The Road to PAX: Top 10 most anticipated games

Hi all!

I don’t know about you but PAX PRIME 2012 is on my mind ever more often as it grows closer and closer. And this upcoming season of game releases shows to be among some of the best in recent history. There are so many good games coming out I don’t know what to do with myself. Besides my all expansive back log of games, the rest of this years schedule is already filled up with my “must plays right now!” list. But I think I can manage. Here is a look at my top 10 most anticipated games for PAX PRIME 2012!

Honorable Mention
DMC – Back when the first Devil May Cry came out on the PS2 I was really into the game. I loved the style and the combat was just so much fun and so fast paced. Other games took priority over the following sequels unfortunately. I did get to play them, just not all of the way through (backlog). However this reboot is a great opportunity for me to jump back on the band wagon, and besides the “punk rock?” feel of this re imagining I think that it looks like it will prove to be awesome.

#10
Borderlands 2 – Now this is saying a lot for the upcoming games on this list. I played Borderlands at PAX 2010? I think, pre-ordered the game, and played through twice.  And the sequel is still #10 on my list. I am not expecting anything revolutionary from the sequel of the open world shooter/rpg. But what I am expecting is more bad-ass-ness and awesome guns!!! I really love the art and the overall style of the first game, I have no doubt that #2 will be just as good.

#9
Injustice –  I have mentioned before that I am not a masterful fighter game player. In fact I flat out suck. But I recently attended my first MK9 tournament and it reinstalled my love for the genre. Going back through my childhood obsessions over Killer Instinct and Clay Fighter, I realized that I am indeed ready for another new fighting game that I can get behind from the beginning. And I can’t think of any fighting game I would rather play (PASBR….) than one where I can play as Batman beating the shit out of Superman!

#8
ZombieU – That’s right. I have already accepted that the WiiU whether I like it or not is probably going to be awesome and I am going to get one…  The titles for the “next-gen” system just keep piling up and I WANT THEM ALL! But ZombieU in particular just looks so awesome. It is just another zombie game, but some of the WiiU exclusive features just sound so cool. Like being able to find the corpse of the survivor that you last played, and being able to loot your OWN BODY! Also the controller back pack is pretty cool. I like that it is in real time and you don’t get to just stop time while you look in your pack for some herbs…… wtf…. Anyways, it looks like it is taking a new little spin on the classic L4D style zombie shooter and may turn out to be something great.

If you haven’t yet, make sure you check out this awesome trailer!!!

#7
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale – Besides the massively unappealing title for the upcoming brawler, I love everything about this game and its not even released yet. I am a huge SSB fan and now that that style of fighting is grabbing a hold of some other classic characters I am freaking out!  I just hope that Sony and Co. are able to nail the physics, in a game like this I think that is the most important aspect. That being said, the game play looked perfect and I am really excited to get my hands on these characters and give them a test run.

#6
Watch Dogs – With their ever growing library of AAA awesomeness game titles, Ubisoft is becoming one of my favorite developers this generation. They have really proved that they can make incredible games and they are not afraid to put story first. A very rare trait in this industry. And at E3 this year, they revealed Watch Dogs. This game is what GTA would be like, if it was everything I wanted it to be (GTA3 was great, didn’t dig 4). The open world/hacker/shooter/gangster action game is setting the graphics bar incredibly high and pushing the bar on what you can do in video games. Some were speculating the graphics were too good for this generation but I am sure we will get to play a toned down version on our current systems 9optimization ftw!).

The top 5 are actually very very close on what percentage of my anticipation they have.

#5
Tomb Raider – Why is this happening? Because Lara Croft is one of the only video game characters that my mom knows quite a lot about.  She had 2 moderately successful films made after her, 8 AAA video games, and is one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. And somehow (my personal opinion only) her games really never were all that great, and they were what a lot of people called sexist. She was the pixelated embodiment of female sexuality. But now, in the age of reboots, they are taking a tip from Uncharted and diving deep into the character of Lara Croft. This new reboot looks all sorts of gritty using top notch graphics and storytelling. And I think that we are all about to get a lot more than expected when this hits us next spring.

#4
Assassin’s Creed 3 – Whats weird about Assassin’s Creed is how quietly remarkable it is. Everyone knows what Assassin’s Creed is, and millions of people have played through the games, but it seems like the word of mouth on what this game actually is about does not spread at all. When I talk to people that haven’t played it, they seem to know a lot about the game even what they think is the story but they are still incredibly inaccurate. When I get into it and start to explain to them about the animus and how deep this SCI-FI (always surprises them) action game really gets, they are always really surprised and seems to be way more intrigued. It really just a great serious with a really exciting story that I hope continues for many more generations and if you have not checked it out YOU SHOULD! DON’T BE INTIMIDATED! ITS AN EASY PLAY!

#3
Beyond: Two Souls – Most PS3 owners now know the name David Cage thanks to a ground breaking game that came out in 2010 called Heavy Rain. The game played like a movie and every action that you made effected how the story was constructed. The game featured a massive 20+ different endings and a plot so engaging I could not put the controller down for 10 hours straight. The game will remain in my memory as one of the greatest achievements ever in video games. Well David Cage and his production company Quantic Dreams are at it again, this time with the Ellen Page starring thriller that looks like it plays somewhat like a super hero game. The graphics of course are state of the art and there is no doubt that David Cage will deliver another classic unlike any other game we have played before.

#2
The Last Of Us  – Now…. It is common knowledge that Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series are among the greatest games ever made. They are a force to be reckoned with and prove time and again that they consistently can make high caliber game unlike any others. And now a new series(?) debut is awaiting us this year at PAX. The Last Of Us is taking a new angle on the survival horror genre. They really want us to feel the wait that the characters carry on their hearts in this brutal world. They don’t want us to feel good for killing the people in this game. They want us to understand that it was what had to be done, but it should not be taken lightly. Putting so much responsibility in the players hands will be very interesting and I cannot wait to play through their latest masterpiece.

#1
Halo 4 – I am a sucker for love, bromance, cyborgmance, or just tales of friendship. And Halo has always been one of my favorite. The relationship between Cortana and John -117 is really the driving force for me in those games and in 2 and 3 they really stepped it up a notch. As much as I enjoyed ODST and Reach, Halo is not Halo without Cortana and Chief. I would have been happy with the Halo 3 ending, but I am not going to complain about getting to see more story of some of my favorite video game characters. And from the trailers it looks like they are going to go into Cortana’s character a lot more which should be very interesting. On top of that, this is the first Bungie-free Halo game in the series and I am very interested to see how 343 handles the juggernaut shooter. They have a lot on their shoulders but I think they can pull it off.
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