This year at E3, some of the most anticipated games are sequels. If you’ve heard of some of these titles, but don’t know what they are really about and are intimidated to jump in mid-plot, here’s a quick guide to some of the biggies, just to whet your appetite… (but beware the spoilers!)

Halo Reach

If you like futuristic first person shooter games where Earth is nearly extinct and the balance of humankind depends on you, then you’d better start catching up on the Halo series, because Halo Reach is coming out this fall.

Here’s the basic premise: Over 100,000 years ago there lived a highly technologically advanced race who ruled the galaxy called the Forerunners. These guys had it made, until they were unwittingly attacked by parasitic aliens, called the Flood, who fed on sentient beings. In order to wipe them out, the Forerunners created the Halo Array, which consisted of 7 ginormous rings they scattered throughout the Milky Way. The rings were designed to kill any organisms that the Flood would feed upon, including themselves. But like all brilliant masterminds, they also designed the Halos to keep a few samples of the Flood for scientific examination. And like all plots like this, yes, the Flood is sure to escape and create additional mayhem in the future. But that would only happen if someone were stupid enough to release them. Enter the Covenant – a conglomeration of alien races who thought the Forerunners were gods and the Halo rings were portals to godliness. They also thought that humans stood in their way, so they decided to kill the entire human race. Enter Spartan Master Chief John 117, one of the genetically engineered super-soldiers who was apparently the last of his kind to survive the attack by the Covenant. He and his A.I. friend Cortana venture out to save what is left of humankind.

Gears of War 3

You want to save humanity, but you also want to be a beefy, well armed ex-con soldier who gets to blow stuff up real good and get splattered with blood and guts? Then start catching up on Gears of War, because the third installment is coming out in April 2011.

Here’s the backstory: Humans inhabiting a planet called Sera spent years locked in civil war, and just as they finally waged peace and created the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) to bring the world together in one big happy Kumbaya, all hell breaks loose. Unbeknownst to all of mankind, an enemy has been lurking just below the crust of the planet, and on what became known as “Emergence Day” they… well… emerged. These creatures, known as the Locust Horde, burst up through the ground and quickly started mass destruction. The COG sends everyone off to safety on the Jacinto Plateau, a place where apparently the Locust Horde can’t penetrate from below. Anyone who didn’t make it there in time were either stranded or blown to bits by the COG when they tried to eradicate the enemy. Meanwhile, the COG pardons all prisoners, and a soldier named Dominic Santiago frees his old military buddy, Marcus Fenix. Together, these guys, along with the rest of the Delta Squad race through the post-apocalyptic-looking planet, mowing down all sorts of mean, fast, smart creatures, while trying to map the labyrinth of underground tunnels so they can destroy them where they live. They even threw in a little love story and some daddy issues to bring humanity to the game.

F.E.A.R. 3

Speaking of family affairs, if you want to feel like yours isn’t quite as dysfunctional as you once thought, start playing F.E.A.R., which is a psychological horror/thriller first person shooter game where you are trying to shoot your brother who is trying to free your mother who was locked up by your grandfather. Meanwhile, mom is trying to get the family back together. Can’t wait for Thanksgiving dinner… it really is the stuff of horror.

Here’s the skinny so far: F.E.A.R stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, which is a Special Forces team specializing in paranormal threats. You, as the player, get to be the “Point Man” and lead the team assigned to bring down a guy named Paxton Fettel, who telepathically led a group of super soldiers in an attack of the Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC). ATC, it turns out, was running Project Origin, which locked up and studied a little girl named Alma who had dangerous and powerful psychic abilities. While in captivity, she bore two sons, who were taken away from her, and they each also have powerful abilities. Luckily, she’s got these mad psychic powers, so she shows up in the form of a little spooky girl with a terrifying ghostly presence and messes with people’s minds. Turns out, Paxton Fettel is her younger son, presumably controlled telepathically by his mom, calling him to free her… which, according to the authorities is a really, really bad idea. As luck would have it, the Point Man is her older son, which means that one brother is hunting the other, and despite Paxton’s telepathic abilities, the Point Man actually has a chance. Meanwhile, a guy named Harlan Wade goes ahead and frees Alma himself. Turns out that Harlan was not only the leader of Project Origin, but also Alma’s dad, and he releases her out of guilt for how she was treated. F.E.A.R. is then redeployed to blow up ATC’s reactor to try to contain this whole mess.

Assasin’s Creed 3

If you’d rather live in the past than the future, prefer daggers over machine guns and enjoy ancient cities versus outer space, then tap into your genetic memory and catch up on Assassin’s Creed.

Set in the 12th Century, an assassin named Altair is on a mission to assassinate 9 historical figures to put a halt to the Third Crusade. The twist is that this is all happening within the mind of a bartender named Desmond Miles. Desmond was kidnapped in the 21st Century by Abstergo Industries and put into a machine called an Animus, which extracts the memory in his DNA – basically the memories of his ancestors. It turns out that what Abstergo is really after are “Pieces of Eden” and the company is just a front for a clandestine group (the bad guys from the Knights of Templar) who wants to use these artifacts to supposedly create peace on earth through mass mind control. Luckily, Desmond gets some clues from “Subject 16” who was the prisoner before him, who left messages on his cell walls. Lucy, an Abstergo employee, is actually a spy for the modern day assassins and breaks him out. She brings Desmond to a more advanced Animus which conjures the memories of another ancestral assassin named Ezio, who lived in the 15th Century during the Renaissance. Channeling memories of Ezio, he helps Lucy and her assassin friends keep the Eden artifacts out of the hands of the bad guys. Due to all this overexposure in the Animus, Desmond starts to experience a “bleeding effect,” which means his ancestral life and his current life are starting to bleed together. Cool thing is that he’s gaining powers, like eagle vision, which help him see who the bad guys are. So, there’s always a bright side…

More to Come

Many more sequels are on the horizon for great games such as Call of Duty, Ghost Recon, Half-Life, Medal of Honor, Fable, SOCOM and more. If you want to add your own synopses of your favorite game series to get folks up to speed (or blast us for grievous omissions, spoilers or misrepresentations), start writing. There’s plenty of space in the comment section below.