The 100 most anticipated games of 2012

90) Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Release: March 20 (NA), March 23 (EU)
Platforms: 360, PS3, PC

Everybody loves to shoot zombies, but most games cast us as Joe Schmo with a shotgun and baseball bat. Operation Raccoon City gives you the chance to take on the shambling horde as a fully equipped spec-ops team on the wrong side of the moral line. Now that sounds like fun – if it works. Resident Evil is trading survival horror for full blown action with this iteration, so we’ll have to wait and see how the change of tone pans out.

89) True Crime: Hong Kong (new title TBD)

Release: Possible 2012
Platform: 360, PS3, PC

Since its announcement a few years back we haven’t heard too much about True Crime: Hong Kong (or whatever it’s being called these days now that Square Enix has replaced Activision as publisher). What we do know, however, is that it’s a return to the True Crime series, which means we’ll be bullet-dodging and shooting out car tires in slow motion, and that’s all we really want in games.

88) Anarchy Reigns

Release: July 3 (NA), July 6 (EU)
Platform: 360, PS3

This game’s title is appropriate, as chaos is the main course. It’s a melee-focused action game, with characters performing ridiculous and gory combos – no surprise coming from Platinum Games, developer of Bayonetta and MadWorld. In fact, Jack from MadWorld is a playable character here, but instead of merely taking down AI he gets to go after other players in eight-person free-for-alls of doom.

87) Soulcalibur V

Release: January 31 (NA), February 3 (EU)
Platforms: 360, PS3

The joys of brawling, bashing, and breaking armor are back. Soulcalibur V reboots segments of its roster to deliver a fresher take on the beloved franchise. Throw in a guest appearance from Ezio Auditore, and you’ve got a good balance of fan service and intrigue. It’s around the corner, but keep an eye out for this one, and our review!

86) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Release: Fall 2012
Platforms: 360, PS3

Transformers: War for Cybertron was proof that a good original Transformers game can be made, and though we enjoyed it, we were even more excited by the promise of its eventual sequel. Fall of Cybertron takes you through the last desperate battle of the Autobots against the Decepticons on their dying homeworld. With favorites like Grimlock joining the cast and hopefully lots of great fan service, this could be the greatest Transformers game ever.

85) Overstrike

Release: Summer 2012
Platforms: 360, PS3

Take co-op action of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, stir in a heaping helping of hammy humor and pulpy action, and you’ve got Insomniac’s latest: Overstrike. The celebrated developer’s first non-Sony-exclusive in 16 years, Overstrike stars a team of four misfits – each with different skills – who must work together to take down a global terrorist group hellbent on eliminating humanity. Based purely on Insomiac’s track record of delivering big fun, this one makes our list, even though we don’t know a heck of a lot about it right now.

84) Metro: Last Light

Release:  Late 2012
Platforms: 360, PS3, PC, Wii U

Metro 2033 was an overlooked gem, hampered by painfully difficult stealth sections and some polish issues, but its creepy, supernatural, post-apocalyptic Russia was pitch perfect. The unusual homebrew weapons and engrossing story went a long way to set it apart from more generic FPSes, and Last Light looks like it’s clung to everything that made the original compelling and then some.

83) Fortnite

Release: Possible 2012
Platform: TBA

Though there aren’t too many details on Epic’s FPS/tower defense/Minecraft game, we’re still pretty sure we’re going to enjoy it. That weird blend of genres alone has us intrigued – especially considering how strong Gears of War 3’s Horde mode was – and we anticipate good things from this strange genre mish-mash.

82) Binary Domain

Release: February 28 (NA), February 24 (EU)
Platforms: 360, PS3

Those that have played the Yakuza games know that the team is capable of great things. As a result, we’re eager to see what the team will do with Binary Domain, a sci-fi third person shooter that’s aiming for a larger market than the relatively niche Yakuza games. Featuring a “Consequence System” that alters the story based on interactions with the characters, and speech recognition software that allows you to control your squadmates via headset, the game’s definitely got our attention.

81) Torchlight II

Release: Likely 2012
Platform: PC

The first Torchlight was essentially an advanced, lighter version of Diablo III, but it lacked one thing: multiplayer. Now, Runic games is working on a bigger, better version of its hack-and-slash adventure, and even though we’re going to have a hard time peeling our hands off of Diablo to play it, we’re still going to make sure we do.