The thinking man’s games
Last year saw a host of games that pushed the boundaries of what the genre can achieve. New techniques give almost cinematic animation quality and video game acting is no-longer the refuge of Z-list talent. Titles like LA Noire and Skyrim were vast in their scope and brilliant in their execution, proving that games are far from mere distractions for teenage boys. Here are some of the games slated for release this year that will capture your imagination as well as test your reflexes.
CATHERINE
Expected: 10 February
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Catherine is not your average video game. You take the part of an ordinary bloke who cheats on his girlfriend Katherine with a mysterious blonde called, slightly confusingly, Catherine. Much of the game takes place in bedrooms and bars, with much soul searching and musings on the nature of relationships. You try to gather clues about the mystery woman to get a full picture of what’s really going on and why your life has been getting so strange recently. The real action, though, takes place when your character falls asleep, with his fears manifesting themselves in the form of Freudian nightmares involving, for example, gigantic crawling babies that you have to avoid through a series of block-based puzzles. The Japanese Manga-style animation looks stunning and the weirdness-factor alone makes this worth a look.
THE LAST GUARDIAN
Expected: This year, hopefully
Platform: PS3
The Last Guardian has been stuck in production for six years but 2012 should be the year it finally sees the light of day. It is an Alice in Wonderland-style adventure about a young boy trying to escape from a sinister, fantastical world. Helping you on your journey is, of course, a colossal cat/eagle hybrid creature, who you will have to keep interested if you want his help solving the game’s puzzles. It combines action with problem solving and taking care of your lovingly animated sidekick. The biggest pull, though, will be exploring the finely crafted world, which has an air of the Tim Burton to it.
THE LAST OF US
Expected: End of this year
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
This survival horror was inspired by a scene in David Attenborough’s Planet Earth, in which fungal spores take over the brains of ants (if you haven’t seen it, look it up. It’s both engrossing and gross). The Last of Us applies the same theory to humans, resulting in a zombie invasion with a difference. The aftermath is very similar to the TV version of The Walking Dead, with survivors killing each other for food and weapons. The animation is amongst the most advanced ever seen in a game and the trailer could just as easily be for a big budget Hollywood movie.
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
Expected: Sometime this year Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Bioshock will go down as one of the all-time great games. Its underwater art deco city – a crumbling palace of rusting copper – was a triumph of both gaming and imagination. It was set against a complex political backdrop – a failed “utopia” of ultra-laissez faire economics, where scientists and artists were excused from moral restraints. The third instalment sees the franchise move from its steampunk ocean setting into a Victorian-style city hanging from giant balloons, looking every inch like a living Heath Robinson sketch. If you buy one game this year, it should be this.
FAR CRY 3
Expected: End of this year
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
On the face of it, Far Cry 3 sounds like fairly standard video game fare: man gets stranded on strange island, meets some unpleasant locals, tries to escape. But the complexity arises through your nuanced interactions with the environment and fellow islanders. The developers have gone to great lengths to create what feel like genuine moral choices – the game might not punish you for killing a man for his lunch but it will try to make you feel bad about it. If they achieve half of what has been promised, this could be one of the most mature games to date. Be prepared to sacrifice a lot of time on it.