display
There was a time when books, toys and CDs were happily unpacked under the Christmas tree and grandma and grandpa were praised for their creativity.
If parents and grandparents want to score with this today for giving presents, they are only considered “lost” among the offspring - the youth word of the year means something like “clueless”.
If you want to impress children or grandchildren, you are giving away video games.
Only which?
According to the industry association, the entire market achieved a total of 6.2 billion euros in sales last year - more than the Germans spent on books, toys or music.
And the market is confusing - especially before the festival, new games are constantly appearing.
25 new PC games are published every day on the Steam download platform alone.
Bad purchases are expensive.
Because once the game is unpacked, it can no longer be exchanged.
WELT AM SONNTAG explains which games make small and large video players' eyes light up.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
display
"Valhalla", the hall of heroes in Norse mythology, is eponymous for the continuation of the "Assassin's Creed" series.
In the adventure, the player should take on the role of the Viking leader Eivor, who leads his warriors against the English.
The attraction is that the Viking world is open to exploration.
The player can follow the story in a straight line, but can also start his own undertakings.
In the process, the character develops further and receives weapons and armor.
Sometimes the player cannot avoid assassinations, but not every task has to be solved with violence
, diplomacy is often required
.
"Valhalla" runs on the new game consoles and on the PC, but the following applies here: A
high-quality graphics card
is an advantage so that the game looks really good.
For: Skilled adults with time Price: from 49 euros Approval: from 18 years
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Young players have often never heard of the Cold War.
Ironically, the new part of the shooting game series "Call of Duty" makes them known.
The title deals with a conspiracy in the 1980s: In a fictional story, you have to thwart a plot that has been planned for decades as secret agents.
On the Internet, players can compete with other gamblers worldwide - in small areas as well as on a ski slope for up to 40 players.
In the test, the game scores with the single player campaign, which strikes a quieter tone than in the previous versions and relies on more personal dialogues instead of scandalous missions.
With
five hours of play time
, the adventure is over too quickly.
The multiplayer mode is also narrow with eleven areas that are played online so far.
The graphics, music and sounds are convincing, and the replay value is high in online mode.
For adult players
a great candidate for cold winter evenings.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Source: activision.com
display
For: Fans of fast and hard action Price: from 54 euros Approval: from 18 years
Cyberpunk 2077
Five years of development, the most complex game world ever programmed for a role-playing game, a budget of 121 million dollars: seldom has a game started with such high expectations as “Cyberpunk 2077”.
The game tells the story of a crook in Night City, the dystopian vision of a metropolis ruled by corporations in 2077. "V", as the player character is called, has to solve tasks, build friendships - and reveal the secret of Night City.
The game impresses with the magnificent graphics with which the creators paint Night City into a credible, dark version of our future.
But be careful,
the game is not for children
: violence and sex play prominent roles.
In addition, “Cyberpunk” either needs an
up-to-date console or a powerful PC
to look good.
Alternatively, gamers can use Google's Stadia streaming service to bring cyberpunk to their TVs at home.
Cyberpunk 2077
Source: CD Projekt Red
For: Mandatory purchase for adults Price: from 54 euros Approval: from 18 years
Immortals Fenyx Rising
display
Divine powers and mythical opponents are half the battle for a successful video game.
In "Immortals Fenyx Rising", the game company Ubisoft packs the ingredients in a bright and colorful game world that is strongly reminiscent of the "Zelda" series known from Nintendo consoles.
As the demigod Fenyx, the players set out to save the world of the gods of Greek mythology from a dark horror.
In the 40-hour story, players explore the game world full of small missions and battles on mount, on foot or by flying.
One advantage: The game is not only available for the latest consoles, but
also for the Nintendo Switch
, which is particularly popular with younger players.
Although they have to accept compromises in terms of graphics, they can still
look forward to
hours of captivating adventure
.
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Source: dpa-tmn
For: Adventure-loving puzzle enthusiasts Price: from 49 euros Approval: from 12 years
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
A colorful world, a stuffed hero and tricky puzzles: That is the recipe for the “Little Big Planet” series.
The main character is the cute "Sackboy", who is celebrating the launch of the PlayStation 5 with an adventure.
Villain Vex disagrees with this and kidnaps Sackboy's friends in order to make a devilish weapon with their help.
Video gamers have to prevent that.
Jumping, running and fighting against opponents like out of a comic, they explore a varied world in which moments of frustration are absent thanks to the precise control.
A
mode for playing together
with up to four players on one console
is ideal for Christmas
.
This allows
the whole family
to explore the world of Sackboy - for example the worlds with licensed music from Britney Spears or a-ha, which turn the game into a good-mood party.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Source: PlayStation
For: young players with nimble fingers Price: from 54 euros Approval: from 6 years
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
A superhero never looked as good as Miles Morales.
In the latest "Spider-Man" spin-off for Sony's PlayStation consoles, the teenager slips into the role of the eponymous spider-man - with brilliant graphics.
The predecessor was already one of the best games of the console generation, the successor now shows for the first time
how many details
the new PlayStation 5 can display.
The series part takes place in wintry New York, in which Miles is drawn into the conflict between a seedy corporation and the rebellious “underground”.
In addition to the freely explorable metropolis, there are new electrical abilities with which Miles literally electrifies his opponents.
The game is
also suitable for younger gamers
, but is a bit too short for a full price title.
For owners of the PlayStation 5, however, the game is almost a must buy - thanks to the console's fast hard drive, players can move through New York with almost no loading times and, with the new controller, experience haptically how Miles swings through the urban canyons.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Source: insomniac.games
For: Young fans of the Marvel comic universe Price: from 55 euros Approval: from 12 years
Old games, new console
The Microsoft Xbox Series X console is having a hard time getting started: the hardware is superior to the competition - but there are hardly any exclusive games to date.
However, many games have been updated for the new console.
If you want to give gifts to Xbox owners, you can also use older titles - these have usually already fallen in price.
Two types in particular will be happy:
sports fans and action fans
.
The car race "Forza Horizon 4" looks fantastic with updated graphics, the same goes for the basketball game "NBA 2K21", which sets standards in terms of graphic realism.
The monster hunt in "Gears 5" is also more intense on new consoles.
If you are in the mood for crazy characters and gorgeous comic graphics, you can grab the updated version of "Borderlands 3".
That's how we tested
display
The WELT editors were able to try out all the games themselves for the game guide for Christmas: The recommendations were tested on the new consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, as well as on a current gaming computer with the nVidia RTX 2060 graphics cards Super and RTX 3070 as well as a Ryzen 3700X processor from AMD.
The portable Nintendo Switch console was also included in the selection.
In order to be able to fully exploit the picture and sound quality, the consoles were connected to the current OLED77CX9LA television from LG.
The gaming PC showed its images on the Samsung C32HG70 screen.
Xbox Series X or Playstation 5 is also a matter of belief
In times of the corona pandemic, many leisure activities are restricted.
What is possible, however, are video games.
And the gaming industry benefits from this.
In addition, the manufacturers bring their new consoles onto the market.
Source: WELT / Philipp Reichelt
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We would be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: Welt am Sonntag