Battlefield 6 (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)
Verdict: Glorious destruction
The world’s a mess. Geopolitics are all over the shop. The Nato alliance is fracturing, while mercenary forces backed by dodgy states are on the rise.
No, not our actual world — but the rather-close-to-the-bone fiction of the new Battlefield game.
Set a few years from now, its grand conflict is between the remnants of Nato (loosely speaking, the goodies) and a massive private tech-militia called Pax Armata (the baddies).
All this is explained in Battlefield 6’s pacey, block-busting story campaign — but really, that campaign is a mere prelude to the main event. The multiplayer.
Walls come tumbling down: Battlefield 6’s Conquest multi-player mode allows you and your fellow foot soldiers to destroy some scenery…but what are the repercussions?
There are numerous options for playing with friends and strangers across the internet. The one that really shows off what Battlefield 6 can do — and that really lives up to the game’s name — is the Conquest mode. Huge maps. 32 players a side. Dozens of tanks and planes and other war machines to commandeer. It’s a proper game of soldiers.
And Conquest is also the best place to experience Battlefield 6’s new destructible scenery. When a tank fires a shell at the corner of a building, the walls will explode into a shower of stone and splinters. It’s visually impressive, but also strategically challenging. What will you, a humble foot soldier, use for cover now?
If that sort of on-the-hoof decision-making sounds intense, it is. But Battlefield 6 is also wonderfully moderate at the same time. The gunplay still favours the most skilful, of course, but it’s forgiving enough that even the most cack-handed soldiers can make a difference.
Team effort: Battlefield 6 offers the chance to play soldiers with friends, and strangers
On patrol: the gunplay in Battlefield 6 still favours the skilful, but even if you can’t hit the broad side of a barn, you can still contribute to the campaign
Besides, there other ways of contributing to the tide of war — from driving vehicles to patching up your comrades.
It all adds up to one of the most generous and satisfying Battlefield experiences ever. All the old alliances may be falling apart, but at least we can have some fun in the process.
Train Sim World 6 (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £44.99)
Verdict: Do the locomotion
Unlike my morning commute, Train Sim World operates a very reliable service. After the occasional two-year gap earlier in the series, these games now come out every single year. And each new edition tends to improve on the last. Here is the sixth.
Sorry, did I say ‘game’? I meant, ‘achingly realistic simulation’. For that is what Train Sim World offers: detailed recreations of lines from around the planet and detailed recreations of trains to drive along them. Every button, beep and bend has been programmed for maximum authenticity. It is a nerd’s paradise.
But it’s also still a lot of fun, even for non-nerds. It’s just such a welcoming game — sorry, achingly realistic simulation.
Tunnel vision: Train Sim World is not just for nerds. The latest instalment in the achingly realistic simulation features three new lines…including our very own Riviera Line
Like its predecessors, Train Sim World 6 features extensive guidance for both new and experienced drivers, so you really know what’s what before you dare to carry passengers. And for those who want a really gentle experience, the Thomas the Tank Engine expansion has carried over from last year.
But the real draw in each subsequent edition is the new lines and their accompanying trains. Train Sim World 6 has three — for now — and they’re all doozies. Leipzig to Dresden in Germany. The Morristown Life in New Jersey. And, best of all, the Riviera Line in good ol’ Blighty — you know, the one where the train practically skims the sea around Dawlish in Devon.
As for some of the other new features, they have promise — but they’re not quite there yet. For instance: the new random events, which include trains breaking down ahead of you, are fun for a little while, until their frequency makes them frustrating.
Which is why I ended up turning a bunch of those new features off — and enjoying the Riviera Line without delays. There are, after all, more than enough leaves on the line during my morning commute. Why ask for more?
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £39.99)
Verdict: A classic, improved
This autumn has found its game. There always has to be one. The sort of game you can curl up with for hours on the sofa, as you luxuriate under a blanket and powder yourself with pumpkin spice.
And that game is Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles.
In truth, this could have been the game of autumns past. It’s a remaster of one that first came out for the PlayStation in 1997, when it was just known as Final Fantasy Tactics, and which has since been made available on other platforms. Playing FFT has never been that difficult — but it’s always been rewarding.
And so it is with this new version. Here, again, is that winning blend of a complex, Game of Thrones-esque story with boardgame-style tactical gameplay.
You shunt your warriors around miniature, squared-off environments, hoping to out-think, out-manoeuvre and out-fight your enemies.
The perfect autumn game: The Ivalice Chronicles is a great way to while away the time when the days grow shorter, and the scent of pumpkin pie spice wafts over the land
The Ivalice Chronicles has made some changes, however. The most obvious is the graphics — which are higher-definition and shinier all round.
But more significant are the dozens of tweaks that bring the gameplay in line with modern, more sophisticated expectations. The tutorials are clearer. Basic information is no longer buried in submenus of submenus. There are different selectable levels of difficulty.
That said, some of the original game’s eccentricities remain. Its central ‘jobs’ system — by which you customise and recustomise your merry band of fighters — still doesn’t give up its secrets easily. There are still daunting spikes in difficulty, even on the easiest setting.
Yet all that just makes The Ivalice Chronicles even better as an autumn game. It’s something to really grapple with as the light dwindles and the air chills. If you need me, I’ll be under a blanket, defending the kingdom.
