Fans of the first-person shooter genre will no doubt have plenty of ammunition (excuse the pun) to tantalise their cravings for pure gun action in 2012. Aside from the inevitable annual release of Call of Duty, the genre is actually pretty well represented throughout the year, and even heading into 2013 with games like Rainbow Six: Patriots and Crysis 3 primed for a Q1 release, FPS gamers are set for some explosive experiences.
Far Cry 3
Release: September 6, 2012
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Far Cry 3 takes place on a tropical island found somewhere at the intersection of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Ubisoft game designer Daniel Berlin on the game's multiplayer:
The approach was definitely more team play, getting more team play in. It kind of felt like a lot of games, the only team play through action that exists is the fact that I don’t shoot my teammates. We wanted more team play through action going on. The game is very, very not military. I would say the overall theme is survival on a tropical, beautiful island and that is filled with insanity.”
Borderlands 2
Release: September 21, 2012
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Borderlands 2 builds upon the gameplay elements introduced in its predecessor. It is a first-person shooter that includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter".
Returning gameplay features from the first game will include the unique, cartoon-esque cel-shading graphic style, 3-branch skill trees, class-mods, and four-player online cooperative modes
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Release: October 25, 2012
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii U
Warfighter is the direct sequel to 2010's Medal of Honor and will continue the story from the previous game. Players will continue to control Tier 1 Operators through various scenerios, including rescuing hostages in Abu Sayyaf’s stronghold in the Philippines, and assaulting Al-Shabaab’s Pirate Town on the Somali Coast.
Unlike Medal of Honor's multiplayer, which was developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, Danger Close Games will develop its own multiplayer for the game with DICE's Frostbite 2 engine.
Halo 4
Release: Late 2012
Available on: Xbox 360
Halo 4 marks the return of John-117 - the "Master Chief" - as a playable protagonist for the first time since 2007's Halo 3. Developer 343 Industries has described the game as being grand in scope and scale, with the intention to focus more on mystery, discovery and storytelling, rather than simply traditional and straight-forward FPS mechanics like in previous Halo games.
Creative Director, Josh Holmes, says that the team is looking to redeveloper and redefine the armour abilities introduced in Halo: Reach.
“Our design goal was really to dramatically reinvent the Halo multiplayer experience. For us, we really took a hard look at Reach and I think it’s important to note that the way we utilise abilities in this game is very different, much in the way that armour abilities were an evolution of the equipment system in Halo 3. The abilities that we have in our game are an evolution of what we experienced in Reach.”
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Release: 2012
Available on: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Mac
Global Offensive is an objective based multiplayer first person shooter in which each player joins either the Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist team and attempts to complete objectives or eliminate the enemy team. It's in development by Valve Corporation and Hidden Path Entertainment, who also co-developed Counter-Strike: Source.
Are there any other multiplayer FPS games you're excited about in 2012? What about single-player focused games? Tell us your most anticipated FPS games below!
By Gaetano Prestia - Tweet @Gaetano_Prestia