2017 in silly back page jokes

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"It was deadline and we were all very tired…"

October 2017: Hellblade (Sort Of) 

Samuel: The design just buries the joke. I came up with 'if the pope beats you up in Assassin's Creed 2, the pope beats you up in real life', and it became whatever this is. 

Phil: I think my favourite thing about this is that John couldn't bring himself to use Comic Sans, even for the bit that explicitly references Comic Sans. Yeah, this doesn't work, but I remain happy with my Euro Truck joke, almost despite myself.

November 2017: XCOM 2

Samuel: I like this one. Firaxis basically built a tool to create back page jokes, and damn, we used it. I enjoyed getting one more shot in against Dota 2, a game I hated playing and a phenomenon I'll never understand. An easy back page, perhaps, but not a bad one at all.

Tom: Ten minutes in the XCOM 2: War of the Chosen poster creator well spent, and it kinda ties into a boxout I did for the review earlier in the issue that summed up the team’s performance in my campaign. My legs are not that well toned IRL.

Samuel: I dunno, Tom, I've shared a hotel room with you. I've seen them.

December 2017: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

Phil: This one isn't very good, but it's also not obviously disastrous. Perhaps the year's most mediocre All Over? You're welcome, everybody.

Pip: This was the first one I have to claim partial responsibility for, I think? I’m sad we had to cut my best joke because of image licensing. Pulp Fiction: The Videogame... “They call it a battle royale with cheese”...

Phil: It would have been the best joke on the page, but also means Quentin Tarantino would now own the magazine.

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