This week’s Games With Gold Deals From June 2nd – June 8th, you’ll be able to pick up the following notable titles at a discount rate:
Xbox One
NBA 2K15
Metro 2033 Redux
Metro: Last Light Redux
I’ve never played a Basketball game, but I have EA’s NBA 2015 through EA Access. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. Just to spite 2K. I already have the Metro bundle, and should really give those a try. Maybe after I finish Far Cry 4, as I can only handle so much first-person shooting.
Xbox 360
NBA 2K15
Dark Souls II
Tekken 6
FIFA 15
Dark Souls 3 at E3? Rumours have started circling that we might see Dark Souls 3 at Sony’s E3 press conference. The re-mastered edition was released this year, along with Bloodborne.
Destiny: The Taken King Expansion Rumours More rumours surfaced pointing to the huge Destiny expansion planned for September. The expansion, originally thought to be called Plague of Darkness, may now be called The Taken King. This content update is expected to be very large, big enough to be available on a disc, and is supposed to include new subclasses, weapon types, PvP maps, story missions and new locations. Possibly the Raid missing from the House of Wolves Expansion.
Harley Quinn Trailer – Batman Arkham Knight
Harley Quinn has her own playable mission in Arkham Knight, if you pre-order the game. Add it to the list of controversial DLC, Season pass, and Pre-order bonuses this game offers. They’re selling us the hamburger bun, but everything else is not included. You’ll have to pay extra for that.
Regardless of all the extras not included, Rocksteady has announced the game’s file size will be 45GB, regardless of the platform.
Fallout 4 Probably thought I forgot? Always leave the best for last (spoiler alert: its got a dog):
Yesterday’s pre-announcement led to today’s real announcement. Fallout 4 is real, and it looks to be taking place in Boston, Massachusetts. And listings seem to suggest a 2015 release. Bethesda has made another announcement, surprising no one: we can expect more news during their E3 press conference on June 14.
Tomorrow I’ll discuss The Crew, and then there’s a review for Unmechanical on Friday.
New games know how to get your attention, and the pin number for your ATM card . . .
Today we’ll talk about the new games, June’s Deals, and we’ll also discuss today’s news: Tomb Raider Trailer.
Tomb Raider’s New Trailer
New trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider has been released, and it shows Lara fighting through a blizzard. The trailer informs us that we’ll be seeing more at the E3 press conferences. Add this title to my list of eagerly anticipated games. Check my review for the predecessor: Tomb Raider. Trailer below. Boop.
June’s Games With Gold
Double Fine’s Massive Chalice leads the pack this month on the Xbox One, and we’re still able to pick up Pool Nation FX. Massive Chalice seems similar to 2012’s XCOM Enemy Unknown’s gameplay, as it’s a turn based strategy. Expect new info from me on it soon. Add it to the list I guess.
On the Xbox 360 we can pick up Avalanche Studio’sJust Cause 2, for the first half of the month, and Thief, in the latter half. I’ve been interested in Thief, so it’s too bad this isn’t the Xbox One version. Oh well.
A little bit of house cleaning here, as I missed a few of the notable releases. Apologizes. Let’s catch up:
Destiny: House of Wolves (Xbox One, 360, Ps3, Ps4) – The second expansion to Destiny, is the House of Wolves. Included is a new social hub in the reef, new story missions and a strike, as well as some new PvP and PvE multiplayer game modes. Notable absence is a new Raid. I’ve played for a bit, trying out the new levels and seeing the new bad guys, but haven’t been able to dive too deep yet. Stick around for further impressions.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Xbox One, Ps4, PC) – 200+ hour RPG. Probably not going to happen, as much as the game looks cool, and does grab my attention, this will be a hard pass until it’s cheaper, and when I have nothing to play (ie: probably never). Witcher 2 was not a lot of fun to get into with its hour long tutorials, and confusingly deep crafting and combat system. This one, #3 may be better suited for non-RPG types, but I’m not there yet.
Game of Thrones: Episode 4 – Sons of Winter (Xbox One, 360, Ps3, Ps4, PC) – I have the Telltale Bundle, so I’ll wait until all the episodes have been released, and then I’ll run through them.
BADLAND: Game Of The Year Edition (Xbox One, Ps3, Ps4) – Picked this up the other day as the gameplay looked fun, and it supports up to 4 players, to do what, I don’t know. Once I jump in, I’ll share my thoughts, in this here word format.
Massive Chalice (Xbox One, PC) –
This game is actually June’s Games With Gold free game of the month, surprisingly on its launch day. Odd. But YAY, free games. Impressions soon.
I’m continuing to build up my E3 Page as we get closer to the event, so keep an eye there for my early impressions, anticipated titles, and news.
Thursday I’ll have deeper impressions of The Crew, and I recently started up SplinterCell: The Blacklist, on the 360, so I’ll share my irrelevant thoughts here, as the game is a little dusty now. I might have new things to say about Badlands, and/or Massive Chalice at the same time. Who knows?
Lastly, I wrapped up Unmechanical, which was a fun little title, so look for that iReview on Friday.
Alright, we have some catching up to do, so let’s stick to the big stuff, shall we?
Today we’ll talk more about: Star Wars Battlefront, Dishonored, Assassin’s Creed, The Last of Us, Rainbow Six Siege, DOOM, Need for Speed, Halo MCC, and Evolve.
I’ll also briefly talk about the games I have on the go and up-coming, and plans for E3.
Star Wars Battlefront: No Ironsights, Squads or Classes EA and Dice are doing away with some of the expected FPS features included in their previous games like Battlefield. Star Wars Battlefront won’t have ironsights for its common blasters, but some rifles will still have scopes. Looks like you’ll be shooting from the hip. Also, there will be no more Classes or Squads. You can outfit your character however you see fit, with the items you’ve unlocked, and there will be a “partner” system, that will allow you to see your friend on the UI, and will allow you to spawn on them.
Dishonored Next-Gen Release? Looks like there might be a Definitive Edition release of 2012’s Dishonored; a fantastic game that I’d like to play through again. Fingers crossed.
New Details on the next Assassin’s Creed Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will feature two main playable characters, one of whom is a woman. Brother and sister duo – Jacob and Evie Frye. The game will take place in Victorian London in 1686. The brother will be taking the lead in the story in terms of playtime, approximately 75% of the story. October 23rd, 2015 release date on the PC, Xbox One and PS4.
The Last of Us’ Left Behind DLC Now Standalone Playstation and Naughty Dog’sThe Last of Us was one of 2013’s greatest games. The Left Behind DLC featuring Ellie is now available as a standalone package, no longer requiring The Last of Us game.
Rainbow Six Siege Release Date Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege has found its release window: October 13th, 2015.
DOOM Gameplay Teased, Full Reveal at E3 Bethesda has revealed that it will be showcasing its DOOM reboot at its E3 press conference on June 14th. I’ll discuss my E3 plans at the bottom.
Need for Speed 2015 Electronic Arts and Ghost Games are rebooting Need for Speed, and it’s titled just that: Need for Speed. EA promises “deep customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative that pulls you through the game”. Seems like it’s going back to the Underground days? Release date is November 3rd, 2015, and will require an online connection.
“It’s been going from studio to studio, and creatives were creative, but there wasn’t really a strategic way of thinking of what the brand is and what it stands for,” EA Executive Producer Marcus Nilsson. “For sure, it’s been delivering great experiences, but not experiences that can build on top of each other to become better and better necessarily.
“If you look at the last few games – Hot Pursuit, The Run, Shift, Rivals, Most Wanted – and you asked people, ‘What does Need for Speed stand for?’, you’d get a million different answers.
Halo 3: ODST Re-mastered Now Available The re-mastered edition of Halo: ODST for the Halo Master Chief Collection, is now available for those who played the game during the launch window.
Evolve’s New Arena Mode Free Evolve has a new update and it’s free, and it’s a new mode: Arena. The 4 Hunters face off against a stage 2 monster in that typical 4 v 1 method. The change is that it’s in a small enclosure now, and it’s best of 3. No longer are the hunter’s required to track down and chase the monster. Take-Two recently announced that Evolve is permanent franchise for the publisher, joining Borderlands, Grand Theft Auto, among others.
So I recently went through my queue of games that I currently have on the go:
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China
Assassin’s Creed IV – Blag Flag
Battlefield Hardline
Borderlands – The Pre-Sequel
Contrast
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Splinter-Cell: Blacklist (Xbox 360)
State of Decay
Tales From the Borderlands
The Crew
Contrast I should be able to wrap up pretty quick. Unmechanical is a quick puzzle game I just finished recently, and there’s a review for that on Friday. I recently completed Sniper Elite III as well, with a review around the corner.
I have a few games on the shelf waiting to be played: Metro 2033 and Last Light bundle, Badland GOTY that I picked up today, Assassin’s Creed Unity (after IV), Shadow of Mordor. I’d like to give The Evil Within another shot, but who knows. Also, out in the wild is Evolve, Alien Isolation, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. These are homeless, out on the streets, looking for a nice warm home on my hard-drive.
Lastly, E3 is just around the corner. I’m going to be posting a new section for E3 news on the title bar, and I’ll be watching the press conferences on Sunday, June 14th, and Monday June 15th, and live blogging those all day.
Exciting stuff is just around the corner: New Games and deals tomorrow, early reviews and What I’m playing on Thursday, an iReview on Friday. Stick around, as I’m back.
Welcome back to the land of the living, you’ve been gone for quite some time . . .
Yes, I was dead, but I got better.
I’ve been playing The Crew a lot lately, and I’ll put together a review in progress for Thursday, but I thought I’d quickly throw together a quick time lapse of a recent race.
I was broadcasting this on Twitch.tv last week. This is a race from The Crew, called Colorado Crawl; a race that takes over an hour to complete. I made a time lapse of it.
All the while, we kept getting a message at the top that the servers would be turning off for scheduled maintenance, at 12:30am, which was approximately the time we would be completing the race. This added unnecessary stress, as you can expect.
Enjoy.
Everything should be back to normal again. News, New Games, What I’m Playing, Reviews, and Achievement of the Week.
The 2.5D Assassin’s Creed is an interesting project; this is my review in progress.
The first of three, China, features a female assassin, Shao Jun, and takes place during the Ming Dynasty. This assassin is tied to the Assassin’s lore through the legendary Ezio Auditore, who was her master trainer.
Throughout the game, whenever introduced to a new gameplay mechanic, we’re brought to a training room to be taught by the man himself.
The game is stealth based platforming game, and is primarily 2D in navigation. There are, however, certain areas of the map that utilize the 2.5D visuals: when we’re climbing on walls or around certain structures that bring us into the foreground, or when we traverse planks that will bring us to a section of the level in the background.
Just kell ’em with your awesome.
The game is very much like Klei Entertainment’sMark of the Ninja, in its utilization of tools or actions to distract guards so that we may pass unopposed, tools, such as firecrackers or knives to disable the guards, and actions such as whistling to direct the guard’s attention to a specific place. The game also utilizes bushes and doorways to hide the player and sneak past guards.
Visually, the game is inspired by traditional brush paintings, and shows that great attention to detail was put into the level’s architecture.
Once I’ve progressed further through the story I’ll be able to share some more thoughts and a review.
In the disc tray and HDD I also have Far Cry 4 slowly plugging away without me, and I jump into GTA V occasionally when I want to just sit and watch a world pass me by, and experience the happenstance. I guess I could go outside too.
In the near future I have Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, newly pressed, and I would also like to give State of Decay a shot. Destiny’s DLC is right around the corner, and as always, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is screaming to be played. I hope to have some impressions of at least one of these games next week.
On to some news for this week:
Titanfall 2 Release Date
EA has stated that we shouldn’t expect Titanfall 2 until their company’s 2017 fiscal year. Great. Thanks for nothing.
Mirror’s Edge’s Release Also included ion EA’s news is that the sequel will be released early next year, 2016.
Silent Hills’ P.T Gone from the PS Store You can’t download the playable teaser anymore. It’s gone. Even if you HAD downloaded it in the past, and then deleted it for space, too bad, it’s gone. So sad.
This is the final nail in the coffin that is Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro’s SilentHills.
Destiny’s Prison of Elders New info has come to light regarding the new Prison of Elders. The game is a wave-based mode, having the 3 guardians against multiple waves of baddies plus addition objectives.
Can’t wait to get home and play Destiny
The level 28 difficulty will include matchmaking, but levels any higher will not. So bring good friends.
The objectives mid match will include destroying or disarming bombs, or killing mini-bosses before they reach their destination. This will prevent the players from just hiding in a corner and shooting everything, encouraging them to stay on the move.
Each match with a unique modifier, similar to the ones in Strikes. These include shield modifiers, melee damage, enemy melee damage, weapon damage, etc. Next match, new modifier.
The arena will be littered with web mines. These are zones that will slow player movement and deal damage.
Also revealed was a new Strike to be included in the House of Wolves DLC, titled The Shadow Thief
New Assassin’s Creed Being Revealed Next Week Assassin’s Creed, and the future of the series will be revealed next week, Tuesday May 12th, 2015. Stay Tuned.
Good thing I haven’t beat Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or started Assassin’s Creed Unity. Wouldn’t want to fall behind.
So, with all that being said, I have nothing more for today. It’s too late to go outside. Maybe tomorrow.
Idly Playing the Waiting Game 