My Most Anticipated Games of 2015

1. Batman: Arkham Knight
There are plenty of reasons for why this is my most anticipated game of 2015. Arkham Knight was supposed to come out on October 14th, 2014. Then it got pushed and was rumored to release in February 2015 alongside The Witcher 3. And after that it was confirmed for June 2nd, 2015. There is lots of anticipation building up to this release. When Arkham Asylum released back in 2009 the reviews were incredible. Someone actually made a good Batman video game! And not just good, it was amazing. Arkham City expanded on Asylum with a new story, open world locale, and more of the fantastic combat. I don't really consider Arkham Origins as part of the Arkham storyline since it wasn't developed by Rocksteady(and it wasn't that good, aside from Troy Baker's Joker.) And now we come to Arkham Knight. This is the finale of the Batman Arkham trilogy and it's more expansive than ever. The entirety of Gotham City is open to you, the rogues gallery is waging war on Batman, you get to drive and utilize the Batmobile, and then there is the mysterious Arkham Knight villain. Rocksteady is staying fairly tight-lipped concerning the story, I think all we know is the general theme of all out war against Batman. If Rocksteady only wrote a new story with the exact same combat and gameplay mechanics as Arkham City then I would be perfectly happy playing that game. With that said, I can't wait to play Arkham Knight.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4 is slated to release in 2015(most likely in the fall), but if Naughty Dog were to delay it to 2016 in order to iron out some issues I'm totally fine with that because I want this game to be as polished and clean as possible. The title itself almost implies that this is the finale for Nathan Drake. And that makes me quite sad, because Drake is one of the most interesting and fantastic protagonists in the gaming world. Naughty Dog is the greatest developer in the industry right now(argue with me on that I dare you) and Uncharted 4 has easily been one of the most anticipated games ever since Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception was released. The graphics are ramped up to get the full potential out of the PS4, and Naughty Dog was being incredibly smart and sneaky by developing The Last of Us Remastered in order to learn the technology of the PS4 and figure out how to best utilize the hardware in creating Uncharted 4. I'm fully on board with Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann heading up this project. Some people were worried that after TLOU, Uncharted 4 would be extremely dark and not the light-hearted adventure we've been familiar with in the first three games. But both Straley and Druckmann have assured us that Uncharted 4 will stay true to the themes that this franchise has built and established. The environments are supposed to be more sandbox like, still linear, but with a greater sense of exploration, similar to what was in The Last of Us. The story sounds great: Drake has been happily out of the treasure hunting business for the last three years living with his wife Elena. Drake's brother shows up out of nowhere and enlists his help to find a long lost pirate treasure, and once again Nathan Drake goes once more into the fray. I'm excited because up until now we didn't know much about Drake's past, and I think this story will shed some light on our protagonist who does have a bit of a mysterious past. Mysterious only because we just don't know much about it. Needless to say, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, will no doubt be one of the best games of 2015, and maybe Game of the Year.

3. Halo 5: Guardians

For now Halo 5 doesn't have a confirmed release date but it's supposed to come out in 2015. Not much is known about the storyline for Halo 5. Halo 4 left us in a strange place. Master Chief feels alienated in the society. He lost Cortana, and now he is alone. From the brief teaser we caught at E3 2013, we saw Chief walking through a desert and then what we can assume was a giant Promethean rise up out of the sand and fly away. Exactly a year later we got another short trailer at E3 2014: The trailer showed the scene from Halo 2 when Master Chief blows up the Covenant ship in the beginning of the game by riding the bomb through space. The voice of the Arbiter was narrating the trailer. He was talking to Agent Locke who has been revealed as a Spartan hunting down Master Chief throughout Halo 5. We can assume that John-117 has probably gone rogue, but knowing Master Chief, I'm sure he has his reasons. We learned that Locke is in fact a playable character and you can learn more about him by watching the Halo: Nightfall miniseries that was packaged with the Halo: MCC and is also available on the Halo Channel on Xbox One. But rest assured, because Master Chief is definitely the main protagonist. After playing through all four Halo games back to back over the holidays after I got an Xbox One, my faith in Halo is restored, and I can't wait to see where the Chief is going next. 

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

RPGs are my favorite genre of video games. I love fantasy stories. The Witcher games are some of the most expansive RPGs ever made. The lore is rich and filled with so much amazing history and I just adore this universe. The gameplay in The Witcher 2 is beautifully executed. The story is intriguing and full of political strife. The Witcher 3 is taking all of that and expanding upon it. If you've watched any gameplay of The Witcher 3 then you know how polished the combat looks, how amazingly detailed and gorgeous the visuals are, and the massive environments that are in store for this game. I think I read somewhere that this installment is actually three times bigger than Witcher 2, which is astounding to say the least. When this game got pushed from February to May I was a little upset. But then I realized that I want CD Projekt RED to release the best possible and clean version of this game as they can. Developments like this need lots of time and care in order for them to come off as a success, and I think Witcher 3 is going to be hands down one of my favorite RPGs ever. It should come as no surprise that I've had this game pre-ordered for the last year and a half. Enough said. 

5. Bloodborne

Bloodborne looks legit. I love Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. They are easily the most challenging yet rewarding games I've ever played and many other gamers can attest to that. Bloodborne, also developed by From Software, is taking that familiar Souls gameplay and spicing it up by making it more action oriented and fast-paced. The setting instantly looks like something you could see in a Souls game. Except this is a sort of Victorian England kind of vibe. I honestly don't know much about this game in terms of story. I'm not sure if anyone does. If you've played the Souls games then you know that the storyline for those is mostly played out by discovering environments and talking to NPCs. Maybe Bloodborne will have more of that thing going on. Keep in mind this is a PS4 exclusive so if you're itching to get your hands on it, then you better have a PS4. I think this is going to be a wonderful game and I look forward to playing it on March 24th, 2015. 

Honorable Mention

Dying Light - January 27

Evolve - February 10

The Order: 1886 - February 20

Dark Souls: II Scholar of the First Sin Edition - April 7
The Division - TBA
Star Wars: Battlefront - TBA
Elder Scrolls Online (PS4, Xbox One) - TBA
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - TBA
No Man's Sky - TBA

Why We Need To Stop Pre-Ordering Games

No, GameStop, we would not like to pre-order. And here's why: until gamers stop pre-ordering, developers will continue to release unfinished games. 2014 was supposed to be a fantastic year with TONS of massive blockbuster video games. The year was going to be filled with games such as Assassin's Creed Unity, that were supposed to be amazing and new and revolutionary(see what I did there?). But instead, ACU was broken from the start. Horribly broken. Maybe you're wondering, "Hey Connor, why didn't you write a review on Unity?." Well, reader, I didn't waste my time writing a review on it because it was so glitchy, fragmented, and just plain broken that I didn't even finish it! Same thing happened with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. I didn't get Halo at launch because I didn't own an Xbox One until Christmas, but I read all about how the multiplayer didn't work for days!

Developers are now working under the assumption that because so many consumers have pre-ordered a copy of whatever game they are developing, they can release it when they want to, then upload day one patches to fix the bugs and continue to release patches until the game is rightfully "finished." There used to be a time where you would go out and buy a new game on day 1 of release, pop it in the console of your choice, and play it with minimal bugs. Retail companies like GameStop are partnering with the developers to give special "pre-order exclusives" to entice gamers to reserve a copy in advance of the release. A couple years ago, pre-ordering a game made plenty of sense because if you didn't, then there was a chance you may not get a copy on day 1. Now, distributors make sure that retail companies have plenty of copies for day 1 of release. Who cares if you get that bonus weapons pack or not by pre-ordering? Chances are the developer will release that weapons pack in DLC a few months later, or those items are already available later in the game.

Look at those next-gen graphics!

Game developers can make educated guesses on how many copies they will sell because they can tell how many people have reserved that game. And hey, I'm guilty of this too. I pre-ordered 14 games last year. And almost every single one had a day one patch because the developer didn't finish the game before releasing it to the public. We need to unite together to stop pre-ordering games and gradually, gaming companies will realize that they have to finish their games before releasing them. There were a lot of games that were supposed to come out either holiday season 2014, or early 2015, and they have been delayed. But guess what? I'd rather wait to play a game that the developer has taken their time making and perfecting then play something that comes out 6 months before it should be released. Take The Last of Us for instance: Naught Dog set a release date for it. And when it came down to crunch time they delayed it because it just wasn't where it needed to be yet. And you can ask anyone in the gaming journalism community and they will probably tell you that those last couple of months of development time meant the difference between TLOU being a great game, and a near perfect game. So please, I'm begging you, don't pre-order any games this year. Wait a day or two to see if that game is broken or not. Read the reviews, listen to the critics, then decide if that $60 is worth it. Let's reverse the tide.

Thoughts on the Xbox One

For Christmas this year I asked my parents for an Xbox One. Considering I already owned an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a PS4 I thought they wouldn't get it for me. But alas they did! I got it set up on Christmas morning and thats exactly when the problems started... Granted I know that Xbox Live and PSN were both down because of the hacks. So I couldn't set up the Xbox for awhile since it could not connect to Xbox Live. However once I did get it all set up I immediately started playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection, I'll write the review on that later, for now I just want to talk about the Xbox itself. Please note this isn't a review of the console, I just want to talk a little bit about it.

I like it. I love it. And I apologize for this in advance but it is hard for me to not continuously compare the console to my Playstation 4. The Xbox One really is great. Not being able to immediately start playing it was a major drawback for me though. The console required an update from Xbox Live right out of the box, but Live was down. Eventually it worked out and I downloaded the update and it brought me to the home screen. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Xbox's User Interface. I think it's a little confusing to navigate and it took me a few minutes just to find the Settings app. I'm getting used to it, but I've still had a few issues. The controller is awesome. It's very similar to the Xbox 360 controller, but a little bit bigger and the triggers feel better. The games I've played are Halo: MCC, Shadow of Mordor, and Forza Horizon 2. All of them have functioned well. I had played Mordor on my PS4 and I can't really tell a difference between the two consoles. I love Forza Horizon 2, I think it's a great game and I'll definitely be writing the review on that later, I just got it Saturday the 10th. But yeah overall I'm really loving the Xbox.

The main reason I wanted an Xbox One was for Halo. Halo is the definitive Xbox game, no question. Xbox One sales soared during the month of November when the Halo: MCC was released. Xbox also had to lower it's price temporarily to $349, presumably to compete with the PS4 which had been outselling the Xbox for the last year. Call me a hypocrite but yes I got one. I enjoy having both consoles and I've turned my PS4 on only twice since I got the Xbox. Now I can expand my blog reviews to include Xbox exclusive games which is really exciting for me as the writer and hopefully you as the reader.

2015 is shaping up to be a great year for gaming. There are lots of games coming out this year and I'm hoping for many more announcements to be made(Fallout 4, anyone?). I'll try to be better about writing more, but with school and theatre commitments sometimes its hard(along with all the time I spend gaming). Anyways, it's going to be a great year. Stay tuned to CDRGames!

-Connor