The 100 most anticipated games of 2011

40 - Catherine (PS3, 360)

An erotic fantasy gone awry, Catherine stars a 30-something salaryman named Vincent who's seduced away from his same-aged, marriage-eager girlfriend Katherine by a mysterious younger girl named Catherine. It looks like a more adult version Persona, which makes sense because it's developed by the same team at Atlus. And while we love Persona's demonic emo teenager stylings, Catherine's grown-up feel is a welcome departure from the usual JRPG high school drama. Atlus, announce Catherine for the US already!

39 - Stacking (XBLA, PSN)

After the sweet sugar rush of nostalgia that was Costume Quest, we'll buy any and all DLC that Double Fine – Tim Schafer's development company / idea factory – chooses to grace us with. Which is an easy statement to make when the next one looks as spectacularly original as Stacking, an identity-swap puzzle game starring 1930s Russian dolls.

38 - XCOM (360, PC)

A lot of X-COM fans cried foul at this reboot, which re-imagines the classic alien-hunting strategy games as a first-person shooter starring 1950s FBI agents. Much as we miss the old X-COM, though, the unhyphenated reboot – which features cool alien technology, strange phenomena and  a distinctly creepy, investigate-the-unknown horror vibe – looks really interesting independent of its title.

37 - Forza Motorsport 4 (360)

With Gran Tursimo 5 sadly failing to live up to its astronomical expectations, the stage is set for Forza Motorsport 4 to step up and try to snatch the crown from Polyphony Digital. While little has been seen aside from the teaser trailer, FM4 will feature Kinect functionality and the (admittedly inferior) Top Gear US.

36 - Resistance 3 (PS3)

Painting a hopelessly bleak picture, Resistance 3 begins with its alternate-history America overrun by the Chimera and mostly lost to humanity. Apparently shifting its tone from war to survival, it’ll follow one Joseph Capelli as he tries to make his way across the devastated countryside to New York City, gunning down Chimera with an arsenal that mixes the series’ traditional sci-fi weapons with low-tech improvised ones.

35 - Twisted Metal (PS3)

The series that defined car-combat is due for a triumphant return sometime this year, and with series creator David Jaffe back at its helm, we expect great things. A little less focused on story and single-player action than previous TMs, the new outing centers around teams of automotive psychopaths ripping it up (as always) in big, city-shaped arenas.

34 - Child of Eden (360)

With Dance Central in the rear view, Child of Eden remains the Kinect’s last glimmer of hadrcore hope amidst a sea of games starring skateboarding pets and Pilates instructors (Go ahead and skim to see if we included Kinectalloons, we’ll wait.) If it looks a lot like Rez to you, then give yourself a Gold Gamer Star, because it’s being brought to you by the same dude: Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

33 - Homefront (PS3, 360, PC)

The more we see of Homefront, the more interesting it looks, thanks largely to the efforts of Red Dawn screenwriter John Milius. Homefront crafts a fascinatingly bleak, brutal story about an America brought to its knees by a unified (and totalitarian) Korea, potentially becoming much more than just another paranoid, gung-ho shooter in the process.

32 - inFamous 2 (PS3)

Aside from the kerfuffle about protagonist Cole’s appearance, this second free-roaming superhero adventure – set in an analogue of New Orleans – has been shaping up extremely well. Expect improved combat, a more diverse city, plenty of super-powered monsters to fight and no lame loss of Cole’s powers to set players back to square one.

31 - Tomb Raider (PS3, 360, PC)

Those shots of Lara Croft looking filthy and beaten aren’t just titillating torture porn, people. Hitting the reset button finds Lara fresh out of the Indiana Jones Academy and stranded in the wilderness. With no weapons or gadgets, she’s forced to survive starting with her physical ability, then collecting and combining items to create new tools in order to complete her Tomb Internship.