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Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
New Assassin's Creed games have become an annual event over the last few years. Unlike many sequels, that are mild re-workings of the previous title, each new Assassin's Creed game brings an incredible amount of new locations, characters and gameplay tactics to the table. Being set in a computer-created virtual history, the Assassins Creed franchise has the luxury to jump around both the globe and historical timeline with abandon. This time the series alights in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy - the early 18th century. As you may expect, the adventure relies heavily on the nautical battle aspects of the game that were first introduced in Assassin's Creed III. Otherwise, the game features the same free roaming, adventure combat game style that players of the series have come to love. But as usual Ubisoft has tweaked things to make it a fresh and exciting experience. The game is more open, more quickly, preventing the user having to complete too many linear missions before unlocking extra areas of the game world. This leads to a more free-roaming and exploratory game style from the beginning. As you are more victorious in combat, you will be able to use your spoils to upgrade your ship. And you'll be able to recruit your crew from captured boats, or add the vessel to your fleet. But beware, as your notoriety rises, pirate hunters will begin to try and capture you for a reward. Combat has been changed to allow for "free aiming" rather than being target-lock based. And you can carry multiple weapons and chain attacks. As usual, as well as the historical aspects of the game, there is a "present day" section, which requires the user to explore the Abstergo offices in Montreal, Canada. As you move around the offices, avoiding combat, you can eaves-drop on Abstergo employees and hack into their computer systems, to learn more about the huge conspiracy in which Desmond Miles is enmeshed.
£14.99 Buy Now -
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
Dive deeper into the catacombs of Creed, with the Assassin's Creed: Syndicate Special Edition, featuring the Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy Mission - giving you an additional 45 minutes of epic gameplay.
"London, 1868. The Industrial Revolution unleashes an incredible age of invention, transforming the lives of millions with technologies once thought impossible. Opportunities created during this period have people rushing to London to engage in this new world, a world no longer controlled by kings, emperors, politicians, or religion, but by a new common denominator: money. Not everyone is able to enjoy the benefits of this boom, however. Despite fueling the engine of the British Empire, workers' lives are little more than legalized slavery while the top few percent profit from their labor. Living poor and dying young, the lower class unite in protest as a new kind of family, gangs, who turn to a life in the underworld in their struggle to survive. A struggle, until watchful Assassins come to their side and re-ignite an age-old conflict involving London's leaders that will echo throughout modern history, from the underground up. Introducing Jacob Frye, who with the help of his twin sister Evie, will change the fate of millions in Assassin's Creed(R) Syndicate. Rise to rally and lead the underworld to break the corrupt stranglehold on London in a visceral adventure filled with action, intrigue, and brutal combat. Features: THE FIRST ASSASSIN AT THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN AGE As the brash, rebellious Jacob Frye, put up your dukes and take enemies on with lightning-fast multikills and countermoves. Use improved stealth tactics to elude your enemies and unleash your arsenal of weapons, including the kukri knife, brass knuckles, and sword cane. Utilize new technology like the rope launcher to scale buildings in seconds and take your enemies by surprise. TRAVERSE THE FAST-PACED WORLD OF INDUSTRIAL LONDON From Buckingham Palace to Big Ben, fight and triumph across the massive open world of Victorian London. Parkour across moving vehicles to track down enemies or escape after a daring raid, hijack carriages to engage in a no-holds-barred street race, or blaze a trail of destruction aboard steamboats along the River Thames. TAKE OVER THE LONDON UNDERWORLD With Jacob as the leader, gamers can establish Great Britain's fiercest gang, the only force that can challenge the elite and defeat rival gangs to bring freedom to the oppressed masses. Enemy strongholds can be infiltrated by using an arsenal of weapons to dominate London's underworld. From robbing trains to rescuing child laborers, players will stop at nothing to bring justice to London's dangerous streets. MASTER THE ART OF STEALTH AS EVIE FRYE Play as Jacob's twin sister Evie, a relentless Assassin who has perfected the silent, swift, invisible strike. Parkour across London's immense open world using your status in London's leading gang to change the city for the better."
£49.99 Buy Now -
Assassin's Creed: Unity
Paris, 1789. The French Revolution turns a once-magnificent city into a place of terror and chaos. Its cobblestoned streets run red with the blood of commoners who dare to rise up against an oppressive aristocracy. Yet as the nation tears itself apart, a young man named Arno will embark upon an extraordinary journey to expose the true powers behind the Revolution. His pursuit will throw him into the middle of a ruthless struggle for the fate of a nation, and transform him into a true Master Assassin.
Introducing Assassin’s Creed Unity, the blockbuster franchise’s new chapter powered by the all new Anvil engine, rebuilt from the ground up for new gen. From the storming of the Bastille to the execution of King Louis XVI, experience the French Revolution as never before – and help the people of France carve an entirely new destiny.
Key Features:
A RUTHLESS NEW HERO FOR A BRUTAL WORLD – Play as Arno, an entirely new breed of Assassin, more lethal than his ancestors. Take down your prey with a range of new weapons such as the Phantom Blade, a Hidden Blade with crossbow capabilities.
BRAND-NEW PARKOUR, COMBAT, AND STEALTH GAMEPLAY
– Enjoy an unprecedented degree of freedom and control over your Assassin, brought to life by the new Anvil engine.
- Full motion control: new parkour mechanics for seamless free running up, across, and down city walls and buildings.
- A reinvented fighting system provides a richer combat experience based on skill, timing, and flow.
- Enhanced stealth gameplay including new stealth mode, cover system and crowd manipulation techniques. Stay hidden, stalk your prey and strike without warning.DEEP CUSTOMIZATION MECHANICS TO CRAFT YOUR OWN MASTER ASSASSIN
– Craft your own unique play style by choosing your weapons, gear, outfit and specialized skills. Mix and match from hundreds of possible combinations and build your Stealth, Fighting, and Navigation abilities from a new expansive skill tree. Become the ultimate Master Assassin.DISCOVER REVOLUTIONARY PARIS, BROUGHT TO LIFE AS NEVER BEFORE
– Carve your way through a stunning full scale, open world city, a feat only possible through the power of the new Anvil engine.
- Explore detailed building interiors and discover secret underground catacombs and sewers.
- Embark on Ancestral Missions, Treasure Hunts, Murder Mysteries, Contracts and more. The city is packed full of activities that will captivate you for hours.
- Witness the chaos of the French Revolution first-hand by immersing yourself in realistic, systemic crowds of up to 5,000 AI driven characters.A UNIQUE CO-OP EXPERIENCE YOU MUST PLAY TO BELIEVE
– In addition to an epic Singe Player campaign, join up to three friends and experience the online open world of 18th century Paris. Pull off ambitious Heists and take part in unique narrative driven missions designed exclusively for cooperative play. Sabotage an execution. Protect an emperor. Assassinate a Templar agent. But victory won’t be easy; you and your lethal band must rely on communication,
coordination, and diverse skills to accomplish your missions, then vanish into the shadows.£24.99 Buy Now -
Batman: Arkham Knight
The Batman: Arkham games have been growing in scope since Arkham Asylum showed the world how superhero games should be done way back in 2009. Arkham Knight promises to be the biggest, most epic game in the series yet. Billed by series creator Rocksteady Games as the conclusion to its trilogy, the game brings the full sprawl of Gotham city to life for the first time.
It's all-out war this time as The Scarecrow returns to unite the villains of Gotham against the caped crusader. In tow are not just infamous favourites such as Harley Quinn, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and the Riddler, but an all-new villain created especially for the game with help from comics superstars Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.
As with previous games, Arkham Knight takes players right into the world of the Dark Knight, giving players the closest experience to being the Batman they're going to get (outside putting on the cape and cowl themselves, which we wouldn't recommend). Gameplay revolves around stealth, detective skills, and the freeflow combat the series brought to the gaming world at large. Enhancements have been made, with new moves and high-tech gadgetry in the fray. For the first time Batman can deploy gizmos such as batarangs, the grapnel gun or the line launcher while flying!
A big selling point for many will be the introduction of a driveable Batmobile. With a brand-new design, the souped-up vehicle can be used right across the Gotham map. That might be for a high-speed chase, or it might be for intense battles on the streets.
Arkham Knight also features 'most-wanted' side missions, in which players encounter high-profile criminal masterminds and can choose to take them down individually or pursue the core story mode.
This is the big one, folks.
£54.99 Buy Now -
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection packs in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (plus all DLC) and serves them up on the new generation of games consoles for the first time. Borderlands 2 Welcome back to Pandora! No, not the Pandora with the really tall aliens running around a la James Cameron's Avatar. Nope, this is the mineral-rich Pandora in which players run around with anarchic glee, shooting everything in site and gathering as much loot as possible. So, what's new? For starters, Gearbox added a number of gameplay features that can help you out in a pinch - the most direct one being a special perk that can be activated by hitting the trigger buttons. When you're not pumping lead, your ammo is replenished over time too, allowing you to go on a proper killing frenzy when you're nearly down and out. Insta-Health vials will only go so far this time around. What changes the game - in a good way - is the introduction of Badass ranks. While characters still have a level cap of 50, Badass ranks don't have such a limit. When you level up in this manner, you earn a Badass token, which can be used to spend on increasing a number of base statistics. The genius here is that tokens spent to increase stats are applied to every single character you have on your profile. Add the mystery of golden chests, and the secret golden keys that require special actions to obtain, and you have a sequel that puts a lot of emphasis on the RPG side of things. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel In a world of endless sequels, reboots and prequels, Gearbox Software has something new for us - the pre-sequel. Set between Borderlands and Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel gives fans the chance to step back into the world of Pandora. This entry to the series follows Handsome Jack, the maniacal baddy everyone loved to hate in Borderlands 2. The game comes with four new playable characters, each bringing their own abilities to the table. Wilhelm has his pair of drones - one for bombing enemies, one for healing himself. Nisha... well, Nisha's basically an unstoppable slaughter machine, filling the screen with hot lead. Athena has a shield that absorbs incoming damage, turning it to energy that can be turned back on enemies. Then there's Claptrap - yes, the goofy robot from Borderlands 2 - whose abilities are unpredictable on account of them changing depending on the situation. What's more, the skill tree is chock full of crazy abilities to win. Want to turn into a walking nuclear bomb? Sure, why not...? New tweaks have been made to gameplay, too. Low gravity combat means you can leap away from enemies (or anywhere you want, really) in a single bound, while new gear means you can freeze enemies solid or fry them to a crisp with laser-class weapons. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel delivers new goodies without ever straying too far from the shoot 'n' loot gameplay and anarchic sensibility gamers first fell in love with it for.
£49.99 Buy Now -
Fallout 4
Return to the wasteland in Fallout 4, the latest titles from the award winning studio who have brought you the likes of Fallout 3 & The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
£54.99 Buy Now -
Grand Theft Auto V
One of the biggest events of the last console generation is finally striding onto more powerful formats! GTA V finally makes its next-gen debut. With GTA IV having taken place in a decidedly east coast sort of setting in Liberty City, this game takes things over to the west coast. The action takes place in Los Santos and the surrounding countryside of San Andreas. Los Santos has seen better days. A sprawling metropolis full of faded stars, self-help gurus and desperate celebrities, the city has declined somewhat in the face economic uncertainty and cheap reality TV. In need of a big score are Franklin, a former street-level gangster; Michael, an ex-con living the high life in witness protection and Trevor, who's a bit on the sociopathic side. These are the three characters through whose eyes you'll see Los Santos. Of course, you'll do a lot more than looking around. The game is centred around six big heists, with plenty of driving, shoot-outs and other assorted missions to get stuck into in between. The open world map is huge, with hours upon hours of content on offer. If you should happen to get through it all, however, there's a whole other side to the game. GTA V also gets you access to GTA Online, a sprawling persistent world for you and up to 15 other players to play in either cooperatively or against each other in traditional competitive modes. With the next-gen version, players get the advantage of higher levels of detail than have ever been seen in GTA before, with better draw distances, finer texture detail and denser traffic to make the city seem more vibrant than ever.
£39.99 -
Just Cause 3
Rico is back, and this time it's personal.
Yes, that sounds like a tagline in an '80s blockbuster action movie. Yes, that's quite appropriate for Just Cause 3. The Mediterranean republic of Medici is trapped in the thrall of General Di Ravello, a diabolical dictator. It just so happens that Medici is the home of our hero, Rico Rodriguez, and the general may have bitten off more than he can chew.
The island (and its neighbours) offer up a huge open world for players to explore, shoot at and blow up. Developer Avalanche says there are 400 square miles to roam, and that huge scale is something of an indicator of what the studio is going for with the third entry in the Just Cause series. It's always been about tackling your enemies and the environment in the most outrageous, over-the-top way possible, and now there's even more stuff to blow up. Imagine the finale of your favourite action movie, then imagine that you get to play through it, and that it will keep going for hours and hours and... well, hours.
Players must re-take the island, armed to the teeth and handling their trusty grapple. Rico has an unlimited supply of C4, and the game really rewards experimenting with huge destructible landmarks and plenty of spectacle.
As well as taking down enemies, players can engage in wingsuiting, parachuting, skydiving and any number of vehicle-related hijinks. That might mean racing, it might mean hanging off the back of a plane or it might mean attaching a car to the back of a bus and driving it off a cliff, just to see what happens.
Just Cause 3 is a huge, explosive playground that's waiting for you to get creative.
£29.99 -
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is the most ambitious LEGO game starring the Caped Crusader yet. While it does, of course, have Batman and Robin front and centre, it could almost have been called 'LEGO DC Superheroes', such is the size of the cast and the scope of the adventure. The 'Beyond Gotham' part of the title is certainly justified. This time out, the Dark Knight is out in space on a cosmic adventure. Braniac, who's more often known for bothering Superman, has been stealing entire cities, shrinking them down using the power of Lantern rings to add them to his sinister collection. So, right off the bat (pun slightly intended) you can see that the scale of the game has been expanded since previous entries to the series, drawing on the mythos of both Green Lantern and Superman. There's a cast to match this newfound scale, with more than 150 characters ranging from icons like Wonder Woman to the lesser-known (but no less important) figures like... well, Bat-cow. Expect The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Lex Luthor, The Joker and Swamp Thing to name just a tiny handful. Players can unlock different versions of characters, too, like the 1960s TV Batman (voiced by Adam West!) who lifts his cape to sneak past foes, or Arctic Batman, with a freeze gun. Gameplay is, as series fans will expect, along the usual LEGO lines. There's a dash of combat, a spot of platforming, a fair amount of environmental puzzle-solving and drop-in/drop-out cooperative play. As ever, it's all delivered with a light touch and a healthy dose of humour. That's not to say there's nothing new here, however. In one level, for example, our heroes encounter a battleship belonging to the Reach and the encounter plays out as a 2D shooter, much like Resogun. Let's be honest, though, most players will come for the sense of fun and the chance to play with that HUGE cast of characters.
£49.99 Buy Now -
Mad Max
After the rip-roaring success of Mad Max: Fury Road, the game sharing the film's protagonist is hotly anticipated. In development for four years, it shares a lot of the film's DNA, thanks in no small part to the input of film director George Miller, but not all of its particulars.
It does start in a similar way, though. While trying to get to the place he calls the Planes of Silence, Max loses his car. Much of the game is about trying to replace it. Teaming up with your constant companion, Chumbucket, you'll be looking to put together a Frankensteinian monster vehicle that can get you back on the road in grand old style.
The way to do this is to undermine the influence of warlord Scabrous Scrotus, doing favours and helping out his smaller rivals. One outpost might specialise in weapons, another tires, so who you spend your most time with will depend on the sort of rig you're looking to build.
The Wasteland is a huge open world, littered with fearsome enemies looking to tear chunks out of you and precious scraps of material you can use to upgrade your weapons. Sometimes you'll fight with vehicles, sometimes with guns. Sometimes all you'll have is your hands.
Borrowing from the vibrant, deadly aesthetic of the films, Mad Max puts you in charge of your own destiny.
£54.99 Buy Now -
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
2015 is, clearly, too far away for the next Metal Gear Solid game. Fortunately Konami and Kojima Productions have your back. Bridging the gap is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a prologue for the main event, The Phantom Pain. As a prologue, it's a stripped down affair that doesn't boast the heft of a fully-fledged entry to the series. Fortunately the price tag reflects this. It's not just in its size that it's a stripped back experience, however. Kojima Productions has pared things back to provide a lean, mean stealth machine. The trademark cutscenes are short and the boss battles are less elaborate, making for a more streamlined gaming experience. Ground Zeroes follows a rescue mission that has players infiltrate a Cuban prison camp and sets off a chain of events that lead directly into MGS V: The Phantom Pain. There's a shift in tone from previous instalments. While high concept political machinations and triple-crossing agents are still very much in play, it's a darker, grittier game than previous titles in the series. The biggest change, however, is the introduction of an open world for gamers to play in. This opens things up for a more cerebral approach or, if you prefer, the option to pile in guns blazing, whether the new Fox Engine is throwing up rain-soaked night-time or starkly-realised daytime. If you need tiding over until The Phantom Pain (and maybe a taste of things to come) look no further.
£14.99 -
Minecraft: Xbox One Edition
After setting a phenomenal trend on PC and selling tremendously well on Xbox Live Arcade, MojangÆs incredibly addictive world-creation game Minecraft has made the jump to physical media!
The charm of Minecraft is in its crude, blocky graphics. As you wander about a seemingly empty map, you soon learn to use your trusty pickaxe to chisel away the environment around you. Doing so not only allows you to rebuild the entire map as you see fit, but can also throw up a number of interesting surprises.
Create buildings, caverns, landmarks... youÆre only limited by your imagination. If you like, you can invite a bunch of friends along to help you build a masterpiece worthy of showing the entire world. But be quick about it, because at night monsters come out to play, so you need to make sure that you have made preparations for you (and your friends) to stay safe until dawn.
This Xbox One version builds from the massive success of the Xbox 360 version. With Mojang now falling under the Microsoft umbrella, the Minecraft experience looks set to get bigger and bigger. Right off the disc, players get bigger maps for bigger adventures. It also comes with expanded multiplayer features. You can get into the mix with up to four players on a split screen or up to eight players online.
£19.99 Buy Now -
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected & Gat Out of Hell
The Saints are back, in what may well be the most out-there twist a videogame sequel has ever taken. Not only that, but with this new-gen version you get an extra layer of visual polish AND yet another twist with the Gat out of Hell expansion as well as all the DLC released for the original. The head of the Saints (that's you) has gone about as far as he can go - leader of the free world. Yeah, he/she is now president of the United States of America. It sounds like a cosy gig and, in fact, it is. Until aliens invade and throw the Saints into a bizarro Steelport simulation. No, we're not kidding. Promise. Now, you've got to bust out of the simulation, repel the alien invasion and save the world or get vaporised trying. That's no mean feat, but you've got a few aces in the hole. The aces in the hole being superpowers. You'll be able to leap tall buildings and outrun sports cars, among other things. Got all that? President of America, alien invasion, superpowers. None of which means you won't be getting the Saints-style gameplay you've grown to love. You'll get a massive open world to play around in, loads of missions, all sorts of vehicles to drive, tons of havoc to wreak and a big old dose of Saints Row madness. You just get to do it all with the added bonus of aliens and superpowers now. And did we mention that there's co-op play, too? Because there is. Then, of course, there's Gat Out of Hell, just in case all the above wasn't enough. There's a bit of a clue in the title - you play as Johnny Gat, who's been sent straight to hell after a spirit board accident and now has to fight demons, famous historical figures and, of course, the very devil himself. In a nutshell, this is the open world game only the Saints Row series could deliver.
£39.99 Buy Now -
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected & Gat Out of Hell
The Saints are back, in what may well be the most out-there twist a videogame sequel has ever taken. Not only that, but with this new-gen version you get an extra layer of visual polish AND yet another twist with the Gat out of Hell expansion as well as all the DLC released for the original. The head of the Saints (that's you) has gone about as far as he can go - leader of the free world. Yeah, he/she is now president of the United States of America. It sounds like a cosy gig and, in fact, it is. Until aliens invade and throw the Saints into a bizarro Steelport simulation. No, we're not kidding. Promise. Now, you've got to bust out of the simulation, repel the alien invasion and save the world or get vaporised trying. That's no mean feat, but you've got a few aces in the hole. The aces in the hole being superpowers. You'll be able to leap tall buildings and outrun sports cars, among other things. Got all that? President of America, alien invasion, superpowers. None of which means you won't be getting the Saints-style gameplay you've grown to love. You'll get a massive open world to play around in, loads of missions, all sorts of vehicles to drive, tons of havoc to wreak and a big old dose of Saints Row madness. You just get to do it all with the added bonus of aliens and superpowers now. And did we mention that there's co-op play, too? Because there is. Then, of course, there's Gat Out of Hell, just in case all the above wasn't enough. There's a bit of a clue in the title - you play as Johnny Gat, who's been sent straight to hell after a spirit board accident and now has to fight demons, famous historical figures and, of course, the very devil himself. In a nutshell, this is the open world game only the Saints Row series could deliver.
£39.99 Buy Now -
Watch_Dogs
In Watch_Dogs, Ubisoft's open-world thriller that has been hyped to the moon and back, you play as Aiden Pierce, a hacker in Chicago on the hunt for his niece's killer. Yes, it's an open-world thriller. No, that doesn't mean that its defining feature will be driving over pedestrians as it has been in every Grand Theft Auto-alike since the dawn of... well, Grand Theft Auto. In Ubisoft's vision of Chicago, the much-vaunted 'Internet of Things' is already a reality. For those who don't spend their free time reading the tech blogs, that means that pretty much every machine that could have a microchip does have a microchip. All systems are run through a centralised operating system, CTOS, which provides city-wide wi-fi and keeps the traffic lights changing when they should, the trains running on time and... well, everything's automated, basically. The downside of this is the near-nonexistence of privacy as the all-seeing CTOS captures all your data and knows everything about you. It's all hackable, too, and as Aiden you'll make your way in the world by hacking all that personal data, not to mention all those lovely automated systems. When confronting an enemy, for example, you might use your smartphone to identify their location through a wall, hack a crane to drop a container on them or even send a fake text to distract them while you line them up in your crosshairs. It can all get a bit underhand if you want it to, and strategy is a definite must. The tables can be turned, however. If you play online, another player can slip into your game and hack your smartphone, then it becomes a race against time to identify who among the in-game characters is actually the interloper. Watch_Dogs is cyberpunk for the 21st century, and it may be your first taste of what's to come...
£24.99 Buy Now
