2012 Gaming Preview: Part One

 
2011 was an incredible year for gaming and perhaps the most memorable in recent years. There were some absolute corkers, epic titles in terms of gameplay and scope, a new handheld console that will more than likely see a revision released around, oh, I don’t know, spring? ‘Cus Nintendo always do stuff around spring. Then there was the rise of truly mobile gaming across the iPhone and Android markets. But then of course there were the duds, but we won’t go into them – let’s leave them behind.

Looking ahead with what we know is on its way, 2012 is shaping up to be a contender, and while we plod along through the year we’ll inevitably bring you our seasonal preview series once more, why don’t we have a cheeky peak at what’s to come.

 
Final Fantasy XIII-2

 

 
Very much hoped to iron out the ‘problems’ fans and gamers alike had with Final Fantasy XIII, the direct sequel returns us to Gran Pulse and Cocoon, but this time with actual paths to explore, NPC’s to talk to and, brace yourself, villages! FYI, I never had a problem with FFXIII, and this is where I and Tiarra disagree. Time travel plays a major part in the game, so it’s already a winner in my book.

 
Resident Evil: Revelations

 

 
After the departure from its survival horror roots, the Resident Evil franchise is finally going back to the impending fear of having a skulking terror jump out at you as you saunter down an echo-ey corridor. This time the corridor is on a boat. And also in a snowy part of Europe. From the preview screens and trailers, it looks stunning for a 3DS title, and has all the hallmarks – if hoped – of a classic feeling outing despite Chris still being on Weight Gain 4000.

 
Uncharted: Golden Abyss

 

 
As far as launch titles go, Sony’s PlayStation Vita couldn’t go far wrong with getting Nathan Drake to smash a bottle of champers against its proverbial hull. It’s a prequel to the first game on the PS3 and, well, you’d be forgiven in thinking it a console title. It looks gorgeous and it’s kinda scary at how close the Vita, and other handheld games for that matter, are getting to console graphics. It’s an Uncharted game, so it sort of comes with a pre-approved seal of excellence.

 
Mass Effect 3

 

 
Saying it now, this year’s Skyrim right there. At least for me, and I can safely say that I’ll be clocking up just as many hours on my one, all encompassing play-through, where I’ll deliberately take a painstaking ‘mid-season finale’ break and wait it out for the eventual DLC content before saying a final goodbye to my white knight Shepard. Multiplayer, three campaign styles to choose from that adjust how you play, so many threads and characters coming back and issues to resolve, plus the galaxy and Earth to save from The Reapers, ME3 is already an early contender for Game of the Year. It needs to be March, now.

 
Kid Icarus: Uprising

 

 
When this was announced, wow, back in 2010? Damn. Erm, the fanboys, myself very much included, made a squee the likes we’ve never seen. The squee coalesced and drifted off into space. The squee-cloud is returning and is on a collision course with your 3DS. For non-fans, Pit is the angel boy with wings and a bow who does battle with demons. In return-to-form fashion, he has to do battle with forces of and the reborn Medusa. I’m crazy excited for this, and eight out of ten gaming geeks are also, too.

 
Xenoblade Chronicles

 

 
This one has to get an honourable mention purely for Operation Rainfall – the online fan campaign to get Xenoblade Chronicles localised for North America. The game has been out since the summer in Japan and the UK which prompted reputable gaming big-wig blog, Joystiq, to run a how-too article on how to ‘jailbreak’ your Wii to get the game to play should you wish to import it. Even Rob from our BFF’s – and from where this crack team of Geek Life geeks got together – Orange Lounge Radio, followed the steps and like other Rob’s, he’s a very reputable guy, so you know it’s a big deal. It’s being released as an exclusive to Gamestop so, yeah.

 
Diablo III

 

 
This just has to be released this year. It was announced back in 2008, it slipped multiple predicted release dates, it’s still in beta, and Blizzard has said that it’ll be ready when it’s ready. But it has to be this year, surely? The game returns players to the topdown, dungeon crawling, hack-n-slashin’ that made the franchise the pinnacle of PC gaming back in the day. It’ll be free to World of Warcraft Annual Pass participants, and feature the controversial real-money Auction House. Eyes will be on the latter very heavily.

 
Check back next week for part two of our gaming year preview!