Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #2

As it’s still near the start of a new year, new video games are coming out to look forward to. Over the next few days or so I will be listing about seventy games that you should watch out for this year.

Each part will have around nine games that you should look out for. In no particular order.

Read more to see the video games to watch out for in 2013 Part #2.

This part includes the following games:

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Warframe, Tomb Raider, Lego City Undercover, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, BioShock Infinite and HarmoKnight.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS3, PS4 and X360)

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is an upcoming action-adventure open world video game being developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft.It is the sixth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series and a prequel to 2012’s Assassin’s Creed III.

The game will feature three main cities; Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, which reside under Spanish, English and pirate influence respectively.The game will also feature 50 locations to explore.Assassin’s Creed IV will have a more open world feel, with missions similar to those found in Assassin’s Creed, as well as fewer restrictions for the player. The player will encounter jungles, forts, ruins and small villages and the world is being built to allow players much more freedom, such as allowing players to engage, board, and capture passing ships and swimming to nearby beaches in a seamless fashion.In addition, the hunting system has been retained from Assassin’s Creed III, allowing the player to hunt on land, and harpoon in the water.

A new aspect in the game is the ship the player will captain, the Jackdaw. The Jackdaw will be upgradeable throughout the game, as well as having easy access to the ship when needed. In addition, a new underwater component is being added.The player will also have access to a spyglass that will let the player examine details of distant ships, such as their cargo and strength, and help determine if an island still has animals to hunt, treasures or high points to climb. A form of the Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood recruitment system will also return.

Multiplayer will again be available with new settings and game modes. However it will only be land-based.

Real-life individuals that will be encountered include the pirates Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack and Charles Vane.

It is due for release on 29th October 2013 in North America and 1st November 2013 in Europe.

Warframe (PC)

Warframe is a free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter video game, developed by Digital Extremes for Microsoft Windows.

Players control a member of the Tenno, ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves in a war with the Grineer, a race of militarized humans, and the Corpus. The Tenno use advanced armor with unique properties called Warframes.

In Warframe, up to 4 players work together to complete missions such as eliminating enemies or retrieving data from terminals. Players can carry a primary weapon, a secondary weapon and a melee weapon. Players are given experience points for killing enemies and completing missions, which allows them to level up their weapons and armor. Each Warframe has four different abilities that can be unlocked through the progression system. When equipment is leveled up it will unlock mod slots, which can improve or add various stats of weapons and armor, as well as general stat bonuses.

The camera is positioned over the shoulder for third-person shooting, and the player can also jump, sprint, slide, and roll, as well as combine techniques to quickly move throughout the level and avoid enemy fire. Money, ammo, and weapon and armor mods can be found in set locations, such as lockers, as well as dropped by enemies. New weapons and warframes can be purchased in the market, using either credits earned in-game, or platinum purchased via micro transactions.

Maps are generated from pre-built rooms connected together, a method known as Procedural Level creation.

It is due for release in late 2013.

Tomb Raider (PC, PS3 and X360)

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft.It has become the first Tomb Raider game to be given an “M” (Mature) rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and the first Tomb Raider game to be rated “18+” by Pan European Game Information.

Tomb Raider is an open world game that combines action-adventure, (including character progression, skills upgrades, side-quests and craft system), platforming, exploration, and survival mechanics. The game’s campaign last’s between 12 and 15 hours. Along with the main story, players will have the chance to do multiple side quests, explore the island, revisit places, and search for challenge tombs.

There is also a multiplayer mode created by Eidos Montreal.

It is due for release on 5th March 2013 in North America and Europe.

Lego City Undercover (Wii U)

Lego City Undercover is an upcoming sandbox-style action-adventure video game, currently in development by TT Fusion, a division of TT Games. A prequel is also in development for the Nintendo 3DS. Unlike previous Lego titles developed by TT Games, which have been based on various licenses, the game is based on the Lego City brand and is a first Lego game to be published by Nintendorather than an independent publisher such as WB Games or LucasArts.

Taking place in the vast Lego City, players play as an undercover cop named Chase McCain as he goes on the hunt for criminals. Chase has various moves at his disposal, such as swinging across poles and performing wall jumps. He can also gain disguises that give him additional abilities, such as a robber disguise that lets him break locks. Chase can also pilot vehicles such as cars and helicopters and use loose bricks to build various objects. The Wii U GamePad also has various uses, such as a scanner to locate criminals.

Gameplay borrows many elements from the Grand Theft Auto series, however is role-reversed with the player taking on the role of a police officer enforcing the law, rather than a criminal committing crime.The game also includes references to notable Nintendo intellectual properties, such as having the ability to build a Lego warp pipe, and using it to warp similarly to the Super Mario universe warp pipes.

It is due for release on 18th March 2013 in North America and 28th March 2013 in Europe.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U and 3DS)

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a game for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The game features local wireless play and is the first game to support the Circle Pad Pro add-on. The Wii U version features revised HD graphics, full online, local multiplayer, and the ability to import the game progress to the player’s Nintendo 3DS.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate reintroduce the underwater combat that was left out of the Japanese-only sequel to Tri, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. This is the first time that weapons such as the gunlance, bow, hunting horn and dual swords have been featured in underwater combat. The game also introduces G rank, a level above high rank that features a new set of quests, harder monsters and improved weapons and armor. This will be the first time G rank has been present in a Monster Hunter game since Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and the first time for a third generation Monster Hunter title.

It is due for release on 19th March 2013 in North America and 22nd March 2013 in Europe.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (PS3, X360 and Wii U)

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Activision.It is based on The Walking Dead television series, in contrast to the video game by Telltale Games, which is based on the comics. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct acts as a prequel to the TV Series; it is set in the Georgia countryside and focuses on Daryl and Merle Dixon as they make their way to Atlanta during the early days of the zombie apocalypse.

The player assumes the role of Daryl Dixon, who can either fight the walkers or stealthily sneak past them. The player will also meet other uninfected characters along the way, who can either help or damage him.

It is due for release on 19th March 2013 in North America and 22nd March 2013 in Europe.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, known internationally as Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a video game developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS, and is the sequel to the 2001 game Luigi’s Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube.

The gameplay of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is similar to its predecessor. The game focuses on the adventures of Luigi, who is sent by Professor E. Gadd, through teleportation,to explore various haunted mansions (there are five) and capture ghosts using the Poltergust 5000, a specialized vacuum cleaner, which can also be used to gather treasure hidden in various rooms.Clearing the rooms of ghosts awards the player keys, which open access into deeper areas of the mansion.King Boo, who was the main antagonist in Luigi’s Mansion, will also appear in the game, reprising his role as Luigi’s nemesis as he destroys the ghost-pacifying Dark Moon.

To capture a ghost, Luigi must first stun it using his stroboscope. While the original game only required the player to simply shine the light upon the ghost, in Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon the player instead charges the new stroboscope to release an intense burst of light that acts similar to a flashbang. When stunned, the ghost’s hit points are exposed, allowing the player to vacuum and “wrestle” with the ghost to decrease its hit points until it is weak enough to be captured. Luigi can fight up to three ghosts simultaneously, but there is currently work being made in development to allow even more. While the original game utilized the second analog stick on the Nintendo GameCube controller, several of Luigi’s movements can be controlled using either button presses or motion control via the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope and accelerometer.

The game makes use of the Nintendo Network in an online multiplayer mode, in which players take the role of Luigi in different palettes, in order to explore the “ScareScraper” mansion.There are 4 multiplayer player modes revealed so far: Hunter, Rush, Polterpup and Suprise.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is set in a region called “Evershade Valley,” where Professor E. Gadd lives in his laboratory and studies the friendly ghosts residing in the area. The game opens with the shattering of the Dark Moon, an object that hangs above Evershade Valley, which causes the ghosts to suddenly become hostile. Luigi is called by E. Gadd to re-collect the pieces of the Dark Moon, which have been scattered to different mansions, in order to restore peace to Evershade Valley.

It is due for release on 24th March 2013 in North America and 28th March 2013 in Europe.

BioShock Infinite (PS3, X360 and PC)

BioShock Infinite is an upcoming first-person shooter video game and the third installment in the BioShock series. Previously known as “Project Icarus”, it is being developed by Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games but features similar gameplay concepts and themes.

Set in 1912 during the growth of American Exceptionalism, the game’s protagonist, former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, is sent to the floating air-city of Columbia to find a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for the last twelve years. Though Booker rescues Elizabeth, the two are pursued by the city’s warring factions; the nativist and elite Founders that strive to keep the city for pure Americans, and the Vox Populi, a rebel grouping representing the common people. Booker finds Elizabeth to be central to this conflict, and that she also holds strange powers to manipulate rifts in the time-space continuum that ravage Columbia.

The player controls Booker throughout the game, eventually working with the AI-controlled Elizabeth. Like previous BioShock games, the player uses a combination of weapons, gear and psychokinesis granted through vigor with Elizabeth’s own powers to fight off hostile foes and make their way through Columbia. In contrast to the limited spaces of the underwater city of Rapture, the open-air city of Columbia provides for more combat challenges, including combat that takes place aboard the city’s Skyline rollercoaster-like rail system. The game will also feature an optional “1999 Mode”, harkening back to games like System Shock 2 where decisions made by the player will have a more permanent impact on the game, possibly leading the player to an unwinnable situation and requiring a restart from an earlier saved game.

It is due for release on 26th March 2013 in North America and Europe.

HarmoKnight (3DS)

HarmoKnight, known in Japan as Rhythm Hunter: HarmoKnight is a rhythm platformer developed by Game Freak as a downloadable title for the Nintendo 3DS.

A musical planet known as Harmonia suddenly comes under attack by evil monsters known as Noizoids. It is up to a boy named Tempo to beat the Noizoids and restore order to Harmonia.

Players control a boy named Tempo as he travels through automatically scrolling levels. The aim of each level is to gather as many notes as possible, either found throughout the level or earned by hitting enemies and objects. These actions correspond with the rhythm of the music. Many of these levels feature multiple routes which the player can take to achieve a higher score or locate hidden bonuses such as Toris. If Tempo is hit by an enemy or obstacle, he will lose a heart, failing the level if he loses all his hearts or falls down a pit. At the end of each stage, the player will earn a grade based on how many notes they gathered. If the player receives a Great grade on a level, a faster version of that level is unlocked. Some segments will switch control over to other characters, such as Lyra who uses a crossbow and Jinbei who deals with high and low enemies. Levels soon culminate in various boss fights, which require Tempo to repeat actions issued by the enemy. The game also features bonus stages featuring music from the Pokémon series.

It is due for release on 28th March 2013 in North America and Europe.

Source: Information help from Wikipedia.

Previous Part:

• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #1.

Next Part:

• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #3.
• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #4.
• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #5.
• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #6.
• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #7.
• Video Games to Watch Out For in 2013 Part #8.