This year’s E3 had a lot to offer, from some new hardware to a ton of great software. We saw a lot of things and got a lot of hands on time while talking to a lot of producers and we were left with a lot of excitement. Given how much good stuff there was I thought I would put together a list of the games I am most looking forward to that we saw and experienced at E3. Standard list rules apply here, these are just my preferences and the games I am most looking forward to personally. The order is a bit fluid too as depending on when you talk to me I might be more amped about one or the other at the time. These are also not the only cool games at the show but again just my personal favorites and all of them are games I plan to pick up upon release. So if you want to bitch about it and call me names for the list then take your whiny fanboy shit elsewhere. Now, without further adieu…

10. Deus Ex Human Revolution: While I wasn’t a huge, die-hard Deus Ex fan I am very much a fan of cyberpunk and at this point Deus Ex is the best game in town. We didn’t get hands on but we talked to someone who worked on the game and after that conversation I felt a lot better about the game. It sounds like it has just about everything I want from a more strategy based shooter and it gives the player lots of options on how to proceed. One of my biggest issues with the average FPS is that often times you are limited to solely to maneuvering tactics. In Deus Ex, as in previous titles in the series, you can go through the game however you’d like be it stealthy, guns blazing or some other way I don’t know about yet. The graphics are nice but the demos seemed to have lower fidelity than what the released videos and screen captures have shown but that might just be the demo. Either way it still looks nice and offers a lot by way of gameplay.

9. Silent Hill Downpour: It has been rough times for the Silent Hill series for awhile and that is too bad because when a Silent Hill game succeeds it is incredible. Judging from what we saw and heard at E3, which you can check out here, Downpour may very well be getting the series back on track. The art style looks like it has nailed the ambiance properly and the gameplay is back to the series’s roots with an emphasis on found and destructible weapons that degrade over time to give the player a sense of creeping fear that you just aren’t prepared enough. The water element in the game is very well thought out and seems to be implemented in an organic way to really bring out the tension and growing uneasiness. Only time will tell with this game but it is easily going on the pre-order list for me.

8. The Darkness II: The first Darkness game was a pleasant surprise for me. The gunplay was fun, the light and dark mechanics were compelling and the Darkness powers were interesting and fun to play around with. Also, Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More (and many, many others) aka my favorite band ever, provided the voice of the Darkness. There was also a compelling story going on that excited me as well. The upcoming sequel looks to do more of the same with some extra juice and I am definitely down with that. The light and dark mechanic is still here although it seems like the implementation will be a little different and more challenging. You can essential triple and quadruple wield thanks to your Darkness tentacles which opens up your offensive options quite a bit. The gore looks to be ratched up as will with context sensitive kills that made the demo audience squirm. The art style looks spot on and the lighting effects are predictably top notch. I am expecting pretty great things from this one. Check out some screen shots and the gameplay trailer.

7.Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City: Operation Raccoon City is a bit of an alternate universe title or at the very least a ‘Let’s see what it’s like as the bad guys’ scenario that takes place during the first three games with the player taking on the role of one of the members of an elite wetworks team sent to clean out survivors after the zombie apocalypse takes the city. The player can choose what character to play out of the whole team, each with different and unique skills and abilities and is then tasked with assignments throughout the city. In the demo you are looking to take down survivor Leon S Kennedy and you pick up his trail at the very beginning of Resident Evil 2. One of the things that makes this look so cool is that while you are carrying out your objectives there are still zombies around that you have to deal with as well as other strike teams trying to save people and B.O.W.s like Hunters and Lickers running around that will ruin your shit every bit as fast as a commando with a machine gun. If you get too injured and start to bleed then you are going to be the target of a zombie feeding frenzy and have them gunning for you particularly. This is a great tactic to use against opponents as well both online and off.

6.Dead Island: After that reveal trailer I don’t know very many people who weren’t interested in Dead Island. After getting hands on time with the game at E3 I am even more excited. A cross between Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead, Dead Island also has a liberal helping of RPG tossed into the mix. The rep we spoke to was curiously silent for a title set to release in September but if the demo I played at E3 is any indication, Dead Island will live up to its trailer in spades. For a more complete preview click here.

5.Assassin’s Creed: Revelations: You know that a season is packed when the new Assassin’s Creed is at number 5. Following an Ezio in his 50’s, Revelations takes place in entirely new locations such as Constantinople and offers not only Ezio gameplay but also some segments as Altair which gives this a bit of an Inception ‘you have to go deeper’ sort of feel to the adventures in the animus. With several new weapons and modes of locomotion, Revelations is not a full fledged sequel but looks even more robust than Brotherhood was. There are plenty of people who are ready to move on to the next numbered installment and a new protagonist but I am very excited for one last outing as Ezio. Revelations looks like it is doing everything right so far and I am hoping for great things from it.

4. Batman Arkham City: After sitting in on the for Arkham City all I can say is ‘damn!’ This is the sequel to the only game I have ever given a perfect 10 score to and it looks even more fantastic. With a larger area to cover but the right gameplay ideas to keep it tight and faithful to the original, Arkham City looks like it may have improved on things that didn’t need improving to take it to a whole new level of awesome. With another deep and engaging story, Arkham City also gives Bats a break now and again to let the player control Catwoman in sequences that are, judging by the one we were shown, perfectly implement and fun. Catwoman has her own ways of doing things that vary from Batman’s just enough to make it feel like a unique experience. Top that off with the returning voice cast and graphics that look even better and you have something well worth waiting for. Check out more coverage in our preview.

3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: I gushed about this one a lot in my preview and there isn’t  a lot more to say here aside from saying that this title looks spectacular all the way around. Improved visuals that really shine in motion, streamlined leveling and character building, improved combat mechanics and a totally reworked inventory system and you have a AAA title that would be hard not to pick up for a non-fan. If you like the Elder Scrolls series already then you might want to have a cardiac crash team standing by the first time you play it because it is just that impressive. I cannot wait for November.

2. Mass Effect 3: Again, only in an epic E3 would the final chapter of the Mass Effect trilogy rank number 2. This game looks pretty amazing. Built on the framework of the second installment, Mass Effect 3 looks to improve on just about everything possible. The story has always been engaging but one sequence we saw in the demo made me start to tear up a bit. The combat has been expanded and deepened and some of the RPG elements that were streamlined in 2 are back in an even more streamlined elegance that makes this look like the total Mass Effect package. You can check out our full coverage on the game here but suffice it to say this game is a beast and March is much too far away.

1. Bioshock Infinite: We saw this demo really early on in the show and it immediately became the game to beat. I loved the first Bioshock and didn’t really think that the flying city of Columbia could ever match the underwater dreariness of Rapture but from the looks of things I couldn’t have been more wrong. The graphics look phenomenal with an art design every bit as unique and iconic as the first game but it just looks so much better. It might be because things are brighter and crisper here but it the look of this game is notches above the original game ant the sequel. The combat looks batshit crazy with more powers to work with, strange steampunk weapons and a vertical plane unlike anything we’ve ever seen. With roller coaster like tracks to grab onto and ride you an do a ridiculous amount of things with combat and falls from heights give you vertigo just watching a demo. As good as the fighting is, it is the game between the violence that really moved me with excellent voice acting and a touching chemistry between characters. In a short amount of time the demo elicited emotions that I don’t think I have ever felt from a video game. Everything about this thing screams epic and I will be absolutely shocked if it isn’t game of the year whenever it is that it comes out. The bar is set pretty high with this one and I seriously wonder if anything else will out do it this generation. Check out some HD gameplay video here.