PC Gaming – What to expect in 2012

There are a lot of RPG’s on the PC, this year is going to be no different that’s for sure, with the arrival of SWTOR and Skyrim late last year and plenty of competition for a piece of the MMO/RPG pie still to come in 2012.

Mass Effect 3 – RPG / Multi format

Will this year see the final chapter for Mr/Mrs Shepard?  Maybe with the launch of PC Kinect coming soon we could see some interesting features brought to PC with this one, either way, the story is going to be one hell of a ride.  We only have to wait till March to find out, which can’t come soon enough IMO.  This is going to be one of the most highly polished titles this year without a doubt.  My adventure as an overly polite paragon who shoots aliens to high hell can finally reach its conclusion.

Syndicate – RPG / Multi format

Can this FPS reboot of a mid-90’s classic hold its own this year?  With the implementation some 4 player co-op game play and plenty of sci-fi tech, I am excited to get my hands on this one.  It does seem to have a lot in common with Deus-Ex though, which I didn’t really enjoy as far as gameplay is concerned (mostly because I’m rubbish at it).  While I think this may get buried under the might of Mass Effect 3, I am hopeful it can bring at least bring something original to what’s starting to get a busy genre, even if it has been causing chaos on forums for moving away from the games original gameplay style.

Tera Online – MMORPG / PC Exclusive

I’ve never really taken to MMORPG’s in general, I didn’t get hooked into the online drug that is WoW and it’s various other copycat games, they are just too nerdy for me, which is saying something me!

The real-time battle system in this game has coloured me interested though, opting for a 3rd person solution akin to Mass Effect, you target using your crosshair and have to actively avoid incoming attacks from other players, it’s intended to have Xbox 360 controller support too, which I approve of greatly, not many MMO’s fully support this and it’s nice to be able to kick back on the couch sometimes.  On top of all that, the art style looks fantastic in this game, which is helped along in no short part by the use of Unreal Engine 3.  Could this be the game that gets my interested in MMO’s? I certainly hope so.

Diablo III – RPG / PC

I’ve never known much about this franchise, but with everyone harping on about it recently, I figured it was time I pay attention to this one, Diablo III is going to be my first Diablo game, I have seen people play a little of the first two, but they just didn’t take my interest, but I’m sure a lot has changed since 1996.  The inclusion of drop-in drop-out co-op does make this a more promising adventure in this house, but if the story is as grand as people are making out and a I don’t doubt there will be a lot of gameplay hours and challenges to burn through on this one, it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.

There has been talk that it is coming to consoles, there has also been a lot of talk that it isn’t coming to consoles, and to be honest I just don’t know any more what to believe as far as that is concerned, but I’m confident its home will always be on the PC.  Blizzard has supposedly been making this game since 2001, so by now this game should be something special.

MechWarrior Online – MMORPG / PC Exclusive

Considering MechWarrior II was one of the first PC games I ever owned and the last Mech Warrior game I played, I am keen to see how the series has progressed.  The games makers (Piranha Games) have gone for a free-to-play business model with this game, which is great for us less financially endowed gamers, obviously I’m expecting it to be full of micro transactions, but I’m sure I can coast along for long enough on some loose change.

The game will be running on CryENGINE 3 with DX11 support, so this may be one of the finest looking free-to-play games this year.  With Persistent territory battles for control of several planets, in real time, e.g. one day in the real world is equal to one day in the game, with the in game date set to start in the year 3049.  From which point you can either join one of the “Great Houses” or go in solo and carve your own fate.  This game is going to be great fun, shame the release date is only “summer 2012”.