Upcoming action games of 2012 - II

We continue our action games list with ten more games to get your adrenaline pumping.

Silent Hill: Downpour (Xbox360 PS3)

Continuing the trend of outsourcing the Silent Hill series to the West is Downpour, a new Silent Hill game in which players step into the boots of Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner who finds himself in the creepy town of Silent Hill after his transport vehicles breaks down. Unlike Homecoming that was rather combat heavy, Silent Hill Downpour aspires to go back to the olden Silent Hill days where the focus was solely on scaring the crap out of players. This means players will be able to carry one melee weapon at a time and that too can be broken after repeated usage.

Max Payne 3 (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Max Payne has been out of the game for the past eight years but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge. Sure he’s lost a bit of his hair along the way but relocating to Brazil and tangling with the mob there would probably do that to you. Now working as a private contractor, it’s Max’s job to take care of a wealthy family so when one of their members gets kidnapped, Max does what he does best – shoot tons of dudes in the face in highly cinematic ways. New to this series will be the inclusion of multiplayer something we don’t know much about.

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Mass Effect 3 (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Mass Effect 3 will be the final chapter in Commander Shepard’s trilogy as he strives to protect Earth against a massive Reaper invasion. Gameplay in Mass Effect 3 largely stays the same as previous iterations with the noticeable addition of co-operative multiplayer. According to BioWare, co-op in ME3 will also tie into the game’s story line allowing players who’ve completed co-op to experience a more satisfying ending. That being said, it won’t be compulsory to play through co-op before you start the campaign. All eyes are on BioWare for this one especially after the debacle that was Dragon Age II.

Darksiders II (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Darksiders was a brutal action adventure that imbibed a ton of qualities from other more popular games in that genre. Only difference between Darksiders and other God of War or Zelda knockoffs was that this game pulled it off in style making enough money for THQ to sign off on a sequel. This time around, players step into the icy cold boots of Death who’s all set to clear his brother War’s name after he gets wrongfully accused in starting the Apocalypse early. Death will bring his own brand of justice to the table with a new set of weapons, powers and moves. It’s time to fear the Reaper alright.

Hitman: Absolution (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

There are games in which you kill people and then there’s the Hitman series in which you meticulously plan out every kill. Sure you could go in the guns blazing way but that’s not the path taken by a true Assassin who would rather make it look like an accident or frame someone in the process. That’s how Agent 47 rolls anyway, who in his latest game finds himself betrayed by the very same Agency he worked for most of his adult life. Now like any self respecting, revenge seeking assassin, he decides to take them out of the game.

Asura’s Wrath (Xbox360 PS3)

Normally Kratos has my vote for being the angriest videogame character ever but after seeing Asura in action I may have to reconsider. The protagonist from Asura’s Wrath, a new action adventure from developer CyberConnect 2 (in conjunction with Capcom) is so consumed by rage after losing his daughter to a bunch of deities, he’ll even go after people without hands bludgeoning them to death with his head. He’s not even afraid of going up against gigantic statues larger than planet Earth because this man doesn’t know the meaning of fear. Or pain.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Xbox360 PS3)

Unlike the Metal Gear Solid series that’s all about striking from the shadows, Rising largely set out to be an action game in which players control Raiden, the protagonist from Metal Gear Solid 2 who’s now become a cybernetic ninja. Using his speed and sheer power, players can slice and dice their way through enemies and even absorb some of their parts to upgrade their abilities. After developer Platinum Games picked up the reigns of development, the game now sports an over-the-top vibe seen in some of their previous games like Bayonetta and Vanquish.

SSX Deadly Descents (Xbox360 PS3)

EA’s arcady snowboarding series returns after a five year sabbatical with Deadly Descents. The game’s very first trailer sent fans into a tizzy as it looked like the series had ditched its colourful, over-the-top vibe in favour of something more gritty and realistic. This of course wasn’t true and subsequent videos gave gamers a glimpse of the SSX they knew and loved. This time round EA have gone in for an open world design to facilitate seamless gameplay but the focus as always still remains on skiing real fast while pulling off moves you probably could only in a video game.

Spec Ops: The Line (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

A third person tactical shooter at heart, Spec Ops: The Line takes players all the way to Dubai but this isn’t the shopping paradise you’ve seen or visited in the past. Near post-apocalyptic sandstorms have hammered away at this once thriving Emirate reducing it to a ghost of its former extravagant self. As a member of the elite Delta force, players will be sent to Dubai to recover a missing army colonel who remained behind enemy lines. Once there, players will not only have to deal with a cunning and ruthless enemy but they’ll also have to survive constant sandstorms that change the very layout of the land.

Starhawk (PS3)

A spiritual successor of sorts to 2007’s PS3 exclusive Warhawk, Starhawk will once again immerse players in large scale online battles complete with ground, air and infantry combat. New to this series will be the inclusion of quasi RTS mechanics as well as a single player campaign that should familiarize players with gameplay mechanics before they head online. If you wish to try the game out for yourself, make sure you enroll in the public beta that kicks off on the PlayStation Network next week.