As per the usual Brake For Frogger tradition here’s the three games that are on my radar for 2012.
1- Bioshock Infinite
Two years ago I put the then upcoming Bioshock 2 in this Most Wanted list. I bought it, finished it and whilst it was an enjoyable experience it didn’t seem to hit the heights of the first game. Infinite was revealed to the public nearly a year ago now with the ten minute video featured above. It’s been stressed that this is not ‘Bioshock 3′ but a departure from Rapture which is probably one of the best realised locations in gaming. The story shifts to Columbia, a city floating in the sky and the scene of a near civil war based of differing ideologies of the time. Basically, it seem to be far more involved as far as story telling goes that your usual FPS and we awarded it the ‘I Want To Play This Now’ Award in episode 2.12 for a damn good reason.
2- Syndicate.
Right, ignore the moaning legions who have complained that it simply cannot be a Syndicate remake/reboot without being a top down strategy game and instead look at the positives. It’s a classic series in the hands of Starbreeze who have a pedigree of good single player first person games with titles like The Darkness and Chronicles Of Riddick. It also looks stunning and rumours persist of co-op four player mode to satisfy the fans of the original. I’m certainly willing to give it a chance.
3- UFC 3.
At some point during Brake For Frogger you’ll have probably heard Tom and I go on about how much we loved UFC Undisputed 2009. We played that game against each other both online and offline for so long that we were still having matches when the 2010 version was released about a year later. For some reason though, the 2010 version didn’t quite catch the imagination in the same way. Perhaps it was the change in controls, maybe the fact that the striking game would see most matches end in a matter of minutes or it could have been the fact the online mode was incredibly wonky. We played it on and off but nowhere near the same levels as before.
An encouraging sign came when THQ announced that there would not be a UFC Undisputed 2011, they would wait a few more months to truly rebuild the game engine and make it more than just a cosmetic upgrade. It may sounds like marketing talk but it seems like they may have actually done it. There’s an overhaul of the submissions system and the addition of PRIDE mode (the Japanese MMA company bought by UFC a few years ago in which punts to the head on a floored opponent were legal) means it will hopefully be worthy of the extra wait. If it does then you might be hearing a lot more about it during Season 3 of Brake For Frogger,
