Not to blow my own whistle here, but when it comes to what games deserve attention and what games don’t, I am well educated. Here I am compiling a detailed list of the games of 2011 that you absolutely must see. I am not going to say must play, because everyone’s opinion is different, but to at least consider them and give them a bit of research, these games show both promise and history. Sadly, I will not be including PS3 Exclusives (DONT OWN ONE), and I will not be including games that look cool but have no background or history to prove that they will do well, for example: Ghost Recon, Future Soldier. Awesome looking game, Tom Clancy is a great game designer, but the actual Ghost Recon series sucked, Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell (and HAWX) being the good ones. Hopefully GR:FS is in fact Rainbow Six: Future Soldier
No Spoilers or descriptions of story will be included in this list
IINNNN NO PARTICULAAAR ORRDERRRRR!!!!1!!eleven!!!shift1!!
Gears Of War 3
Gears of War is a game like no other, it was one of the first games to feature both a cover system and dedicated melee system in one, and the engine is one of the most famous, and widely used engines in gaming today, The UT3 Engine. Gears of War 3 will boast the graphics and gore we have come to expect of the modern day game, and judging by its predecessors, this game will be polished and have balanced, yet fun and challenging multiplayer. And before we veer off, let’s talk gore. Oh there’s lots of Gore. Whether it’s blowing your enemy to smithereens by strapping a grenade to them, or sawing them in half with the lancer mounted underslung chainsaw, there will be blood. Always a plus.
Gears has always had a lot going for it, and there was a time when it even competed with Halo for the rank of "Best Xbox Exclusive". It has fallen down over time with slow game releases, but that is the only reason. The maps in multiplayer are awesome, the game modes like horde are fun for hours and hours on end, and make Call of Duty's "Zombies" look like a game for children. Gears of War's campaign is co-
op friendly, and the storyline, while sometimes shallow, will never disappoint. While Marcus Phoenix may be the hardass emotionless killer that some love and others don’t, the members of Delta Squad all have their own stories, some touching, others not. Gears of War 3 is a must for Xbox owners around the world.
(Gears of War 3 has been put back to September, and will be an Xbox 360 exclusive)
Dead Space 2
Because of its tri-platform spanning mannerisms, we are all familiar with the visceral story of Isaac Clarke and his struggle on the USG Ishimura in Dead Space (1). The game brought some of the greatest game mechanics to third person survival horror as seen to date, including awesome graphics, armour progression, weapon progression and upgrades, a complete absence of HUD in favour for in game holographic displays and my personal favourite, a little device that when activated, will show you the correct path to your current objective, all the while keeping some of the most important mechanics from older third person survival horrors (such as resident evil) like shops and grapple moves. Now our favourite space horror game makes a return in the form of Dead Space 2, keeping true to the story and continuing with Isaacs quest for survival, only now in a slightly different environment, a city known as the Sprawl.
Isaac has changed a bit since we last saw him. It has been 3 years, but he is still haunted by memories of Nicole. Isaac is jaded; he is no longer the silent protagonist he used to be, now speaking with a harsh and uncaring voice. Neither is he the confused noob stumbling around in a freaky space ship, but more of the one and only seasoned veteran of fighting necromorphs, and this is very apparent in multiple scenes during the game (Think Rippley in Alien, and then Aliens). But don't let that fool you, Dead Space 2 is just as scary, just as psychological, and just as testing just as much as the original. If you loved Dead Space, or are even just a fan of survival horror games, again like resident evil, you are going to love Dead Space 2. Do not miss it. But its probably best to at least wiki Dead Space (1)'s storyline if you haven’t played the original before buying this
(Dead Space 2 is now available, on all 3 platforms)
Mortal Kombat 9
Need there be more said? The King of side-on fighting games is back, and it’s better than ever. I have personally always preferred Mortal Kombat to say, Soul Calibur or Tekken because of its respectively simplified controls, its brutal killing moves, excessive gore, classic punch lines, awesome theme song, and great gameplay(
YMMV ) . Mortal Kombat has possibly let down people in the past, but MK9 returns to its roots by going back to the time frame where the original story line started, and returning with the same gameplay mechanics. The game has been perfected and no loved characters have been left out, everything you ever wanted in a Mortal Kombat game is there, and more. Side stepping has (much to my own dismay
) been removed, to make for cleaner fights, and the Fatalities are spectacular. Oh, and for a few lucky PS3 players, Kratos will be making a debut appearance in MK9 *EPIC JEALOUSY*. This game will thankfully be spanning the entire console community, and NO! Wii is NOT a console!! No cigar for the
PC players, but hey, were used to it, and
WE have orange box!....wait. MK9 is going to be hours of fun, and there really is nothing like slicing your best friend up with a ninja sword, sparta kicking him, then cutting his head in half midair (See: Scorpion's Fatality). If you like Fight games, this is the game for you.
(Mortal Kombat 9 will be released later this year, on Xbox 360 and PS3)
Trivia: Marcus Phoenix is rumoured to make an appearance on the Xbox 360 version of the game, Kratos on the PS3. And no, it would be an insult for Masterchief to make an appearance, so DROP
IT.
RAGE
Rage will bring back memories of the early years of 2000, when technology exploded and we jumped from doom 2's relatively abysmal 2D
fps graphics to doom 3's wonderful engine, including all the physics, lighting and ragdoll a gamer could ever want.
ID soft then took that engine and with it, created Quake 4, A great shooter with the exact same play style as doom 3. Both these games had fast paced, unreal tournament style multiplayer, a thing that is all but dead in this day and age. Years later, what would seem like a world weary engine makes a return, made new by the guys over at
ID soft. Rage runs on the same engine as these games, albeit with much better AI, graphics and physics.
ID have a wonderful art style, and every mutant you see in Rage will send a chill down your spine as memories of strogification trickle back into the depths of your mind. This game is fast paced, but has less weapons than its forefathers, instead going for the Bioshock/Borderlands-esque way of making weapons interesting, which is more or less augmentation and upgrades. Once again like borderlands, Rage has vehicles, and in its early development, the entire gaming community was under the impression that Rage was in fact a post-apocalyptic racing game! But the community has been thoroughly reassured, if you don’t like driving, you wont have to [much]. You can spend money on upgrading your guns or armour rather than your vehicle, its all up to you. Rage obviously shares the same shooter elements that all
ID games are known for, but it does have an almost
RPG element, as it is what seems to be post apocalyptic open world (Think: Red Faction Guerilla open world, not Fallout 3 open world). Rage also has factions, much like Fallout New Vegas, and while it is obvious that Rage may have borrowed from the big names of post apocalyptic (Fallout and Borderlands) it would be a grave mistake indeed to think it will be anything like either. Rage is gunna be great, dont miss it.
Trivia:
ID Software literally pioneered the
FPS genre. Now under the heading of Zenimax Studios, Bethesda and
ID have come under the one banner. They don’t work together as such, but no longer are they competitors. They give each other tips and send people in between each other, so you can expect cross over between the 2 companies creating styles. Those of you who are subscribed to game informer will already know all this. So hopefully our legends at Bethesda will give
ID some tips on stepping into the open world
rpg
Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm is another game by Epic Games (see: Gears of War) and once again runs on the UT3 engine. The main character has everyones favourite zombie killing American, Dempsey (See: Black Ops) as his voice actor, and theres more swearing in this game than you have heard in a life time!
This game is about the fun, and excitement of killing gak in interesting ways. It’s a real screw around game, where single enemies wont pose much of a threat, and its more about just beating your friends and having fun
I played the demo, and while finding the perfect kill combo is difficult, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Screwing around, throwing people into electricity and sticking them on spikes is fun, and the time distortion field you are fitted with, while admittedly would have been much cooler if you could actually control enemies with it, is a fun thing to play around with. Only downside I see here is trying your best to get a good kill combo and it just not happening, and you end up standing around getting shot, looking like an idiot, trying to kick a guy down a hole for a VERTIGO! Bulletstorm will be Xbox 360 exclusive, but don’t quote me.
Duke Nukem Forever
Oldschool gamers will cry a tear pure emotion when they hear the news that this seemingly forsaken game is ACTUALLY COMING OUT! Duke is back after what must be 12 years, with all your favourite punch lines and Arnold Swarzenegger Terminator-esque lack-of-emotion killing. I am not sure about the game play, not much has been released, but the trailers and stage demo of this game like bloody hilarious (Yes, I am Australian -.- ). I really don’t know much about the platforms or release date of this game, so I honestly cannot write much on it. Nor was I born early enough to fully appreciate Duke Nukem, but check out the trailer on youtube to see what all the fuss is about. Definitely worth having a look at
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
It’s the big one. The game that has truly got me going. Elder Scrolls 5. You don’t know how many times I had to backspace Eldar and put Elder while writing this.
This game is the 5th of a series by Bethesda, loved by many as the fantasy version of Fallout (correction, fallout is the future version of Eldar.. Elder Scrolls)
This games graphics are insane. They run on an engine that was meant to become the next Ut3 engine, but Zenimax Studios decided to keep it to themselves, which is an interesting decision to say the least. In any case, the creators of this beautiful game claim that if you scar a tree, it will remain there forever. If this is true, then the games engine power is unquestionable. The one and only best place to find out about Eldar.... Elder Scrolls is this month’s edition of game informer (the black cover one). Its got some awesome stuff in it, for example, drop a sword on the ground in a town, and a variety of things might happen. It may sit there, in the mud, for the rest of eternity. Or, 2 men may fight over it to see whom shall take it home. Or maybe a little boy will discover it and run after you, and ask if you’d like it back.
Not only have the graphics been upgraded, but the voice acting and speech is all much better. Instead of pausing the game to zoom in on who your speaking to, they will speak to you in real time, and continue doing what they are doing, such as washing dishes or chopping wood. Even just overhearing conversations will unlock new quests, so go sit in a bar if you have nothing to do
Another point of interest made is that if you kill a shop keeper, his sister may take over for him (if he has a sister) albeit grudgingly. The combat has also been ramped up, with running backwards slowed down so we don’t get those ridiculous backpedalling sword fights, magic is something of a rarity within the game, unlike games such as fable, which honestly makes me happy. I am so sick of running into an epic battle in fable only for my coop partner to mow them down with a divine intervention or hellfire. It looks stupid, it is stupid.
Another awesome mechanic is the way weapons are handled. You can assign something to each hand, examples of combos are 2 different spells (for a combine), 2 of the same spell (for a super version), a sword and shield, or a mace and dagger if you want! It’s all very exciting. Bows have also been up powered, firing more slowly but doing much more damage, so you can kill most enemies in a single loose. It just looks like a really great game, with exceptional graphics. If you played any of the other Eldar...FETH Eldar Elder Scrolls and liked them, then this is going to be awesome.
Crysis 2
The demo is out, I have played it thoroughly, and I must say , Crysis 2 is one helluva enjoyable game. But before I even begin, may I say that the crysis you know and love is gone. Sure, the nanosuit and the aliens and the armour abilities return, but the style is very different, and to be honest I’m not sure I prefer it, I just feel less ninja.
Crysis 2 will have amazing graphics on the
PC, but they aren’t up to scratch on the Xbox 360 or PS3 (those who believe ps3s have better graphics, do some research). Nor are the controls befitting of a console to be honest, and its obviously been dumbed down to accommodate for the inferior platforms, but its still an epic game. Weapons are no longer customizable on the fly in multiplayer, and Maximum Strength is gone as a chooseable armour mode, as is speed. The way it works now is you have 3 modes.
Standard mode:
• Will take fall damage
• Can jump high
• Runs at a reasonably fast pace
Stealth Mode
• Same as Standard mode, only obviously invisible
• Slowly drains suit energy, which speeds up if you move, more so if you sprint
• Using melee, firing a weapon or taking damage will completely drain your suit energy, meaning your pretty much screwed.
• Can assassinate people (very Halo: Reach) from behind if hit in the back
Armour mode
• Move much slower
• Are immune to fall damage
• Take much less damage from all things
• Takes 2 melee hits to kill you, as opposed to one, but you can hold melee to do a powerful punch to instagib even people in armour mode
Some changes that I don’t like so much, but others might is Classes and Killstreaks have been introduced. I wonder where they got those ideas from? Melee is a one hit…once again that’s new *sarcasm* and there are now assassinations from behind. Starting to see a trend here? They have taken core elements from
CoD and Reach and shoved them in, and Crytek really didn’t need to do that. Classes means that every available weapon in multiplayer needs down powering. There are no miniguns, the guass rifle is available to everyone, theres no 6 shot grenade launchers, and I have no idea about vehicles, but I really doubt Crytek is going to leave them out of multiplayer when Battleground was the favourite map of Crysis Wars.
Single Player wise, theres some exiting new weapons, its set in new york (post alien invasion) and apparently you can augment your armour in your own special ways. Its all interesting stuff, so we will just have to wait until release.
Trivia: The Multiplayer Demo is still up, so jump in there!
)
When the rich rage war it's the poor who die 
"Order. Unity. Obedience. We taught the galaxy these things, and we shall do so again."
"They are not your worst nightmare; they are your every nightmare."
"Let the galaxy burn!"
