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CALL OF DUTY:
BLACK OPS IIII
The Call Of Duty series has done WW2
lots, modern warfare tons, and even
gone into space. But still our favourite
sub-franchise has to be Treyarch’s smart
Black Ops, the story arc of which actually
runs from World At War, through the
Vietnam era in the first Black Ops via the
’80s, and several decades on into the
future. Many players were unhappy
at Black Ops IIII’s lack of a single-
player campaign, but the game has
solo missions which focus on the
multiplayer’s ‘Specialists’. In any case,
mostly we’re here for the multiplayer,
and Black Ops IIII’s take on battle royale,
Blackout, more than makes up for it.06
BATTLEFIELD V
If EA’s franchise has never quite enjoyed
the success of the rival Call Of Duty games,
Battlefield has always been the war game
for those ‘in the know’ – and in particular
those who love to feel part of authentically
realised, large-scale battles. The emphasis in
Battlefield is more on teamwork, as a result,
and with 64 players all running around, its
clearly best experienced with squads working
together. Last year’s return to WW2 is a
blinder, with more destructibility than ever,
a ton of different modes, some impressively
huge maps and the brilliant Grand Operations
multi-day campaign, Plus a decent set of
single-player War Stories to top it off.08
TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW
SIX SIEGE
The tactical FPS is still hugely popular more
than three years since its release. Why? Well,
it’s quite simply a superior game that involves
taking out terrorists as part of a SWAT team,
infiltrating buildings and rescuing hostages.
Tactical and tense each and every time, with
realistically destructible environments, the
game really comes into its own in multiplayer,
with a ton of great co-op and competitive
modes, while its many maps are optimally
designed for close-quarters combat. Last year
the game passed the 40 million users mark,
and it’s now one of the world’s top esports
games. Plus the ace Angela Bassett stars as
the director of Team Rainbow.10
DESTINY 2
For our money, Destiny 2’s got it all: a
compelling science fiction space opera story,
exhilarating competitive multiplayer, and
cooperative challenges in the form of lengthy
puzzle-filled Raids and shorter ‘Strikes’. Yes,
Halo creators Bungie showed us that it is
undoubtedly the master when it comes to
gunplay with the first Destiny. Every weapon,
and there were many, felt awesome to shoot.
Unfortunately, the game had a story that was
incoherent at best, but thankfully Bungie
learned from this and gave us a much better
sequel. Oh and it’s got lots of sweet precious
loot to find and collect. If you haven’t already,
go play Destiny and you will be hooked in no
time, trust us.05
FAR CRY 5
If you haven’t already, you might need
to check this out before you get stuck
into the post-apocalyptic latest entry
into the series, Far Cry New Dawn, which
follows on directly from its events.
Swapping previous settings of an African
civil war, a Himalayan dictatorship and
an island full of hippies for Hope County,
Montana, the Big Bad this time is Joseph
Seed, a doomsday cult leader who has
most of the county under his control.
Its rural USA open world is packed
with detail and fun things to do, of the
shooting and bashing things to death
variety. Somehow, it’s both daft and
thoroughly immersive.058 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE07
WOLFENSTEIN II:
THE NEW COLOSSUS
BJ Blazkowicz returns for this superior
entry in id’s shooter series, continuing
on from The New Order where BJ wakes
up from a coma to find Nazis have taken
over the world. Once you get through the
first 15 hours of ‘previously’ exposition
and struggled through the first tricky
level whilst in a wheelchair, The New
Colossus settles into a fascinating if
seriously, well, wrong alternate timeline
shooter set in a USA lined with Nazi flags,
where white supremacists are on every
corner, just waiting to be cut in half with
ridiculously powerful guns. And there’s
robo-Nazis. Oh yes.OXM INVESTIGATES