Games to Watch Out For Part 2: More of 2015
At the end of 2013, so many of us were convinced that 2014 would be one of the greatest years in gaming ever. We expected (but never got): Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV (the crazies did at least), The Division, The Order, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Batman: Arkham Knight. As those games were delayed, we put our hopes in titles like Destiny--which fell far short of the goal we wanted from them.
But as we push forward into 2015, we've already had a fairly good year, with titles like Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Majora's Mask, and now Bloodborne--and we've got a fairly great year to come as I discussed yesterday. But surprisingly, I didn't actually get a chance to finish all of the great games coming out in 2015 yesterday, so let's give it another go!
Quantum Break: As someone who spent all of his teen and pre-teen years as a Sony fanboy, Xbox has never really been on my radar before. But as of late its first-party offerings and the exclusives they've been nabbing have really been grabbing my attention. So it is with Remedy Entertainment's Quantum Break, a game about a group of characters with the ability to manipulate time.
It's a pretty oft-used gimmick in video games, but for me it also happens to be one that doesn't really get old. Time control is one the coolest powers ever, and video games can do so much with the concept that I don't really feel we've hit the limit with it just yet. The only question is will this really hit store shelves before the end of the year.
Release Date: 2015.
Tom Clancy's The Division: At first glance, The Division isn't exactly something that I found all that interesting--with its dystopian setting and multiplayer focus, but when you look deeper, you find something with so much more potential.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is a story-based title focusing on character progression, where you work with your friends in groups to push back the darkness and save the city of New York from the aftermath of the Black Friday plague. Obviously Bungie's sci-fi epic and all its faults are a dark pall that loom large over this title, but I think a large part of what held that game back was its unrealistic scale combined with being held back by last-gen's hardware. This game didn't promise the moon (and the rest of the solar system, for that matter), just New York City, and it's a current-gen only title. I'm thinking both of these facts are going to make a major difference.
The only question is, will coming out in 2015 be a good idea for the game, considering last year one of the developer's thought that was an "optimistic" target. The last thing this generation needs is more games that are broken at launch. And Ubisoft doesn't need anymore bad press, either--so its a possibility this might see release in 2016 instead.
Release Date: Fall 2015?
Star Fox: One of my favorite Nintendo franchises of all time, the new Star Fox is a bit of a mystery. It premiered to some select journalists at E3, but Nintendo has yet to show any actual game play to its fans yet. As far as the information we've heard...I don't really know what to make of it. A lot of it sounds like Nintendo being Nintendo--IE, "be weird 'cause it makes us look creative/unique". We know the game will use both the television screen for the game itself, and the Wii U GamePad for not only a "cockpit view" of the Arwing, but as a way to aim weapons, which hopefully sounds more complex than it is.
As I understand it, Miyamoto took inspiration from the old "Thunderbirds" series, saying that missions would be episodic in nature and would allow for a variety of mecha and vehicles based on the mission at the time. It certainly sounds different from anything on the market right now, but without having played it or having seen any game play, its pretty hard to tell whether its a "good" different. I do know Miyamoto also said he was working with an external developer, and intended to get the game out within the year--so presumably sometime between the last E3 and this one.
In other words, if they're still on target with that, expect to see Star Fox in the next Nintendo Direct.
Release Date: 2015.
Fire Emblem If: So the next entry in Nintendo's tactical RPG franchise, Fire Emblem If, isn't the grand return to main consoles I was hoping for. In fact, it's entirely possible the mainline franchise may end up portable-only for the near future due to the widespread popularity of Awakening.
But that's okay, because Intelligent System's newest game still looks fantastic, with what looks like a war between an East and Western-styled armies. We barely know anything about this game, save that it's coming to the new 3DS before the end of the year in Japan, so there's a strong possibility this will be one of the n3DS' first big games of 2016. Or at least, I hope, as there really isn't much else coming out at the moment to satisfy a tactical RPG fan's craving.
Release Date: 2015. (In Japan, at least.)
Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem: Fire Emblem proper might not be on Nintendo consoles right now, but hopefully this title from Atlus will come close enough. Pairing one of their most popular franchises with Nintendo's most well-known RPG series, we haven't heard much of anything about SMT x Fire Emblem since its initial reveal, save that it still exists--though with the information drought we've had, fans are beginning to believe the opposite.
Either way, it's difficult to be excited about this game when all we have is exactly what we had when it was first revealed: a single image and a trailer of character shots cut together. Still, with E3 soon to come perhaps we'll hear more about it then?
Release Date: 2015?
Star Wars: Battlefront: This is at the tail end of the article primarily because I have no information about this game other than, "we want old-school Battlefront fans to be happy", which basically means it'll be a shooter game capable of doing third and first-person modes, and that's just about it. It's a paltry amount of information for a game scheduled for this fall, and its not nearly enough to guarantee my interest.
At EA's largely embarrassing E3 press conference last year, we got to see a small amount of concept work for this game and the game itself will likely be breathtaking visually, but since then they've maintained an odd radio silence. Fortunately, we'll finally be hearing more about this title later next month at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California.
Release Date: 2015.
And, I think that's about it for 2015 titles. Obviously it isn't comprehensive by any means--not the least of which because we're still three months out from E3, where any number of titles can be announced for the latter half of the year. Tomorrow, we move on to the major games of 2016 and beyond, and things get...weird.
But as we push forward into 2015, we've already had a fairly good year, with titles like Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Majora's Mask, and now Bloodborne--and we've got a fairly great year to come as I discussed yesterday. But surprisingly, I didn't actually get a chance to finish all of the great games coming out in 2015 yesterday, so let's give it another go!
It's a pretty oft-used gimmick in video games, but for me it also happens to be one that doesn't really get old. Time control is one the coolest powers ever, and video games can do so much with the concept that I don't really feel we've hit the limit with it just yet. The only question is will this really hit store shelves before the end of the year.
Release Date: 2015.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is a story-based title focusing on character progression, where you work with your friends in groups to push back the darkness and save the city of New York from the aftermath of the Black Friday plague. Obviously Bungie's sci-fi epic and all its faults are a dark pall that loom large over this title, but I think a large part of what held that game back was its unrealistic scale combined with being held back by last-gen's hardware. This game didn't promise the moon (and the rest of the solar system, for that matter), just New York City, and it's a current-gen only title. I'm thinking both of these facts are going to make a major difference.
The only question is, will coming out in 2015 be a good idea for the game, considering last year one of the developer's thought that was an "optimistic" target. The last thing this generation needs is more games that are broken at launch. And Ubisoft doesn't need anymore bad press, either--so its a possibility this might see release in 2016 instead.
Release Date: Fall 2015?
Star Fox: One of my favorite Nintendo franchises of all time, the new Star Fox is a bit of a mystery. It premiered to some select journalists at E3, but Nintendo has yet to show any actual game play to its fans yet. As far as the information we've heard...I don't really know what to make of it. A lot of it sounds like Nintendo being Nintendo--IE, "be weird 'cause it makes us look creative/unique". We know the game will use both the television screen for the game itself, and the Wii U GamePad for not only a "cockpit view" of the Arwing, but as a way to aim weapons, which hopefully sounds more complex than it is.
As I understand it, Miyamoto took inspiration from the old "Thunderbirds" series, saying that missions would be episodic in nature and would allow for a variety of mecha and vehicles based on the mission at the time. It certainly sounds different from anything on the market right now, but without having played it or having seen any game play, its pretty hard to tell whether its a "good" different. I do know Miyamoto also said he was working with an external developer, and intended to get the game out within the year--so presumably sometime between the last E3 and this one.
In other words, if they're still on target with that, expect to see Star Fox in the next Nintendo Direct.
Release Date: 2015.
Fire Emblem If: So the next entry in Nintendo's tactical RPG franchise, Fire Emblem If, isn't the grand return to main consoles I was hoping for. In fact, it's entirely possible the mainline franchise may end up portable-only for the near future due to the widespread popularity of Awakening.
But that's okay, because Intelligent System's newest game still looks fantastic, with what looks like a war between an East and Western-styled armies. We barely know anything about this game, save that it's coming to the new 3DS before the end of the year in Japan, so there's a strong possibility this will be one of the n3DS' first big games of 2016. Or at least, I hope, as there really isn't much else coming out at the moment to satisfy a tactical RPG fan's craving.
Release Date: 2015. (In Japan, at least.)
Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem: Fire Emblem proper might not be on Nintendo consoles right now, but hopefully this title from Atlus will come close enough. Pairing one of their most popular franchises with Nintendo's most well-known RPG series, we haven't heard much of anything about SMT x Fire Emblem since its initial reveal, save that it still exists--though with the information drought we've had, fans are beginning to believe the opposite.
Either way, it's difficult to be excited about this game when all we have is exactly what we had when it was first revealed: a single image and a trailer of character shots cut together. Still, with E3 soon to come perhaps we'll hear more about it then?
Release Date: 2015?
Star Wars: Battlefront: This is at the tail end of the article primarily because I have no information about this game other than, "we want old-school Battlefront fans to be happy", which basically means it'll be a shooter game capable of doing third and first-person modes, and that's just about it. It's a paltry amount of information for a game scheduled for this fall, and its not nearly enough to guarantee my interest.
At EA's largely embarrassing E3 press conference last year, we got to see a small amount of concept work for this game and the game itself will likely be breathtaking visually, but since then they've maintained an odd radio silence. Fortunately, we'll finally be hearing more about this title later next month at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California.
Release Date: 2015.
And, I think that's about it for 2015 titles. Obviously it isn't comprehensive by any means--not the least of which because we're still three months out from E3, where any number of titles can be announced for the latter half of the year. Tomorrow, we move on to the major games of 2016 and beyond, and things get...weird.
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