Best video games slated to land this fall

In terms of new video games, this autumn is looking a bit thin. Despite the smaller number of choices, our selection of the best games being released in the next few months will keep you plenty busy.

In all honesty, we wouldn’t be distressed to have more time to play Diablo III: Reaper of Souls-Ultimate Evil Edition, which has been in our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (it’s also available for PS3 and Xbox 360) since mid August. If there’s one game that’s going to pull our attention away, though, it’s Destiny (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One), out on September 9. The first non-Halo game from Bungie in nearly 15 years—and the studio’s first game for a Sony console—looks to be the blockbuster to beat.

Also landing that day is the locally made NHL 15, the first in the EA Sports franchise for next-gen consoles—the extra horsepower in the PS4 and Xbox One is the reason the hockey sim looks better than ever before. Unfortunately, the next-gen versions of the game won’t have Online Team Play or the EA Sports Hockey League available when they launch. In an interview with the Georgia Straight, producer Sean Ramjagsingh said that “technological hurdles” arising from working with the new hardware meant the development team ran out of time to implement the features. According to him, Online Team Play will be added to the game as a software update in the near future.

The other big sports game of the season, FIFA 15, comes out on September 23. That’s also the day the first editions of Disney Infinity 2.0 will be released: the Marvel Super Heroes starter pack includes Black Widow, Iron Man, and Thor figures, while the Guardians of the Galaxy play set includes Star-Lord and Gamora. A Toy Box starter pack, including Merida (Brave) and Stitch (Lilo & Stitch), arrives November 7.

Meanwhile, Activision’s Skylanders Trap Team, in which players can trap villains and have them fight for the forces of good, will be available on October 5. This latest installment of the popular franchise adds versions for iPad, Kindle Fire, and Android tablet devices. A Bluetooth portal acts as a dock, and the starter pack includes a Bluetooth controller. All 175 existing characters are compatible with the tablet edition. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS comes out just before that, on October 3.

Set for release at the end of September is Warner Bros.’ Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which takes place between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This is an open-world action role-playing game (RPG) where you become a ranger in J. R. R. Tolkien’s world. And we’re always excited about another Borderlands game. The Pre-Sequel will be in our PS3s and Xbox 360s on October 14. (Still no word on a release for Telltale’s Tales From the Borderlands.) The other title in rotation then will be survival horror The Evil Within, the newest game from Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil games. You do what you want; I’ll be playing with all the lights on.

Closing out October are two exclusives—Sunset Overdrive, the “awesomepocalypse” extreme shoot­er from Insomniac Games for Xbox One only, and Bayonetta 2, from Nintendo for the Wii U—and Lords of the Fallen, a Dark Souls–like dungeon crawler from Bandai Namco for PS4, Windows, and Xbox One. There’s a strong chance that Costume Quest 2, developed by Double Fine and published by Midnight City, will also arrive by Halloween.

On November 4 comes Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, in which Sledgehammer looks to shake up the franchise as completely as Infinity Ward did with 2007’s Modern Warfare. A week later, the next two games in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise arrive. Unity, for PS4 and Xbox One, puts players in the middle of the French Revolution, while Rogue, for PS3 and Xbox 360, is a sequel to last year’s Black Flag.

Also expected on November 11 are Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham; The Crew, Ubisoft’s driving RPG in which your car is your avatar; and Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which gives you the remastered versions of Halo and Halo 2, as well as Halo 3 and Halo 4, all on the Xbox One for the first time. Later in November is Far Cry 4, also from Ubisoft, which drops players into the Himalayas and puts them under the influence of an intriguing villain.

And closing out the season is Dragon Age: Inquisition, developed by Edmonton’s Bioware and published by Electronic Arts, which brings to the console experience the tactical camera that was a popular feature in the Windows version of Dragon Age: Origins. As for the story in this fantasy RPG, the game’s designer, Mike Laidlaw, told the Straight it’s based on a question he asked himself one day: what would it be like if you didn’t join the Jedi Order from the Star Wars universe, but started it?