Disasters Waiting To Happen… In Gaming

Some gamers can’t wait till their most anticipated games come out so that they can put countless hours into them. But, some gamers like me do not have hours upon hours to put into gaming. That’s probably why now a days I’m not too thrilled about a lot of the upcoming games. I have to be very choosy as to which games to play. And also there aren’t that many games that appeal to me nowadays. What is an underwhelmed gamer such as I to do in this situation? Ah, I know! Look for upcoming video games that seem to have impending doom written all over them. I have compiled a list of upcoming games that have caught my interest, and will keep me entertained until something that I actually want to see released comes up in the news.

Watch Dogs (Wii U Version)

When I first saw the trailer for this game at E3 I wasn’t too impressed with it. Nothing seems to be innovative about it. It’s another open world game, but this time you get to control the environment via an iPhone looking gizmo. It really gets the imagination going since it makes us wonder what could be done with future iPhones. This will sell. The graphics look sleek and smooth especially with the rain effects. But, that was just one trailer.

Months later there are releases of some photos for the X Box One and PS4 versions that look like a downgrade. The internet went in the uproar, and hilarity ensued. I could not stop laughing as my eyes wandered across the screen looking at the muddy looking textures. I wasn’t very interested in this game until this moment, but then came the Wii U version of Watch Dogs.

At first I almost died from laughter, but something ended my mirth as I realized that people cannot afford an X Box One and PS4 are stuck with this ugly version of the game. I felt bad for Wii U owners, well, maybe not the ones, like me, who have a PS4 and/or X Box One and will have a choice.

The X Box 360 and PS3 versions are probably going to look just as bad. But, why pick on the Wii U version? That’s because the Wii U version is going to try and force that cumbersome touchpad into the gameplay. The X Box One, X Box 360, PS3, and PS4 versions all have similar controls based on the controllers’ designs. The Wii U Watch Dogs version will stand out as very flawed in controls. The 360 and PS3 versions will be shitty, not quite as shitty. Basically it’s like being asked which pile of shit will smell the worst.

Driveclub

Gamers get very hyped for racing games when those games are being released near the beginning of the generation because there isn’t much to choose from and it really shows how powerful the new consoles can be. Driveclub was looking immaculate.

The Gran Turismo franchise looked like it had some more competition other than Forza. I don’t care much for car games unless they have a standout gameplay mechanic that makes it very interesting and addictive like “kudos” in Project Gotham Racing, or an arcade racer like Mario Kart. Although Driveclub looks on par with Forza and Gran Turismo it seems like it might be just as boring as those two franchises.

The developers of Driveclub highly emphasize the “social” aspect of the game. What I had guessed was there would probably a lot of car collecting and showing off. As I delve further into the game information across the net I found out that there is a team aspect where gamers can meet up and race against each other in teams. Doesn’t seem like nothing much to fear, right? Well, I was wrong.

Driveclub was sent back to the “drawing board”, and has been delayed into October of this year. I haven’t heard about a game being sent back to have such a huge revamp sine NBA Elite 11, and that game was cancelled because of how much a fiasco it was going to be.

Evolution Studios has made a lot of successful games for Sony, and I’m hoping Driveclub doesn’t tarnish its reputation. I, personally, have never enjoyed their games like MotorStorm that much, but many fans of the game have no problem overlooking the shoddy controls. I don’t want them to be disappointed. I’m considerate.

Destiny

I love the Halo franchise and I love ones behind it, Bungie. When I heard this team broke away from Microsoft I was sadden that they were no longer making Halo games, as I was with Halo 4 being made by 343 Studios. Halo 4 wasn’t bad, but it was too grim and serious, and obviously did not have the lighthearted Bungie touch. They kind of went away from that with Halo Reach, but that’s for something to write about in another blog.

I was anticipating for months to find out what their next big project was going to be. They changed console gaming with original Halo making first person shooters more mainstream. Thus I’d expect Bungie to make do with newest IP by innovating again.

Destiny is the name of this game that will hopefully do what Halo did for FPS by changing the game. Activision has given Bungie a $500 million dollar budget for Destiny. This game will have to be bigger than the Halo franchise, and even the reigning king of first person shooters, Call of Duty, to make a profit.

I’m expecting this game to fail because it seems Bungie doesn’t know which market it wants to attract with Destiny. They don’t want to call it an MMORPG or a first person shooter, but it looks like a combination of both. And it’s sad to see Bungie leave Microsoft Studios for Activision because they’re sick of working on Halo. Activision is going to do same thing with Bungie trying to rehash the life out of Destiny until they finally make back the money that was put into it.

That’s enough pessimism from me. I’ll probably have more upcoming games with a bleak looking future to write about in another blog, but for now I’ll continue scouring the internet, magazines, podcasts, etc. to find games that I might want to buy.