Remember Remember These Five Games Of November

Wow, what a wallet-molesting month that was eh? I could fill a thousand words just listing all the games that came out and I’d still miss some out. The big question is… why? Do these publishers honestly believe that their games are going to sell more surrounded by dozens of bigger and better titles, or even worse a week after everyone’s already bought those titles and are busy actually playing them?

There’s Christmas of course, or as the marketing people call it “The Annual Gifting Period”, but if that’s the only factor then publishers are deluding themselves an exceptional amount. You can’t wrap up a digital title and put it under the Crimbo tree can you? How many people are going to put Defenders of Ardania or Global Ops: Commando Libya on their Santa Lists?

Even the big names are going to struggle, and undoubtedly some games are just going to be left behind. These are titles that have reviewed well and in a quieter part of the year they might have stood out and sold millions, but right now they’re January Sales Fodder – which I’m sure won’t be good enough for the publishers. They’ll act all surprised when these games don’t sell, blame piracy or some other bollocks, and quietly axe the development team or put them to work on a bigger, duller title.

And that’s not fair. These games deserve praise, adulation, and most of all being played. So without further adieu let’s have a run-down of five games from the last month you’ve undoubtedly forgotten all about and are most definitely worth a purchase, either now, as a present or in the sales. So turn off Skyrim and go and grab these babies…

1. Rayman Origins (Ubisoft) PS3, 360

In many ways it’s the game this article was written for. It’s getting rave reviews across the board (look for ours soon), it’s an utter delight and brings a smile to anyone who plays it, and it’s got wonderful four-player co-op similar to but better than New Super Mario Bros Wii (which was really popular). Yes, it’s Rayman Origins, one of the most gloriously loveable and challenging platformers ever made, and you won’t find many people who’ll be buying it right now.

The problem is that Ubisoft in their wisdom have positioned it to come out either during or after every single major game this holiday season, including their own Assassins Creed Revelations. Didn’t they learn their lessons from previous years, with XIII and Beyond Good and Evil? What makes it worse is that Ubi have stated that BG&E2 is relying on Rayman selling well! So do your bit, buy a quirky platformer today, you won’t regret it!

1. Jurassic Park (Telltale) PC, 360, PS3

Heavy Rain did quite well last year, receiving a lot of praise for its innovative quick-time event-focused adventure game style. Now take that new style and add dinosaurs, complete with Jurassic Park sights, sounds, and smells. Who cares about a Frenchman pretending to be an American trying to find his son? Raptors! T-Rex! Pteranodons! Those horned ones that definitely aren’t Triceratops because that doesn’t exist but did in 1993! How could people not flock to it?

How about it coming out right now after being delayed six months, arriving with very little fanfare, and not actually being available on console (it was made for a gamepad, not a keyboard) outside of America? As Telltale are a very digital-focused company I’m sure it will make money, but it probably won’t be doing so this month. Oh, and it’s a game entirely based around QTEs, but we’ll forget that for now. The story’s worth it anyway.

1. Serious Sam 3: BFE (Croteam/Devolver Digital) PC

Delayed dozens of times and finally coming out after every FPS in the entire year, is Serious Sam 3: BFE a contender against the likes of Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Resistance 3 and all the other FPSs (and non-FPSs) this year with “3” in the title? An old-school brainless PC-only shooter? It’s immense amounts of fun, especially in 12-damn-player co-op, so it should really be on your buying list. I’d certainly rather play it than those other games I listed.

Fortunately, SS3 does indeed seem to be doing pretty well. However, just imagine how much better it could’ve done if it came out at any other time of the year when the competition wasn’t so strong – or at least in so great a quantity? It’s certainly not a Christmas game to be sure… oh, screw it, yes it is. I played the last Sam game on Christmas Day. You should too, nothing beats ignoring the family to hide in your bedroom shooting those Kleer bastards with mates around the country.

1. House of the Dead: Overkill Director’s Cut (SEGA) PS3

Oh SEGA, bless you. Not content with being a Mature-rated Wii game on a family casual-orientated console with quite enough horror on-rail shooters thank you very much already, they go and release the game again as a PS3 Move-only Director’s Cut and put it out at the most crowded time of the year. Did anyone even notice that it came out the first time, let alone now?

The thing is though, it’s still a fantastic game. Yes, it’s an on-rails shooter, which is kind of passé these days, but it’s a highly memorable and damn unadulterated fun on-rails shooter. There’s Saints Row level of insanity here, with a real grindhouse feel to the proceedings, and it’s not one to be missed. However, due to its shortness I really do advise you wait until the sales to pick it up… just make sure that you do! Honestly, there’s a character called “Candi Stryper” in it, and she’s a stripper. That should be enough reason. Also, zombies.

1. Unity of Command (Matrix Games) PC

Up until this point, the majority of the people reading had at least heard of the games I’ve mentioned. Now we’re going completely off the rails (appropriate after House of the Dead) with Unity of Command, a turn-based WW2 strategy game. Yay. Sure, it’s got an audience… but c’mon guys, November?! If optimism has a name, it’s Matrix Games.

Still, the game itself is tense, surprisingly exciting, clever, gets to the point and is actually good for people who don’t normally play turn-based strategies (a genre that usually causes people to flee after only seeing the manual). Our reviewer Richard Lane loved it, and it’s currently sitting on an unprecedented user score of 9.9. If you’re into strategy games at all this really should be on your Christmas List… but you’ve probably put down Uncharted 3 instead haven’t you? Typical.

So then, what have we learned from all this? We learned that no matter how many games you think you want, there’s always a few more that you should be considering too. The one group that will never learn however is publishers. Yes, we do want your games guys… but not right now thanks. Call of Duty Muh-Wuh-Three?? Nah, we’ve got Rayman Origins to play first.

Written by Chris Capel.