Kicking off this week is something that I personally have been looking forward to since way back in 2010, and by extension, is possibly one of my most anticipated games of all time. That game, in case you were wondering, is Fallout 4. That’s right, after all the hoaxes and years of hoping in vein, Bethesda’s unique brand of post-apocolyptia has finally returned, for the first time since Obsedian’s spin-off New Vegas. With the review embargo having just lifted, and early word being incredibly positive, it seems to have been genuinely worth the wait. Truth be told, Bethesda could have pumped out any old shit and branded it with the Fallout name and I would have gone nuts for it, but it feels so good to know that a quality product that has been fashioned with care is going to be there to reward my faith. As I write this, I await my copy being posted to the door any minute now, and with that, for my entire degree to go down the toilet. Radscorpians, V.A.T.S, Power Armour, retro futuristic design…. 5os radio! Oh how I’ve missed you Fallout! If you somehow didn’t know, Fallout 4 is released on 10th November.
In non-Fallout related news (ie: boring news) some other games are actually coming out this week. I don’t know why. One of them at least has the courtesy to be the rather promising looking Rise of the Tomb Raider. The sequel to 2013’s Uncharted inspired reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider looks to offer more of the same, with cinematic set-pieces, death defying acrobatics and puzzle based exploration. But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Football Manager 2016 is the latest in a series that somehow manages to justify releasing a new game every year, despite having very little innovative to offer. On no wait that’s not true! This year players can customize the appearances of their manager on the pitch. I guess that’s something fans have been waiting for? In short, this game is not Fallout 4, so doesn’t really matter.
One of the more unusual releases of the week is happening over at Microsoft, as backwards compatibility with the Xbox One is slowly becoming an actual thing. That’s right folks, one of the major criticisms leveled at Microsoft’s next-gen console is finally being corrected, as 104 Xbox 360 releases are being made available to play on the Xbox One. As 104 is quite a big number, I won’t list them all here, but the full slate is sure to available online somewhere, with more titles to be added over the next year. All I cant say is ‘About time!’
Another JRPG for me to mock, purely because I don’t understand any of the information I find about them, and need to write something! Which is my approach to everything by the way. If I can’t understand something or someone, then I ruthlessly make fun of them. This week’s title/target is Sword Art Online: Lost Song. Now I definitely already covered a Sword Art a couple of months ago, and it sounded mental! My point is, I think this series might have COD and Assassin’s Creed beat in terms of over-saturating the market. This installment of the playstation exclusive franchise, reputedly takes things in a more action-oriented direction, allowing players to compete in PVP battles, a rarity for the JRPG genre… at least I think it is. It sounds like it ticks all the right boxes for fans but again, it also isn’t Fallout so… you know… who cares?
