Thursday, May 15, 2008

Rob's Top 5 for 2008


Well, since Mr. Thomas Waters wrote his top 5 most anticipated games for 2008, I figured I would make a top 5 list as well...

#5 - Bionic Command: Rearmed (Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC) - May 28th, 2008
So, some of you may be thinking, "Why is he putting an XBLA title in his top 5?!" Well, I say there's nothing wrong with that at all, There have been many great Live Arcade titles, and I still play N+ regularly. Bionic Commando: Rearmed, i'm actually more excited about than the full-fledged Bionic Commando 3D game they're coming out with later this year. The original Bionic Commando, remade with new graphics, co-op, and a sweet looking challange mode?! Sign me up!!!

#4 - Alone in the Dark (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii) - June 24th, 2008
Ahh, the Survival Horror genre, since the days of the PS1, it's always been pretty much the same... Resident Evil 4 changed some things up, but other than that, mostly every survival horror game has had the same simple mechanics you'd expect. After a while though, I got sick of that, which is partly why I enjoied RE4 so much. Now, Alone in the Dark, a long forgotten series is revived, without a "5" in it's title. That's just nitpicking, but the real meat of this game is in the incredible physics system, and the amazing use of inventory. Never before have I seen such slick presentation of an inventory system, ever! Not only that, but you can light things on fire, you can combine things on the fly to make new items, the physics system doesn't only react to collision detection, it also reacts to heat and... well, that's awesome.

#3 - Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) - June 3rd, 2008
Ninjas are awesome. This game doesn't seem to live down that concept either. From the masters at Team Ninja, and the true master working closely with them, Tomonobu Itagaki, is truely a ninja master when it comes to video games. Seriously though, I know this one is coming out in just a few weeks, but I couldn't help but add it to this list. The game looks amazing, I loved the first Ninja Gaiden re-make on Xbox, and I didn't play NG: Black or NG: Sigma, but This looks to be one incredible title. It's bloodier, it's got more weapons, and looks like it plays about the same as the last game... which is a good thing as far as i'm concerned. Ninja Gaiden is a series where more of the same=awesome, and I can't wait for this title to come out.

#2 - Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) - October 2008
Oh. My. God. Fallout 3 looks like one of the best games I have seen in a long time. Now, I have never played Fallout 1 or 2, but I love this concept of a post-apocalyptic "50's city of the future" RPG. Also, Betheseda's Elder Scrolls series is incredible, but after playing Oblivion, i'm just getting sick of that world, so i'm glad they're exploring new territory. Not only that, but the entire storytelling expreience seems fantastic! You're born, and you press "A" to cry... you're a baby and you get to crawl around, and now when you press "A" you go "da-da". It's these small things that will bring you into the story, and give you a better connection with the characters, which we all know is key for great storytelling. Definitely looking foward to this one in October.

and... drumroll please!

Oh right, I can't have drumrolls in text based media... damn.

well anyways, my number one game is...

#1 - Spore (PC) - September 7th, 2008
I must say, this game looks incredible! The character customisation, being able to customise everything else in your world. The tools are INCREDIBLY innovative, and you can basically make anything your heart desires, very easily. I'm a very creative person, and seeing something like this makes me happy. Of course, I think in one run of my game, i'll just make everything shaped like penises. Now, if the character customisation wasn't enough, you have this incredible progression system. You start out as an ameoba and you work your way up, evolving and creating new technology, and eventually you can even visit other planets in a UFO. Now, another cool feature is that anytime you create something and are connected to the internet, all of the data will be sent to a giant server and that data will be dispersed to everybody's single player games... so let's say your friend creates a creature on a planet. you can essentially travel to his planet and see his creature from your computer. I would normally be skeptical if such crazy concepts would work in a game, but since it's coming from the Master of The Sims and Sim City, Will Wright, I feel as though it will definitely be amazing.


So, that's my Top 5, and unlike TJ, I don't have any honerable mentions because this list was very clear to me. I basically had it planned out in my head as soon as I started thinking about what my top 5 would be. I can't wait, 2008 is shaping up to be a great year for gaming.

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