Top 100 of 2012: 65-61 – MK Vita, Counter Strike and Lollipop Chainsaw

We press ever onwards with our Top 100 list, and as you’ve come to expect we’re brining you another five games from next year’s line-up. Before we get to today’s titles you can find yesterday’s games over here if they slipped past you.

65 Mortal Kombat Vitality

At present we know very little about Mortal Kombat for the PlayStation Vita apart from that it exists. Ed Boon and the team at NetherRealm Studios are keeping shtum for now though it’s safe to assume that Vitality will follow the same path as Ultimate MvC3 and Tekken X Street Fighter, serving as a portable version of the original game with extra platform-specific content and functionalities.

We’re not going to round out our wishlist, but we do have a few predictions as to what Vitality will have to offer both MK veterans and handheld newcomers. Aside from an extended roster, which will surely include MK’s downloadable fighters and maybe even Shinnok, we’ll be looking for some sort of touch or tilt controls, the former sounding more likely. Executing dynamic fatalities by tapping and sliding the Vita’s front and rear screens is likely to only be a novelty (if it even makes it into the game) but we’re sure fans will be satisfied if Vitality does just turn out to be a direct port.

64 Tekken X Street Fighter

Just punching above Mortal Kombat comes an eagerly anticipated crossover from Namco and Capcom. Tekken X Street Fighter will feature a gallery of all your franchise favourites from both corners of the ring. Despite both games sporting fairly different mechanics it will be Tekken’s engine that will provide the base for Tekken X Street Fighter whilst Street Fighter X Tekken (coming up later in our Top 100) will use Street Fighter as its basis.

Whilst we’ve got some details on Street Fighter X Tekken nailed down already, Tekken X Street Fighter is more of a mystery. The original aim was to have both titles launch in 2012, although with so little news on the second of the two crossover titles that date is perhaps looking doubtful. Of course, we may well start to hear more about the Tekken lead title once Capcom’s branch of the crossover hits the market early next year.

63 Lollipop Chainsaw

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that when Suda51 (the auteur video game director behind No More Heroes, Killer7 and Shadows of the Damned) announces that his next project is titled Lollipop Chainsaw, both hilarity and chaos will ensue, with a trademark dose of partial nudity and bloodshed for good measure. In Grasshopper’s upcoming action game players will assume the role of perky cheerleader Juliet Starling who finds herself in the middle of a zombie outbreak at San Romero high school.

Instead of taking flight as most cheerleaders would however, Juliet grabs a chainsaw and jumps straight into the action. From what we’ve seen Lollipop Chainsaw is a straight-up hack and slash title, Starling using a combination of acrobatic and misplaced tree surgery techniques to despatch her undead adversaries. It certainly takes cues from Suda51’s previous work, bearing a slaughterhouse streak of cringe-worthy dialogue and OTT action sequences.

Lollipop Chainsaw is due for release on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime next March.

62 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Having been in circulation for over a decade and selling more than 25 million copies, Counter Strike is the original powerhouse when it comes to online shooters. Considered somewhat of an e-sport, CS has amassed one of the industry’s most hardcore fanbases and when news got out that Valve was planning to make their treasured franchise more inviting and accessible to a general audience, it caused somewhat of rift at first.

However, the Half Life studio has confirmed that it won’t backtrack on the tactical, ultra-dexterousness gameplay the series has been renowned for, Global Offensive will still cater for the hardcore whilst reducing the harsh entry barriers which face new players.

Currently in beta, Valve plans to launch the game in “early 2012” for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and of course, Steam. Like Portal 2, Valve will be rolling out a number of features specifically for the PlayStation 3. This version of Global Offensive will allow three control methods in the forms of your regular DualShock 3 controller, PlayStation Move, and even a USB mouse and keyboard.

61 Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus

One factor which contributed towards Nintendo’s stale 3DS launch line-up was the abundance of 3D re-makes, something which the Vita certainly won’t fall victim too. Games such as Splinter Cell just didn’t feel in synch with what the 3DS had to offer and suffered terrible when it came to controls. With a secondary, and non-detachable, thumbstick, PlayStation Vita seems to be the gamer’s choice when it comes to handhelds and hopefully Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden Sigma will be just as impressive than its original 2007 debut.

Team Ninja has yet to announce any major changes, though we can expect Sigma Plus to make use of touch controls when it comes to initiating Ninpo actions. It’s also said that Hero Mode, stripped from the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3, will also be available for newcomers and those who simply can’t keep up with the game’s high tempo, enabling auto-blocks and evades.

Sigma Plus is due to launch in Japan next February. Hopefully we won’t be kept waiting for an overseas release.