The first game I mentioned I'm waiting for was a new installment of Sonic the Hedgehog. I mentioned the Adventure games, and where 06 and Unleashed fit into them [06 only part Adventure and Unleashed only in name] before giving a bit of an opinion of Colours and Generations. Key quote from the next part was "Through all of that though, the handheld games never faltered".
And in a way, that is still true. Let's go from this point on. Lost World on 3DS was just under what the WiiU version gave us. Some considered it better, others worse. But it was given a review score by most critics of just under what they gave the WiiU version. That was 2013, and Volume 1 of What I'm Waiting For was released before Lost World was even announced. So that would have been way before the announcement of Sonic Boom. The 3DS version of this game is critically recieving a lot more praise than its WiiU brother.
Then we get to Star Wars, where at least one of the things I talked about is happening. Sort of.
LucasArts has been reeshablished as a publisher only, Disney gave EA the license for the more core of Star Wars games, and the only core game annouced so far is Battlefront 2015 [of which we're all faithfully waiting until Spring for more info]. And only Battlefront 2015. No other Star Wars core games have been announced so far, though numerous mobile games have been released [most recent of which being Commander].
Either way, there are two more games I'm covering today. Now, it's easy to just say Smash Bros. 3DS and Fantasy Life and be done with it. Fact of the matter is though, both of those games have already been released in Japan, and both are near to release in the US and Europe. I feel it would be pointless to cover those games, because they fall less under 'what I'm waiting for' and more under 'so close now that they'll soon be in my card slot'.
And so, the first game I'll say I'm waiting for is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Our first taste of this came from Super Mario 3D World, in the aptly named Captain Toad levels. We had to guide Captain Toad through an obstacle course, of sorts, to collect five stars. The only thing Captain Toad couldn't do was jump. And now he's back, in a game all by himself. This time, we've got one gold star to collect in each of the levels. But hidden within those levels are three gems to be collected. These are optional though, much like the green stars within 3D World. Collecting them nabs you unlockables, so it pays to go out of your way to get them. When this game was first announced, I was interested, but recent livestreams, especially the Nintendo Treehouse one, have me wanting this game. It's full of charm, as all Mario games are, but has that skill involved in the fact that you cannot jump. Enemies usually dispatched with a thwomp on the head need to be evaded. The level design is also varied, from what has been shown, with a level mostly underwater, a level where you cannot stop, and even the usual haunted house level. Whether there's anything else, like new modes, to be shown for the game yet is unknown, but I'm already waiting to add it to my console's list of owned games.
Now, I'm a fan of Frontier Developments, and they do have a number of games coming soon. Elite: Dangerous being the one with the nearest to a release date. The game I'm waiting for though, has only recently seen it's reveal. Back in June. And at E3.
Screamride. A game about building a theme park with the only goal to create chaos and get the biggest scream from your... um, test subjects? That's the way the trailer shows it, anyway. Create a coaster or other ride, and just absolutely wreck it to get the biggest scream possible. With only one trailer to go on though, and no gameplay footage or actual information, it is hard to gain a good idea of just how the game will work though. We do have the consoles it will appear on, that being the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Current generation and last generation. So we know that, just like Zoo Tycoon [also by Frontier] the game will be available as a full game on the current generation with a downgrade [not that it was ever really noticeable with Zoo Tycoon] on the previous generation. It's unknown whether there will be a more drastic difference this time around, but I seriously hope so.
Not being against the previous generation, but there are two ways to do cross-generation games. The first way is simply make a game on the least powerful hardware and port up, adding new or improved features on the current generation console. The other way - create two different games of the same core idea, but are essentially their own game. Forza Horizon 2's doing it, and while not much has been shown from the Xbox 360 version, that's understandable. You want the current generation version to succeed, with back up on the previous generation for those still not wanting to leap up a step. And Frontier has to do that, though I can see why they wouldn't. Doing it the latter way requires two teams, or two halves of one team. And unless communication is good with the other team selected, results can vary.
So, another two games I'm waiting for. One soon to be released, and one only recently announced. And two games coming out within two weeks that I said I wasn't going to cover. I'll be keeping my eye on the gaming news, and I expect to get another one of these out sooner than the gap between this one and the last.
What I'm Waiting For Series