Top 5 PC Games of 2012

Firefall

Red 5 Studios' Firefall is one of the most exciting shooters in development. A free-to-play online game, Firefall lets you switch between several classes that fulfill roles like long-ranged damage, healing and turret fire support to engage in player versus player and player versus environment battles. It'll feature persistent elements and plenty of ways to customize your fighter, and based on what's been shown off so far, could wind up in contention for best shooter of the year when it launches. The Borderlands-style visuals and jetpacks certainly don't hurt Firefall's appeal. Though the emphasis is on shooting things, story isn't being ignored, as Ender's Game author Orson Scott Card is working on the fiction.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pi-NxUU2TQ

PREY 2

Human Head Studios leaves behind the squishy alien corridors and gravity flipping of the original Prey, along with quite a bit more. Prey 2 is still a first-person shooter, but original's protagonist Tommy is no longer the playable character. Instead you play as U.S. Marshall Killian Samuels, who gets ripped from Earth and dropped on an alien planet called Exodus. This is not a linear shooter; Samuels will roam Blade Runner-esque futuristic cityscapes as an intergalactic bounty hunter, amassing powerful weapons and gadgets to take on quests and capture targets in an open-world format. It's quite a shift from the original, and based on what Human Head has so far shown off, looks like it's a move in the right direction. In an interesting twist, Human Head also completely scrapped the multiplayer mode to focus on producing a lengthy single-player component instead. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVCfo6CLkb0

TERA

Tired of clicking on a target in MMOs and watching while your character's auto-attack whittles down the enemy's health bar? You should be looking forward to Tera. Bluehole Studio's game is structured like a standard MMO with dungeon content, quests and progression structures, but it plays like a third-person action game. Positioning and movement are of critical importance, as you can simply dodge out of the way of enemy attacks. Just because an enemy has targeted you doesn't mean it can magically start hitting you. If its axe doesn't make contact with your character model, you don't take damage. It makes for especially challenging dungeon content, and should hopefully make standard fights against common monsters a lot more interesting than hitting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 over and over again. It's also a visually striking game, which hopefully runs smoothly when it's finally ready for launch in North America.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr6L7O-uyB4

 

  

 

BORDERLANDS 2

Loot games are going to be a big deal in 2012, and Borderlands 2 is part of the reason why. Gearbox's shooter franchise blends the obsessive item hunting of Diablo with fast-paced first-person shooting. Every time you fire at enemies damage numbers explode then guns and equipment shower out of their corpses. You equip the gear, power up your character, then head into battle to do it all again, only more efficiently. Borderlands 2 will feature four character classes, including a dual-wielding Gunzerker and a reworked version of the Siren class from the first Borderlands. With a greater emphasis on story, humor and better co-operative play, chances are Borderlands 2 could wind up being one of the year's most entertaining experiences.  

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCOoQIDrt0

 XCOM:Enemy unknown

2012 started off strong with a surprise announcement of a new XCOM game from Firaxis. Titled Enemy Unknown, this version of XCOM is built in the style of the 1994 original. This isn't so much a remake as it is a reworking of the original formula. Combat still takes place in a turn-based format, but the gameplay systems will be altered somewhat along with the interface to make the title playable on consoles as well as PCs. Between sessions of turn-based combat the gameplay shifts to real-time as you manage research, upgrade your soldiers and send out craft after invading UFOs. Firaxis is a great fit, and we're all hoping for a glorious return to form for a franchise that has been out of the spotlight for far too long. Keep in mind there are actually two XCOM games in development at the moment, the other being the XCOM shooter 2K Marin is working on. Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown is scheduled to be released this fall. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89bPTE-v3lY