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Europa Shows Off Insane Moon Driving, Contemplation

I don't actually own any radars, but if I did, I'm pretty sure one of them would be going haywire right now in Europa's general direction. I mean, it's sending off so many rapturously joyous signals. Moon signals. First, it billed itself as somewhat akin to Fallout 3, but - much as I exude passionate (and potentially deadly) affection radiation for Bethesda's re-invention of Black Isle's opus - I'm actually really happy to see Europa taking on an identity all its own. The setting, especially, seems to really be moving it in new directions - which is something that I suppose tends to happen when gravity's not in the equation. Case in point: cars. Watch one tumble off mountains in a distinctly Just-Cause-2-like fashion after the break. And then shift gears entirely to take a long, atmosphere-rich gaze at Jupiter.

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Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I really do appreciate it when exploration/story-based games make movement a complete joy, though. It can mean the difference between a series of high points stitched together by agonizingly tedious lows and a glorious triumph of moment-to-moment goodness. Also, I might have an entire file folder dedicated to screenshots of me driving off mountains in Just Cause 2. So maybe I'm a bit biased on this one.

And now, Jupiter.

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Admittedly, the music - which does not belong to Quick Fingers - added a lot to that one, but I'm still impressed by how much effort is clearly going into such a small aspect of the game. Honestly, I wouldn't mind replicating that video sans-time-lapse - just taking it all in for myself. But maybe that's just my space obsession talking.

Regardless, Europa's looking extremely enticing - which is doubly impressive given that it's the work of just one person. It remains to be seen whether that lends cohesion to a project of this scope or riddles it with holes that a single human being can't quite muster the time to fill in, but - either way - this one's well worth keeping an eye on.

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Nathan Grayson: Nathan wrote news for RPS between 2012-2014, and continues to be the only American that's been a full-time member of staff. He's also written for a wide variety of places, including IGN, PC Gamer, VG247 and Kotaku, and now runs his own independent journalism site Aftermath.
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