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!
Yoshi’s Woolly World – I was a huge fan of Kirby’s Epic Yarn. I played the whole thing through with my partner and it was such a beautiful game that was fun from start to finish. Naturally, Yoshi is my favourite Nintendo character so these two things have me immensely excited for this game.
It looks to fix up the minor issues that Kirby’s Epic Yarn had to hopefully result in an even better product. I’m also exciting for Amiibo integration. It’s the first time we’ve seen a differently shaped Amiibo which also has me dangerously excited.
Batman: Arkham Knight – Like the Witcher last month, I have no real reason to be hyped for this game. I haven’t played any of the previous games (despite being a Batman fan) so my excitement is based purely off the promotion the game. The array of characters, the mechanics and the batmobile are, I think, enough to get anyone excited. Hence, I have it pre-ordered.
Batman: Arkham Knight – I could not contain my excitement for this game from the moment it was (finally) announced. Anyone who knows me knows that I live and breathe Batman and the opportunity to jump into an all new adventure under the direction of Rocksteady has me more giddy than a child at Christmas.
Three delays has not dampened my excitement but it has made me cautious of a few points such as the tank sections of the Batmobile but none the less I believe in Rocksteady and can wait to see what they do in this final chapter. It looks absolutely remarkable.
Batman: Arkham Knight – My hype for this game has been a roller coaster – one minute I can not contain my excitement and then the next I forget it’s even coming out. That may be because of the fact I’ve never played any of the other Batman games, however, I do find that every time I watch a bit of gameplay or a new trailer for Arkham Knight I’m always impressed by how it looks and the kind of gameplay it includes. Who wouldn’t want to sink some hours into an open world environment as the caped crusader?!
With that said though, I’m interested to experience exactly what the feel of this game is like, and in particular the Batmobile gameplay – apart from launching myself out of a speeding car and soaring into the night sky, so far the vehicle missions don’t look too engaging or different to what we’ve seen in other action/adventure games.
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition – I typically hate the tendency for developers to constantly rehash and remake their older products for newer consoles, but with Devil May Cry 4, I’m willing to make an exception for a few reasons. The more simple reason is that I haven’t played Devil May Cry 4 for years since it released back in 2008. The second reason is, really, what all remasters and re-issues should be all about.
And that’s new content! Not only is the game featuring new cutscenes that explain a few characters stories in the Devil May Cry universe, but it features three brand new playable characters too! Vergil is a series mainstay, as is Trish. And both of them have new and unique play styles. But Lady, who is playable for the first time ever, fights only with guns. And that’s an intriguing concept for a hardcore action game fan like myself. I’m excited to see how they all play and to discover their playstyles for myself.
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition – I lost myself in Payday 2 from the get go purely because of how familiar it felt to play and how easy it was to pick up everything from day one. It looked, felt and sounded amazing on the 360 and I can already tell it’ll be ten times better on the new generation of consoles especially with all the downloadable content that has been released that I previously was unable to obtain on the previous generation of consoles.
It was an awesome game to play with a group of friends and it’ll be the same once again on the new generation of consoles.
Batman: Arkham Knight – Paint me cautiously optimistic for the final installment of the Arkham universe. It looks like a complete hodge-podge of genres that looks completely unfocused, but the presentation looks gorgeous and I’m hoping the freeflow combat does enough to engage me into seeing it to the bitter end. But the car combat doesn’t interest me at all (Riddler challenge race tracks? Really?) and it feels like a mish mash of different genres. Give me a mediocre Asylum over this open world any day.
Regardless, I’m excited to see how they end the Arkham series. If the gameplay won’t hold up, I’m hoping the narrative will be satisfying enough to warrant a successful finale for our beloved Dark Knight.
LEGO Jurassic World – Anyone who’s anyone has played around with either dinosaurs or Lego at some point in their life; and lets face it, until Lego Dimensions comes out, this is the closest we get to playing around with Lego dinosaurs short of buying all the sets. With the impending release of the new Jurassic World movie, players will be able to play through missions from all four Jurassic Park movies.
With Traveller’s Tales at the helm, Lego Jurassic World aims to be one of another wonderful Lego games in a long series of games.
