Like a large blob of ketchup suddenly dislodging, it hits me every year with equal measure of surprise and makes me go "oh crap, how the heck will I find time to play all of this stuff?".
Q4 of 2011 is no different.
Sporting mega titles such as Zelda, Gears of War, Skyrim and Rage it is enough to fill a hardcore gamers mind with equal amounts of jubilant glee and deep despair (empty wallet says hi).
For a more detailed overview of every big game coming out in Q4 you can check out this list IGN made
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| Skyrim alone could eat all your gaming time from November and out |
As both time and money are resources that needs to be considered, I have tried boiling the games to get in the next three months down to just five.
This should hopefully let me actually complete all the games that I get, and also it means that I do not have to give my girlfriend a home made present for Christmas (you can only really give someone so many crappy clay ashtrays. Especially when they don't even smoke)
So without further ado here are the games that have made the "do want" list:
5. Forza 4
While I never really played through any major racing game, I have played most of the larger releases to a smaller or larger degree.
I started with the Xbox exclusive "Forza" series when I got "Forza 2" for my Xbox 360.
It really managed to impress me, as it did a really great job of being a deep and "simmy" racer that you could pretty much tone down the difficulty on as much as you wanted, until you found just the sweet spot for you (Okay, so it was never going to be Burnout style powersliding around tracks, but still).
With "Forza 3" there was quite a large improvement both in terms of graphics and the general feel of the game.
It became even slicker and easier for the non-hardcore racing fans to enjoy the game and it just felt incredibly polished.
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| It may not be as sexy as a Ferrari, but the BMW M5 is probably going to be my weapon of choice in Forza 4 |
Now "Forza 4" is releasing next week and I have already set aside money for it, having been suitably impressed with the demo.
It does not seem like such a big step up from the previous game like 3 was to 2, but it does offer an incremental increase that I think justifies purchase.
That's also the general sentiment from the reviews of Forza 4 on the net, which I did a review round up of.
4. Batman: Arkham City
I don't think that there were many people out there that genuinely expected a good Batman game.
But Arkham Asylum was not only a good Batman game, it wasn't even just a good game.
It was actually one of the best games of 2009 and made its way onto many a gaming sites best game of the year nomination list.
With an incredible atmosphere and excellent sneaky gameplay, it really created an awesome experience for players, no matter if Batman was your thing or not (and I am kinda "meh" about Batman personally).
As long as you could disregard the rather stupid last boss fight.
So I am really looking forward to continuing my crime squashing spree and being let loose with all my bat powers in Arkham City.
I have to admit though, that I am a bit afraid that Rocksteady may have crammed too much new stuff in the game.
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| Swooping through Arkham City is just one of the new mechanics we'll need to learn |
There have been some previews that indicate that there has been added quite a few new moves and controls to the game, which was already fairly complex at the end of Asylum.
I just hope the game does not end up feeling too much like an exercise in patting your head and rubbing your stomach (I get enough of that when I get pulled over by the police).
We shall find out shortly in any event, as the game will be released on October 18.
3. Battlefield 3
I played a ton of Battlefield 1942 back in the day and I really enjoyed the feeling of chaos and havoc that you got from running into a battle with tanks exchange shots at full speed, while fighter planes strafed hapless infantry.
It is something that I find much more entertaining than the infantry only (if we disregard kill streaks) combat of the Call of Duty series.
I never really got into the Bad Company games, perhaps because they were primarily console games and the PC gaming snob inside me refused to give them the time of day.
Battlefield 3 is therefore something like the return of an old friend, and from playing the Caspian Border map in the multiplayer beta, I feel confident that the game will manage to recapture that feel of being a small and very vulnerable part of a large and deadly battle.
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| Tanks. When you positively have to kill every mother-f*'er in the room |
The game is coming out on the 25th of October, so we'll have to make do with the beta for a few more weeks.
That should give me time to brush up on my tank driving skills!
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
That was the experience I had both with Morrowind and Oblivion.
These massive games that sort of leave you hanging a bit to do your own thing (Morrowind did that to a much larger extent than Oblivion, of course), often have the effect of making me feel lost and without purpose.
At the same time that is of course also the major attraction of these games. It's not a straight "point A to point B" experience.
There is a whole world out there for you to explore and be a part of.
Go join a guild, buy a house or start a career as an alchemist.
Get bitten by a vampire and hunt the streets of the city, preying on the innocent of society.
Or just don't do anything and go hitchhiking in the beautiful world, climb the steep mountains and dive in the scenic lakes (as long as you can avoid getting eaten by something large and spiky).
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| Cross your fingers and hope for horse armor DLC! |
It's definitely very cool and I dutifully look forward to and buy these games every time, but I've yet to find an Elder Scrolls game that really and truly clicked with me.
But oh well, maybe come November 11 I'll finally find that Elder Scrolls game that makes me say "Aaaah yes. Now I get it!".
1. Star Wars: The Old Republic
Lightsabers, Bounty Hunters and travelling around the galaxy in your very own starship sounds pretty awesome to me.
Of course, it sounded pretty good too, when Star Wars Galaxies promised us all these things back in 2003...
Still, The Old Republic is looking to be a pretty fun game from what I've seen so far (I'm not in the beta, so this is just based on what is out there for the public to see).
Even if it turns out to be "just" WoW in Star Wars clothes with deeper story driven quests that will still keep me happy for a long while, I think.
Of course I hope it is more than that, but realistically I don't think anything that has been shown really indicates that Bioware is trying to reinvent the wheel, when it comes to the mechanics of MMO's.
ToR is without a doubt my most anticipated games for 2011 and I've already started to consider my class choice, a sure sign that the Star Wars fever has hit me hard.
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| Lightsabers!!! |
I haven't played a MMO for the last 9 months or so, after finally walking away from WoW, which I played all the way from launch in 2004.
So I'm ready for ToR to sweep me away to a galaxy far far away on December 20 (or when my preorder access starts!)
So those are the 5 games that I know I will be buying over the next months.
How about you guys?
What "must buy" titles have you decided on so far?
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