It’s a great time to be a gamer. Campaign stories have never been better, multiplayer is as deep and intriguing as ever and all your favorite publishers and developers are pushing out so many amazing AAA titles that it’s almost hard to keep up. 2012 offered such brilliant events as the great writing in Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, new hero Connor in Assassin’s Creed III and obscenely fun action/stealth in titles like Dishonored and Farcry 3. In fact, there were so many high points to be found within 2012 that it’s hard to believe there’s any way the industry can do better. Oh, but they can. And they will.
If you played either Heavenly Sword or Enslaved, then you know that developer Ninja Theory has a knack for great storytelling and gameplay. As such, we’re just fine with these dudes taking over development duties for this series from Capcom. We’ll finally get a closer look at a younger Dante, and many of the questions we’ve had since the first game will apparently be answered. There’s a console demo available now, but in the meantime we’re just one week away from the series that birthed the stylish hack ‘n’ slash genre. Oh sure, we’re pumped for God of War: Ascension (see below) as well, but we’re gonna play the crap outta this one asap. And we’re not really going to care if Dante’s hair is white the whole time either.
Dead Space 3
(Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Feb. 5)
Isaac Clarke just can’t catch a break! After facing unimaginable terrors aboard The Sprawl (space Raptors, anyone?) and barely escaping with his life, everybody’s favorite engineer crash lands on the frozen planet of Tao Volantis alongside various other survivors. With a new focus on co-op and action, many are worried the new iteration is straying too far from its survival-horror/tight-corridor gameplay, but after two fantastic entries in developer Visceral Games’ outstanding tale of space monsters and insane religious cultists, there is simply no way this game won’t rule. Throw in dozens of side-quests, new playable character John Carver, and new human enemies, and we double-dog dare you to not start chopping off Necromorph limbs with your trusty plasma cutter. Can you finally put an end to these awful space monsters? Probably!
Aliens: Colonial Marines
(Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Feb. 12)
It’s kind of interesting that developer Gearbox Software, known for the amazingly goofy/awesome series Borderlands, is behind this one, but if trailers, screenshots and news are any indication, we might finally have a great Aliensgame for the first time since that awesome arcade shooter. Really, Randy Pitchford and the rest of the Gearbox team has always made great games, so this will probably be a winner for both publisher Sega and for those of us who think Aliens is totally cool. Side-story? The booth for this game at E3 2011 had the hottest booth girls…just sayin’.
God of War: Ascension
(PS3, March 12)
Young Kratos? Check. New multiplayer? Check. Stylish action, killer graphics, and that bitchin’ God of War aesthetic we’ve come to love so much? Check, check, check. Really, what more do you need to know?
Check out the rest of 2013′s Most Anticipated Video Games after the jump…