FIRST LOOK AT THE GAMES BEYOND THEIR TRAILERS

Gamescom 2015 was nothing short of ground breaking. Titles which were merely teased at E3, earlier this year, were given full blown gameplay reveals to give players a taste of what's to come. 

MICROSOFT STEPS IT UP
BIG TIME!
Fully utilising the momentum that they gained at E3, Microsoft took the stage by storm. The company debuted world premier gameplay reveals of anticipated exclusives. 

Crackdown 3 was shown off in a gameplay presentation. Apparently, the developers are going for a cloud based computing system for the game which will allow the Xbox One to perform at levels which are beyond its hardware. This will allow Crackdown 3 to have 100% destructible environments meaning anything and everything can be destroyed. Players can get early access to the mayhem at the beginning of 2016 in the beta. 

From critically acclaimed developer Platinum Games and revolutionary director Hideki Kamiya, Scalebound is an action RPG game in which players can fight alongside dragons as command-able NPCs. Scalebound is slated for a fall 2016 release. 

A game that many people were eager to see came from Alan Wake developer, Remedy Games. Quantum Break is a third person shooter in which players will be given the ability to bend time to their will. As Remedy Games are veterans of the third person shooting genre, expect this game to be a big hit when it comes out on April 5th 2016. 

RTS games are more or less scarce nowadays; thus it came as a surprise as Microsoft announced Halo Wars 2, the sequel to the original RTS game which was released exclusively on the 360. This time, Microsoft is staying true to the genre's original platform: The PC. Creative Assembly, the developers behind the Total War series is creating the next instalment in the Halo Wars franchise. 

Microsoft brought backwards compatibility to Xbox One at E3 and since then they have launched Xbox Feedback; a place where games can vote for the Xbox 360 games that they want to play on their Xbox Ones. So far this initiative has garnered significant momentum as they announced that fans have cast more than 3 million votes for their favourite games. And why wouldn't they? If I was given the chance, I'd love to replay Red Dead Redemption or Dragon Age origins on my current gen console. It'll be interesting to see how Sony develops their PS Now program in response to this. 

A lot of other non-gaming related features were announced like the chat pad for the controller and over-the-air TV. 

TREYARCH SHOWS OFF FIRST LIVE FOOTAGE OF COD: BLACK OPS III 
In a tournament-esque format, Treyarch arranged showmatches between pro CoD players. The aim was to show off the competitive multiplayer mode and how the new features, like the specialist perks, accentuate competitive play. The full event is available on the Call of Duty YouTube page and if you are a CoD fan, you would do yourself a huge disservice if you did not watch it. So far, from what I've seen in the hour long video, the gameplay resembles closely to that of Advanced Warfare but with a more "grounded" feel. Also, Treyarch has a great reputation of making weapons in the CoD games feel more "punchy". I am pleased to say that the weapons do retain the classic Black Ops feel. Overall, I think the specialist classes are way too imbalanced at this point but the November release date will give Treyarch ample time to sift through and sort out the issues.

MULTIPLATFORM GAMES GALORE! 
The next instalment of the cult classic Mafia series was announced and gameplay was showcased behind closed doors. So far the feel of the game has shifted to a cover-based shooter with the occasional car chase sequence. The developers are going for a brand new feel to the world of organised crime, breaking away from the stereotypical Italian mob archetype. Vito Scaletta from Mafia 2 makes a return as a major NPC. Players will take on the role of Lincoln a Vietnam War veteran who finds himself deep in the heart of world of criminals. Expect to play the game on 2016. 

Dark Souls 3 was given a gameplay trailer which showcased the new graphical improvements, enemy variations and combat. So far it looked as if the game followed Bloodborne's fast paced combat while retaining the dark, Gothic look of the Souls series. A possible release date was rumoured to be June 5th, 2016. 

Star Wars Battlefront's new gameplay mode, Fighter Squadron, was shown at the EA press conference. The mode features air vehicles-only maps in which players will duke it out in intense dogfights over classic and new locales in the Star Wars universe. Expect Battlefront to be released on November of this year. 

Battleborn, a new aspiring competitive title from Gearbox software was in the event to be played by fans and journalists. So far the response from both parties have been extremely positive. The game follows the gameplay archetype of Smite with a myriad of heroes each with unique abilities clashing on multiplayer maps which contain objectives needed to win the game.  Battleborn will be released on February 6th, 2016. 

IF YOU WANT MORE…
YouTube is your man. More specifically, GameSpot and IGN have them all on their channels while IGN has more behind the scenes content which avid fans will be pleased. 

Shahrukh Ikhtear is a gamer who doesn't rage. A writer who doesn't read. A musician without a teacher. Full time procrastinator. You can reach him on Twitter @sr_ikhtear and email: shahrukh.ikhtear@yahoo.com