I've pissed and moaned about last years disappointments, praised the games I enjoyed and I might well be doing the same next year but before that comes around there's the process of anticipation and reaction for this years crop of releases. So what am I looking forward to over the course of 2011? Read on and that useless knowledge will soon be yours...
February
Marvel versus Capcom 3
Over a decade of slowly mounting fan pressure has resulted in Capcom finally releasing a follow up to the seminal Marvel Versus Capcom 2 and it looks good, damned good.
Over the last few months the character roster has bulked out to an impressive 32 characters as of writing and, whilst many of them are tried and true classics with established move sets, there are a decent number of completely new characters I'm curious to try out. What's interesting is the apparent move away from constant screen filling moves and focusing more on closing in on opponents if the teaser videos are anything to go by, though I'd expect that those hell bent on fireball spamming from the side of the screen will still be able to do their thing.
This being Capcom though, there's one gripe I can air even before release. Day one DLC characters. Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine will be available to collectors edition buyers for an entire month before they become available via download. Not only does this play into what I've complained about previously with regard to Capcom using DLC as a means of getting players to pay for pre-existing content but to add insult to injury the special edition of the game isn't available in the UK so I and anyone else over here who wants those character will have to wait while American players get a head start in terms of practice. With any luck the game will be good enough to warrant forking out for the extras all the same, it'd be a shame to see this game fail after Street Fighter 4 reignited interest in fighting games so nicely.
March
Dragon Age 2
Whilst the first entry in the series captured my imagination with its strong characterisation and brilliantly subtle results from seemingly innocuous actions it certainly wasn't without its faults. Be it the myriad glitches and asorted issues that plague the game to this day, the incredibly harsh difficulty spikes, disconnection from the action in battle or the sometimes unrelenting slog through dungeon areas (Orsamar I'm looking at you); Dragon Age had problems. But it seems Bioware took note of these and has made changes, though whether they're for the better remains to be seen.
A great deal of time seems to have been spent on the combat system in order to make it more visceral. Interviews with the developers frequently talk about making button presses translate into direct action which is a major change from the real time turn based hack and slashery of the original. Little has been said about how this translates to team management but those of us more inclined towards a sedate pace with less hammering of buttons should be catered for as mid-battle pausing is allegedly still on offer.
Beyond that, there's not been all that much information regarding other features of the game but as is the trend for new releases there is day one DLC to discuss and for a change I kind of like the way they're doing it. Right up until January 12th, if you preordered the game you got an instant upgrade to the signature edition which features an extra character for your team much like Shale, the downloadable character given away with the first game upon release. Alas I missed that by two days, but the idea is one I can get on board with.
On top of that there's even more content being given away for free provided you preorder the game and as far as I'm concerned this is far better than the offers made by a certain Japanese fighting game company I'm a tad sick of complaining about. Rewarding customers for showing early support for the game and providing the business heads some reassuring pre-order sales figures is a mutually beneficial way of going about this kind of thing and doesn't smack of blatant money grabbing.
On top of that content there are also a number of cross promotions such as the Penny Arcade belt, a staff given away for signing up to a newsletter and, perhaps coolest of all, armor based on Dead Space 2s Isaac Clark. The first two are free for all who claim them and the last is a cross promotion with Dead Space 2, none of them require you to pay for the item by itself, they're just nice little extras for those who happen to have found them or bought another EA game. This is a model for day one DLC that doesn't leave me feeling ripped off and it's one I hope other companies follow suit on.
Crysis 2
There's not all that much that can be said about Crysis 2 that isn't blatantly obvious. It looks stunning for a start. The gameplay trailers look fast paced and exciting. The free running and special ability element looks interesting enough to raise this game above the likes of dull run of the mill shooters like Call of Duty. And that's enough to stand out from the saturated FPS market for me to take an interest.
The Xbox 360 exclusive multiplayer demo was released yesterday and it's in my download queue behind a couple of large GTA 4 add-ons so as soon as it's on my hard drive I'll give it a whirl and report back on whether my anticipation has been raised or squashed.
First quarter - no release date set
Micheal Jackson: The Experience
Provided this includes a high def remake of the Moonwalker game I'm in. Cause I wanna be like Micheal and save little girls from cupboards then get a chimp to sit on my head until I track down Joe Pesci for a dance off! Imagine the Kinnect possiblities!...In fact, perhaps you shouldn't.
May
LA Noire
Rockstar is a company that, as far as I'm concerned, has done no wrong for over a decade and that's a serious achievement in the world of big business game making. Everything they've released has been an incremental improvement on their previous work, elements of each successful game taken, refined and added to the next installment of Grand Theft Auto to create more and more immersive worlds for the player to wreak hovock within. And the next game they're publishing, created by Team Bondi, seems to be keeping the trend going.
Very little detail has been revealed about LA Noire, as is Rockstars way with their releases. Two trailers have been unleashed but the most information can be found right here in this comprehensive preview. Truth be told, I just found that preview whilst researching for this little bit of blabber so this is a completely fresh reaction.
WOW! Not only does the game look to raise the bar for interractive story telling with its motion captured performances and case based mission structure but its attention to detail is amazing. Hearing that the cases are based on real life events really piqued my interest, the notion of having to think about how to solve the crimes is a fascinating idea. If I wasn't already excitied enough to play this game before I'm possitively overflowing with anticipation now. Time to make another pre-order methinks...
Spring - No set release date
Stacking
It's a game by Double Fine. It's easy to expect reams of imagination from this game even with the slim amount of information available given the pedigree of previous releases, even if the likes of Brutal Legend weren't perfect they were a lot of fun. It's a game about Russian dolls. God knows how it works but I'm interested to find out when more details make their way to the internets.
That's all for now so check back later for part two.
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