Top 10 Best PS3 Games of 2011

inFAMOUS 2 

InFAMOUS protagonist Cole MacGrath makes a return in this sequel to the original title, also developed by Sucker Punch, and picks up almost right where he left off, battling The Beast in Empire City, and subsequently moving on to New Marais, a city modeled after New Orleans. Like the original, InFAMOUS 2 is in open-world format, but with more attention to detail in Cole's ability to affect objects and landscape elements in his vicinity, as well as the reactions of people to his presence. Melee combat has reportedly undergone a redesign process to make fighting more streamlined, with the added ability to create and use ice as a weapon.

      While all of these points are exciting, the big question here will be how the choice-dependent ending of the first title will affect the opening and plot of the sequel. InFAMOUS 2, perhaps taking a cue from BioWare's Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles, will supposedly feature the ability to import decision data from the previous title, as well as an option for players that either did not play the original, or do not wish to factor their decisions into the sequel (hey, maybe Evil Cole is starting to show some remorse, you never know). Either way, it will be interesting to see how Sucker Punch's method for this concept compares to BioWare's, given that BioWare's has been rather impressive. 

Mass Effect 3 

This highly anticipated chapter of Commander Shepard's story sees Earth invaded by giant machines, which appear to be both sentient and aggressive. The people of Earth and the civilizations of the galaxy must be called to arms to drive them out, or mankind may perish forever.

      With the PS3 port of ME2 out in early 2011, this installment of the series is sure to do particularly well on this console. Decisions from the previous two games can be imported, and will affect gameplay. This will provide added dimensions of deployability, in that players can not only change the course of the game during pivotal moments, but ostensibly start out with a completely different game, based on import data. 

Resistance 3 

This highly anticipated first person shooter represents another chapter in an alternative Earth's struggle against the aggressively invading Chimerans. Picking up in 1957, four years after the events of Resistance 2, a disgraced Joseph Capelli, formerly a sentinel, has returned to Oklahoma to be with his family, only have to live in hiding, with a cluster of other survivors. Dr. Fyodor Malikov shows up with a plan to oust the Chimeran forces once and for all, and enlists Capelli to aid him on this quest, which involves traveling to New York City, and dealing with the fragmented cells of humans in hiding and the aftermath of the Chimeran savagery along the way.

      Gameplay will remain generally consistent with previous titles, although there will be more of a construction element to weaponry, which makes sense, given that resources would be severely depleted by this point. Bombs must be assembled from nails and leftover cans, and in an interesting twist on the typical degradation of weapons, many weapons found in this game are upgradeable and actually become more powerful the more they are used. This would suggest, as it is contrary to most realistic scenarios, that combat is going to be extra difficult. Many of the old weapons will still be available, as well as newer ones which feature enhanced damage, but which come at the cost of splash damage if players linger too closely. It sounds as though Insomniac Games has stuck to a formula that they know will be successful, and not tried to revolutionize too many aspects of gameplay, instead taking the opportunity to play more with types of weaponry and objects within the game. Although a revolutionizing of a series can sometimes be a good thing, many gamers are quite content to simply carry on in a mode that has been proven enjoyable, while pursuing a new story, and by all accounts, this is exactly what we will get with Resistance 3.  

Alice: Madness Returns 

I'm particularly excited about this title, as the Alice mythos never quite seemed to be given its macabre due before the original game. There's something particularly compelling about games (and stories, in general) which take us from a purported real world setting to someplace else entirely, because so many games are set in fictional places to begin with.

      When last we saw Alice, she'd returned from Queensland victorious (sort of), and it was never quite clear whether the entire thing was a guilt-induced hallucination or not, though what the alternative might be is difficult to say. Reported to take up eleven years after Alice has been released from the Rutledge Asylum and into the care of a psychiatrist, Madness Returns sees Alice return to Wonderland, this time in search of familiarity. Of course, she's probably still completely mental, and this brings all sorts of trouble to the land. No details have been revealed as to what shape the madness will take this time, but there are hints (and by hints, I mean tentacles) that the Queen of Hearts is back, duly evidenced by the whispered words, "What have you done?"  

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