Welcome to Team Picks! Team Picks is Press-Start Australia’s monthly feature where members of the team get together to tell you about their most anticipated games of the upcoming month.
Why not join in? Let us know what you’re most looking forward to in the comments!
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – While I never quite managed to finish 1 or 2 despite some surprisingly good gameplay and narrative values, I am definitely excited for what looks like a highlight of 2015 in gaming. Revamped combat+better implementation of magic, climbing, naval, horse mechanics and an open world that looks absolutely staggering and packed to the brim with meaningful and deep side content (no useless fetch quests or arbitrary collect 100 misc items here!), realistic AI, dynamic day/night system, what haven’t I covered?
Oh, and the fact that Geralt grows a beard.
Coupled with the incredibly generous manner of CDProjektRed making most of their DLC free and their fairly steady track record, I have no problem making this a Day One purchase, most likely crippling my PC.
Splatoon – I’m so excited for Splatoon for a number of reasons. Admittedly, I don’t know a whole lot about the game, however I do know that it is a brand new genre for Nintendo. This is their first huge entry into the competitive multiplayer scene. The game looks incredibly fun and colourful however it’ll rely on a constant stream of content to remain fun.
I know that Nintendo are going all out with this game with releasing a line of Amiibo and dedicating a Nintendo Direct in it’s honour. It’s clear that Nintendo are banking on this being a big game for the Wii U.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood – While it might seem superficial, Splatoon is still so far away from me with so many games coming out at the beginning of the month. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is more of what I loved about The New Order. A no holds barred, unapologetically old school shooter.
The fact that it’s being offered at a discount price and yet still reportedly offering content and gameplay longer than several other full priced titles certainly helps too. Bethesda and MachineGames seem to know what they’re doing with this franchise and I just cannot wait to return to the castle again.
Splatoon – I’m so excited for a shooter like this on the WiiU. The world they’ve created for the game seems awesome fun and I’m keen to check out the mechanics as the descriptions sound ridiculously fun. The online modes look fantastic also and I cannot wait to get on board.
The colours are magnificent and the gameplay seems to be perfect to scratch the itch of online shooters with its team modes.
Looks set to become a permanent and colourful fixture in my gaming rotation.
Project: CARS – Never have I been so excited for a racing game.
The quality and effort that has gone into this game is immense, and it has been a long drink between half-decent racing games, especially on the PS4 (my console of choice).
With realistic physics and highly detailed vehicle models, as well as boasting some of the most amazing race tracks around the world, Project CARS seeks not just to be an awesome racing game, but the new benchmark for which all other racing games will set themselves against.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – My excitement for this game is based purely of the showings of the game – all the screenshots, trailers and info – loaded onto the hype train since its announcement. I played probably no more than the opening first hours of The Witcher 2 before it got sidelined but part of me has been craving an open-world fantasy RPG since Skyrim. The game looks simply gorgeous, I just hope the lore and the combat is a little more accessible and cohesive than I found the previous game.
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – I’ve never been the biggest Witcher fan, but everything about Wild Hunt has been simply astounding to me. The sheer scale, visual fidelity and variation in gameplay made this new Witcher appear on my radar a long time ago. I’ve been longing for another fantasy RPG after Dragon Age and it looks like this might be just the game to fill that void.
The past month has been a bit bare when it comes to releases in my opinion, but this summer is kickstarted by the Wild Hunt!
Splatoon – I don’t think Nintendo have truly tested the shooter genre themselves, especially on a competitive level, so I’m excited for Splatoon just to see how Nintendo tackle a new genre.
The colourful artstyle, the music and general theme just look like fun, and after playing it at PAX Aus last year, I’m very excited to play more!
