Television’s fall season got underway and the NFL continued to vehemently tarnish their brand and scramble to recover in September while Destiny players run wild across the solar system.
In addition to Destiny, Shadow Of Mordor and Forza Horizon 2 turned out to be stellar games to enjoy, and the Wii U benefitted from a creative Dynasty Warriors/Legend Of Zelda series mash-up called Hyrule Warriors, where the hack-n-slash formula met with the heroes and monsters of the famed Nintendo series.
September was also a time of excitement, witnessing new gameplay footage of upcoming releases like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the rumors of a Rock Band revival. The month was just the start of a season that is full of incredible gaming opportunities, with Comic-Con New York in just a week; October looks to kick the gaming industry into another gear.
This October boasts a game sure to fright players a couple weeks before Halloween, another to get players off their feet and dancing to the beat, and a new release that provides wacky sandbox action, all leading up to the annual, and honestly, somewhat exhausting Call Of Duty release, which could be the biggest overall game launch of the year.
On a somewhat grim note, this month also features the release of two titles in the RPG and action genres, Lords Of The Fallen and Shadow Warrior, that won’t be seeing any release on current-gen systems, only releasing on PS4 and Xbox One, marking the first steps toward games only on next-generation consoles.
With so many top-notch, highly re-playable titles coming out month after month, who could keep up? Here are October’s games to keep a look out for:
The Evil Within (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PC) – Oct. 14
Bethesda Softworks’ latest entry, developed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and his team, Tango Gameworks, will have players anxiously looking down every hallway and around every corner, hoping that a creature won’t tear their character to pieces in a variety of creative ways.
Dying in The Evil Within is a highlight of the game, providing a variety of weapons, both melee and ranged and an interactive environment with traps, resulting in tons of ways to kill or be killed. This should make the experience both disturbing and exciting.
Key components like scavenging around the surroundings and a very eerie atmospheric environment that resembles the Resident Evils of old suggest that survival horror gamers should keep a close eye on The Evil Within, who knows if it could come back to haunt you to buy it.
Just Dance 2015 (Wii, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3) – Oct. 21
The latest release in the highly successful dance series will have players pulling off the latest moves to the hottest club jams like Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and Avicii’s “Addicted To You.”
New social features like “Community Remix” give players the ability to showcase their dancing through Kinect video-recording and let other players learn their choreography. An updated “Autodance” feature creates Vine-like videos for players to share on social platforms, and the ability to challenge anyone’s score, regardless of whether they are playing against another live in “Challenger Mode,” makes Just Dance 2015 the biggest and most accessible entry in the franchise.
Classic hits like Run DMC and Aerosmith’s mash-up “Walk This Way” and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s unforgettable duet “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” are featured in Just Dance 2015, and should give fans who have dancing fever, both young and old, a wide choice of classic and modern tunes to choose.
Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) – Oct. 28
Insominac Games, known for platformers like Ratchet And Clank and their work with the PlayStation exclusive Resistance series, will make its first foray into the open-world genre with a colorful and varied sandbox, full of parkour-like travel from city street to building top, and crazy weapons and vehicles in an Xbox One exclusive title.
While Sunset Overdrive has received a bit of backlash for “ripping off” other games, it should be argued that this is beneficial, combining elements of a ton of excellent titles from the Tony Hawk series and Ratchet And Clank franchise to create something over the top, but still focused and unique.
Even without an open-world multiplayer mode for players to explore and wreak havoc in Sunset City, the single player campaign should provide enough thrills, and the confirmed competitive multiplayer looks to be a pleasant addition with the ability to use whatever experience and rewards between the two game modes.
Crazy looking monsters to battle, insane weapons, including one that shoots exploding teddy bears, and an impressive sense of character progression through new abilities and upgrades might make Sunset seem immature and childish to some, but ultimately it’s looking like a load of wisecracks and unabashed fun.
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC) – Nov. 3
While the formula of an intense campaign, cooperative mode, and best-in-class multiplayer matchmaking has proven to be successful year after year, Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare looks to try and reinvent the series through fresh multiplayer changes, including Titanfall-like player movement and loot-grabbing opportunities.
An invigorating new survival mode called “Exo-Survival” looks to freshen up the traditional survival modes seen in recent releases like the Black Ops games and the Zombie modes. This mode will be up to four players working together to stay alive, while trying to complete objectives in a time frame, with rewards for completion and consequences for failures.
Boasting star power from the likes of Netflix’s gripping political series House Of Cards actor Kevin Spacey and another over-the-top blockbuster campaign, Call Of Duty is pulling out all the artillery in their arsenal to reinvigorate the über-successful formula and bring new, old, and die-hard fans together for the best outing in the series.
