Top 10 Xbox One Games
We look at the games you should be playing on the Xbox One when it launches on 22 November.
Some of you will have it already pre-ordered, others of you will spend seven hours queueing outside a Curry's. But however you get your mitts on an Xbox One this Friday, 22 November, you're going to want to something to play on it once you get it home.
So, what games to buy? Here are our suggestions...
1. Ryse: Son of Rome
Take it from us - Ryse is brilliant. You might have been put off by the quick-time heavy demos shown at the Xbox One announcement, but the finished game is very, very different from the trailers. You play a Roman Army general named Marius Titus and control him during key points in his life, from his childhood to his early days as a Centurion, right up to the point where you're leading entire armies into war using squad mechanics.
The combat's slow and weighty - it's like Max Payne 3 with swords. There's also a decent co-operative mode where you and a pal play two gladiators fighting off waves of enemies inside the Colosseum.
2. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
We loved Black Flag on the 360, but on the One, it's all the more spectacular. The gameplay remains completely unchanged but if you're a graphics hound, this is something to see.
The naval combat is where the new hardware particularly shines. Watching an enemy Man 'o' War crump in two, while waves from a tropical storm beat up against its sides is a stunning sight, demonstrative of what the new generation of consoles is capable of. If you don't own this already, be sure to pick up it up on for the One.
3. Dead Rising 3
The natural next-step in Capcom's open-world zombie series, Dead Rising 3 takes you out of the shopping mall and gives you an entire city to run around in. All the franchise stalwarts return. There are lots of zombies to kill, plenty of weapons to customise and some gorgeous lady's negligees to try on.
But Dead Rising 3 also serves as good demo for the One's second-screen technology, since you can use the SmartGlass app on your Android or iOS device to order in airstrikes or answer in-game telephone calls. Fun, violent and occasionally funny, Dead Rising 3 is probably the strongest Xbox One launch title.
4. Kinect Sports Rivals
Don't scoff. Kinect Sports Rivals is a lot of fun. Since the new Kinect sensor can track 25 skeletal joints, as opposed to the original's 20, it's a lot more sensitive and easier to use, meaning you don't have to wave your arms everywhere to get its attention or strafe around the room waiting for it to find you.
That, combined with the fun mini-games in Sports Rivals, like jet-ski racing and target shooting, make it a solid family game if you're buying the Xbox One for your kids to play with. However, this isn't out on launch day. You'll have to sit tight until it pops up during the launch window sometime between November and March, 2014.
While we weren't massive on Battlefield 4's campaign mode, the multiplayer is undeniably well-made and, like Assassin's Creed IV, worth waiting to play on next-gen. Again, it's all about the graphics. BF 4's trademark building destruction looks good on 360, but try it on the One and you'll be blown away.
The Xbox One version also solves a couple of niggling problems with the 360 and PS3 editions, things like texture pop-in and the framerate slowing down. Don't shell out for this again if you own it already, but if you're still thinking about getting it, then get it on the One.
6. Killer Instinct
Honestly, this is pretty standard beat 'em up fare - you and your opponent kick and punch each other until one of you falls over. But if you're buying say, three games go with your Xbox One at Christmas, and you want to mix things up a bit, Killer Instinct is a solid choice. In fact, as a trio, Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3 and this make for a good all round bundle.
And for the old guard, it also comes with the original SNES version built in. So if you want to show your kids what videogames used to look like, and watch them puke out of their eyes as a result, Killer Instinct is what you'll need.
7. Forza Motorsport 5
Another one for graphics junkies. Forza 5 developer Turn 10 allegedly went over every major race course in the world with some kind a laser mapping device that scanned in all the bumps, ridges and rough patches of the asphalt, so that when players are driving, it's as close to the real as they can get.
We've played this and it's a great racing sim. It's tough, however, and doesn't lend itself to fast, arcade style driving. If that's what you're after, maybe try Need for Speed: Rivals instead.
8. FIFA 14
Even if you're not a football fan, FIFA 14 will still go well with your new Xbox One. It's a tough, tactics-led football game that you can only get good at with lots of practice. Long gone are the days of wellying it in from the halfway line. FIFA 14 makes you work for your goals.
And it looks great, of course. Again, the step up from 360 to One is noticeable mostly in the little things. The crowd looks much better on the One version, as do players' faces and the stadiums.
9. Minecraft
If you haven't played Minecraft yet, the Xbox One Edition is a good place to start. As you probably know already it's a creation game where you harvest building materials from a vast open-world in order to create, well, whatever you like, really. Some people build a little house for themselves, others build gigantic models of willies.
Others, like this industrious group who co-operated via the game's online multiplayer, made a full size version of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. It's up to you.
Though it's another one for the November-March launch window, you can expect Minecraft: Xbox One Edition before Christmas. Word has it it'll be out late November/early December.
10. LocoCycle
Finally, LocoCyle, which you'll be able to download from the Xbox Arcade on launch day. Made by Twisted Pixel, the same developer that created the excellent 'Splosion Man, LocoCyle sees you control a sentient motorbike called IRIS, and plays like racer slash shooter slash beat 'em up.
Ultra paced and deliberately silly, LocoCyle is a neat bit of a fun, and a nice change of pace from the heavyweight titles that make up the One's retail games line-up. You'll need an Xbox Gold membership to get it, mind.
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