Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the eagerly awaited sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon age 2, it is the third game in the series and will be released on XboxOne, Xbox360, PS3, PS4 and PC on October 7th 2014.

I think in this post I'm just going to list new and returning features to the game.

Bioware have released that the game will have 4 playable races that are both male and female, Human, Dwarf, Elf and Qunari.

The tactial view, from Origins on PC, has made a comeback for all consoles in Inquisition.

Combat has been overhauled and will focus more on the player's' ability requiring  less random button mashing when stamina is low.

Romance has changed from the old gift and dialogue based system and replaced with romance occuring in reaction to events and different variables which are specific to different characters.

Decisions made in the game will have a greater impact on the story and give the player more control over their gaming experience.

Keeps and forts have been introduced which can be captured for the Inquisition, and when they are captured new areas open up in the world for the player to explore.

The game will begin with a new protagonist and Bioware employee Mike Laidlaw mentioned that playing as a different character "does not mean your old character may never appear in future games" which could mean that the player could meet their original protagonist.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of the Borderlands series, so I was very excited to hear of the pre-sequel in the past week, and on hearing it I begun my research (as you do).

The 4 new playable characters are:
Athena 'The Gladiator' who has a temporary shield that can absorb damage and convert it into energy that can be used against enemies
Wilhelm 'The Enforcer' a human who with the right upgraded can be transformed into the cybernetic badass you face in Borderlands 2
Lynchwood sheriff Nisha 'The Lawbringer'
And Claptrap 'The Fragtrap', Yes Claptrap is a playable character I love this so much.
Each character will have their own specific skill trees that will be upgraded in the classic Borderlands style.

The storyline focuses on Handsome Jack and his attempt to escape his exile from the Hyperion moonbase, and take over it for his own plans. The characters named above begin as Handsome Jacks mercenaries. Jack will begin with good intentions and as the story expands he gets twisted and it shows his fall into evil and how he is twisted into what he is on the Borderlands 2 story.

The game will be placed on Pandoras moon and there will be low gravity so jumping is higher and players can use oxygen tanks like jetpacks to perform double jumps, hover and ground slam attacks, there will be different kinds of oxygen tanks that provide stat bonuses, and ad elemental damage to the ground slam attacks. 2 new weapon types are also introduced to this game and they are laser based and cryogenic weaponry.

This game will be relaesed on PC, Xbox360 and the PS3 on October, 17th 2014.

Assassins Creed: Unity

Assassins Creed Unity is the next eagerly awaited instalment of the Assassins creed series and is set for release on PC, PS4 and XboxOne. Set in Paris during the French revolution, the single-player story follows Arno Dorian and his fellow assassins in their efforts to expose the truth behind the French revolution.

Arno is a Frenchman born and bred who was born in Versailles, he is on a quest of redemption that leads him to the assassin organisation, he slowly rises through the ranks similar to Altair and Ezio in the past games.

Unity has introduced a cooperative multiplayer mode, a first for the series, which lets up to 4 people explore the open world and engage in missions which can be accomplished in different ways based on how many players you have and what tactics you use, you can go for a full frontal assault, or a distraction and sneak method. It works by players entering taverns, that acts social hubs, in which you can see your friends who are playing unity and if they are in a mission they appear as a 'ghost' which allows you to request to join their mission/game, a little like Fable 3, if they accept you are migrated to their game and you begin from the hosts most recent checkpoint in the mission they are on and continue from there, in your game you will play as Arno and the other players will be random members of the brotherhood, most missions and activities are available for coop play, but some are restricted to single player only.

Combat for the game has undergone a remodelling, inspiration for the new combat system was fencing. In addition to the returning weapons from past games in the series, Unity introduces the Phantom Blade. The Phantom Blade  is basically a crossbow that fires arrows/projectiles a great distance silently, while still serving as the traditional assassins choice, the Hidden Blade. Ubisoft also remodelled the navigation system creating the Parkour Up and Parkour Down mechanics to help the player scale building faster and with ease in either direction. Additionally Arno's parkour skills advance during the game gaining more moves and skills, but players can acquire new optional skills, at a cost of course. NPC's/public have even been upgraded as well, new interactions have been given to them, the player can engage with them at their leisure for example interfering with fistfights or chasing down pickpockets.

in my opinion Ubisoft have outdone their selves this time and this will be the best game in series.