Top 11 Most Anticipated Games of 2011
Happy new year everyone! I hope you’re not all too hungover from a night filled with partying and celebrating. 2011 seems to be a fairly promising year for gaming in general, and as a follow-up to my post from yesterday (which you can check out here), I’m making a list of the games I’m most excited for. Not only that, but it’s going to actually be written on time! Day 1 of the new year down and my resolution hasn’t fallen apart. Success!
11. Bulletstorm – Epic Games make just that – epic freakin’ video games. Bulletstorm looks to be no different, and with a name like that, it looks like Cliffy B and crew will be making yet another amazing FPS filled with blazing bullets and frantic fighting.
Scrolling combat text, blood everywhere... Yes, this will be fun.
10. Batman: Arkham City – Arkham Asylum surprised the hell out of me and was easily one of the best games of 2009. I’m not a big fan of 3rd person adventure stuff like that, or detective-type games, or stealth games – and for those that haven’t played it, that’s exactly what Arkham Asylum was – but this incredible game threw everything together into an amazing game. The sequel is promising not only more of the same amazing detective work, but an entire city to play around in this time. Plus, it’s confirmed to be Mark Hamill’s last appearance as the voice of the Joker, and who would want to miss that?
9. LA Noire – The more I read about LA Noire, and the more I look up videos about it, the more intrigued I become. It seems to be a game similar to Heavy Rain, very emotional and detective-like, and incredibly well made. The facial scans are created from actors themselves, and there’s an incredibly neat video about the filming of it here. This one keeps pinging on my radar, and I’m really excited to see how it turns out.
8. Mortal Kombat – Finish him! I think we’ve all heard the famous lines at some point or another, and Mortal Kombat’s over-the-top fatalities are some of the best in fighting ever made. This sequel promises more gore, more action, and more of the same. And when I say the same, I mean back to 2D fighting styles similar to that of the original SNES Mortal Kombats. Hopefully they can do what has been done with Super Street Fighter IV and revive a classic series while keeping it very fresh. Scorpion, old friend, it will be nice to have your grapple hook once again.
Sub Zero is back, just as cold as ever.
7. Sorcery – When I first watched the demo for this at the last E3, I remember thinking how awesome it looked, and then becoming sad that it was Move only, and I had no intention of getting a Move. However, lucky guy that I am, I won a Move bundle from the absolute heroes over at SplitReason clothing thanks to a random draw, and now I cannot wait. A game filled with wand movements, spell casting, and real time animation of it all? Yes please. As long as the spell variety is strong and the game controls well, this one is sure to stand out as a promise of what the Move is capable of.
6. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – I picked up the XBLA version of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 the day it released last summer, and still routinely play it. Absolutely my favourite fighter of all time, and with all the new heroes being introduced in 3 (Amaterasu of Okami fame!), this one’s sure to be a standout. As with Mortal Kombat, it’ll be the same over-the-top tag-team fighting of the previous entries, but with enhanced graphics, tight controls, advanced online play, and, of course, new characters to learn and master.
Yea, that's MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, for those unaware).
5. Pokemon Black and White – Yes, I still play and love Pokemon. I can’t wait for the new battles, story, and actual FIGHT ANIMATIONS! It only took Nintendo 14 years to put them into a Pokemon game. Yeesh. Anyway, if you haven’t heard about Pokemon yet, go look it up. Does it look childish? Yes. Is it actually a very robust and strategy-filled RPG that’s sure to be a ton of fun and take up dozens, if not hundreds of hours of my life. Also yes.
4. 3DS – No, the 3DS is not an actual game, but if I listed every game coming out for the new handheld there wouldn’t be space on this list for anything else. Starfox, Kid Icarus, Ocarina of Time, and so many more are hitting Nintendo’s new handheld, and full stereoscopic 3D without the need for any silly glasses is looking promising. Thankfully, the system has a slider to change the depth of the 3D or to turn it completely off, so you can always play without it. Very, very excited for this one.
3. LittleBigPlanet 2 – LittleBigPlanet was about 50% of the reason I bought a PS3 in the first place (with the other 50% being the built in Blu Ray player) and remains my absolute favourite game for the system. If you own a PS3 and don’t have LBP, go buy a copy now, sit down, play it for 3 weeks, then go buy the sequel. With so many new ways to control and create levels, and seeing the amazing things the community did with the original, it’s obvious that this has limitless potential for all types of games.
Sackboy's back, baby!
2. Portal 2 – 2011 is shaping up to be the year of the sequel, and Portal 2 is going to be huge. With the original being just a pack-in bonus to The Orange Box, only clocking about 2 hours, and still being one gaming’s favourites, a full-fledged sequel will be amazing. Great puzzles, a fantastic villain, and now full multiplayer (gasp!) promise to make Portal 2 the biggest puzzler of the year. Hopefully GLaDOS sings us another song at the end. This was a triumph…
1. The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword – Of course, Zelda will be seeing some love in 2011. For those unaware, Zelda is my favourite series of all time, and I can never wait to get my hands on a new one. I can’t even count how many times I’ve beaten Ocarina of Time, and The Skyward Sword looks amazing. New weapons, new dungeons, new quests, and now 1:1 motion control action makes me giddy. Sure, there’s no release date set, and it may not come out in 2011 at all, but I’m fairly confidant it will.
Whaa-tssshh!!
There are many other big games coming out this year, including DC Universe: Online, Child of Eden, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, SSX: Deadly Descents, and a whole whack of others, but these are the ones I cannot wait for. How about you? Sound off in the comments with what you’re waiting for. See you all next week. Have a happy start to 2011!
-Devon
Power Up 
pokemon black and white will not be the first pokemon game with fight animations. Your forgetting about Pokemon Stadium for the n64. I really hated the n64, mostly due to the controllers, but this game was really fun because you could use your actual characters from your GB games. Yes, the animations are lame, but they are there!
OK Lee, you got me there, but I mean the first of the handhelds to have animations. There were also Pokemon Snap and those other garbage spin-offs (although, I had a lot of fun back in my youth taking pictures of my favourite Pokemon). But yes, first handheld with battle animations.
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