GameSpot's The Lobby: What games are left for 2016?

[MUSIC] There are so many other games coming on 2016, and I know the ones I'm excited for, primarily Last Guardian I'm super curious how it's gonna turn out after decade. I don't think know it's going to be amazing, but I know that I'm Endlessly curious. Final Fantasy 15 as well. But what about you guys, what's the stuff you're looking forward to the rest of the year. I'm curious to see what Battlefield is like. And as well as Titanfall, I'm actually super excited to play that campaign. Having seen snippets of it, I'm sure you saw some of it. It looks great, it just feels like a perfect example of a developer that saw all the feedback and was like, okay, we'll just do that. [LAUGH] We'll take all the feedback, there wasn't much of a story, I didn't understand, they hit every Made every mark with developing that tightened pilot relationship that just seems so strong and in some of the footage we've seen, I'm really excited for that. And to know more about that Universe because it's a sweet universe but that campaign, it was just, imagine a hard time of you know, intertwining that with multiplayer like you were so distracted. I mean that's really exciting. Unfortunately, those are basically insane what, two weeks? One week? [CROSSTALK] Not far. This month in particular is Really intense. But yeah, I mean, I actually got to play two or three hours of Titanfall's campaign. And yeah, I mean, your perception is very right. They've dug into the story, they've really fleshed out the relationship between one particular pilot and Titan. Actually, I think the most surprising thing about my time with the single player With the fact that you have dialog options Yeah. Constantly. YOu're venturing with your tight NBT, either just over the radio or while you were piloting him. And he just kind of weighs in with stuff like as your moon to level and you can choose how to respond. You can be kind of snarky or you can be nice about things. And it doesn't really direct the story in any way, it's just kind of allowing you to shape that friendship, or that partnership. In a way that reflects kind of your personality. I thought that was kind of a cool choice. It keeps you engaged. It's kind of there for some flavor, it just keeps you engaged. Yeah, exactly. Actually, in my [UNKNOWN] single player, I compared it Fire Watch which was the closest thing I could think of. But it's not so much about you unlock a different ending if you direct the narrative down this path, it's just You were kind of shaping a relationship which is really cool. I think they have actually done a pretty job with that portion the writing was really good. And also from what I saw as well was taking different direction of like are you mor on the humor side of a story to be told choice that path or maybe you wanna know more specific or more details it seams like kind of. Directing those choices in that direction. Yeah, but I don't think it runs super deep but you definitely have some degree of control over how you engage the world, for sure. So I'm pretty psyched about the campaign and actually I've really enjoyed multiplayer as well. I know people weren't super stoked on the beta but I've now also played the full competitive suite with All the titans in it and a whole bunch of new maps and modes and stuff and it all kind of comes together in a interesting way. Rob and I have talked about this before, so honestly I'm pretty psyched about Titanfall, I know people are a little cold on it after having played the beta. But I'm psyched, having now played quite a bit of it I'm very excited. Same thing with Gears actually, played a lot of gears. I think that it's coming together really well. I really like the direction that the team is taking. It seems like they have a firm understanding of the franchise and know when to defer to the legacy of the game and when to push things in a new direction. I had a lot of fun playing the campaign. It felt very much like a Gears campaign, this mix of very linear corridor shooting that then Opens up to a broader arena. You kind of set peace moment and then everything is paced very delibertaly and it's very cinematic and you get these relationship moments with the characters. It's all very, very gears and seem to be pretty well [?] and then mutiplayers as well, drawing a lot from gears passed but doing new things with it. It looks super fun, unless you are doing a stream of horde mode tomorrow if you want to tune in. Horde mode is a ton of fun. I really like what they did with that. So Gears is like, God I think it comes out next week, right? Jesus, yeah. Yeah, yeah it's coming up. So I'm psyched for Gears. I'm hoping it's gonna be as good as the portions that I've played so far. What about WatchDogs 2? Rob, you grew up in San Francisco. Did that appeal to you at all? Playing a game like that's supposed to be, like [UNKNOWN] the city like that well and with such depth. Yeah, you know, I looked at some of the- Absolutely, like I would definitely want to see some of the landmarks like the bush guy. Is he in that? He isn't supposed to be. Unfortunately he actually died in real life I heard. No, I know, yeah. For people who don't know, the bush guy is this person down by the pier who would hide behind a swath of bush. And jump out and scare unsuspecting tourists. Much to the delight of everyone else, but those tourists. And he did this for years and years. Yup. He's great. He's in the game, which I think is great. Look him up on YouTube. You know, I think it's cool, they've got an office out here. I think they're gonna do the city justice, I think they're gonna Show it well. My main concern, and I think it looks like they really stepped it up, was for me Watchdogs 1, I got unfortunately three hours in and literally lost a craving battle for GTA. Literally would put that game down and play GTA 5. Because that open world for me and driving you just I feel like it was just not clicking, it wasn't believable the open world. People walking around chatting, nothing sold me [INAUDIBLE]. However, this time around it looked like they've really gone in the direction of, you know what, we're just going to give you All these great abilities like, you could basically frame a police officer on the street. [LAUGH] And say he's a wanted murderer. And all the cops will turn their guns on him. I feel like they've done a nice job of just giving you all the tools to have fun but not necessarily saying, this is great! You know what I mean? Not taking the route of, say, like a Saints Row. Words like overly sarcastic almost, I don't know. Right. And this just seems much more enjoyable world to just play in. It looks good, the footage looks good. I got my hopes for that. [INAUDIBLE] Seems fun. Yeah. Like that's kind of what was missing from the first game. It was so, like even the hero was just this dour, humorless jerk, He was just Yeah, exactly. And it makes sense in the story context. He lost his family and it was this redemption story but The entire game felt so grey and so serious that it really was just kinda missing fun. And so I feel like this new world and this new city, new setting, new character, all kind of have at least a degree of fun to it that makes you kind of want to spend time there. I'm a little worried that they're gonna go too over the top with the millennial flavoring. Right. And there's gonna be way too much slang that doesn't quite make sense. I agree. And So I'm a little concerned that that's gonna be kinda grating, but outside of that, I am way more excited about this world and even this game as a whole than I was about the original Watch Dogs. The other thing that I would add to what Rob was saying, and I agree with everything he said. I really appreciate that they made hacking so much more open. It felt like it was You know, you were very dependent on your environment. Everything was you know if you happened to be near a particular thing that's what you could hack, that's Right. What you could use, but if you weren't near anything hackable, you were just screwed. Like you said, no options. In this game you have a drone that you can deploy, a couple different drones you can deploy It seems like there is more stuff you can hack and more stuff you can do when you hack it. As it gives you a lot more freedom and make that mechanic kind of more useful and something that will actually make the game feel more distinctive as opposed to just being Being this thing that's shoehorned in like, look, we're a hacker game. Yeah. No, not really. That's such a good point. That was the problem with the first one was it was very much one-off hacking abilities. Yeah. Everything was contextual. Road block in the middle of a street. Now it seems like you can do a lot of combinations with different hacking abilities. Like you said with the drone, I can get to somewhere that would not be possible for me to do on foot, or I can get here easier, or I can Combo. I mean, yeah, you know. Frame this cop while I hot-wire his car to [LAUGH] You be like, framing cops? [LAUGH] Yeah! [LAUGH] That's so dumb. And great! it's like, No, it's hilarious. We went to police academy together, I thought I knew this guy! [LAUGH] You know, situations. Just seems funny. What was the other, you could also Inform a local gang that this person, you know frame, like- You're just gonna wanna frame everyone in sight! [LAUGH] What a way to play that game! Just subterfuge! There's something so funny about that. Nothing. Like, never hijacked a car, never did, just go around and ruining people's lives with misinformation. It's just so funny to think of people like some gang guy on his phone like ****. [LAUGH] So and so took a bunch of coke? On his phone constantly will just then go to that person and kill him or start a whole scene in the middle of the street. Just standing there doing that sounds so funny. I just realized that it would be really interesting to compare Watchdog's mafia. Cuz those are sort of the two big open world third person story driven. They're very Similar at least on paper. Thematically in the story they're trying to tell, very, very different, but mechanically, in terms of the game they're trying to be, very similar. So I think that'll be an interesting showdown this holiday season. I know. That's true. I'm super curious about both games, like how gun play and action's gonna play into it all because it seems like they're playing with really cool concepts and themes But then it's like this de facto action stuff thrown in to satisfy part of the audience. And if that's not good then the whole game's gonna fall apart. That was a struggle for GTA for years. Right. It can crack that shiny veneer in such a way that's like. You know it stands out like a sore thumb. Totally. I guess we'll find out won't we, is there any other games you guys are looking forward to. I mean there's honestly a lot coming, give me one more. Civ,->> Civ? Okay.- I'm excited for Civ, I've been a big civilization fan for a very long time, I'm really excited about the changes they made in Civ. Kind of like with Gears I appreciate just the direction they're taking at the ideas that they've tried to imbue in this new iteration. Just like unstacking the cities and the hidden agendas. All these different mechanics that have now been layered on top. That are going to, I hope and I think. And especially, according to Mike Mahardy, are going to change the way that the game plays in a kind of fundamental way without totally altering the franchise's DNA. Right. So I am excited to see how that pans out. I have a lot of faith in that team. They clearly know what they're doing. So I'm excited for more CIV. And I'm excited that it's something a little different. It's not just a blockbuster shooter, which seems to be a big chunk of the games that come out at this time of year. So, that could be a really cool break from some of the other stuff we're getting this holiday season. Yeah, there's a lot of shoot-em-ups coming out. Yeah, there are. Yeah, lots of guns, as every year. [LAUGH] I will say that I will definitely play Infinite Warfare's campaign. It looks pretty good. Yeah, dude. Space dog fighting, that seems fun, I'll try that. I know, I hope that works. [CROSSTALK] Yeah, I'll try it, what the hell? I want it to be good. That's a good point. Man, when I want dog fighting, I want it one to one. I want to be controlling my own roles, and if it's super on rails, just like Pull the trigger down and just fire away. Get me out of here, get me on foot. [LAUGH] This is ****. Well, you can hack enemy ships and tell them about all those coke deals. [LAUGH] [LAUGH] I want to frame someone. [LAUGH] Peter, what has you so excited about Last Guardian? That's so interesting to hear you say that, because I feel that has fallen off a lot of people's radar. It's been in development for so long, now that we've finally seen it people are kind like yeah, whatever. And It seems like it's moment has kind of passed, but apparently not for you. So why are you still psyched about it? Moments don't pass for me when it comes to games that I haven't had a chance to play. Ooh. Fair enough. And, this is something that, you know, seriously, was announced back when Fumito Oeda, the developer of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, now this, was at the peak of his career. Mhm. And this seemed to be the next Step in his evolution as a developer to dramatize the whole thing. His final form. Yeah, and so we've seen people play the game. And we've seen their reactions. And it sounds kind of middling. But a lot of the things they describe are part and parcel of Shadow of the Colossus in the way it controls and the way it animates. And I'm okay with that. I do think it may stand out in today's modern era where things are maybe a little bit more tight and less floaty, but again that's a style that I'd accepted in the past, and maybe I embrace older games more than most folks, but I do think that there's a chance, that won't ruin the whole game for me So I put that aside and what I'm left with is my initial sense of wonder at what can [UNKNOWN] do to really surprise me again. And I just don't know. And so that is why I am so interesting in seeing it. There are ads on busses now, that game is freaking coming out. So it's coming. So I feel like I'm ready to actually be excited and be curious. And I'm a little said that it comes at the tail end of the season though cuz I think people are going to be So exhausted, at least on our end, from so many games. And even for consumers, they probably spent a lot of money up until that point. Yeah. And I think a similar fate is something that Final Fantasy XV faces. Another games that's been in development for a long time. Though this one has changed hands and it seems to be coming together. It's evolved a lot since the two demos that we've had a chance to play. But you know Final Fantasy as much as I love it, it can- excuse me for saying it can be too far up it's own **** sometimes. [LAUGH] You know it looses sight of the things that you know the audience sort of loves. And they are trying to tell the audience what they should love. A lot of game's fault, you know have that problem. But Final Fantasy 13 exhibited those issues quite a bit. Now again, the development is sort of changed hands, and this is not the same team that made 13 by any measure but, you know, there's been some things like the sort of top hitting girl who's shirt is unbuttoned. That sort of thing where it's like, that shouldn't be important to either emphasize or defend and if that's the thing that they're going to stick with Plus all these fashion things tacked on top of it, I wonder where their priorities are. Mm-hm. So, I'm glad to see that it's improved. I'm cautious to see that it's doing some things that don't really matter to me, and, I think a lot of people, and so, again, you combine those two things, and it's, like, what will this be, what can it turn out to be? And, we'll have the pleasure of finding out at the end of November, I guess Fingers crossed at this stage. Yeah, it is interesting that those are both coming a little later on. But at least the nice thing I would say about [UNKNOWN] games is they tend to be kinda timeless. So even if people miss it You know, this December, it's like that kind of experience, has legs and could still be something beautiful and enjoyable, assuming the game came together. Yeah. Just as much next year, as would be this year. So hopefully- As it should be, right? Yeah, yeah. And hopefully it doesn't get completely overlooked, but even if it does, to some extent I thing that That will as with Shadow of the Colossus at least find a cult following if nothing else. Those are the games we are looking forward to throughout the rest of the year. Let us know what you are looking forward to in the comments below. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]