BioShock 2
Mitch Dyer, Staff Writer
1: Street Fighter IV -- I remember adoring, and simultaneously hating, Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo. It was painfully difficult for someone whose fighting knowledge was limited to Mortal Kombat, but the characters and the ease of stringing together custom combos made it all the more likable, and fun, than any other brawler I'd played. After that, I
took a long break. I didn't play Street Fighter seriously again until HD Remix was released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. The fighter's fire inside me was set ablaze once again, and it only set the stage for Street Fighter IV. Seeing the brilliantly rendered 3D characters tossing punches and throwing fireballs on a 2D plane only further concreted my lust. Add some striking similarities to Street Fighter II, goofy facial expressions, and a bunch of new characters, and I've been bought hook, line, and sinker. Could someone just knock my lights out with a flaming Shoryuken until its release?
2: Killzone 2 -- Sure, the first game ran like a one-legged dog trying to cross an
ocean of quicksand, but Killzone did a lot of things right. It was too
much for the PlayStation 2 to handle, and if you looked passed its
flaws you'd see an impressive feat of technological prowess. Detailed
environments, plenty of particle effects, and some pretty rad
character animations wowed me, and I enjoyed the shooter as a whole.
Killzone 2 looks to impress on a similar level, but this time, with
the appropriate hardware. I'm a sucker for dumb sci-fi, and if it's
gorgeous and full of big explosions, I'm game. Adding cover only sinks
the hooks deeper. Oh, and the Helghast look like those dudes from Jin-
Roh. So that's pretty badass, too.
3: Battlefield Heroes -- An online multiplayer shooter? With awesome art? And character
enhancements. Sign me up -- since that's all I need to do to play.
Because Battlefield Heroes is free, and requires incredibly low system
specs to run adequetly, there's little reason for nerds to avoid
sinking tireless hours to upgrading their suave soldier. Hopping in
tanks, riding on the wings of planes, capturing control points, and
upgrading your collection of skills might make Heroes one of the best
third person shooters in a long while, and that it's being given away
gratis is just peachy.
4: Madworld -- I don't actually know a lot about this gore-tastic action game, which
is probably why I'm so excited for it. The Sin City style, complete
with red blood and black-and-white-everything-else, gives the Wii its
own gorgeous exclusive to hold on a high pedestal. With any luck,
it'll be fun, too. How couldn't it be? Homeboy has a chainsaw grafted
to his arm.
5: Peggle -- Dude! Peggle's coming to Xbox Live Arcade and the DS! OMFG!!!!
Street Fighter IV
Toni Dimayuga, Staff Writer
1.) StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty – I started to hyperventilate when I stumbled upon the StarCraft 2 booths at PAX last summer, and felt privileged to be able to play a round before the masses streamed in. Fifteen minutes of play wasn't enough, so the next day I stood in line for an hour for more game time. Most anticipated? Hells yeah. I'm not sure what to make of Blizzard splitting the campaigns into three games, but it's better than having no StarCraft at all, which would make me a sad panda. I know it's foolish to think that it'll actually come out this year, but a girl can dream, can't she?
2.) The Sims 3 – The Sims is a wonderfully diabolical addiction that causes people to spend hours a day building and decorating their dream house, getting their Sims to procreate, and making sure they don't pee on the carpet. At least you won't have to worry about the last part anymore since your Sims will be more autonomous. There's still the inevitable 10 or so expansion and "stuff" packs that you'll just HAVE to buy, to make sure your Sims have the coolest clothes, furniture, and finer things in life.
3.) Diablo III – Yet another Blizzard title that has a snowball's chance in hell in actually being released this year. Regardless on when it comes out, I look forward to slaughtering a few thousand demons with my (female) Witch Doctor. Unlike Todd's preference for melee mauling with his Barbarian, I plan to go the casting route and spread locusts and fear among my enemies.
4.) Star Trek Online – I have always wanted to be captain of a Federation Starship in a multiplayer scenario, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. This game will bring my dream to fruition. In the words of my favorite Starfleet captain, make it so. After all, who else is sick of seeing elves and orcs in MMORPGs?
5.) BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams – I couldn't make much about the plot from the teaser trailer, nor do I think that it'll really come out in fall 2009. However, I'm definitely looking forward to repaying a visit to those Little Sisters – or rather Big Sisters, judging from the short but tantalizing trailer?
Star Trek Online
Dave VanDyk, Staff Writer
1) Half-Life 2: Episode 3 -- Yes, I need to throw my lot in with this one as well - but in my
case, it's the absolute first game on my list that I'm hoping to see
this year. I've adored each and every game to come out as part of the
Half-Life 2 franchise, simply because of how much effort they put into
sucking you into the game world, and not letting that immersion go
until you've completely seen it through. The animation and artistic
presentation has always been top-notch for these games, and now we
have the whole goofy Aperture Science tie-in plot to explore. I don't
care that it's singleplayer-only; I want to see MORE, damnit. At the
very least, I want to see what kind of crazy situations they throw Dog
into next.
2) Men of War -- "Wait, what?" you ask - "Why is some weird-ass game I've never heard
of before being included on someone's top-5 list for 2009?" The
answer, my friends, is because the gaming industry is a cruel mistress
that gives all the attention to things like Starcraft 2 or Halo Wars,
while completely overlooking the REALLY neat titles that nobody really
knows about. Men of War specifically is on my list because of the
history its predecessors have established. Both Soldiers: Heroes of
World War 2 and Faces of War are two of the most-played games at the
LAN parties I frequent, simply because:
-They are RTS games that let you take direct control of any of your
units, with the mouse aiming, and keyboard handling movement,
inventory management, posture, etc. This goes for foot-soldiers as
well as the physics-driven vehicles.
-They focus on small groups of soldiers fighting against overwhelming
odds to complete their objectives, which means you need to manage your
men carefully and find creative strategies to use.
-It's hilariously unrealistic and lets you do stupid stuff like
destroy the engine and treads on a tank, assassinate the crew, and
then haul over a stolen repair kit, fix the tank to be as good as new,
and then load your men up to lead it on a charge against its former
masters.
-It lets you do all of this in co-op play.
All of this equates to some of the most fun we've ever had at our co-
operative LAN parties, and also equates to why I want to play this
third game. Very badly.
3) Dawn of War II -- I was sold at "co-operative campaign mode". Between Red Alert 3, and
now this, I'm taking solace in the fact that developers are FINALLY
realizing how cool of a move it is to integrate a full-blown campaign
co-op mode with your mainstream games. A hearty 'screw you" to
developers out there who don't think this is a good idea.
4) The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena -- Every time I see a new trailer or piece of information leaked out
about this game, I find myself wanting it more and more. Starbreeze
did such an upstanding job with the first one, and now they're
literally saying "Okay, we did a pretty sweet job on this game we
did... now let's go back and do it AGAIN, except even better. Oh, and
we're adding a totally new campaign in too." Everyone I've talked to
so far is looking forward to playing through the original plot again -
even if it's just with a fresh coat of paint - but the expanded
storyline is what seals the deal.
5) Star Trek Online -- I'm not sure if I'm "anticipating" this so much as just being
overwhelmingly curious about how the hell this will turn out. I've
been let down so many times by the Star Trek releases over the last
couple of years (Legacy... WTF, Bethesda?) that I've reached the
depressing realization that nobody is going to make cool games like
Klingon Academy or Elite Force ever again, and as such I'm very
skeptical about STO. If they actually turn this into something with
interesting combat dynamics and provide a universe that has actual fun
stuff to do though, this might just be the first MMO I'd actually play
since the fabled days of Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. We'll see.
Men of War
