As I discussed in my earlier article All Aboard The Hype Train – please check that out if you haven’t already – Agents of Mayhem was, and probably still is despite a not exactly stellar but still generally favourable overall reception, one of my most anticipated releases of the closing months of 2017. I’ve had high hopes since its reveal that it would manage to fulfil mine and gamers worldwide’s lofty expectations of it, praying that it would provide me with at least equivalent, if not greater levels of entertainment compared with the crazed enjoyment that attacking people with a long purple ‘penetrator’ gave me in SR3. Despite my optimism, as with many games I’ve been excited for in the past, I have been deeply hesitant to pre-order. It’s a fact that absolutely breaks my heart, but is sadly a casualty of the sheer costliness of the hobby that we all love so dearly.
Usually, unless the title in question is one that I have the utmost confidence in (Breath of the Wild being one shining example from this year) I tend to wait for reviews, to gain confirmation that a game is worth that premium launch price affixed to it. Games are, after all, very expensive, especially for a poor uni student such as myself (boo hiss) resulting in a need for most of us gamers to prioritise what we most want to play. This often proves to be no easy task, though, especially in busy months with packed release schedules such as this one. And in case you were wondering, the ridiculous ‘pre-order bonuses’ that publishers use to tart up newly releasing games do not, and have not ever had any bearing whatsoever on whether I choose to pre-order a game. If you ask me, anyone swayed by the inclusion of a themed American football as a bonus with Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag should take a long hard look at themselves.
There are quite simply too many good games coming out (a good problem to have, I admit, but a problem nonetheless) and with not enough time or money to play them all, it’s almost a certainty that I’ll miss out on something amazing. Not only the already-mentioned Agents of Mayhem, but also Mario + Rabbids, Yakuza Kiwami and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy are all vying for my attention this August, and with Sonic Mania having recently caught my eye as a potential purchase as well, something’s got to give; unfortunately, my student loan isn’t everlasting, and I can only spend so much of it on games. (If anyone from Student Finance England is reading this, by the way, that was a joke.)
I suppose my predicament could easily be diagnosed as a form of gaming FOMO (that’s ‘fear of missing out’, or so I have been told) as I experience genuine anxiety at the thought of an inability to join in on the conversation about a popular game. When everyone and their pet goldfish started picking up Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, for instance, I couldn’t resist getting involved myself so that I could understand exactly what all the fuss was about. With so many high quality, and often also popular games releasing pretty much all at once, it can be a real struggle to keep up with what is frequently an incredibly fickle industry, which moves from current flavour of the week to newer flavour of the same week faster than my ex moved on from me. (Another joke, I promise.)
Perhaps the saddest thing about all of this, though, is that there’s nothing quite like the feeling of receiving a game through the post on release day. Usually an Amazon package in my case, the joy of tearing through that cardboard and then the game’s plastic protection, all while inhaling that sweet, sweet new game smell, is absolutely unparalleled. But alas, it looks as though the damned meddler that is the rational part of my brain will win over this time, but I’ll still no doubt try to play as many of these awesome looking games as I can over the coming weeks. I’ve still got the experience of walking into a game store to pick up a (sort of) brand new console on release day to look forward to on 29th September, anyway – and no, I’m not going to stop bragging about it.
Hero of Time Wasting Game Reviews 