EPTAnother day, another 19 games coming up (hopefully) in 2012 - because honestly, who lists things in multiples of 2 or 5 anymore? Get with the times, grandpa and grandma. Only numbers divisible by 57 are welcome here. I mean...I guess you can divide 57 by 2 or 5, but what I am I supposed to do with that? 11.4 games a day for 5 days? You can't just do that, y'know? That's like writing 11 sentences and then 2/5ths of another one. It doesn't make sense. Do you know what would happen if I tried to do that!? Riots. People would literally take to the streets with molotov cocktails. So here's toda-
End of Nations: For a while I wanted to see an MMORTS. Then I started thinking about the logistics of it and they boggle the mind. I wish End of Nations the best of luck with their endeavor to make one, and I eagerly await the result. Everything I've seen so far shows promise, but the folks at Petroglyph still have some big hurdles to jump. End of Nations should be out in Europe and NA on June 12th for the PC.
Farcry 3: "Insanity is doing the exact same fucking thing over and over again expecting shit to change. That is crazy." That quote from the E3 trailer describes my excitement perfectly. I hated Farcry 2. It did some things well, some things ok, and spectacularly failed at a handful of others, and all of that averaged out to a mediocre fps. Still, my better judgment is losing a battle to hype here, and I'm not sure what is giving me so much reason to believe that Farcry 3 won't be as big of a disappointment. Still, if it isn't terrible, it will be great. I have a feeling there won't be any in between here. Quite a ringing endorsement, eh?
Firefall: *drool* Firefall looks like a hybrid between Global Agenda and Borderlands with the team lead from World of Warcraft, Mark Kern, on board for the project. As if all of that wasn't enough to catch my interest, my respect for Red 5 has gone up 1000% in light of the news that they have recently founded the League For Gamers, an advocacy group that aims to be an alternative to the ESA (who refuses to withdraw support from SOPA).
Fortnite: This looks to be a departure from Epic's dark and gritty Gears of War series and a return to the lighthearted charm of their Jazz Jackrabbit era. That aside, all I can really ascertain from the trailer is that it will be defense based, and might have some scavenging elements. That's making me think of a cross between Minecraft and Trenched...err, Iron Brigade. That's making me salivate.
Grand Theft Auto 5: Some people weren't thrilled with the more serious approach Rockstar took with GTA4, but so long as Saint's Row is around to fill the whacky bullshit gap, I'm fine with Rockstar moving on. My only major problem with GTA4 was how bland the city felt at times, and the montage from the official trailer did wonders to dispel any fear I had about Rockstar repeating that mistake.
Jekklyn Heights: First off, the art style is gorgeous and the design rivals Alice in terms of its eccentric character. That was what caught my eye initially. What made me want this, though, was the Team Fortress 2 capture point style multiplayer mixed with RPG systems and third-person action game combat.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: Similar to Dishonored, which I talked about yesterday, Amalur has somewhat of a perfect storm of talent behind it. Todd McFarlane, of Spawn fame, is working on the art side of things, R.A Salvator (Dark Elf trilogy, Icewind Dale, etc.) is working the lore and story side of things, and Ken Rolston (lead designer on Morrwind and Oblivion) is the executive designer. The game promises to be a proper RPG with proper action RPG combat. Think Elder Scrolls if it had the tight combat of God of War. Kingdoms of Amalur is out on February 7th in NA, and the 10th in Europe for the 360, PS3, and PC.
The Last Guardian: Alright. We haven't seen anything from The Last Guardian since E3 2010. Recent news might indicate that the game has hit troubled waters. Even if everything is on course we still might not see it in 2012. It should arrive this year, but that's never stopped something from getting delayed. Pessimism aside, I have confidence in Team ICO provided they can get the game to ship. They've made two of the most beloved games in the history of the medium, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and they've had a lot of time to learn from the few mistakes they made with those two games.
The Last of Us: A Sony exclusive which nobody has more than a teaser trailer to base their hopes on, inspires a lot of hope anyway due to the pedigree of the studio creating it, and may not even make it to shelves this year. Whoa. Déjà vu. I trust Naughty Dog and in parallel to what I want out of Class 3 I want to explore the survival side of this apocalyptic situation.
Lollipop Chainsaw: Suda 51 is responsible for an assortment of bizarre games that you may have never heard of including Killer 7, No More Heroes, and last year's criminally underrated Shadows of the Damned. Lollipop Chainsaw is Suda's attempt to cash in on the action adventure genre with a more down to Earth title. Gotcha. It's about a cheerleader, voiced by Tara Strong, who kills zombies with a chainsaw.
Lucius: Remember that mission from Fallout 3 in Tranquility Lane when Betty asks you to kill Mrs. Henderson and you have a whole bunch of different ways you can do the deed? Like leaving a roller skate at the top of the steps for her to trip on? Imagine if that one sub-quest was a whole game and you played as a male version of Betty. Welcome to Lucius - a cross between Hitman and The Exorcist.
Malicious: If you live in Japan, or if you imported this game, I'm just gonna pretend you don't exist for the next few sentences. Malicious is a game that has not ever been released before, especially not in Japan, and will be released this year in English. Hooray! Oh, the description and hype part...it looks like a less blurry Bayonetta. Hooray!
Mass Effect 3: In light of the fact that all PC versions of Mass Effect 3 will require Origin, I doubt I'll put my money towards this game. I stuck by my guns in protest of MW2 back when the dedicated server outrage was sparked, I didn't buy Battlefield 3 or The Old Republic, and I can live without ME3. That said, I loved the first two games and I want this one. That much hasn't changed. I might just buy it used off of Ebay. Still...I want it. ME3 is out on March 6th in NA, the 8th in Australia, the 9th in Europe, and the 15th in Japan for the PS3, 360, and PC.
Masters of the Broken World: MotBW differs from your run-of-the-mill turn-based strategy game in its binary good / evil karma system and the promise that your choices will have a genuine impact on your campaign. It looks mechanically solid as is, but I'm basing most of my hope on ethereal things like ambition and promise.
Metro: Last Light: I could live without Metro 2033's combat, its characters, its plot; most of the game basically. None of these things were bad, but what I loved most about Metro - what made the game unique - was its atmosphere. If Last Light is more of that then you can count me in.
Monaco: Payday: The Heist just released last December, and yet it didn't scratch my itch for a good heist game. What Payday does is throw tons of cops at you and it leaves very little room for the kind of intricate planning and crisp execution that makes heist movies so fun to watch. Monaco seems like it will be more focused on strategy and tactics beyond 'shoot many cops.'
Natural Selection 2: Ahh, I remember when I thought NS2 might come out in 2010, and then again in 2011. Could 2012 be its year? I hope so. Multiplayer games that give you a chance to play as the monsters are too rare, but always fun. Dead Space 2, Singularity, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 3, and my all time favorite, Aliens vs Predator 2 from 2001 are the only ones that come to mind.
Neverdead: Neverdead looks like a pretty standard third person shooter with some eccentric flavors spicing things up until you realize that one of the main mechanics of the game revolves around getting your limbs blown off, crawling over to them, and re-attaching them. It could be just interesting enough to work. It's out on January 31st in NA and February 3rd for Europe for the PS3 and 360.
Nidhogg: Just watch the trailer and note that it's 1v1 player vs player. I can't really add much more to it without raving like a lunatic. Like this: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE COME OUT THIS YEAR. I NEED YOU. UNGHHH.
