Action

It’s been about half a dozen years since the release of Hitman: Blood Money in 2006. Since then, fans of the franchise have been impatiently waiting for the next installment of the series. At long last, Agent 47 made his impressive return in 2012 with Hitman: Absolution. Unfortunately, there are a few noticeable flaws here and there but I can assure you, the game has been well worth the wait.

Assassin’s Creed 3 continue the story of Desmond Miles, a now fully fledged assassin, whose aim of saving the world from destruction at the hands of mysterious forces has taken him to new depths. As Desmond and his team, now including his own father, continue to evade the Templar’s, he must return to the Animus and meet yet another of his ancestors, Connor. Through Connor’s own journey Desmond will find out where his leads, which may ultimately lead him to victory.

Dead Space 3 brings a lot to the franchise that has had long-time fans hesitant in their purchase. Trailers and the demo seem to show a game not so much survival horror as third person action, more like Gears of War than Dead Space. In an industry not generally interested in scaring those that want to be scared, major franchises dropping the horror element that made them big is a problem for many, but does that mean that action and horror aren’t at all compatible? Dead Space 3 proves that you can have your cake and eat it too, and that first impressions ...

If you talk to gamers who have followed the Tekken series for a long time, chances are they’ll tell you that it has been on an up and down ride. The fighting mechanics have stayed solid for the most part, but the experience from the last few Tekken games has been a bit underwhelming, especially when utilizing the potential of the great 3D fighting engine. Now fans and newcomers will be happy to know that Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the latest installment of the Tekken series, has brought the franchise back to its glory days with a great combination of fighting ...

The Far Cry series began life with the Crytek-developed PC title, Far Cry. Positively received on release, the original game cast the mold for the sandbox-shooter franchise and though development since that first game has been handled by Ubisoft Montreal, the second instalment received similar praise. Now, Far Cry 3 has arrived with the aim of continuing the series’ success, and fans will be pleased to hear that it doesn’t disappoint.

Chivalry Medieval Warfare released at the end of last year as a surprisingly good sword- fighting game from an independent studio. It successfully captured the finesse and brutality of hand-to-hand combat in the middle ages, but it had a few clear flaws. The handful of maps and game modes grew repetitive, and highly-skilled players often found themselves besieged by swarms of button mashers. The developer, Torn Banner Studios has released a large, free patch to correct some of these problems and now Chivalry has gone from a good game to a great one.

Bungie’s involvement with the Halo universe is no more. The longtime developer of the FPS that breathed new life into consoles, shooters and hell, let’s just say it—online gaming—is off to next-gen pastures leaving developer 343 Industries to continue Master Chief’s tale with a new series known as The Reclaimer Trilogy.

Stealth games are an odd sort. Numerous titles these days feature at least some sort of stealth mechanic, but most of them don't use the concept of “stealth” as the primary gameplay element. In recent years, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dishonored served as examples of developers longing to bring back the stealth genre that was so popular at the turn of the century. While both titles were fine games, to me they still felt a bit lacking in terms of stealth mainly due to the fact both games featured numerous other styles of gameplay which rendered some of the ...

Having received over 50 E3 awards globally, Dishonored has surpassed all expectations and even managed to snag Spike TV’s Video Game Award for ‘Best Action Adventure Game of 2012’ as well as IGN’s award for ‘Best Overall Action Game of 2012’. Hosting a unique water color art style and played from a first-person perspective, this unparalleled experience is meant to be tailored to each player’s preferences and moral compass.

Dishonored came out of nowhere to become the surprise hit of 2012. As a new IP developed by the relatively unknown studio, Dishonored's chances of scoring big with both critics and gamers seemed low. However, through a combination of inventive gameplay mechanics, and a very original setting, the game has managed to prove that innovation is still alive and thriving in big-budget game development.