Posts Tagged ‘list’

PC Games to Keep an Eye On

Sunday, January 17th, 2010; 3 Comments

I could easily list all the games I am looking forward to this year, but I thought I’d instead spotlight the the PC games that I am most interested in playing. I consider the PC to be my main platform for gaming and I thought it had a great 2009 and I hope it is at least as good in 2010.

Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment)
I am a pretty big fan of Obsidian and especially Chris Avellone, who I think is among the premier game writers and designers in an industry where writing is typically poor. So it is no surprise that this is one of the games I am looking forward to most this year. For the unaware, Alpha Protocol is being called “The Espionage RPG” and is basically just that, a modern-day spy RPG. There are varying ways to play the game, from a suave James Bond-type to a bust in and kick ass Jason Bourne-type. Originally slated for early 2009 and now having suffered numerous delays, I hope that the extra time publisher Sega has given Obsidian has really helped to give the game the level of polish it deserves.

BioShock 2 (2K Marin)
This one shouldn’t take too much explaining why I am excited for it, with the first game being one of my favorite games of all time. I actually do not expect this to be as good as the first, but I’m certainly willing to be pleasantly surprised. I expect for the overall gameplay to be more polished, but perhaps the story and characters to not be as engaging. The multiplayer mode sounds great too which I have written on before.

Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment)
Another Obsidian-developed title, there is not much info widely available about this game yet other than it will use the Gamebryo engine (see Oblivion and Fallout 3) and it will not be related to the Fallout 3 story, merely take place in the same universe. Having recently played and beaten Fallout 3 for the first time, and this coming from one of my favorite studios, even the little info we have on this is enough to make me excited, and it is potentially the game I am looking forward to most in 2010.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (Blizzard Entertainment)
Like BioShock 2, this should need no explanation for why it is on this short list. Blizzard has been working on this game for years now and I expect it to be one of the most polished experiences of 2010. I have probably not played the original StarCraft for 10 years so it is definitely time.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising (Relic Entertainment)
The first expansion to 2009’s Dawn of War II, Chaos Rising will add an entirely new campaign, continuing the story of the Blood Ravens Space Marines, this time in their fight against the Chaos Space Marines. I am already a Warhammer fan, having played the tabletop game for more than several years in the past and I just loved this game’s main campaign. The game combines RPG and RTS elements (loot drops, fixed number of squads with no base building) to make for a truly unique strategy experience.

So there you have the games on PC I want to get my hands on most this year. Do you share the same anticipation or are your top upcoming games completely different?

My Top 10 Games of 2009

Thursday, December 24th, 2009; 1 Comment

I am a sucker for making and reading lists so of course I had to make my top 10 games of 2009 list. Let me know what you think of my picks.

10. Braid (Number None, PC)
Amazing art style, and fun and addicting puzzles. Couldn’t leave this off the list. The PC version came out in 2009 which is what I played.

9. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
I actually don’t care for the art style so much in this game, it just looks very generic to me. But the gameplay, especially when playing with 3 other players is so much fun and there is so much variety to the levels. Definitely a “must-play” for Wii owners.

8. Torchlight (Runic Games, PC)
Ever play Diablo 2? Think that with 3D graphics and WoW’s art style and you have Torchlight. Just one more level…

7. The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix, Xbox 360)
Aside from, you know, The Beatles, what separates this game from all the other band-specific music games out there is the amount of polish and the level of uniqueness given to this title. The visuals are amazing, each song has a custom backdrop, and the addition of vocal harmonies really does make this a standout title.

6. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Relic Entertainment, PC)
No base-building + loot drops = a great RTS formula. This game was probably a big risk since it strays so much from what people think of as an RTS game but it was definitely worth it.

5. Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft, Xbox 360)
I personally loved the first Assassin’s Creed so this one is a no-brainer for me. Improved mission variety, still the same fun gameplay from the first.

4. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady, Xbox 360)
It was tough for me to decide which I enjoyed more, Assassin’s Creed II or Batman, but I think it just came down to the fact that it’s Batman and we’ve never had a Batman game even close to how amazing this is. The brawler aspects are fun but I think the detective and stealth parts are my favorite.

3. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, PC)
Too early for a sequel? Definitely not, this game improves upon so much from the first game. I have already played this more than I played L4D1. The only thing I like better from the first game is the characters.

2. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, Xbox 360)
Probably an unpopular pick but I loved almost everything about this game. Resident Evil 4 was my first exposure to the series and I flat out loved it so it’s no surprise that I loved this one as well. One thing about this is to get the full enjoyment out of it, you must play it co-op as I did.

1. Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, PC)
By far my favorite game this year, I don’t know if I have any real complaints about it other than technical issues. The characters are what really shine though, you actually care about what they think of you and they are just very believable. Definitely a worthy successor to Baldur’s Gate, one of my favorite games.

Honorable Mentions (Listed alphabetically)
Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Xbox 360)
Mirror’s Edge (DICE, PC)
Tales of Monkey Island (Telltale Games, PC)

Copied from my post at LucasForums.