It’s almost that time of the year again, fall and winter have historically been one of the most anticipated seasons for gamers with the horde of awesome games just hoping to be snatched up for the holiday season, and without further ado, here’s my top 10 list of games to get this year….
1) Destiny (out now) – 360,PS3,XONE,PS4
Destiny has been out for a little under a week and everyone on my friend’s list seems to be playing it. The makers of Halo have successfully the intense and challenging firefights they are known for into this borderlands-esque experience. Destiny allows players to team up in fire teams of 3 players to conquer dungeons, explore caves, and get some epic loot. I will be doing a little review of the game soon, once i’m done and you and look out for it soon.
2) Disney Infinity 2.0 (23rd sept) – 360,PS3,XONE,PS4
I was incredibly exited when the original Disney infinity was released being the gargantuan Disney fan that I am, but something just never clicked with me. The game seemed repetitive and grew boring despite it’s charming visuals and characters. The figures were also giving my wallet a really hard time and it grew harder and harder for me to justify spending $20 on a character on a game I was falling out of love with.
But 2.0 looks like a refreshing breath of life, the game now features the Marvel universe right along side Disney characters and the figures look amazing, not to mention adorable. Characters also have ski8ll trees now and it plays almost like an action RPG. All your 1.0 figures will also work with with the new game INCLUDING the base set. which means you could possibly play 2.0 by just buying a disc copy if you already own 1.0. That’s a huge deal because it just means I have more money to spend on all those supercalifragilisticexpialidocious figures.
3) Shadow Of Mordor (30th Sept) – PC,XONE,PS4
This is the best looking LOTR game to date, you play Talion, a ranger whose family was slaughtered by sauron and the game chronicles your revenge into the heart of mordor in a stealth and action based adventure.
The video shown at E3 really impressed me, I never thought a stealth based LOTR game could really happen. But what was shown proved me wrong. SOM operates on a Nemesis system which generates enemies unique to every playthrough to assassinate. These characters follow a hierarchy and lower ranking enemies can be influenced to spy, assassinate or spread fear of your name around the ranks.
Combat in this game looks super fun as well in a very Batman Arkham Asylum way. It’s a tried and true system, I wouldn’t blame anyone for copying it because it works so well. But I think the option to go all stealth creates a unique gameplay experience. I can’t wait to play this game!
4) Alien Isolation (Oct 7th) – 360,PS3,XONE,PS4,PC
This game looks scary and for Alien fans, the game they’ve all been waiting for. Alien Isolation is pegged as the sequel to the original Alien movie. You play as Ellen Ripley, daughter of Amanda Ripley from alien as you explore a devastated outpost for signs of your missing mother.
The game provides you with rudimentary tools for survival but not so much for combat and the constant threat of the alien stalking you is always around. Dark corridors and empty rooms are now stalking grounds as you try and evade the alien that is ever on the hunt. Besides the alien, there are also other survivors who may or may not be friendly to deal with as you uncover the mysteries in Sevastopol.
5) Dragon Age: Inquisition (Nov 18th) 360,PS3,XONE,PS4,PC
I’m a big fan of the original Dragon Age and this one has me drooling so far. Not only does it look great, but the combat looks exciting and faster than ever before. DA3 is an action RPG with combat happening in real time, you can also choose to pause combat at anytime and issue orders to your team mates to carry out.
The world looks beautiful, and i’m super pumped that it’s open world. What i’m hoping that means is that we’ll get different quests that bring us back to familiar areas with a new context, or decisions that are made changing the landscape of previous areas and of course mounts, which i feel is essential to any open world game, unless you’re demon souls.
6) The Crew (Nov 11th) 360,XONE,PS4,PC
This is an interesting one. It’s touted as a social racing game, a racing mmo where players share the same world. The game seems similar to EA’s latest offerings in Need For Speed: RIvals, where players can challenge each other to races as they pass by, interact with other car factions ie cops vs racers and hunt for hidden routes and secrets.
The crew seems to have a pretty good emphasis on off road racing though, and could be the thing that sets it apart for similar racers. Players can also join crews to complete objectives and compete on a global leaderboard to be the best crew.
7) Assasin’s creed Unity (Nov 11th) – PC,XONE,PS4
This must be the 15th AC game, but the series has always managed to deliver pretty stellar stuff with a few exceptions. Last year’s iteration Black Flag turned out to be one of my favourite games of the year, although the best parts of that game weren’t designed after traditional AC mechanics.
This time, the game will take place in revolutionary France, which is great because I can say i’m researching for my history essay while playing. The game of course looks fantastic, the in game crowd in the E3 video looked like what the original AC had promised but failed to deliver so many years ago.
The gameplay however, looked really similar to other AC games. There’s your climbing stabbing and counter based combat, which seems totally fine and competent, but a little bland and uninspired being the 15th time they’ve done this. It’s like in soccer games when they introduce a new shooting system to “revolutionise” the way you play fifa, then they “revolutionise” it again next year.
The co-op missions however look really interesting and could be great fun to play with. Up to 4 players can work together to infiltrate restricted areas and kill off their targets which could lead to some interesting gameplay moments, although i’m interested to see how the developers will counter the ease of the missions once 4 players are involved.
8) Far Cry 4 (Nov 18th) 360,PS3,XONE,PS4,PC
This game looks bat shit crazy, in other words incredibly fun. You still do the same thing like tackling outposts, but the fundamental feeling of stalking your prey and exploding barrels all around you is just so thrilling. Far Cry 4 also introduces a lot of the late game traversal stuff in 3 like the flight suit earlier so players are more empowered to experiment and do crazier shit.
There’s a cool bait mechanic as well. Instead of throwing rocks to distract enemies, you can throw meat which serves as bait that draws nearby predators into the fray. The game actually spawns these animals whenever you throw it so use them wisely of you might just end up getting mauled yourself.
9) Costume quest 2 (Oct 7th) 360,PS3,XONE,PS4,PC,WIIU
The original Costume Quest came out sometime ago and I absolutely loved it. You go around as 3 kids on halloween trying to collect as much candy as humanly possible while reprising the roles of your costume while battling other “monsters” in turn based combat. Now that’s saying a lot coming from me because I hate turn based RPGs. Too slow for my taste, but CQ is just so charming it makes my heart melt and I could never ever hate it. It may be bare bones turned based combat but it’s not a big budget game like everything else on the list and if it looks good to you, it’ll be well worth your time.
10) Forza Horizon 2 (30th Sept) 360,XONE
Forza Horizon is my favourite racing game of all time. It’s gorgeous, has a great soundtrack, great festival atmosphere and some good old arcade style racing. This isn’t a game for hard core racing sim fans, it’s an arcade racer at it’s core but true to Forza style, you can turn off assists and tweak various settings to get to the realism you want.
This time the game takes place in one of my favourite places in the world, Southern France and Northern Italy, and I’m expecting nothing but greatness from the soundtrack this year. The beauty of Forza Horizon for me was how a non racing fan like me could enjoy it so much too. It was challenging, but the leveling up system was addictive and the adjustable difficulty settings reallyy helped me ease into things.
The Millennial Geek 