Top 15 Most Anticipated Games of 2011 Part 1

Hello everyone to my first blogpost on this site as opposed to ScrewAttack.com. I still intend to post stuff on there but I want to try out a new format and have plans to start up my own site soon. So anyway, let's get down to one of the two things I know best: Video Games.

2010 had some awesome stuff. Just look at my list here to see them. Anyway 2011 is promising to be a great year for both sequels, new IPs, relaunches and series conclusions (which, could be placed under sequels). So many in fact, that I had to break my usual tradition of a Top 10 list to form a Top 15 list of the games that have got me so excited for this year. So let's begin.

#15. Dead Space 2

In 2008, Visceral Games' Dead Space hit the scene and was called this generation's Resident Evil and Silent Hill...in space. The struck a near perfect atmosphere with its enormous ship, USG Ishimura, and with its total lack of a HUD which was an interesting and well-executed concept.

Dead Space also had a cliffhanger ending and left quite a few questions unanswered. Dead Space 2 is coming in on January 25th to fill gaps that the supplementary material and Wii rail-shooter didn't fill.

Yes, we will be back in Isaac Clarke's shoes, this team in a city on Saturn's moon, Titan. And he's going to talk this time. Rather than seeing the aftermath of the necromorphs' killing spree, we will see the beginning of it. Actually that sounds like the path that a certain other survival horror series took on the original Playstation. I'm not going to complain as I'm curious to see where they go from here.

New creatures will be introduced and after the grotesque and unique looks of the ones in the original, I personally cannot wait to see the new ones that are thought up. And multiplayer and I've heard that it isn't all that bad. If they can keep the balance between the horrific atmosphere and awesome action from the first game, this will be a great addition to the series.

#14. Duke Nukem Forever

Well, we've been waiting for 14 f*&kin years, but the Duke is finally back. Duke Nukem Forever has been the butt of almost every "development hell" joke for years now with no one ever thinking that it was going to get released, but during PAX 2010, Gearbox dropped the bomb out of frickin nowhere saying that a release date was set and a demo was ready to be played.

Duke Nukem 3D was one of the more popular FPS games of the late 90s due to it's great gameplay and level design and endlessly quotable main character (even if a few of his quotes are taken from cult classics like They Live and Evil Dead) and it's just great to see that he's finally coming back.

This game is on my list purely because we've been waiting 14 years for this game. It's time to see what we've been waiting for. Even if it sucks, at least can hold the Duke down. Hail To The King Baby!

#13. Mortal Kombat

 

After many lame attempts to turn the series into what it never should have been, Mortal Kombat is finally getting the reboot that fans of the series always wanted. It's going back to the basics, it's going to be simple, and it's going to be BLOODY. Really, really bloody.

Let's face it, Mortal Kombat can't compete with Capcom fighting games in terms of fighting system and gameplay. That's part of the reason they made Mortal Kombat violent in the first place. Seeing E3 footage of memorable characters delivering absolutely brutal and hilariously over-the-top fatalities was blissful.

Mortal Kombat is proof that incredible violence can sometimes inexplicably make something better. Mortal Kombat didn't need licensing with DC or complex fighting systems, just keep updating with new and creative violent moves every few years. Thankfully it looks like they're getting started. Oh and Kratos is going to be in the PS3 version. :D

#12. Bulletstorm

While the title may seem ridiculously generic, Bulletstorm promises to be anything but combining the gameplay of an FPS with stylish action that you'd find in a game like Bayonetta and the point system from MadWorld. This is what the FPS genre has needed, a really unique way of utilizing the genre. It looks like this could be the one that does it.

The more stylish the kills and shots you make in Bulletstorm, the more points you get to upgrade your character and move list and buy new weapons. It's being created by Epic Games, known for the Gears of War series and for getting its foot in the FPS genre with the incredibly popular Unreal series. That's already a great sign.

Using (or at least teasing) a unique gameplay system, or a compilation of a few different kind of gameplay systems that hasn't been thought of yet is the way to get on this list and Bulletstorm did just that.

#11. Dragon Age 2

The first entry on this list from BioWare. Dragon Age: Origins was one of my favorite games of 2009. Meant to be a spiritual successor to the groundbreaking Baldur's Gate which put BioWare on the map in 1998, Dragon Age: Origins had a unique origin system (as noted by the title), a great story, tactical gameplay, and REALLY gray morality.

Dragon Age 2 will follow-up by giving us a character with a set origin story. We will be playing as Hawke (who can be male or female), who's a refugee from Lothering, a town destroyed in the first game who will become a champion of the land. It sounds cliche but its method of the story's delivery that's unique.

Dragon Age 2's story will take place over a span of 10 years and be narrated to us by a dwarf who used to accompany Hawke and I'm curious to see if this will create a The Usual Suspects type situation. But it's the 10-year timespan that I'm really interested in. BioWare has pushed that they want players to feel the impact of their choices over a long-period of time in a single game. If they execute this properly, it will give us a story unlike any other.

The game will give the main character a voice and replace the text dialogue options with the dialogue from the Mass Effect series. Combat will still be tactical but be simplified. Some may complain about this but I don't have a problem. This game's predecessor, BioWare's promises and their brilliant track record, secures it a spot on my list.

#10. Marvel vs. Capcom 3

After years of no news, many people assumed that the Marvel vs. Capcom series was dead. Well, it's finally coming back and I couldn't be more excited. Quite a few new characters have come around or grown popular since Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Capcom has taken the liberty of putting them in with the two biggest additions being Dante from Devil May Cry and Deadpool.

Many other characters were added though from Frank West to Albert Wesker and rejoice: Mike Haggar from the Final Fight beat-em-up series was added just recently. Capcom has been making the best fighting games for over two decades now and they show no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 promises to be a great reboot to the series with excellent gameplay and characters that both gamers and comic readers know and love. I don't think there many games out there better for nerds than MvC3.

#9. Star Wars: The Old Republic
 

And we have the second BioWare game on this list. It's awesome when they just release one game in a year but we get a few from them this year. Anyway, a story-driven MMORPG. Who better to make it then the best storytellers in the industry and who better to make it based on the Star Wars universe than the makers of the best Star Wars game ever: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

This game will be set 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic meaning it's still set about 3,500 years before the films. There's already been a huge amount of backstory provided by the trailers of the game and they only make me want to play it that much more.

This will be the first fully-voiced MMO and every class will have a story to tell. It's combat system appears to be a lot like World of Warcraft's and it will be using the dialogue wheel from the Mass Effect series. I'll admit, this is one of the entries that I'm really worried about with only a few making me more anxious, but I place my trust in BioWare. I can't wait to suit up with my lightsaber/blaster and see the kind of stories that exist in this MMO.

#8. Rage

Another generic title but Rage is being made by iD Software, the developer behind some of the greatest First-Person Shooters ever including Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. You constantly pump out gold and you've got confidence from the consumer as BioWare has also shown us on this list.

It will feature predominantly FPS gameplay with a mixture of driving, sandbox world, and RPG weapon upgrading gameplay put in. The AI has been promised to be incredibly intelligent using the environment to their advantage to be able to get around the shots thrown at them and get closer to you.

Even if the post-apocalyptic setting has been done to death especially the Fallout games recently, it's a setting that for me is just classic and I really love the look of it from the trailers. All said, Rage is a game that I can't wait to get my hands on this year.

Well, that's Part 1 of my list, I'll be posting Part 2 tomorrow due to how long it's gotten.