No Man’s Sky
The announcement trailer for No Man’s Sky came out of nowhere earlier this month, but it’s placed the procedurally generated space exploration title firmly on the gaming map.
The scope and ambition of No Man’s Sky seems impossibly epic, but this stunning trailer, dripping with old-school sci-fi sensibilities, hints that small English developer Hello Games, previously responsible for the Joe Danger driving/platforming titles, can pull it off.
“I’m speechless,” said one commenter on the Hello Games blog. “That trailer conveys a game that seems to get it right on some many levels. The music is awesome, the visuals breathtaking. The world building is spot on, every detail. You’ve captured what every great piece of art does, that sense of discovering a whole new reality and being able to step into it and inhabit it. I cannot wait.”
Super Smash Bros. (Wii Fit Trainer)
Nintendo is having great fun introducing characters for its Super Smash Bros. arcade brawler (Wii U, 3DS) one at a time. The Wii Fit trainer made the most entertaining entrance this year, demonstrating her infuriatingly perfect poise and posture in the battle arena.
Seeing Mario, Link, and Kirby struggling at Wii Fit yoga made me feel a heck of a lot better about my own wobbly efforts.
Titanfall
Titanfall looks stunning. And when the gameplay looks this good, you don’t need any live-action tricks or musical numbers to show off your product.
The first-person shooter is releasing March 11 on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. PlayStation players will have to get their fix of Titanfall vicariously, as publisher Electronic Arts struck a lifetime exclusivity deal with Microsoft, unbeknownst to developer Respawn.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist — Spies vs. Mercs
GamesBeat editor-in-chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu picked out this trailer for Ubisoft’s stealth action-adventure title Splinter Cell: Blacklist (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) as his highlight of the year, saying: “This got me so pumped up when it came out.”
It blends cinematics and gameplay footage to offer a tantalizing taste of the unique Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode, pitting two very different teams against each other.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
Spoofing the oh-so-serious Battlefield 4 trailers in grand style, this first look at Electronic Arts’ humorous third-person shooter debuted at the E3 gaming conference back in June.
The multiplayer and co-op game set in the Plants vs. Zombies universe is set to appear on Feb. 18 for Xbox One and Xbox 360, followed by PC and other platforms.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
What if? That’s the question posed in this trailer for upcoming first-person shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC), as it imagines an alternative universe in which the Nazis won World War II and took over the world.
Striking images of historical events seen through very different eyes set up the game’s premise beautifully, before developer Bethesda offers an explosive gameplay montage to back up the live-action introduction.