These are the top five wildcards of 2011!
A game about survival that doesn't involve zombies? What the sh!t?!?! That's right, this one is about survival and it involves none of the typical tropes of post-apocalyptic fiction. Basically you are a character living in Chicago when a huge earthquake hits and turns the entire city upside down, splitting Chicago from the mainland. All through this ordeal the main character is billed with staying alive and rescuing his girlfriend, whose status is unknown. If your head just blared like a siren and sent out a memo with "Cloverfield" stamped all over it, then you're not alone. That's pretty much it: I am Alive is Cloverfield minus the monster and plus the very real situations (like fighting for clean drinking water).
The truth is that there are many things that can go wrong here. From what I can gather the game has a semi-sandbox style of gameplay that is a mix between Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Sandbox gameplay is very popular in this day and age but seldom, if almost never, do developers manage to do it right (except for Bethesda). This game has its work cut out for it in that sense. Another thing that the developers will need to get down pat is the atmosphere. If the atmosphere isn't right then the game, no matter how much fun or cool it is, will lack the impact it should actually have.
On the other hand the setting and ideas are all pretty neat on paper (big nod to being able to trick NPCs with empty guns; 'effin' cool!). If it's done just right, with the proper attention to the atmosphere, the game could be phenomenal. This game needs to be less Grand Theft Auto and more Red Dead Redemption, and if it manages that then it'll be a massive hit. Here's to hoping!
If you're a hardcore gamer there is a big likelihood that you've already seen the infamous trailer for this game, featuring, wait for it...wait for it...a child zombie. That's a subject that games have a tendency to shy away from, and the main reason why people still don't take gaming seriously. Child zombification in other mediums is considered "art" but in gaming it's looked down upon, presumably because people still think gaming is for kids.
That's basically something the medium needs to distance itself from and although the trailer is not indicative of actual gameplay, I'm glad it caused the stir up that it did. The game itself? An open world survival horror game taking place on an island resort that has become overrun by zombies. The cool part is that the game will have a focus on melee combat and will also feature co-op. This sounds a lot like Left 4 Dead, and that is by no means a bad thing. You might think a focus on melee weapons is bad but as anyone who has played L4D2 can attest, it's hard to go back to gun play when you can just as easily bash zombie faces in with a cricket bat. What's even more interesting than all that is that the game will feature an RPG-styled system for your character to level up his or her weapon proficiency.
Sounds like a recipe for either fun or a great disaster; the verdict is still out. But if this game turns out to be anywhere near as good as L4D2 then it'll likely steal a lot of hearts this year...and brains! Delicious brains!
An alien/science-fiction story taking place in 1950's America? Yes, please! This one looks particularly good, from the graphics to the gameplay. But it shouldn't come as a surprise: X-Com, a reboot of an older series of PC games, is being worked on by none other than 2K Marin. Who exactly is 2K Marin? They're the development house that originally ported Bioshock to the Playstation 3 and then developed the wonderful, wonderful sequel: Bioshock 2. So if you see any Bioshock-esque qualities in the trailer, it shouldn't surprise you. This game is sort of under the radar right now, but I firmly believe it will probably be the best first person shooter we see this year (and the best this generation since Bioshock and Bioshock 2). I can't wait to see what 2K Marin pulls out of their magic hat, if only because I'm fairly certain that it's going to kick all kinds of ass.
This is a really interesting one. As someone who has been working for four years on an epic fantasy story using Abrahamic lore as its core background I am absolutely enthralled by the concept. The general story is based off of the Book of Enoch, but what I find even more appealing is the artistic liberties taken here. The level design and use of color are exquisite, and the overall tone that mixes the fantastical with the modern just works well. But you're probably wondering how the game itself is...well, it's a third person action game, much like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. Interestingly enough the head designer for the game worked on both Devil May Cry and Okami. Mind you, he was a character designer, but being around Capcom's development teams carries a certain amount of weight behind it.
Not since Shadow of the Colossus have I seen anything so aesthetically interesting in gaming. I am definitely looking forward to this one, and you should be too!
This one might not seem like it belongs on this list because it comes from a long running series, but let's keep this in perspective:
1.) Tomb Raider has always been awful (don't deny it!), with the only glaring exception being the excellent Tomb Raider: Legend.
2.) Lara Croft has been struggling for ages to gain some footing as a relatable character. Her breasts have gotten smaller, her attitude has gotten more human, and yet she's still not quite where the creators want her to be.
3.) Uncharted has become the end-all-be-all of the "Indiana Jones-inspired" games.
The new Tomb Raider has a lot to live up to and if it delivers everything it promises we might just see Tomb Raider making a huge comeback in 2011. You might think that the promises can't be that much, but really the entire series is basically being recreated. The new Tomb Raider isn't a sequel or an offshoot, it's a complete and absolute reboot of a dying series. It will tell the story of young Lara's first encounter with survival and will do for the survivor character what a Wizard of Earthsea did for the old wise character: tell us how it all happened. Lara will find herself shipwrecked on an island and will have to use her wits to survive, learning how to use makeshift weapons, fight an unknown danger that just might kill her, and having to regain her once given title of "badass motherfucker" by fighting tooth and nail.
Did I also mentioned that this game will mark the first time Tomb Raider will receive a "Mature" rating? It will and not because of needless violence, but because Lara will in fact be very prone to suffering gruesome, realistic deaths that will form part of the very tangible consequences for the player experiencing the game. This game has all the makings of a wonderful new franchise, so I'm going to be optimistic here and hope for the best.
- Kharlo -
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