Games of November 2011

Christmas comes early for gamers as November brings with it a plethora of AA games. And here are the best of the lot.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)

Drake doing his thing

The Uncharted series has set the bar for cinematic action and if recent trailers are to be believed, Uncharted 3 may raise it even further. In Drake’s latest adventure, he finds himself treasure hunting across the world along with friend and mentor Sully in search of something called the “Atlantis of the Sands”. In doing so they’ll come across a shadowy organization that dabbles in the occult with rather interesting results. Besides an intense single player campaign, Uncharted 3 will also ship with some interesting multiplayer modes we’ve spoken about in our beta impressions.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Are you ready for World War III?

Recently, the Call of Duty series has become the unanimous scapegoat for franchise milking. People feel the series never bothers with innovation, merely concentrating on raking in the big bucks. And while that is true to a large extent, there’s also no doubt that few games out there can match this Jerry Bruckheimer-esque penchant for balls-to-the-wall gameplay. Modern Warfare 3, as the name suggests, is the direct successor to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the campaign will continue the adventures of Soap MacTavish and John Price who along with some new protagonists must deal with the looming threat of World War III.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Dragons = Badass

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion may have had its share of issues, but there was no doubt that it was one of the most immersive Western RPGs ever made. With Skyrim, developer Bethesda is diving right back into that world, albeit 200 years after the events of Oblivion. While the game’s mechanics largely stay the same, Bethesda are planning on enhancing the game with a bunch of gameplay as well as visual tweaks, the most obvious one being the new in-house engine capable of rendering the game world in stunning detail. And the icing on the cake is, of course, dragons.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Eat my sword. Literally.

Assassin’s Creed started out as an interesting concept that was flawed in execution. Ubisoft quickly learnt from their mistakes and delivered a near perfect open world experience with Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. With Revelation they plan on rounding up Ezio’s trilogy in style. You now have a new city – Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) to run around in, new moves to assassinate people with as well as revamped multiplayer modes that first appeared in Brotherhood.  But perhaps the game’s biggest hook, however, is that Altair, the protagonist from the first game, will make an appearance, although we still don’t know in what capacity.

Saints Row: The Third (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

The Saints come marching in

Saints Row 2 was the anti-Grand Theft Auto IV of 2008. While GTA IV concentrated on a more sober and authentic recreation of life in Liberty City, Saints Row 2 was content with its juvenile humour and over-the-top gameplay, which gamers lapped up immediately. With Saints Row: The Third, developer Volition has expanded on that over-the-top philosophy by leaps and bounds to include even more outrageous gameplay mechanics. How else can you explain a car that sucks people up and shoots them out through a canon mounted on the roof?

Need for Speed: The Run (Xbox360 PS3 PC)

Embark on the run of your life

Need for Speed: The Run has players literally on the run from the cops across the continental US, so this may not be the open-world city-based NFS game we’re used to, but rather a collection of cinematic linear races that play out across a variety of environments around the country. The game is based on the Frostbite 2 engine, so it looks stunning, but it remains to be seen if it will include any of the engine’s signature environmental destruction. It’s nice to see NFS back in familiar territory, but let’s hope this one turns out better than Black Box’s previous effort.

Batman: Arkham City (PC)

You really won't like him when he's angry

The PC version of Batman: Arkham City is essentially the same game that released on consoles last month only it will look significantly better than its console brethren with all the visual bells and whistles that DirectX technology brings with it. And we can’t wait to dive back into Arkham City all over again.

Halo Anniversary (Xbox360)

Master Chief's back

As part of Halo’s ten year anniversary, Microsoft announced Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary at E3 2011. This is an HD remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, Master Chief’s very first adventure on the Xbox and will feature a fully re-mastered campaign, co-op and seven classic MP maps. A must buy for all Halo fans no doubt.