Big gaming titles have been few and far between recently, but that's about to change, writes Siobhan Keogh.
It's that wonderful time of year. September marks the end of winter and the start of video game release season.
By October, game reviewers all over the globe will be losing all their hair to stress. But you, sparkly-eyed gamers, will likely be smiling. The biggest, most blockbustery games of the year are coming out and these are the games that are often the best. Here are five games to look forward to:
The original Tomb Raider was my game of the year for 2013 - kind of incredible as I'd always found the series' sexualisation of Lara off-putting. I never played the early games and I never saw that awful-looking Angelina Jolie movie. But seeing a female protagonist who was more than a sexual object, who struggled, who was vulnerable, and who also kicked some serious butt? That was refreshing. The gameplay was fantastic, the sidequests were compelling, and I can't wait to do it all over again.
Release date: November 13 Platforms: Xbox 360, Xbox One
2. Star Wars: Battlefront
I'm sorry but I have to confess: I'm not a Star Wars person. I've watched them all and I acknowledge that they're good, but the brand isn't the appeal of Battlefront for me. I'm psyched about the fact that DICE, who created Battlefield, are making it. I think it looks beautiful, huge, immersive and action-packed - everything you could ask for in an action game. And for those of you who are into Star Wars, there's plenty to be happy about. You can traverse planets from the Star Wars universe, and play as characters - including Darth Vader. Who doesn't love playing the villain?
Release date: November 19 Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
3. Halo 5: Guardians
I'm putting Halo in here, but I'm bitter about it. Every time I've played through a Halo campaign for the first time, I've done it with a co-op buddy on the couch next to me. But there's no splitscreen anymore, so there goes that. That said, I'll still play Halo 5 and I'll probably enjoy it.
I really, truly believe that Halo 4's campaign was the best campaign of the entire series - mostly because it treated Master Chief as a person rather than an emotionless husk in a suit. As for the multiplayer, it took a turn for the worst in Halo 4 and I don't have high hopes of redemption.
Fallout is one of those series that I've never really got into, maybe because I never played the earlier games. So why am I putting it in here? Because I can objectively look at it and tell you that's it's a good game, even if it isn't my cup of tea. If hanging out with a dog in an apocalyptic wasteland is your thing, you're probably already jonesing for Fallout 4. Especially since it runs on the same engine as Skyrim, which was beloved because of the epic environments that the engine allowed the developers to create. Personally, I'm going to see if I can play through Fallout 3, and then give this one a go.
Release date: November 10 Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
5. Star Fox Zero
It's a new Star Fox game! Kiwis don't tend to be massive Nintendo fans - we've been referred to more than once as a "PlayStation nation" - but it's one of the few really good Nintendo franchises that doesn't have the names "Zelda" or "Mario" in it. The name is pretty self-explanatory - a fox flies around in his spacecraft and shoots at stuff. Star Fox Zero is a bit of a reboot, not a sequel or a remake of the first game, so it should make a good entry point for people who didn't play the series back in the 90s.
