ten things. [10.1.10]

That’s right, folks, TEN things. What better day than the first day of 10.10 to double our pleasure and our fun?

Plus, I’m naming off the upcoming video games I’m most excited for, and there are so many exciting titles on their way, it would be impossible to whittle a list down to five anyway.

I realize there are many glaring omissions as it is. There are a bunch upcoming sequels I bet I would be excited about if I had ever played their predecessors, but I haven’t, so they aren’t on the list. Most notable off the top of my head are Fallout: New Vegas, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Resistance 3, Portal 2, and Diablo III.

Anyway, on with the games that did make the list.

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1. Gears of War 3

Release Date: 4.5.11

As noted above, this game comes out April 5th. My birthday is April 8th. [Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiint.]

It doesn’t get better than GoW2. The Epic Games track record makes it likely that 3 will be just as good or better. I’ve already posted the trailer here.

Good stories, highly engaging single player campaigns, crazy fun co-op carnage, and some of the most satisfyingly cathartic combat. This game promises to deliver the goods.

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2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Release Date: 11.16.10

Assassin’s Creed is back. Ezio is back. They seem to be brining back everything that made AC2 amazing, with a bunch of fun new goodies as a bonus. I am so in.

Warning, the video below is dangerous. It’s like crack fucking cocaine. Insanely addictive, and if you are in love with the first two it is entirely possible you will die of a heartache on your first use. In other words… watch it.

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3. Dead Space 2

Release Date: 1.25.11

I just posted the trailer for this one, as well as posting at length about why I loved the first one so much. So, obviously it makes the list.

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4. Fable III

Release Date: 10.26.10

Just a few short weeks until this one hits shelves.

I’ve always liked the concept they use in the Fable games, and I’ve really enjoyed games that draw from Fable’s attention to open decision making and morality determining what your gameplay experience is like.

Yet, while they’ve intrigued me, I’ve only played the first two briefly. They were released when life was either too busy to even think about playing a video game, or during one of those dark times in my life where I didn’t even own a gaming console. I won’t let the same thing happen with Fable III. Come late October, I’ll be Fabling it up with the rest of the gaming world.

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5. Mass Effect 3

Release Date: Very tentative, Late 2011/Early 2012

Speaking of games that draw from Fable’s decision making, choose your own morality type gameplay, Mass Effect 3 is on its way. The amazing thing about Mass Effect is that the decisions you make don’t just carry over into the next game battle, or the next cinematic, it actually carries over from game to game. The decisions you make in ME1 actually determine what the experience is like at the beginning of ME2, and depending on what characters lived and died at the end of ME2, I bet we’ll see that carry over into ME3 as well. Fun times!

If I had to pick my top five favorite video games franchises, Mass Effect would make it without a doubt. I love these games. Nothing gets sacrificed to make room for another aspect of the game. The stories are fantastic, the characters are engaging, the gameplay is addictive, and if the huge improvement between Mass Effect 1 and 2 is any indication, then this next one will be absolutely mind-blowing.

I need to get on the ball and finally get around to playing the DLC for ME2, I’ve heard good things.

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6. Dragon Age 2

Release Date: 5.8.10

From BioWare, the same people who brought us Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins was another outstanding title. Most games, even ones I love playing, would never be able to hold my attention through more than one play-through. Not so with games like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, where the gaming experience can change so much every time. I could probably play each four or five times without getting bored. Soon I’ll get to see if Dragon Age 2 gets added to that list.

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7. Twisted Metal

Release Date: Late 2011

It’s been so very long since we’ve had a new Twisted Metal title. If it’s even half as fun as some of the old releases, then hours and hours of delight await us all. Trailer here.

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8. inFamous 2

Release Date: Late 2011

Cole is back, this time in fake New Orleans instead of fake New York. This one will definitely be worth playing, maybe even twice to try out being famous and infamous.

There have been a few changes since this trailer came out three months ago, mostly just to make Cole look more like he did in the first game, as opposed to making him look like an entirely different character.

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9. Bioshock: Infinite

Release Date: Late 2012

This one is still REEEEEALLLLY far away.

I’ve already posted the trailer for this, which makes it clear that things are going to be very different in this one.

It’s sad to be leaving Rapture behind for good, but that new city in the sky looks pretty damned intriguing. I want to go to there.

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10. Batman: Arkham City

Release Date: Fall 2011

There are no words in any language capable of describing how much I want this game to come out. It’s no secret that I love Batman. However, that doesn’t make me an easy mark when it comes to a Batman video game. I’m the harshest critic of anything Batman related because I hate when people screw it up. There are very particular things I love about Batman, about Gotham, about my own fantasies of being the dark knight. So, whenever you get Adam West putting on some fucking pajamas and camping shit up, my urge to kill rises.

Yet, as a Batman fan, I would give Arkham Asylum a perfect score in literally every Batman related category. They got everything right; all the details, the atmosphere, the little things were all spot on, and the big things were done to perfection as well.

I can’t wait for this game. More villains will be included (like Two-Face and Mr. Freeze, Stana Katic from Castle will be voicing Talia al-Ghul, you get more space to play in, and most importantly of all, Mark Hamill says this is the last time he’ll reprise his role voicing the Joker, which is really sad, but also really great that we know going into this game that it’s the end, thus we can appreciate every second of it.

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