Join me, listening in to the chatter and identifying the blips on the game detecting radar. In this regular posting I’ll try and pin down what games I’m looking forward to and why – where possible I will follow it up with another series down the line whereby I will attempt to review or update on games. Now hush, and let us focus on the scanner…

Planetside 2

This game briefly cropped up a few months ago, but quickly dropped back off, only now to reappear as an object of grandiose scale. Large worlds, which from my initial views are open and immensely traversable, vehicular and infantry combat… and most impressively, gorgeous night-time combat. All for no monies, at least once its released, its still fairly early in development – but already displays incredibly polish.

Firefall

Sticking with the night-time theme, the day-night cycle in Firefall has been tweaked and the nights are similarly to Planetside 2, almost pitch-black. Equipped with a flashlight, it has a very Starship Troopers vibe to it when defending thumpers or exploring. Once again free to play and something to keep an eye on.

Torchlight II

While much of the hype is about Diablo 3 currently, Torchlight II is looking like a really good contender – especially if you take issue with always-online and a lack of LAN play and hefty release date pricing. Early suggestions are that the world is generated nearly in its entirety, besides the hub towns and quest areas; so every playthrough should be nearly unique to you and feel different much of the time – rather than repeating old tracks.

Project Cars

Another game which has been on the edge of the radar, zipping about. Project Cars is being made by the same studio who did the two Shift games from the Need For Speed series, a good series of games which rivalled that of Codemaster’s GRID. Certainly making this a development worth keeping an eye on for racing fans.

Aliens: Colonial Marines

This one is really quite quick, quick appearances and long hidden – we expect it remains below radar purposefully, methodically and creepily. The main appeal from this game is co-operative gaming, hopefully done right; Aliens versus Predator (2010) while beautiful proved lacklustre in its co-operative offering, often proving more frustrating than fun or an exercise in back-pedalling. So the prospect of having a drop-in/out co-op campaign is a wonderful one.