I was bored at work yesterday, so thought I'd have a look on Wiki at what games are set for release next year (outwith the usual annual updates for sports and driving games) and these are the ones that caught my attention.

 

 

Bayonetta (Action) - SEGA's third-person action game that seems to have been on the horizon for ages finally gets a release in January, so I'll be itching to get it for my birthday (hint, hint). You are Bayonetta, a witch who uses four guns at the same time and wears her hair as clothing... only for that hair to come away from her body to be used as an uber-weapon when in a pinch. This looks majestic, relentless and bloody good fun.

 

 

Darksiders (Action-adventure) - I'd never heard of this until I came across its page on Wiki yesterday, but it sounds awesome. You play War, one of the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and, for some reason, the End of Days has happened early and you need to work out why by finding your fellow riders and battling angels and demons. With biblical/Babylonian characters such as Samael, Tiamat and Abbaddon, among others, this could challenge Dante's Inferno for Hell-based fury.

 

 

Dark Void (Action, Third-person shooter, Platform) - You play a test pilot who crashes in the Bermuda Triangle and is then transported to another dimension, finding other humans when he gets there. With the help of Nikola Tesla, world-famous scientist and electrical engineer, you must defeat the alien race who have used the Triangle to enslave humans. This is also going to be made into a movie, produced by (and possibly starring) Brad Pitt.

 

 

Dante's Inferno (Third-person action-adventure) - Quite possibly the game I'm most excited about in this list, Dante's Inferno has been hyped brilliantly with "making of" videos on PSN. Following the writings of Dante, you play the titular character as he makes his way through the nine circles of Hell, AFTER defeating Death and stealing his scythe, to reclaim his lost love from Lucifer. It looks to be a frantic kill-everything-you-see-em-up and, graphically, is as astounding as it is disturbing.

 

 

DC Universe Online (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) - With strong rumours that this is NOT going to be a subscription-to-play release, this could be the MMORPG to get non-fans into the genré. You can choose to be a hero or a villain and then go out into the DC Universe, create or stop chaos and become noticed by the "real" DC heroes and villains, perhaps joining them to create/stop even bigger havoc on the streets of Gotham, Metropolis, Star City, etc. I'm really looking forward to this one being released.

 

 

Agent (Action) - All I know is that it's being made by Rockstar North, it's set in the Cold War-era and you are thrust into "the world of counter-intelligence, espionage and political assassinations". Sounds great.

 

 

Aliens vs. Predator (First-person shooter, Survival horror, Action ) - There have been a few good AvP games in the past, but this looks like it could top them all... at least visually, if these comments are anything to go by.

 

"To begin the Predator's trophy kill, a terrified marine is dragged into the centre of the screen by his or her throat, which the Predator then snaps effortlessly with the accompanying sound of someone biting into raw celery. The neck broken, the Predator decapitates the marine, a sizeable portion of the spinal cord following. Even after this, the marine is still alive for a short period of time, gasping his last, with nothing but bloodied, glistening vertebra beneath his chin."

 

Released by SEGA, this could be mind-blowing as you play as all three characters from the series (Xenomorph, Predator and Marine).

 

 

Aliens: Colonial Marines (First-Person Shooter) - Interestingly, this release is also from SEGA, but has been pushed back to allow AvP to come out first. Set after the events of Alien3, the game sees a squad of Colonial Marines investigating what happened to their comrades in Aliens and Ellen Ripley in the third film. Taking in locations from the first three movies, this differs from the above game in that it's a squad-based shooter and you can only play as humans. All that being said, it looks astounding and should be a good companion to the more fun sounding Aliens vs. Predator.

 

 

Fairytale Fights (Hack-and-slash, Action-adventure) - It sounds like a cute 'ickle platform romp as you try and reclaim the fairytale status of characters like Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White.. until you realise that you do this by hacking everyone else to bits. These three quotes sum it up as well as is possible.

 

"Blood will drench the lush surroundings when the player slice up the enemies multiple times in a frenzied attack. They are also able to slide through the pools of blood and melt their enemies using Acid Potions."

 

"Player have full control over how & when to slice and dice their enemies."

 

"Featuring over 140 weapons, player are able to eliminate foes in multiple ways from slicing and dicing, freezing, burning, etc."

 

Fairytales, just like the old days of Jackanory. :lol

 

 

Heavy Rain (Interactive drama) - Anyone who has played Quantic Dream's previous release, Fahrenheit, will know just how great these guys are at weaving an involving story with realistic characters, sucking you into the narrative and keeping you there until the final credits roll. They're latest game, Heavy Rain, looks to have taken that and fine-tuned it to the point of perfection. Graphically, it's almost faultless (from what we've seen) and the storyline comes across as the ultimate noir tale to draw the player in. I'm uber-excited about the potential of this game.

 

 

Max Payne 3 (Third-person shooter) - Virtually nothing is known of this game except that it features the continuing adventures of Max Payne, he's aged since we last saw him and he's more pissed-off than he's ever been. Truth is, that's all I need. As a huge fan of the previous two games, I know I'm going to enjoy this and I'm counting down the days until it's released.

 

 

Splatterhouse (Beat 'em up) - I loved the original arcade game of this and feel it's an overlooked classic, so any update has a lot to live up to. There was a remake released a few years ago, but it failed to capture what made Splatterhouse so fun to play, but this adaptation, from all reports has avoided that issue and is going to be a faithful retelling of the original tale, with the original villains as well (the haunted room from Stage 5 was an amazing idea that was realised perfectly).

 

 

Special mention to for Singularity and I Am Alive, both of which have great premises (the former is an FPS where you control time in relation to a single object, sending it in to the future, the past of simply freezing it. This opens up possibilities like sending an object into the future rather than carrying it and using it when required, deploying a bomb and having it explode in the past, meaning those bad guys who almost killed you suddenly weren't there, etc. The latter casts you as a survivor of an earthquake making your way out of a destroyed city) and should be worth buying.

Edited November 22, 200915 yr by DC

Darksiders is the game sponsering Stargate Universe. I saw the clips and was blown away and decided I wanted to play.

I'd never heard of it, but read the plot and thought to myself "This sounds bloody epic".

Yep, with you on Bayonetta and Darksiders. But for me add Super Street Fighter 4, the EA MMA game, Final Fantasy 13, and Dead Space 2. Loved the first one.

Empire Total War: Napoleon

Dead Rising 2

Fable 3

EA Sports MMA

Mafia 2

As a watcher, Dante's Inferno looks like it will be awesome...

MAG

GOW3

MASS EFFECT 2

As a watcher, Dante's Inferno looks like it will be awesome...

 

:lol this reminds me of my girlfriend telling me to buy games because they "look like they'll be nice to look at for hours"

:lol this reminds me of my girlfriend telling me to buy games because they "look like they'll be nice to look at for hours"

:lol I like her already! That's totally how I feel about games - being a non-player, there's not much worse than being sat in the room with an utterly dull game being played for hours. Luckily, nowadays, most games have their impressive moments so it's not too bad.

 

I have to say, wrestling games are by far the most boring to watch as a non-player...

I have to say, wrestling games are by far the most boring to watch as a non-player...

I could be worse, the old-time Text Adventure Games [tm] had no graphics at all.

Bugger, now you've made my fingers itchy, DC.

 

Stern talking to self : you can't afford those games...you don't need those games... how about you finish Fallout 3 first, hey?..... and FFX2....and FF12.. or ,if we're going old school, how about you actually finish FF9 before you buy anything new....And you've barely played Arkham Asylum at all.... and you still need to grind all that stuff for the Hall of Monuments for Guild Wars before Guild Wars 2 comes out....And maybe you can get InFamous and SD vd Raw 2k9 from Blockbuster at 2 for £40 used instead... Or how about actually playing Mass Effect and Sins of a Solar Empire instead... maybe finish Homeworld or Homeworld 2... just a few ideas... but under no circumstances are you, self, going to buy any of those games....except Bayonetta...and maybe Dante's Inferno, but that's it!

Edited November 22, 200915 yr by etz

Bugger, now you've made my fingers itchy, DC.

 

Stern talking to self : you can't afford those games...you don't need those games... how about you finish Fallout 3 first, hey?..... and FFX2....and FF12.. or ,if we're going old school, how about you actually finish FF9 before you buy anything new....And you've barely played Arkham Asylum at all.... and you still need to grind all that stuff for the Hall of Monuments for Guild Wars before Guild Wars 2 comes out....And maybe you can get InFamous and SD vd Raw 2k9 from Blockbuster at 2 for £40 used instead... Or how about actually playing Mass Effect and Sins of a Solar Empire instead... maybe finish Homeworld or Homeworld 2... just a few ideas... but under no circumstances are you, self, going to buy any of those games....except Bayonetta...and maybe Dante's Inferno, but that's it!

 

mass effect 2 & dead rising 2 definately must buys 4 me in 2010.

Final Fantasy XIII is probably the only thing I'll buy in 2010. Looks mighty impressive too.

 

Might have a look at EA MMA, although from what I've seen of it, it looks worse than Undisputed in my opinion. Hell Fedor's face isn't even correct and that's something in this day and age you'd assume they could nail with their eyes shut.

Final Fantasy XIII is probably the only thing I'll buy in 2010. Looks mighty impressive too.

 

Really? looked the same to me. Of course all JRPG's look the smae to me with the exception of earthbound.

Isn't Fairytale Fights already released?

 

Anyway, my list:

 

The latest Final Fantasy

 

The AAA Lucha Libre video game - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucha_Libre_AAA_2010:_Heroes_del_Ring

 

Dynasty Warriors: Fist of the North Star (actually called Hokuto no Ken Musou, but it'll probably be called what I called it when it's translated)

 

...That's about it at the moment. :)

No love for Bioshock 2? I loved the first game and I'm looking forward to the second one immensely.

Really? looked the same to me. Of course all JRPG's look the smae to me with the exception of earthbound.

 

..the same? What's the same?

 

It has different:

 

Setting/World (as always)

 

Characters

 

Gameplay/Combat

 

To be honest Final Fantasy games do tend to retain familiar traits but that (at least to me) is what makes the series enjoyable.

Yeah, it's always been something that's really impressed me with the FF series. They change things (combat systems/magic systems/ limit breaks etc) so they're totally different but without them feeling hugely unfamiliar.

G.O.W 3 may not even be out next year. The studios behind the games are wanting it to be for the next gen console (Yeah, NEXT GEN). Although this could also allude to Project Natal, even though it won't be a standalone console, just a peripheral to aid gaming.

 

EDIT: Eep. I mistook that God of War 3 for Gears of War 3. Faceplam here.

Edited November 25, 200915 yr by ViciousPrism

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Diablo 3 (if it makes it in time)

God of War 3

Splinter Cell

Alan Wake (if it ever happens)

Dantes Inferno

Aliens vs Predator

Crackdown 2

The Miles Edgeworth spin-off from the Ace Attorney series.