Opinion// Dan's Dares - 2013 - Gears Up for War

We’ve given you our ‘Games of the year’ for 2012, so now let’s have a think about what 2013 has in store for us.
 
I’d like to start this very honestly; I’ve paid minimal attention to the release schedule of 2013. That’s okay though, don’t worry your little heads; because I work for SPOnG, I get access to top secret databases containing upcoming titles, release dates and other such valuable information. (What I mean by that, is I clicked on the ‘Coming Soon’ link on SPOnG.com).
 
So now I’ve got this long list of game releases in front of me, and my first thought is: What the fuck is ‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’? What? Do stars have fists now? And who’s Ken? Why is he angry? Was he angry in the first title? I just don’t know, and frankly, I didn’t pay enough attention to find out.
 
Looking at the more sought after titles, the start of 2013 gets very interesting. I’ve always been a fan of slicing up demons and somehow floating in the air while firing my twin pistols Ebony and Ivory in the Devil May Cry series, and this year, we get to have a play with Ninja Theory’s reboot. Mark’s preview would suggest that it’s good for people who have never played DmC before, but what of existing fans? Are we going to take to it as kindly?
 
Looking down the list, we have some other big titles; Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, GRID 2, Tomb Raider... the list goes on. None of these are screaming out to me though. And yeah, I know some of you are going to be all ‘BUT IT’S METAL GEAR WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT’, but hush, whose feature is this?
 
There really are only two games that stand out to me. Yes they’re typical, yes they’re both part of existing series’, and yes, they will (hopefully) be brilliant. The games I’m talking about are of course Bioshock: Infinite and Gears of War: Judgement (that’s right, GTA V isn’t even getting a mention).
 
Now, if you scour through the pages of SPOnG.com frequently, it’s probable that you’ll have seen the first five minutes of Bioshock. If you haven’t, well, aren’t I kind, you can watch it here. Take Five while everyone catches up…
 
And welcome back. Wasn’t that something? I mean, I can’t be the only one that’s eager to know why our protagonist is being shot upwards in some sort of lighthouse chair rocket, can I? In all honesty, that’s all I really know about Infinite… we’ll just have to wait and see.
 
Before I continue, I feel as though I should make a confession to those of you who don’t personally know me. I’m like a kid in a sweets shop when it comes to GoW. I just can’t get enough. The story is amazing, the gameplay is second to none, the cover system actually works (I don’t like cover systems, usually). The characters, the empathy, the locust/lambent design – Everything is just perfect.
 
Anyway, I went off on a bit of a tangent there didn’t I? Basically, I really like Gears of War as a whole. Judgement is just around the corner, and from the sounds of Overrun mode, it has a lot to offer!

Overrun introduces a ‘class-system’ to Gears of War - something that we haven’t seen to present. As for the story mode, we’re going back in time 14 years before the first Gears of War game – two weeks after E-Day (Emergence Day – the day the Locust Horde emerged from underground and launched an all-out attack on every major human city). Damon Baird will be our main protagonist as the leader of Kilo Squad.
 
So, that’s it! The two games that have my attention this year are Bioshock: Infinite, and Gears of War: Judgement. There are plenty of AAA games being released to grab almost everyone’s attention, but if you like to think of yourself as a hipster of gaming, there’s plenty of simulations out there!
 
And yes... I did just write an article on ‘The games of 2013’ without mentioning CoD, deal with it.