One Life Left: Holiday Preview

Every year, a phenomenon occurs where the best games of the year seem to be coming out at the same time. What time is this, you ask? Well, I wouldn’t be writing an article about it if it were not right now. October and November are historically the best times to buy new video games. Companies love to shell out their best games before the holidays. In this week’s column, I am laying out the new games that have been released or are going to be released this holiday season. At the end, I’ll tell you which ones I am looking to buy and why.

The holidays are a season of sequels. This season, keep an eye out for new installments of some of your favorite series. A month ago, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! came to PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3. Borderlands is an adventure shooter that is known for its cooperative multiplayer and its wacky characters. The game was received with good reviews, scoring around 7.5 out of 10 on most sites. The main complaint with the game was that there was not enough to separate the game from its predecessors.

Ubisoft expanded its Assassin’s Creed saga with the release of two brand new titles last week on Nov. 11. Assassin’s Creed: Unity was the larger of the two releases and takes place in the city of Paris during the French Revolution. As with the rest of the series, you play as an assassin on a mission against the powers that are trying to bring about a new form of government in a city rattled with rebellion. The game’s reception was hampered with frame rate and connectivity issues, leaving it with a good instead of great Metacritic score of 75/100. The game was accompanied with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Rogue in which you play an assassin-gone-bad who joins the rival order, the Templars. The game was also released on Nov. 11, but was only released to the PC, 360 and PS3 while Unity was released for the PC, Xbox One and PS4.

The new Call of Duty game, Advanced Warfare, came out on Nov. 4 for all platforms with the exception of the Wii U. This new installment seems to have done well for itself as most reviews claim that it is an improvement from the previous installments which seem to be reprints of the same game and mechanics with little new content available for consumers. Overall the game was given an 8-9/10 by most users for its refreshing multiplayer and new gadgetry.

The new, much-anticipated Super Smash Bros. game comes out on the Wii U on Nov. 21. Its analogue was released on the Ninetendo 3DS back in September and has done exactly what you would want it to do. It delivers the same fun and satisfying hand-to-hand combat experience everyone has enjoyed since the original Smash Bros. on the N64. This installment adds many new characters to the mix like Pac Man, Mega Man and the Wii Fit Trainer while bringing back all the classics like Pikachu, Samus and Captain Falcon. The 3DS version was received well with a Metacritic score of 85/100 so hopefully the Wii U version holds up just as well, if not better.

Last but definitely not least on my list is Halo: Master Chief Collection, which was released last week on Nov. 11. This is a rerelease of Halo 1 through Halo 4 with graphically remastered versions of the first two games. This bundle also includes all of the competitive multiplayer modes for all of the games. The game has been received in the last week with great acclaim, being awarded an 88/100 on both Metacritic and GameRankings.

This year, at the top of my wish list is the Master Chief Collection. Remastered versions of legendary games like Halo 1 and 2 alone would be enough to get me to the nearest video game outlet at midnight on a Tuesday. Add a couple of the best competitive multiplayers to date with Halo 2 and 3 into the mix and you had me at “Blood Gulch.” Even though I do not have a Wii U, the new Super Smash Bros. takes number two on my holiday season wish list. The game is a classic. There is no greater feeling than coming out on top from a brawl with three of your closest friends, especially when one of them is playing as Pikachu. The last game in my top three is a bit of a wild card. I cannot deny my urge to play as an assassin hunter in Assassin’s Creed: Rogue. While the production value of Unity is undoubtedly higher than Rogue, there is something alluring about playing as the bad guy. That’s it for my holiday preview.

Thanks for reading and happy gaming.