BN1’s top picks for gaming titles this March!
Horizon Zero Dawn
Release Date: Weds 1 March
Platforms: PS4
Winner of Best Original Game at the Game Critics Awards in 2015 and 2016, Horizon Zero Dawn is a highly anticipated game. In this post-apocalyptic world, players follow Aloy – a female hunter living amongst dangerous robots resembling dinosaurs. A third person RPG, Aloy uses a range of weapons to fight the mechanised creatures and explore the map. Players are given no tutorial with Guerrilla Games emphasising ‘trial and error’ as the basis for playing the game. Featuring a dynamic day-night cycle and weather system, the game can be fully explored without loading screens. Aloy uses a variety of ways to kill enemies, such as setting traps like tripwires using the Ropecaster, shooting enemies with arrows, using explosives, and melee combat. Further, she is essentially able to hack a selection of creatures with the Override Tool, turning them into makeshift vehicles or travelling companions.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
UK release date: Fri 3 March
Platforms: Wii U, Nintendo Switch
The newest game in The Legend of Zelda franchise, scheduled originally for 2015, Nintendo brings players the first truly open world from the series. Waking from a deep slumber, popular hero Link comes to learn that a great evil known as Calamity Ganon has laid waste to Hyrule. Unlike previous games there will be far less emphasis on exits and entrances to areas, with dungeons playable in any order. Breath of the Wild is also the first of the Zelda titles to feature voice acting, in an effort to match up to next-gen title basics. It should be noted the game will play at 900p on the new Switch (in TV mode, 720p in Handheld mode), while Wii U players will only get 720p.
Nier: Automata
Release Date: Fri 10 March
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC
The enigmatic NieR is finally getting a sequel in NieR: Automata. Unlike its predecessor, this game is developed by Platinum Games with a lot of the same folks behind Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – taking point on the combat. But worry not, as NieR director Taro Yoko is helming the project, so expect the usual NieR/Drakengard quirks. Set in the midst of a proxy war between machines created by otherworldly invaders and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android and her companion. A Japanese role-playing game set in an open world environment, players control multiple characters through action-based gameplay, with the ability to rotate the in-game camera 360 degrees. New playable characters are unlocked with each playthrough and story route. While a high-action game, the developers have said that it will likely retain the role-playing elements of the original NieR.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Release date: Thurs 23 March
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The latest game in the Mass Effect series, Andromeda has been long awaited by fans and is one of the most anticipated games of the year. Set in the distant future, this is a stand alone game by BioWare Studios. In this epic RPG, players assume the role of Ryder, an Alliance recruit exploring the Andromeda Galaxy with a unique team of aliens and humans BioWare’s fan favourite series Dragon Age and Mass Effect are known for creating tense decision-based scenarios that simultaneously thrill and devastate their fans and Andromeda looks to be no different. A third person shooter, players encounter numerous planets and species throughout Andromeda, whilst building relationships with their team mates. Set to be a blockbuster in the gaming world, this is one not to be missed.