With the current generation of consoles coming to a close and the next one just around the corner, the year ahead is shaping up to be one of the most exciting the gaming industry's ever seen – and the quality of the new releases just over the horizon looks better than ever, too.
All this week we're highlighting some of our favorite upcoming titles scheduled to release before the end of 2012, breaking them down by genre to help you get up to speed on what you'll be playing between today and New Year's Eve.
On Monday we kicked things off with the Racing genre. Yesterday, Strategy games. And today, for our third installment, we're jumping into the versatile action/adventure genre.
Few action games have ever enjoyed the amount of hype and anticipation that Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed has already amassed, and that excitement will only escalate as the game's October 30 release date draws closer. You already know the breakdown for what this third numbered sequel in the on-going series is going to offer, but just in case you've been asleep in the Animus for the past several months and somehow still don't know, here it is again:
Colonial America. The Revolutionary War. A new assassin who's half English and half Native American, with no allegiances to any particular side in the conflict unfolding before him. Dual-wielding. Archery. Canoes! Assassin's Creed III will have it all, and it's more than worthy to claim this leading position in our list today.
Before we have a chance to step back in time to kill the Redcoats of the Revolutionary War, though, we'll get a new opportunity to slay more hordes of the undead. Resident Evil 6 was positioned for an early November debut, but Capcom recently made the rare move of pushing the game's release date up to early October instead – and we're grateful, as that will give us a few weeks to work through its zombie-blasting campaign before Ubisoft comes calling again.
This is another game that's been so well presented already that you're likely perfectly familiar with its scenario too, but it's another that's worth bullet-pointing again to keep the hype train moving: Playable Chris. Playable Leon. Playable new third character, all mixed together in one complex storyline complete with new partners and bolder action than ever. Through in a new breed of zombie that can form groups to coordinate attacks, wield weapons and recover from damage and you've got the next major numbered sequel that will be depleting the numbers in our bank account reports.
Not every action/adventure game we're excited about through the end of the year is a numbered sequel to an established series, though. Case in point: Bethesda's Dishonored, a first-person stealth design that taps into the world of steampunk.
The title gives you a clue about the status of your playable hero, Corvo Attano, who was once a well-respected bodyguard to an emperor and is now a shamed assassin out for revenge. The game will let you seek retribution for your disgraced reputation by exploring a vast open world, stalking and either killing or non-lethally disabling every foe you encounter. If that sounds interesting to you, start setting aside extra cash now – because this one is positioned right between Resident Evil 6 and Assassin's Creed III on the release calendar, and wallets will be hurting.
For a more modern-world take on what it's like to be an assassin, the on-going Hitman series has always been a fan favorite. It's been a while since we last caught up with the iconically bald and cold-blooded Agent 47, as his last game launched back in 2006. But Hitman: Absolution looks ready to bring him back in style.
He's out for a bit of revenge himself, too, though he ended his last game not as a man dishonored but a man deceased – he faked his own death. Now he'll be back to turn his guns against those who forced him to take such drastic action, even targeting former allies from previous games for assassination. The blood will flow in Absolution on November 20.
If you're beginning to fear not being able to make your rent this Fall, we'll give you a bit of a breather here by presenting a game shipping a whole lot sooner – just next month, in fact. The Amazing Spider-Man video game will hit stores the week before the new film of the same name, and once again we'll be commanding everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood superhero to swing through skies, punch street thugs and get vocally quippy all the while.
The game will wisely tell a different tale than the movie, picking up after its events and continuing to develop the story of this most recent reboot of the webhead. If you're worried about spoilers for the film then you'll probably want to wait an extra week before picking up a copy, but it's hardly any kind of spoiler to say that there will still be supervillains wanting to pick a fight with Spidey after the movie credits roll – villains like good old Rhino, who seems a man-rhino fusion more in line with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' mutated Rocksteady than just a guy in a rhino costume this time around.
If you're needing an action fix even quicker than Spider-Man's end of June, you could always invest in the manic cel-shaded zombie-carving action of Lollipop Chainsaw. This one's set to debut around the globe in just a couple of weeks, meaning North America, Europe, Australia and Japan will all pretty much simultaneously be getting our brains melted by the visual of a high school cheerleader using a heart-emblazoned power tool to mow through hordes of shambling ex-students.
If you've never played a Suda51 game, be prepared for some of the most twisted action your mind will ever struggle to perceive – but even if you feel like you're losing your head, you'll be better off than our hero Juliet's boyfriend Nick. He actual did lose his. He's that decapitated guy hanging off her belt right there (and somehow still alive).
This year's winner for weirdest video game name will almost certainly go to Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs, as it sounds more like the name of a cutesy PIXAR short film than an M-rated action video game. That wasn't its original title, though. It was first announced as a True Crime sequel, "True Crime: Hong Kong," three years ago.
Development trouble struck and it got cancelled at one point, but Square Enix rescued it from the abyss (and gave it that wacky new name.) Regardless of what it's called, though, the content will be compelling – featuring gaming's first open-world recreation of the island of Hong Kong and a mission to make yourself into a member of the infamous Triad organization.
Last up for today's list is a game that would have been in our hands next month if it wasn't for last month's delay, but we still will be able to play it three months from now. Follow all that? Good. Darksiders II is coming in August.
2010's original Darksiders drew praise from gamers and critics alike with its inventive blend of an apocalyptic scenario, a hero who was an actual horseman of the apocalypse and an adventure progression that mirrored many of the best elements of Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise. Darksiders II is back to do it again, this time with new horseman Death at the helm – and those Nintendo connections will be all the more appropriate when the Wii U launches, as a tablet-enhanced version of the game is set to serve as a launch title for that new hardware before year's end too.
Action/Adventure is our strongest genre category so far, and there's surely something for everyone to love among the eight options we just featured. We still want to know your thoughts, though, and which of this bunch you think will be the best. Share your opinion through the comments box below, then come back for our next installment tomorrow – Thursday we'll be looking at upcoming Shooters.
Source : http://www.ign.com
