I'll admit that I've been too busy to keep up with games properly this year, so my list is going to be mostly speculative and based on me being just generally well- informed about games, how they've been reviewed by people whose opinions I trust, and what I've seen of them.
Assassin's Creed 3 - this one I HAVE played.
On the overall scale of video games, it's an excellent game. The graphics and animation improvements are beautiful, the addition of brachiation is right at home in the controls for the series, naval warfare is frikkin' AWESOME (best thing about the game, easily...except that there's not nearly enough of it), rope dart is nifty for hanging people (completely broken otherwise), and the story, as per usual, is batshit crazy....and will either end up being completely fantastic when all is said and done, or it will get "LOST stupid".
On the scale of Assassin's Creed games, it's.....mediocre.
They removed all challenge from the game by making you
1) slightly too deadly,
2) have regenerating health,
3) making it so that the window for countering is about an hour long and IN SLOW MOTION,
4) your armor can no longer break,
5) you no longer have to stealthily work your way around the city desperately trying to find a doctor before alerted guards spot you again,
6) all of the climbing puzzles where you had to work to reach the peaks of the highest monuments or climb/jump around in the rafters of huge tombs/dungeons/cathedrals/etc to reach treasure have been rendered moot be now you have a GORRAM AUTOPILOT BUTTON that simply finds the paths for you, and makes it impossible to accidentally make a wrong jump....
They removed all sense of personal growth/evolution/progression/accomplishment/discovery from the game by
1) removing your ability to buy new pieces of armor to upgrade yourself, making all weapons available to you in the very first shop you enter, instead of having blacksmiths gain new inventory over time,
2) making all costume dyes, weapons, and items available from all stores everywhere, instead of making you seek out specialists for certain things, and having certain colors/items be exclusively found only in certain locations,
3) from basically the very start of the game you have all of the combat abilities you're ever going to have. You never learn new blocks, counters, attacks, skills, tricks, ANYTHING after Connor becomes an Assassin. The most you get is that you can still buy vaguely better weapons.....most of which are useless to you, since you can buy the best ones right away, and even then the difference between the best and worst is almost imperceptible, due to how mind-bogglingly easy combat has become,
4) the fact that nothing anywhere is inaccessible to Connor, ever. Right off the bat he has all of the movement skills he will ever get. No having to earn the ability to Leap-Jump to reach far away hand holds, no parachutes to safely escape high up areas (ironically, this game is probably better suited to parachutes than any of Ezio's games), no hook blade to catch far-off ledges and rapid climb onto rooftops (again, ironic, since Boston and New York have roofs much further apart than is good for an Assassin's Creed game, so that hook blade extended reach could be damn useful here), no learning to use zip lines to travel the vaaaaast horizontal distances all over New York and Boston, they didn't even have the good sense to let Connor use his snazzy new Rope Darts as grappling hooks to climb buildings, swing in the trees, OR BOARD ENEMY SHIPS DURING NAVAL BATTLES....talk about a missed opportunity....
The world is not properly suited for hosting an Assassin's Creed game. America simply doesn't have the monumental structures to explore/climb, and the towns are entirely too horizontal and spread out to make for proper free running and vertical adventuring.
As you can see, I have a LOT of issues with this game, but as I said, they all only amount to it being a mediocre Assassin's Creed game, which is still enough to make it a fantastic game in general.
And I recommend it to everyone.
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Dishonored (have not played it yet):
Dishonored looks great and looks as tho it combines several of my favorite things - Assassin's Creed, a grim BioShockish world, and steampunk fantasy.
By most accounts it's a very good game, though perhaps a bit short.
I can't imagine this not making it into my games of the year once I play it.
Journey (have not played it yet):
Looks beautiful, love the idea, great reviews, and I really appreciate those games that come up with a new concept and really try something different.
Guild Wars 2 (been watching my brother play it):
Holy shit, that's a pretty game, and it's pretty much the only MMORPG I've ever seen that made me want to play around in it.
Diablo 3 (beat it):
I love Diablo games. It's a cool world, cool designs, cool story, etc etc etc.
Diablo 2:LoD is still way better. That's really D3's biggest downside IMO - it makes me want to play D2! >_<
On its own accord tho, it's a great game. Nothing new or super revolutionary, just super well put together and highly polished.
Walking Dead (not even very familiar with it):
Been hearing great things about this game. Not sure how any format of The Walking Dead could disappoint me.
FTL (have not played yet):
This is one of hose games where I LOVE the idea, but the execution of the idea is maybe not exactly how I would've done it, and, to be honest, it might be the type of game I simply can't muster the concentration to play anymore, much like RPGs and RTSs.
All the same, I really look forward to giving it a try.
Natural Selection 2 (have not played it yet):
I have been waiting for this game for YEARS. I love the hell out of NS. If this really is the modern, improved, sequel to NS that it certainly seems to be...HOLY SHIT! FINALLY!
Seriously, I dunno how this game could not be awesome, unless they seriously messed up some fundamentals.
As soon as someone makes a Space Marines VS Tyranids skin for this game....I may never play any other team vs team shooter again...
Primal Carnage (have not played it yet):
If this game is half as awesome as the videos I've seen for it look....SWEET.
I love class-based shooters, and Left 4 Dead...and dinosaurs.
This game looks like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 combined in a dinosaur format.
I have a hard time seeing how this could go wrong.
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So......yea. Those get my "not always completely informed" votes.
I also hear XCOM is awesome, which intrigues me a bit, but for some reason I can't seem to make myself care.