PC Gaming 2012: The Top Reasons To Upgrade
The days of having to upgrade a home computer every two years to keep pace with the rapid ascent of gaming complexity are long since over. The last major release to really demand an upgrade was 2007’s Crysis, though this year’s Battlefield 3 may have encouraged some to take the plunge. If you’re still holding out, 2012 is going to be another explosive year for PC gaming. Here are the games that may make you upgrade this year:
Diablo III
The list of games exclusive to the PC seems to get shorter every year. And whilst Blizzard has talked up trying to find a way to bring its games satisfactorily to the consoles, they’re yet to uncover anything yet. Years in the making, Diablo III feels like a thoroughbred PC game, one that will look fantastic if you throw enough computing power at it, but will nonetheless be quite playable on a cheap desktop pc.
Diablo III has taken long enough to get here, that many longtime gamers will have actually missed the original games – it has been over a decade since the second game was released. For the uninitiated, Diablo III is an isometric perspective dungeon crawler. It offers fast paced gameplay featuring a strong multiplayer mode with an unlimited number of quests and randomly generated levels. The 17 million who purchased Diablo II probably weren’t wrong.
Bioshock Infinite
There are a lot of great games coming out next year, and many will have PC versions that will be considered definitive. This list could name any of them: Mass Effect 3, Syndicate, Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, Borderlands 2, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Prey 2, Far Cry 3 and so forth. Instead, I’m going to go with Bioshock Infinite. Mass Effect 3 is the game I’m probably most excited about, and like Bioshock Infinite steps have been taken further and further away from the purely PC experience of their forebears (Bioware’s top-down RPGs and Irrational’s ‘System Shock 2’ particularly).
Yet Bioshock Infinite will be the more immersive experience, densely packed with philosophies and socio-political discussion. Regardless of how much better the game will look and run on a top of the line PC, there’s a lot to be said for experiencing a game like this at a desk, rather than on the Sofa.
Metro: Last Light
With S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer GSC Game World six feet under, Metro: Last Light seems like your best option for depressing Eastern European visions of the apocalypse. The first game, Metro 2033, was really rather good so we’re expecting similar things from the next one too: a bleak, horror-filled world where ammunition is scarce and the environment is another enemy.
Last Light will also be one of those games where the PC version won’t just be slightly better, it’ll have been the leading platform for the duration of development. Oftentimes when that’s the case, the console versions end up getting a lot less attention than they deserve. The PC will probably be the only real option here, especially as even the last title was described as ‘a love letter to PC gamers’.
Valve Software’s Anything
Not wishing to sound desperate, but it wouldn’t be a year in PC gaming if people weren’t anticipating some title or other from Valve Software. We’re already expecting DOTA 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive from them next year… anticipation will be high for both, considering the popularity of their predecessors. But let’s be honest, it’s going to be a nowhere year for Valve unless they finally tell us what’s happening with the next Half-Life, whether it’s called ‘Half-Life 3’ or not.
Still, Valve as a business entity is always keeping PC gaming afloat to a great degree. It cannot hurt to have a good PC around to have cut-price, graphically superior versions of most console games, and then for some oddities from independent studios: the remake of Half-Life 2 mod ‘Dear Esther’ that is coming in February simply wouldn’t be possible without the platform.
About the Author:
Steph Wood has been a life-long PC gamer and is currently writing on behalf of Novatech, a UK based retailer where you can buy computer components to build the ultimate machine.
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There are always some interesting games each year, and I try not to get too excited as my personal time is limited. Many years ago I played Diablo, and then Diablo II for countless hours, but unfortunately, as much as I'd also like to devote that time to Diablo III, I can't see it happening. At the moment, I'll stick to Skyrim.
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