After No Mans Sky failed to topple Minecraft from its lofty, nerd-poled pedestal and with new game Recore looking little more than a sci-fi twist on the classic Tomb Raider series, it looks like videogamer's will be nestling up to an arsenal of virtual guns to keep themselves warm this winter. With the resurgent success of first-person-perspective shooter games combining with the trend of long-term "investment" games, a whole new barrage of competitive shooters is starting to flood the market and resurrecting the art of skilled fragging beyond the spawn-trap style of shooting games made notoriously famous by the Call of Duty series. Here are five gun-centric sci-fi themed winter-warmers expected to be popular over the coming months. Which will you be playing this winter?
Overwatch
Already out for PC. Xbox One and PS4, Blizzard Entertainments team based strategic first person shooter proves to be popular with Blizzard fans and many YouTubers. Despite having already fallen victim to the crusade of the SJW's (Social Justice Warriors) Overwatch seems to be rising in popularity, and will no doubt continue to do so with all future content such as new characters and new maps being added to the game free of charge, following GTA Online's highly successful model.
While Overwatch has proved popular with teams of players and clans the lack of any true solo player content is keeping some players away, though hopefully with Blizzard's successful catalog of games this will be addressed in a future, and more importantly free update.
Doom
With its competitor Unreal Tournament freely available on the internet id Software's second reboot of their Doom franchise has proven popular with fans of the franchise courtesy of its return to high-octane action. Unfortunately, the games limited "Snap-Map" feature has failed to create the community of near-unlimited multiplayer maps that was promised which has impacted the games multiplayer scope greatly.
As with Overwatch, Doom was released back in May for the XboxOne, PS4 and PC.
Destiny: Rise of Iron
Bungie's fourth DLC for Destiny will mark the game's third year in circulation. Once again the DLC will be available as part of a complete collection, although it seems both Bungie and Activision have learned from fans outcries over The Taken King and are also offering the standalone DLC to veteran players. Unfortunately, Rise of Iron is a next-gen exclusive and is thus not available to players on the Xbox 360 and PS3. In part, this is understandable given the limitations of the older consoles, but when considering that Rise of Iron is the last DLC for Destiny before Destiny 2 is released next fall one would have thought that the first game and all of its DLC would be shared across both generations with the sequel being next gen exclusive.
With Rise of Iron adding only marginal customisation options and the usual barrage of new levels, raids and upgrades will Destiny continue its dominance irrespective of its notorious pricing methods as more choices become available in the ever growing market of long-term multiplayer gaming. Destiny: Rise of Iron releases September 20th.
Gears of War 4
The fifth installment in hugely popular Gears of War franchise will be the first game in the franchise not developed by Epic Games, developed instead by The Coalition. Thankfully this new developer is comprised of many former developers from Epic Games including Rod Fergusson. Gears of War 4 will see a new generation of COG's led by Marcus Fenix's son JD facing off against a new enemy called the Swarm. As well as an expansive campaign Gears of War sees the return of the series' notorious Horde mode titled Horde 3.0. Gears of War 4 will also utilize a new dynamic weather system to emphasize the narrative of Sera now being subject to violent windstorms in the wake of the Lambency pandemic.
With the games development having moved away from Epic Games it is possible that the progression and multiplayer aspects of the game could be more accessible to players regardless of their gaming style preference, after criticisms that the third game favored PVP matches with its medal system.Gears of War 4 releases exclusively for the Xbox One this October 11th.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
The thirteenth installment in the notorious Call of Duty franchise takes the franchise in welcome new directions with the campaign entering science fiction territory and the multiplayer adding Zombies in Spaceland which sports a more humorous and light-hearted approach. Veteran CoD players have voiced their disdain at the games new approach, but whether or not the games mechanics can also move beyond the notorious spawn-trapping of previous installments remains to be seen, a move likely to further upset veteran CoD players. CoD Infinite Warfare will be released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One this November 4th.
Additionally, long term gamers will be aware of the continuing success of GTA Online and Minecraft across most platforms. GTA Online's latest update saw the release of the Cunning Stunt races which allow players to loop-the-loop, wall ride and tunnel high above the city of Los Santos, whereas Minecraft's latest console updates have brought the game in-line with version 1.8 for the PC and added the whole new PVP battle mode and a series of exclusive Battle mode arenas.
