Welcome to You Should Play, a series where we highlight all of the video games that you should be playing this week, from big-budget releases through to little-known indie games.
It’s the first edition of You Should Play, a brand new weekly series here at CraveOnline that’ll help you make informed choices regarding which games you should buy each and every week. It’s a great time to start this recurring feature, given that this week we’ll be seeing the return of a certain iconic space marine, along with a bevy of sweaty men in tights grappling one another and diseased, anthropomorphic rats stabbing distressed humans in the face.
Video games are weird.
Check out what You Should Play this week:
Halo 5: Guardians
If you own an Xbox One, then chances are that you’ve already added this game to your collection. The biggest release of the year for Microsoft’s console, Halo 5: Guardians is 343 Industries’ third stab at the franchise after the reasonably popular Halo 5 and the not-so-popular Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and it looks set to repair the developer’s sullied reputation following the broken launch of their previous Halo release.
This time around it looks like they’ve nailed the multiplayer component of the game, introducing a 24-player Warzone mode that is the largest the series has ever seen, and is the biggest new addition to Halo‘s multiplayer since Bungie left the franchise. Warzone is one of the most unique game modes to be inserted into a triple-A shooter in long time, with it seeing teams not only being tasked with killing one another to earn points during a match, but also completing objectives and killing NPC bosses at the same time. It’s exactly the right kind of chaos, taking place on the biggest maps in the series’ history and with a vast selection of vehicles to choose from to tip the battle in your team’s favor.
Halo 5 is a must-play for fans of the FPS series, and a good starting point for those just looking to jump on board with Microsoft’s most popular exclusive franchise. If you own an Xbox One, it’s practically the law that you should buy its first Halo game.
Why You Should Play It
- Its multiplayer component is one of the best in the series.
- Warzone mode is a huge new addition.
- It’s the Xbox One’s biggest game to date.
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
The unreasonably titled Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide was technically released last week, but as this is the very first edition of You Should Play, we hope that you’ll forgive us for deviating from our own formula in order to inform you that you absolutely should play this game that you may have missed.
Even if you aren’t a fan of the tabletop fantasy game, Vermintide is a wonderful mixture of Medieval aesthetics and Left 4 Dead gameplay, tasking a team of four players with traversing through a volatile world infested with Skaven (that’s rat-people for those not familiar with Warhammer lore). Rather than borrowing elements from Left 4 Dead, Vermintide instead copies its entire concept wholesale, but given that Valve hasn’t released a new entry in their zombie survival series for six years it’s not as though the market is over-saturated with games of this ilk.
Thankfully, Vermintide adds enough of its own unique qualities into the mix in order to allow it to work without feeling woefully derivative, with satisfying melee combat, humorous dialogue between the five available player-characters and hordes of enemies to slice through with your Broadsword. It’s a great deal of fun, and is recommended even to those who couldn’t care less about Warhammer.
Why You Should Play It:
- Its the perfect stop-gap for Left 4 Dead fans who can’t wait for Valve to release a third in the survival series.
- A lot of fun, even for those not familiar with Warhammer.
- Chopping through crowds of enemies with your melee weapons feels immensely satisfying.
WWE 2K16
Under the leadership of THQ the WWE video game series always presented this weird dichotomy of being both enjoyable to play, but fundamentally a little bit terrible. With it consistently featuring a variety of game modes and a comprehensive creation suite, developers Yuke’s continued to give players a lot to do, but they never particularly bothered with bringing it up to date in terms of its gameplay and visuals.
When 2K Games took the helm of the series following THQ’s bankruptcy they made bold steps towards bringing it in line with the NBA 2K series, which is well-known for boasting some of the most uncannily realistic graphics in the medium, along with gameplay that accurately emulates all the excitement and drama of the sport it represents. WWE 2K15 was certainly the best-looking WWE game to date, featuring a variety of gameplay improvements that made it more closely resemble the action you typically see on WWE programming, but they removed a lot of what fans of the series loved about it. The creation tools were lackluster, the Career mode was dull, the number of WWE Superstars had been significantly reduced and there was a considerable dearth of modes.
Fortunately, WWE 2K16 looks to rectify this issue by bringing back the features we so sorely missed last year, along with adding in a selection of new ones, too. This year we’ll be able to create our own belts, entrances, and go into greater detail on our created Superstars, while gameplay changes such as revamped reversal, submission and pinning systems and seamless entrances during which you can actually attack your opponent all lead to this being an intriguing prospect for any wrestling fan. Oh, and this year’s Career mode won’t just be a selection of tweets from Triple H and Vickie Guerrero telling you that they’ve got nothing for you to do – this year you’ll actively be able to hunt titles, get into feuds with your friends’ created wrestlers and finally be able to decide whether you want to be a heel or babyface through dynamic dialogue options.
Why You Should Play It:
- All your favorite modes are back.
- A stronger roster, with over 120 unique wrestlers.
- A more interesting Career mode.
