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.
---
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.
---
Did I miss something? Disagree with something? Let me know in the comments!
360 Review: Beatles Rock Band
I've always loved Guitar Hero and Rock Band games in a way, so it's no suprise that I picked up the Beatles Rock Band. I was pretty excited for it despite not exactly loving the Beatles like others do. But I figured it would be a more fun game for parties and gatherings since everyone would know the songs. One of the biggest downfalls of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero (band) games for singing was that no one wanted to sing the songs that they didn't know the words to, and there are a lot of them. Instruments are fun to play even if you don't know the song, but vocals generally aren't for more people. So what do I think of it now that I have it?
The presentation of this game is gorgeous. All of the stages they play at, including the famous rooftop last concert, are replicated (I would imagine) perfectly in the game. As I previously said, I'm not a huge Beatles fan; but this game seems to capture the essence of Beatle Mania perfectly. It is definitely clear that much more thought was put into the presentation of this game than any of the other Guitar Hero or Roc Band games, even the single bands ones out already such as the Aerosmith and Metallica games. And when you play the stages where the Beatles are in the studio, they are transported into crazy worlds relating to the song/album covers that just spectacular.
Well that's what I like about the game. What I don't like is that I went through the entire story mode (all of the songs) and now I feel A LOT less like I want to play the game; like a lot more than other music games. I feel like I beat it in 3 or 4 hours and theres no need to play any more. And I don't know why. Well part of it has to do with 90% of the achievements being absolutely impossible. Most of them consist of getting 100% on songs on expert. When will developers realize that getting 100% on a song in a music game in near impossible? Plastic instruments don't work like they are supposed to, ever, no matter how good the person playing it is.
I also really don't know as many of the songs as I thought I would. Any Beatles fan will clearly know every single song on here. But the average person will know probably 60% of them; and the average person will probably know all of the vocals of about 20% of the songs. In my opinion at least.
So all in all, I would recommend any Beatles and music game fan (or maybe just Beatles fan?) to go out and buy this game now. But any mediocre Beatles fan and music game fan should wait until the price drops. I really wish I did. I can't see myself playing this game long term, but it'll surely keep me occupied for a couple weeks. And it's worth $20 just to see the awesome visuals of this game.
About
twitter.com/seanmadi
- just started playing Final Fantasy XIII. http://raptr.com/seanmadi
- @zamwi u know what you mean. I have to buy pants too big waistwise and wear a belt with everything
- just started playing Borderlands. http://raptr.com/seanmadi
- i just realized that ffxiii doesn't do the traditional win battle fanfare, and now that i realized it i'm really mad about it
- playing ffxiii http://www.ustream.tv/channel/random-stuff-1234567