It’s that time again, true believers. It’s been a wild ride for the second semester in a row that I’ve been writing for the State Press Magazine as the video game blogger. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. As a going-away present, I’m going to keep my readers in the know of the three games that should be on your radars in 2012. This list is not in order of most anticipated but rather release date.
Max Payne 3 (May 15) Third Person Shooter: The Max Payne franchise has not seen a game in the past nine years. That in combination with the awful “Max Payne” film starring Mark Wahlberg has kept our favorite NYPD cop out of the limelight for some time. The original developer of Max Payne, Remedy Entertainment, moved on to the Alan Wake franchise on the Xbox 360 so it was very unlikely we would see a third entry into the series. Max Payne 3, developed by Rockstar, who made the Grand Theft Auto franchise and Red Dead: Redemption, will evolve the Max Payne franchise ten-fold. Max goes from being an NYPD cop in Noir York City to the sunny street of Sao Paulo, Brazil, employed as security for a rich entrepreneur. When his wife is kidnapped, it’s up to Max to get her back. From the videos I’ve seen, Rockstar is taking the physics and detail of the people and guns to a whole new level. Remedy even made a statement about Max Payne 3 and they said it looks brilliant.
Darksiders II (August) Action Role-Playing Game – I have recently delved into all of the Darksiders II media and am currently playing Darksiders 1 and I am colored interested. In the first game, you play as War and are accused of starting the apocalypse early. In the second game, you play as Death and you try to prove your brother’s innocence and the game’s plot runs concurrently with the first game and gives a behind-the-scenes look at what was happening elsewhere. Vigil Games, the developer for the Darksiders franchise, have described that Darksiders 1 was the moon and Darksiders II is the Earth in terms of scope and length of the two games. The game no longer takes place on Earth, like it did in the first game, and you really tell that the art designers went above and beyond with imaginative and creative environments and enemies. The game also stresses RPG mechanics and loot drops from enemies and the developers are stressing that my Death character and your Death character will be completely different from each other.
Bioshock: Infinite (October 16) First Person Shooter – I am a huge fan of the original Bioshock and have consistently praised it as one of my favorite games of all time, despite the ending. I was less a fan of Bioshock 2’s story but I couldn’t deny the improvements to the combat in the game. The stark difference between the two was that Ken Levine, who worked on Bioshock 1, did not work on Bioshock 2. He returns for the third iteration in the franchise, Bioshock: Infinite. Set as a prequel to Bioshock 1, it tasks the player to retrieve a woman trapped in a tower in a city suspended by balloons and interconnected by a rollercoaster system. I like to think of the game as a steampunk retelling of Rapunzel. The game also discusses American Exceptionalism in the setting and even the enemies reinforce this ideology. Bioshock 1 showed me that games can mean something and be interpreted as an art form that speaks to the player and I don’t doubt that Bioshock: Infinite will do the same thing.
Honorable Mentions: Halo 4 and Assassin’s Creed III
It’s been a fun ride and I hope you enjoy your summer and stay tuned for my return in the fall for the hectic holiday gaming season.
