As a young lad I used to hang out at my grandmother’s very large, very creepy house and play video games with my older, cooler cousins. Mortal Kombat, Suikoden, and Doom.  Back then I would sit around starry-eyed and listen as they talked about the “next-gen” of video-games.  I would ask stupid questions like, “Can I throw my sword into the ceiling, climb up on it, wait for an enemy to come around the corner and then drop on them?”.  They would chuckle and say something along the lines of, “No, not yet.”

Fast forward seventeen years and Final Fantasy XV has given me my dream.  Finally (pun totally intended).  Not only did they give me my dream, but they added some extra special sauce on top.  I can throw my sword hundreds of yards and then teleport to my sword, dangling from it in insanely cinematic situations.

With the main game and story being developed by Tetsuya Nomura (one of the main character designers of Final Fantasy VII fame and also the director of Kingdom Hearts), the combat system being developed by the Kingdom Hearts 2 team, and the cut scenes being handled by the Advent Children team we are in for one hell of a game.  Don’t take my word for it though.  Watch these two videos and have your mind melted.  The first video has a good chunk of cut scene during the first half, but then it kicks into actual gameplay.

I’m not sure exactly what the story is yet, but it looks to me like a combination of Gangs of New York and Romeo and Juliet (specifically the struggle between the Capulet’s and Montague’s).  Works for me.

And this video is solely gameplay footage.  I think It’s interesting how your other party members interact with you in a completely organic way.

Fulfilling a fantasy that I never knew I had is the Xbox One exclusive Titanfall.  This new dream of mine is to eject from a mech on the verge of fiery explosion, rocket into the sky, land on the roof of the opposing mech, and unload a full clip into its skull, sentencing it to the same death it attempted against me.

The Call of Duty influence is obvious as the game is being made by Respawn Studios, the company founded by Jason West and Vince Zampella (the co-founders of Infinity Ward who took most of their team with them when they were fired for “insubordination”).  Luckily, they have chosen to not simply retread the same foot-steps the Call of Duty franchise has been burning out and instead took a fresh approach.

This game is it is a combination of giant robot fighting, Call of Duty, and Mirror’s Edge parkour.  Oh, and rocket packs like in Vanquish.  Yep.  I’m buying it.

And then came Bayonetta 2.  If you haven’t played and beaten Bayonetta 1 I implore you, nay… I beg thee to do so.  There’s an anime by the name of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan where with every episode the show grows more and more over the top until the end where they are literally throwing solar systems at each as ninja stars.  Bayonetta embraces this sort of audacity and revels in the set pieces that will have you simeoutaneously saying, “WTF HAHA!” and, “YESSSS!!!”.

The trailer for Bayonetta 2 shows off the heroines cute new hair style and then starts off at 100% over-the-top.  This game.  Is going to be.  In-sane.