Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Spring is in the air, and it seems that to game publishers, that means flooding the gates with games for release.  I mean, who remembers the days when you were lucky to find one solid title in the spring out for release.  If it was an exceptional month, you might see two, but this year, we have at least five solid titles coming out for PC, and this is after the four or five we had last month.  That is a lot of cash for a consumer to drop.

But I guess it is better to have five PC gems than a sack load of crap falling out of the sky and on to your PC.  I will take a quantity of good, quality titles over 18 Nancy Drew titles.

But enough of my ramblings, continue on below to check out all the releases that are looking like the sure bets for the month of March on PC.  Also, make sure to check out the other Ones to Watch titles for Xbox 360, Wii/DS and PS3/PSP.

Dragon Age II (Electronic Arts/Bioware) – Oh how I loved the first Dragon Age title on PC.  I spent so many hours with the title, testing the different origin stories, trying different strategies, and waxing nostalgic as to how the game was a modern day Baldur’s Gate.  Dragon Age II looks to tweak the mechanics of the first game, which does have me a bit worried on the PC.  But judging from the early demo, it does not seem to have taken too much of a hit.  But the additions, like a more streamlined combat experience, actual spoken dialog for our hero, and easing up the treacherous difficulty look to make this more of a Mass Effect 2-like experience.  Look for Dragon Age II on March 8th, 2011.

MLB 2K11 (2K Sports) – I do have to appreciate the fact that 2K Sports has continued to support the PC crowd with a handful of their sports titles.  Baseball is making its third appearance on the PC, and it looks to be a solid improvement over last year’s iteration on the platform.  The PC platform has received the same treatment as its console breathern, with the new Dynamic Player Rating System, improved fielding and base stealing and of course, new player facial animations and body types.  As with every yearly sports title release, some will get upset at the idea of buying what appears on the surface to be a roster update, and I do get that argument.  But there seems to be enough there to warrant a purchase for fans of baseball.  Look for MLB 2K11 on March 8th, 2011.

Total War: Shogun 2 (Creative Assembly/Sega) – It has been quite some time since the last Shogun title.  So long in fact that Creative Assembly have moved over to publisher Sega for the latest release.  The new Shogun 2 includes all the items that you expect from a Total War series, including the huge battlefields filled with carnage.  There is also the back end system that plays out kind of like a board game, where you can peform such features as poisoning a rival warlord, which will weaken his forces on the battlefield.  It is a solid looking title that has a huge following.  For some, the game can be rather overwhelming, but I think it is something that strategy fans should definitely have on their list this month.  Look for Total War: Shogun 2 on March 15th, 2011.

Homefront (Kaos Studios/THQ) – I had heard nothing about Homefront until last year at E3 when I was greeted by a huge sprawling banner for the game.  Checking the game out for a short period there, I was absolutely hooked on the fiction in the world.  I am a sucker for alternative history titles, and the idea of North Korea pulling off a devestating attack and crippling the US sounds like a solid premise.  Mix in the idea of being part of a ragtag band of freedom fighters, and the horrors of the torture that an opposing force can bring to your front door and you have a solid title.  I am a bit worried that the single player story, which is not Kaos Studios strong suit, might misfire, but I am keeping my fingers crossed at this point.  Look for Homefront on March 15th, 2011.

Crysis 2 (Electronic Arts/Crytek) – Oh Crysis, how I loved the fact that you murdered my computer at the time of your release.  Sure, Warhead optimized things quite a bit, but it was Crysis that always had me going back to test out new configurations and hardware.  The new Crysis 2 looks to move things future with the world overrun by aliens, and moving our characters to the concrete jungle of New York.  Visually, the game looks stunning, but there are worries that the game has become consolified due to it being multiplatform.  All I ask for is a bit more story, but it definitly looks to be a title to pick up this month.  Look for Crysis 2 on March 22nd, 2011.

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft) – Assassins Creed II took a big hit when it jumped to the PC last year.  It had nothing to do with the actual game but more about the copy protection system that wrecked havok with end users.  Brotherhood looks to tone down the copy protection system, and plans to add a lot of extra features into the core release for end users, like a free copy of the new DLC in the $50 price tag.  Brotherhood is a quality expansion, and adds a surprising amount of single player content, as well as including a unique multiplayer component of stalking a victim while you are being stalked.  It is very reminiscent to The Ship, and is a blast to play.  Look for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood on March 22nd, 2011.

And that is all we have this month for the Ones to Watch for the PC.  Check back in next month for another column, and let us know if we missed a selection, or if we are off-base with one of our picks.