Co-Op Plays Fallout 4 (Joining the Minutemen)

Fallout 4 is our game of January 2016, and in this first video of our series, Brian joins up with the Minutemen faction after completing some quests.

We’ll be posting videos all month over on the Co-Op Critics YouTube Page, so head on over and check them out. At the end of the month, we’ll be wrapping up our Fallout 4 coverage with an episode of the Co-Op Critics podcast. Stay tuned!

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Bethesda Games Give Me Wanderlust

I prefer to play games alone.

At first blush, that may not be the best opening line for a post on a site with co-op in its title. But while Co-Op Critics is a place where we celebrate games together, that doesn’t mean we have to always play them together. It’s my need to discuss my gaming experiences with others that drove me to create this site, and one of the reasons for that is many of the games I play are single player experiences. Games that I enjoy playing alone, but then need to process with others.READ MORE

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Games I’m Looking Forward To: November 2015

I got all ready to make a monster post about the games of November this month, but guess what? The usual glut of games that makes November the busiest month of releases just isn’t there this year. With a bunch of games getting delayed into 2016, and publishers spreading releases out a bit more evenly through the year, November just isn’t the parade of releases it used to be.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t big releases to speak of this month. in fact, the one thing you can still count on is that November is where the biggest games are usually released. So without further ado, here are the games I’m excited about this month:

 

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PC, PS4)–November 6

I played a bit of the beta for Black Ops 3, and while it felt bit more like Titanfall than Call of Duty to me, the super tight gameplay that is the backbone of CoD was as good as ever. CoD is a game all of my friends play, and while my interest in the campaign has waned over the years, the multiplayer is something I’ll always jump into.

 

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Fallout 4 (Xbox One. PC, PS4)–November 10

If I could only get one game this month, Fallout 4 would be it. I am a huge RPG fan, and like many others, spent well over 100 hours with Fallout 3. I also live in Massachusetts, so the Boston setting is just one more reason I’m interested in the game. I will probably buy this one digitally, as I expect it to live on my console for the rest of the generation.

 

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Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One, Xbox 360)–November 10

I came late to 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot, but when I did finally play it, I absolutely love it. Not only was Lara’s new origin story a great adventure, but mechanically, the game was fantastic. As a 40-year old gamer, I’ve been playing Tomb Raider games since 1996, when I played the first one on PlayStation. I’m really excited to see how Crystal Dynamics is building on the 2013 game, which completely revitalized the franchise.

 

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Star Wars: Battlefront (Xbox One, PC, PS4)–November 17

I did not get a chance to play the beta for Battlefront, but I don’t need to. I’m a big Battlefield fan (Hardline was great), and from everything I’ve seen, it looks like DICE got the aesthetic right. Not to mention, every single one of my friends that plays shooters will be getting this game. I expect this to be our go-to shooter for the next year. I’m just hoping the core game has enough content, as I’m not a big fan of season passes, which Battlefront is going to have.

As always, there are several more games coming out in November, and these are just my personal picks, so please sound off in the comments and let us know what games you’re excited to see this month!

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Is Backward Compatibility the New Console-Exclusive DLC?

One of the biggest stories of E3 2015 was that by this Fall, XBox One would have backward compatibility, enabling owners to play Xbox 360 games on their new console.

Assuming most publishers will sign on for this, there are many obvious reasons to be excited about backward compatibility (Left4Dead and Dead Space are just two that come to mind for me).

But another interesting result of this initiative is playing out, and it’s one I think that has a lot of potential to bring Microsoft back into the console sales race this generation. Because the XBox One is now backward compatible, publishers that are releasing new franchise installments on Xbox One can bundle in previous installments, giving the Xbox version of the game an exclusive piece of content the PS4 version won’t have.READ MORE