The 22 games (secret and announced) that will define 2012

Big, safe sequels like Uncharted, FIFA and Modern Warfare dominated 2011, but as PS3 reaches maturity, 2012 should be a year of experimentation.

Devs are more comfortable with the hardware and are continually learning new tricks to create exceptional games. Here are the 20 projects, announced or still secret, that define the year. No filler. Just 2012's most exciting or innovative games.
ASSASSIN'S CREED 3

Format - Multi

Developer Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher Ubisoft

Release Late 2012

Why is it hot? Rejuvenates AC with a new hero and location



With Ezio's story complete, the end of AC Revelations - which sets up Desmond and

Spoiler:

as the heroes - hints at a shift to Ancient Egypt. However, the first game hinted at Japan, so options are open. Our hope is a multi-city, multi-time story, with Ancient Egypt, Victorian London and Revolutionary Paris.

THE LAST GUARDIAN

Format PS3

Developer Team ICO

Publisher Sony

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It's unique, beautiful and will make you cry



TLG focuses on the friendship between a Trico creature and a boy (player). The much-lauded Trico AI is a big part of solving its puzzles, while the beast / boy relationship brings emotional resonance to the story.

GOD OF WAR 4

Format PS3

Developer Sony Santa Monica

Publisher Sony

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's bringing double Kratos to the series



GoW4 was confirmed to PSM3 mid-2011 by a reliable source, and rumours point to a multiplayer twist. Mad idea? Online co-op with a (possibly) dead Kratos and (very) dead brother Deimos teaming up to escape the afterlife.

RESPAWN'S GAME

Format Multi

Developer Respawn Ent.

Publisher EA

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's made by the original Modern Warfare devs



EA's president confirmed it's a 'sci-fi shooter' back at E3, and a blurry teaser screen on the dev's site shows industrial buildings in a lush jungle - like Avatar's Pandora. The ex-Infinity Ward devs are building a new engine for it. Think Battlefield 3 at 60fps.

METAL GEAR SOLID RISING

Format Multi

Developer Kojima Productions, Platinum Games

Publisher Konami

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? You can slice things like a sous chef



MGS stealth fans may find Rising 'hard to get into' says Kojima, but new footage debuted at the VGA awards begs to differ. As ninja Raiden, you slice anything from small objects such as melons to large ones like buildings. Expect hi-speed acrobatics, plus 'cut and take' upgrades from mechs.

TOMB RAIDER

Format Multi

Developer Crystal Dynamics

Publisher Square Enix

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It's a fresh survival horror start for Lara



Inspired by films like The Descent, the new Tomb Raider

will test Lara psychologically and physically as she struggles to survive on a mysterious island.

DISHONERED

Format Multi

Developer Arkane Studios

Publisher Bethesda

Release 2012

Why is it hot? Its whole world reacts to your violence



You can play this revenge story RPG without killing anyone. Or you can be a mass murderer. Either way, the whole game world will react to how you play.

GRAND THEFT AUTO 5

Format Multi

Developer Rockstar North

Publisher Rockstar

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? Rockstar's 'biggest game ever' hits Los Santos with a revolutionary online focus hotly tipped.



GTAV marks a return to Los Santos, with - we believe - a family story, biting economic satire and a big 'game-changing' feature that's hinted at in the debut trailer. Multiple character co-op?

CASTLEVANIA LORDS OF SHADOW 2

Format Multi

Developer Mercury Steam

Publisher Konami

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? Bigger and bolder... with a shock twist



Originally outed by the first game's composer, CLOS2 will dwarf the original in terms of scale and ambition. CLOS's shock conclusion (spoilers) hinted at a present day setting, as Gabriel's story takes a cruel twist...

BIOSHOCK INFINITE

Format Multi

Developer Irrational

Publisher 2K Games

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It's the visually stunning successor to BioShock



No game world looks quite as imaginative and well-realised as BioShock Infinite's Columbia. The floating city, held together by ziplines, offers the potential for intense, fast-moving gunplay, mixed with the series' trademark other-worldly powers. The story will excel too, thanks to the eerily believable relationship between characters Booker and Elizabeth.

PREY 2

Format Multi

Developer Human Head

Publisher Bethesda

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It turns you into an intergalactic bounty-hunter



Mixes the first-person freerunning of Mirror's Edge, the open-world RPG of Deus Ex, and the shooting of, er, any good FPS into one compelling game. In it, you play as Killian Samuels, a man who tracks criminals across a vast alien city called The Bowery. Didn't play the first game? No worries: it's only very loosely connected.

DEAD SPACE 3

Format Multi

Developer Visceral Games

Publisher EA

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's actually cold, as Isaac fights the elements, and himself, to stay alive



EA let its existence slip in a conference call, while an internet leak - spoilers ahead - claims Isaac crash lands on ice planet Tau Volantis, rescues the crew and fights 'the hive mind' - while being stalked by a schizophrenic shadow Isaac. Count us in.

RESIDENT EVIL 6

Format Multi

Developer Capcom

Publisher Capcom

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's set to reinvent the Resi series all over again



Resi producer Jun Takeuchi has plans for 'a completely new system'. We also know it's going back to its roots, with a focus on 'raw terror'. After TGS's fake trailer, expect real news soon.

HALF-LIFE 2 EPISODE 3/HL3

Format Multi

Developer Valve

Publisher Valve/EA

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It concludes the best shooter story ever made



H-L2 Ep 2 ends on a cliffhanger that Ep3 (or Half-Life 3) should resolve. Plot? Early concept art shows the Combine searching Aperture Science's Borealis ship for a 'secret'. Portal tech, perhaps?

DAVID CAGE'S NEW GAME

Format PS3

Developer Quantic Dream

Publisher Sony

Released TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's by the team who made Heavy Rain



David Cage and his team are working on something 'completely different' to Heavy Rain. He's hinted at a story-based World War game, but whatever it turns out to be human interaction will be key.

HALO 4

Format 360

Developer 343 Industries

Publisher Microsoft

Release Nov 2012

Why is it hot? It's made by a developer super-team, and brings back Master Chief



Master Chief is back. Cortana is back. It may have a new dev, 343 Industries, but Halo 4 will feel like a proper Halo game. Expect a new enemy, though.

MASS EFFECT 3

Format Multi

Developer BioWare

Publisher EA

Release March 2012

Why is it hot? It's puts you in the middle of a galactic war



The sheer scale of Mass Effect 3's story, where Shepard will decide the fate of entire races and planets, dwarfs the scope of the original games. And while all the pre-release hype surrounds the improved combat and the controversial inclusion of co-op, the real heart of Mass Effect remains the engaging sci-fi plot where players live out space travelling, alien-sexing, world-saving fantasy. The recent internet leak of the entire script is a shame, but you'd be insane to spoil it. Plus we should finally get to see Tali's lovely - or not -face...

PES 2013

Format Multi

Developer Konami Tokyo

Publisher Konami

Release Oct 2012

Why is it hot? Exciting new tech could challenge FIFA



Konami's game might have been outsold 20:1 by FIFA 12 in the UK (globally, it's much tighter), but PES 2012 made vital critical strides - it leapt to an 80 percent Metacritic score, from 77 for PES 2011. With the core game in great shape, an accompanying visual leap is vital to sway the mass market - and Konami, we hear, have big plans in this area. The spotlight will be on EA's superb FIFA, but this could be the year PES finally gets it right. We've said it before, but... well, a nice shock might await.

DIABLO 3

Format PC, PS3

Developer Blizzard

Publisher Activision

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It brings hardcore co-op to PS3



Ignore Blizzard's "PS3 Diablo is hopeful" talk: it's definitely happening. Think the sprawling fantasy of Skyrim, only darker, played top down, and in co-op. Tellingly, in the PC beta the menu system and controls already feel built for pads.

RYSE

Format Kinect/Next Gen Xbox

Developer Crytek

Publisher Microsoft

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's a proper fighting game for Kinect



Forget cartoon-sports and horrid party games: Ryse offers full-on, gore-soaked Roman combat using Kinect. This Crytek (Crysis) developed project is Xbox exclusive, and looks beautiful. If Crytek can master Kinect's tracking, it'll be brilliant.

ALAN WAKE'S AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

Format XBLA

Developer Remedy

Publisher Microsoft

Release TBC 2012

Why is it hot? It's a full sequel available at an XBLA price



It's an episodic XBLA adventure and Alan's trying to stop a serial killer that others 'wrote into existence'. Refined gameplay, a new setting, and hammy writting. We're into it.

MINECRAFT

Format 360

Developer 4J Studios

Publisher Microsoft

Release 2012

Why is it hot? It lets you build anything with friends



Originally due this year, this build-anything-from-blocks game has slipped to spring 2012. The 360 version has Kinect support, which - in theory - should make the building easier, especially in Survival, where you craft resources to stay alive.

the only thing that really interests me there is diablo 3 and maybe mass effect.

i am actually fairly disapointed with some of the franchises that they are stringing out. wasnt assassins creed meant as a trilogy? how can gameplay change at all with yet another one? both gears, assassins creed, cod and halo have pretty much the same gameplay and button layout on later titles as on the first. agreed they try to add a few extra features but in essence the same game.

i would like to play mass effect to finish the story but hope that they actually end it - the synic in me says they will string this out too.

I don't think Mass Effect will end after the third game but I do think that it will mark the end of Shepard as a protagonist. There is so much potential in some of the locales such as the Citadel or Omega that it is ripe for a spin off - whether it remains an RPG remains to be seen.

Not many on here truly excite me either other than ME3, GTA5 and Bioshock Infinite. I want to get excited about HL3 but want to know whether its another episode or a full blown game first....

Not too much on here to get me excited. Will be interested to see what Diablo turns out like and of course HL3

Gta and me3 for me, although minecraft could be a bit of fun depending. upon price.

Mass effect 3, Halo 4 and and GTA5 are at the top of my 2012 list but im sure there will be others along the way

Forgot to add Borderlands 2 to the list

Fans of Bioshock should also keep a keen eye on Dishonoured and Prey 2 both are looking to have a great narrative while uping the moral choice dilema...