Most Anticipated Games of 2009
Thursday, February 5th, 2009
The last couple of years have had their fair share of great games, and this year doesn’t appear to be any different. Out of all the games slated to come out in 2009, which ones made it onto my list?
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (360/PS3)
Release Date: April 7, 2009
I am a big fan of Pitch Black and its sequel, due in large part to the title character himself. Vin Diesel’s Riddick is a mysterious character who always seems to be several steps ahead of those around him. Assault on Dark Athena is partly a remake of the critically acclaimed Riddick game from the original XBox, Escape From Butcher Bay, but it also adds a completely new adventure, updated graphics, and online multiplayer. I can’t wait for another chance to step into Riddick’s sneaky shoes.
The Conduit (Wii)
Release Date: June 2009
The Wii doesn’t have very many first-person shooters in its game library, and the ones that it does have don’t control very well. High Voltage Software is trying to change all that with The Conduit. The game’s story looks to be a little generic (aliens invade Washington, D.C.), but the gameplay and graphics look fantastic. The game features a completely customizable HUD and remappable control setups, putting a ton of control over how to play into the player’s hands. The Conduit’s graphics are also looking much more polished than the typical third-party software the Wii normally sees. Here’s hoping that High Voltage can deliver the type of FPS experience we all wished for when the Wii controller was first revealed.
Dark Void (360/PS3)
Release Date: May 2009
Dark Void looks to be what you get when you combine The Rocketeer with Gears of War. The cover system from the latter is literally turned on its head as you can scale vertical structures while shooting at your enemies above you. You can also take to the skies and hijack flying saucers, and did I mention that you have guns mounted on your jetpack? Dark Void looks like a fun mix of aerial dogfights and ground-based gunplay.
Prototype (360/PS3)
Release Date: Summer 2009
In this upcoming sandbox game from Sierra, you play as a character who has gone through several of genetic mutations. These mutations manifest as several different super powers including shape-shifting and flight. Prototype has the potential to combine the sprawling world of GTA, the addictiveness of Crackdown, and the pure fun of messing around in Saints Row 2 into a single game, and I hope they are able to pull it off.
Puzzle Quest Galactrix (DS)
Release Date: February 24, 2009
I spent a lot of time playing the original Puzzle Quest. While Galactrix will be offered on many different platforms (including XBox Live), I believe the game is perfectly suited for portable systems. Galactrix forgoes the fantasy setting of its predecessor in favor of a sci-fi aesthetic. This time you’ll be swapping gems on a hexagonal grid in order to power up the weapons on your spaceship as you fight to save the galaxy. If Galactrix is anywhere near as addicting as the first Puzzle Quest, then it will be spending a lot of time in my DS Lite….unless my wife steals it for herself like she did with the first game.
Batman Arkham Asylum (360/PS3)
Release Date: Summer 2009
This is the first Batman game in a long time that looks like it could actually be good. It has a lot going for it, not the least of which is getting Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to lend their voices to the game. It gives the game an immediate familiarity right off the bat (cue Joker laughter). Arkham Asylum is an interesting setting, allowing Batman villains other than the Joker to make an appearance if needed. The trailers for the game have looked fantastic. Hopefully the final product will live up to its potential.
Little King’s Story (Wii)
Release Date: May 2009
Little King’s Story is a simulation/adventure game with some similarities to Harvest Moon. You play as a small boy who finds a magical crown that allows him to influence people. Your job is to grow your village into a large kingdom. The art style for the game is colorfully charming, and the trailers for the game are rather amusing. There isn’t another game that looks quite like it, and I think it has the potential to be something special.
Resident Evil 5 (360/PS3)
Release Date: March 13, 2009
Resident Evil 4 is arguably the best game from the last generation of consoles. It was a perfect mix of action and tension with some really well designed boss fights. Resident Evil 5 seems to follow the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy, and that’s just fine by me. However, the addition of a co-op partner does mix things up a little bit, and the slick graphics will help to keep things from becoming stale. Resident Evil 5 has a lot to live up to, but so far it appears to be up to the task.
TMNT: Smash Up (Wii)
Release Date: Fall 2009
Little is known about this game so far, but the tidbits of information that have been released so far is enough to get this game onto my list. Putting the Ninja Turtles into a fighting game that is in the same vein as Super Smash Bros is a stroke of genius. In fact, this game is being created by many of the team members who worked on Super Smash Bros Brawl. Even if they can only cram half the content that was in Brawl into this game, it will still be a must-play title.
Damnation (360/PS3)
Release Date: March 2, 2009
Damnation is set in an alternate universe in which the American Civil War is still happening. The setting is very reminiscent of a Western, with the addition of steampunk technology to spice things up. This game combines third-person shooter mechanics with the acrobatic gameplay from something like Prince of Persia. Traversing large environments by climbing walls and jumping between ledges while using cool guns to take down my enemies sounds like an awful lot of fun to me.
Ghostbusters (360/PS3/Wii)
Release Date: June 16, 2009
Like Batman, it is easy to see the geeky appeal to a Ghostbusters game. Strapping on a proton pack to fight all those strange things in the neighborhood has the potential to be a lot of fun. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the story, and their likenesses and voices will appear in the game, along with those of Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson. William Atherton and Annie Potts are also supposed to make an appearance. With most of the original talent involved in the creation of the game, it’s hard to say no to saving the world from those pesky ghosts.
Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
Release Date: Fall 2009
The combination of immersive gameplay with a distinctive art style and setting became a recipe for success with the original Bioshock. Little is known about the sequel at this point, despite being slated for release later this year. However, the quality of the first game is enough to make me want to go back to Rapture (or wherever the sequel ends up taking place).
What games are you anticipating this year?
What are your most anticipated video games of 2009?
- Batman Arkham Asylum (360/PC/PS3) (33%, 40 Votes)
- Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams (360/PC/PS3) (27%, 33 Votes)
- Ghostbusters (360/PS3/Wii) (27%, 33 Votes)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360/PC/PS3) (24%, 30 Votes)
- Halo 3: ODST (360) (20%, 24 Votes)
- Resident Evil 5 (360/PS3) (18%, 22 Votes)
- Other (14%, 17 Votes)
- Kill Zone 2 (PS3) (11%, 13 Votes)
- Halo Wars (360/PC) (10%, 12 Votes)
- God of War III(PS3) (9%, 11 Votes)
- Prototype (360/PS3) (8%, 10 Votes)
- Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (360/PS3) (7%, 8 Votes)
- TMNT: Smash Up (Wii) (3%, 4 Votes)
- Street Fighter IV (360/PS3) (3%, 4 Votes)
- The Conduit (Wii) (2%, 3 Votes)
- Mad World (Wii) (2%, 3 Votes)
- Punch-Out (Wii) (2%, 3 Votes)
- Dark Void (360/PS3) (2%, 2 Votes)
- Damnation (360/PS3) (2%, 2 Votes)
- Little King's Story (Wii) (1%, 1 Votes)
- Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (DS/Xbox Live) (1%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 123
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My 3 favorite games of this generation are:
1> Bioshock
2a> Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2b> Halo 3
Can you guess what I voted for? :P
Seriously enough, this year will rock for me. As is, it will be fantastic. And there are a lot of games I’m interested in that didn’t make the list (IE – Star Ocean IV). There are also several maybes that might crop up (Mass Effect 2 is a possibility. It isn’t as if they had to design the sequel from the ground up).
Call of Duty: World at War was not my style of game, so Modern Warfare 2 is going to be a hugely welcomed addition for me. There are a lot of improvements I want for the next game. Like being able to see your previous game’s score while waiting for the next game to start in multiplayer. And story mode co-op (online, please) wouldn’t hurt, either.
They recently announced that Mass Effect 2 won’t be out until 2010, but I didn’t really expect it to come out this year. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty is a big maybe that I almost included in my list. However, I really doubt we’ll see it this year.
It’s Blizzard, so it’s hard to tell. But they are supposedly “Dangerously close to Beta”. So take that for what it’s worth. That’s another big one for me. But I figured the list worked best as Mostly Console games.
Start including PC games, then we have to consider Champions and Star Trek. Again, neither of which is guaranteed a 2009 release (I’m 90% certain Star Trek isn’t, but Champions was supposed to be. Unless that changed when Atari bought Cryptic).
Yes Randy, COD is amazing. I have it on PS3. One of the things I did like better about World at War though was when your on the 7 kill streak you get dogs. Whenever I see the scene in Dark Knight in the beginning (during the Scarecrow cameo) where the mob boss releases the dogs on Batman I think of COD and really wish he’d say “THE DOGS HUNGER FOR THE FLESH OF OUR ENEMIES” haha. But yeah, I’m totally looking forward for Modern Warfare 2 with some of the stuff that World at War had such as if your playing in a party for the other member to show up as blue and getting assist points based on how much damage you do.
Thanks for doing the poll for me, Randy! :D
No problem. Good article and a good poll :)
What does everyone think of my anticipated games logo (click on it to see the huge version)?
I’m always happy to see custom graphics. Looks very nice. :)
Thanks! Needless to say, I had some fun playing in Photoshop last night.
Oh, BTW. If anyone is interested, the Halo Wars demo on Live Marketplace came out today. So at least one of these games can be tried out now. I haven’t gave it a go yet, but I will be doing that probably tomorrow.
No love for Singularity? The list is really great but after seeing the trailer for Singularity it has reached the near top of my personal list, you should definitely check out some of the info on it if you don’t believe me. And BTW Prototype looks AMAZING!
I’ve never heard of Singularity before. I’ll have to go check it out….
I just read a preview of one of Dark Athena’s multiplayer modes, Pitch Black, that sounds completely awesome. It’s a five versus one game where a group of mercenaries go up against one player who controls Riddick himself. The environment is completely dark, making things harder for the mercs. They can only see what their gun-mounted flashlights illuminate, but Riddick can see in the dark. It sounds like a fun game of cat and mouse. :D
No love for the PC. :(
PC Gamers have no love for the PC, what do you expect? Technically several of these games are coming out on PC too. Like Halo Wars, Call of Duty, Batman, and Bioshock. Puzzle Quest will probably come out on PC too, given their history.
But there aren’t a ton of exclusive games for PC that I’ve heard of this year. Other than Starcraft and Diablo. But again, who knows if they will even make it this year. It’s Blizzard.
The Sims 3
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II
Empire Total War
Demigod
Sims 3 would’ve probably made it, had one of us remembered it was coming out this year. Not sure I would have put the other three on there, even if I had known they were coming out. But then again, I would’ve personally excluded about half of those Wii games as well. :)
I totally forgot about Sims 3. Unfortunately, I don’t play as many PC games as I used to. I got tired of dealing with all the copyright protection/installation hassles, not to mention keeping my system up to date. I am now at the point where I only see some of the bigger PC titles, and I miss a lot of other ones (even ones I probably should pay attention to).
As for all those Wii titles on there, they totally belong. Not everyone has completely given up on the system yet, and those are some of the better-looking titles coming out this year. I especially like the water-color visuals of Little King’s Story.
Even if you haven’t given up on the system, some of those are questionable as to how big they are going to be. There were a lot of “B” quality titles for the 360 that I could have came up with to match those titles (For instance, Star Ocean IV). I imagine the same could be said for the PS3. But after you get past the first tier or two, the popularity is going to severely wane. See also the bottom feeder poll results.
I don’t see any of the Wii titles I listed as “B” titles. They are simply different types of games than what you see on 360 or PS3.
I consider “AAA” titles to be system sellers. Several million copies, etc. “A” titles are titles that bring up the rear. They sell over a million within a year, they are solid contenders for game awards, or receive critical acclaim. For instance, I would consider Zelda, Mario, Halo, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy to all be AAA. Fallout 3, Oblivion, GTA IV, Gears of War, Resistance, etc are all stuck between AAA and A. Mass Effect, Bioshock, and Little Big Planet are a few that I would consider “A” titles, though they could easily be “AAA” titles as well.
“B” titles aren’t necessarily bad. They will do a decent amount of business, they will have a core group of fans, but they won’t be raved about, they won’t be million sellers, etc. Banjo Kazooie and Viva Pinata are two of the big ones that come to mind. Many of the games on the list are probably ‘B’ titles. In fact, I imagine that Ghostbusters and Batman will end up as ‘B’ titles when all is said and done (Though, given the audience on this site, their inclusion was all but mandatory). Nothing wrong with ‘B’ titles, but they are just going to be solid, not set the world on fire with sales and/or gameplay.
I totally see most of the Wii games on that list as ‘B’ Titles. If it doesn’t contain a major Nintendo character, it probably is a ‘B’ game. Punch Out is probably the exception, with it’s history. Of the others, Mad World and the Conduit seem to be the other two that get a lot of talk, so they would be borderline “A” in my book.
Still, you can’t compare most Wii games with the other systems. And honestly, it has nothing to do with the type of games they are. Just look at the sells stats for the games. This is from the top selling console in the world, mind you. One that is competing with the PS2 to become the top selling console of all time:
The top 10 selling Wii games.
* Wii Sports (40.5 million)[72]
* Wii Play (20.91 million)[72]
* Wii Fit (14.01 million)[72]
* Mario Kart Wii (13.67 million)[72]
* Super Smash Bros. Brawl (8.1 million)[72]
* Super Mario Galaxy (7.66 million)[73]
* Mario Party 8 (6.28 million)[73]
* The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (4.52 million)[73]
* Link’s Crossbow Training (3.44 million)[72]
* Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (3.4 million)[74]
So, we see that Wii Sports is #1, which should be tossed out, since it’s free everywhere but in Japan. Wii Play is #2, which makes sense, because it’s like $10 with the purchase of a controller. Once you get past Zelda, the quality plummets. Granted, there are better games out there, but they will always be a shadow to Nintendo made games.
Anyway, just making a point. :)
I see your point, and I agree with your assessment of games based on sales data.
However, I was thinking about them in more of a “potential for quality” way. Sure, I doubt any of those Wii titles will sell tons and tons of copies (with the possible exception of Punch Out and maybe TMNT if advertised well), but I think all of them show a lot of potential for being A-quality games that are worth looking at.
Besides, it doesn’t hurt to have at least a little variety. :)
Oh yeah, I agree. Just because a game is lacking sales potential doesn’t mean it won’t be great. I was just making the point that I would have left some of them off. Generally, if they aren’t going to be a big seller, they also won’t get many votes in a poll like this. :)
I am actually really looking forward to Beyond Good and Evil 2.
I am too. Hopefully Ubisoft will tell us more about it soon.
What happened to Aliens: Colonial Marines? Is it still coming out this year? Because I spent a lot of time looking forward to that one – but I LOVE the Aliens franchise.
I couldn’t find a firm release date, but a few places are saying it should come out sometime in the middle of the year.
Thanks!
RE5
Ghostbusters
Bioshock 2 (and I haven’t even really played the first, but still look forward to playing the second, :) I have ordered Bioshock btw).
And just got an Elite, HDMI, hell yeah.
I played the Halo Wars demo last night, and I wasn’t impressed. The game looked nice, but it was overly simple and not all that fun to play. The graphics are nice, but the voice acting and presentation is rather cheesy. The tutorial was especially dumb in how it told you what to do, and at times, it seemed to assume the player is an idiot.
There wasn’t really much strategy to the base building. I’m sure it will open up once there are more available buildings to use though. The way you gather resources is a little overpowered as well. Basically you construct a supply depot building that automatically gives you supplies (used for training units and building structures). Once it’s built, your supply amount steadily ticks upward forever, going faster if you build more than one depot. There’s no limit placed on how many resources you can get, so essentially there’s no limit on how much you can build, taking a lot of the strategy on what you need to build away. You can also pick up some supply crates, but you don’t really need to bother with them if you have a base built up.
This might just be a case of “poor demo syndrome”, so I hope the full game ends up much better. It would be nice if there was another good console-based strategy game out there other than CivRev.
FYI, Randy, it took me a bit to figure out that you must have sent me that message last night from the website. I was thinking “He wasn’t online a minute ago. Did I miss the little pop-up message?” It wasn’t until much later that I remembered that you can also send messages from xbox.com.
Unless you have some sort of super-stealh ninja Xbox that can go online without others noticing, that is…. ;)
If I had been on, I would just have played it myself. :)
I played the first part of the demo, and I rather like it. Overly simplified? Sure. It was designed for the console. Ever played a complicated RTS using a controller? It’s not that fun. As far as Resource management, it reminded me a lot of Lord of the Rings: BFME. Especially when you played Mordor, you could just continue pumping out troops, so long as you could keep your resource buildings up and running.
The tutorial voice was a bit over the top, but it didn’t bother me too much. But possibly one of the best things came from the cut scenes. That’s going to be one of the best parts of the game. You get the prequel story of Halo told through awesome cut scenes. The Halo cut scenes have never been known for being fantastic. These were awesome from what I saw. I’m going to play the second chapter as soon as I get a chance. Then I’m going to try a couple skirmishes. The only thing I’m worried about is the amount of depth in the game.
Again, it reminded me of Battle For Middle Earth. And in my opinion, that’s not a bad thing. The game wasn’t my favorite RTS, as it can’t even touch Blizzard RTS games. But it was solid, and I think Halo Wars will be the same.
I agree about the cutscenes. They were awesome.
I think the full game will be a bit better. I found a pdf of the manual online, and there are a few more units and buildings that sound fun. I also think that later levels will probably be more difficult than the demo level, and multiplayer could be a lot of fun. I just didn’t enjoy the demo as much as I thought I would. I didn’t hate it though. I’ve played much worse stuff before.
I think CivRev is the best console-based strategy game out there, but it doesn’t quite compare since it is turn-based rather than real-time. I think Halo Wars will end up being pretty good (especially the cutscenes), but I guess I was hoping for something a bit more special from Ensemble.
I want to vote for “other”. :(
That option was there originally. Must have gotten left off when I tried to alphabetize the list. It’s back now. :P
Im really looking foward to next year, but in saying that over the last year iv picked up the habbit of quitting games 1/2 way through, I still havent finnished bioshock or silent hill 5 (hell i never even finnished the first FEAR but that was because the game felt really glitchy to me).
Damn you growing up and the restraints you have on my time.
a lot of cool games coming out I just wish Overlord II would come out sooner. I can’t wait to play that
I’m still waiting for Gran Turismo 5. It was supposed to be out in 2008 and I’m still not confident it will be out in 2009!
I need to play the RE5 demo, any thoughts?
Got Bioshock today, need to play that too.
Damn, I need to finish Mirror’s Edge. I’m stuck on Chapter 7.
It took me forever to get past the first part of Chapter 7 in Mirror’s Edge. I kept getting killed wen I was climbing the pipe in the corner of the room. Then there’s another part (I think in the same chapter) where you have to get past a bunch of guys and open a hatch, but turning the wheel takes forever. I died rather often there too.
Are you trying to go through the game without shooting at anyone? It is much harder to play that way.
I kinda wanna vote twice….
Punch out wii is like a dream come true…
but ghostbusters is the chinese democracy of video games
Punch out Wii better be a hell of a lot better than boxing in Wii Sports. That sucked.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Punch Out for Wii will end up featuring the yet-to-be-released WiiMotionPlus. If so, that should help with the motion detection, as long as they leave out the nunchuck.
Very Likely. It is a Nintendo project, isn’t it? I personally wish I’d see more games that support the option to use dual Wiimotes rather than the Wiimote/nunchuck combo. Even prior to WiiMotionPlus, that would have been a huge improvement.
Yeah, I’m surprised that more games haven’t offered that option as well.
No matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world.