My 15 Most Anticipated Games of 2010 (1 – 15)
This holiday season, and 2009 in general really, were a great time for games. In fact, it was probably the best year in games to date. But looking forward at the slew of fantastic games being released in the coming year, its clear that 2010 is going to give the previous year a run for its money. So here is a list of my personal most anticipated games of 2010 and why I am excited for them. [FYI: you'll notice that much of these games have a strong emphasis or either coop gameplay or story, because those pretty much what I look for in game.]
#15 - Army of Two: The 40th Day (360, PS3, PSP) - 1/12
I'll admit, Army of Two: The 40th Day doesn't look spectacular, but it looks like it will offer a solid coop experience sure to make any any coop lovers (such as I) more than happy. I never played the first one; but I've heard it was a decent game with some great coop. I can only hope The 40th Day delivers more than that, but more awesome coop sounds good to me either way.
#14 - Lost Planet 2 (360, PS3) - 2/23
Once again, never played the first one, but Lost Planet 2 looks like so much fun. The game is very much like the Monster Hunter games, if anyone has played them. Basically you can play with 3 of your friends, or online with strangers if that's your type of thing, to take down gigantic creatures. Much like the game Shadow of the Colossus, it looks like much of the game will be you and your friends going "holy ****, look at that thing!" Lost Planet 2 looks like a coop blast.
#13 - Dead Rising 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Q1
Okay I know everyone's probably a little tired of zombies by now, as I am. But I was somewhat brought back to my love for zombies after seeing the movie Zombieland, with its "fun" take on zombies. And Dead Rising is exactly the video game version of that. What looks most exciting about Dead Rising 2, besides giving us more of the fun ride that was Dead Rising, is the multiplayer. Dead Rising 2's multiplayer consists of many zombie mini-games to play against 3 other people in, showcased as a game show. Looks sort of Mario Party-like, and Zombie Mario Party makes me pretty excited.
#12 - Bioshock 2 (360, PS3, PC) - 2/9
Its pretty obvious that I would have Bioshock on my list. It was one of, if not the best game of 2007, and it took everyone by surprise. What you may be wondering though is why it is so low on my list. Bioshock was an amazing game, but it was also complete. The game was such a fantastic package that it is going to be really hard to follow, and I'm sure the developers had the same reaction when asked to make a sequel. Also they game has multiplayer....really? Does it really need that? But none the less, I'm going to play the crap out of Bioshock 2 regardless, and here's to hopes that it will deliver.
#11 - God of War III (PS3) - March
As much as I hate to admit it, this is another game that I did not play the previous incarnations of. The first one just didn't interest me with its mindless button mashing and the second one came out way too late in the last console generation, as 360 was already released. But after watching the demo of someone playing through God of War III at E3 this year, I'm definitely going to buy the first two games and play through all three. The things you can do just look so amazing. I don't care if I'm just mashing buttons as long as what's shown on screen is badass.
#10 - Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3) - 4/27
Red Dead Redemption is the 6-years-later follow up to Rock Star's Red Dead Revolver. The game will basically be turn-of-the-century, wild west Grand Theft Auto 4, even using the same engine. That may sound recycled, but GTAIV was a good game, so it sounds pretty awesome to me, especially since it turn-of-the-century (when industrialization is beginning) as opposed to the cowboys and Indians type of wild west that most people may be used to.
#9 - The Last Guardian (PS3) - TBA
The Last Guardian is a game that I don't really know much about, but what I do know makes me very excited. The game is made by Team ICO, a company who brought us the games Eco and Shadow of the Colossus, which were apparently fantastic experiences, though I haven't played either of them. Because of those previous games, the Last Guardian has been anticipated by many people for a long time. On top of that, the graphics and story look amazing. The story appears to be about the extreme love between a boy and his eagle/squirrel monster thing. In another words its the Never Ending Story: The Game, which is awesome.
#8 - Epic Mickey (Wii) - Q3
Epic Mickey will be epic. It may be a Wii exclusive (way to play it safe Disney...), but I've been waiting for a Disney game with the classic characters (Mickey, Donald, Goofy), as odd as that may seem. Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse on Sega Genesis is one of my favorite games ever. I don't really know much about the gameplay, or anything at all, except that the concept art makes the game look like it will be beautiful and have a very unique look compared to what people would normally think of with Mickey Mouse.
#7 - Alan Wake (360) - Q2
I hadn't heard much about Alan Wake (except that people thought it was going to be awesome) until I saw the demo shown as E3 last year (the video I've linked to). But after seeing the game played on screen, I was in. From what I can tell, the story sounds like you are a famous horror writer whose fiction starts to come to life, which you must then battle. The battle mechanics seem to be a little different, where you have to shine a flashlight at enemies before shooting or doing other awesome things to kill them, as they are afraid of the light. Anyway, the story seems phenomenal and it just appears to be third person action game that's just a little different from the rest.
#6 - Metroid: Other M (Wii) - TBA
I used to love the old 2D Metroid games on NES, SNES, GB, and even my GBA. For some reason I never really got into the 3D ones on Gamecube/Wii, but I've always heard how awesome that are. The new Metroid game, Other M, will be a mixture of the two, popping in and out of 2D and 3D, which sounds absolutely awesome to me. Even if it were a 2D game with 3D graphics I'd be all in. So I'm hoping this will be a return to Metroid's roots, but with some sweet graphics. I'll definitely be picking up the Metroid Prime 3 pack for Wii to play through all of those before playing Other M.
#5 - Red Steel 2 (Wii) - 3/23
The first Red Steel, a release title for the Wii, was probably one of the biggest let downs in history of me being anticipated for a game. But they got me again. Red Steel 2 claims to fix all of Red Steel's problems and best of all they've fixed the sword mechanics! Red Steels big claim was "hey you can sword fit with the wiimore just like you would in real life!" but instead it just sucked. But now that Nintendo has released their Wii motion plus accessory, Ubisoft claims to take Wii motion plus to the next level, allowing more 1-to-1 motion with the sword. So in other words, sword fighting will be (hopefully) actually awesome this time.
#4 - Mass Effect 2 (360) - 1/26
I actually just recently start playing the first Mass Effect in anticipation of the new one coming out. I had been hearing how amazing and epic the story is, with people even going to far to read the two novels after completing the game. I'm already in love with Mass Effect, and from what I've heard Mass Effect 2 fixes everything the first game did wrong (mostly combat, which I don't like very much in Mass Effect). Stoked.
#3 - Heavy Rain (PS3) - 2/23
Heavy Rain is what most people would consider an interactive movie. The experience is significantly cinematic and nearly everything you do affects the storyline (much more so than the binary "good or bad" karma that most games offer). Think the movie version of the choose-your-own-adventure Goosebumps books but extremely more interactive. The story, from what I can gather, involves you living out your normal life with your wife and son until your wife is killed and you have to deal with it and help your son deal with it. I'm sure it gets much more complex and crazy from there, though. Heavy Rain will definitely be a love it or hate it type of game, but for people looking for that type of experience will definitely want to check out this PS3 exclusive.
#2 - Splinter Cell: Conviction (360/PS3) - 2/23
Splinter Cell: Conviction is all about a man who's daughter gets killed and he goes rouge to find her killer, taking out anyone that comes in his way. Despite that awesome story (and sweet story transitions with no loading, as you'll see in the video), the gameplay mechanics in this game looks ridiculous. You interrogate people, your gameplay objectives are displayed right on walls and stuff (ala: the Heroes titles), mark and execute (as you can also see in the video) which lets you kill multiple people at once super fast, your last position that the enemy thinks you are at is shown as a ghost, and Sam Fisher just jumps around like crazy with awesome stealthiness. Ooooo, watching that video just gives me goosebumps.
#1 - Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3) - 3/09
I don't need to say much here. It's a new Final Fantasy game, with voice acting again, and this time its on Xbox 360. That means achievements for Final Fantasy! I am hoping the achievements will be ridiculous so I am forced to get every ounce out of this game that I can. FFX was one of my favorite games of all time, with one of my favorite video game stories, despite how ridiculous it was. FFXII went a little weird with the MMO style combat, but FFXIII appears to be back at with random encounters where it belongs. I don't know much about the game. But I know its a new Final Fantasy and that its on 360. That is all that matters.
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I've included a Google calendar with all of these games mentioned (that I have dates for) in case anyone wants to see them all in that format.
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Did I miss something? Disagree with something? Let me know in the comments!
My Top 15 Most Antipated Games of 2010 (11 – 15)
This holiday season, and 2009 in general really, were a great time for games. In fact, it was probably the best year in games to date. But looking forward at the slew of fantastic games being released in the coming year, its clear that 2010 is going to give the previous year a run for its money. So here is a list of my personal most anticipated games of 2010 and why I am excited for them. [FYI: you'll notice that much of these games have a strong emphasis or either coop gameplay or story, because those pretty much what I look for in game.]
#15 - Army of Two: The 40th Day (360, PS3, PSP) - 1/12
I'll admit, Army of Two: The 40th Day doesn't look spectacular, but it looks like it will offer a solid coop experience sure to make any any coop lovers (such as I) more than happy. I never played the first one; but I've heard it was a decent game with some great coop. I can only hope The 40th Day delivers more than that, but more awesome coop sounds good to me either way.
#14 - Lost Planet 2 (360, PS3) - 2/23
Once again, never played the first one, but Lost Planet 2 looks like so much fun. The game is very much like the Monster Hunter games, if anyone has played them. Basically you can play with 3 of your friends, or online with strangers if that's your type of thing, to take down gigantic creatures. Much like the game Shadow of the Colossus, it looks like much of the game will be you and your friends going "holy ****, look at that thing!" Lost Planet 2 looks like a coop blast.
#13 - Dead Rising 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Q1
Okay I know everyone's probably a little tired of zombies by now, as I am. But I was somewhat brought back to my love for zombies after seeing the movie Zombieland, with its "fun" take on zombies. And Dead Rising is exactly the video game version of that. What looks most exciting about Dead Rising 2, besides giving us more of the fun ride that was Dead Rising, is the multiplayer. Dead Rising 2's multiplayer consists of many zombie mini-games to play against 3 other people in, showcased as a game show. Looks sort of Mario Party-like, and Zombie Mario Party makes me pretty excited.
#12 - Bioshock 2 (360, PS3, PC) - 2/9
Its pretty obvious that I would have Bioshock on my list. It was one of, if not the best game of 2007, and it took everyone by surprise. What you may be wondering though is why it is so low on my list. Bioshock was an amazing game, but it was also complete. The game was such a fantastic package that it is going to be really hard to follow, and I'm sure the developers had the same reaction when asked to make a sequel. Also they game has multiplayer....really? Does it really need that? But none the less, I'm going to play the crap out of Bioshock 2 regardless, and here's to hopes that it will deliver.
#11 - God of War III (PS3) - March
As much as I hate to admit it, this is another game that I did not play the previous incarnations of. The first one just didn't interest me with its mindless button mashing and the second one came out way too late in the last console generation, as 360 was already released. But after watching the demo of someone playing through God of War III at E3 this year, I'm definitely going to buy the first two games and play through all three. The things you can do just look so amazing. I don't care if I'm just mashing buttons as long as what's shown on screen is badass.
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Check back tomorrow for games 6 through 10 on my Most Anticipated Games of 2010 list.
James Cameron’s Avatar Announcement
This is not a review. This is an announcement for you to immediately go out and watch James Cameron's Avatar in 3D. Do not wait until this is out on DVD; it'll still be awesome, but only half as awesome as it would be in 3D (and let me add that I wore the 3D glasses over top of my "normal" glasses and it looked perfectly fine. This movie was made to be shown on a huge screen with the best sound available, and in 3D. And this 3D is the best 3D I've ever seen. When watching the recent Pixar movies, I've always felt like the screen was blurry and hurt my eyes whenever there was any action on screen.
And I can't stress this enough: the trailer does not do Avatar justice. I thought the movie kinda dumb from the trailer. It looked like a scifi FernGully or something. But it is way more than that. So instead of watching that crappy trailer, watch this instead. It is a behind the scenes making of the movie. And you'll see that Avatar is the greatest technical achievement for a movie that there has ever been.
"This is not an animated movie," as Cameron says. Every single thing scene Avatar was filmed by real actors, with them actually acting everything out with capturing devices on them, not just voice acting. A special camera was even built to specifically look at their face to capture their exact facial expressions and recreate on screen. Cameron even built a special "virtual camera" for him to see what the final product will look like as the actors are working! This movie is what people will compare movies in the next decade to, just like they did with Cameron's 'Titantic' years ago.
Cameron said that he wrote the script for this movie 14 years ago and waited until recently to actually create Avatar since technology has evolved to the point where he could actually portray what he envisioned onto the screen. And I am so glad he waited.
So back to what you actually see on screen when you go to the theater. The world, Pandora, shown in Avatar is SURREAL. It is without a doubt the most beautiful scenery ever created for a movie/video game. I've heard others say this before I saw the movie and I agree, that I almost teared up during a part of the movie; not because any emotional involvement with the characters, but because what you are seeing on screen is just so awesome (the part I'm talking about is actually what Cameron says in the video above is his favorite part of the movie--where the two main characters are flying with each other for the first time). When you go to the theater to watch this movie you are entering the world of Pandora. You're not watching a movie; you are having an experience unlike any other.
Avatar is on an epic scale on the same lines as Lord of the Rings. Tolkien fanboys might burn me at the stake for saying that, but if they do it's because they haven't seen Avatar. The movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, but it didn't feel long to me for 1 minute. I wanted more as soon as I walked out of there. I may even get the most-likely-crappy game (as most movies built on movie IPs generally are) just to re-enter the world of Pandora.
This may be my favorite movie of all time, but I'll have to see how it holds up watching it in my tiny TV (42 inches?) in my home before making that decision. Everyone needs to go see this movie in 3D as soon as you can. It might be a little experience for some people to see it in 3D (it was $14.00 at my local IMAX 3D), but it is well worth it. James Cameron has said that he looked at doing the 3D in this movie as another light, another tool to make the movie a more intimate experience, not a gimmick thrown on to make more people come see it. GO SEE AVATAR!
[ Oh yeah, and Michelle Rodriguez is awesome, even the little bit that she's in this movie. Some how this image alone in the film made me go "hah! awesome!" It makes more sense in context... ]
Law Abiding Citizen Review – A fun ride but falls apart throughout
This review is going to be a little controversial based on the responses of my opinion from friends.
Law Abiding Citizen is a movie about a dude who something terrible happens to and the person responsible gets away with it due to what he thinks is a poor judicial system. He then gets thrown in jail and terrifies those who worked on the case of the terrible thing that happened in order to prove to the world how flawed the system is. (I know this seems a little spoilery, but this is basically all shown in the trailer)
The movie is a fantastic ride and is all around fun. The most fun is had with the element of wit. The movie is for anyone that likes movies such as Inside Man or Memento. Its full of plot twists and Gerard Butler's character just seeming like the smartest man alive. In this respect, the movie is awesome.
The only problem that I have with the movie is that the first 30 minutes or so is fully devoted to Gerard Butler's character locking himself in prison to prove that our judicial system is screwed up. But after that 30 minute or so mark, he stops trying to prove that and is pretty much just killing everyone that let the guy go that did the terrible thing (sorry, don't want to spoil it). I would have been fine with this, but if they stuck with it the whole movie. Theres too much of a conflicting message. Its more obvious when towards the end of the movie Jamie Foxx's character is trying to convince Gerard Butler's character to stop, but Gerard says, "You still don't get it!" I was excited at this point, because I thought the end of the movie would reveal a crazy plot twist of which makes the whole screwed up judicial system message come back and make complete sense. Well that didn't happen. There was a crazy plot twist, but the movie never came back to the original message it was trying to convey. And no, it wasn't something that just went over my head...
Conclusion
This movie is still worth seeing. If you are the type of person that only sees a few movies a year in theaters, then you might want to wait for this to come to DVD, but then definitely see it. For everyone else though, I'd still suggest seeing it. It's a fun movie.
Rating: 
Family Guy: Uncensored Review – The worst iPhone game ever created
I was really looking forward to playing Family Guy: Uncensored. I figured a show I love on a platform I love couldn't go wrong. But now I'd rather be Meg Griffin then ever play this game again (that's a bad thing, in case you didn't catch it).
Family Guy: Uncensored is a game where, if you do story mode, you go through different levels where each one is a different mini-game, and you are presented with cut scenes in between each one. The game has a sort of 8-bit mixed with new-age graphics feel, which is pretty cool. The problem is that every other thing in the game sucks so bad that the graphics are the furthest thing from my mind.
The gameplay itself is absolutely atrocious. I'm pretty I've never played something this bad in my entire life. Each mini-game is completely different, yet each one still finds a way to make me want to kill myself before progressing in the game. I wanted to get through each level to be able to review it, but I only got through 4 out of the 7 because I simply couldn't take any more of it. In every level, I found myself just trying to get through to the next level. And the mini-games aren't just terrible, they're hard; like, really hard. I almost through my phone at one point. Also, the load times are longer than any other game I've ever played on the iPhone. You end up spending more time loading than you do playing the game.
On top of that madness, the cut-scenes are terrible. There aren't any fast, witty jokes or even references to anything (at least enough to make you laugh or happy about anything at all). Actually there was a cut-scene where the greased up deaf guy runs past the screen, but that was the closest to anything funny in the entire game. There are some references in the games themselves, but barely any.
Oh, and the music is TERRIBLE! It's so bad I can't begin to explain it. It has absolutely nothing to do
So the bottom line is that this game is the most terrible piece of crap ever made for the iPhone. And Glu Games, the company that made Deer Hunting 3D, made this game. How could they make such an epic, disasterly failure? And the game is $4.99 somehow. There is no way I'd recommend downloading this game for free, not to mention $4.99!
Oh yeah, and I've had this game downloaded and played on and off for about 2 weeks, maybe 3. I had to play the game in 5 minute increments to keep myself from throwing my iPhone into the blender. Going back to get the screenshots was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life.
Tap Tap Revenge 3 Review – The best iPhone game is even better
Tap Tap Revenge 2.6 is definitely one of my favorite iPhone games, and its certainly one of the best of the bunch. TTR3, an updated version, was just released on October 6th.
TTR is your typical music game where where circles come floating to the bottom of the screen and you must, in this case touch, the "notes" as they reach the bottom, going along to the music. It includes over 100 free songs to download, the best online play of any iPhone game to date, and tons of other features that make it stand far from its competitors. If you want to read more about TTR 2.6, read my review here.
TTR 3's biggest new feature is it's DLC (downloadable content). You can now buy track packs of different bands which include 2 to 6 songs for $0.99 to $2.99, and special themes for each pack. The recent iPhone 3.0 software started allowing this DLC feature, so it seems that Tapulous was just waiting to implement this as soon as they could.
The game also adds avatars that you can dress up and show off online, which I guess isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't add too much to the game either. I feel like that may have been them trying to grab the tween audience that play all the Facebook apps. TTR 3 also adds chat support either overall, or in each game lobby.
Weapons were also added to the new version. Certain sections of the notes are stars (star power anyone?) that you must collect to gain a weapon or shield, then you tap it to use it. This addition is actually pretty cool rather than gimmicky. The only problem I have with it is one weapon make the sound crappy, and I don't exactly enjoy playing a music game when the music sounds crappy.
All in all TTR 3 is an awesome update/sequel and I strongly urge everyone to pick it up. The only downside of the new app is that it costs $0.99 as opposed to the last edition which was free. The reasoning for this is that an app needs to cost money in order for it to include DLC, so they made it the cheapest price it can be at $0.99. It's still worth it.
Tap Tap Revenge 3 - $0.99 [iTunes Link]
Sportacular updated to include fantasy football and more
The awesome, must-have app Sportacular that I previously reviewed was updated yesterday to 1.6 last night. The update adds functionality to manage and track your fantasy football team along with their Facebook app. It also included "better game pages" for NFL and NCAA football.
iPhone Review: Sheep Launcher Plus! ($0.99) – A great high score game that everyone should have if they don’t already
Sheep Launcher is a game that has been at the top of the iTunes download list for a while, and it has a right to be. It is the short, high score type of game that really fits to the iPhone platform and it's a definite buy for anyone that has an iPhone/iPod touch.
The game is simple, where you just tap the sheep, frog, or pig while it's in the air to make it go higher, and if you fall to the bottom of the screen then you lose. There will be items along the way that either save you when you fall or make you go higher faster. Like I said: simple. But for some reason it's so captivating and fun. It's the sort of game that some people won't be able to put down, and others will just come back to it time to time again.
Conclusion
Sheep Launcher Plus! doesn't really have much to it, but it's still really fun for anyone that likes high score games that you just keep coming back to. It is a definite buy for anyone in my opinion. There is a lite version for anyone that wants to check it out, but if you get good at the game then you'll eventually see this screen:
iPhone Review: Sportacular – A must-have app for any sports fan
I'm not that big of a sports fan, but I'm doing a football pool this year so I thought it'd be nice to be notified of the scores of the games as they happen. Through some searching, the best app for the job seemed to be Sportacular, and it certainly is.
Sportacular lets you see up-to-the-minute scores for games in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and more, and it presents the scores in an average, but well manner. So Sportacular is a good score-checking app. But what makes it awesome is the push notification support.
You can subscribe to updates for a particular team or game, and within that team or game you can specify whether you want to be notified about when a game is starting soon, when the game does start, when the score changes and what the score is, what the score after each period is, or what the score is at the end of the game. I simply chose to know the score at the end of each NFL game because anything else would be too much, but if you are a huge fan for any sports team then it would certainly be ideal to have the score changing alert on for that team; definitely a great thing to have if you aren't near a TV.
Conclusion
Sportacular is a good app to see scores, but a must-have app for getting alerts for scores. If you at work or on the go and trying to keep track of the game your favorite team is playing or even if you are at home watching a game but want to be up to date on all games, then this is the app for you. So by that I mean, if you watch sports at all and have an iPhone then you must get this app. There is a free version and a $3 version, but the only difference is ads. So if the ads don't bother you then the free version is perfectly acceptable.
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- just started playing Final Fantasy XIII. http://raptr.com/seanmadi
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