Image taken from HowStuffWorks.com
As we say goodbye to 2012, we welcome 2013, and the games it will bring with it. Some games we have had our eyes on more then others, and today we’d like to share with you just a few of the games we are hoping to get our greedy little hands on once they are released.
Now our games wish list is pretty long so we decided to do something a bit different then what other game sites are doing with their anticipated games of 2013 lists. Instead of just naming every single game we want to play scheduled for release this year, we have opted to do a quarterly report of the games of 2013 we are most looking forward to. We believe this kind of format is favorable in a couple of ways:
First it makes the list brief allowing you to only take ten minutes or so to go over it, and be on your way. I mean honestly do you really want to read through what could be 20 pages plus of games we want to play in 2013? Secondly since we are opting for a quarterly listing of games, this format will allow us to adjust our overall list to be a bit more up to date during the course of the year as things like release dates, change in art direction, combat systems, addition / subtraction of multiplayer component, etc. have a tendency to change. Thirdly…ah hell you pretty much get the point. We want a list that you can look real quick at, get some up to date info on, comment if you like, and go about your business. Simple right? We hope so : )
But with anything this format may prove to be a flop, or a smashing success. Its really up to you. So feel free to give us your opinions on things like whether or not you agree with the games on our list, games you think we should do a bit more digging into, the likes, and dislikes of the format, or just tell us the segment sucks, and should stop.
So without further delay here is the TechReaction.net’s Games We Want to Play 2013 list (Yea yea the title is a bit bland. Its a work in progress.)
Blade and Soul
http://us.bladeandsoul.com/en/
Blade and Soul is a martial arts fantasy MMO developed by Team Bloodlust under the NCSoft label. When the game was first announced, and trailers were shown we instantly made a point to put it in our games to watch for list. The art style, visuals, and combat just wowed us. Take a look why.
As you can see the combat seems to flow well, and melee combat in particular is especially appealing. Again the art style is simply gorgeous in our opinion, and the fact that its set in a period that is not too often seen in games, especially, MMO’s, just adds to its appeal in our opinion.
The game was released in Korea back in June of last year following a highly successful open beta (gameplay videos of beta can be seen on Youtube). The game’s popularity has garnered high demand for it to be released in other regions. So far China received its version on August 2012 with the company indicating that it is working hard to release the game to the West. No official release date has been stated for the North American, or European release of the game, but we are hoping that it will make its debut in the states, and possibly Europe this year. (Keeping fingers crossed)
Marvel Heroes Online
After the fallout between Cryptic Studios, and Microsoft to agree on a format on their anticipated Marvel based MMO, which eventually lead to it’s cancellation, many fans understandably were disappointed that the game would not see the light of day. However renewed hope for the MMO came with the announcement of a deal struck in 2009 between Marvel, and a relative newcomer, Gazillion Entertainment, to create games based on Marvel’s intellectual properties. In particular creating massive multiplayer online games based in the Marvel universe.
Gazillion’s first game under the new agreement was a MMO called Marvel Super Hero Squad Online based on the cartoon, Marvel Super Hero Squad.
The game is a free to play MMO aimed at kids which made players play as their favorite superhero vs. creating your own hero. Even though the game was aimed for kids we were pretty impressed at the playable characters available. You didn’t just have the high profile characters which many would recognize like Spiderman, Wolverine, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc., you also had characters that only fans of the comics would recognize like Red She Hulk, Morbius, Moon Knight, Hope Sumers, Cable, and Squirrel Girl. The roster continues to group with rumored inclusions of characters like Guardian, Rescue, Bishop, Juila Carpenter (Spiderwoman), and many more. As Marvel fans this brought a big smile to our faces. However while the game was fun to play it was as we mentioned aimed for kids, and not the hardcore MMO crowd. Enter Marvel Heroes.
Marvel Heroes is being totted as a free to play action MMORPG by the development team, Secret Identity Studios, and is headed up by Gazillion’s President, and COO, David Brevik. Brevik as many know, had a substantial hand in creating the popular Diablo series minus Diablo 3. As such its not surprising that the game resembles the Diablo games (specifically Diablo 2) in many aspects.
The game differs from other MMOs in that you won’t create your own character, but will play as established Marvel heroes / antiheroes. This has turned some off to the game as they feel a MMO should allow you to create your own character. To this point we semi agree to, but to us what makes a game a MMO is the fact that it exists in a persistent world, and allows you to evolve your character whether created, or established. Regardless of what some would define a MMO to be, the X-Men Legends, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Diablo 2 fans in us cannot resist wanting to try this game. Take a gander of the below video which explains the way the game is set up to be played.
The game is currently in closed beta, and a chance to be invited can be done by signing up on the game’s site. Recently Gazillion started to offer what they called Founders Packs. The packs offer things like characters, alternate costumes, in game currency, XP, etc. The packs come in different levels with the highest level, aptly named the Ultimate Pack, costing $199.00, and the lowest pack, the Starter Pack, going for $19.99.
The developers have stated that this is not a pay to win format as you can unlock all the characters, and most of the costumes just by playing the game. The packs are for those players who just can’t wait to unlock their favorite toon. How true this statement is we’ll just have to wait, and see. Personally the Founders program is a cool idea, but we prefer to actually play a game first, and determine whether or not its something we want to invest our time in before plunking down real money for character unlocks even if the game is free 2 play. Oh we’re sorry did we not mention the game is free to play? : )
No official release date has been announced for the game, but we are guessing the game will make its debut in 2013.
Bioshock Infinite
http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/?RET=&ag=true
The first Bioshock was released back in December 2007, the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, was a first person shooter (we’re kind of hesitant to place it in that genre as to us it was so much more, but eh) created by Irrational Games under 2K.
Set in the 1960′s the player was put into the shoes of the sole survivor (implied) of a plane that crashed into the ocean who discovers a wondrous underwater city called Rapture. The character soon realizes his discovery of the city was no accident, and fights to discover the truth of who he is, and deal with the many dangers the city held for him which included the citizens who had gone insane, and the unforgettable “Big Daddies”. Would you be so kind as to read on. : )
The game garnered huge popularity, impressive sales, and eventually spawned a sequel, Bioshock 2 in 2010. This time around you played as a prototype Big Daddy set a few years after the events of the original game. It also debuted the game’s multiplayer. While the game did do well many felt that Bioshock 2 didn’t have the same appeal as the first. The multiplayer portion of the game was received fairly, and was fun when we played it, but some considered it an unnecessary feature. To a point we agreed.
Within the same year Bioshock 2 was released, a video of an extended demo of the next installment in the franchise was revealed. And here it is.
To be honest the first time we saw this we were like…”Holy Sh*t!” The visuals, and art work made us smile, and the gameplay…yummy. Then we heard that the game was said to be going back to what made Bioshock such a great game. That’s pretty much all we needed to hear to put it in our games to watch list. We’re not even going to say anymore about the game. Just watch the debut, and the most recent trailer showed at the 2012 VGAs below.
Tomb Raider
Created back in 1996 by Core Design, under Eidos Interactive, Tomb Raider featured a female protagonist named Lara Croft who is beautiful, smart, rich, and never backs down from a challenge. Dubbed by many to be the female Indian Jones, the games followed Lara’s adventures hunting down ancient relics while offering third person shooting, platforming, and puzzle solving. The games made Croft an iconic figure in the gaming world, and as such the franchise became very lucrative expanding itself into books, and movies.
However the popularity of the games dwindled over the years, and the once highly popular franchise seemed to be in a bit of trouble. Gamers were no longer anticipating the next Tomb Raider game. The franchise itself seemed to have finally ran its course…or so we thought. In 2006 Crystal Dynamics took over the reigns as lead developer, under the IP’s new publisher Square Enix, and created one of our favorite games, Lara Croft, and the Guardian of the Light. Crystal Dynamics seemed to have taken a risk changing the game’s traditional third person view, and going with a top down perspective with co op added, but the gamble paid off well.
Even though the game was something we, and many others enjoyed playing, it didn’t seem to spell the return of the once great franchise. Enter Tomb Raider…well the new Tomb Raider.
Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix decided to go the reboot route, and start the new iteration of the franchise by taking Lara back to her beginnings. Now many of us who hear a game, or movie for that matter is rebooting a popular reaction would be to go “Oh Lord, why?!” but in this instance going reboot makes sense, not to mention the early gameplay vids of the game look…well take a look for yourself.
This Lara isn’t the never say die, tough as nails, confident to the point of being cocky character we have seen in other iterations. This Lara is green, and shows it. Sacred, sometimes not confident about her abilities, vulnerable. The beginnings of her becoming who she will become. The game is also set in a darker tone then in the previous games which really seems to bring home just how dire Lara’s situations are, and how much she needs to overcome to survive.
With all that we have stated, Tomb Raider is a game that without question makes it a must play for us.
Watch Dogs
http://watchdogs.ubi.com/watchdogsgame/en-us/home/index.aspx
Ever since the trailer debuted at E3 2012, Watch Dogs was a game that couldn’t be ignored. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, under Ubisoft, the game is set in a not so distance future where it seems big brother has taken over, or more accurately the world has let big brother take over via the worlds dependency on technology.
Information about the plot of the game is still a bit sketchy, but this is our understanding of it so far. As more information is revealed we’ll do our best to update our theory.
Central Computer Systems control all aspects of technology from street lights, cell phone towers, etc. The system also gathers information which includes everything from personal cell phone conversations, internet browsing habits of citizens, criminal records, medical records, etc., and uses them as they see fit. Its basically Information Warfare ramped up to the 20th power. If there are any fans of the show Person of Interest, think the Machine, but it does more then gather info, deduce possible outcomes, and is accepted by the general public. The interesting, and scary part is this kind of reality isn’t so far fetched.
One man warned that having a system like that to control everything is a bad idea (duh!), and of course his cries go on death ears, and the system goes live. Of course the main character isn’t just going to lay down, and accept this and wages war against the system.
Besides the fact that the plot of the game is something that hits home, the game itself looks beautiful as you can see in the link below.
The physics look great. The wind pushing on the character’s coat, the trees swaying…ahh good stuff. The hints of what your character is able to do from hacking cell phones to hacking it seems the system itself to control traffic lights truly grabbed our attention. Lets not forget the fact that the gun play seems to be pretty decent as well along with what looks like having a choice option in certain situations. The release date is said to be this year. Lets hope it does come out this year cause we are very interested in playing.
Well that’s our first of this years Games We Want to Play lists (seriously we’ll work on the title). Let us know what you think below in the comment section. No really tell us what you think. NOW!
Lata gamez!
