The Retail Games of 2015: Part 1

Dying Light –January 30

Dead Island developer Techland is going all parkour with Dying Light. The game features players leaping across slums to avoid the zombie horde below, trying desperately to make it to safety before nightfall, as the undead massive turns into something even more sinister.

The latest trailer gave us an insight into the warring factions left amongst the survivors, so it seems we’ll have more to worry about than just the undead, as even the living are at each other’s throats.

It looks like zombie-slaying will still be a thing well into the new year, except this time we’ll be jumping across buildings, too. Techland failed to impress with its previous zombie offerings, so let’s see if Dying Light can offer something better.

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Half as good as a slow motion, in reverse, zombie trailer.

Saints Row IV: Gat Out of Hell - January 23

Not quite sure how many people were demanding a new-gen remake of Saints Row IV, but we’re getting one in the form of Gat Out of Hell. In the re-release, you can now choose to play as either Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington, either alone or in two player co-op.

Of course, there is also the brand new expansion: Gat Out of Hell, a brand new location where players can continue to run around and create havoc with all the supernatural abilities of the first release.

The expansion will also be available for those who have the original versions of Saints Row IV when it launches this January.

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Post GTA5, Saints Row 4 looks a bit ropey, but this looks like great fun.

Evolve – February 10

Although it was disappointing to see Evolve slip out of the 2014 calendar altogether, it’s certainly moved into a less hectic window.

The 4-versus-1 monster slayer has a lot of promise, but up until its delay looked a little thin on the ground in terms of the content on offer. But this has changed recently, with the unveiling of new hunters and monsters.

Brett had a lot of fun when he got the chance to play it way back in May, but the Alpha didn’t live up to early expectations. Hopefully the final product meets the initial promise when it arrives in a couple of months.

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How many friends you've got/10

Resident Evil Revelations 2 – February 18

Capcom went old school with Revelations, and it worked surprisingly well. Tank controls and stop-and-shoot mechanics were a good fit for each chapter’s claustrophobic setting, and since the game’s 3DS debut in 2012 it’s been ported to Wii U, PS3, 360 and PC.

Revelations 2 will launch as four weekly episodic downloads, with an additional two spin-off episodes. Hopefully this episodic slant for the second entry doesn’t detract from the core gameplay that made the first instalment so popular. That said, Revelations 2 could be released in 30-second GIFS every six weeks and it would still be more enjoyable than Resident Evil 6.

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(((Resident Evil + Resident Evil 2 + Resident Evil 3)/Resident Evil 4) - (Resident Evil 5 + Resident Evil 6)) + Resident Evil Revelations

Mario Party 10 - TBA

There are still people out there who can’t get enough Mario Party, which is why 2015 will see the tenth iteration of the board-based family game.

Don’t expect many changes to the latest entry, as the series has pretty much stuck to the same script for many-a-year now, although 10 features a new mode in the form of ‘Bowser Party’. There will be five players instead of four, with the person holding the GamePad taking control of Bowser, with hearts taking the place of Stars. Bowser must take all players’ stars, and the players must try and make it to the end of the course with at least one star intact.

People looking to pass the time at a family gathering may want to grab this when it launches later in the year.

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Decent fun for all.

Total War: Attila - February 17

Total War: Attila details the downfall of the Roman Empire at the hands of the Huns. The game is set in 395 AD, at the birth of The Dark Ages. It uses the same engine as Total War: Rome 2, which had notorious bugs and glitches, which developer The Creative Assembly has claimed to have ironed out over the past year.

The fall of the Roman Empire will be an interesting setting for the Total War series, and will likely somehow manage to portray an even darker and more violent game. We’ll get the chance to watch the collapse in just a couple of months.

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Bratt reckons this will be great. He's right 50 per cent of the time.

The Order 1886 – February 20

The Order has had a bit of trouble building momentum for its hype train. Outside of the obviously pretty visuals, the game has consistently failed to generate much interest, with trailers showing standard shooting and much-maligned QTEs.

Burns recently got the chance to play a snippet, describing its mechanics as “older than the year referenced in its title”. In a game that is little over two months from launch, this isn’t a good sign, especially for one that is considered a big, first-party PS4 exclusive.

Is it possible to teach an old dog new tricks before February 20? We don’t have long before we find out.

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Tom Selleck.

Battlefield Hardline – March 20

Visceral’s cops ‘n’ robbers Battlefield game has had a tough time. A less-than-stellar multiplayer beta led to five month delay following fan feedback, and after some hands-on time Bratt felt the single-player didn’t offer a unique experience from other Battlefield games.

Hopefully the delay has allowed the developer to actually make Hardline feel like a cop game rather than a re-skinned Battlefield.

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Chance of being better than Medal of Honor: Warfighter? 6/10.

Bloodborne – 27 March

Dark Souls fans will be given plenty of reasons to throw their controller in the new year with the release of Bloodborne on PS4. The game is helmed by Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki (who was merely a supervisor for Dark Souls 2), so expect to see a similar level of blood-curdling difficulty.

Early gameplay footage shows just how similar to Dark Souls Bloodborne is, as well as some of its subtle differences, like the fact the main character runs around with a gun now. Naturally, being on PS4, the game is already looking much prettier than its predecessors.

Bloodborne suffered a slight delay recently, but is still due out in the early part of 2015, so Souls fans won’t have long to wait.

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In Miyazaki we trust.