A couple of blockbuster releases this week in the form of the long-anticipated (too long, if you ask me) Watch Dogs and Nintendo’s latest entry into the racing spin-off series, Mario Kart 8. Alongside those comes a re-release of Borderlands 2 – on PS Vita – and a brand new Worms game for the new generation of consoles.
There’s also a new entry into the Ace Combat series, in the form of a free-to-play PS3 game.
Watch Dogs | PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC | Today
Almost two years after its initial reveal, Watch Dogs is finally releasing today. It’s been a long time coming, and while hype may have lowered recently due to the prolonged development time and lengthy delay, it’s definitely one to be excited about.
Essentially, Watch Dogs takes place in a fictional and eminently hackable version of Chicago, where everything is controlled by the ctOS. You’re able to see information about people, hack their phone calls, or hack many electronics across town.
Expect a deep story and tons of side missions, as well as some very fun open world gameplay. It’s about as close as we’ll get to a next generation Grand Theft Auto style game for now, but also folds in some of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed magic to enhance the experience even further.
Ace Combat Infinity | PS3 | Wednesday
Ace Combat returns this week, exclusively for PS3 in the form of free-to-play game Infinity. There are both online co-operative and single player campaign modes.
It takes place in a near-future alternate universe Earth, where 20% of the surface has been destroyed by asteroids – which the Stonehenge anti-air railgun has failed to fully defend the planet from. It could be quite fun, providing that the microtransactions are balanced nicely.
Borderlands 2 | PS Vita | Friday
Borderlands 2 released on PS Vita a few weeks ago on the US, but those of us in Europe have had to wait a bit longer for the game. The initial response over the shores hasn’t been the best, as the game runs at a poor frame rate and with only two players supported online.
The good news is that they’ve patched the game, so that it now supports cross platform saves with the PS3 version, meaning you’ll be able to continue playing with a character from there.
Mario Kart 8 | Wii U | Friday
Is this the game to save the Wii U? Who knows, but after playing sixty hours of the game over the last few weeks, I can tell you that it’s one of the most fun local multiplayer games I’ve ever played, and hopefully you’ll think the same.
The visuals are sublime, the competition is intense, and it’s just one of those things that you can’t put down after hours of playing. It builds on every aspect of previous Mario Kart games and adds some new ones – including an anti-gravity feature – to create one of the fastest, most frantic and best games this year.
If you’re a fan of Mario Kart, or just a fan of having a lot of fun, then this is definitely one to keep an eye on. Even if you don’t have a Wii U, you’ll be wanting to get round to a friend’s house for some multiplayer action.
Worms Battlegrounds | PS4, Xbox One | Friday
Worms have previously infested almost every platform, and now they’re making their way to the new generation of consoles. It’s coming as both a digital download and a boxed release, and will feature 25 single player missions as well as five environments including Inca, Viking, Feudal Japan, Industrial Revolution and Prehistoric.
There will be 65 weapons, with returning favourites and new ones including Mega Mortar, Gravedigger, Winged Monkey, Oxygen, Worm Charm, Bovine Blitz, Whoopsie Cushion, Teleport Gun, Aqua Pack and The Equalizer, as well as physics-based contraptions.
It seems to be £35 in the UK though, which is really quite expensive, particularly when it’s $25 in the US.
tactical20
Waiting for posty who is bringing me Watch Dogs. Also trying to convince the wife that buying a WiiU/Mario Kart bundle for our 15 month old boy isn’t utterly ludicrous.
Amphlett
Why is ‘postie’ so late when we’re waiting for something exciting to pop through our letterboxes?
tactical20
Our post is usually pretty slow, but my copy has arrived and I’m impatiently installing all the stuff. Been so long since I last turned on my PS4, I can’t even remember how it works.
Amphlett
My copy’s also turned up, hurrah!
Insert disc, wait for game to boot up, notification of update file being downloaded, notification of game being installed, game update downloaded, quit game and back to menu, start game update install.. clunky.
Amphlett
Ha ha, just started the game again and ‘Sony network under maintenance’… oh dear.
Lyts1985
If it’s any help, my little un gets absolutely engrossed every time I play Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U, he loves it :-) from the age of about 18 months he’s spontaneously brought me the box for the game most evenings whenever he wants me to play it and sits there watching it, chuckling away… And who am I to deprive him?! Haha
JustTaylorNow
Looking forward to borderlands vita, that should be fun
Tuffcub
I predict Mario Kart will enter the charts at around 4th place, then fall off completely and be off the top twenty four weeks later.
JustTaylorNow
Like Killzone :p
Starman
If you have a few minutes and want a laugh check out the Watchdogs user reviews on metacritic. Some crackers on there.
dirtiestturnip
I liked this one the best:
“Ubisofts most recent attempt to make a game combining assansins creed and gta. Failed horribly. Cashcrab involving “Funny internet memes” and hacking.
We are not twelve.
Also the car physics seem to be coded by a incompetent developer.”
Just for the line that says “we are not twelve”. Their will be a 12 year old somewhere reading that!
Honestly though, it has got loads of terrible reviews on metacritic and you can tell they are written by people who haven’t even played the game.
Starman
There’s one that says “gameplay is good, graphics aren’t as good as when it was first revealed at e3 2012 – 0/10”
I just love how one part of the game being less than they expected gets it a 0/10 score.
Lyts1985
Yep, there’s one on there that concludes with “6/10” but the score given in the big red bubble is “0”. Those user reviews are pointless…
Kennykazey
I’ll definitely pick up Mario Kart and Borderlands 2. Worms seem cool, but it’s rather expensive. I’ll probably get Watch Dogs at a later time, too much else to play.
Youles
Watch_Dogs and Borderlands 2 for me this week
TSBonyman
No prizes for guessing next weeks top dog. ;)
Curiously, when i picked up Watch Dogs from the local Smyths Toys this morning they said they had received 50 copies for PS4 and ten copies each for the other platforms. I wonder how the copies were split up across the rest of the retailers.
Dominic Leighton
I picked it up at the midnight launch at our local Game and most of the copies being sold were on PS4, whilst the Xbox One copies sat there. It actually looked like they had more X1 copies to begin with though, at least behind the counter.
MrJimmy
I was really looking forward to Worms, but £35? For a game I’ve bought an estimated 8 times already? I want a freaking upgrade discount… I may have to vote with my money and leave it
DividSmythe
Also Lemmings touch has been confirmed out tomorrow.
MK8 Friday getting that. My short spell with Watch_dogs was good but I couldn’t figure out where manual save is.
MrJimmy
Worms is £19.99, still a lot but probably do it..