Features// 2011 Hit List: The Sequels

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii) - Q2
Link’s adventures always get us excited, as does anything overseen by the mighty Shigeru Miyamoto. Skyward Sword is the first canon Zelda game created with the Wii’s motion controls in mind - the Wii Remote and Nunchuk are used as your sword and shield, while different gestures control various items in your inventory. It’s looking incredibly colourful and has hints of The Wind Waker’s graphical style to boot - which is a great thing in our book.

DiRT 3 (PS3, 360, PC) - September
The sad passing of racing legend Colin McRae aside, DiRT 3 is looking like a fantastic off-road rally game in its own right. As you’d expect there’ll be more cars, locations, routes and events than we’ve ever seen in the series to date, but there’ll also be the return of the professional career mode that will test your skill levels to the limit. You’ll start at the top of your game in the career, and work your way through various events and eventually compete in the Gymkhana-style showpiece events to really show off what you have. This will be a must for the rally enthusiast.

Forza Motorsport 4 (360) - October
Forza Motorsport has been a consistently impressive series of driving simulation games for the Xbox 360, and this new iteration will no doubt improve on both the intricacies of the cars and racing mechanics. The last game was simple, elegant and accessible enough for novices to enjoy alongside proper petrolheads, and it contained a truckload of content - we’re not sure there’s enough time in the day to complete all of those events! We’re very keen to see how Turn 10 are going to improve on this, while competing with Gran Turismo 5 at the same time.

Batman: Arkham City (PS3, 360, PC) - Q3
Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum was one of the big surprises of 2009 - a license-based game that was fantastic. Arkham City will have you endure a similar pain as the caped crusader in Gotham as you did when you were locked in a mental institute with the Joker. Stealth and predator tactics will win the day over the escaped convicts that roam the streets. Best thing though? Facing off against Two-Face and Mr. Freeze. This is going to be a rollercoaster ride through the best of Batman’s history.

Gears of War 3 (360) - Q4
Boomer! Gears of War 3 concludes the epic Epic epic of Marcus Fenix and his Delta team as they take a desperate final stand against the total extinction of humanity. It won’t just be a sausagefest either, as three female characters will be playable in Anya Stroud, Samantha Byrne and Bernadette Mataki. As you fight off the mutated Lambent horde, there’ll be new weapons in a double-barrelled shotgun and a Digger Launcher. The multiplayer mode - both competitively and co-operatively - is going to be one of the year’s gaming highlights.

Mass Effect 3 (PS3, 360, PC) - Q4
Bioware’s epic space opera comes to a close in Mass Effect 3, but we have no doubts that it will all go out with a big bang. From the teaser trailer unveiled at last year’s VGAs it’s clear that the fight with the Reapers will be brought back home to Earth - London, in fact. As Commander Shepard, you have to rally help from across the galaxy and make it back in time to see off the mechanical threat. As before, everything you’ve done in Mass Effect 2 will be carried over to this explosive finale.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3) - Q4
This is our reward for surviving the awesomeness that will be 2011. Naughty Dog has got the cinematic gameplay experience down to an incredibly fine art, with Nathan Drake’s last adventure arguably being the best game of 2009. This time around the multiplayer mode will be beefed up, we will learn more about Drake’s family past and we will get to see Naughty Dog’s technical excellence in action once more in a desert environment.

There are so many more games that we’re looking forward to just as much but don’t have any more room to talk about them - creepy FPS F.E.A.R. 3, the glorious return of our gory Mortal Kombat, the epic Diablo III, David Jaffe’s mental Twisted Metal and Insomniac’s alien smackdown in Resistance 3. What sequels are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the forum below - next we will be taking a look at original IP that you need to look out for this year.