Still got some cash after October’s gaming lineup? Looking for an early gift to buy for someone this holiday season? November has a pretty large amount of potentially great games coming out soon, and it’s a good time to start looking into which ones you’re going to buy.
Watch Dogs 2 – November 15th/29th
The original Watch Dogs was a game with massive amounts of lost potential. Visually it was occasionally impressive, but objectively a downgrade from what we were shown. The gameplay was passable at best, and while its world attempted the illusion that it was full of life, it was often too buggy and awkwardly implemented to be convincing.
What does that mean for the sequel? Well, if you’re a firm believer in history repeating itself, Ubisoft has a pretty decent record with video game sequels. The original Assassin’s Creed was an okay game with plenty of flaws, but many consider Assassin’s Creed 2 to be a fantastic sequel. Far Cry was a fun shooter, but had a hammy story with poor characters, so Far Cry 2 ditched all that for hardly any story at all in favor of immersing you in the world with more realistic mechanics. I won’t say I’m fully confident that Watch Dogs 2 is going to break any new ground on open world, third person action games, but maybe it can add some life into an otherwise great foundation that the first game laid down. It could be the “next gen” game we were initially promised.
Available on: PS4
Final Fantasy XV – November 29th
Final Fantasy is a hallmark JRPG that is likely to have been many player’s first experience with the genre. Some may say it has lost a bit of its glory since the early days, but regardless the franchise is loved by many and they eagerly await the next installment. Final Fantasy XV has been teased for a decade, leading on countless and increasingly impatient fans to the point that they thought it might not ever come out. But we’re finally getting it. The day is soon approaching, and oh dear, do Square Enix have a lot of anticipation to deal with. With this and Kingdom Hearts 3, screwing these up could be a massive hit to the company’s reputation.
Luckily, so far, most material we’ve been presented with looks really positive. Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, it appears that FFXV may take on a very similar combat system, being played in real time, which could present some absurdly high intensity fights, even if some of them do amount to little more than button mashing.
If the game ends up being anything like we’ve been led to believe, we can expect a gorgeous game with likable characters and a fun combat system.
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Dishonored 2 – November 11th
Arkane Studios has been pretty busy, I think. Not only should they be ready with Dishonored 2 very soon, but they also have the new Prey game to be focusing on. Given how the first Dishonored has a decent following, it’s easy to believe that Arkane is working to make sure the sequel is better in every way possible.
While I personally wasn’t completely drawn in by the first game, I do feel like I was missing out on a well crafted experience. While I enjoyed the idea of the game’s art-style, I was left feeling bored and disinterested in the environments, and the lack of major character interaction may have been a positive for some, but left me feeling like I wasn’t being engaged enough.
That said, the gameplay foundation was great, with many fun abilities to use and the concept of being a badass in the shadows appealing. It’s a shame then that some people were led on to believe that their actions affected the ending outcome more than it actually did, almost discouraging combat entirely rather than making it an option. I understand it can be difficult to balance differences in player preferences and a moral choice system at the same time, but hopefully they crafted Dishonored 2 in a way that’s better suited to combat this dilemma. So far, the game is looking better visually, mechanically, and possibly even more fun without forgetting those that prefer a full stealth run with no kills.
Available on: PS4
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare/Modern Warfare Remastered – November 4th
Well. We’re here. It’s Call of Duty. In space. What’s next? Actual space travel? Other dimensions? Whatever it will be, Infinite Warfare is coming to us soon, and many were surprised at its reveal since they assumed it was anything other than a Call of Duty game. And some were probably even disappointed to find out that it was.
Maybe we should remain a little optimistic though. The Call of Duty campaigns were never objectively terrible, in fact they are usually very well crafted and bombastic experiences. If you can sit through a whole popcorn action movie and enjoy it, why not enjoy a simple Call of Duty game now and again? Oh yeah. They come out literally every year.
Possibly this time we will actually get something with a bit of life injected into it, rather than just another linear corridor shooter, with some high tech gadget sections thrown in once and never revisited. You’ve heard all the criticism of the series before, so you don’t need me to keep going on about it.
But we’re also getting a visually remastered version of the original Modern Warfare, which many say is the best of the modern Call of Duty titles, multiplayer and all. I’m afraid this might dilute the multiplayer install base as players will likely gravitate to one game or the other, rather than play both equally, meaning one of them will likely be abandoned pretty quickly and the other will strive. But we will have to wait and see what happens. Every time we cry foul about how gamers buy the game every year and this one will finally be the one they decide “Nah. I don’t think I want another Call of Duty right now”, the game goes on to sell millions of copies anyway.
Available on: PS4
Pokemon Sun/Moon – November 18th/November 23rd
It’s nice to see something from my childhood is still going as strong as ever. Pokemon has had its ups and downs, but it never ceases to come out with a new installment and a new adventure with new friends. The series has embraced its transition into 3D graphics, and made the adventure feel even more life-like than ever, and it’s exciting to see the game go into a fully tropical setting to remind us of the warm weather while we’re bundled up indoors.
As with every installment, there will be new Pokemon to meet and capture, new ways to battle, and a fresh story to take part in with Pokemon Sun/Moon. You’ll be pleased to hear that the character customization from Pokemon X/Y is making a return, so you can personalize your trainer to your tastes.
However the newest feature is the addition of Z-moves, which are highly powerful attacks only able to be used once per battle, and interestingly you’ll be able to transfer Pokemon from the rather recent Virtual Console releases of Pokemon Yellow, Red, and Blue into this latest title via the Pokemon Bank.
I haven’t really touched my 3DS since the last Pokemon game came out, but I’ll gladly keep it fully charged at all times and nearby to play the latest version for hours upon hours.
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