After months of anticipation, the newest Playstation and Xbox video game consoles are finally out in the wild. If you’re one of the few lucky people that was able to grab a pre-order when they first went live, or you were fortunate enough to grab an online order when websites like Walmart and Gamestop weren’t completely crashed, then you’re likely going through the agonizing process of choosing which game to play first. Both the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S have a wealth of games to play at launch, and for many gamers the first experience of playing on next-gen hardware is one that needs to be memorable. We’re going to break down exactly which games are the best ones to play first on these new consoles so that you can make sure that your first experience with them is one you’ll never forget.
The Best Console Exclusive: Spider-Man: Miles Morales
One of the biggest games on the Playstation 4 that drove a lot of people to the system was Marvel’s Spider-Man by Insomniac Games that released in 2018. This game was hailed as one of the best superhero games to ever be created, rivaling the superstar status of the Batman: Arkham games. Spider-Man saw the continuation of a trend in the video game industry towards superhero games that aren’t just mediocre movie tie-ins, but instead combine compelling original stories with engaging and rewarding gameplay. The game won dozens different awards and received stellar reviews from nearly every video game news outlet when it was released, so it was natural to expect that there would be a sequel. Insomniac has delivered on those expectations with Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a sort of pseudo-sequel/spinoff of 2018’s Spider-Man that follows fan-favorite character Miles Morales. This game takes the scale of the original Spider-Man game and dials it down just a little bit, making for a shorter story, but it certainly doesn’t skimp out on the gameplay. Miles Morales builds on the fantastic gameplay of it’s 2018 predecessor by adding new abilities for Miles that are different from his counterpart Peter Parker. Miles can cloak himself to remain hidden from enemies, and he can supercharge his punches with electricity in what’s known as a venom blast. These new powers are ripped straight from the comic book source material of Miles’ character, and fans of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film might recognize these abilities from the movie. This game is perfect for fans of Playstation’s exclusive properties because it truly shows off the power of the PS5. With new possibilities like ray-tracing and the option of running the game at 60 frames per second, the snowy streets of New York look breathtakingly gorgeous. For people looking for an experience that they can only get on the Playstation 5, they’re in good hands with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not only does it show off the impressive tech of the system, but it illustrates just how dominant Playstations’s exclusive library of games really is. And with the Xbox Series X releasing without any new exclusive titles, it would seem that Playstation is going to continue being the number one system to play for exclusive content at launch.
The Best Game for Cross-Play: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
One of the biggest things that the video game industry has been focusing on for the past couple of years is a push towards cross-play. In simplest terms, cross-play allows people that all own the same game, but play on different consoles, to play together regardless of which console they own. This has been a long-desired feature amongst gamers for many years now, and with the popularity of games like Fortnite and other battle royale type games, industry executives have recently put a big focus on making sure people can play together on any system. One of the biggest franchises in gaming that is jumping on the cross-play train is the Call of Duty series. This first-person military shooter is one of the most popular and profitable video game series ever, and its yearly installments ensure a consistent player base that always has something new to play once last year’s game gets old. The Call of Duty series introduced cross-play with last year’s Modern Warfare, and this year’s Black Ops Cold War is continuing forward by allowing both cross-play and cross-progression. This means that not only can you play with your friends that have an Xbox or PC while you have a PS5, but it also means that if you ever decide to move from one console to a different one, you’ll maintain all of the progress you made on your initial system. This gives players an unprecedented amount of flexibility when it comes to deciding how they want to play, and it’s hard not to commend publisher Activision for making sure that Call of Duty is as accessible as possible.
The Best Game to Put a Lot of Hours Into: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
As single-player games have evolved from linear experiences focused on one singular story into expansive open worlds with a hundred and one things to do, those games have consequently gotten significantly longer in regards to the time it takes to fully complete them. One industry icon that has embraced this change is the Assassin’s Creed franchise. These stealth games that use popular historical backdrops such as Revolutionary France and Renaissance Italy are known for their rich stories that follow the centuries long conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Knights Templar. The last couple of installments in the series have seen developer Ubisoft take a wildly different approach to the series when compared to its first handful of games. Starting with 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, the series shifted towards a focus on much more expansive open worlds with tons of room for exploration. Along with a revamped combat system, Origins also put a stronger focus on the importance of side missions, making them much more interesting and rewarding for the player. These changes in the Assassin’s Creed formula were reinforced further with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and they’re being refined even more with this year’s highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Valhalla takes players to the age of Vikings and Dark Ages England, an era that has been highly requested by fans since its early days. With this shift towards exploration and deviation from the main story, games like Assassin’s Creed are getting much longer to complete, often boasting stories that require at least fifty hours of playtime in order to complete. When combined with the side missions of the game, Valhalla could easily take upwards of a hundred hours of playtime for someone to experience everything the game has to offer. This is a tantalizing prospect for people that love to just get lost in a game, and Valhalla has been advertised as the game for that exact crowd. With a bevy of different customization options alongside the expansive maps of both England and Norway to explore, this is the perfect game to lose track of time with. Now that the newest generation of gaming is here, there’s a lot to be excited about. The technology of the Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5 paves the way for games that are unlike anything the industry has ever produced before. With things like cross-play and massive single-player games becoming the new normal, gamers have never had better options. It’ll be exciting to see where the industry goes from here, especially considering the strong lineup of games that each console already has at their disposal. Which game do you plan to break in your new system with? Let us know in the comments below and for more news on pop culture and everything entertainment, check back here at its-bananas.