Here's to 2013. May it be excellent to everyone.
Now, onto the games! We'll start with the PS3 and take it from there.
The Last of us.
A new IP from Naughty Dog using all the lessons they've learned from Uncharted. What could possibly go wrong. What's most attractive to me about this game is the fact that the characters so far look far more complex than Uncharted's fine cast of lovable rogues. Despite the fact that nearly all videogames with an NPC companion are awful, I'm looking forward to trekking with Joel and Ellie through the most verdant post apocalypse since the criminally overlooked Enslaved. Comments have been made about the level of violence, and whether or not it is excessive remains to be seen. I'm hoping that it will be within the context of the desperate struggle for survival that the trailers so far have shown, rather than violence for violence's sake.
Still looks like it will turn out well though.
The Last Guardian.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two of my all time favorite PS2 games. I adore the gorgeous desaturated aesthetic and the beautifully realized world the games inhabit. I love the sound of their invented language and the all encompassing atmosphere of melancholy. These are the reasons I would fall over myself to buy The Last Guardian in 2013. Yet the Last Guardian has been beset with troubles. Nothing has been seen or heard from it for the best part of a year. Fumito Ueda has left Team Ico, and most worryingly of all there are rumors of whole sections of the game having to be rebuilt from the ground up. I want to believe that Sony and Team Ico can meet and surpass the challenges that they are clearly having. I want to believe that The Last Guardian will see the light of day in 2013. Most of all I want to believe that it will be worth the wait.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.
The first Sly Cooper game was one of the only games I've ever brought on the strength of the back of the box alone. Needless to say I was surprised by how good it turned out to be, and I was delighted when its sequels turned out to be even better. There are few games imbued with as much personality as the Sly Cooper games. Sly himself is very much a raccoon Danny Ocean and the games themselves played a like tributes to all the great heist movies. If Sly's new developers can recapture the series past greatness, and the evidence looks positive so far, then the new Sly Cooper game is going to be well worth my time.
Ni No Kuni.
Two words: Studio Ghibli. Words you may have seen attached to such animated movie greats as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Ni No Kuni marries Ghibli's unique art style and way with a story to the RPG skills of Level 5, developers of Professor Leyton, Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Chronicle. With a pedigree like that, combined with one of the best sounding English localizations I've heard in quite a long time, Ni No Kuni should turn out to be quite special.
Fuse: Or the game formerly known as Overstrike.
Insomniac games go multiplatform, combining the insane weaponry and personality of Ratchet and Clank (my personal favorite platform series ever) with the gunplay of Resistance. I've not seen a lot of Fuse, apart from the teaser trailer from E3 a couple of years ago. Thankfully, Insomniac know their way around a great game now, having brought us the first three Spyro Games (the good ones), Ratchet and Clank, and Resistance. They know what they're doing. Leave them to it and watch the magic happen.
Beyond: Two Souls.
I really liked Fahrenheit, Quantic Dream's first game. It felt like a thoughtful evolution of all the point and click games I used to play as a kid. Playing from both sides of the story at the same time and a couple of moral choices gave an already unique game a further twist. It's a shame the story took a weird left turn at the end. I enjoyed the time I managed to spend with Heavy Rain too. Two Souls looks set to add some blockbuster movie action to the formula, while still maintaining the stellar modeling and animation that Quantic Dream have become known for. If he can further refine their signature gameplay hooks, David Cage's latest might finally live up to the potential that Quantic Dream have showed for so long.
Metro: Last Light.
I loved Metro 2033. It was a masterpiece of immersive setting, drenched in Russian culture with an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere. The world pressed against the edges of your mind, not just below ground in the dark, abandoned tunnels of the Metro, but also above ground, in the bombed out Moscow streets, thanks to the clever use of the gas mask. It was one of the bleakest games I've ever played, and therefore a refreshing change from the bombast of the current standard FPS mould.
Last Light is set to continue the work 4A Games put down on Metro 2033 whilst hopefully improving on some of the first game's slightly ropier elements. If the stars align and THQ survive long enough to publish it, it might just be one of the sleeper hits of 2013.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
I'm going to be honest, I've seen nothing but a fifty second teaser and a preview article on this, but it has me intrigued. The thing is, the world looks like a cross between Alan Wake and Fable, with gameplay that looks something like Ico. What's not interesting about that?
The Cave.
It's a Ron Gilbert Game. It has Double Fine's name attached. What more needs to be said? Thank the lord for digital distribution. It makes it possible for games this willfully old school to not only be made, but be successful too. I spent a long time playing point and click adventures as a kid. With the Walking Dead, and now The Cave and Double Fine adventure, it's great to see them returning to relevance.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Just look at the trailer. Look at it! I'm going to be so upset with THQ if this turns out badly. All the ingredients are there. It has Trey Parker and Matt Stone writing and voicing, a decent budget, veteran developers, a meaty looking gameplay concept, and it takes its look from one of the very best South Park episodes; The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers. Lets hope again that THQ survives long enough to release it.
Crysis 3.
It's Crysis. Simple as. So it's going to be gorgeous. It's going to have fantastic, open ended gameplay. It's going to be expansive. It's going to have a fairly naff story, but that doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, Crysis is hands down the best FPS series since Unreal Tournament went AWOL after it's third installment. It's late in the console cycle now. Crytek know their way around the hardware. Crysis 3 could be their crowning achievement of this generation.
DmC.
DmC got a bad rap when it was first announced. The fanboys whinged about Dante's new look and the change of developer. Personally I ignored the whole thing. I'd fallen out of love with Dante. Devil May Cry 4 was pretty bad, so I didn't have high hopes for its sequel.
Then I heard Ninja Theory was on development duties under the guidance of Capcom and had my interest piqued. I personally love both of Ninja Theory's previous games, flawed gems that they are, and hopefully Capcom are able to help them iron some of those kinks out with DmC. I've played the demo and things look promising, but if you're still suspicious of the new game, think of it like this: Devil May Cries 1 and 3 were awesome. Devil May Cries 2 and 4 weren't. Therefore, the odd numbered entries in the series are the good ones. DmC is the fifth. It can't fail. Can it?
Metal Gear Rising.
Metal Gear's cyborg ninjas have always been pretty badass. Now we get to play as one! Early development was troubled, and Platinum Games ended up taking the helm. This is frankly a Very Good Thing. If anybody knows brawlers, it's Platinum. They're the people behind the fabulous Bayonetta, which I've finally started. If they can evoke the sort of flow state that Bayonetta does when the screen fills with enemies, while maintaining that awesome looking slicing mechanic, Metal Gear Rising is going to be the cause of some sublime videogame carnage.
Dead Space 3.
Dead Space caught me by surprise. I had completely got it into my head that it was an unimaginative mash up of Alien, The Thing and Resident Evil 4. Then I played my old housemates copy and it turned out to be exactly that; a mash up of Alien, The Thing and Resident Evil 4. But it was awesome! And it was far creepier than I'd been expecting too. Dead Space then, is one of those games that cribs from all over the place and still manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. Visceral aren't resting on their laurels for the third installment however. They're opening the action out, stepping away from the corridors of the previous two games and out onto a frozen landscape straight out of The Thing. They have also added a separate co-op campaign where each character will have differing experiences due to their respective mental states and they have changed up the weapon upgrades to better reflect Isaac's skills as an engineer. All this should hopefully make this latest descent down Isaac's spiral of madness the best in the series so far.
Tomb Raider.
I've tried to like the old Tomb Raider games. I really have, and I've never clicked with any of them. I had a passing acquaintance with Tomb Raider: Underworld, but I ended up getting fed up of the godawful controls and giving up. I tried so hard to like it.
There are two reasons I'm interested in this reboot.
One. It has Rhianna Pratchett attached as the writer.
Two. The game is being rebuilt from the soles of Lara's boots upwards.
On the one hand the game looks like a complete Uncharted clone, but on the other, this new interpretation of Lara looks to be a far more complex character than Nathan Drake, and I find that compelling. If Ms Pratchett can work her magic on the story and Crystal Dynamics can fix the controls, Tomb Raider could shape up to be a very good game indeed.
Bioshock Infinite.
Few games have explored such complex themes as Bioshock and its sequel. Few creators put as much thought into their worlds as Ken Levine. Bioshock Infinite looks set to continue on both of those trends. There have been teasers flying around for this game for ages, so we all know plenty about it. Personally I can't wait to see the Songbird, take to the skyrails and rescue Elizabeth from her tower. It's going to be a hell of a ride.
So there we have it. Sorry it was late, this post wound up being huge and way more work than I anticipated. My wallet is starting to cry at the prospect of all this expenditure, but it had to be done. Normal service resumes with the next post. I've spent some time on my best mate's Wii U. Opinions may follow.
