Video games in December: in a spacesuit or behind the wheel

Generally, by the time December arrives, the season for big game releases is over and the sweet torpor that heralds Christmas can begin. This year will be an exception as we have seen at least two weight arrivals.

The first is a space horror game that bears the sweet name of “Callisto Protocol”.

Once the embryo of the scenario is deployed, it will be for a Jacob to survive in a prison located on an inhospitable moon. A prison infested with zombie inmates, the results of unnatural experiments, shall we say with a touch of exhaustion.

But the game is eagerly awaited. From the first steps in this universe, we immediately think of “Dead Space”, a franchise sponsored by Electronic Arts that had its heyday in 2008 before declining and then dying in 2013 with “Dead Space 3”. Leaving the bosom of Electronic Arts to find creative freedom, Glen Schofield, co-creator of “Dead Space” is the source of this project that has all the revenge, of a reboot who does not say his name.

What do we think? To tell the truth, the bugs that torpedoed the first steps in Windows and slightly damaged the Xbox X and S experience (while the PS5 seems to have been spared) have not been forgotten much. Because even if the technical hiccups are removed (patches are announced and partially deployed), the monotony of development (corridors, ducts, rooms, a monster that jumps on the neck – not to kiss – fight, corridor, ducts… etc. ), the conventional imposes itself, history repeats itself, monotony sets in and surprising techniques, too systematic, lose their effect. In other words, the gamepad fell out of our hands. It can stay with you if the feeling of déjà vu – déjà vu is not too intense.

So let’s head for something more earthy if not more refined: the roar of engines, the screech of tires, urban races at the boundaries of legality held back by vengeful police cars. The “Need for Speed” franchise is back and its vintage nickname is “Unbound”. Entrusted to Criterion, a studio that has given good times to lovers of games on wheels, NFS clearly seeks to regain the luster it gained in the late 90s, early 2000s.

A relatively calm release later, we discovered a smooth car racing game that graphically translates into a mix of realism where the effects of augmented reality are superimposed. The terrain of our exploits is a region around a metropolis that bears a resemblance to Chicago.

The game is essentially built around a single-player story mode. The goal is to win the races, get money to improve your car and garage, go to other races, betray and start from the beginning and finish at the highest bar of the social ladder of rebels smoking on the bus. A multiplayer mode, rather rudimentary, completes the case but requires starting again below this scale.

“Need For Speed ​​​​​​​​– Unbound” proves it, the little guys from Criterion are no slouches when it comes to car games. This Unbound almost gives us nostalgia for “Burnout”, another franchise of their own. But we have not completely forgotten the presence of a series that dominates the genre by at least three heads, “Forza Horizon”. Because unlike these “Unbound”. grind (ie, having to raise money painfully to renovate his garage, buy and improve his cars), “Horizons” is characterized by constant generosity in the distribution of rewards. It’s a matter of taste, but we tend to prefer generous games. That said, “Need For Speed” seems to be back on a holy path.

“The Callisto Protocol,” Striking Distance Studios/Krafton. On PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Series, Windows PC.
“Need for Speed ​​​​​​​​– Unbound,” Criterion/Electronic Arts. on Windows PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.