It may be September, but where I live in Japan it’s still hotter than Zeus’s butthole. I’m currently sitting in my air-conditioned apartment, looking through the upcoming games release schedule, and boy am I excited.

It’s been almost a year since the new generation of consoles landed and though there have been some worthy entries on both platforms, nothing has stood out enough to me to demand an upgrade. Until now. Amazingly, despite the heat and humidity, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

As someone who hasn’t played a Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare 2, I’m surprised at myself for being so excited about this title. I turned my back on the COD franchise after coming down with severe a case of Battlefield fever, but after the BF4 debacle, I’ve been looking at the old grandmaster more closely.

With the franchise looking a little stale around the chops in recent times, Advanced Warfare looks to shake things up some. Taking the action into the near future, Sledgehammer Games are going to want to inject some much needed originality into the game, while not changing things so dramatically as to alienate the considerable number of long term fans.

The buzz-word being thrown around is “verticality”. This comes in the form of the exo-suit, which allows players to power dash, dodge, slide, double jump and even turn momentarily invisible. It looks like the mechanic really could be a game changer, though as Titanfall would tell you, it’ll take more than some fancy jumping to make it a game that people will want to play long term.

I’m quietly optimistic that Sledgehammer can pull it off and bring us a COD game fit for new gen. And of course there are two words which almost demand you go out and buy Advance Warfare as soon as you can — Kevin Spacey. Need I say more?

Call of Duty: Advance Warfare is out November 4^th worldwide (November 13^th in Japan) for all platforms.

Far Cry 4

I entered the Far Cry franchise at number 3 and immediately loved it. I spent many hours just roaming around Rook Island, hunting animals as well as pirates. And of course few things are as satisfying as silently taking down a pirate infested outpost, with perhaps a little back-up in the form of a not too friendly Komodo dragon.

Far Cry 4’s Himalayan setting looks fairly unique and, if the released footage is to be believed, looks absolutely gorgeous. Building on the solid base that was Far Cry 3, Ubisoft Montreal has added some interesting new features including a grappling hook, ridable elephants and the ability to fire weapons while driving. As awesome as those additions sound, what I’m most intrigued about is big bad ‘Pagan Min’, who looks like a complete raving lunatic. Just the way I like them.

And, not to be left out of a rising trend, Far Cry 4 also introduces an online co-op mode allowing you and a friend to join forces and blow some shit up. Clearing bad guy camps while a buddy circles above in a gyrocopter raining down death has never looked like so much fun.

Far Cry 4 is out on all platforms November 18^th worldwide (January 22^nd in Japan).

Destiny

When it comes to online multiplayer, nothing this winter season comes bigger than Destiny. An online only game built around the idea of co-operative and competitive play, Destiny has been variously described as a game to change the way we play games for good. I’m not sure I’d go quite that far myself yet, but I will say that from what I have seen, I’m very excited.

I’ve written before about my misgivings for online only, multiplayer focused games. However, recently I’ve been encouraged by a couple of things. Firstly, Destiny features a fully fleshed out co-operative mode where, unlike GTA Online, each player in a fire team not only has their own individual loot streams, but are also unable to wantonly murder their own team mates to steal their loot.

Another thing is that for the high level “raids” in Destiny, one must team up with five friends in order to take part, since there is no in game matchmaking for these missions. This I believe was a smart move on the part of Bungie, since nothing kills a gaming session faster than a random asshole screwing around and ruining a mission for everyone else.

I was a massive fan of Halo back in the day and loved how Bungie mixed great gameplay with solid storytelling. From what I’ve seen and read of Destiny, I’m expecting more of that Bungie magic when I finally get my hands on it.

Like the other titles above, Destiny will release on new and old gen alike, so ditching PS3 or XB360 isn’t a necessity as such. But as with many of the games coming this winter season and beyond, certain mechanics will be deeper, bigger or more engaging on PS4 and XBoxOne. With Destiny landing tomorrow and with all the glorious titles arriving over the next couple of months, it seems like now is a great time to make the leap to new gen.

Destiny is out on September 9^th worldwide (September 11^th in Japan) on all platforms.

Honourable mentions

I’m also quietly looking forward to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and Helldivers, both out this winter season on Vita. Poor old Vita. Neglected and forgotten Vita. You deserve better, my trusty pocketable friend. And you’re getting it!

Hotline Miami is one of my favourite games ever and despite being multi-platform, it just feels so right on Vita. The blazing fast, brutal gameplay. The intense electronica score. I’m ready for more please, so thank goodness the second helping is just around the corner.

Helldivers is a futuristic, top-down squad based shooter coming to all Sony platforms. What I like the look of for this title is the emphasis on team co-ordination and the fact that it’s not only cross-save but cross-play as well. I dream of a future where gamers can play together in their favourite games, regardless of which platform they are on.

Hotline Miami 2 and Helldivers are out this winter.

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