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 2011 was a good year in gaming. Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassins Creed: Revelations all trickled into our entertainment systems of choice and delighted our eyeballs. It didn’t top the bumper crop of 1998 in my mind, but that could be my nostalgia tumor again (those meds don’t help). Regardless, we as a people stand on the brink of the unknown, the mystery of the void whipping our hair about in wild, sexy ways. Yet we shall not go unprepared, for below is a scouting report on some of the big games of 2012, which many Bothan spies gave their lives to deliver. It tells all: the good, the bad, and the utterly improbable. It’s time to start budgeting for Gaming Season 2012. Remember to blow all your cash on Steam sales before the world ends, or forever wish you had.
Syndicate (360, PS3, PC) – 2/21
The last time a classic franchise was rebooted into a new genre, it didn’t turn out too well. While the classic Syndicate was a top-down tactical shooter that took place in real time, the new version is a four-player co-op FPS. It sounds like cause for concern, but everything we’ve seen about it is reassuring, nay, exciting. With various biochip implants and a co-op design from the ground up, Syndicate might actually have a chance to win angry fanboys back. Anyway, what with the corporate control chips they’ve been implanting at E3, it’s not like they have any sort of choice about it.
Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC) – 3/06
 BioWare is set to release the final part of their epic space opera trilogy this March. We’re pretty stoked for this one here at Avault, and for good reason. We’ll finally witness the end of this massive story and see the consequences of choices we made way back in 2007. It’s also set to feature competitive multiplayer, which seems like peanut butter and syrup (a lot better then it sounds). BioWare has already hinted that you should keep your ME3 save files around, so it sounds like the franchise isn’t going away anytime soon.
Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS) – 3/23
Those of you who’ve been trying to swallow the regret of purchasing a 3DS will soon have another reason other than the Vita to feel better about your life decisions. Pit, a character from the NES days who would’ve been entirely forgotten if it wasn’t for his inclusion in Smash Bros., is getting his first game in two decades. Fans who’ve been clamoring for a resurrection of this neglected property will get their wish granted this March in pretty 3D-o-vision.
Max Payne 3 (360, PS3, PC) – 5/15
 While the first two Max Payne games are ironclad classics of the genre, the third installment has been late to the party. After years of being beaten with delays, Max Payne 3 will finally shoot its way out of the Rockstar dev labs, muttering noir narrative to itself while gunning down hapless QA testers. Oh Max, you’re so gritty.
WiiU – Late 2012
After everyone got over making puerile jokes about their last console’s name, Nintendo decided to make their next one completely unpronounceable by the Western tongue. Featuring a massive touchscreen controller (with actual buttons and thumbsticks), the WiiU seems to be taking its cues from the rapidly developing iPad sector. There’s a lot of creative potential packed into touch gaming, and Nintendo wants to unleash it like a biological contaminant upon your entire extended family (pets as well). To facilitate their entertainment conquest, The Big N has also made a point to sign up big third-party developers, so WiiU players can also play the same games as everybody else, which is nice of them. Look for it sometime this year.
Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC) – Fall 2012
 Here at Avault, we’re definitely looking forward to Bioshock Infinite. St. Levine and his team are back in control and branching out into fresh and creative territories for the next game in the Bioshock series. In response to criticism of the original Bioshock, a hidden “1999 mode” aims to make the game more like the classic System Shock 2 and less like a handholding grandma who doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m looking forward to letting Bioshock Infinite hurt all my feelings this fall.
Halo 4 (360) – Fall 2012
Halo returns for a fourth installment, developed by 343 Industries this time. At this point, the vague release date of “this fall” is all we know about it. We’ll see how the series fares outside of Bungie’s protective care.
CounterStrike: Global Offensive –TBA 2012
 We’ve already covered this one in some detail here on Avault. New modes, new maps and a few new weapons should make for a fresh CS for the year of the apocalypse. Valve and Hidden Path are working hard to make it just as enjoyable outside of PC land. The real question will be how large of a splash it’ll make on consoles when it’s released sometime this year.
Doom 4 –TBA 2012
Developer id software has the latest installment in their classic franchise listed for a 2012 release date. With their last game, Rage, flopping like a wet fish, and nary a screenshot in sight, I wouldn’t place any hard bets on it showing its demonic head this year.
Dirt Showdown – TBA 2012
 Codemasters hit paydirt with their 2008 rally racer Dirt, and they’ve been milking it hard ever since. Showdown will be the fourth entry in the series, and will focus more on destruction and chaos then precision driving. This will be felt most by the inclusion of new demo derby modes and the removal of any actual rally racing. A different take to be sure, but Codemasters’ racing division hasn’t let us down yet.
Prey 2 (360, PS3, PC) – TBA 2012
The original Prey is what would result if Portal and Quake made a baby. Instead of complaining that it never lived up to its potential, it should be lauded for getting released at all. Instead of doing the original right, Prey 2 is set to become an open-world role-playing FPS, which is as stunning a development as any. It looks like Human Head has big plans for the world of Prey, and we can all pray that it pays out.
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I think there are a few truly important omissions of PC games that will attract huge attention in 2012:
- Hitman 5 : dec 2012
- Prototype 2 : 24-july-2012
- Borderlands 2 : 21-sept-2012
- Dishonored : Q3/Q4-2012
- Tombraider : Q3-2012
- Farcry 3 : 4-sept-2012
- Assassin’s Creed 3 : 30-oct-2012
These are not minor, unimportant games mind you.
A preview of 2012 should at least mention these I think.
2012 will be an even better PC gaming year than 2011.
Prey was amazing, and one of those games that I had really given up for vaporware. It impressed me with the portal stuff and the AI (and featuring Art Bell was flippin’ genius). I eventually hit a puzzle/barrier that was either bugged or I was doing it wrong, and I never could get past it. Also, I remember I kinda wishing it was more open – a little more Halo, a little less Doom 3. Maybe Prey II will be what I was hoping for
@Argos: that’s the first mention I’ve seen about Hitman 5.
@ psycros
“that’s the first mention I’ve seen about Hitman 5.”
You must be kidding me. I have been watching Hitman 5 Absolution trailers and interviews for months now. I was so surprised at your comment that I even started to doubt myself for a moment.
As far as Prey 2 is concerned, it is a totally different beast than Prey 1 was. It is not about portal stuff at all.
Personally I am much more exited about Prey 2 than I ever was about Prey 1. I love being able to play a bounty hunter in an alien open world city. I hope the game lives up to its promises.
Far Cry 3 is one to skip, Origin and Ubisoft.. no thankyou.
Although I do agree with your concerns about Ubisoft, I don’t know what to think about Origin. I have no personal experience with Origin. If it is something like Steam and offers good service, I am not really against it.
But I am concerned about the ridiculous excessive DRM schemes Ubisoft used in other games. An always-on DRM will make me skip any game.
But I have to say that I am very eager to play an single player open world game like Far Cry 3. Stuff like that is so rare these days. It seems everyone wants to do another online multiplayer or another MMO. I am sick of that.
Origin is literally by design, EA’s version of steam.
While i can understand a companys desire to compete in the online content arena , EA has failed utterly, Origin is a terrible piece of software and at this moment is still in beta, yet a requirement to install and run say, ME 3 next week.
Not only that , but EA has pulled all thier AAA titles from steam and pushed them onto this terribad platform .
As much as I wanted to see the end of the story with ME 3, Ill be waiting a year or so before i bother with it. Ill buy it on the cheap, and use “the laymans solution” to enjoy the experiance i want.
I really don’t have a problem with it. While I definitely prefer Steam, Origin isn’t bad, and it certainly won’t keep me from Mass Effect 3. I’d crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass to see that game through the end.
Perhaps I am the problem.
@Vapus and Ian Davis
I am a fan of the Mass Effect series to. I did buy the collectors/special editions of the first two games. I even bought beautifully illustrated gameguides because I loved immersing myself in this SciFi experience, and I read the novels and comics. ME filled a gap after the Star Wars gaming franchise went down hill.
But I will not buy ME3. It is not because of Origin.
It is because of the way Bioware destroys a perfectly good game with their treatment of DLC.
First we had the free DLC. These were gifts to appease us before grabbing the money out of our wallets.
The worst of these was obviously the hammerhead. The vehicle was thrown in as an afterthought without even considering integrating it in the game in a useful manner. The missions that accompanied it were a joke.
Second. Compared to ME1 it is clear that weapon and armor options were left out of ME2. We had to buy them back later.
Third. It also was obvious that certain companion characters were left out on purpose, only to sell them to us later. The biggest problem is not that you have to buy these companions, but the fact that you get them after you already played through the game at least once or twice. This destroys the gameplay experience and immersion in a very, very bad way. It breaks up the game in little pieces. I think this is very bad practice and very unprofessional.
What good is an new squadmate months after I already played the game twice and finished the main quest twice? Do I have to replay the game each and every time Bioware decides to release a new piece of DLC schrapnel? This is not the way games should be played and enjoyed at all.
Rockstar did a much better job with its DLC for GTA4. These large DLC, although depending on the same setting and events, could be played completely separate from the original game. And they still were smartly connected to the main story.
Bethesda has also realized the problem of little tidbits of DLC. They stated that they will no longer release shrapnel DLC for Skyrim. They will make 2 or three, large, expansion-like DLC and release some free DLC gifts for their fans in between.
Fourth. The last DLC connects ME2 to ME3. It is apparently an important part of the story. Therefore it is despicable to sell it to us separately. It should have been in the main game already or given away for free to all the ME2 owners.
I am a huge fan of Mass Effect. I love it. I even bought the books and the collectors editions, and the game guides etc. But I have not bought a single DLC and I will not buy this last one. I also am not going to buy ME3. I will wait until they release the complete game with all the content, even if I have to wait 5 years or more. Or perhaps I will never buy it at all.
The way Bioware handles DLC is wrong, terribly wrong. I am prepared to buy DLC, but only if they do not break up the game (like the excellent GTA4 DLC). I refuse to buy little chunks of torn up and shredded game, that are obviously to expensive in comparison to the original game And I certainly won’t pay Bioware for destroying my gaming experience.
Sorry for the long reaction, but I feel very strongly about this and had to get this off my chest.
You touch on quite a few other things that bother me about this latest iteration of What i hope Is still really a Bioware game. I still dont need any other reasons than the ones ive already stated to wait , get it cheap and “fix it” so i dont have to deal with publisher menutia
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