By Samuel Bolds | Echo
Mario Kart 8 - May 30
Platform: Wii U
Rating: E
Price: $59.99
Racing is no longer just about burning rubber: this summer, you can race off-road and off-land. "Mario Kart 8" is the latest game in the "Mario Kart" series, with new racing tracks and antigravity karts that allow racers a new view of the course. Although this game is limited to the Wii U, it looks like an enjoyable addition. Other features include new characters, 12-player online play and underwater racing. Perhaps Nintendo will redeem themselves after all.
Watch Dogs - May 27
Platform: PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Rating: M
Price: $59.99
Join Aiden Pearce as he fights against the corrupt government in his city. "Watch Dogs" takes place in a near future Chicago, when technology has become a dependency and almost everything is controlled using a government operating system. Using your hacker "skillz," you can create multi-car pileups and master the art of sifting through citizens' personal information to navigate the broken world. This game highlights how controversial data mining and digital wiretapping can be used for evil purposes. It was first developed for the next generation of consoles (Xbox One and PS4) with legacy support for Xbox 360 and PS3 coming later. Trailers for the game show off the splendid graphics; we now know what Chicago looked like before "Divergent."
The Last of Us: Remastered - Q3 (July 1-Sept. 30)
Platform: PS4, PS3
Rating: M
Price: $59.99
After an apocalypse destroys most of civilization, survivors are faced with plague, hunger and a culture of violence in "The Last of Us." Join Joel and Ellie, a warrior and a young girl, as they fight for their lives and journey to freedom. This game was originally released last summer but has been remastered as an improved version with better visuals, 60 frames per second, native 1080-pixel display, director commentary and downloadable content. The game strives for realistic shadows and more layers of texture built into the three-dimensional world. If you're a huge fan of the game, investing in the remastered edition will be worth the cost.
WildStar - June 3
Platform: PC
Rating: Teen
Price: $59.99 // Monthly Fee: $14.99
Join the world of "WildStar," the latest MMORPG adventure, and traverse an unexplored planet at the edge of space. Choose to be an explorer, soldier, scientist or settler. Stylized graphics combined with neverending choices of mini-quests, challenges and surprises make "WildStar" a fresh take on the typical MMO. With cartoonish appeal and mild crude humor, this game appeals to our childish impulses more than games like "World of Warcraft" would.Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare - June 24
Platform: PC
Rating: E-10
Price: $29.99
This third-person, multiplayer shooter provides a new take on your backyard garden, allowing you to play as either the defending plants or the attacking zombies. "Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare" has co-op and competitive multiplayer modes. Among the different modes the game can be configured to, Garden Ops allows several players to choose a plant as their character as they fight off zombie hordes through various boss levels. The game has already been released on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Reviews of the game are very high on these platforms and make the PC version look very promising.
