10. Gotham City Imposters

Batman fans have been exceptionally lucky over the past few years. Since Christopher Nolan rebooted the Dark Knight with his 2005 film, Batman Begins, we’ve been treated to one of the best comic book storylines since Knightfall, a movie sequel that won Heath Ledger an Academy Award, and two video games that were both Game of the Year contenders.

With The Dark Knight Rises scheduled for release later this summer, you may be looking to tide yourself over with some Caped Crusader goodness, but if you’ve already seen everything there is to see in Arkham City, you won’t have to wait long for a new, albeit very different, Batman game. Next week, Monolith Productions is set to release Gotham City Imposters, an online first-person shooter that pits fans of the Dark Knight against costumed associates of The Joker.

Somehow, both sides look like a bunch of jerks.

Those who have played the beta referred to the gameplay as a Call of Duty clone, but players will have access to an arsenal of weapons and gadgets inspired by Batman and the Joker, like grappling hooks, glilders and jack-in-the-box grenades. It remains to be seen if this will translate into an experience people will put down games like Battlefield 3 to play, but Monolith is definitely pulling out all the stops to create a downloadable game fitting of the franchise it represents. If the game turns out to be fun, it should make the wait for Bane’s arrival that much easier.

9. Asura’s Wrath

If 2011 was the year of the FPS, highlighted by the almost simultaneous releases of Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, 2012 is looking like it may be the year of the hack and slash. The first such game on the list takes games like God of War and punches them in the face with a fist the size of a neighboring planet.

Hack and slash action games have undergone a transformation over the past two generations of console, thanks largely in part to a renewed interest in the genre from Japanese developers. Games like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Bayonetta have reinvented the action game, with massive boss battles, over the top violence and hysterically fast gameplay. Capcom has collaborated with developers CyberConnect2 to put their own mark on this growing genre with Asura’s Wrath, which looks to combine elements from games like God of War, Bayonetta and God Hand.

This is going to take a lot of Quick Time Events.

Asura’s Wrath makes several interesting tweaks to the now standard formula for a game like this. Players will be given the opportunity to control Asura during cutscenes, often with unbelievable results, and Asura’s abilities and fighting style will change throughout the game to adapt to the player’s situation. I’m not expecting you to get excited over a list of specs though; if you saw the trailer from last year’s E3, you know exactly why you should be looking forward to Asura’s Wrath when it drops in February. If you haven’t, prepare to have your mind blown.

8. Lollipop Chainsaw

There’s a good chance you’ve at least heard of Lollipop Chainsaw, much in the same way you probably knew about Snakes on a Plane long before it came out; the sheer inanity of the name pulls you in, leaving you begging for more details. In this case, we still know very little about the game itself, but the fact that Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture is responsible for Lollipop Chainsaw should tell you everything you need to know.

Fresh off their last game, Shadows of the Damned, Suda 51’s development team is back to bring us the story of Juliet, a cheerleader by day, zombie hunter by night. Based on the game’s teaser trailer (and that’s really all we have to go off, despite the game set to release this March), some or all of the game will take place in Juliet’s former high school, and Juliet will have an arsenal of weapons, acrobatic attacks and her trusty chainsaw at her disposal. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer with more decapitations, upskirt shots and a million dick jokes.

*insert dick joke*

There are two constants when it comes to Suda 51 games: they’re always incredibly solid games, and they sell horribly. Hopefully the winning combination of sex and zombies, two of North America’s greatest loves, will help things along.

7. Luigi’s Mansion 2

For a long time now, Nintendo fans have had to sit with folded arms, waiting months at a time for each first party release. Over the lifespan of the Wii and for much of the 3DS’s existence, Mario, Link, Samus and Nintendo’s other stars have made increasingly fewer appearances, forcing hardcore gamers to go elsewhere for their fix. 2012 looks like another bleak year for the Wii in terms of games, and news on the Wii U remains slim, but luckily, the 3DS has pulled its digital socks up, and in a big way.

We’ve already touched on the highly anticipated return of Kid Icarus, but another big return should have you just as excited. Eleven years after headlining the launch of the Gamecube, Luigi is back busting ghosts, presumably because bustin’ makes him feel good.

It was uncharted waters having a Nintendo console launch without a Mario game accompanying it, but Luigi’s Mansion was a welcome, albeit brief, addition to the Nintendo family. The gameplay, which featured finding and catching ghosts in a modified vacuum cleaner, worked well on a Gamecube controller but seems custom made for the touch screens and motion controls of the 3DS, and Luigi’s Mansion 2 promises to be longer and deeper than its predecessor.

6. Escape Plan

The 3DS may have had a rocky start, but Nintendo’s track record with handheld devices allowed gamers to sit back and patiently wait for the great games to roll out, but Sony doesn’t have that luxury with its new handheld, the Playstation Vita. The Playstation Portable, Sony’s last foray into handheld gaming, was best known for a handful of pocket-sized ports and the ease in which the system could be hacked, and Sony tried on several occasions to “reboot” the PSP with ad campaigns, despite a serious lack in software. The Vita is certainly intriguing with its impressive hardware and swanky features, but games will make or break the Vita, and luckily Sony seems to have their bases covered.

Of all the games set for the North American Vita launch, Escape Plan is easily one of the most talked about, thanks to a trailer from last year’s E3 that shows off gorgeous black and white visuals and unique gameplay. Escape Plan forgoes using buttons to control the two playable characters, relying instead on the Vita’s two touch screens and the handheld’s motion controls. Players will guide Laarg and Lil through rooms filled with deadly traps, completing puzzles and avoiding obstacles.

Escape Plan is one of the most unique looking games on any console, and offers an early look at what the Vita is capable of, not only visually but whether the system’s different gadgets can create an immersive game without feeling gimmicky.

5. Hitman: Absolution

After a surge in popularity thanks to games like Metal Gear Solid, stealth games seem to be disappearing back into the shadows as of late. Series like Splinter Cell, Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed tend to rely as much on direct combat and high energy action as they do stealth, and there are rarely consequences if the player chooses to go through a game, guns blazing. It’s unlikely that gaming is going to steer back in the direction of the original Thief game any time soon, but return of one of the genre’s godfathers should have stealth fans very excited.

This past May, IO Interactive announced that Agent 47 would be coming out of retirement in Hitman: Absolution, due out later this year. A near-20 minute gameplay video was eventually released which, while a bit disappointing at times, looks very promising. As with previous Hitman games, Agent 47 will have to make use of disguises and items littered throughout his surroundings to carry out his missions; during the gameplay video, 47 makes use of a statuette to knock out a cop, and later dons the outfit to walk through a sea of police officers, casually munching on a donut. The Hitman series has notoriously featured very stiff animation and movement, but 47 is surprisingly fluid as he makes his way through a darkened library, dodging flashlight beams and the keen eyes of your assailants.

Absolution will also feature what look to be tightly scripted action scenes as well, as shown in a tense hostage situation and a rooftop helicopter chase. This may sound like the very thing I was railing against moments ago, but it only ratcheted up the tension even further. Make no mistake, the game, from what we can tell thus far, is still all about stealth, and simply running through a level will get you killed in a hurry. IO has made attempts to make the game more accessible for new players as well, providing visual cues (which thankfully can be disabled) which show the path guards intend to take.

4. Torchlight 2

Back in 2009, unknown developer Runic Games managed to do in eleven months what it’s taken Blizzard Entertainment eleven years to do: create a worthy follow up to Diablo II. Torchlight was one of the biggest surprises of the last few years, providing a fresh take on the formula established by the first two Diablo games at a bargain price. It was lacking in online and the game’s story was largely non-existent, but Torchlight filled a massive void that Diablo III still hasn’t filled, three years later.

All signs point to Diablo III finally seeing the light of day this year, but so too will Torchlight 2, complete with some monumental improvements. The sequel will feature online co-op, a more fleshed out story with cinematic sequences, customizable characters, a larger hub world and a wealth of other changes. Whereas the original Torchlight was praised as being a great Diablo clone, Torchlight 2 looks to set itself apart from the competition as its own game.

If Runic Games really wants to make an impact, they’ll release this game before Diablo III hits store shelves, but even if it gets overshadowed by Blizzard’s long awaited sequel, Torchlight 2 will only set you back 20 bucks, making it that much easier to get both action RPGs.

3. Bioshock Vita

If Escape Plan has the burden of showcasing the Playstation Vita’s features, Irrational Games’ Bioshock project has the burden of proving the Vita is more than just a pricey bundle of features, and capable of great games.

When Irrational’s co-founder, Ken Levine, walked onto the stage at last year’s E3 with a Vita in his pocket, it made a bolder statement about the future of the new handheld than any Sony IP ever could have. The original BioShock set a new standard in video games with its blend of storytelling, atmosphere and gameplay, and this year’s Bioshock: Infinite is already being looked at as a probable Game of the Year.

Would you kindly buy one of these?

A pedigree like that should be enough to excite present and future Vita owners, but Levine did more than simply announce a game for the new handheld. He made it clear that Irrational Games is uninterested in simply porting over an existing Bioshock game, insisting that the Vita game would need to be “its own voice in the franchise”. Levine did mention that a Vita Bioshock game will be different from what we’ve already experienced, which resulted in hysterical gamers bracing for the impending announcement that the game would be an on-rails shooter, but such an announcement hasn’t come…yet.

2. Twisted Metal

Younger gamers may not know this, but once upon a time, vehicle combat was less about throwing banana peels at go-karts and more about destructible environments, homing missiles, and cursed serial killer clowns.

Sweet Tooth, it’s been too damn long.

This Valentine’s Day marks the return of a Playstation mainstay, last seen in 2001’s Twisted Metal: Black. Car combat games rarely make appearances these days outside of Flash games, but the crew at Eat Sleep Play have assembled what looks to be both a worthy successor to TM:B, and a fantastic multiplayer experience.

Twisted Metal’s gameplay has always suited online gaming, and TM:B actually received an online update on the Playstation 2, but this time around, the game has been built from the ground up, primarily as an online experience. Based on the information we have so far, the game seems to focus more on the different types of vehicles than the drivers themselves, although new weapons like sniper rifles, shotguns and helicopters will add several new changes to the straight up car-on-car action. Players can play four player split-screen and the game will include deathmatches and an all new mode called Nuke, which is a twisted (pun) take on Capture the Flag you’ll have to see to believe.

It wouldn’t be a Twisted Metal game without a campaign mode though, and ESP is doing something very different this time around. In an effort to break up the monotony that has always come from playing through the same set of levels with each character to see their respective endings, Twisted Metal will feature a much tighter campaign, featuring only a select number of characters. Depending on who you play as and the difficulty you’ve selected, you’ll get one of nine different endings.

1. South Park: The Game

Most of the games on this list will be great editions to an already awesome calendar year of games. South Park: The Game, on the other hand, could replace every other game set for release in 2012, just completely wipe all of them out of existence, and I’d still be a happy man.

Let me break it down for you: Obsidian Entertainment, the studio that most recently brought us Fallout: New Vegas, is teaming up with THQ and the two men responsible for the show, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, to create a fantasy RPG based on the characters, settings and stories of South Park. This is the kind of fantasy project nerds and incredibly high college kids dream of, whereas the 1998 South Park FPS made by Akklaim is the stuff of terrible, terrible nightmares.

South Park will put players in the role of a completely customizable new kid in town, before joining you up with the kids from South Park elementary. You’ll then have the option of choosing from several different classes, including the Paladin, the Adventurer, the Rogue and the Jew before setting out to battle hippies, Gingers and more. I can keep going, but if you’re a fan of the show, I have a feeling you’ve already left to pre-order the game.

Aww hamburgers!

For those of you still reading this, it’s fair to point out that video game adaptations of TV shows usually work as well as movie adaptations of video games, but Trey and Matt have a history of success in almost every project they’ve worked on (sorry Baseketball), and they’ve proven to have an interest in gaming, judging by the show’s references to the PSP, Wii and World of Warcraft.

In terms of gameplay details, we know the game’s combat system will be turn-based, similar to what is used in the Paper Mario games, and it will feature a weapon and summoning system similar to what we’ve seen in previous Final Fantasy games. If Mintberry Crunch makes an appearance, we can just wrap up 2012’s Game of the Year right now and be done with it.

The Game

For the first Xen Files, we’ll be looking at classic shooter Half-Life, whose final levels on the inter-dimensional world of Xen comprise the namesake of this column. I’ll be the first to stand up for Valve and the Half-Life series if anyone dares to dishonor the sacred franchise; in fact, Half-Life 1 and 2 make up my two favorite games. I’ve played through all the games in the series on multiple occasions, and I await Half-Life 3 with bated breath. At the same time, however, even a superfan like me can admit that the Xen levels were poorly thought-out as well as badly designed and executed.

A quick rundown for the uninitiated: in the first Half-Life, theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman goes to work at the Black Mesa research facility just like any other morning, only to get caught up in an alien invasion and an attempt at a government cover-up. Working his way through the depths of the compound, Gordon eventually links up with a core group of surviving scientists who are forging a desperate effort to repel the attacks by closing off the interdimensional rifts. As part of this long-shot plan, Gordon is recruited to fling himself into the homeworld of the hostile alien life, less an actual planet and more a disjointed series of shards floating somewhere in time-space.

The Flaw

From a storyline perspective, it makes about as much sense as one could reasonably expect of a science fiction plot. We can all buy the idea that the only way to stop the enemy is a nearly hopeless mission into the heart of enemy territory, as this plot device we see many times in modern fiction and film. But the story isn’t the reason Xen took so much flak from critics and gamers alike–the problem with Xen was that it was a mechanical leap from everything the player knew up to that point, tossing aside all the player’s combat and puzzle-solving training from the first chapters of the game and forcing him to learn a whole new set of rules.

You see, leading up to Xen, Half-Life was a relatively slow-paced thinking man’s shooter. Puzzles had to be solved, soldiers had to be shot, a few short gaps had to be jumped. Then, the player is jarringly yanked to what feels like a totally different game: huge, impossibly precise platforming challenges comprise the bulk of the gameplay. Logical level design gives way to seemingly random arrangements across the alien landscapes. Rather than weaving through environmental obstacles while battling a large-scale war against two very different enemies, Gordon simply bounded about, shooting the odd alien or two.

It’s not that a well-done level of that sort wouldn’t ever work in any game, but that it should certainly not have been tacked on to the otherwise brilliant Half-Life debut. Even the boss fight was an eclectic mix of low-gravity platforming and tired “big bad” convention. The whole segment just felt rushed and unnecessary, and the whole experience would have shined all the brighter without the Xen borderworld tarnishing its otherwise brilliant surface. Thankfully, Valve abandoned any notion to return to the abhorred alien space in future sequels–at least so far.

The Lesson

Don’t establish a gameplay pattern, training your game’s players throughout the course of a campaign, only to shift every last rule at the final moments of the story’s crescendo. It’s like those “Peanuts” strips wherein Lucy rips the football out from Charlie Brown’s extended foot at the last minute, causing him to fall in humiliation. Keep your game’s rules as consistent as possible, then challenge the player within the framework of those guidelines. Oh, and finish Half-Life 3.

End Times…

2011 was a year. 2011 happened. It’s done now though. Gone. Where did it go? How will we remember such a year? Why, we’ll remember it through the games we played, of course! If 2011 has been one thing, it’s been good for games, or as we here at DeltaGamer prefer to say: GFG. It’s just easier that way for us men and women of leisure. It’s not that we’re lazy, we’re not. It’s merely that we like to spend less time talking or typing and more time playing!

So, now that the curtain has come down on a most auspicious year and all of us reflect on the days which have now passed by, it’s only natural that we – as gamers – spend some time thinking about the games we played over the course of the year. For our part, we wanted to be positive! We could have given you our top 10 but the discussions and negotiations became deadlocked. We reached what professionals and/or old west gentlemen gunslingers refer to as an impasse. So we decided to talk about everything which was good about gaming in 2011. A hell of a lot of games came out and it would be unfair of us to not mention games which, whilst they weren’t the best of the bunch, did indeed provide us with some sense of satisfaction or enjoyment.

So that’s what we did. We talked about what we played in 2011 and what we thought was good about what we played, not which title was the best, but which titles brought something good to the proverbial table. We even went through the year month by month, for simplicities sake. Of course, we’re only human and we can’t play every game so if you don’t see a game in this list, then we may well still be trying to catch up and play it! So, here we go – what we at DeltaGamer enjoyed about the games of 2011!

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Project Sora
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: March 23, 2012

The 3DS got off to a slower-than-expected start with a high price and a weak launch lineup, a set of games that bizarrely had no Mario, Kirby, Zelda, or Metroid. Even Kid Icarus: Uprising, the game Nintendo chose to feature at the big 3DS reveal, didn’t make the launch window. But Nintendo’s been correcting its mistakes one by one, and Kid Icarus: Uprising will finally hit March 23.

Featuring a partly on-rails third-person action experience, Kid Icarus is a total departure from the pair of games that came out over two decades ago. Its gorgeous graphics should complement the 3DS’ namesake technology nicely, but it’s hard to say how successful the total package from Project Sora will be. Whatever the case, it’s safe to say that Uprising will be one of the premier games to watch for Nintendo’s latest portable device.

Mass Effect 3

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer: BioWare
Publisher: EA
Release Date: March 6, 2012

It goes without saying that the conclusion to BioWare’s epic space trilogy will be one of the bestselling games next year. The gameplay trailers we’ve seen so far have been big, action-oriented affairs, hinting at a finale that should go out with a bang. The game will continue where you left off, loading up your Mass Effect 2 save file to carry over all the details of the decisions your Shepard made, and whom he was able to save in the last game’s final chapter.

The game’s narrative will follow Shepard as he struggles to repel a Reaper attack on Earth and restore his good name. In addition to the central storyline, BioWare has honed the combat to appeal to traditional shooter fans even more, and the company’s even tacked on a multiplayer co-op mode that dovetails with the singleplayer campaign to tell a fuller story and help players achieve better endings. While it’s clear that the RPG giant is taking a lot of risks here, we’re willing to give this one a chance to show what it’s got up its sleeve.

Borderlands 2

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer: Gearbox
Publisher: 2K Games
Release Date: July 30, 2012

In 2009, Borderlands packed a punch with its unique RPG and FPS hybrid gameplay, but the game wasn’t without its problems: interface issues, a weak story, and heavy grinding got in the way of the roleplaying shooter’s enjoyable parts. Now, Gearbox hopes to up the ante and smooth over the original’s issues with the full sequel due out this July, Borderlands 2.

Featuring new classes as well as returning favorites, the game will focus on eliminating many of the repetitive elements of the first. Gearbox is re-tooling class balance in order to make each character type completely unique, as well as working hard to give each gun type its own distinct flavor and application. The development team is also trying to rework the AI system to make for a more strategic and interesting combat experience each time you play. Since the original held so much potential and myriad great ideas, we fully expect Borderlands 2 to be one of the top games to keep tabs on in 2012.

BioShock Infinite

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer: Irrational Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Release Date: 2012

BioShock is easily one of the most influential games of the past decade, but BioShock 2, while brilliant, was just more of the same. But that’s all changing with BioShock Infinite, which will lift only the framework and thematic elements of the series while changing just about everything else. A new fantastical setting in the clouds, new philosophic subject matter centering around America’s identity as a nation, and new combat and companions–it’s a wildly different sequel.

Early gameplay videos have been extremely impressive, though questions about the BioShock formula’s adaptability to the new era and surroundings still remain. As with the first game, the narrative will be divulged largely through the game’s surroundings, though there will be a stronger emphasis on relationships with friendly AI partners. We’re confident to say this one has the potential to be one of the best games of the year.

Diablo III

Platform: PC, Mac
Developer: Blizzard
Publisher: Blizzard
Release Date: Early 2012

It’s hard to imagine a game going into 2012 with more buzz and hype than Blizzard’s long-awaited third entry in the famed Diablo series. Expectations are sky high after a twelve year wait since Diablo II, as Blizzard has been focused on its World of Warcraft and Starcraft franchises. Despite some initial trepidation over what was perceived as an art style too bright and bubbly for the traditionally dark franchise, further details revealed the game will actually play fairly closely to the original games.

Still, there’s always room for innovation, and Blizzard’s focusing on fine-tuning the interface, a gorgeous new 3D graphics engine, and a laundry list of enhancements and additions to the classic formula. While Diablo imitators have come and gone (the most recent, Torchlight, is dropping a sequel next year), there’s nothing that can provide that addicting loot-gathering dungeon crawler experience quite like Diablo. Expect this one to be huge.

Dragon Quest X

Platform: Wii, Wii U
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: 2012

The Wii’s had its fair share of stinkers in the Dragon Quest franchise, having only seen mediocre spinoffs rather than numbered entries as the Nintendo DS and PS2 have as of late. But next year, Square Enix aims to redeem the series’ acclaim among Nintendo console owners with Dragon Quest X. Not only does the game represent a change in tone towards home Nintendo system for the series, but it will also be taking big risks as it becomes the first-ever MMO in the franchise, subscription fees and all.

Dragon Quest X is still a big question mark all the way around, but the mere release of a numbered DQ title is enough to raise some eyebrows, let alone an announcement of a Wii/Wii U crossplatform exclusive. The game appears to retain classic Dragon Quest combat pillars such as first-person monster views, turn-based attacks, and a customizable party. In fact, DQX appears to kick things up a notch in that regard, allowing players to pick among six different races for their adventures across multiple continents. Whether this one floats or flounders, it’s sure to be one of the main events of 2012.

Halo 4

Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Release Date: Christmas 2012

After Halo: Reach, Bungie moved on to bigger and better things, leaving its franchise in the hands of Microsoft and 343 Industries. The new developers have decided to continue Master Chief’s saga after the conclusion to Halo 3, kicking off a new set of titles called the “Reclaimer Trilogy”. As such, the game will simply reveal the tip of the iceberg of a larger, darker plotline that will only be nice and tied up after Halo 6 years from now.

The big unknown here is how well 343 will manage taking up the Halo torch from the legends at Bungie. The new team has had some experience with the franchise, having handled the recent Halo: Combat Evolved remake for the Xbox 360 as well as in-game content development on post-Bungie Halo: Reach. Still, a full Halo game’s no small feat, and we’ll be waiting with bated breath to see what they’ve been able to pull off.

Max Payne 3

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer: Rockstar Games (various)
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Release Date: March 2012

After years of dormancy, the Max Payne franchise returns early next year with an all-new look for Max, a totally new setting, and an in-depth multiplayer mode. The game will retain classic Payne action-heavy gameplay, but will add more modern features such as partial zoom and sticking to cover. Perhaps less promising is the announcement of always controversial QTE sequences to “augment” some of the more intense storyline moments.

Also divisive are the new, brighter setting of São Paulo, Brazil and Max’s new overly cynical attitude. On the plus side, multiplayer will feature an intriguing new “Gang Wars” mode that dynamically changes the objectives and turf over which you’ll battle online opponents. As is the norm these days, Max Payne 3 will include persistent statistics and unlockable weapon trees. Even though the original developers aren’t around anymore, we’re still hopeful that Rockstar will be able to knock this one out of the park.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: March 6, 2012

The next entry in the Ghost Recon franchise will push the series further into the future, and further towards third-person action shooter territory. Far more Advanced Warfighter than the classic PC original, Future Soldier centers around Russian ultra-nationalists and the Ghost team that’s out to stop them from invading neighboring countries. Your team of four highly trained, highly specialized soldiers will fight tooth and nail to get the job done.

The new game will heavily emphasize futuristic technology for the Ghost team to employ, including an invisibility cloak, drones, and weapons that are customizable right down to the nuts and bolts. Of course, there will be a strong focus on the game’s multiplayer mode, a big draw for the last few games in the series. Though the PC version was unfortunately cancelled, let’s hope Ubisoft brings its A game to the consoles this March.

Far Cry 3

Platform: Xbox 360. PS3, PC
Developer: Ubisoft (various)
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 2012

Rounding out the big sequels for next year is the third core Far Cry game. Exploring and expanding upon the open world structure introduced in the first game and blown to huge proportions in the second, Far Cry 3 will drop players in a Pacific Ocean island sandbox, eschewing the second game’s African setting for something of a return to the debut title’s paradisaical scenery. There will also be lots of big, loud guns and vehicles.

We don’t have a ton of gameplay info yet, but the E3 demo Ubisoft put together seemed to indicate a new experience-based leveling system and stealth mode. Whatever the new mechanics and ideas that the development team decides to introduce, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one as it nears release date.

Looking Forward to Another Year

There they are: our most anticipated games of the year. Of course, every trip around the sun brings with it unexpected surprises from the big dogs, low-profile indie games that end up blowing us out of the water, and shocking industry developments that change the way we game forever. There’s no telling just what the gaming landscape will look like 366 days from now, but we’re on the edge of our seats waiting for the ride to start. Here’s to another great year from DeltaGamer!

It’s amazing how quickly Source engine modders start hacking together fantastic levels and games–The Core was released just a little under six months after the original game came out. With such quick turnaround time, you might have expected the team to cut some corners, but instead the mod simply shines with polish (or is that just the blood of failed test subjects?). All-new GLaDOS lines, puzzles even tougher than Portal 2‘s, an innovative new “single-player co-op” approach: these are just scratching the surface of this shockingly great mod. Give it a try if you’ve exhausted the base game’s already amazing campaign.

MODDB Page

It’s tough to imagine a higher standard to set for a project than “make a prequel to Deus Ex“. Yet that’s precisely what the Project 2027 team did, aiming to create a faithful prologue to the classic role-playing shooter. The result was stunning: a free game that captured the spirit of the original without feeling the need to tack on all sorts of modern trappings and silliness. 2027 plays and feels like a true Deus Ex entry, from the emphasis on player choice right down to the interface and futuristic setting. The mod just exudes quality, and since it’s absolutely free should not be missed by any series fan.

ModDB Page

Of all the mods I’ve played this year, this one has far and away the most innovative ideas. Introducing a strange dimensional-hopping structure for its puzzles, Dual Reality is reminiscent of the original Portal in the fresh inventiveness of its clever design. Puzzle elements are scattered between two different dimensions, so in order to flip all the right switches and open locked doors you’re forced to jump between the two versions of each chamber, taking control of androids placed on each side of the rift. You know what? It’s a lot easier to understand if you’d just go grab the free mod at ModDB and give it a try.

ModDB Page

As the big name first-person shooters debuted their most recent entries this fall, Red Orchestra 2 quietly went live, offering a more grounded, demanding take on war than the popcorn flick titles dared to. In that same vein, Resistance & Liberation takes a pseudo-realistic approach to World War II action. A virtually non-existent HUD means you’ve got to pay attention to your surroundings and how many bullets you’ve got left. A punishing damage modeling system means a bullet or two can down you. While I’m always up for a good arcade shooter, there’s something the Battlefields and Call of Dutys can never quite match: the intensity of lying in a field for ten minutes, tension palpable in the air–only to have a squad rush and kill you in a couple of seconds as you desperately radio for help.

ModDB Page

There are entertaining mods, like many of the above, and then there are games like The Stanley Parable. It’s best to simply play the game, rather than have anything spoiled for you, but as a basic overview know that it’s a commentary on games, decision-making, free will, determinism, and more. It’s not very often that a game, let alone a free Half-Life 2 mod, tries to tackle such weighty subjects, but The Stanley Parable does so with flying colors. It should only take a half-hour or so to reach all the different endings, so be sure to give this one a try.

ModDB Page

There you have it: the mods we at DeltaGamer most deserve recognition this year. What wonders the mod community will whip up for us in 2012 we don’t know, but we can only hope it’s somewhere near as good as the past year. Go ahead and check out the rest of our featured mods here. Now if only Black Mesa Source would make an appearance…

Cave Wanderer by GreaseMonkey

Do you see my mind? No, because GreaseMonkey just blew it away. This paragraph is just gonna be me squealing like a fangirl because someone made a game for the Sega Master System. Yes, this entry requires you to run an emulator, but I assume if it were in cartridge format, it would work on an actual SMS just as well. It’s a pretty simple and short platformer, but damn, way to find a way to make it stand out. Definitely check it out if you just want your mind to overflow with nostalgia.

Sinkhole by Shaun Inman

Sinkhole does a great job of setting up a joke of how it’s a nice timesink. You fell into the Abyss, or rather, the character thinks it’s a cave, but trust me, after climbing up for almost an hour, I am pretty much certain he is at least in purgatory. On every level, you need to find the way up while maneuvering through a pitch-black cave. Your two main light sources are your flashlight and matches. The flashlight lasts longer before you need to change the battery and illuminates more space in front of you, while matches have a lower radius and are rather short-lived. This isn’t only important to help you navigate the stages, but also so you can scare off the monsters in the dark. While I think it would have benefited from having a definite end or at least a scoring method to warrant playing beyond the first few levels, it’s still worth checking out.

Last Breath by deepnight

I’m not going to spoil this one, but it’s probably the most complete entry I’ve had the joy of playing. It’s quite challenging, but it is also well-designed and aesthetically pleasing. Seriously, don’t skip Last Breath. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up winning Ludum Dare 22.

But You Wake Alone by wgemigh

A dream within dream, within a dream, within a dream about remembering and forgetting. Another ambitious title which would have benefited from better screen logistics. You play as a dot trying to remember things, but whenever you’re near a crowd, you start forgetting. The way to finish the level is to avoid the crowd until you can get your thoughts together and head for the exit. The game has a quite pleasing presentation and is definitely worth looking into. My main issue is that it’s hard to keep track of the thoughts written at the bottom of the screen, which I believe detracts from the overall experience.

Alone – Save Your Family from an Icy Imprisonment by brenthamel

Evil green ghosts have frozen your family. Are you a bad enough dude to save them? Sadly, I wasn’t. Alone – SYFFAII is quite difficult and has plenty of collision issues. It’s not unplayable, but it ends up being frustrating. At least the sprites have a nice retro feel to them.

Alone in Space by AleksandarDev

Alone in Space is a game about launching your spaceship. That’s about it. Take it literally, or as a metaphor about life, where in order to traverse the longest journeys, you need to forsake a part of yourself with each milestone. But hey! Space!

Duckling by Veralos

You play as a cute little duckling on its never-ending quest to find its mother. The game is really, really difficult, so don’t let the prospect of something cute and cuddly trick you into going with it if you’re not good at platformers. The levels are designed nicely, mind you, but the expectations of some are downright malicious.

Paper Dream by Claw

Another title which is best played blindly. I’ll only point out that you can carry objects with the mouse cursor, but really, the joy in this one is finding things out by yourself. Definitely check it out.

I Need Someone by Tony Coculuzzi

The final game for this entry of our Ludum Dare Play-a-thon is I Need Someone. It’s a game built in Unity and one of the more polished ones using the engine. You’re alone and have no friends, but you decide to fix that by building a friend of your own. However, something like that is not easy: you need to find a head, arms and a heart. It’s largely exploration-based, but there is some basic first-person combat. Definitely check it out, as it makes good use of color (or lack thereof) and creates a highly bittersweet atmosphere.

There are still nine days left until judging ends and while it will be nigh-impossible to go through every game, we’ll do our best to give the spotlight to as many as we can. As always, we encourage you to dig through the entries on your own. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a real gem.

A publisher i know is currently asking nintendo if they woudl (sic) be ok with isaac on the 3ds, if they say yes then ill had the game off to them and let them port it.Edmund McMillen

Now, you may recall that Super Meat Boy was originally scheduled to release exclusively on the Nintendo Wii’s WiiWare download store but was changed to a 360 title when Nintendo refused to budge on its meager 40 MB download limit for WiiWare games. The 3DS doesn’t have any such restrictions that we know of; however, The Binding of Isaac‘s mature subject matter may end up becoming an issue if talks ever get that far with the Big N.

Regardless of any hurdles facing the port, McMillen went on to answer another Formspring question asking whether the game would ever see an iOS or console port with, “NO, the only other system you might ever see isaac on is the 3ds and that will only happen if a company ports the game themselves.” Considering Team Meat’s rumored and stated problems dealing with Microsoft’s indie support on the 360, it’s no surprise McMillen wouldn’t want to work with them again.

This “legendary lost project” from Capcom, off the radar for over two decades, was revived last year for recreation. A modern 8-bit classic out of time, Dark Void Zero is a commercial demake of the best sort, with retro stylings and intense action alike. It’s sure to please those with coin-op nostalgia to spare, and is even easier to recommend now that it’s only a buck.

Store Page
$0.99

As its name suggests, Defy Gravity Extended is based on gravitational puzzles wrapped in an old-school platforming shell. Revolving around the use of a gravity gun that lets its brave heroine bound about the levels twisting the laws of time and space, the indie game takes players on a space-bound quest across many dozens of levels. It’s cheap at its normal price of $3, so there’s little reason to not pick it up for less than half that during the sale.

Store Page
$1.35

Bad news: you may have already missed the daily deal on this one a few days back when it rang up for just a couple dollars. Good news: it’s still easily worth the $6 asking price. While all your cool, up-to-date friends are bounding around BioWare’s latest Star Wars RPG, The Old Republic MMO, dig down and find your inner hipster by playing the game that started it all. While the first world is linear and dull, stick it out past that and you’ll be rewarded with one of the most shocking storylines and best roleplaying experiences of the past decade.

Store Page
$5.99

On a uniqueness scale ranging from Call of Duty to Viva Piñata, DEFCON ranks just shy of three Katamaris and a Frozen Synapse. That is to say, it’s awesome and wondrously different from most anything else you’ve played before. The TL;DR of it is that you nuke your friends before they can nuke you, and then everybody dies in white-hot clouds of radiation stabbing the night sky as you cackle maniacally and pet your villainous talking cat. Just buy it.

Store Page
$2.49

This one’s an oddball. Blocks That Matter is an indie puzzle game that pays homage to retro puzzle games in its mechanics and presentation alike, asking players to create tetronimoes to overcome platforming challenges. It’s as if Braid and Tetris had a cute baby whose cheeks you just want to nibble on. Seriously, it’s got really cute cheeks. Usually a bargain at only $5, it’s a steal now at $1.25.

Store Page
$1.25

Yeah, yeah, I know: yaaaaaaawn, another Tetris-like puzzle game. You stop yawning this instant, young man or woman, because Critical Mass is a great puzzle game for fans of Bejeweled and its ilk. You match three blocks and rotate the three-dimensional jumble o’ cubes in the middle as fast as you can to whittle down the daunting pile. Simple, fast to learn, tough to turn off.

Store Page
$1.25

Here’s something different: a humorous point-and-click puzzle game in the vein of classic LucasArts adventures. Perfect for those who don’t like games that take themselves too seriously, this one’s worth a look for any adventure fans out there. Perhaps best of all, Ben There, Dan That! is packed together with a second game, Time Gentelmen, Please! for double the adventuring at 75% off the normal price.

Store Page
$1.24

A cutesie indie platformer that’s deceptively simple and light-hearted, Eversion under its unassuming exterior is a harrowing and utterly different game. It pushes the envelope of what 8-bit graphics can do for a game’s atmosphere and should be experienced by all gamers at some point. Though there is a totally free version hosted by the developer, the Steam release gives players the chance to support the developer financially with some extra goodies and “HD” graphics thrown in as well.

Store Page
$1.25

Smart Shopping

Remember, as always with these Steam sales, buying right away isn’t always the cheapest route, as some of these games may pop up on Valve’s Daily Deals each morning through January 1. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine any of these games’ getting much cheaper at this point, and a dollar or two for any one of these titles is an absolute steal. So have at it, we say! Be sure to drop us a note in the comments if you’ve stumbled across hidden gold yourself, and happy shopping out there.

Jaffe commented that the voucher was not only meant to be a thank-you for long-time fans and supporters of the series who have waited patiently for over a decade for this new release, but also to give gamers a sense of the thematic progression of the series. “Black was the first time when we really started to get into that darker world of Twisted Metal, and so it’s kind of a look back to allow you to sort of see where all that began. And then hopefully you’ll agree that this new one really blows that whole world open.”

Any new trophies or Playstation 3 exclusive content for Twisted Metal: Black has yet to be revealed. See the full video below.