University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield

University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield

University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield

Video game guide

One of the biggest seasons for video games is just around the corner and most of the year’s biggest titles are on the horizon.

With games costing $60 a pop it’s hard to imagine that most of us will be playing every game that comes out. So what games are worth your time and money?

Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are in a showdown this year in terms of the shooting genre.

Battlefield aims to slay the giant franchise that is Call of Duty. The beta for Battlefield looks and works great and what it has that Call of Duty doesn’t is big multiplayer maps and vehicles like jets, helicopters and tanks.

Battlefield indulges you in more of a team-based multiplayer where you and your team need to work together to reach objectives. That’s opposed to Call of Duty gameplay which is geared more towards who can kill the most.

My suggestion here would be to download the free Battlefield beta and see if it’s for you. With Call of Duty, or as I call it the Madden game of Shooters, you know what you’re getting into. It’s going to be the same multiplayer that you’re used to with some new bells and whistles.

Let’s face it were all probably going to get Call of Duty. But if you’re looking for something different than Call of Duty, Battlefield might be the right choice for you this fall. Battlefield 3’s release date is Oct. 25, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits shelves Nov. 8. Both are on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, though Battlefield 3 is also available in a PC verson.

When it comes to Role Playing Games (RPGs), there is only one title that you need and that is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

With Mass Effect 3 pushed back to March, no other game will be able to match the caliber of game that Skyrim will bring. Skyrim ensures players 100 plus hours of gameplay. That may scare some people away because of how expansive the game it is, but time spent in this game will be well worth it.

The game is so open ended it adjusts to how you play the game. If you kill someone it might comeback to haunt you later down the road. If you encounter someone who knew that person you killed it can affect dialogue and how that person acts towards you.

Bethesda, the studio that developed the game, claims that you can’t play Skyrim the same way twice. So everyone who plays the game is almost assured a different experience.

Skyrim will be a game that is easily worth the $60 for the amount of content it will have, but will have a learning curve. The Elder Scrolls games are never easy ones and require you to make decisions on how to build your character. If you build your character wrong drastically affect you later on in the game and cause you to spend time leveling up.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim release date is Nov. 11 and will be available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

Two games that have been dwarfed by the games listed above and need attention are Batman: Arkham City and Assassins Creed: Revelations.

Batman: Arkham City is the squeal to the highly successful Batman: Arkham Asylum. Gameplay looks the same here, there will probably just be new ways to fight enemies and gadgets for batman, but the story is going to be what drives this game. Arkham Asylum is highly regarded as the best comic book video game ever created, and it is because it stays so true to the comics.

The reason being is that the story was fantastic and encompassed everything that makes Batman so cool. If Arkham City is anything like the last game there is no reason to even pick up a Batman comic to read. This game should definitively be on your radar and comes out Oct. 18 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

Assassins Creed: Revelations will be the fourth installment in the franchise and Ubisoft claims it will be the most immersive experience in the series to date. Revelations will continue Assassins Creeds unique gameplay style that mixes parkor with skillful assassinations.

The game will take you to the Ottoman Empier to investigate and try to stop the Templars who serve as the protagonist in the series. What makes this series so much fun is having the ability to climb a building, jump and assassinate your target.

If discretion isn’t your friend, you can also attack your enemies guns blazing and kill everyone that tries to stop you. Either way you choose each assassination draws you back into the game and feel just as rewarding as the last.

Assassins Creed: Revelations hits selves Nov.15 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

If you were to buy all of these games that were listed, it would total around $300. With the amount of great games coming out it’s a lot to swallow, but you’re assured to see minimal amounts of sun this upcoming season.