The Retail Games of 2015: Part 5

Quantum Break - TBA

Quantum Break has been talked about since the Xbox One was first revealed, and we’re still waiting for a firm release date for Remedy’s Xbox-exclusive. The time-bending third-person action has the potential to be excellent, and one of the console’s strongest exclusives.

Even year-old footage shows one of the best-looking next-gen games, and there's also a television series also in the works in spite of the collapse of Xbox’s TV production arm.

With the developers of Alan Wake at the helm, we’re hopefully in for an intriguing/silly story at the very least.

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Even Alan might want to wake up for this one.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - TBA

Is it an Xbox exclusive? Will it definitely maybe possibly one day in the future come to PS4? Who knows: Microsoft certainly didn’t do a good job of communicating the details of its exclusivity deal over Rise of the Tomb Raider when it was announced, but we now know it will be publishing the game, adding more doubt and confusion to the situation.

Hopefully all this noise doesn’t detract from the fact we’re getting a sequel to Crystal Dynamics’ excellent Tomb Raider. Lara’s last adventure had a very Uncharted feel in the retelling of her origin story, with excellent climbing and combat mechanics. The reveal trailer for Rise shows Lara battling a bear and early concept art confirms that she’ll once again be using her bow and pickaxe in the new icey terrain. Could be a winner.

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PS4 owners am cry.

Xenoblade Chronicles X - TBA

The long-titled Project X caught nobody by surprise when it was finally revealed as the next entry in the Xenoblade series. The RPG throws you into a giant open world and plonks you in a giant mech suit, because how else are you going to get around?

Chronicles looks to take on a similar flow to Monster Hunter: collecting quests from inhabitants of the new planet and taking on creatures in the open terrain. Wii U players aren’t exactly spoilt for RPGs, so this one might be worth keeping an eye on.

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It's time to buy a Wii U again, again.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - February 13

With Yoshi stealing the cross-stitch art style for Wooly World, Kirby has gone for the clay aesthetic in Rainbow Curse. Gameplay looks to be much more focused on players using the GamePad to draw pathways for Kirby to follow through the 2D world, collecting stars along the way in order to power up.

Rainbow Curse will support Nintendo’s new line of Amiibo toys and up to four player co-op. Kirby has always been a series aimed at younger players, and the early footage looks to show a similar level of ease and simplicity.

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We're not sure about Kirby.

Just Cause 3 - TBA

Rumoured to have been in development for three years, Just Cause 3 will give players another giant open world to destroy.

Following a leak, there were concerns that JC3 would heavily feature microtransactions, but developer Avalanche has since reassured fans that the screens showing this feature were of an “ancient” build.

Just Cause 2 proved a big hit with fans, particularly on PC where players took to multiplayer and it found a home with the modding community, leading to even more extravagant ways to play. Unfortunately, the sequel will be single-player only at launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC, but hopefully it still includes all the core gameplay that made the originals so popular.

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EXPLOSIONS!

Homefront: The Revolution- TBA

The Revolution has been caught up in development hell as Crytek sold up its IPs, with Deep Silver picking up the project.

Even before Crytek went into crisis, Burns wasn’t all that impressed with what they had built for the Homefront sequel. Only time will tell whether or not Deep Silver has been able to steady the ship, or if we’ll even see this Homefronter next year.

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Maybe Deep Silver can revive a franchise that got off to a terrible start. Or it'll be "Press A to say goodbye to IP.".

Battleborn - TBA

Gearbox’s first person shooter/MOBA blend will be bringing 5-vs-5 action to PS4, Xbox One and PC in financial year ‘16, which means it could make an appearance in 2015. So far there are rumoured to be around 20 playable heroes in the game, with speculation that Borderlands’ vault hunters could be added to the roster.

Bratters got a chance to play an early build of Battleborn multiplayer, and you can check out his thoughts here.

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This isn't PS4/Xbox One Borderlands, but we'll give it a shot.

Assassin’s Creed Victory - 2015

Early ‘leaked’ screens of the next Assassin’s Creed show a Victorian London setting. Ubisoft completely cocked up the launch of Unity, releasing it while riddled with bugs, which it has continued to fix since. Underneath its issues, Unity was very good, and the thought of an Assassin’s title in London is very enticing indeed.

Aside from the new location, some of the talk from the leak suggests some new gameplay tweaks too, with the introduction of a grappling hook, which will aid traversal. Although, at its heart, this will most likely be like every other AC, except this time we’ll be in blighty.

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Hopefully Ubisoft starts working on the patches two months before release.

Treyarch Call of Duty - TBA

Ghosts was a low point for Call of Duty, but Sledgehammer did an excellent job with this year’s Advanced Warfare, bringing a refreshing take to multiplayer and shaking up the series for the first time in years.

2015 sees Treyarch step back up to the plate, and where they go with it could be anyone’s guess. It was Treyarch who first brought us advanced warfare with Black Ops 2, but with Sledgehammer doing so in 2014, Activision may not want to double dip.

There has been some speculation we may journey back to World War 2, and considering we haven’t had a WW2 COD game since World at War (also developed by Treyarch), we could see the series do just that.

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If Treyarch can offer something new, CoD 2015 could be worth looking forward to.

FIFA 16 - 2015

FIFA 15 was a rare misstep for EA. Issues both on and off the pitch led to a disappointing year, and with Konami producing a strong debut on new-gen consoles with PES 2015, EA need to come back stronger than ever.

Big changes need to happen in FIFA’s career mode offerings, which have been the same for far too long. 2014’s World Cup game introduced some interesting RPG-esque mechanics which were inexplicably overlooked for the main entry. The inconsistent goalkeepers meant it was either impossible to score or far too easy, and subsequent patches meant it felt like a regression to FIFA 14, rather than tweaking and improving.

This will be the third FIFA game on new-gen. Hopefully it’s a charm for EA and players alike.

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Let's hope EA doesn't do a Man United, and instead focuses on the key areas that need improvement.