4. Mafia 3

This game is not yet released. It is set to come out in October.

Mafia 3 will follow Lincoln Clay as he sets out to get revenge and build up his own Mafia in New Orleans Louisiana. This game lets the player realize the dream of creating his own mafia empire.

As you build up your family the city is supposed to change as well. The developers have also stated that each area will allow multiple approaches. Meaning you can shoot your way through or sneak your way through. The game will also feature tire screeching heart pounding driving. The driving is actually going to be so intense that you will use it as a torture technique. You will force a guy into your car and then drive so erratically that he will tell you what you want to know.

I am very excited for this game.

3. Spec Ops The Line

This is one of the more interesting games about war out there. It is not a glorification of war. It instead explores the way war can destroy a soldiers mind and how the decisions that must be made can destroy the brotherhood that soldiers share.

The game has a very interesting storyline. In most games such as Mass Effect where each decision changes relationships and can alter the storyline, these decisions still have a net positive for you. Not in Spec Ops. Everything that happens to our hero batters and bruises him. You start the game off as a cliché shouting curt professional orders to your teammates and you end the game as a battered bruised solider questioning his sanity.

The games mechanics are lacking but that isn’t why you play this game. You play this game for the story. But there are strong parts of the game as well. The interaction with the environment is awesome. If you shoot the glass an enemy is stand they fall down, glass holding up sand can broken causing the sand to fall and crush your enemies. The AI is intelligent and aggressive. This is great but occasionally the controls will hang you out to dry. The melee button is the same as the vault button so occasionally you fist pump the air as opposed to jump over an object.

Overall this game is great, it is not quite revolutionary but I am a very big fan of the themes it discusses. It makes sure that you do not like war and it refuses to glorify. It is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise saturated area.

2. Alan Wake: American Nightmare

This is not a horror game. You will find it in the horror game section but it is not a horror game.

This is also not a standalone game. It feels almost like a DLC for Alan Wake but is actually its own game in the same universe with the same character. But it does not affect the main game at all.

The story is well written and you will experience an interesting intriguing story line while shooting darkness creatures repeatedly.

The most interesting mechanic in the game is the fact that you first have to “burn” away the darkness before you can shoot them. This effectively slows down firefights and forces you to concentrate on one enemy at a time.