20 more games to look out for in 2011

wesker joins the cast of Marvel vs Capcom 3: 'Come and have a go if you think you're familiar enough with the revised hyper combo system!'

Yesterday, we scorched through 10 hotly-tipped titles due out in the coming months. Now here's the conluding selection, running from mythical air combat through to amorphous alien invasion.

Kid Icarus Uprising
(Nintendo, 3DS)
Alongside Resident Evil Revelations and Metal Gear Solid 3D, this beautiful-looking third-person shooter, based on an old Nintendo Entertainment System platformer, is set to be a key title in the launch of the Nintendo 3DS this spring. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the man behind Kirby and Super Smash Bros, the game revolves around monster-slaying and aerial dragon combat, with young warrior Pit going up against the forces of the snake-haired mad woman, Medusa. Okay, so the flight shooter is not exactly the world's favourite genre, but Kid Icarus is cute, it's accessible and it's all in glasses-free stereoscopic 3D. 
Release: spring

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
(Nintendo, Wii)
Nintendo's much-loved action RPG series returns, this time utilising the Wii MotionPlus technology to give players intuitive control over Link's sword. Yes, you'll be able to swirl and slash your way through various monsters as the young hero battles his way out of a newly discovered kingdom lying far below his floating home world. This prequel to the great Ocarina of Time also boasts a few interesting gameplay objects like a mechanical beetle that retrieves distant objects, and a whip, and the dappled, impressionistic environments look lovely. There are worries it won't arrive this year, but as its already missed a release slot (Christmas 2010), we'll remain optimistic…
Release: Q4

Mario Sports Mix
(Nintendo, Wii)
No one does multi-event sports games like Nintendo and this bulging package (steady on, this is a family game) looks to be a vintage offering. There are four activities to choose from – hockey, basketball, volleyball and dodgeball – and all star Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom pals. Naturally, power-ups like banana skins and shells are present to upset the balance, and each character has their own special move to call upon. Apparently, it'll also be possible for players to take part as their own Mii avatars – the closest any of us are likely to get to laying up a slamdunk for Luigi. Expect weeks of intuitive family fun.
Release: February 4

Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
(Capcom, PS3, Xbox 360)
It's been a decade since these titans of fictional fisticuffs last stared each other down, and Marvel vs Capcom3 looks set to deliver exactly what we expect when two such tribes go to war: ridiculously histrionic hyper combos, hallucinatory signature moves and backdrops more lusciously colourful than Chun-Li's underwear collection. Capcom is bringing the likes of Wesker, Dante and Chris Redfield, while Marvel has called up Thor, Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America. There's three-on-three tag fighting and a simplified button-mapping option so newcomers can load each button with tasty combinations. It's going to be big, noisy and awesome.
Release: spring

Mass Effect 3
(EA, PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
"If Shepard doesn't bring help soon, there won't be an Earth to save," says some cockney hardnut as giant alien robots stomp all over London. And this moment from the Mass Effect 3 announcement trailer is pretty much all we have to go on about the next instalment in BioWare's unmissable sci-fi RPG series. The only other thing we know is that this is likely to be the final adventure in the series, unless there are any Ashley Williams or Kaidan Alenko spin-offs planned... 
Release: Q4

Modern Warfare 3
(Activision, PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Well, Activision hasn't officially announced it of course and there's always a chance it'll slip to 2012, but we all know it's coming. The "next" instalment in the Call of Duty machine will come from a re-constituted Infinity Ward, stripped of its upper echelon staff. Little else is known, though there are fresh rumours that it'll be a prequel to Modern Warfare, following the character Ghost through his initiation into Task Force 141. Hmm, it sounds vaguely plausible, but I'm not convinced. Less enticing is the possibility that, if Activision is going to introduce a two-tier online multiplayer system with a subscription-based premium option, this could be where it kicks off.
Release: TBC

Okamiden
(Capcom, DS)
Okami was one of the overlooked wonders of the PlayStation 2 era, a beautiful action adventure, with visuals designed to resemble a Japanese ink illustration. The sequel brings back the visual style, and the ability to solve puzzles by drawing certain objects on screen, but this time it puts players in control of Chibiterasu, the son of Amaterasu, the goddess from the original game. Arriving on Earth as a wolf cub, he must battle evil forces with less developed powers than his mother, making for a subtly different experience. Quaint, artful and sure to offer genuine narrative depth. 
Release: March 18

Project Draco (working title)
(Microsoft, Xbox 360)
Few veteran gamers who managed to get their hands on a Sega Saturn console back in the mid-nineties will forget Panzer Dragoon, the fantasy on-rails shooter that did just as much to showcase the wonders of polygonal visuals as anything on the PlayStation launch line-up. One of the original creators of the series, Yukio Futatsugi, is now working on this title, another dragon-riding shooter with luscious visuals. Project Draco is set to be Kinect compatible and, like Kinectimals, will use the camera to create a tactile relationship between the player and his beast – only this time, it's so you can train your pet to be more vicious and deadly in battle. Along with Grasshopper Manufacture's forthcoming horror romp, Codename D, this should be of slightly more interest to veteran gamers than the current Kinect fare.
Release: TBC

Shadows of the Damned
(EA, PS3, Xbox 360)
A leather-clad demon hunter must rescue his girlfriend from the darkest reaches of hell. Yep, it sounds like typical hack-'n-slash horror fare, but this highly stylised gore-'em-up comes from Suda51, the eccentric designer behind No More Heroes, and Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil. We can at least then, expect extravagantly stylised visuals, lashings of black humour and a knowing, tongue-in-cheek exploration of very, very familiar material. A thumping score from Akira Yamaoka, the music director for the Silent Hill series should accentuate the Grand Guignol madness.
Release: TBC

XCOM
(2K Games, PC, Xbox 360)
Fans of the original turn-based strategy games were not exactly ecstatic when 2K Games announced that it would be re-booting the XCOM "franchise" – as a first-person shooter. However, an enthusiastic series of demos at last year's E3 showed that the development team, 2K Marin, is keen on maintaining the classic structure, with players watching a global map to view alien invasion hotspots before sending in groups of FBI agents to battle the extraterrestrial menace and gather evidence. Meanwhile, science and engineering teams research and develop new weapons, using alien technology against the invaders. The fifties styling is an interesting move, aligning the game with the pulp sci-fi movies of that era, but will the amorphous black blobs that attack Earth in this game be as compelling as the various tribes of space maniacs from the first titles? We'll need a close encounter of the review code kind to find out.