This year there was a lot of major hardware news coming out of Los Angeles from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 2011). Nintendo unveiled its Wii U, Microsoft suggested that it will have a voice to be heard (quite literally) and Sony decided to give the mobile gaming market another run.
So with that in mind, here is a roundup of our selection of the biggest "can't miss titles" that will be worthy of the home entertainment treatment later this year and into next.
Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts, PC/Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
First person shooters this year look good, very good in fact - but it is hard not to love everything about Battlefield 3. It stands out among the rest, but it has taken time to get there.
It has been six years since Battlefield 2 burst onto the scene, and two years since the arrival of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 upped the ante on multiplayer warfare. In that time graphics have come a long way, and BF3 was simply among the best looking games at the show. But it isn't just a good looking game, it is also a good playing game.
This time around Battlefield 3 offers improved single player, taking a cue from Bad Company as well as last year's Medal of Honor, but for most gamers shooting up the town is very much a social activity and thus the multiplayer mode is what will make this one stand out. BF3 essentially builds on the existing BF2 universe - and will even let players revisit some familiar stomping and shooting grounds - while including new settings such as New York and Paris. In fact, this franchise earns points for offering the most diversity in locales - familar and exotic.
The squad-based shooter will have players taking a variety of roles - play support to suppress the enemy, play as recon to call in artillery strikes and snipe from a distance, play as an engineer to fix up vehicles or play as assault to lead the charge and heal troops. All this makes the wait until October 25 - when the game arrives for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 - all the harder.
Assassin's Creed Revelations (Ubisoft, PC/Xbox360/PS3)
What does it take to kill an assassin? Apparently more than anything you'll ever face as Ezio, a trained assassin who is back for vengeance in what promises to be the final part of the series' Renaissance trilogy. But Assassin's Creed remains much more than it appears on the surface.
The series has long featured a Matrix styled twist, where Ezio is just a memory stored within the DNA of a regular modern guy. The concept here is that by reliving those memories secrets can be unlocked, which could change the course of world events. Thus you get to jump back for another adventure, this time on a mission that takes you (or your memories) throughout the Ottoman Empire. This trip down the memory silk road promises to feature more story-oriented quests with an emphasis on action, and since a journey shouldn't have to be alone Assassin's Creed Revalations offers some multiplayer maps - because revisiting and rewriting history that never was is even better with a friend.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Sony Computer Entertainment, PlayStation 3)
Take a little bit of the pre-World War I travels of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), mix in a bit of dare doing of Dirk Pitt and combine it with just a bit of Indiana Jones style plot twists and the result would be something like the latest from the Uncharted series. This time finds Nathan Drake in search of the legendary lost city Iram of the Pillars - also known as the Atlantis of the Sands. Of course you don't expect this to be a walk in the park, we did say it combined the adventure of Dirk Pitt and Indiana Jones.
Thus there will be twists and turns, and it won't be just a walk in the desert either. The globe trotting adventure will see Drake rack up the frequent flier miles. And since Drake seems to make enemies around every corner, this third-person action game will feature plenty of running, jumping and puzzle solving along the way. Of course with a mystery as big as Iram of the Pillars - sometimes known as Ubar - we expect this to be a journey of a lifetime for Drake. At least until the next time.
Aliens: Colonial Marines (SEGA, PC/Xbox 360/PS3)
They mostly come at night, mostly. But they do come and they come a lot in Aliens: Colonial Marines, the first-person shooter that serves as a sequel to the events in the film Aliens. You'll get to be armed with a slew of weapons including flamethrower, pulse rifle, smartgun and of course good old fashioned shotgun. The story has the players as part of a Colonial Marine search and rescue team tasked with finding the crew of the U.S.S. Sulaco along with Ellen Ripley. Something tells us they won't find her, but they will find a lot more than the team bargained for.
The journey lets players revisit the human colony on LV-426 and even head to the derelict alien spacecraft first seen in Alien. Talk about "bad ideas." The game, which will be out next spring and features a full single player campaign worthy of a film, also offers drop in and drop out multiplayer to bring back the intensity Aliens. By the end you'll want to nuke the planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
BioShock Infinite (2K Games, PC/Xbox 360/PS3)
The original BioShock was ground breaking for its mysterious storytelling, ominous underwater setting and just creepy characters. The follow up is somehow neither sequel nor prequel, and instead just takes place in an entirely different surreal world. This time the action is in a collapsing air-city in 1912, but could feature some time travel elements as well. This could be the best Steampunk game we've seen yet.
But does BioShock Infinite even have anything to do with the events in the original game or its sequel or the underwater city of Rapture? That would be telling. At this point we don't know, but what we do know is that he player in this upcoming first-person action survival horror game is a former Pinkerton's detective, charged with finding a mysterious woman in a strange hidden city. Some insidious "creatures" - biological experiments - are there to stop you, and the city is falling apart just like in the past games. All this brings up more questions than answers. But what more do you need to know?
Other noteworthy titles from E3:
FarCry 3 (Ubisoft, PC/Xbox360/PS3) - This title promises as much mystery as TV's LOST. You play a regular guy who wakes up on a strange tropical island to find hostiles armed to the teeth. Now you have to figure out their motives, survive a lot of gun fights, save the girl and get off the island alive. This is the kind of game that might want to reconsider that vacation to the South Pacific.
Brothers in Arms: Furious Four (Ubisoft, PC/Xbox360/PS3) - The Brothers in Arms series set the bar very high with realistic World War II action. It features realistic settings, squad based tactics and basically was the next best (worst if you believe your granddad) to actually being there. It was Band of Brothers in a game. Brothers in Arms: Furious Four is not such a game. In fact it is more like Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, or a Sgt. Fury and Howling Commandos comic book than a realistic take on WWII. This isn't saying that this won't be fun, it does look like a blast, but it is more cartoon and caricature than gripping WWII tale.
Tomb Raider (Square Enix, PC/Xbox 360/PS3) - You know the name, you probably know the games and you might even know the movies. Forget all of it... well, except that Lara Croft is read y for a brand new adventure that goes back to the beginning. This reboot, which is scheduled for release next year, shows how the prim and proper English Lady became the Tomb Raider. The biggest challenge Lara might face could just be restoring the brand to its glory days.
Star Wars: The Old Republic (Electronic Arts/Lucas Arts, PC) - This game was announced a long time ago at a trade show far away. In fact, we've seen this game for a couple of years now, and included it in our E3 coverage for the last two years. But third time's the charm, and it looks like the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game that is set 1,000 years before the films might finally launch this year. With war looming between the Sith Empire and the Old Republic there will be plenty of opportunities to play as smugglers, bounty hunters, Jedi and Sith. May the force see this one finally released.
Gears of Wars 3 (Microsoft Games Studio, Xbox 360) - The Locust threat to the planet Sera isn't over, in fact the aliens menace is mightier than ever in this third outing of the action-packed third-person shooter from Epic Games. This time around the Gears on the defensive but a new threat - mutated members of the Locust - could spell doom for everyone! This latest Gears of War continues the intense shooter action, and ups the ante with new four-player co-op mode.
For More Information:
Electronic Entertainment Expo Official Website
