Provided none of these games get cancelled due to their budget cuts, these are the games I’m most looking forward to in the next year.
Empire: Total War
Those who are paying attention will remember that this was on the list last year. Those of us who’ve been waiting for it certainly do. Hopefully, the extra time will equal a better game (not always the case by any means). It certainly looks stunning. My absolute favorite period in history is receiving the award-winning total war treatment, what could be better?
Final Fantasy XIII
The latest installment in the celebrated role-playing game series and the first in High Definition. If you haven’t seen the much discussd new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, watch it below. All I can say is…oh my. I usually complain about the more Sci-Fi direction the series has taken in most of the recent games. Now I’ll just watch the trailer again and wipe up the drool later.
Wii Sports Resort
Wii Sports Resort is not exciting for me so much for the game itself. If its anything like its predecessor for me it will get old after awhile. What I’m looking forward to is the attached accessory Wii MotionPlus. This will give the Wii more precision, one-to-one control of events on the screen. Thus it will be possible for games to directly emulate the movements of the player. This will finally fulfill the promise of the Wii that we we hoping for when news of the Wii-mote first hit the streets. Incidently, the game that comes with looks amusing as well.
Ghostbusters: The Game
Who ya gonna call? I’ve been looking forward to this since I first heard about it. Its had a rocky gestation, but it looks like the game is finally going to come out. With a script written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd, and voice acting provided by nearly all the original principals one can expect a story faithful to the lore of the films. Actually the game is being billed as Ghostbusters 3. Can’t wait.
About a month late, I thought I’d close out 2008 in gaming with a list of games that made the most impression on me through the year. Please note that this list is limited to games I have played. There are numerous other worthy games out there that aren’t on this list because they simply aren’t my cup o’ tea. There are numerous other best of ’08 lists out there. So many that I won’t link to one here (just use your prefered search engine you lazy bum!). I will also assume that you know a little something about games. If not you can always used the furnished link to discover more. I’m just not going to rehash what has already been said by others thousands of times.
Without further rambling, the list (in order that they came to mind only):
Spore
This game suffered from what I like to call the Phantom Menace Effect. In short, expectations were raised to such unrealistically high levels that the final product stood no chance of living up to them no matter how mind-blowingly cool they were let alone what the final product actually turned out to be.
Spore is a good game. Actually, Spore is a very good game. The gameplay is well thought out. The creativity tools make building creatures and objects a breeze. While I have not spent every waking moment sitting in front of it, its one of those games that I get an urge to play from time to time (a mark of a goodie to be sure).
Unfortunately for Spore right off the bat (three years before it even released), people already started suggesting it might be the “Citizen Kane of video games“. When it finally did come out, it met what I would call a tepid reception. While eveyone liked it, gone was the bubbling enthusiasm. Gamespot, for example gave it an 8.0 (out of a possible 10). An adminable score to be sure, but not what you’d expect from a community calling it Citizen Kane to be sure, especially when compared to the big budget hits of the year Metal Gear Solid IV and Grand Theft Auto IV.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
I’ve liked this Real-Time Strategy (RTS from here on) series since the first one. It takes an interesting premise to over the top and illogical conclusion. Basically, the whole series is a comic take on the whole Cold War made hot idea. The first game in the series is a classic. The second, less so… This new third installment however, returns to what made the first great solid level design and an interesting if unlikely story. Incidently if your a fan of the series, consider getting the special edition as the soundtrack CD is pretty fun. Release the War Bears Comrade!!
Final Fantasy IV DS
I won’t say too much here. I already slobbered enough over this enough last year. Lets let it suffice to say that it was everything I expected and hoped it would be.
Mass Effect (for PC)
Mass Effect wasn’t on my radar last January. I was peripherally aware of it, but thats where it ended. Well finding it in Target proved expensive, and now I have to say it was worth it.
Its suprising to me that I wasn’t more aware of it when it first came out (probably because I started life as an XBox 360 exclusive). It comes from BioWare, Corp. a studio well known for producing first rate Role Playing Games (of which I am a fan) including the fantastic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur’s Gate games.
Mass Effect takes advantage of this RPG pedigree to the fullest extent and turns out to be an excellently honed experience. The story (which I have not yet finished) is engrossing and the world-building is first rate This is important to me as I am a big fan of Epic Sci-Fi and Fantasy, genre which rely on strong world-building for much of their impact.
Mass Effect is also a rather pretty game, especially if you have a system capable of presenting it to its fullest. The PC version also includes a streamlined interface which reccomends it to those with the option of playing it on both PC and XBox.
Overall this was my big suprise of the year. Give it a look.
Our PCs at work started acting oddly “google-wise”. EVERY site was listed as harmful to the computer! I thought one of my coleagues attempts at diagnosis produced especially amusing results. Of course I may be biased…
