2017 Hype: Games

I start 2017 with a backlog of 7 games, 4 bits of DLC, 3 games on my Amazon wish list and a shiny new Nintendo console pre-ordered. It’s going to be busy…

I tell you this because when I hype up 2017 games I know I probably won’t play half of them to 2018. Apart from Zelda obviously. Breath of the Wild is the first big new Zelda title since 2011’s Skyward Sword (do we count Link Between Worlds?). To say I’m anticipating it is a bejassive understatement. This game will consume my hours and stretch my smiling muscles to breaking point. Id describe its visual splendour but when I picture it my mind goes in to a trance like state of bliss. A Zelda that breaks from traditions set in stone since Ocarina. A Zelda that accompanies a brand new console.

As I write this we’re 11 days away from a show that will unveil the games, the release date and bundles of epic-ness relating to the Nintendo Switch. This is the biggie, my primary gaming purchase of the year. Currently set for release at some point in March and with little known about it other than what’s in that swanky trailer. It’s a tablet that you can take on a bus, that you can dock at home and play on your TV, that you can remove the controllers from and enjoy two player Mario Kart in the work break area. Not that I’ll be doing that, what if their hands are covered in food? Pfft. As a biased Nintendo fan I’d buy it no matter what but I want it to succeed and with this I really feel they will. Nintendo seem different, their approach to marketing and their products in general are in an unpredictable place (you did not see the NES Mini, Mario Run and theme park rides coming) Plus the last time they picked themselves up from such a position of failure we got the Wii. So hurrah!!

Other stuff for me will be on the PS4. The amount of games releasing between now and March is crazy and there’s to be some causalities there in sales numbers. Gravity Rush 2 looks like a lush improvement on the fun first game, although its’ a bit niche and who the flip buys games in January. Resident Evil 7 will prove me wrong there and probably sell bucket loads. Not sure it’s for me, mainly because I’m a scaredy cat and the whole first person horror thing creeps me out. Imagine playing that in VR?? No no no, burn it with fire and run away.

February has got three big releases but I’m being picky/budgeting so it’s only Horizon for me. An open world RPG in which you hunt robot dinosaurs. Yes really. Whilst I’m sceptical about how the story is going to explain that one, I’m pretty damn excited to hunt robot dinosaurs with some futuristic bow type thing. Plus visually it’s a real looker.

March is all Nintendo and I’ve covered that. April sees Yooka–Laylee finally come out, a tribute to the beauties Rare made in the N64 days. Similar in structure to Mario 64 but with a quirky British sense of humour, Banjo-Kazooie was a real gem. Hopefully this game is a worthy successor.

The rest of year is less concrete when it comes to release dates but we have a good idea of what’s coming before next Christmas. Uncharted gets an extra chapter, this time focusing on the female cast members. Crash Bandicoot gets remastered and I’m not really that interested but I’m getting it anyway. So says my wife, who apparently loved the original in the PS1 days. A remaster I am intrigued by though is Wipeout, because making my eyes bleed by driving futuristic vehicles at 500mph was always fun.  

There’s going to be plenty more but it’s hard to say for sure what it’ll make it this year. Titles announced last E3 that seem too far off include Spider-Man and God of War. E3 takes place in June and that’s when we’ll know how Santa’s sack is going to be filled (oo er…) I couldn’t talk about the year in gaming and not mention the shows. I spend as much time reading and talking about games as I do playing. I book E3 off work and treat with greater anticipation than my birthday. The rumour mill and hype trains fill my days in those gaps between trying to be an adult and making ‘your ma,’ jokes.

Of course when I do all that reading and talking I’ll end up discovering about fifty more games I need to play. I haven’t mentioned a single indie yet but I’ll play a ton. They’re tricky to judge on trailers but when other folk have spent their pennies I’ll consume their thoughts and make some educated purchases. Plus we all love a surprise don’t we? I eagerly await telling you about some amazing game that I don’t yet know exists. Throw them at me 2017, I’m ready.