Fall is almost upon us, and it’s looking like a big one. The Xbox One and Ps4 are finally coming into their own, and we’re seeing a wealth of new titles promising to take full advantage of the hardware. “Big,” in this case, means a lot of things: games that are expected to sell big, games that are expected to cause a big stir, and in the case of games like Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid 5, games that just look plain big. Two of these games —Halo 5 and Rise of The Tomb Raider — are exclusive to the Xbox One in 2015, and that points to a certain software gap between the two major systems. But whether you’re with Microsoft or Sony, it promises to be a good year.
Fallout 4: For me, this is the marquee event of 2015. Bethesda games have a way of stacking up awards, selling millions of units, and setting new benchmarks for world building and open world gameplay. Both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas were brilliant, quirky, deep and engaging, bringing that bizarre version of the apocalypse to life in all its wacky danger. Fallout 4 looks even bigger, smoother and more player-driven, and the ability to actually make a little town is something I’ve wanted as a main mechanic since the Bloodmoon expansion for Elder Scrolls 3. Most of all, I’m excited to see what lessons Bethesda has learned since Skyrim, and what they’re going to do to make this world shine in a way they haven’t done yet.
Halo 5: No stopping this one. Halo is far and away Microsoft’s most important exclusive for the Xbox One, and Halo 5 is the first entry for this flagship series on the Xbox One. I’ve spent some time with the multiplayer, and it’s excellent. I’ve seen some of the story, and it promises to at least be not as terrible as Halo 4. The visuals look stunning, the guns feel like classic Halo, and there’s a lot of pressure on this game to bring old fans back into the fold and buying Xbox Ones. We’ll see how well it stacks up soon.
Rise Of The Tomb Raider: I didn’t expect the Tomb Raider reboot to be any good, but man, was I surprised. Crystal Dynamics managed to tell a tightly-crafted, engaging story with some actual character development in it, striking a nice balance between exploration and linear gameplay and offering a more-than-competent third person shooter to boot. Rise of the Tomb Raider promises more of what we liked from the first game, with a stronger focus on puzzles and tomb raiding. Games often shine with the second title in the series: kinks are ironed out, the developer feels more confident, and the story isn’t tired yet. Let’s hope we see some of that in this game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: There’s no way getting around this one. Expect bombastic set pieces, a couple of gameplay tweaks, and a whole lot of gruff people doing what needs to be done. Expect, in essence, the same thing we get from Call of Duty every year: if you love it, that’s great news. If you don’t, it doesn’t really matter anyway. But even though this franchise is no longer the record setting juggernaut it once was, Black Ops 3 will no doubt be one of the biggest games to hit in 2015.
Metal Gear Solid 5: I had a hard time filling this last spot. It’s not that there aren’t other big, exciting games coming out: there’s actually a surefeit of them this year. There’s Just Cause 3, the new Hitman, Destiny’s ‘The Taken King’ expansion, Mad Max, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, and more. But Metal Gear Solid 5, I think, is going to be something worth talking about, for all kinds of different reasons. Open world tactical stealth in Afghanistan is a very intriguing gameplay concept, and what little we’ve already seen of it in Ground Zeroes sets pretty high expectations for how it will work on a grand scale. This is a Kojiima game, even if his name is no longer on it, so we can also expect it to be just totally nuts. The gameplay looks great, and the story, I’m sure, will give us lots to talk about…
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