Gaming preview: 2012

Monday, 23 July 2012 11:30 Written by Sameer Parker

Last Thursday, Sameer Parker attended a preview for upcoming game titles from the Megarom stable for the rest of 2012.

After wading through the multitude of releases (and cheesy jokes presented by Devon Stanton), he has narrowed down the titles that were most impressive:

Borderlands 2

The good: The same crazy action, stylised graphics and humour as the first title; new characters, more guns and more action

The ugly: You can’t play any of the characters from the first game

Release date: 18 September

Sleeping Dogs

The good: Open world adventure based in Japan – with an impressively intuitive combat system.

The ugly: Violent use of the environment to effect gruesome kills.

Release date: 17th August

Hitman Absolution

The good: Stealth assassin gameplay is slick.

The ugly: Agent 47 kills a bunch of sexy nuns in the trailer.

Release date: 20th November

Assassin's Creed 3

The good: Impressive improvements to the graphics engine and combat system.

The ugly: No more Altiar or Ezio.

Release date: 30th October

Guild Wars 2

The good: Strong story driven RPG action with unique online gameplay.

The ugly: I don’t have a PC.

Release date: 28th August

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

The good: The same crazy FPS action with some new game modes, weapons and vehicles.

The ugly: Same old emotive Call of Duty ‘the bad guys are killing Americans’ storyline.

Release date: 13th November

Rocksmith

The good: A music game that uses an electric guitar and really teaches you how to play.

The ugly: R2500 price tag for the electric guitar, guitar-to-console cable and game disc.

Release date: 19th October

Tomb Raider

The good: The franchise has been completely rebooted and the new hardcore Lara Croft looks impressive.

The ugly: No more tomb puzzler gameplay.

Release date: March 2013

Splinter Cell Blacklist

The good: The original stealth combat is faster and more dynamic, improved co-op experience.

The ugly: Kinect voice integration allows you to call alert bad guys by calling them over – you better be playing in a really quiet room.

Other game previews including:

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron – 3rd person action shooter from the Transformers universe - 24th August

Xcom – a post-apocalyptic strategy game – 31st August

Far Cry 3 – first person shooter with big weapons and big explosions - 30th November

Assassin’s Creed Liberation – PS Vita exclusive Assassin’s Creed spin off story - 30th October

Just Dance 4 – sequel to probably the best dance game on the market - 2nd October

F1 2012 – follow up to Codemasters impressive F1 simulator - 14th September

Zombie U – survival horror game made for the new Wii U – unknown release date

Skylanders Giants – new version of the toy game crossover, with bigger more expensive toys - unknown release date

Overall, the game pipeline looks impressive. There are a number of titles coming up that will keep you busy for the next few months and make Christmas shopping really easy.

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