There's an exciting few months ahead in 2014 for us gamers, so here's what the JOEs are looking forward to playing this year
By Adrián Collins & Oisín Collins
Whether you've got an Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 or PlayStation 4 there are plenty of exciting titles out that will have us glued to our screens and controllers over the next few months.
Tomb Raider
While the prequel to one of the most famous and successful franchises in video game history was already released last year, 2014 sees the next-gen version hitting our screens which they have promised us is all dolled up with new graphics and totally re-imagined.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or5VH-J_jOE
We never got our hands on the PS3/Xbox 360 version, and we'll always love Tomb Raider (mainly thanks to the assault course and being able to lock the butler in the fridge back in the day) so whatever version they send our way we'll always give it a play.
Watch Dogs
In 'Watch Dogs', or 'WATCH_DOGS' as it's officially styled, you play as Aiden Pearce, a genius hacker whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. Aiden is on the hunt for those who hurt his family and you'll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Sounds pretty fun, to be fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcMRkyoHKeA
This system you use is called the Central Operating System (ctOS) – and it controls almost every piece of the city’s technology and holds key information on all of the city’s residents. The game will definitely be a fresh new arrival for console gamers everywhere and lets face it, the whole 'zombie genre' is starting to get a bit stale - no pun intended. 'Hacking' and 'hacktivists' are all over the news these days so it will be interesting to play as one in WATCH_DOGS.
EA Sports UFC
Hard fightin' returns to our consoles in the form of EA Sports UFC. This is the first time the lads at EA have gotten a crack at the UFC licence, and even if you didn't enjoy MMA, the last few games were very enjoyable.
The guys behind Fight Night have unsurprisingly been given the go ahead to make this one, so we can expect some similarities between that successful franchise and this one, but the Ignite physics engine, which has powered the sports titles on the new consoles will be used here also. We must admit that we find it to be the biggest leap between the current-gen and next-gen consoles, and while graphics will surely improve eventually, the gameplay has been really changed by this new technology, in particular in FIFA, NBA and Madden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itT4McM9Ah4
EA are promising us that the AI in this game will be better than anything before, and they've come up with an ingenious name for it too: MMAi. See what they've done there? Anyway, they say it "takes leaps forward" and we can expect "the most realistic characters ever created in a sports game."
Tom Clancy's The Division
“Tom Clancy’s The Division” takes place in New York City three weeks after a lethal virus, released on Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year), has swept through the region. One by one, basic services fail and society has collapses into chaos. The President invokes Presidential Directive 51, and The Division, a top-secret unit of self-supporting tactical agents, is activated. When the lights go out, your mission begins...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_j9uKBmUEk
If you haven't seen the trailer for The Division already then make sure to check it out above, as the small details are absolutely mind blowing and if you've ever been to New York you'll know that a lot of work has gone into the game to ensure the background details mirror the real city as closely as possible.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
One of the main reasons as to why we're really looking forward to South Park's latest video game is because of the fact that it's nearly a year overdue. South Park: The Stick of Truth was initially supposed to be released in March/April, 2013, but due to publishing problems the game was delayed until December 2013. However, that date was once again pushed back to March of this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE9XEIY4aRk
In the game, you play as 'The new kid' in town and it's up to you and the rest of the South Park boys to find The Stick of Truth. The game is basically a role-playing/2-D fighting game and it has been written and voiced by the creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, so we can expect the same kind of crass humour that we're used to. So expect one absolutely massive interactive episode of the show...
