Just last week, this writer reflected upon his favourite games from the first half of 2013. While there were some great games already available to play, there are some stellar ones coming out in the next six months. The summer is definitely slow on releases, but the holiday season sure makes up for the slack. There are the regulars like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed that rake in the big bucks yet are losing traction with more gamers with each yearly release. The most exciting new releases of the upcoming months are sequels that have not been diluted by a yearly release schedule or brand new experiences that uses new interesting ideas to grasp our attention and money. Here is this writer’s list of his most anticipated games of this Summer and Fall.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Splinter Cell: Conviction was one of the games that this writer bought an Xbox 360 just to play. While some of the Splinter Cell hardcore were not fond with Sam Fisher’s new direction, yours truly found Conviction unbelievably fun. The stealth was smooth, the guns felt great and the Mark and Execute system made clearing a room of enemies such an adrenaline pumping experience. With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto looks to expand on what made Conviction so much fun with the Killing in Motion system. Killing in Motion allows Sam to string together stealth kills with the Mark and Execute moves in one fluid motion. Along with an interconnected campaign that allows you to access both single and multiplayer levels from the same mobile base and the return of the Mercs vs. Spies multiplayer mode, Blacklist is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the Summer.
Rayman Legends
Ubisoft broke many hearts with the seven-month delay of Rayman Legends and the loss of Wii U exclusivity. The thought of Ubisoft’s betrayal still stings, but this French publisher has at least made an effort to mend the bridges they burnt with the free Challenge App on Wii , which gives early access to Legend’s multiplayer Challenge mode. There are both weekly and daily challenges in various difficulty levels to complete and earn trophies in order to increase your Awesomeness level. Having this leaderboard-focused multiplayer mode along with an incredible single-player should easily keep Legends stuck in many disc drives for months after release.
The Wonderful 101
Put the vast number of controllable units from a game like Pikmin with the B-movie superhero hijacks of Viewtiful Joe and the result would be Platinum’s Wonderful 101. The first game in Nintendo’s exclusive deal with this extraordinary Japanese developer, The Wonderful 101 has the player taking control of one hundred different superheroes much like Captain Olimar controls Pikmin. While it is neat to control the entire horde of little heroes, Wonderful 101’s hook comes from all the various ways you can use these heroes' Unite powers, which are activated these by drawing a different symbols on the Gamepad’s touch screen. These Unite powers allow these heroes to form into either a ladder, a sword or even a giant fist. Each of these Unite powers can be used to interact with the environment or fight off all the enemies that stand in your way. The Wonderful 101 looks to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership that this writer hopes to see continue in the years to come.
Watch Dogs
Chicago is your playground and weapon. In the world of Watch Dogs, the Windy City is in the palm of your hands and you are free to do whatever you want with it. Hacking into the city’s systems to spy on strangers, evade the law, complete your agenda and cause as much chaos as humanly possible are some of the activities you can get up to in Watch Dogs. Funny enough those activities are only the tip of the iceberg in this open-world. Watch Dogs immerses the player with multiplayer that seamlessly integrates with the single-player campaign. No need to log into a separate lobby to play with others, just have to be connected to the internet or playing on the companion app for iOS and Android platforms. The potential of Ubisoft Montreal’s newest venture is limitless, which has this writer and many others excited.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
It has been ages since Nintendo has delivered a proper top-down Zelda adventure to gamers. The announcement of true return to the top down format with A Link Between Worlds left many including yours truly weeping tears of joy. On top of the return of the top-down perspective, A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, a game among the top echelon of the Legend of Zelda series. The brand new mechanic in A Link Between Worlds is Link’s ability to merge with the wall as a painting. This mechanic opens up the door for some unique platforming-like puzzles for the developers at Nintendo to test gamers with. Much of the game is still under wraps by the Big N, but what has been shown so far looks very promising. No matter what, A Link Between Worlds should be a stellar game to wrap up the 3DS’s phenomenal year.
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