Catastrophe. Horror. Ubisoft’s next generation sandbox title has been delayed until next Spring and I am nothing short of devastated. Nor am I surprised.
While I will admit that I am a pessimist when I’m keeping an eye on upcoming games, that nagging negativity is not the cause of my nonchalance – it’s because Ubisoft have gotten away with it before, and the delay was a winner.
The post I had written months ago about Watch_Dogs was, besides a colossal hint to my love of the game, a review of what Sony’s E3 reveal had shown us about it. In case it was not clear, it stole the show. Assassin’s Creed always draws in big numbers, but the timing of events with the NSA scandals and the governmental espionage conspiracies fell kindly for Watch_Dogs, and it left it as one of the titles which everyone was talking about that would poke at the boundaries of the next-gen consoles.
Obviously this will not be the case initially, and it is disappointing. When the Playstation 3 was released, myself and my brother played Resistance: Fall of Man until the sight of then-well rendered alien troops trying to claw my eyes out of their sockets was just another day in the office. I loved it – it was new, different, it looked pretty and there were no fawn-on-the-ice style mishaps when it came to gameplay, showing that the new publishing platform was a comfortable one. Every new console deserves that, and it’s always nice to see newer titles rather than having to experience them with older names like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA. Sensational series, the both of them, but with new platforms should come new names, otherwise things start to get stale.
Titanfall and Destiny look amazing, and the gameplay footage revealed for both games had me hook, line and sinker – but these are multiplayer games by nature, and you always want a solo experience with your chosen console when you’re paying hand over fist for it. Sure, me and my brother saved the world more than once in Resistance, but not before he had torn the place asunder himself first.
I like to think Ubisoft know what they are doing though. Remember Far Cry 3? A sizable delay may have been tumultuous in the short-term, but on release it was hailed (rightfully so) as a masterpiece. It was fine-tuned, expansive and it lived up to it’s own hype – no easy feat, especially when you have a stunted start looming over your head. Hopefully this will be the same, even if I am upset that I’ll have to wait until Spring 2014 to get my hands on it. If it pulls off the same kind of magic release that Far Cry 3 did, however, then that is more than fine by me.
graemefinch.com 