Following on from my top 5 upcoming PC strategy games earlier in the week we now move on to the best FPS games. Once again the list is populated mostly with sequels and established franchises, but hopefully, you’ll find a nice hidden gem you might not yet have known about:
5. ARMA: 3
Arma is back once again; this time with supposed ‘radical’ engine changes. Some of the features you can expect from the new game include giant, beautifully rendered sandbox environments all based on actual geographic data. Strong single-play experiences.
Hopefully, we’ll also get some nice new easier-to-manage user interfaces as they have been a little more complex than they need to be, always focusing on making the tools you have at your disposal as vast as possible.
While not my top pick by far I have to say I loved the past game for its flaws, especially the AI systems that would sometimes work as advertised you’d also have some crazy AI moments that would ruin the game and would provide endless entertainment!
So while the production will be intending on removing these errors I’ll actually miss them, but for a serious gamer, I’m sure you’ll be looking forward to that hardcore realistic experience that Arma has been promising for 3 games now!
4. PREY 2
Now some of you might remember the original Prey from a few years back, coming out not long after the XBOX 360 did, hailed as a groundbreaking game at the time it did seem to quickly fall into obscurity… many years later enters Prey 2, and unlike other sequels, this game is a game-changer. In this sequel, you won’t be playing as the original hero of Prey but as a new character, operating as a bounty hunter.
With this comes a change of pace to the original game as you are very much the hunter in this game, stalking your prey as opposed to being it! The game takes place in an open-world environment allowing you to hunt to your style and progress the story as you like, you’ll even run across the original protagonist of the original game who seems to know you!
It’s clear that Prey 2 will be a very different experience to Prey so should provide a fun time for fans of the original and newcomers alike!
3. BORDERLANDS 2
The original Borderlands became quite the sleep hit when it originally came out with its visual style, quirky humor, and RPG elements, as well as being a ton of fun to play together with others. All the features from the original are being improved ahead of its release this September.
New additions to the game focus on making the game a more challenging experience, AI of enemies has been changed so that you’ll be forced into teamwork more often and enemies now being able to traverse terrain to give chase of you.
The world is also being made to feel more realistic with the world now being filled with NPCs that are friendly for you to come across adding more depth. There are still a few months to polish the game more and maybe add a new feature or two.. the developers Gearbox have quite a reputation for honoring fan requests so we may get some nice little Easter eggs waiting for us on release, let’s just hope we don’t have another delay.
2. HAWKEN
Hawken is a mech-based FPS game with a heavy multi-player focus. Developed by a team of fewer than 10 people progress was shown up on youtube after the first year in development, with beta registration just beginning later in the year this is truly a game to behold.
While I doubt there will be much in the way of single-player modes it really seems to have captured the feel of what it’s like to pilot a giant walking mech, FPS fans should be right at home here with anyone else who loves shows like Gundam Wing or even Front Mission and Armoured Core fans will find themselves warming to what we’ve seen of this game so far.
With it not being released to play until December we still have quite a wait but it’s certainly worth it as its set to be quite an experience in itself, that’s even before you take in the technical achievement of how stunning the game looks given its development time and team size!
1. COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE
Valve is back once again with a new Counter-Strike for us and while you may or may not know that this game started off as a port of Counter-Strike for the 360. Valve stepped in and decided to make it into a brand-new game across all major consoles. But you are here for the PC version, I know. but you’ll be playing online with PS3 players when you get the final game in your hands.
While the game won’t be a major overhaul we can expect to see new weapons and modes for the game, one new weapon, in particular, is the Molotov cocktail, which will let you cover small areas with fire, causing big damage to anyone trying to run through.
While we are expecting an earlier 2012 release for this game valve has had the game in beta for a number of months already and will only end the Beta and release the game when they feel its actually ready in the eyes of the players, so depending on the state of it now take release dates with a pinch of salt. but it’s clear that this game matters to them and they want it at its best; it’s what all developers should be aiming for.
