Top 100 of 2012 Recap: 20-16 – Dust, Halo and Wipeout

And then there were twenty! That’s right, we’re now up into the upper quintile of our list of the most anticipated games of this year, with today’s selection of five including both Microsoft and Sony’s very different big fall shooters, as well as a great portable racer, and one of those games that could’ve been so good (but wasn’t). Onwards, and if you missed yesterday’s games, check them out here.

20 Aliens: Colonial Marines

It’s kind of ironic that it was Gearbox that took on (and finally released) Duke Nukem Forever last year, because with that one now out in the open, Aliens: Colonial Marines is well on the way to claiming the mantle as “game we’ve known about for the longest, but still hasn’t been released”. In all fairness though, ACM is hardly the vapourware that Forever was for many years – the game pops out to say “hi” every so often, and the release is now scheduled for early next year on PS3, 360, PC, Wii U and OnLive (if the latter is still around by then). Here’s what we had to say about it in our preview earlier this summer:

So what to make of Colonial Marines? What I saw was a solid, enjoyable experience, but it didn’t feel like it did enough to pick itself out from the first-person-shooter landscape. That first encounter with a xenomorph is very encouraging, but the later sections slip into clichés and feel overly scripted.

Part of the problem, of course, is that the Alien series helped define aspects of these genres; by holding true to the source material some aspects are obviously going to look a little clichéd.

As Kris says, the interesting issue that Colonial Marines is going to come up against is that many of the shooters that we play nowadays actually borrow heavily from those original Alien movies. What the game has to do is both channel the spirit of the films, as well as play in a way that doesn’t simply borrow from those aforementioned shooters. It’s a tough task, but if there’s any team that could pull it off, it’s Gearbox. The PS3, 360 and PC versions are due out on February 12th 2013 in the US (so likely the 15th here in the UK), with the OnLive version expected around the same time, and with the Wii U version coming sometime a little later.

19 Dust 514

You might be thinking that for the first time in a good few years, Sony doesn’t have an action game of its own for this year’s big crazy autumn release period. While Microsoft have Halo (see below), Sony’s latest Uncharted, Resistance and Killzone were all released last year (well, earlier this year if you include Vita spin-offs). Not so, say I – it might not be a big boxed title with pre-order bonuses and a dozen crazy special editions, but Dust 514 may surprise you. In development at CCP Games, creators of economically-minded space MMO EVE, Dust will be a free download from the PlayStation Store (possibly alongside a retail pack with in-game items and credit) when it launches later this year.

While the game plays as a first-person shooter, it will heavily link into EVE on the PC. The matches and missions that players find themselves in are contracts commissioned by EVE players, and Dust players are able to ask up the chain of command for assistance in the form of air strikes. There will also be a Vita app that hooks into the game, offering everything in the game that basically isn’t actually playing (organising your classes etc.), and the game will also apparently hook into Home in some way.

The beta is currently live for PlayStation Plus subscribers, but if you’re outside of the Plus club, there’s also a “Mercenary Pack” in the PlayStation Store which for £15.99 grants you access to the beta as well as a whole bunch of premium in-game content. If you’d rather wait for the final game, it should be out sometime before the end of the year.

18 Halo 4

In all honesty, I don’t know all that much about Halo 4 except that it was involved in one of my favourite E3 gaffes yet – when Microsoft revealed their big surprise announcement by updating Xbox.com a little too early. What I do know is that it’s the first proper game (the HD revamp of the first game excluded) to come out of Microsoft’s new Halo-specific team at 343 Industries, that it is the first of a new “Reclaimer” trilogy, and that it is the first game to center on Master Chief since Halo 3 in 2007.

It looks like 4 will be a bit of the refresh for the series though – the game is designed to be based less on just shooting, with more of an emphasis on exploration and mystery, and Firefight mode has been ditched in favour of new “Spartan Ops”, a separate co-op mode with a story that ties together a lot of the non-game Halo media, and will be delivered in ‘seasons’ from release day onwards. It sounds like 343 are taking a sledgehammer – albeit a loving one – to established elements of the series to keep it new and interesting, and for that I commend them – Halo might not be the most interesting series to me, but there are certainly some interesting new additions in this latest release that might warrant a look from even those who’ve never touched the franchise before.

Halo 4 is due out exclusively on Xbox 360 on November 6th, with the special edition also including a season pass for multiplayer content, lots of canon-related content, and some bonus in-game items. There’s also a very nice-looking translucent 360 that will be out alongside the game.

17 I Am Alive

I Am Alive was, for a while, probably the one game I was looking forward to more than any other. The reveal trailer was brilliant, and its final shot was the inspiration for my top-grade English GCSE coursework. But the fact that I was in my second year of university before the game even managed to make its way out tells you pretty much all you need to know about the game’s troubled development. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to tell you more.

Originally in development at Darkworks and revealed at E3 2008, Ubisoft’s concerns about the game’s progress led to it moving to Ubisoft Shanghai in mid-2009. At the beginning of 2010, it was revealed that the company were “totally re-engineering” the game, leading to its re-reveal in late 2011 as a decidedly different-looking downloadable title which was finally released in March this year.

So how did the game end up? Disappointing in comparison to the game’s original promise – although if the leaked screenshots from the game’s stint at Darkworks are anything to go buy, it was more making the best of a bad situation. The game is set after “The Event”, an apocalyptic disaster of some kind, and you play as one of the few survivors. The game’s emphasis is on survival: careful inventory management is crucial, and that includes going back to retrieve your arrows from your victims. There are others to help out along the way, and deciding whether to keep medikits, food and water for yourself or pass it on to save others is a regular decision you’ll have to make. Kris gave it a 4/10 in his review, criticising the game’s combat, audio, and checkpointing:

There are points where you can see Ubisoft’s aims, where an interesting and imaginative game could be just around the corner. However, the generally linear gameplay leaves you feeling a little underwhelmed, reinforcing the sense that the title isn’t living up to its potential.

The real problem is the lack of a feeling that you’re surviving. You always have a clear objective in front of you, there’s always some location you have in mind or object you have to fetch. Other characters in the world, particularly those that you kill who are often just defending what’s theirs, give you the sense that they just want to get through the day. Sadly this same feeling never really comes across from the unnamed protagonist, and it leaves the game feeling hollow at its core.

I Am Alive may not be the best game ever released, but from what I’ve played there’s still plenty to enjoy here – its available now on PSN, Xbox Live and PC, and seems to pop up in sales pretty often if you find the asking price a little too high for your liking. It also seems to have sold pretty well, regularly appearing in sales charts on all three platforms – hopefully that means Ubisoft might be willing to go for a full follow-up game sometime in the future.

16 Wipeout 2048

Wipeout is awesome, there’s absolutely no denying that – it’s a fact of life. Wipeout 2048 represents the first real shift in the series since PSP launch title Pure started the thread that concluded with 2009’s Fury expansion pack for the HD PS3 game, bringing with it wider tracks, a bigger emphasis on combat, and a setting that explores the early days of anti-gravity racing.

Launching back on Vita Day in February, depending on your tastes, you might even think it the best-looking of a lineup that also includes Uncharted: Golden Abyss. There are touch-and-tilt control schemes (although you may well find that the classic X for gas/L and R for airbrakes is still the best way to go), as well an entire online multiplayer campaign once you’ve wrapped up the three years of racing that make up the single player. Al gave the game an 8/10 in his review at launch; here’s what he had to say:

WipEout’s lovely. Yes, the loading times are a problem (but hopefully due to be fixed a little with a patch) and some of the track design needed smoothing out a touch, but overall it stands as a showcase for a new console that’s only matched by the likes of Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Do everyone a favour and make sure this is part of your day one bundle, if you’re a fan of the series then this is absolutely fantastic stuff.

Unfortunately, Wipeout 2048 was the last game out of the team at Studio Liverpool, who have produced every title in the series, as well as the F1 games back when Sony held the rights. At the time of their closing, the studio was apparently working on two launch titles for the PS4, a new fully-fledged retail Wipeout as well as a stealthy action game in the vein of Splinter Cell, but apparently Sony was either not happy with the games’ progress or just didn’t think that they’d sell well enough to continue development. But all may not be lost – Sony was keen to stress that they would try and find homes for the members of the team at other internal studios (with sister studio Evolution – freshly moved in to larger facilities – the most likely target), and yesterday a simple message appeared on the Facebook page for Wipeout 2048: “WE. ARE. ALIVE.” There’s no more details just yet, but it sounds that while Studio Liverpool as we know it may be gone, the Wipeout franchise may be living on elsewhere in the Worldwide Studios.

Just fifteen games left – see you again tomorrow!