CHRIS GIANCAMILLI
STAFF WRITER

One of the biggest games of the year, “Mass Effect 3,” was released earlier this month. While this game was released quite early in 2012, this year has some very promising games yet to come.

The “Assassin’s Creed” series has recently been lacking in terms of originality. The past three games have featured the same main character, Ezio, and it’s about time we heard about the next game in the series, “Assassin’s Creed III.” This new game will take place in the bloody days of the American Revolution. Players will control a half-Native American named Connor as they battle their way through the snowy frontier of New England. The new, unique setting is a welcome change from the seemingly overdone city-scapes of Italy.

The first-person shooter “BioShock: Infinite” is also due out toward the end of this year. The latest installment takes place in the dangerous city of Columbia located high in the sky. The new location is bright and vivid as opposed to the dingy Rapture where the previous two games took place. “Bio- Shock: Infinite” features a new device called the skyhook which allows players to quickly zip line from platform to platform. The game promises plenty of strange and exciting secrets much like the series’ previous entries.

Master Chief will be returning this year for more explosive action in “Halo 4.” The Xbox 360 exclusive has changed development teams from Bungie to 343 Industries. Whether or not that is a good thing remains to be seen, but people will be lining up for this one regardless. “Halo 4” will be the first time in five years Master Chief has starred a game. While not much of the plot has been revealed, the game’s online trailers suggest a darker mood than the previous installments.

“Kid Icarus: Uprising” is the first major release for Nintendo’s 3DS system of 2012 which will be arriving in stores on March 23. Steeped in Greek mythology, the game follows a young hero named Pit as he traverses the skies to battle Medusa. This will be the newest “Kid Icarus” game in 20 years, and I’m hoping it lives up to the fame of the original games. The game has two modes: aerial combat and ground combat. Pit will be able to upgrade his weapons and gain new ones throughout his harrowing journey.

Though it is still very early in the year, gamers have the Electronic Entertainment Expo to look forward to in June. You can be sure to hear a lot of new information on the year’s hottest games.