E3 2015: 12 must-see PS4 games from E3 2015
A mighty fine time for the PS4
Sony's been on a run of crowd-pleasing press conferences for awhile now, and E3 is where the PlayStation tends to shine.
2015 may be a bit on the sparse side for Sony due to Uncharted 4's delay, but you can rest assured that the most-clamored-for games of the last two decades are finally coming, and will probably land on the PS4 first.
Between the biggest announcements of all time, some intriguing new projects from Sony's internal teams, and exclusives for some of today's hottest franchises, it looks like PlayStation 4 will have continued success and a robust lineup for quite some time. Here's what we're looking forward to most courtesy of E3 2015.
The Last Guardian, 2016
It's been over six years in the making and rumored to be canceled for almost as long, but The Last Guardian is real, in-motion, and coming to the PS4. The third game from director Fumito Ueda, The Last Guardian seems to borrow many gameplay and story themes from his two seminal PlayStation 2 classics.
Like Ico, you're a child speaking an undecipherable language traversing a hazy Gothic-inspired world. Your companion is a giant dog-griffin hybrid who helps with environmental traversal, which is done by grabbing onto the beast's feather/fur. Can't catch onto his adorable face during a risky jump? Then grab his tail on the way down. We won't see this mysterious creature this holiday season, but hopefully the last delay for The Last Guardian is behind us.
Final Fantasy VII remake
Even nearly two decades after its 1997 release, role-playing game fans still name Final Fantasy VII among the genre's best. An HD update of the original PlayStation release has been atop the wishlist of many, and that wish is finally being granted by Square Enix.
Where we once saw awkwardly translated text we now have high-quality voiceover. Where blocky characters interacted over weirdly rendered backgrounds we now see beautiful characters naturally interacting with equally gorgeous environments. The game's debut will be on the on PS4, though there's no indication how much lead time the much-anticipated revival will have on Sony's system.
Shenmue 3, 2017
As far as sadly absent sequels go, Shenmue 3 is tops. The first two were big budget Dreamcast games that never caught on due to the untimely demise of Sega's final console. A decade and a half later, series creator Yu Suzuki is finally planning on concluding the series with Shenmue 3, and he's looking for your help via Kickstarter.
Picking up where Shenmue 2 left off in 2001, the story will continue Ryo Hazuki's quest to avenge the death of his father at the hands of Lan Di. Should it get funded, the game will head to PS4 and PC sometime in 2017. There's nary a mention of Xbox One on the Kickstarter page, so it may avoid Microsoft's Xbox One (or Xbox Two) altogether.
Uncharted 4, 2016
It may have been delayed into 2016, but Uncharted 4 is looking like it'll be worth the wait. While we've seen Naughty Dog's true PS4 debut in action before, the city-set battle that closed out Sony's E3 2015 press conference was unlike any of the adventures we've seen Nathan Drake navigate before.
Instead of the tombs and ancient cities that the adventurer has explored in previous escapades, this fight began after Nathan squeezed through a crowded city square and avoided gunfire in a quickly emptying marketplace. It all ended with an escape that would make Indiana Jones proud as Nathan and his buddy Sully crashed through fences, slammed into buildings, hopped rooftops, and laid waste to nature in a small city.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Guerilla Games has been laser-focused on a single franchise (Killzone) for well over a decade, so color us surprised that their new IP is almost nothing like the future-set dystopian first-person shooter. Horizon gave off a vibe that seemed to mixed Monster Hunter's wilderness of wild creatures, Tomb Raider's bow-focused combat (not to mention female protagonist), and Cloud Atlas' struggle between tribal life and futuristic combat.
Street Fighter V, beta on July 23
Capcom's upcoming fighter won't lay a finger on Xbox or Nintendo this round, as Street Fighter V is only due on PS4 and PC. Our quick look at a match showed off two franchise favorites in combat - Super Street Fighter II's Cammy and Street Fighter Alpha's Birdie. Hopefully we'll be able to spar with these two challengers during the PlayStation 4-exclusive beta which commences on July 23.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate, October 23
After some very extended expeditions in France and America, the United Kingdom is getting its own stealth-assassination adventure with Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Expect some fancier targets, cooler weapons (like a cane with a blade hidden inside), and another story of conflicted killers rewriting history. A mission inspired by England's greatest murder mysteries will be exclusive to PS4.
Sony's presser also gave us a trailer from the perspective of Evie Frye, whom you can play in the game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III, November 6
Treyarch has been the premiere Call of Duty developers for the last half-decade, and that trend will likely continue with Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Taking a some futuristic cues from last year's Advanced Warfare and adding a grittier and bloodier focus than we've seen in years, Black Ops III seems a shade darker than we've seen over the last few years of Activision's flagship shooter.
Reversing the trend we've had for the last few Calls of Duty, Black Ops III will see its content hit Sony platforms first. The pre-release beta will be exclusive to PS4, while map packs will make their debut on Sony's systems.
Star Wars: Battlefront, November 17
Can you believe it's been almost two years since this generation began and there's still no Star Wars adventures, aside from the Lego variety? Fortunately the first Star Wars-focused adventure is gonna be a big one. Star Wars: Battlefront lets you take sides in some of the saga's biggest battles with a blaster or lightsaber as your weapon of choice. Nothing in the way of exclusive content was revealed, but Sony's touting of the experience being optimal on the PS4 points towards a high probability.
Hitman, December 8
IO Interactive's stealth series has been hiding in the shadows for years, but it finally emerged from the shadows. We didn't get to see any in-game combat, but the teaser showed off a normally reserved Agent 47 sprinting towards his target. Before launch, the PS4 will be the only console for beta testers to get their first look at Agent 47 on new-gen, while the post-launch timeframe brings six-post-launch missions exclusive to console.
No Man's Sky
With Mass Effect: Andromeda far off in the 2016 horizon (with nary an in-game snippet to be seen), our search in space exploration needs a new destination. That's why our gaze is affixed to No Man's Sky, the procedurally generated space adventure from Joe Danger development studio Hello Games. Exclusive to PS4, No Man's Sky allows you to visit any planet in the multi-galaxy universe where you can search for loot or pick fights with the wildlife. This game is so big the developers predict there are some planets that the entire gaming public will never visit.
Dreams
Media Molecule made the PlayStation 3's biggest toybox with LittleBigPlanet, and their imagination is expanding further with Dreams. Even though we got to see Dreams in action, it's still very much a mystery. Using the PS4 controller's tilt functionality, you create characters who exist in a nightmarish world. You make the outline and the game gives it (creepy claymation-esque) life.
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E3 2015: What's better than a new Assassin's Creed Syndicate trailer? Three ACS trailers
Update: Ubisoft has released a third video, giving Assassin's Creed fans their first look at the playable female character, Evie Frye, as she tears apart some thugs with a ridiculously stylish cane-sword.
Original story below...
Ubisoft unveiled two trailers for its upcoming entry in the Assassin's Creed series, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, at its E3 2015 press conference held at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.
The game debuted for the first time one month ago and is to be set in London during the Industrial Revolution. Following two twins, Jacob and Evie Frye, Assassin's Creed Syndicate will explore the tension and ultimate divide between the rich and poor during the 18th century.
The first trailer to get the limelight was the cinematic trailer that shows sweeping shots of famous London landmarks before following Jacob into a fight with a corrupt iron mill boss.
This only proves the age-old adage: No amount of money and power can stop you from a sociopathic assassin ... er, something like that.
The other video on display was a new gameplay trailer that highlighted controllable vehicles in a city environment as well as the rope-launcher, two small, but profound additions to the series.
Do controllable vehicles make it feel like Grand Theft Auto: London? Does the rope-launcher make the new Assassin's Creed game look like Batman: Arkham Syndicate?
Watch the trailer and decide for yourself:
Assassin's Creed Syndicate will be available first on the PS4 and Xbox One on October 23, 2015 followed shortly by the PC version of the game.
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E3 2015: It's not a trap, here's another new Star Wars Battlefront trailer
Update: Day 1 of E3 2015 has officially come to a close, but it wouldn't happen without one last look at EA's new Star Wars Battlefront.
The second trailer (you can find the first down below) shows us a battle on a barren rock-planet that could easily be mistaken for Tatooine, as well as a brief glimpse of the game's "horde" mode that will pit you against wave after wave of storm troopers.
Original story below...
EA's got us excited about Star Wars Battlefront for awhile now and finally we know more thanks to its E3 2015 conference.
You'll be able to fight in 40 multiplayer battles like the The Battle of Hoth.
The trailer below demoes teams as the Empire, accompanying AT-AT walkers marching towards the Rebel base to destroy it while Rebels must defend and stop them.
Star Wars Battlefront will be available on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 17, 2015.
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E3 2015: The coolest and weirdest moments of E3 2015
The good, the rad and the weird
The only part of an E3 that you can count on more than the cool game announcements are the stilted, silly and super cool moments that the publishers pepper into their live events. Luckily for us, E3 2015 has already delivered all three, and Day One isn't just ended.
From holographic Minecraft to an awkward attempt at creating a meme, we've captured every last exciting and excruciating detail from this year's proceedings in chronological order. Read on, dear friend!
Minecraft in your living room - literally
We've seen it teased in sizzle reels and discussed in countless, photo-less hands on reviews, but not before today have we been shown Minecraft on HoloLens in real time. Microsoft is serious about this thing – even in gaming, to our pleasant surprise.
While no release date was announced, the Redmond-owned developer Mojang showed off how HoloLens can cast a screened experience of Minecraft to any flat surface. However, what's way more interesting is how players can interact with an instance of the Minecraft world overlayed on a flat surface nearby. Better yet, your friends can walk through that very world – and you can see them. So cool!
Oh yeah, and did Microsoft say that it's buddied up with Valve VR? That was definitely said, and the implications could only be advantageous for Redmond.
That slick new Xbox One controller: the Elite
Microsoft's brand new, next-generation game controller looks stunning, certainly more exciting than just having a new 3.5mm audio jack. The biggest change brings two pairs of paddle switches on the reverse sides of the controller, kind of like the new Steam controller.
Replete with hair trigger buttons with adjustable force levels, the controller will be fully compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 out of the box. And finally, the entire controller's button layout can be customized as you please. Truly a weapon for the Elite gamer, Microsoft wants this to beat the PS4 Dual Shock 4 as the de facto PC gaming controller – at least it looks pretty obvious.
Plants vs. Zombies shuffles out another mascot
Guys, the zombies are cute and all, but this ain't no Disney. EA introduced the sequel to its successful shooter take on the series, Garden Warfare 2, with a giant zombie super hero.
No one laughed, so the skit ended rather quitely. And after a rousing showing of the actually decent-looking new game in action, we moved right on to something more interesting.
Do not be surprised if you see these things roaming the halls of this year's show. Don't encourage them, please?
EA immortalized 'Hoop Gawd' as the new Zordon
The company that makes all of the sports games has to try to make things interesting every year, otherwise the next game would just look realer each year and not much more. Still, EA sometimes goes in odd directions with its ideas that end up looking like – in this case – the MCP from Tron.
EA demoed an app that uses HD face scanning technology to bring your likeness into NBA Live 2016 with the help of Hoop Gawd, the game's community manager. Once his face was on the screen after an iPhone scan, it was all over.
The wrath of Hoop Gawd hovered above the audience of confused journalists, developers, and fans like Big Brother in 1984. Thankfully the wave of awkward subsided a few minutes later, but the enormous face of Hoop Gawd will live on in our nightmares.
Pele held storytime!
This year, in a last ditch effort to make soccer, football, "the beautiful game" more interesting, EA brought Pele on stage to tell tales about his time as the greatest football player that ever lived. Well, the guy's about 75 years old and English is not his first language, so that went about as well as you could expect for an otherwise explosion-packed presser.
After Pele told us how he coined the phrase "the beautiful game," which I still can't recall, the storied veteran of the real FIFA went on to tell more stories that sounded generally unrelated to the new FIFA game. But hey, diehard football and soccer fans got to gush over one of the greats of the sport for 10 minutes, so that's cool I guess. On with the games!
'Never again,' Trey and Matt said
It was little awkward and tense after the latest South Park game, The Fractured But Whole, was shown off at Ubisoft's E3 conference. Famed series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone soon after took the stage, which is when host Aisha Tyler asked what they thought of the news.
"It's OK," one of the them said with little more than a huff, as if they themselves couldn't believe they were there. Frankly, the two looked cautious even on stage after previously saying that they'd never work on a video game again. Short after, the duo began cracking jokes again, but we all remember Trey and Matt's awkward acknowledgment that, yes against their arguably sane selves, they are doing it again.
Remember when Ubisoft tried to create a meme?
This year, we learned one very important, comforting lesson: corporations cannot, now matter how hard they try, make memes happen. But we'll sure as hell watch them try every chance we get for the lulz.
Who you see here is Rick, someone on the Assassin's Creed: Syndicate team dressed up as Jacob Fry, a character from the game. Ubisoft's host, Aisha Tyler, seems to think that this is enough to deem her friend Rick a meme. No, that's cosplay. They're two different things, and everyone knows it.
The only event in which the two internet phenomena have ever crossed paths was the infamous Lightning Bolt video, which is basically the phrase "lightning in a bottle" defined literally.
Ubisoft tried to make lightning strike twice here and hilariously failed in a skit that awkwardly trailed off. Just look at the side eye this dude is getting!
The sole musical performance WASN'T that weird
Too bad it was just 'meh'. Chart topper Jason Derulo lept onto the Ubisoft E3 stage to dance and sing to his latest hit, "Want to Want Me," and ring in the latest Just Dance game.
Frankly, Jason should stick to the studio or learn the art of auto tone. His dance moves are dope though. What was Usher up to this year?
The Last Guardian lives on PS4
Like the coming of the messiah, the gameplay trailer debut of the long-awaited, long-delayed artistic adventure game The Last Guardian was met with a cacophony of claps and cheers. Hell, this game is practically Sony legend, and the company up and started its night of unveilings with this.
It's clear, Sony has mastered the art of the reveal. Is it too much to say that Sony has become the Apple of reveals in the gaming world? Or should we leave that to Oculus?
Morpheus goes multiplayer
Sony wasn't about to stop at surprise announcements like an HD remake of Square Enix's darling Final Fantasy 7 for PS4. No, the company's in the VR business like near everyone else, and you better bet it's out to show off some stuff at E3 2015.
Project Morpheus has gone multiplayer in a new game developed by Guerilla Games's Cambridge studio, Rigs. It's a 3-on-3 mech combat sporting event that players can enjoy using their own Morpheus head-mounted displays in the same room. In fact, Sony will be giving demos of the game on the E3 show floor – and you better bet we'll get our hands on it.
Oh, and be sure to check back tomorrow – Nintendo and Square Enix should not disappoint with the weird.
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E3 2015: Uncharted 4 gameplay trailer steals last spot at Sony keynote
The first day of E3 2015 almost came to a close without a new piece of Uncharted 4 news. Almost.
Sony unveiled even more of Naughty Dog's upcoming PS4 adventure game at its keynote, held at the absolutely massive Los Angeles Memorial Sport Arena.
We saw the first gameplay clip of Uncharted 4 at Sony's PlayStation Experience fan event held last fall, but it wasn't until today that we saw Nathan Drake take to some tropical streets in an all-out firefight.
Since its first showing the game went through a rather serious delay that moved the initial release window from Holiday 2015 to early to the current release date sometime in 2016.
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E3 2015: Here's the trailer for cult classic Shenmue, returning to PS4
The fabled open world adventure game, Shenmue, is finally getting it's long-awaited third entry, so long as it's funded that is.
The sequel to one of the most famous cult classic series will come to PS4 and PC gamers sometime in 2017, so long as it hits its staggering $2 million mark on Kickstarter. Although, I don't expect that to be a big issue, considering the franchise's unwavering following. In fact, as I'm writing this, it already has upwards of $700,000 pledged in less than an hour.
Developer Yu Suzuki seemed enthusiastic and optimistic about the future of Shenmue. We'll keep you posted on Shenmue 3 and its Kickstarter campaign. In the meantime, you can check out its E3 promotional video below.
Keep up with our coverage of E3 2015
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Call of Duty: Black Ops III map packs will come to the PS4 first
After a surprisingly not appearing at Microsoft's press event earlier in the day, it seems Sony has scooped up some exclusive rights with Activition for Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
On the Sony stage we got our first look at the futuristic campaign of Black Ops III. The game puts you in the shoes of an elite squad of cybernetic soldiers compete with robotic arms and high-tech weaponry.
Did we mention this will be the first Call of Duty game that supports full four player co-op. And as always a fully feature multiplayer component though there hasn't been any confirmation of Zombies just yet.
The gameplay demo was situated in a particularly brown battlefield full of mobile, robotic weapons platforms (think turrets on a moving tripod).
In another surprising first, PS4 owners will also be the first to get all the maps in Black Ops III. What's more, those on the Sony platform will also get first dibs on the multiplayer beta rolling out this August.
- There's plenty more to check out from E3 2015
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E3 2015: This is Sony's first Project Morpheus multiplayer game trailer
You might have missed it, but Project Morpheus made a brief cameo at Sony's E3 2015 press conference, and it's coming with a multiplayer surprise.
Previously, the PS4 virtual reality headset has been demoed using immersive single-player experience, but the video game publisher is promising to get your friends and family in on the fun.
"Imagine playing a Morpheus game while four of your friends are inside the same virtual world playing alongside of you with DualShock 4 on the couch," said Andrew House, Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO.
That's going to be a reality on the E3 showfloor, the company promised before unveiling its first Project Morpheus multiplayer game.
Project Morpheus multiplayer games
Rigs, a futuristic 3v3 battle arena game, is going to be at Sony's E3 booth, making it Project Morpheus multiplayer game demo.It beams you into an e-sports like environment where you're controlling mech-like robots. We'll have to check it out ourselves at tomorrow's show.
The promise of being able to have more than just the Project Morpheus player involved in the game makes Sony's VR headset seem more real than ever.
Check back soon to see our impressions of Rigs and if there are any more multiplayer game demos at E3 2015.
- Here's what's new with Oculus Rift
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E3 2015: Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer makes '90s gamers' dreams come true
Ask anyone in their 20s what their favorite Final Fantasy game is and 95% of the time the response will be "Final Fantasy VII."
For years gamers of this generation have been clamoring, begging and even threatening for an HD remake of the quintessential classic and after nearly 20 years since the game's initial release, they'll finally get their wish.
At its E3 2015 press briefing held in Los Angeles, California, Sony showed the audience their first look at the new graphics with a one-minute, fifty-three-second trailer (found below) that depicts Cloud and his ludicrously large blade walking through a busy city street.
The game will launch first on PS4, though it looks like it will come to other systems - presumably Xbox One and PC - sometime after.
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E3 2015: No Man's Sky gameplay demo shows a universe-sized sandbox at E3 2015
No Man's Sky is a race to the center of the universe, and at Sony's E3 2015 press conference, we're finally seeing gameplay video from the indie title.
The scale of the open world game is massive, with the ability to zoom in and out of universes to see what's going on. There's a chance no one has previously ever been to planets you visit.
You can certainly leave you mark on places that are inhabited, of course. Every planet in the game is fully destructible, according to the developer.
No Man's Sky release date soon
The incredible size of No Man's Sky means that it's not ready to launch just yet. Hello Games simply said "we'll announce a release date soon, I promise."
We're holding them to that. It has previously been scheduled for a 2015 release date and a PS4 timed exclusive, but we have to wait for more details following E3 2015.
It's one of the more promising titles from the small studio that made the Joe Danger game series. Scanning alien worlds, like the on-the-fly-named Planet E3, will have to wait.
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E3 2015: Sony's newest PlayStation franchise features female lead and robot animals
We've known for a long time that Guerilla Games was gearing up to work on a new property that wasn't another KillZone and at E3 2015 it's been finally revealed as Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where machines and humans live in a fragile balance, you take on the role of a bow-wielding female hunter named Aloy in a treacherous world filled with mechanical threats.
The game seems to be set up as a third-person open world action game where you as a tribeswoman will explore the ruins of the once great civilization on Earth. Robotic dinosaur-like creatures roam the land and players will have to face off against both prey and predators with a basic bow, plus a few special explosive, electric, and wire-attached arrows.
Horizon has a full day and night cycle and players will explore everything between forests, mountains, and the ruins of the bygone civilization.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is currently in development for the PS4, so far there's no word on a release date.
- Check out the rest of our E3 2015 coverage
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E3 2015: The Last Guardian is finally coming to PS4 in 2016
Gamers, our patience has paid off.
At E3 2015 Sony has given new life to The Last Guardian, an adventure game from Fumito Ueda, the maker of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The game was first shown six years ago, and we haven't stopped thinking about it since.
Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida broke the seal on the stunningly beautiful game by revealing an official gameplay trailer which closes with a simple "2016."
Getting here, to a release date and a platform (it's coming to PS4!), has been a long strange journey. So much so that it largely parallels what we've seen so far of The Last Guardian.
We're going to need details, clearly, but the fact that it's coming and will have the same grandeur and magical ambiance SotC and Ico may have to tied us over until next year.
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E3 2015: The Xbox One is getting a new, faster interface
Microsoft's Phil Spencer teased a new Xbox One user experience on stage at E3 today, and now it appears the first images of the upgraded UI have appeared online.
Offering a significantly cleaner and simpler interface that the current Xbox One dashboard, the new UI is seemingly built for faster access to social aspects of the device.
One click access to sharing and achievements is supplemented by accessing a quick menu of useful features like settings, notifications and your friends lists by double tapping the Xbox button.
Also getting a significant upgrade is Cortana, who will be able to take contextual voice commands via your Kinect, although you'll probably have to dust it off and plug it in first.
Cortana will be able to start a party and invite friends from a single command, or record your gameplay and share it effortlessly.
The new interface is promised to arrive "very soon", so hopefully we'll see it around the same time as Windows 10 arrives next month.
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Updated: 50 best iPhone games 2015
50 best iPhone games 2015: 1-25
1. 80 Days ($4.99/£3.99)
In this decidedly steampunk take on 1872, you must get around the world in 80 days, because Phileas Fogg has a big mouth and last night bet a fortune on doing so. Gameplay involves you as the loyal valet, planning routes, managing your inventory, and making decisions as the story plays out, all while Fogg gripes and drinks, the lazy swine.
Click here to buy 80 Days
2. AG Drive ($3.99/£2.99)
We've been after a decent futuristic racer on the iPhone for some time, but none of them really felt right. AG Drive bucks the trend, echoing Wipeout and F-Zero: breakneck speed is married with pitch-perfect tilt controls and suitably shiny graphics. Also, there's absolutely no IAP, so the only way you're going to win is with mastery and skill.
Click here to buy AG Drive
3. ALONE… ($1.99/£1.49)
There are so many endless survival games for iPhone that we tend to gloss over when a new one appears. ALONE… is different, primarily because it's so brutal. It's one of the few games to take Canabalt's lightning-fast pace – and then ramp it up a notch or 10. Every game becomes an exhilarating adrenaline-fuelled rush through deadly canyons and meteor showers, with you urging your tiny ship on an extra few hundred metres.
Click here to buy ALONE
4. Asphalt 8 (free)
Some time long ago, the gaming gods apparently decreed that racing games should be dull and grey, on grey tracks, with grey controls. Thankfully Gameloft chose to ignore their foolish omniscient notions - along with a large chunk of real-world physics – with Asphalt 8: Airborne. Here, then, you zoom along at ludicrous speeds, drifting for miles through exciting city courses, occasionally being hurled into the air to perform stunts that absolutely aren't acceptable according to the car manufacturer's warranty.
Click here to buy Asphalt 8: Airborne
5. Bean Dreams ($2.99/£2.29)
Bean Dreams is a great example of how a platform game can work on iPhone, but it needs the developer to rethink everything for touch. Here, the hatted bean jumps endlessly, making each level about figuring out a route and timing everything perfectly. Only then can you grab all the fruit, get jump bonuses and feel suitably smug.
Click here to buy Bean Dreams
6. Beat Sneak Bandit (£2.29)
One thumb is plenty when a game's so cleverly designed. Beat Sneak Bandit is part rhythm-action, part platformer and part stealth game, with the titular hero aiming to steal back the world's clocks from the nefarious Duke Clockface. You move on the beat, rebounding off walls, and avoiding guards and alarms. It's clever, charming and brilliant.
Click here to buy Beat Sneak Bandit
7. Bejeweled (free+IAP)
We've lost count of how many gem-swappers exist for iOS, but PopCap's Bejeweled has a long history, its maturity reflected in this iPhone release. Along with a polished standard mode, where you match three or more gems with each swap, there's Diamond Mine (dig into the ground), Butterflies (save insects from spider-ronch doom), and Poker (make 'hands' of gems).
Click here to buy Bejeweled
8. Beyond Ynth (£1.99)
This fantastic platform puzzler stars a bug who's oddly averse to flying. Instead, he gets about 2D levels by rolling around in boxes full of platforms. Beyond Ynth hangs on a quest, but each level forms a devious test, where you must figure out precisely how to reach the end via careful use of boxes, switches and even environmental hazards.
Click here to buy Beyond Ynth
9. Blek ($2.99/£2.49)
Blek is akin to shepherding semi-sentient calligraphy through a series of dexterity tests. Each sparse screen has one or more dots that needs collecting, which is achieved by drawing a squiggle that's then set in motion. To say the game can be opaque is putting it lightly, but as a voyage of discovery, there are few touchscreen games that come close.
Click here to buy Blek
10. Coolson's Pocket Pack (free)
This word puzzler's all about chaining. You drag tiles from the bottom of the well and make short words; do so without swapping any letters from the well's bottom row or the area you create the words and you start amassing huge points. Coolson's Pocket Pack is then a test of nerve, and your ability to not forget every single short word in the dictionary when under pressure.
Click here to download Coolson's Pocket Pack
11. Crossy Road (free)
This endless take on Frogger finds your cuboid character confronting countless deadly roads, train lines and rivers, before inevitable squashage. It's the characters that make the game, though – a varied roster of people, animals and 'things' won using a one-armed bandit, fed with coins collected en route (you can just buy stuff, too, but Crossy Road also lets you earn by watching videos and bestows regular coin top-ups anyway, making it the least obnoxious free-to-play game with IAP imaginable).
Click here to download Crossy Road
12. Dark Nebula 2 HD ($2.99/£1.99)
One of the first titles to truly make use of the iPhone gyro, Dark Nebula was a beautiful tilt-based steampunk adventure and dexterity test, with you leading a strange craft through maze-like levels. Dark Nebula 2 ramped up the beauty and complexity, and the HD reissue added iPad and Retina support. The title still feels fresh and is perfectly suited to mobile, rewarding speed-runs and careful exploration of each level alike.
Click here to buy Dark Nebula 2 HD
13. Device 6 (£2.99)
Device 6 is first and foremost a story — a mystery into which protagonist Anna finds herself propelled. She awakes on an island, but where is she? How did she get there? Why can't she remember anything? The game fuses literature with adventuring, the very words forming corridors you travel along, integrated puzzles being dotted about for you to investigate. It's a truly inspiring experience, an imaginative, ambitious and brilliantly realised creation that showcases how iOS can be the home for something unique and wonderful.
Click here to buy Device 6
14. Doug dug ($1.99/£1.49)
Doug likes to dig, and he's an even bigger fan of bling. You, therefore, must help him go deep underground in Doug dug, unearthing gems and hacking to death any creatures that fancy a dwarf-shaped snack. Danger also lurks in lava that's dotted about and regular cave-ins – the latter of which are caused mostly by you getting a bit too greedy.
Click here to buy Doug dug
15. Drift'n'Drive ($1.99/£1.49)
This overhead vertically scrolling racer is, for the most part, a mad scramble to the finish line. Tiny cars dart about, smashing each other off the road. Higher placement boosts your grid position next time round, and earns you money for upgrades. Maxing out your car and mastering the top difficulty level in Drift'n'Drive takes only a matter of hours, but you'll have a blast doing so.
Click here to buy Drift'n'Drive
16. Drop Wizard ($1.99/£1.99)
Single-screen platformer Drop Wizard is infused with the soul of classics such as Snow Bros. and Bubble Bobble, but it's also part auto-runner. You can only run left or right, and your wizard blasts magic on landing. Strategy, therefore, involves careful timing, to avoid and zap foes, and then kick them into a tumbling combo that will bounce about in a pleasingly destructive manner before turning into fruit. Because that's what vanquished platform-game enemies all did in the 1980s.
Click here to buy Drop Wizard
17. Drop7 (free)
One of mobile's most perfect puzzlers, Drop7 is all about dropping numbered discs into a tiny well. If a disc's face value matches the number of discs in its row or column, it blows up. But every few moves, a row of grey junk pushes up from the bottom of the well. Survival therefore depends on creating combos – well, that and a smattering of maths.
Click here to download Drop7
18. Eliss Infinity (£2.29)
Eliss was the first game to truly take advantage of iOS's multitouch capabilities, with you combining and tearing apart planets to fling into like-coloured and suitably sized wormholes. Eliss Infinity, a semi-sequel, brings the original's levels into glorious Retina and adds a totally bonkers endless mode. Unique, challenging and fun, this is a game that defines the platform.
Click here to buy Eliss Infinity
19. Forget-Me-Not ($1.99/£1.49)
One of the finest arcade games made for any platform, Forget-Me-Not dumps you in procedurally generated mazes. The aim is to eat all the flowers, grab a key and reach the exit without dying. That's easier said than done, given that various critters regularly teleport into the maze, and set about not only attacking you but annihilating each other. Within a minute, the entire screen always erupts into a tiny retro war zone.
Click here to buy Forget-Me-Not
20. FOTONICA ($2.99/£2.29)
Evidence that even the most basic concept can wow when injected with some dazzling beauty, FOTONICA takes Canabalt's basic jump-and-survive gameplay and places it in a wireframe 3D world. The fragmented dream-like environments and floaty gravity mesmerise as the soundtrack slowly worms its way into your skull; the entire experience becomes hypnotic as vector platforms whirl in the distance and you enter 'the zone' to survive each stage.
Click here to buy FOTONICA
21. Frisbee Forever 2 (free)
We were big fans of the original Frisbee Forever, with its Nintendo-like fling-a-plastic-disc about larks. Frisbee Forever 2's essentially more of the same, but prettier, smoother and with wilder locations in which to fly through hoops and collect stars. It's lovely and costs precisely zero pence, so download it.
Click here to download Frisbee Forever 2
22. Gridrunner (Free)
Jeff Minter is a shoot 'em up genius, and his Gridrunner series has a long history, starting out on the VIC-20, at the dawn of home gaming. This update riffs off classic Namco arcade machines but also shoves modern bullet-hell mechanics into a claustrophobic single screen. And in this version's survival mode, you have just one life. Argh!
Click here to download Gridrunner
23. Helix ($2.99/£2.29)
Helix is all about quick thinking within a confined space. Your little craft is fragile and unarmed, but it can eradicate enemies by encircling them. Deft finger work is required to survive even a few waves, and things only get tougher when foes appear that force you to encircle them in a particular direction.
Click here to buy Helix
24. Hitman GO (£3.99)
Square Enix would have been on a hiding to nothing converting its free-roaming 3D game to touchscreens, and so it's great to see the company do something entirely different with Hitman GO. Although still echoing the original series, this touchscreen title is presented as a board game of sorts, with turn-based actions against clockwork opposition. You must figure out your way to the prize, without getting knocked off (the board). It's an oddly adorable take on assassination, and one of the best iOS puzzlers.Click here to buy Hitman GO
25. Icycle ($2.99/£2.29)
Cycling into an imaginative world of madness, Dennis's mission in iCycle is to grab blocks of ice and try very hard not to die. The animated, beautifully conceived environments make survival tough, but even as Dennis is impaled yet again, you'll be dazzled by the Gilliam-esque landscapes he's attempting to work his way through.
Click here to buy Icycle
50 best iPhone games 2015: 26-50
26. Implosion ($9.99/£7.99)
Humans are again getting a kicking at the hands of nasty aliens and it's up to you to stop them. Cliches aside, Implosion offers a stompy slash-and-shoot experience that feels entirely at home on the iPhone but scratches that itch when you fancy playing something that resembles what you'd find on a 'proper' games console.
Click here to buy Implosion
27. Leo's Fortune (£3.99)
Leo's Fortune finds gruff hairball Leo in search of his gold, which has been dropped in a suspiciously trail-like manner across typically platform-game environments. As he scoops up coins, he finds himself whizzing round Sonic-style loops, solving puzzles by manipulating the environment, and negotiating increasingly complex and deadly pathways. It's a beautiful game, full of character, and well-suited to quick bursts on your iPhone.
Click here to buy Leo's Fortune
28. Letterpress (free)
What mad fool welds Boggle to tug o' war Risk-style land-grabbing? The kind who doesn't want anyone to get any work done again, ever, that's who. Letterpress is, simply, the best word game on the App Store. You make words to win points and temporarily 'lock' letters from your opponent by surrounding them. The result is a tense asynchronous two-player game with plenty of last-move wins and general gnashing of teeth when you realise 'qin' is in fact an acceptable word.
Click here to download Letterpress
29. Limbo (£3.99)
A boy awakens in hell, and must work his way through a deadly forest. Gruesome deaths and trial and error gradually lead to progress, as he forces his way deeper into the gloom and greater mystery. Originating on the Xbox, Limbo fares surprisingly well on iOS, with smartly designed controls; and its eerie beauty and intriguing environments remain hypnotic.
Click here to buy Limbo
30. Magnetic Billiards (free)
A game that could have been called Reverse Pool For Show-Offs, Magnetic Billiards lacks pockets. Instead, the aim is to join like-coloured balls that cling together on colliding. Along the way, you get more points for trick shots and 'buzzing' other balls that must otherwise be avoided. 20 diverse tables are provided for free, and many more can be unlocked for $1.99/£1.49.
Click here to download Magnetic Billiards
31. Mikey Hooks ($1.99/£1.49)
If iOS is supposed to be no good for traditional 2D platform games, it's a good job no-one told the developer of Mikey Hooks. The mechanics aren't a million miles away from Nintendo titles starring a certain plumber, but Mikey's also armed with a rope that can attach to hooks dotted about the levels, enabling him to speedily swing to glory. An emphasis on time-attack racing and surprisingly solid controls round out a first-rate title.
Click here to buy Mikey Hooks
32. Monument Valley (£2.99)
In Monument Valley, you journey through delightful Escher-like landscapes, manipulating the very architecture to build impossible paths along which to explore. It's not the most challenging of games (nor one with the most coherent of storylines), but each scene is a gorgeous and mesmerising bite-sized experience that showcases how important great craft is in the best iOS titles.
Click here to buy Monument Valley
33. Need For Speed Most Wanted ($4.99/£3.99)
Racing games are all very well, but too many aim for simulation rather than evoking the glorious feeling of speeding along like a maniac. Most Wanted absolutely nails the fun side of arcade racing, and is reminiscent of classic console title OutRun 2 in enabling you to effortlessly drift for miles. Add to that varied city streets on which to best rivals and avoid (or smash) the cops, and you've a tremendous iOS racer.
Click here to buy Need For Speed Most Wanted
34. Fallout Shelter (free)
In the run up to Fallout 4, Bethesda has launched Fallout Shelter for iOS, in which you create your very own vault and play the role of the Overseer. Inspired by games like SimCity, FTL and XCOM, Fallout Shelter has a surprising amount of depth to explore as you ensure the happiness of your vault-dwellers, expand your vault, and ensuring its safety from intruders. It's free with in-app purchases, but you'll be glad to know there are no time paywalls.
Click here to get Fallout Shelter
35. Osmos (£2.29)
This superb arcade puzzler is at times microscopic and at others galactic in nature, as you use the power of physics and time to move your 'mote' about. Some levels in Osmos are primordial soup, the mote propelled by ejecting bits of itself, all the while aiming to absorb everything around it; elsewhere, motes circle sun-like 'Attractors', and your challenge becomes one of understanding the intersecting trajectories of orbital paths.
Click here to buy Osmos
36. Rayman Fiesta Run (£2.29)
The iOS Rayman games are considered by some to be reductive, overly simplifying console-style platforming to an instant runner with bells on. We instead consider Ubisoft's games distilled: they take the essence of platforming action — running, jumping, timing — and make it truly fit for mobile. Smart, varied level and character design, along with a well-considered unlock mechanism, ensure Rayman Fiesta Run's an iOS classic.
Click here to buy Rayman Fiesta Run
37. Reckless Racing 3 ($2.99/£2.29)
The original Reckless Racing was a superb top-down racer full of character, but the sequel was a hum-drum generic affair. This third title in the series is more like the original, finding tiny cars zooming and drifting about madcap circuits such as a golf course, a mountain village and an abandoned nuclear plant. The physics is a bit floaty, but the game has depth and some amusingly oddball game modes, including a gymkhana.
Click here to buy Reckless Racing 3
38. RGB Express ($2.99/£2.29)
RGB Express is seemingly set in some kind of courier's clockwork hell. Little vans must pick up packages and drop them off, colour-matching vehicles, boxes and buildings where appropriate. To complicate matters, roads can be used only once. What follows is a brain-bending game of route finding as you attempt to grow your tiny delivery company.
Click here to buy RGB Express
39. Ridiculous Fishing (£2.29)
If Ridiculous Fishing is what fishing's really like, we've been missing out all these years. An angular fisherman casts his line into the inky gloom, where you cunningly avoid fish by tilting your device. Snag one and the hero reels the line back in, and you jerk your iPhone from side to side, aiming to catch as many fish as possible. At the surface, the catch is flung into the sky, to be blasted to pieces by powerful weaponry. Longevity's secured by an amusing in-game store and social network parody, along with several fishing spots to visit.
Click here to buy Ridiculous Fishing
40. SpellTower ($1.99/£1.49)
SpellTower is a fantastic word game that starts off easy. You get a grid of letters and remove them by dragging out words. Your only foe is gravity, letters falling into empty space as completed words disappear. But then come new modes, with ferocious timers and numbered letters that won't vanish unless you craft long enough words. And there always seem to be too many Vs!
Click here to buy SpellTower
41. Super Hexagon (£2.29)
Ah, Super Hexagon. We remember that punishing first game, which must have lasted all of three seconds. Much like the next — and the next. But then we recognised patterns in the walls that closed in on our tiny ship, and learned to react and dodge. Then you threw increasingly tough difficulty levels at us, and we've been smitten ever since.
Click here to buy Super Hexagon
42. Super Monsters Ate My Condo (free)
Logic? Pah! Sanity? Pfft! We care not for such things, yells Super Monsters Ate My Condo. It then gets on with turning the match-three genre and Jenga-style tower-building into a relentless time-attack cartoon fest of apartment-munching, explosions, giant tantrums and opera. No, really.
Click here to download Super Monsters Ate My Condo
43. Super Stickman Golf 2 (free)
If you've often thought golf would be much better if it was played on Mars, or in a giant castle, or in dank caverns with glue-like surfaces, Super Stickman Golf 2 is the game for you. Its side-on charms echo Angry Birds in its artillery core, but this is a far smarter and more polished game. It also boasts two equally brilliant but different multiplayer modes: one-on-one asynchronous play and frantic multiplayer racing.
Click here to download Super Stickman Golf 2
44. Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP (£3.99)
Apple's mobile platform has become an unlikely home for traditional point-and-click adventures. Sword & Sworcery has long been a favourite, with its sense of mystery, palpable atmosphere, gorgeous pixel art and evocative soundtrack. Exploratory in nature, this is a true /adventure/ in the real sense of the word, and it's absolutely not to be missed.
Click here to buy Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
45. Threes! ($1.99/£1.49)
Threes! is all about matching numbered cards. 1s and 2s merge to make 3s, and then pairs of identical cards can subsequently be merged, doubling their face value. With each swipe, a new card enters the tiny grid, forcing you to carefully manage your growing collection, and think many moves ahead. The ingenious mix of risk and reward makes it hugely frustrating when you're a fraction from an elusive 1536 card, but so addictive you'll immediately want another go.
Click here to buy Threes!
46. TouchTone ($2.99/£2.29)
There are two sides to TouchTone. The foundation is a topical story about intercepting communications, ostensibly to make the world safer. The game itself involves reflecting signals to receivers, using a tiled grid where every item on a row or column moves as one. The story gives you added impetus to keep going, even when you've been racking your brains for days to come up with a solution to a particular puzzle.
Click here to buy TouchTone
47. Traps n' Gemstones ($4.99/£3.99)
There's some superb level design in this touchscreen take on Metroid, with you helping a tiny explorer bound about a pyramid. There are gems to collect, critters to kill and secret areas to unlock via the magic of cunning object placement. Equally cunning is the scoring mechanism – it resets on every death, unlike progress, which always continues. This means casual gamers can gradually work through the quest while the hardcore aim to get every gem in a single sitting.
Click here to buy Traps n' Gemstones
48. Walking Dead (free)
We do like a good zombie yarn, as long as we're not the subject matter, having just had our brains eaten. Walking Dead successfully jumped from comic to TV screen, and it's just as good in its interactive incarnation. The first part of the story is free, and you can then buy new episodes; if you survive, season 2 is also available.
Click here to download Walking Dead
49. Year Walk (£2.99)
Year Walk preceded the same developer's iOS masterpiece Device 6, but is equally daring. It's a first-person adventure of sorts, with more than a nod towards horror literature and, frankly, the just plain weird. It's unsettling, clever, distinctive and beautifully crafted — another unmissable and original touchscreen creation.
Click here to buy Year Walk
50. Zen Bound 2 (£2.29)
One of the most tactile puzzlers around, Zen Bound 2 doesn't sound terribly exciting, in that you're wrapping sculptures in rope. But the atmosphere and polish combine with a nagging percentage bar, urging you to perfect each level. With no time limit, it's one of the more soothing puzzlers in this round-up, but it also never drifts towards the noodle.
Click here to buy Zen Bound 2
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E3 2015: Rainbow Six: Siege trailer at E3 2015 reveals beta release date
The Rainbow Six: Siege trailer at E3 2015 demands that you get your strategy-loving, Tom Clancy-worshiping team back together a month sooner than the release date.
It turns out that Ubisoft is launching a Rainbow Six: Siege beta on September 24, just ahead of the game's official October 13 release date.
Coming to the Xbox One, PS4 and PC, the first-person tactical shooter naturally looks better than its last generation predecessors. It's partly thanks to its new Anvil game engine.
As you can see in the new Rainbow Six: Siege trailer from E3, the story features actress Angela Bassett as Six, the deputy director of the counter-terrorism unit.
Under the Rainbow, under Siege
What really has us interested in Rainbow Six: Siege is the return of the Terrorist Hunt game type. This is in addition to normal PvP gameplay.Terrorist Hunt places players at the center of a global crisis perpetrated by a menacing terrorist cell, the White Masks, according to Ubisoft.
It's is broken down into four different game modes fit for solo or cooperatively play with up to four additional teammates.
How can you demo all of this and more if you're not at E3 2015 to play Rainbow Six: Siege? Ubisoft says you can sign up on its website for a chance at the beta or pre-order the game for guaranteed access.
- Don't miss: 12 must-see Xbox One games from E3 2015
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E3 2015: Ghost Recon's long nap comes to an end with Wildlands
After a long press conference, Ubisoft pulled one more rabbit out of its hat and revealed Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
Like previous Ghost Recon games, players will take control of an elite military squad on stealth missions. Whereas previous installments had players taking down terrorist cells and rogue military factions, Wildlands will focus on taking down the South American Santa Blanca drug cartel.
The game will also revolve around an open world set in Bolivia allowing players to take on missions however they please rather than following a linear path on a level.
Along with exploring a vast world, players can customize their Ghost Recon agent's individual upgradable skills, along with a vast arsenal of weapons, vehicles and drones.
Anyway you want
"Whether going it alone or teaming up with friends in co-op, players in Ghost Recon Wildlands will never encounter the same situation twice," Nouredine Abboud, Senior Producer said. "[The game will provide] endless possibilities and creative freedom to cultivate very personal stories and experiences with the game."
A tentative release date has yet to be announced yet, but the game will be coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
- Read about all the exciting E3 2015 developments
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Mac Tips: How to send any file with Mail Drop in OS X
Mail Drop was introduced in OS X Yosemite as a way to send large files and attachments via the OS X Mail.app without having to go through any Mail servers. It works by uploading the file to your iCloud account (instead of sending it as an attachment), which in turn gets processed as an attachment on the receiving end without any additional work. To the receiver, this message looks normal, but is delivered in a different fashion.
In order to use Mail Drop, you'll have to attach a 20MB or larger file for Mail to offer up the service for you to use; if you think this is too small (or too large) of a file size limit, then you can change this threshold to use the feature inside of the Terminal.
To begin, quit the Mail app on your Mac, then open the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities). From there, enter the following command:
defaults write com.apple.mail minSizeKB 10000
This command will change the minimum size in Kilobytes for Mail to offer up the use of the service. Here, we've set it to 10MBs (or 10000 KBs). Press return to activate the new setting, then relaunch Mail for the changes to go into effect.
If you ever wish to change Mail Drop back to the original 20MB limit, then quit the Mail app and enter this command into the Terminal, followed by the return key:
defaults write com.apple.mail minSizeKB 20000
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