• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale- Oct 23 (PS3, Vita)

There is no hard way to describe Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Have you seen, played or otherwise heard about Super Smash Bros.? It’s that….with Playstation characters. Don’t get me wrong, I am not faulting the game for it because I love Smash Bros. and I am definitely going to be getting this. Of course there are small differences in the gameplay but it is still a four player beat em up. Characters are slowly trickling out leading to the October release and include the likes of: Cole McGrath from Infamous, Jak and Daxter, Kratos and Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal.

• Assassin’s Creed 3- Oct. 30 (360,PS3, Wii U)

Another year, another Assassin’s Creed game. I will admit I played 1 & 2 but after that I just lost interest in running around Italy and Europe caring about what Da Vinci is doing. Ubisoft was dangerously close to turning this into the Tony Hawk of action games. Then the reveal of Asassin’s Creed 3 came and it showed a switch in timeline to the American Revolution and I got excited. And for the better part of the year, every time they have shown new footage I have been more impressed. You will be running from snow tipped treetops and even commanding ship in cannon battles. Ubisoft has said that this game will also be the end to Desmond’s storyline.

• Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation- Oct. 30 (PS Vita)

Finally! A big name game to play on my Vita! A man can only live on so many Minis and old PSP downloads. This side story to AC3 sees you take control of a female assassin in New Orleans and the surrounding swamp lands. It will take full use of all the Vita’s features like the gyroscope and front and rear touchpad. Whether those are used well remains to be seen but I am just glad to have a big title on the Vita. I do have to question Ubisoft releasing this the same day as AC3. It seems like it will just get lost in the big release of AC3 and other games.

• Need For Speed: Most Wanted- Oct. 30 (360, PS3, PC, Vita)

EA has finally done their long running Need For Speed franchise a massive favor by handing over the reigns to Criterion Games, the creators of my favorite racing franchise Burnout. A large open world environment welcomes gamers who will be racing around and evading cops. All info about racing times and takedows, etc. will be loaded automatically to servers and compared to friends in real time. The game is a beauty and seems to keep the spirit of Burnout alive, just in a different package.

• WWE 13- Oct. 30 (360, PS3, Wii)

THQ has fallen on about as hard a times as you can have without completely going out of business. But one bright spot is the resurgence of their WWE license last year. By going back and starting development over from scratch and using a vastly improved physics engine, WWE 12 enjoyed massive sales. Now that THQ has raised the bar it is now their task to try and surpass that and they are hoping to do that with the addition of the Attitude Era. The WWE Legends this year will be Attitude Era stars and allow you to play through storylines and shows set in the good old TV-14 days.

• Halo 4 (360)

Halo 4 is going to be a massive seller this fall. Of that there is no doubt. But even with the millions of guaranteed sold copies that will fly off the shelf this fall this game may be one of the biggest gamble ever for Microsoft. Bungie has left and gone their own way so it is up to 343 Studios to carry on the banner of Master Chief and they have to straddle a thin line of keeping faithful to the original Halo game while trying to blaze a new trail in the Master Chief saga. The first gameplay has looked very good and one can only hope the multiplayer can reach the heights of previous installments.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2- Nov. 13 (360, PS3, PC)

I am the first one to admit that I am not a big Call of Duty fan. I haven’t truly liked a COD game since the first Modern Warfare. I keep praying Activision doesn’t turn this into Tony Hawk but I understand you gotta keep striking while the fire is hot and the COD fire is still burning strong. I will say that I am decidedly intrigued about Black Ops 2. With it’s futuristic take on the franchise, to the script written by David Goyer and music done by Trent Reznor Treyarch is trying to hit the right notes to make me pick this up. And for the COD series, that may be a win.

• Hitman: Absolution- Nov. 20 (360, PS3, PC)

Eidos is becoming the king of bringing back dormant franchises. While about everyone has seen their footage of Tomb Raider, which is due next year, this fall they are bringing Agent 47 out of mothballs for some more garrote wiring fun. The gameplay is not ground breaking but it looks much smoother and forgiving that previous Hitman iterations. I hope this game turns out as good as it’s looking cause Agent 47 should have many more stories to tell.

• Far Cry 3- Dec. 4 (360,PS3,PC)

Far Cry is back and it is going back to the jungle. Leaving behind the African savanna for a setting like the first game will be a welcome addition because while I liked Far Cry 2’s openness I did not like the African setting. The thing that really has me excited is the four player co-op play with it’s own story and set of objectives. And one can assume getting mysterious powers during the game will be a guarantee.

One omission is the Wii U. Since there is no release date confirmed I thought I would give the set games their time. We do know that New Super Mario Bros. Wii U should be a launch title as well as EA just announcing that Madden NFL 13, FIFA 13 and Mass Effect 3 would all be available for the Wii U at launch.

This fall doesn’t look as strong as last year but there are still many quality games to be had including some new IP’s which is a nice breather from the sequels.

Happy gaming everyone!!

[amazon_enhanced asin=”B007XYBUBE” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B002I0GZHW” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SXFKE” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SYLRK” /]
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B007BJNR6C” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SWTAQ” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SWSQQ” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SWR6M” /]
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B0085L2T0A” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0085L2T14″ /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SYX8W” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B007XVTR3K” /]
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B007XVTR5S” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B002I0K50U” /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B002I0H2G0″ /][amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SXX88″ /]
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B0050SYV70″ /]