; the solo experience isn't worth the effort. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Castle Crashers are both heavily inspired by the heyday of arcade brawlers, but they introduce plenty of contemporary elements as well. In particular, they allow players to level up their characters, adding a welcome element of replayability to the mix. The crudely hilarious and deceptively cute Castle Crashers also boasts a massive roster of characters, each with their own special attacks and powers. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a treat for retro enthusiasts, featuring great 16-bit inspired art and a catchy chiptune soundtrack. Even if you aren't a fan of the comics or the film adaptation, it's worth your time.

Е 55 -

E. |

These may not be the cream of the gaming crop, but they're perfect if you and your buddies enjoy creating running commentaries over B movies.

Life's too short to take everything seriously. Some cynical types will tell you that it's also too short to play anything other than the best games out there – they're wrong. Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 or RiffTrax can try their hands at creating their own irreverent on-screen commentaries to the in-game action. Army of Two and Kane and Lynch are forgettable shooters when played solo, though it's clear that they were designed to be played with a buddy. Kane and Lynch in particular has a few cool multiplayer tricks, including a play- able character who hallucinates during key events — misleading the player in the process. EDF: Insect Armageddon is a great game for those times when you and your friends want to disengage your brains, drink a few beverages, and just have fun. All you need to know is that a bunch of giant bugs have invaded Earth, and it's up to you and your squad to blow ‘em back into space. Another great option is 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand. It's completely ludicrous and over the top, and you'll want to share the whole bizarre experience with someone else. From blowing up helicopters with pistols to the game's entire premise (50's priceless diamond skull was ripped off by a concert promoter; now it's personal), it's a game that has to be played to be believed. €

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Bastion

Supergiant Games’ debut release came out of left field to become one of the most highly praised games of 2011. We quizzed creative director Greg Kasavin on the origins of the game, ideas that hit the cutting room floor, and how different players chose to conclude the game.

How did the idea of Bastion’s narrator emerge?

Like most of the ideas in Bastion, the idea for the narration was born in the living room of a house in San Jose where the studio is located.

It wasn't something that was con- templated from the beginning of the project, but then, the project didn't start with some grand design docu- ment or detailed feature set. The narration came up as an idea during the course of the nine months the game spent in a prototyping phase, during which time it was mostly just Amir Rao and Gavin Simon, the studio co-founders, rapidly trying different things.

From the beginning of the project we felt we wanted to make a game that could have some emotional weight to it, but we also knew we didn’t want to interrupt the play experience for any reason. At first these goals seemed contradictory, but as it turned out, using narration allowed us to deliver story and con- text and narrative depth at the play- еге pace. It was the perfect solution to what we wanted, plus it gave me some really interesting constraints to work with from a writing perspec- tive: We would have a story filtered entirely through a single voice, who would be there to deepen the play- er's interactions onscreen by giving context to those actions.

What sources did you look or listen to for inspiration for the world of Bastion?

We knew we wanted Bastion to be an atmospheric game because we feel that one of the most important aspects of games is their transport- ive quality, their ability to make you feel like you're in some completely different place. From the earliest days on the project we were talking about the tone we wanted to strike, and how we would express that through the game. One of the influ- ences I brought up early on is the American author Cormac McCarthy, who's written novels like Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, and The Road. He's got this amazing lyrical writing style, minimal dialogue rich with subtext crossed with these beautiful natural scenes. His writing has an Old West flavor even if it's not set in that kind of environment. We wondered what that type of style would sound like in a game.

One important difference, though, was that we wanted to extract the sense of evil from out of his work. Plenty of games deal with evil. We wanted to have a more positive and hopeful tone, ultimately. We wanted the game to be suitable for players of all ages, and | was very interested in writing a story from that perspec- tive — like a modern version of a traditional fairy tale.

For our complete interview with Greg Kasavin, visit gameinformer.com/mag

How did you determine the number of weapons to include? Were there any you cut from the final game?

During Bastion's prototyping phase, all of the weapon ideas came together at least in a first-pass form. There was a lot of stuff during that time that got prototyped and ulti- mately cut just because it didn't feel distinct enough from other ideas or otherwise didn't feel right. We spent a lot of time trying to get the weap- ons to feel great. In a game like ours, where the basic unit of gameplay is a combat interaction, if you don't have great-feeling weapons and combat then you've got nothing. So, our goal was to create as many distinctly different-feeling and satisfying weap- ons as possible, and to make each of them viable through the course of the game. In a lot of action/RPGs, you're constantly discarding weap- ons in favor of bigger or better ones, whereas we wanted players to get attached to their different weapons in this game. We ended up creating some of our game levels expressly to showcase some of the weapons we had, which might sound a bit backwards, but tells you just how important this aspect was to us from a gameplay standpoint.

As an example of something we cut, we had a bullwhip weapon that got pretty far along before we realized it just wasn't working out well and didn't meet our criteria.

It fit the theme of the game just fine, but it was shaping up to be sort of a medium-range, crowd- control type of weapon. We already had the Scrap Musket, essentially a shotgun, which was filling the same role and doing it better. So the only rightful place for the whip turned out to be the cutting room floor. We even prototyped stuff

like jetpacks, which neither fit the theme or the level design. We had remote-detonated mines, which were pretty cool but unnecessarily complicated. Some of our design philosophy around the weapons must come from us having worked on real-time strategy games, where there's a natural tendency to want to design units that neatly fill specific roles. Having the maximum number of discrete units can make for an elegant game.

Would Supergiant Games ever be interested in creating a sequel to Bastion?

One of our design mantras on Bastion was to make a complete game. No half-baked features, no fat. We held back nothing for this game, and approached it knowing it may well be the one and only game we'd ever get to make as a studio, so we had to give it our all. It was very important for us to have the game finish strong, to leave players feeling fulfilled and satisfied at the end. So in that respect, we never really imagined it as the beginning of a franchise or anything like that.

It would be a self-contained story and world. We just wanted to make а great, stand-alone game, and we figured we could do it again and again with future projects if we had the chance - we have a lot of ideas.

That being said, and | realize this sounds a bit contradictory, we're certainly not opposed to doing something else in the world of this game. We all really love the world we've created for this game, and especially in my capacity as the writer and creative director, it was very important to me to create the sort of world that felt detailed enough to potentially support any number of different stories.