As Sony prepares to bounce back from what it admitted was a lackluster lineup of first-party titles this past holiday season, there's a whole new flock of PlayStation 4 initiates that need games to play. And while the year wasn't rich with new PS4 gems this year, there were plenty of multiplatform blockbusters to hold gamers over until Sony rebounds.
The PS4, in 2016, will be the first game console to have its own virtual reality headset. The console will also get the highly anticipated No Man's Sky (PS4/PC), Street Fighter, Gran Turismo, The Last Guardian and Uncharted 4, the final installment in the beloved first-party Uncharted series.
The year 2015 wasn't completely devoid of PS4 exclusives. But with on-rails games like Beyond: Two Souls and The Order: 1886 providing little replay value, Sony went after exclusive extras for multiplatform titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
Rainbow Six Siege
Not for the faint of heart, this team-based shooter was designed for the tacticians and those who can keep their poise when friendly icons go dim and the walls literally come crashing down - everything is destructible. This game was built for eSports. There are classes in this terrorist/counterterrorist close-quarters shooter, but no single character is meant to feel like Jason Bourne or any other action hero. Communication is key.
NBA 2K16
There's nothing groundbreaking in this latest installment of 2K sport's revered NBA title, but this is still a great game with mechanics that are a tad less frustrating than previous entries into the series. Ball and rim physics have been buffed, along with player awareness.
Just Cause 3
Grappling hook-slinging, gun-swinging Rico Rodriguez returns in the third installment of a series that calls on players to help the protagonist unseat a dictator in some far-flung locale. This time around, developer Avalanche Studios built the open-world game with more verticality in mind in order to better cater to Rodriquez's game-changing grappling hook.
Fallout 4
It's the type of game where it isn't uncommon to pull gamers into 40, 50 or even 100 hours of gameplay. Yet, there's something that keeps them from giving it a perfect 10/10. For Fallout 4, that seems to be a lack of any ground-breaking innovations. But that doesn't mean this post-apocalyptic role-playing game is unworthy of the asking price.
Project CARS
Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7 are on the way, but Project CARS is here now. Look elsewhere for arcade-y controls that forgive accuracy and look no further for a racing sim that rewards pure skill. Also, this game's graphics are stunning. And on top of that, it'll also support the upcoming PlayStation VR headset.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Moody monster hunter Geralt of Rivia is back in a world that's more open and more stuffed with monsters, along with side quests to encounter said monsters. It's a whopping 30 times more expansive than the first two games in the series. Wild Hunt is a must-play for a franchise that hit its stride with its second title. The third installment of the game, like the second, is a pronounced step forward for the role-playing franchise.
Bloodborne
Simply put, this PlayStation exclusive is Dark Souls with guns. This high-fantasy tale is a bit more than that, but that's the simplest way to describe this offshoot of the notoriously unforgiving Souls franchise. In this game, players awaken into a world plagued by a blood-borne disease. With melee weapons and guns in tow, players are tasked with finding and eliminating the source of this maddening illness.
