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The Games of Gamescom

It's the mid-point of the year actual, the fallout from E3 still being felt and publishers take a deep breath ahead of the winter deluge.

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We've already discussed what the Big Three and others plan to bring to the table. But aside from the happenings behind closed doors and big announcements, there's a huge wealth of titles appearing at the show.

While many make up the avalanche of games falling over the coming months, there's also a few choice picks that are spiralling out to 2012 and beyond. Here's the titles we'll be looking out for.

Battlefield 3

The Games of Gamescom
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Forget the Call of Duty comparisons. EA's title can march onto sales charts on its own merits, offering a army combat markedly different from Infinity Ward's latest stab in the genre.

If Frostbite's graphical capabilities don't impress in rendering a battlefield so real your ears will demand surround sound just to be included in the cinematic spectacle, then a bone-crunching SP and carefully balanced multiplayer will. Roll the Dice and go for something different in your modern warfare hit this year.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Games of Gamescom
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Colourful it may be over Twilight Princess, but the latest Zelda title pulls no punches. Be it one of the creepiest villains we've fought in the series, dungeons that leave us scratching our heads due to new enemies and items, or soaring through the skies in an experience that just might edge out Ocarina's horse-riding, Skyward Sword could well be the finest hour in Nintendo's series.

And we say that knowing full well how sacrilegious that claim seems.

Sonic Generations

The Games of Gamescom

How many times have we said this is Sonic's last chance? Yet for every misstep the hedgehog has taken in the past decade, there's always hope he and Sonic Team would reward our continued faith.

Generations, which trawls three games worth of stages from the original 90s trilogy and updates them with today's visual trickeries may well be the reward. 2D platforming with the original fat-Sonic incarnation appears alongside the 2k version who races through levels that riff on the DS Rush series. This might be the best tag-team of characters we've seen since Tails appeared in Sonic 2.

Gears of War 3

The Games of Gamescom

Multiplayer's been balanced with the issues of the predecessors laid to rest. Single player promises to elevate the threat against the remaining members of Marcus and his squad, and toss in four-player co-op for good measure. The trilogy finisher looks Epic in every sense of the word. We expect no less than a pure burst of testosterone come release.

Super Mario Land 3D

The Games of Gamescom

While we had our doubts when we first played this first appearance of Mario on 3DS (stiff handling, levels that seemed too small and basic compared to Galaxy), that classic Nintendo magic crept through when we jumped through more abstract levels later on, which required pin-point precision on leaps. In Mario we trust - he may be a crap plumber, but the moustached hero hasn't failed yet in delivering the gaming goods.

Uncharted 3

The Games of Gamescom

Before that E3 showing, it was hard to know how Naughty Dog planned to top the excellence that was the second Uncharted. Now, after seeing the epic playable set-piece as Drake attempts to escape from a storm-ravaged and flooding ship, plus having hands-on with the multiplayer beta, we're unsure how any other action adventure this year is going to top Uncharted 3.

Rage

The Games of Gamescom

While post-apocalyptic settings are a dime a dozen these days, its intriguing to see what the the creators of DOOM and Quake make of a Mad Max-style world.

In the wastelands, talk is cheap, fast trigger finger is king, as you're set upon by gangs and mutants in your quest across a sandbox world and to work out how you fit in. It's beautifully rendered, and the upgradable equipment, from mind-control bullets to spider-bots, is a real hook to the already fast-paced gun-fights that are id's speciality.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

The Games of Gamescom

The return of the King of Fist tournament is always celebrated, but Tag 2, sequel to the PS2 launch title, adds an extra tactical edge with cross-ups and combo chains only achieved through strategic swopping of your tag-team roster at the right moments. It'll offer something new to even those that have mastered Tekken 6, and gives Namco its own tag-team fighter alongside Capcom's Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and an alternative to those not fancying Street Fighter X Tekken.

Anno 2070

The Games of Gamescom

What would Gamescom be without a selection of German strategy titles? Anno 2070 fits that description, but still treads unknown territory as the Anno series gets a futuristic entry for the first time. Instead of space and aliens, Related Designs opted for a conflict where the environment and how you deal with is a at the centre. The Anno series has always appealed to patient strategists, and this entry will be no exception.

Diablo III

The Games of Gamescom

Will be out in 2011? We're still clinging on to the ever so slim chance that Blizzard are close to being finished with the game most of us have been waiting a decade for. The latest news to come out of the game includes the fact that we are going to have an internet connection in order to play and that the auction house will use real money. If we were to measure the importance of a title by the length of its lines at Gamescom - Diablo III would be at the top of the list.

Dishonored

The Games of Gamescom

Arkane Studios have been building up quite a stable of games industry veterans to create Dishonored - a game unlike anything you've ever seen before. Drawing comparisons to Deus Ex and Half-Life the game is set in an alternative industrial revolution, where whales are at the core of the new technology. Whalepunk as opposed to Steampunk if you will. Dishonored is without a doubt one of the creative highlights of Gamescom.

Borderlands 2

The Games of Gamescom

Borderlands was a great game, a brilliant concept that Gearbox managed to execute well enough for it to win a legion of fans. For the sequel they aim to take it to another level. Our old characters have been replaced by a new set of wasteland heroes, but the old will remain in game as non-playable characters, and once again at the core of the experience sits the four player co-operative action.

Inversion

The Games of Gamescom

Sabre Interactive, the folks behind Timeshift, return and this time they're out to challenge gravity with Inversion. Not a simple gimmick, controlling gravity can be used in a host of different ways in Inversion and the player is going to unlearn some of what he or she has learnt about third person shooters in the past. An interesting concept.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Just having seen one of the missions in Modern Warfare 3 we already know exactly what to expect from the campaign. Twists and turns, spectacular scenes, explosions and a story that will make your brain melt if you try and keep up with it. But the thing that has us most excited is the multiplayer and the co-operative Spec Ops missions. Survival Mode where one or two players are pitted against endless waves of increasingly difficult enemies is also something to look forward to.

Gamereactor will be at Gamescom all this week. Look out for GRTV interviews with the heavy-hitters each day, as well as all the news and announcements as they happen.

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