Sixth months ago I probably would have told you that March was looking almost as promising as November in terms of major game releases. There was so much potential; Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3, Armored Core 5, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Silent Hill:Downpour, I Am Alive, and many others probably forgetting about. I waited patiently and counted down the days until March. My nights consisted of sleeping in my bed dreaming of sugar plums and zombie hordes and all the magic and wonder a new game can bring…. and then all the games I’d been waiting so desperately for were released….

I’m going to be completely honest with you. The “big” games I was waiting for weren’t really the bigger games at all. Personally the Mass Effect series didn’t spark enough interest in me for me to ever hop on the bandwagon. I’m sure they’re solid games with intriguing stories, but the gameplay mechanics and semi-generic, futuristic space environment was a big turn-off for me. No, the games I was most excited for all fell into the long forgotten genre of survival horror. Once an incredibly prevalent and innovative genre, survival horror games are now reduced to nothing more than a low budget niche market, which I coincidentally fall under. My big three for March were I Am Alive, Silent Hill:Downpour, and Resident Evil:Operation Raccoon City. If you haven’t seen any reviews for these games yet, let’s just say I was a little disappointed.

Every one of these titles showed incredibly promise. I Am Alive was a long awaited apocalyptic thriller announced far before those games became a generic staple, but unfortunately released during a time where that theme has become a generic staple. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City was an entirely new approach to the series that promised action packed gameplay and a cooperative experience that would appeal to a larger audience. Silent Hill: Downpour excited many fans of the series as the new development teamed promised a reboot/revival of the series that tapped in to the essence of the original Silent Hill games. With the release of every title I became more and more depressed. I Am Alive was reduced to nothing more than Xbox Live Arcade download that many reviewers felt was dated, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City failed to deliver an interesting story and was even called “The poor man’s Socom,” and Silent Hill’s new development team couldn’t keep together a solid enough design for their new take on the franchise. These games are in no way unplayable, but from the perspective of an eager fan, they are incredibly disappointing.