7. Final Fantasy XIII-2
Yes, Final Fantasy XIII was not the best Final Fantasy game, or even one of the better ones. Yes, it had loads of flaws, and deviated from what made the series so great. But with Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix looks to fix it all, while aiming to bring the Final Fantasy franchise back to its full glory. And with larger focus on exploration, explorable city hubs, better RPG elements and other new features that sure will play as well as they look, Square might just achieve that.
6. Metal Gear Solid: Rising
After his solid character portrayal in Metal Gear Solid 4, people just cannot get enough of Raiden. And so, Konami will be treating us with a Metal Gear Solid installment focusing purely on the cyborg ninja and his story. Rising will tell the story of Raiden between the events that took place in MGS2 and MGS4, and will feature more of a “hunting stealth” approach as opposed to the series’ trademark “waiting stealth” one. I think it would be fair to draw a comparison to Arkham Asylum in this sense. The game looks to be amazing thus far, feature, from the looks of it, lightning fast, thrilling action, and great stealth set pieces. We’ve never really had a bad Metal Gear Solid game, and we hope Rising doesn’t buck that tradition.
5. Max Payne 3
We have no information on the very recently announced third installment in the Max Payne series, other than the fact that it takes place 8 to 12 years after Max Payne 2 and will feature an older, more cynical and more wary Max. This is also the first time Max Payne is not being developed by Remedy Entertainment. But that is all we know. We are including it in this feature only because it’s Max Payne, and because Max Payne games never disappoint. The game has been in development for a long time now, and has been seeing delays after delays ever since its first intended release in 2009 which was shifted to 2010. We hope Max Payne 3 will be worth the wait. And from what little we’ve seen so far, it might just be.
4. BioShock: Infinite
The BioShock series has to be one of the best franchises introduced this generation, and BioShock one of the best games to have hit the market in the past many years. BioShock 2 may have lessened the impact of the series a bit, but with Infinite, the series is coming back with a bang. The gameplay footage of the game shown so far looks stunning, with some breathtaking visuals, a great setting of a dystopian society, some awesome gameplay mechanics and intriguing characters. The game seems to have retaining the eerie, frightening atmosphere of BioShock 1 and 2, despite not being set in a dark and dingy world. The fact that BioShock: Infinite is trying so many new things while retaining the awesome feel of the first two games is enough for me to buy the game. And if that isn’t enough for you, then I suggest you watch some gameplay videos now.
