The Games of 2008 (Part II)

So, to continue with the latter half of my picks of games coming out within the year 2008.  Like I said, I haven’t ordered these in any specific way, they’re just really a handful of games which I think deserve a mention as something to get, or games which may otherwise be overlooked by some people.  I covered the first five last time, so here’s the rest!

(If you haven’t read Part I, here’s a good place to start)

______________________________________

Prototype
Release Date — October 30th 2008 (US) // Summer 2008 (Maybe 30th July) (Europe) 
(PS3, Xbox 360)

How can anyone not be looking forward to this?  It’s another one I have almost no idea about what it’s actually about, but the basic premise is enough to grab my interest and pretty much guarantee I’m going to be buying this when it hits the shelves.  But why?  Because it appears to have the scale of GTA in its open-ness.  There’s a wonderful sweeping shot in the trailer where the main character is standing on the edge of a tall building in the middle of New York.  Yeah, similar to what we’ve seen before.  But, then he jumps off and starts plummeting towards the ground and lands on the ground… unhurt.  That grabbed my attention, which is why it’s on this list.  

You play amnesiac Alex Mercer, and he has superhuman powers, but not the usual being invisible or shooting web out of his hands.  Oh no.  This man can literally consume people and become them.  He gains their body mass, memories, mannerisms, appearance.  This means he can gain the knowledge to fly a military plane or use a specific type of machine gun.  He can choose to either consume enemies he’s killed or just people walking down the street.  Along with his ability to lift up cars and run right up the side of a building, you’d think he’s pretty much invincible.  But, there’s no way to know how the game will actually play right now.  Other than information, what use does consuming people actually have – maybe infiltrating buildings?  When will you need to run up the side of the Empire State Building?  But, some of the powers do sound very cool.  He has a sensory ability to track individuals in a crowd, or he can grow claws for melee combat.  It all sounds very good and genre-breaking, but unless there’s more of a sense of how gameplay works, no real judgement can be made.  Things can look good on paper and fail completely in the final product.  I hope that doesn’t happen to Prototype, because I want to play this.

 

______________________________________

Alan Wake
Release Date — TBA 2008
(Xbox 360)

Exclusively for the 360 (and PC), this game is touted as a ‘psychological action thriller’, and continues to elude anyone about when it’s actually supposed to be coming out.  I’m including it here because it’s supposed to be released this year, but that’s no guarantee.  Remedy have helpfully told reporters that it will be released ‘when it’s done’, which is good in some respects, but infuriating in others.

You play the title character, Alan Wake, a horror fiction writer who starts having dreams which he uses as basis for his book.  Despite its success, his fiancee left him, he broke down, stopped writing and starts suffering from insomnia.  To try and cure himself, he travels to Bright Falls and specifically a sleep clinic.  But, he starts having visions of his fiancee and he then finds out someone else is writing in his journal.  It then takes a strange series of events where Alan appears to be living parts of his book, and Bright Falls starts changing to suit what happens in his book.  It’s a little sketchy what exactly happens, but Alan appears to be under attack from a dark force who are there to take care of Alan.  The thing is, they’re vulnerable to light, which should prove for some interesting moments when you’re walking around in the dark.  When you’re not fighting these dark enemies, you’ll be taking on missions in the large sandbox style map.  Lots of games seem to be adapting this technique now, but Alan Wake appears to be more structured in its approach, not allowing a lot of side missions or other things to do.  It’s structured in an episodic fashion, each part contributing to the whole.  For a game supposed to be coming out this year, there really isn’t much there to get an impression of, and some things we do know are so vague it’s impossible to know how they’ll be implemented.  I’ll need more details before I can form any kind of true opinion on this, so I’ll be keeping you updated with any developments of the game as they appear.

 

______________________________________

Wii Fit
Release Date — April 25th 2008 (Europe) // May 8th 2008 (Aus) // May 19th 2008 (US)
(Wii)

Not really my kind of thing, I have to say, but it is another innovation from Nintendo.  After the almost breakout success of the Wii and its Wii Remote, which you could control games by moving about, they’ve introduced the Wii Balance Board and the game of Wii Fit.  Sounds good, but are they running out of uses for the Wii Remote already?  Probably not, but there do seem to be an awful amount of peripherals for the Wii console.  The Wii Balance Board can calculate your weight, center of gravity, and can even calculate your body mass index when you stand on it.  You then participate in a number of activities using this board and it is sensitive enough to know when you’re changing your body position.  There are numerous minigames available to play such as jogging, push ups, step aerobics and yoga posing.  

It really is something unique, and I’m sure it will be popular.  Nintendo have taken a bit of a different route recently, not targeting the usual gamer market, but instead going for kids or families who might enjoy using this.  I don’t know how durable the Wii Balance Board is or how much weight it can take, but it looks nice and simple in design.  Will it just be a novelty, and are there other things in the future the balance board can be used for?  It’s likely to be quite an expensive investment, so I hope Nintendo have something else up their sleeve for this one.

 

______________________________________

Splinter Cell: Conviction
Release Date — TBA 2008
(Xbox 360)

Another 360 and PC exclusive, the new Splinter Cell.  I’ve never been a big fan of Splinter Cell — it was Metal Gear Solid without the good story and almost too high-tech in execution.  But, this goes on my list because it looks like the series is going back to basics.  Sam Fisher breaks free of his organisation and goes out alone to try and save his friend and co-worker.  He’s now got long hair and a fully-grown beard, the story revolving around being stealthy in the outside world while being  fugitive on the run.  He now has to try and blend into a crowd, in a similar way to Assassin’s Creed.  Trying to get around Washington DC will be much better than sterile corridors and computer rooms, and in doing your missions (such as passing some guards to get into a location) you have many more options in how you go around it, giving you more freedom to really do what you want and making the stealth experience more flowing and less restricted or confined.  This could be the game to change my perspective on Splinter Cell… if it works.

 

______________________________________

Tomb Raider Underworld
Release Date — Q4 2008
(PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

Lara’s back for another game in this long running series and visiting some places people haven’t seen for centuries.  As with many of the other games in this list, details are sparse since this isn’t set to be released until Christmas time this year, but there are promises that it is the greatest installment so far, with enhanced physics and graphics engines to make the locations feel and look just that much better.  You’re able to pick up the majority of objects in the environment and use them.  If Lara’s on a wet ledge she’s more likely to slip and fall to her death.  Mud’s left on her knees until the rain washes it away and footprints stay in the wet ground.  The line between puzzling, fighting, shooting and climbing will be blurred, with a new hand-to-hand fighting mechanic.  Along with that, the developers have gone for the non-linear gameplay model that so many games seem to be taking so far.  Off the success of games such as GTA, will we be seeing more and more sandbox, non-linear videogames now?   More importantly, is that a good thing?  How is Tomb Raider non-linear?  I really can’t tell right now, but from what I do know it looks like another interesting game to keep an eye open for in the future.

______________________________________

So, that’s it.  Those are the 10 games I think are important for this year, for various reasons.  Maybe I’ve helped enlighten you to some games you may not have known about or peaked your interest in another series of gaming.  In any case, I hope you enjoyed it – please leave a comment outlining your thoughts if you can, and whether you’d be interested in seeing more features like this in the future.