This year is going to be big. Real big. I mean, in terms of totally kick ass games to be released, I really haven’t been more excited for more games in one year than 2011.
4 games that are going to make 2011 the Year of the Sequel:
- Dead Space 2 (January 25, 2011)
- The first one was balls-to-the-walls creepy, and there is no reason to doubt that the second one will deliver.
- Stellar sound direction makes the excellent mind-games the franchise is known for.
- Multiplayer mode should add some extra hours of necromorph-dismembering fun.
- The special unlock for beating the game on hardcore mode will totally kick ass and show everyone your hwighting team spirit! See gameplay here.
- I have the Collector’s Edition (with replica plasma cutter gun!) heading my way courtesy of Amazon.com and Michelle in LA (yay Michelle!).
- Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (February 18, 2011)
- I was a huge fan of MvC2 even though I was never all that good at it, and that was before I got into comic books.
- The cell-shaded art style (sort of like Street Fighter 4 meets Dragon Ball Z: Budokai) was a good decision, as I don’t think a current-gen fighter game using 2D art sprites would take full advantage of the hardware available.
- Resident Evil. Devil May Cry.
- THOR.
- Batman: Arkham City (Fall 2010, pre-ordered from Amazon.ca)
- Another sequel that is set to astound, with Batman now exploring his way through a theme park/carnival of crazies (bonus points for alliteration).
- The franchise’s gameplay style really makes you feel like you’re the Batman himself, so it should be no surprise that I, the Batman himself, would want to play this game as a break from saving cops and busting chops.
- Sneaking around, doing stealth takedowns, and generally smashing ass up and down Arkham Asylum was exceedingly fun, so taking that mentality into an expansive “Arkham City” setting should prove to be a lot of fun.
- This is more than half a year away and I have it pre-ordered. That is how much I enjoyed the first one.
- Mass Effect 3 (November 8, 2011)
- Looks really good, but I am on the fence about it, mostly because I have never played the first two.
- The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 (which is currently already out) is rendered using the ME3 engine, and it looks really, really pretty.
- Crazy cinematic stuff + decision-determined storyline + expansive sci-fi universe + deep, deep lore are this franchise’s staples, and those are all things I will expect (and probably enjoy) in ME3.
- I will probably grab a discounted ME2 after ME3 comes out, beat it, and then move onto ME3 if reviews are as positive as those for ME2.