By Nelson Schneider - 10/02/14 at 07:18 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. Now that the Summer Game Drought is well and truly past once again, it is time for game publishers to start ramping up the hype for the annual sales onslaught that is the Holiday Shopping Season. With only three short months left to make back all of the outrageous sums of money they gave their development teams to work on “AAA” games, publishers look to be starting with a massive push, as October will have more game releases than the entire Summer season combined.
Of course, when there are a lot of releases, as anyone capable of observing and recognizing patterns will realize, there are a lot of shovelware releases. October has far too many of them, sprayed as so much buckshot into the guts of consumers worldwide. There is a new ‘Alien’ tie-in (despite the lack of an ‘Alien’ movie since “Prometheus”), a “Duck Dynasty” game (because we definitely need a game about religiously backwards duck-call crafters), a port of the first season of “The Walking Dead” to the 8th Gen consoles as well as a compiled release of all the episodes in “The Walking Dead: Season Two,” a singing game based on “The Voice” and a dancing game in Ubisoft’s long-running ‘Just Dance’ series, a DS/3DS game based on “Winx Club,” a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” game that is too late to tie into the recent Michael Bay movie, ANOTHER ‘Power Rangers’ game, as well as a different super sentai game based on an anime called “Tenkai Knights.” As if all that crap based on TV and movies weren’t enough, there’s also a “Poptropica” game based on some kind of online social media thing for kids, two of Ubisoft’s ‘Petz’ games, and the 15th iteration of “Farming Simulator.” Of course, we can’t forget the licensed sports franchises that just keep going and going, so there’s a Wii (yes, WII, without the U) port of “FIFA 15,” a new ‘WWE’ wrestling release, and two new NBA games that make shoving an orange ball through a metal hoop feel so unique, it totally justifies both experiences…
There are only 7 multi-platform releases that aren’t blatantly shovelware in October (and two of them are really pushing it). The pre-sequel in the popular ‘Borderlands’ franchise will be dropping in (no word on its DLC yet), along with a generic-looking ‘action’ RPG called “Lords of the Fallen,” and a new survival horror game creatively dubbed “The Evil Within.” Two non-licensed racing games are coming, one for people who love motocross and one for those who love F1 cars. Then there’s the unexpected (and shovel-flavored) release of a new ‘Pac-Man’ 3D platformer, and a new ‘Skylanders’ toy-advertisement-in-game-form.
But where October is deficient in newness, it makes up for it with ports and remasters. Steam is getting “Final Fantasy 13” (against its will, presumably), and the PS4 is getting “Minecraft” (even after the Microsoft buyout of the game’s developer). There are also going to be ‘Need for Speed’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ compilations, as well as a ‘definitive edition’ of “Sleeping Dogs” for 8th Gen hardware, along with an 8th Gen version of the formerly-PC-exclusive “Shadow Warrior.” The port that really has me fired up, though, is the long-time-coming HD remaster of “Pier Solar and the Great Architects,” a modern-day Genesis RPG that transformed from a hacking project into a full-blown Indie release. With “Pier Solar” finally overcoming its limited physical releases via Steam and the console digital platforms, it’s no longer the rare fruit is once was… but I still ordered a physical copy to play on my Dreamcast.
The exclusives are spread around a bit more than usual in October. PC gamers are getting a new ‘Civilization’ game and a sequel to the awesome retro-dungeon-crawler, “Legend of Grimrock” (now with more outdoors!). The PS3 is getting YET ANOTHER awful-looking loli-RPG, “Tears to Tiara 2” (there was a first one?!), while the PS4 is getting a Beat ‘em Up in “Samurai Warriors 4” and a racing game in “DriveClub” (honestly, not the most impressive slate, but better than the nothing the PS4 has been getting for most of its first year). Microsoft is also looking more lively than they have in many months, releasing a new Kinect-based hand-waving game that has something to do with directing the music in Disney’s “Fantasia” (it’s almost shovelware), the XBONE and PC versions of the user-generated-content-driven “Project Spark,” and Insomniac’s why-are-you-working-on-this-instead-of-more-Ratchet-and-Clank XBONE exclusive shooter, “Sunset Overdrive.” Even the WiiU has ONE exclusive, the sexy-witch Beat ‘em Up sequel “Bayonetta 2,” which conveniently includes a digital download of a port of the original “Bayonetta” in the box.
As usual, there’s not much worth mentioning coming to handhelds that didn’t already get tarred and feathered in the shovelware category. The Vita is getting a surprising TWO exclusives, which is more than it’s had in one month… I think EVER? Online RPG fans with Vitas can look forward to “Freedom Wars,” while those Vita owners with a penchant for jiggly, buxom ninja kunoichi can grab (and fondle) the latest entry in the ‘Senran Kagura’ franchise.
3DS owners, on the other hand, are getting a sandboxy-looking RPG generically called “Fantasy Life,” a ‘game’ about drawing pictures of Pokemon (which cannot be as good as “The Pokeymans Project”), and the not-so-anticipated handheld half of the extremely-anticipated 8th Gen version of “Super Smash Bros.” While I’m eagerly awaiting ‘Smash’ on the WiiU, I can’t really see the appeal in trying to play a game in that series on a 4” screen. At least Nintendo recognizing that crossplay between their handhelds and consoles is important is a hopeful step for the troubled company.
There are more exciting games dropping in October than there have been in a single month for a long, LONG time. I’ll be grabbing “Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel” and “Legend of Grimrock 2” on Steam… once they’re cheap enough. I might also grab a Steam copy of “Pier Solar HD” to go with my Dreamcast version. I’ll also be picking up a Windows Store copy of “Project Spark,” though the lack of Windows Store sales makes me wonder how long I’ll have to wait and how much I’ll have to pay.
It’s good to see that after nearly a year, there are a few more non-cross-generational releases that at least attempt to make the 8th Generation look relevant. It feels simultaneously weird and awesome to be buying a new Dreamcast game in 2014, with the 8th Generation in full-swing. Of course, with a Dreamcast game accompanied by a handful of PC games fattening up my backlog this month, I’m still not seeing any great payout from the new generation of hardware.
Backlog Embiggened: +4
