Grand Theft Auto V
People were not happy with the direction that GTA 4 took the series in. The realism and the dramatic storyline just did not suit a game called “Grand Theft Auto.” And guess what- Rockstar were listening. Obviously, at this point, everything we say is based on rumours and speculations, but Rockstar and other trusted sources have divulged some information. GTA 5 is taking the series back to its roots of ridiculousness and over the top violence. There will be gyms, statistics, crazy jetpacks, chopper stunts and trademark cheat codes of the GTA series. Oh, and it will be set in San Andreas. Epic win.
Far Cry 3
2012 seems to be the year of the shooters- again. We have got a ton of shooters lined up for next year, but few excite us as much as Far Cry 3 does. Developed by the awesome Ubisoft Montreal, it will carry forward the series’ legacy of open battlefield, intense firefights, great stealth sections and mind blowing visuals. Far Cry 3 is leaving the African Savannah setting of Far Cry 2 and going back to the tropical setting of the original game, and with it, it’s also going back to what made the original so good. We hope to see more info on Far Cry 3 in the future, because right now, the lack of information is driving us crazy.
Mass Effect 3
Those who have been reading my articles here at GamingBolt will know by now that I am, openly, the biggest Mass Effect and BioWare fanboy you will ever see. Mass Effect 2 is my most favourite game of all time, and I still find it hard to believe that any game will ever be able to topple that. But having seen every little piece of information on Mass Effect 3 that BioWare has thrown our way, I believe that ME3 is the one game that can outdo even its predecessor. Not only is Mass Effect 3 going to improve upon the third person shooter aspects of ME2 in every way possible to make it stand against the likes of Gears and Uncharted, it is also going to introduce a lot of RPG elements, many of which were ditched in ME2. I’m very invested in the Mass Effect universe by now, and for me, no game in 2012 matters as much as Mass Effect 3 does, no matter which system we’re talking about.
Conclusion
When you look at the exclusives front, 2012 isn’t going to be a strong year for the Xbox 360. The only good exclusive announced for the system so far is Halo 4, and others are all Kinect based, and in all honesty, not much people care about them- not the hardcore gamers, anyway. Sure, next year will see the release of Witcher 2 and Minecraft, but they’re not really exclusives, are they? That said, the system is getting a ton of games, multiplatform titles as they might be. The ones listed above are not even all. Others like DmC, Inversion, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Max Payne 3, Hitman: Absolution, Assassin’s Creed 2012, Treyarch’s next Call of Duty, Borderlands 2, Silent Hill: Downpour and a lot of other titles are already announced, and others like Homefront 2, Ryse, Doom 4 and Resident Evil 6 also should see the light of the day next year. Then there’s Xbox Live Arcade, which has never seen a weak year so far.
Tell us which Xbox 360 games you’re looking forward to in your comments below.
