Sunday 13 April 2014

Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2014

Most Anticipating Games of 2014

2014 looks a very promising year for games. The switch to a new generation of consoles means there are plenty of new and hopefully great games on their way. To celebrate this is a list for the games that to me look the most promising and exciting in the coming year. Here are some honorable mentions:

Total War: Arena: The idea of a free to play Total War game certainly intrigues me, but I'm not convinced it can be pulled off after some recent lackluster games from the once brilliant series.
Driveclub: A promising looking racer that seems to have been forgotten behind other future racers, still not sure about the social aspects though.
The Order: 1886: The premise behind the game looks interesting but the hype generated has been poor with virtually no content to show.
Mario Kart 8: It's another Mario Kart, we already know it will be great.

#10 Super Smash Bros. (Q3 2014) (3DS, Wii U)

A series that keeps going from strength to strength and the latest entry looks just as good as the brilliant Brawl. All this entry is trying to do is expand on an already excellent franchise and it probably will do just that. My only real concern is the lack of characters, a feature that has always attracted me to previous games. I think the current confirmed roster is too small, there are some welcome additions but the number of notable absentees is too great in my opinion. However, the actual game itself looks predictably hectic and awesome.

#9 The Crew (Q3 2014) (PC, PS4, One)

A debut game from Ubisoft's new studio, Ivory Tower, who are French, although they have previously worked on titles in the Need For Speed and Test Drive franchise, which were subsequently ruined by them. This is probably a very risky entrant, the promos look brilliant but I can't help feeling the developer and publisher are too inexperienced at making great games in the genre for this game to play very well, I mean Ubisoft aren't renowned in the racing genre.

However, on paper this game looks amazing, the statistic are absolutely mind-blowing. The game is open world and set in America, yes that's the whole United States, and crossing the map will take 90 minutes to cross with zero in game loading screens, that figure absolutely shocks me, it almost seems too good to be true, and to be honest it probably is. But at the moment this game looks like a game that I can't wait to get my hands on in 2014.


#8 Alien: Isolation (Oct 2014) (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, One)

Oh we've been down this road before, and this is a chance for Sega to prove me wrong. Who can forget the last Alien game, absolutely dreadful, and it looked so promising. However this time Sega are back for more, and this time they've bought with them The Creative Assembly, which is exciting, although The Creative Assembly haven't really made a truly great game for a number of years now, I think the last was Medieval II Total War from back in 2006. Since then the developer have just settled for making good games and so I'm hoping this is a breath of fresh air for them that will reignite the spark that made them great, how they will deal with a horror game is another matter but I'm willing to give them a chance.

Relatively little has been shown of the actual gameplay footage, all we've had is a little trailer, but a very good trailer that definitely has me hyped. The game apparently revolves around a horror set up with the player being unable to kill Xenomorphs, which I have to admit I rather like, it sticks to the original plot of the Alien franchise, something I've been wanting from an Alien game for quite some time now. I know I have said this all before, but this time I genuinely think we have a worthy Alien game in the works.

#7 Halo 5 (Q4 2014) (One)

This technically hasn't got a release date and relatively little is known about it, but I still can't help but feel excited for the next title in a fantastic series. This really could be Microsoft's trump card when it comes to the war over consoles.

#6 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Q4 2014) (PC, PS4, One)

You know a fantasy RPG looks amazing when even I get excited about it. I have never really been a fan of the fantasy RPG genre but even I will admit that this open world next gen title looks even better than Skyrim. That last statement may sound like blasphemy for fans of the genre, but does Skyrim have a dynamic open world which is affected by the players actions, does it have a visually stunning and fluid engine, and does Skyrim have no loading screens. The answer to those questions should be no.

This game seems to be on a scale that outmatches every other, the open world is claimed to be the largest in gaming history, apparently 30 times bigger than its predecessor, and 20% larger than Skyrim. Whether this will be a good map is another question, I really do hope it isn't dull and boring with locations scarce and limited, but I really don't think so with an estimated completion time of 100 hours and awesome looking trailers highlighting the scale of what could be a great game.

#5 The Elder Scrolls Online (June 2014) (PC, PS4, One)

While this game has already been released on the PC it is the console version I'm most looking forward to, never has an MMO of this scale been attempted on consoles and I'm interested to see how the features from the PC will be imported into the different versions. Now MMOs are almost certainly the future of gaming, you will see a few more featured in my list, and so what excites me most about this game is not just that it's another entry in the brilliant Elder Scrolls franchise but that it has gone for a unique route into the world of online gaming. In fact this game actually plays like a traditional Elder Scrolls game, just with other fellow gamers. The emphasis is on exploring the vast world through random quests and set storylines rather than just being a boring, money grabbing MMO.

The setting will be 1000 years before Skyrim and the storyline will be based around the battle for the crown of Tamriel. Yes that's the whole of Tamriel, not just one province, I mean Skyrim was huge and that's just one province. Having said this apparently some areas will be DLC and addons, which does give me the feeling that this game has a very high chance of being ruined by microtransactions which would be a great shame, especially with a series as good as The Elder Scrolls. 

#4 Titanfall (March 2014) (PC, 360, One)

Ok, so this one has already been released as well, but I haven't got my hands on it yet. I won't say much for now as a review will be coming shortly, but I think this game is the breath of fresh air that the FPS genre desperately needs and it looks a very enjoyable and fast paced game.

#3 Destiny (September 2014) (PS3, PS4, 360, One)

This game has certainly got a lot of hype, which is expected with every Bungie game, especially after their stellar run with the Halo series, although Halo wasn't quite on the epic scale of this game. I think most of the excitement that has been generated from this game has come from Bungie keeping their cards close to their chest. We understand it will be an MMO, although not really, as it involves on the fly matchmaking instead of one shared server. My brain cannot comprehend the power of the server needed for this, millions of random games will be made every minute, and Bungie say that many random events will occur that weren't planned by the developer, if this works then the game will be mind-blowing. My only real concern is that in 10 years will there be enough players for this random matchmaking, will the game deteriorate with time?  

#2 Watch Dogs (May 2014) (PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, 360, One)

Although I am getting slightly frustrated with the development mishaps I still haven't forgot the first time I saw the trailer 2 years ago at E3, I mean it came out of absolutely nowhere and I still think it's an incredible idea to this very day. Unfortunately because Ubisoft are French they can't keep a secret and so we pretty much know everything about what will be in the game, it still hasn't stopped me from being very excited, I do think if it lives up to its potential it will be one of the games of the year.

I think what attracted to me this game in the first place was the brilliant premise, controlling the electronics of a city is such a brilliant idea and so many great features can then be crafted from it. Some of these features include being able to join other people's games without them knowing and hack their data. This game could be excellent, and I really hope it is, it's certainly a good idea. My only worry is that Ubisoft will ruin the story like they have with their other good ideas in recent history, just don't make the protagonist an insufferable dick, please.

#1 Tom Clancy's The Division (2014) (PC, PS4, One)

Tom Clancy never really has had a game that deserves to be under his name, his books really are quite brilliant yet his games are always hit and miss, and now that he's no longer with us it would seem a fitting tribute to release a brilliant game, and I think we have one here. Stunning is the word I would use to describe this, the screenshots that have been released look like photographs and the visuals look unbelievably good. While I'm still unsure on the post apocalyptic setting and the MMO gameplay this game still looks absolutely amazing. Everything from the combat to the visuals look absolutely stunning, I cannot wait.


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