Another feature, the second full one to the site, and this time I consider the Playstation 3 and whether its time has finally come in the year 2008. Will MGS4 give the PS3 the top spot in the console war? Has Microsoft managing to get their hands on GTA IV plus some exlusive DLC meant the PS3 is doomed to fail? Find out more after the cut…
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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Here’s the first part of the two-part feature in which I’ll outline 10 game titles that will define the year 2008 in gaming, and make this a year not to miss out on. Some will be console exclusives, others will be multiplatform, but all are either highly anticipated or looks like it has promise as a videogame. These aren’t ranked in any particular order, just my list of games to look out for this year. Some are already out, others are only rumoured to be out this year – but here’s the future of the gaming landscape as I see it. So, let’s begin!
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Grand Theft Auto IV
Release Date — April 29th 2008
(PS3, Xbox 360)
This has to be the one of the, if not the most anticipated game of this year. The king of freeform, sandbox videogames is back for the new generation of consoles. Calling itself ‘4′ labels the previous two installments (Vice City and San Andreas) more like expansion packs to GTA III rather than forwarding the series in any meaningful way. Hopefully, this means GTA IV will be as big as leap as GTA III was. Only time will tell, but from rumours and trailers, it looks like it will a big improvement. San Andreas’ map was just too big, with miles of countryside and desert sounding good on paper, but meaning the game lacked focus and spread itself too thin. GTA IV focuses on one city, Liberty City (a take on New York). No desert areas, just a living breathing city to play in. Yes, the map might not be as large, but the detail within it more than makes up for that, and the shear scale of things available for you to do looks as though it’s grown by leaps and bounds.
You play as a character called Niko Bellic. Little is known about him except he’s Eastern European and is immigrating to Liberty City to live the American Dream. His cousin, Roman, is also living there, and is possibly one of Niko’s first contact to do missions for. A lot has been said about GTA IV – it’s improved aiming and cover systems, its more freeform approach to missions, the new wanted area mechanic, the multiplayer – but it’s impossible to know how these elements will play out until you play the game. I’m predicting many of the rumours, or even confirmations, of the smaller aspects of gameplay probably won’t come true. I remember there was something going around about San Andreas about how CJ (the main character) could buy and smoke cigarettes. There was some excitement over this (I have no idea why – it’s a pointless addition), but it didn’t end up in the final game. For that reason, I’m taking a lot of the rumours with a pinch of salt until I get my hands on it and actually play it myself. Missions spanning over days and you being able to do your own thing while waiting for an interview or some other event sounds good, but will it be as good in execution?
One thing’s for certain, this game will sell by the bucketload, and based on the previous games in the franchise, it will be an amazing, epic experience. Being able to just free roam the city is where a large proportion of gameplay hours come from, giving this almost unlimited and unrivaled replayability. You will get your value for money with this game, and I strongly recommend everyone with a PS3 or 360 picks it up.
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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Release Date — June 12th 2008
(PS3)
Probably the most sought after PS3 exclusive of this year, maybe even of all time. Metal Gear Solid 4 charts the final chapter of the epic gaming series. I’m not completely up to date with the story (I have played MGS2 + MGS3, but the parts of the story I can remember I don’t really understand how it fits into the larger picture), so I did some research on the series story, and I’m very surprised about how deep it is. For a game, this is very cinematic stuff. And, I realised I’ve only played as Solid Snake for a very short sequence in MGS2, so nows my final chance. In this game you play as ‘old snake’. Well, he looks old, but that’s only a side affect of the cloning process (he was cloned from the main character in ‘Snake Eater’). This is five years after the big shell incident in MGS2, and this game is the direct sequel considering that MGS3 was a prequel.
Right then. This might get a bit spoilerish… and complicated. The antagonist of this game is ‘Liquid Ocelot’. Essentially, a man called ‘Big Boss’ was injured, and in an attempt to keep his genes going, he was cloned into three others – Solid Snake, Liquid Snake and Solidius Snake. Big Boss was killed before the Metal Gear Solid series started, Liquid was killed in MGS1 and Solidius is killed in MGS2 and Solid Snake is the last of the ‘brothers’ remaining. But, a man called Ocelot has Liquid’s arm grafted onto him, and Liquid is now living through Ocelot, and by the time MGS4 rolls around, Liquid has taken complete control of Ocelot, creating the games antagonist – Liquid Ocelot. As I said, a little complicated, but hopefully that makes things a bit clearer. As you see, Liquid is really the only person connected to Solid Snake left alive, so this game charts the fall of Liquid (I think).
The story of Metal Gear Solid is fascinating and rich, providing a great background for the game, and although I’ve caught up on the story mainly through research instead of playing, I can’t wait to see out the final chapter of the game. There’s going to be a reappearance of the MGS2 character Raiden (who had a mixed reception), but he now has a ghostly white appearance due to having white blood and an almost entirely mechanical body. It looks great. Maybe not for everyone, and I’m sure there’ll be a healthy dose of exposition laden cutscenes and talking throughout, but it’s to forward a truly interesting story. Stealth might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the narrative is what is really interesting to me for this. Throw in an online multiplayer mode and I’m there!
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Okami
Release Date — June 6th 2008 (Europe)
(Wii)
Don’t let the screenshot above fool you, this game is beautiful, and it’s one of those games that the critics and people who buy it love, but no-one buys. If you have a Wii, you should buy this game and support games like this. It’s wonderfully inventive, where you basically travel the land to revert a demons work and add life back to the world. It was released for the PS2 back in 2006, and is now being re-released for the Wii, using the motion controls as a brush and making things more fluid than having to use a Dualshock controller to do all the work. Controls using the Wii Remote may take a bit of getting used to, but for using the ‘celestial brush’, it has the upper hand. It has vibrant, alive colours, and a unique premise for gameplay, but this isn’t mainstream. It has the feeling of a cult game, and it feels very Japanese, which can be a good thing. It’s a marmite type of game that won’t appeal to everyones tastes. If you’re usually found blasting away the covenant in Halo, this might not be your sort of thing, but it’s worth at least giving it a shot.
The critics have praised this no end, with it getting extremely high average scores, but it doesn’t matter about what the critics think. If this doesn’t sell well, less money will go into other types of games like this, and the market instead will be saturated with things that do sell well, like First Person Shooters (although, I can’t see Japan not continuing to create things like this). I’m not saying a good FPS can’t be great, but there needs to be games like Okami out there to provide something different from the norm. With the re-release for a next-gen console, it’s worth having a look and making your own mind up.
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Borderlands
Release Date — September 2008
(PS3, Xbox 360)
It’s strange for me to include this on the list, because I know little to nothing about it, but what I do know makes it sound very cool. It’s a mix between an FPS, RPG and has some full-speed vehicular combat. Something which jumped out at me is that Borderlines contains 500,000 different weapons. Now, that isn’t entirely true since it counts variations of the same weapon, but each of the 500,000 has a different affect and handling. If you have trouble remembering what each of the different guns do in your average FPS, you’re going to have trouble here!
You play a fortune hunter who takes on the various weapons and quests available to you across the planet Pandora. Yes, and like Pandora’s box it seems to be full of bad stuff. The graphics (as evident from the above screenshot) look staggering, and it’s open to four player co-operative online play, which is available to activate at any time during your single player adventure. You have a variety of different missions which involve general gunning, chasing after people in these buggy-type things and lots and lots of different stuff. I assume the RPG element will be mainly levelling up your character. I’d love to see them pull a GTA IV on this and give a free-roam around the world type online option, so you can race around with someone before jumping onto their buggy and blowing their brains out. Simply put, I have no idea what this game is going to be like, but I’m going to be monitoring its progress carefully.
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Resistance 2
Release Date — Fall 2008 (N. America) // November 2008 (Europe)
(PS3)
The first Resistance game was a launch title with the PS3, and it surprised many people with its quality. It may not have reinvented the genre, but it was damn good fun to take charge of Hale (the protagonist) and fight off the Chimera, while he was battling his own demons. Finally, we’re getting a sequel. Hale becomes a part of a new group called ‘The Sentinels’, working with others who are resistant against the Chimera virus and fighting against them when they launch another attack on the world. Apart from that, there isn’t much else that we know about the second game. Although, an interesting feature is that it will have two campaigns. The single player is Hale’s story, and the co-op one is a story running parallel to Hale. A reason to get another controller for the PS3 if I ever heard one.
Since there isn’t a lot about Resistance 2 to talk about, I think I might cheat a little and include another FPS, Killzone 2, scheduled for release exclusively to the PS3 in September this year (so, a similar time to Resistance 2). Killzone 2 was originally unveiled to show off the graphical capabilities of the PS3 in the infamous E3 video. While the graphics might not be quite that good, they’ll certainly be a sight to behold. But, graphics aren’t what make a game. The first Killzone was a disappointment after all the hype, hopefully a lesson has been learnt and the fight against the Hellghast will be more enjoyable this time.
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Well then. There’s the first five (technically six) I think you should be keeping your eyes open for in 2008. Hope it’s been enjoyable and opened your eyes to some games you may not have heard about otherwise. If you did enjoy it, be sure to leave a comment and I’ll make an effort to do more of these sort of features in the future.
