Team Picks is our monthly feature where members of the team get together to tell you about their most anticipated games of the upcoming month.
Wolfenstein: The New Order – I’ve got to be pretty honest – I’ve never been a Wolfenstein fan nor have I been a huge fan of first person shooters, or at least, first person shooters that don’t dare to do things a little bit differently. So this begs the question – why would I be looking forward to New Order? Well, it seems to be at least attempting to do things a little bit differently. Yes, it’s a shooter that takes place during a period of war and chaos, but it’s similarities to most other shooters seems to end there.
The developers promise that New Order will have good pacing – and many videos available online right now imply that’s how things might play out. There won’t be mindless shootouts separated by narrow corridors – but New Order allegedly offers both stealthy and balls-to-the-walls action approaches to progression. There’s also alleged to be a plethora of secrets hidden throughout all the levels, which is a great callback to the original Doom and Wolfenstein games too. There’s even rumours that some light horror elements will be incorporate into the campaign too, and I’m never one to knock back some good horror.
On a more superficial note, The New Order runs at 60fps and 1080p on both the Xbox One and PS4 (and of course, PC) too. The New Order also seems to earn its R18+ rating as well, as it doesn’t shy away from blood and gore. And then the cherry on top – it’s developed by MachineGames, a Swedish team comprised of ex-Starbreeze employees, who are the great guys who brought us The Darkness, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and the Syndicate reboot.
Transistor – As much as I want to choose Drakengard 3 or Watch_Dogs, I can’t overlook Supergiant’s next game, Transistor. Supergiant is the team behind Bastion, one of my favourite ARPGs in recent memory. Supergiant did a very different take on fantasy in Bastion, and I can’t wait to see how they tackle the sci-fi genre. When it comes to how the game actually plays, I’ve been trying to avoid as much news as I can. Supergiant is a team that seems to have a very good design philosophy, and I have complete faith in them that I will get an engaging game; from beginning to end.
Mario Kart 8 – My pick will have to be Mario Kart 8. As a kid I always loved playing Mario Kart with my friends and we always had a blast. As I got older we continued to play Mario Kart and continued to be terrible at it but that never stopped us. It has to be one of the most entertaining party games you can get. Now all the memories can finally be relived in HD glory!
Watch_Dogs – It is the sole reason I originally pre-ordered my PS4 which left me pretty disappointed when it was delayed and wouldn’t make it to the launch of the new consoles. Over the months since the delay there has been some controversy with the game, the biggest being the massive downgrade in the visuals very suddenly from what we believed were shots and trailers from the new generation’s consoles.
I will be happy to forgive all of that if the game lives up to its ambition of creating a totally immersive open world and manages to pull off all of the unique elements seamlessly that have had people interested from day one.
Transistor – Bastion is, to date, the best digital game I’ve played in my short life. It was a triumph in all areas, with a story delivered through note-perfect narration and a unique, fantastical art style; it had the look of a storybook made for young adults. It put Supergiant Games on the map and helped usher in the digital revolution.
More than anything, Bastion was a statement that you didn’t need a huge budget and thousands of employees to craft tier-one experiences.
Their second title, Transistor, looks to, again, carry the flag forward for digital distribution and it’s the first game releasing for the PlayStation 4 that looks like it could potentially have system selling potential. Making use of the odd, isometric viewpoint Bastion had, Transistor follows young singer Red as she’s hunted by The Process after a powerful, intelligent sword known as “The Transistor” falls into her control. Even with all of the exciting things the game is coming to bring to the table, I’m most excited about the return of Darren Korb, who put himself on the radar after his Bastion score went gangbusters.
Watch_Dogs – The hype train has died down so much for this game, it’s really depressing. I’m just trying to remember how that E3 trailer wowed me so much when I first saw it. I wanna enjoy this game, I really do, so I’ll go in the game with a positive mind. The delay threw us all off, but I still believe in my heart that it was just to make the game better. Please Adam, don’t end up being a hack.
The Amazing Spiderman 2 – I’m a super hero nut through and through. Although movie tie-in games generally aren’t that great, I’m hoping that the second round of being the “Web-head” will be everything it’s pumped up to be.
Watch_Dogs – Delays and graphical controversy aside, Watch_Dogs looks not only incredibly ambitious but the potential start of yet another robust Ubisoft franchise. The recently announced multiplayer modes have my interest piqued, especially given the feeling that you’re actually being followed when playing, and I hope the single player story nails the feeling of a not too distant future where technology controls the world whilst providing an interesting narrative and protagonist.
Mario Kart 8 – Mario Kart is a franchise that I associate with my childhood. I still remember countless all-nighters with family playing Mario Kart 64 in school holidays. Mario Kart 8 looks to take the franchise to a new level. Showcasing high definition graphics that look better than anything other Nintendo game and the brand new anti-gravity sections look to make Mario Kart 8 the best iteration yet.
The retro level choices look superb and what i’ve seem from the new levels look exciting as well. I can’t wait to see how the game approaches the online space. I’m hoping that it’s more advanced than what was on the Wii U.
Watch_Dogs – Everyone is so hyped for this game, even though said hype has died down considerably since E3 last year. Like Diego mentioned, I really want to enjoy this game but the constant delays have hindered potential players of the game in regards to them getting it into their hot little hands. The wait is pretty much over now and it’s safe to assume that it will most definitely not get delayed further, which means we can all finally play Watch_Dogs, the game that blew everyone away and I know people are really going to enjoy and it’s obvious to me it’s going to be a game that people will talk about for years to come.
Wolfenstein: The New Order – Wolfenstein. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the drop of this game for what seems an eternity now, I’ve always been a Wolfenstein fan and with every trailer and image I see I get more hyped up to get my hands on it. The game itself looks amazing and I can’t wait to get deep into the story of it all. I can already tell it’s going to be a great release.
