Just to clarify something here: the 3 winners are all games that won in other categories. And we strangely didn’t have a PC games category (I will hopefully rectify that next year), so no Starcraft 2 or other big PC-only titles will be seen here. Just a little note to everyone on this.

Anyhow, let’s finish up our Games of the Year awards. Here are our winners for the best games of 2010!

Actually, before talking about our 3 winners, there’s one very special game I really want to talk about. It was a game that couldn’t really fit in any other category, and therefore can’t realistically make into a winner in the Games of the Year awards, so I decided to at least have it as an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention – Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril

This game is notable for a few things. First… well, it’s awesome. A very well made game, with great music, good graphics and visual design, fun gameplay, and a GREAT challenge (not too unfair, but still very hard). Second… It came out on the NES. In an actual cartridge! It had a great-looking clear green cartridge, as well as a really cool instruction manual (and art by Guru Larry). That’s really cool, and gives us NES collectors/gamers something that we very rarely see beyond occasional homebrew ROMs or people randomly finding prototypes. Third… well, it was all made by one guy. Congrats Sivak. Not only making one of the funnest games of the year, but making it on the NES. Just awesome. We can’t have this as a winner, but I had to mention it. Oh, and there’s a sequel coming since this one did so well, I can’t wait.

Well, enough side-tracking. Without further ado, let’s name our 3 winners! All are great games, and all have very good reason to be on the list.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

What an awesome game this is. Not only a revival of a great franchise that was thought dead, but a really good revival, one that might even be better than some of the previous games in an already great franchise. Sure, the Kremlins aren’t back in action this time (we can hope for a sequel with the Kremlins though if this one does well enough), but the Tikis’ brainwashed animal army made for fun enemies to fight. The gameplay was great, the platforming was rock solid and required a lot of precision, the mine cart levels were EPIC, and the difficulty was very fair (with the addition of Diddy’s jetpack to make jumps easier, and huge amounts of lives). Oh, and it’s great graphically as well, with tons of details in the backgrounds and foregrounds, with the ability to go into the background in certain levels. And the now-cliché silhouette levels looks good as well. And it’s also a solid collect-a-ton, where finding everything isn’t THAT complicated since the game is seperated into levels. And you have a lot of levels and extra content. Truly one of the masterpieces of 2010.

Bayonetta

The action game genre has been fairly stale after DMC4, while being a great game, just didn’t do it for the masses (getting tons of really stupid complaints that applies to the rest of the series as well (reminds me of something *coughffxiiicough*)). Basically everything after was either bad God of War clones, REALLY bad God of War clones, God of War (which isn’t really good) and just bad games trying to be different. Bayonetta came during a time of suckage in the genre, and basically kicked its ass. Now THIS is what an action game should be like: fun to play, tons of crazy enemies and weapons, actually being fairly challenging and having a really fun main character. It even gives Devil May Cry 1-3-4 a run for its money, it’s THAT good. Just superb. I definitely want to see Bayonetta kicking more ass again, she’s a character with a lot of potential.

Vanquish

This was a bit of a harder choice, what with all the great games that came out this year. Go with 3D Dot Game Heroes’ great classic-style Zelda gameplay? Or Super Mario Galaxy 2 with all its huge improvements over the first one? Or a great underdog like ZHP? Or Wintrale’s or Dave’s suggestions of Golden Sun or Yakuza 3? But the right choice felt like it should be Vanquish. Vanquish was chosen for a fairly simple reason: It’s from a genre that’s generally not really fun to play, and takes it to the next level, showing that the genre doesn’t HAVE to be boring to play. Vanquish did just that for the Third-Person Shooter genre. Rather than going for the normal formula of “let’s make the game a really boring experience where you spend most of the time in cover and not give players any challenge” or the “let’s make this into a movie” route, it went with the “let’s make the main character a badass with a suit that enables him to blast through the environments at crazy speeds, give him some of the best use of bullet-time ever in gaming, and make the whole game play a bit more like an Action game than a TPS” route, which makes for a very fun, fast-paced game. It was a hard choice, but the fact that it’s one of the only fun-to-play TPS in the generation is reason enough to make it a winner for 2010.

Share/Save

If your favorites aren’t on the list, we probably have a good reason for that. As long as you don’t come in trolling/flaming, we’ll be happy to answer as to why certain games aren’t on the list.

So read on! Here are our winners for the best Multi-Platform games of 2010!

Bayonetta

Bayonetta is awesome. Made by Hideki Kamiya, who made Devil May Cry, it’s probably the best example this generation of the action genre spawned by DMC. Bayonetta herself is really cool both design-wise and personality-wise, the story makes no sense(yes, that’s a good thing) but at the same time has some very interesting elements and end up being quitte enjoyable, the visual design is very impressive, especially some of the bosses, but, the most important part of the game, the actual gameplay, is just insane. Super fast-paced, a bunch of different enemy types, a bunch of really cool weapons (bazooka tonfas…. nothing more to say), really cool moves and the fighting system is nearly flawless. Oh, and awesome boss fights. Bayonetta shows how an action game should be made: fun to play, not just a button-masher, providing a challenge and giving you cool weapons with interesting moves.

Vanquish

Another game by Platinum Games. And it’s awesome. Why is it noteworthy? Well, for one, it’s the only third-person shooter this generation that actually managed to get me interested in it for anything other than the story. It might have some basic gameplay ideas that are like every other crappy TPS that comes out recently, but it goes crazy with it. Rather than just staying in cover and slowly killing enemies from there, you’re boosting across the battlefield and killing enemies fast with your bullet-time and badass melee attacks and various weapons/grenades, and you also have a weapon leveling system. There is a cover system, but it’s not the most important part of the gameplay (in fact, I had less than 2% of cover usage when I played through the game, and I could have gone lower than that). This game is super exciting, there’s online leaderboards if you want to try mastering the game, there’s always something going on and dammit it’s just really fun, playing like a TPS/action game hybrid. The lack of multiplayer is not a problem really, since the gameplay here wouldn’t work well in multiplayer, and the story isn’t that great, but who cares, the gameplay is awesome. Well worth playing.

Final Fantasy XIII

Now that’s the one choice that just about everyone will disagree with. But this was a really good game. I think the problem is that the hype for it was way too high (since it was so long in development), and people expected something that clearly wasn’t going to happen anyways. I really have no idea what people expected really. Here we have a really fun battle system that’s unique to the series and very fast-paced (and no, you can’t just mash the X button to win every battle, I really don’t get why people say that), with the paradigm shift system letting you change the overall  strategy/movesets on the fly during battle. It’s very streamlined, but still requires some strategy. The graphics are fantastic, with some really beautiful visual design. I actually quite liked the characters and their own individual stories (other than Hope, what a bitch), and the overarching plot isn’t too bad either (though the ending was a bit cheap). And the more common complaints I hear about this game are… well… things that apply to just about every FF game before it, and that didn’t stop the series from being super popular… So I really don’t get a lot of the complaints. Overall well deserving a spot in the top Multi-Platform games of the year.

Super Street Fighter 4

Street Fighter 4 was a very good game. It was basically an enhanced sequel to the Street Fighter 2 “series”, as it retained much of the gameplay from the various SF2 games. But it was a lot smoother and to me it felt a bit easier to play, and thus more accessible (while remaining really hard to master). Super Street Fighter 4 keeps the same gameplay mechanics, but it adds a lot to SF4. 10 characters were added, most of which are from previous SF games, though 2 of them are completely new ones which are actually really fun to play as. Each character now has 2 Ultra attacks rather than one, adding some depth. There’s a bunch of added content (sadly at the cost of the Time Attack and Survival modes) like bonus stages, team battles, endless battle and rival battles. And of course some characters have been rebalanced from SF4. A very nice package, and it was sold for a cheaper price than SF4 too. Only complaint: Costumes are, once again, paid DLC rather than unlockables, wtf is up with that? It’s not like they change anything to the actual game, they should be free.

Share/Save

Now, this isn’t a full review, since Dave already reviewed it. This is just a quick post to say what I thoughts on the game, and I’ll make it as short as I can.

Read on!

Looks and sounds
The graphics are realy nice. Technically not the best out there, of course, but the style more than makes up for that. Everything is really well designed. Various visual effects give a very nice feeling to everything. What steals the show though is the incredibly smooth character animations. Every attack looks great and believable, the reactions to getting attacked or enemies getting attacked rarely feels out of place. Frankly the whole visual design of the game is awesome and weird. Great stuff. Sexual imagery? Yeah, there’s tons of it in the game. And it’s fucking hilarious because they’re constantly using it in a comedic overexaggerated manner, which I thought was pretty badass.

Sound-wise, the soundtrack is really good. Other than a few exceptions, there’s something really… strange about Bayonetta’s soundtrack… It actually sounds like video game music. Instead of doing like most games do nowadays and sounding like their soundtrack is straight out of the Lord of the Rings movies, here it actually sounds like music for a game. Otherwise, good believable voice acting, I have no problem with any of it in the game.

Story
The characters are all great. This is an example of a really good cast in an action game. Here the characters all have a nice personality, interesting backstories, and the main character is a badass who spouts one-liners all the time. What more do you need? The story itself is quite interesting, but they never dwell too deep into anything, and they don’t really explain anything to the player so you can take everything at face value, which makes the story more interesting to watch than the average game. Sure, you CAN get explanations for everything if you want, since there’s a lot of in-game documentation you can find through the story. It CAN be deep, but only if you want it to.

Fighting
Fighting in this game definitely has that Devil May Cry feel to it, but it really feels like its own thing in the end. You have 2 main attack buttons, for punches and kicks, and you can keep your combos going with your gun. Holding an attack button will unleash that particular weapon’s charge attack. You can pretty much play the game however you want, since you can equip most weapons to either feet or hands, and you can make any combo of weapons, and basically create your own combos. You can have 2 sets of weapons, so you can switch between weapons on the fly, which is really fun. There’s a HUGE amount of attacks and ways to combo them toghether, making the combat very satisfying. And there’s no attack that doesn’t have a use. There’s also a very good variety of weapons.

The combat itself requires knowing enemy patterns, knowing when to attack and learning the timing to their attacks to know when to dodge. Dodging can be done in 2 ways: RB+jump, or RT (can be used in any direction). Though RT is the suggested method, as it’s more instantaneous and smoother than the other method. Dodging with the right timing brings you into Witch Time, which slows down everything but Bayonetta for a short while, giving you time to either move away from something, or get some extra damage in. It doesn’t work on certain enemies though, so you can’t always rely on it. Witch Time is really fun to use though.

Another element here is Torture Attacks. Those require a full bar of magic power. When you have that, pressing X and Y at the same time near an enemy will launch the attack. After some fast button pressing, or analog stick spinning, you’ll cause massive damage to the enemy in question. Before the game came out, I thought it would cheapen the game, making it too easy. In practice though, I was proven wrong. First, you need a full magic meter. You get that by attacking enemies. If you get hit, you lose a large percentage of your magic meter, and it actually doesn’t fill up really fast. So unless you’re a master at the game, you won’t end up using torture attacks that often. Torture attacks are basically a reward for people who are really good at the game, enabling you to sometimes do massive damage. If you get hit a lot, you can’t use them. I’m glad my worries on this mechanic were put to rest.

Other gameplay elements
The game doesn’t include a lot of exploration. BUT there are still a lot of secrets to be found. Sometimes back-tracking through a stage will trigger new battles, and some items(hearts, pearls and CDs) and portals to challenge rooms are hidden quite well. People who say this game sucks because there’s no exploration… well 1. they suck and 2. there is some, though in a more old-school “you have to check every nook and cranny of each level to find stuff” way..

There’s not a lot of customizing other than being able to set weapons however you like on your hands and feet. Otherwise you can buy techniques from the shop, as well as various items, and eventually costumes. There’s also items to be found that will boost your maximum Health and Magic Meters. But customizing-wise that’s really it.

Things I didn’t like
There’s really not much I didn’t like in the game, but the game has 1 big problem: the use of Quick Time Events. They’re not TOO frequent, and some of them are actually really well implemented in the actual gameplay… But when I’m watching a cinematic, I don’t want to have to do button presses at the same time.

There’s also 2 levels I wasn’t very fond of. The motorcycle and missile stages just weren’t very interesting to me. They’re not too bad, but they lasted way too long.

Yeah, that’s about all I really have to complain about here…

Overall
This game is a must-buy. Not much doubt about it. It doesn’t set new standards to the action genre, but it does keep up very well, and in some cases surpasses some standards set by the excellent Devil May Cry 3. I still have a bit of a preference towards DMC3, but that might just be because I’m more familiar with it. Bayonetta is the best game to the genre since DMC3, and it’s probably gonna take a while until another game surpasses it.

The game features great combat, it’s challenging, the story is great and doesn’t take itself seriously (at times it’s pretty much parodying itself), it looks good and it’s just really fun. The QTEs did annoy me, but, for the most part, they were presented well enough instead of intruding on the experience like most QTEs in games do. This is also a game with huge replayability. Playing on harder difficulties is already nice, and you’ll WANT to replay it right away after the first playthrough. But the main replay value thing is trying to actually become better at the game and getting high grades on every level. And of course unlockables that require beating the game multiple times.

Whether you have a 360 or a PS3, you can’t go wrong with getting this game. If you have both, the 360 version runs a bit better, so it’s the obvious choice between the two.

Share/Save

This is a start of a new year.  Any good releases to start off the year?

Read on and see! (No interesting DS or PSP releases in January)

MULTI-PLATFORM RELEASES
Bayonetta 01/05 (360, PS3)

Well… What a way to start the year. 5 days after the start of the year, one of the Games of the Year comes out. Nice. No doubt the best action game since Devil May Cry 3, other action games have a LOT to live up to, just to come close to being as good as Bayonetta. This doesn’t exactly redefine what action games can be, but it perfects what the DMC series invented(just when I thought DMC3 perfected it). Awesome.

Darksiders 01/05 (360, PS3)

This looks like a mix of Devil May Cry, because of the basic combat, Gears of War, because of the shooting and viewpoint, and God of War, because of the crappy QTEs and other annoying elements. It might end up being good, maybe not, we’ll see.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond 01/07 on PS3, 01/06 on the 360

The first Matt Hazard game was pretty much a miss. But I think it’s because of the genre. Instead of a sub-par third-person shooter, I think a side-scrolling action shooter is a lot more fit for the character. So this game might be interesting.

Army of Two: The 40th Day 01/12 (360, PS3, PC)

This game features pretty much the same gameplay as the first. Fans of the first will love playing this in co-op. Otherwise I’d skip it.

Dark Void 01/19 (360, PS3, PC)

AI’m really not sure about this one. The videos I’ve seen make it look really boring unless you’re in the air. If you have a DSi though, there’s an 8-bit version which looks awesome.

Mass Effect 2 01/26 (360, PC)

A second big hitter this month. The sequel to Bioware’s really good Mass Effect, and it’s quite long-awaited too. This is definitely gonna be one of the better games this year.

PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
MAG 01/26

Yeah… The box art still looks like a giant pile of shit… Sony needs to fire a few people. As for the game itself… According to people who played the beta who I talked to… People basically just run around like headless chickens instead of playing as teams and formulating strategies to take out the other team. Not too great when that should be the basic idea of the game. The basic gameplay is the same FPS you’ve been playing for the last 5 years, noting special there.

WII RELEASES
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle 01/26

This kind of came out of nowhere for me. I definitely want to check it out since the first was pretty good. Hopefully it takes care of some of the problems in the first.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars 01/26

Oh yeah, that game we thought wouldn’t come to America. Awesome. And Zero is in there, that’s badass. Can’t wait to try it out. It should be worth checking out even if you have no idea who Tatsunoko is.

XBOX 360 RELEASES
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter 01/13

A nice FPS that goes back to the root of FPS. No cover to take, no millions of enemies shooting at you at the same time, no regenerating health, just a badass kicking alien ass. The PC version is quite entertaining, so the 360 version should be fun too.

Share/Save

But October… oh man, there’s tons of great stuff coming. Both on the multi-platform side and for system exclusives, there’s tons of potentially great releases. Even the PSP has some interesting releases.

Check it out and make your list of games you’ll be getting!

As usual, the game title is in bold, the release date is italicized, and for multi-platform games the systems they are coming for are between parenthesis. Only 1 game on the list this month is a japanese release so I’ve marked it appropriately.

And If I missed something, don’t hesitate to comment and tell me.

MULTI-PLATFORM RELEASES

Saw 10/06 (360,PS3,PC) (10/31 for PC)

The Saw movies have sucked after the first one. So I don’t have lots of expectations for the game. But if handled properly it might end up being not too bad. This is a rental at most.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 10/13 (DS, Wii)

If you’re in for a mini-game fest that probably won’t be very good…. why not? DS version will probably a lot weaker than the Wii version.

Brutal Legend 10/13 (PS3, 360)

Heavy metal is awesome. And this game is an embodiment of the awesomeness of metal. The graphic style looks like metal album covers and the main character, played by Jack Black, has an intense love for metal. So… I’m waiting to be able to play the demo, and until then I’m staying skeptical about the game, but it definitely LOOKS fun, and the soundtrack, from what i’ve heard until now, seems quite good, and I might buy the game just because of that.

Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition 10/13 (PC, PS3, 360)

The game+all the DLC. Coming on all 3 platforms, making it the best pack for anyone who wants the game.

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter 10/16 (DS, Wii)

I actually haven’t played the first one, so I have no idea what to expect. And I probably won’t end up playing it either.

Borderlands 10/20 (PC, PS3, 360)

First person shooter RPG set in a wasteland… Wait, is this Fallout 3? Okay, the gameplay looks completely different, and it takes almost a Diablo approach, with different classes with different skills. Definitely a game to look out for.

Alpha Protocol 10/27 (PS3, 360, PC)
(what a crappy box art…)
I have no idea what this is, but I know it’s relatively highly anticipated. So I’ve put it on here.

DJ Hero 10/27 (PS3, 360, Wii)

After actually learning how the controller works, it definitely looks fun to play. But the song list is a big piece of crap, barely saved by Daft Punk and Gorillaz. Though if you like this type of music it’s definitely gonna be interesting for you. If someone I know gets it, I’ll try it out, otherwise I’ll wait until the game drops to 20$ (including the controller).

Tekken 6 10/27 (PS3, 360)

I’m not a big Tekken fan. I’m more for 2D fighters, as opposed to 3D ones that concentrate on juggling. So I have no hype for this, but I know this is a huge release and I’ll try to rent it and take time to play it a bit at least.

Bayonetta 10/29 (JAPAN) (PS3, 360)

Sadly only in japan for now. It’s not gonna be region free on the 360, but it’s probably going to be region free on the PS3. Might be worth importing.

Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment 10/31 (PS3, 360)

Not sure about this either, but I know Vandal Hearts has a fairly big following after the PS1 title.

NINTENDO DS

A Witch’s Tale 10/06

A NISA release(developed by both HitMaker and Nippon Ichi Software), of course I’ll check it out. The game was supposed to come around this time last year, but the GENRE was changed(from Action RPG to traditional RPG) before release and it took an extra year to develop…. Weird. But now it’s coming and I’m hyped for it.

Spore Hero Arena 10/06

It’s a Spore exploration/fighting game. I’m expecting it to suck frankly, but you never know.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky 10/12

I hate this series. The first game was incredibly boring, amongst the worst dungeon-crawlers of this type I’ve played. Not even gonna try this one.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 10/19

The first Space Invaders Extreme was really fun, giving a fun twist to the original. Definitely looking forward to this one.

Nostalgia 10/20

A 3D RPG with a turn-based battle system. Looks interesting enough.

Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island 10/27
(Special set that comes with 2 figures)
Another NISA release in October, this time it’s Gust’s Atelier series. I’m not incredibly familiar with Atelier, though I did play the third Atelier Iris game, and finished Mana Khemia 1. I enjoyed those, so I’m hyped for this one. And for collector’s, there’s a special edition with 2 mini-figurines. Fun.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes 10/27

A Might and Magic Puzzle/RPG game. Looks really weird. Might be worth checking out.

PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

Gran Turismo 10/01

Wasn’t this announced at the same time as the PSP? Well, it’s finally coming out. Yay! Not sure exactly what to expect from this one, and I’ll probably just rent it.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars 10/20

If you haven’t played the DS version, it’s back with better graphics and with the touch-screen elements removed. The DS version was fun and a throwback to when GTA was good. If you don’t have a DS it’s worth checking out.

Half-Minute Hero 10/20

A quirky concept aided by fun fast-paced gameplay. Getting both a PSN and UMD release… I think.

NINTENDO WII

Wii Fit Plus 10/01

Yeah, I know……. but it’s noteworthy enough to be in this list. Nothing to say about this.

A Boy and His Blob 10/06

Really? Yeah, it’s coming(after being teased on a few consoles after the NES…), and it has awesome graphics. Hopefully the gameplay will be interesting enough.

Spore Hero 10/06

Lame fighting engine+Exploration+Spore… I’m not even gonna try this, but I’m putting it out here anyways.

PLAYSTATION 3

Fallout 3: DLC Starting 10/01
Yeah, 360/PC exclusive my ass, everyone knew from the start it was coming to the PS3 as well. And for people who already have the PS3 version, they can just get the DLC on its own. Otherwise there’s the disc version that will have all the packs on it as well.

Demon’s Souls 10/06

People keep telling me the game plays like Monster Hunter, which reduces my hype a lot, but it might still be an interesting game. I’ll rent it.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 10/13

How could I not mention this? The first game was really good, despite just being a normal third-person shooter. It featured a good story and fun characters. The second one LOOKS very good, and the gameplay is looking…. not too different from the first, butstill really good. And there’s an expansive multiplayer mode added to this. Anyone with a PS3 should check this out, for sure.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time 10/27

It’s coming in October? Huh… kinda got overshadowed…. But it’s a fairly big series, it should be well worth playing.

XBOX 360

South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! 10/07

Looks lame.

Magna Carta 2 10/13
(wonder who they’re marketing this to *coughcough*)
Magna Carta on the PS2 was horrible. Not sure about the story and characters, but the gameplay was just BAD. Navigating dungeons sucked because of the “keeping your sword out reduces your range of vision, but sheating your sword will make you get attacked first in battle” element… And the fighting system was very lame. Not sure if I’ll even bother thinking about this one.

Forza Motorsport 3 10/27

Taking a stand before Gran Turismo 5, Forza 3 is coming to rock peoples’ socks off once again. I actually never played the first 2 Forza games, but I’m willing to give this one a try.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony 10/29
(sorry for the lame image, didn’t want to risk finding other stuff on google…)
I hate GTAIV. Somewhere between the horrible characters, bad physics(I still don’t understand why my car was sent flying a few hundred feet high after touching a wall) and lame controls, I can’t really say what the worst element of the game is. But it was, nonetheless, a huge hit. This is the second DLC package for the game on the 360 and…. I have no idea what more to say. I’m obviously expecting it to suck ass, but fans of the game should like it.

COMPUTER GAMES

League of Legends: Clash of Fates 10/06

Just check Dave’s impressions of the Beta. CLICK HERE.

Windows 7 10/22

Yeah, I know, it’s not a game. But it’s a noteworthy release and will most likely affect the gaming of any PC gamer stuck on Vista. It runs a LOT better than Vista, and it actually runs a lot better than XP as well, running a lot less crap in the background (freeing lots of memory). Anyone who feels like updating their OS should check this out. Well anyone with Vista should be obligated to upgrade…. and heck, gamers still on XP should as well. A worthy upgrade for any higher-end PC.

Painkiller: Resurrection 10/27
(no box art for this one, i’ll add it if i find it later)
Played a bit of Painkiller, it was pretty fun. Not sure if this is a remake or a sequel or what, but it should be just as fun if they don’t screw up the simple formula.

Share/Save

I’ve compiled a list of the great games coming out next year, so check it out to see if it’s gonna be a good year for you.
Of course, some games are not confirmed for 2009, and there might be some games that haven’t been announced yet, so this is in no way a 100% complete list, but it should include enough to have interesting games for every gamer out there.
Well, without delay let’s jump into this!

 Arc Rise Fantasia
Looks like a “Tales of…” game, could be interesting. An interesting Wii game

Another Code / Trace Memory
The first on the DS was pretty interesting, the new Wii version could be good.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Lots of potential here. The atmosphere seems great, now we need to see some gameplay.

Bayonetta
This looks crazy. Disregarding the hot chick getting naked to do certain attacks… the gameplay could potentially be at a Devil May Cry level of awesomeness

The Beatles
Made by Harmonix… If you like The Beatles, why not?

Bionic Commando
Despite the lame looking main character, the game looks pretty fun.

The Conduit
A first-person shooter on the Wii, graphics look good, and if the controls are as good as Metroid Prime 3, it could be really good.

Cross Edge (X-Edge)
Darkstalkers+Disgaea+a bunch of other random franchises? There’s Prinnies, so I’m in, but the game actually looks good. Look forward to this on the PS3 in March.

Duke Nukem Trilogy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K00DCK1l98 Not much more to say, since I saw NO info on it, but if it does come out in 2009, I’ll be getting it for sure.

Dragon Quest 9
It’s Dragon Quest, nothing more to say. Changed from action RPG to turn-based during development, let’s see how the first numbered DQ game fares on a handheld.

Deadly Creatures
You control a spider or a snake througha huge desert. I’ll definitely rent this, lots of potential. Finally something on the Wii.

Dark Void
I remember seeing a trailer for this, looked pretty fun… Not much more to say since I know little about it.

Deus Ex 3
Haven’t played the previous games in the series (maybe i should…) but if this does come out in 2009, it should be well worth looking out.

Diablo 3
May not be a 2009 release for sure, but I’ve been anticipating this since the expansion to the second one came out. A 2009 release would definitely be awesome. The game looks awesome, and is probably gonna be as good as the first 2.

EyePet
This better fucking be free… If it is i’ll download it just to see how it works. Then delete it because it’s gonna suck despite being a fun little toy.

Fat Princess
Looks to be a fun little downloadable game. 

Fight Night Round 4
Really liked Round 3, so this one should be fun. And Mike Tyson is there! Ear-eating for illegal move would be awesome

Final Fantasy Dissidia
We should have a review for this soon, but until then those people who don’t know japanese like me will have to wait until the US version in 2009.

Final Fantasy XIII
Probably not a 2009 release in the US, but in Japan it should be out. Let’s hope that a current-gen FF is gonna be really good. I really can’t wait to see what they’ll do with it.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII
I have yet to see any gameplay, or know when it’s coming out, but it could be pretty nice, and a 2009 release would be good.

Final Fantasy Agito XIII
Not sure what this one is about, all I know is that it’s a cellphone game gone PSP. We’ll see.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
A Wii/DS game? How will that work? Well, we’ll see, it could potentially be really fun… As long as it’s better than the FF:CC on the Gamecube…

Forza Motorsport 3
The 360s response to Gran Turismo 5… oh wait… Well I didn’t play the previous games, but I did hear some good things. I’ll be sure to try this one out (now that I have a 360)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game
YES PLEASE. The trailer was so awesome, I’m sure to buy it. The game looks quite interesting other than the fact that it’s Ghostbusters.

God of War III
I hate God of War. Lame QTE-fest….. But it’s long awaited, and if it comes out in 2009 it’s gonna be one of the biggest PS3 games of the year. No matter what I think it’ll be big, and even I will give it a chance.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
GTA, on DS. Interesting idea, I’m curious about this.

Halo 3: ODST
It’s Halo 3, nothing more to say…

Halo Wars
Incredibly generic RTS that Halo fans are already trying to make lamer! “This button should shoot grenades!” WTF. Well, it’s potentially interesting, but we’ll see.

Heavy Rain
Great graphics… QTE-fest, but I think the main focus here is the story, which changes depending on what you do, and if you die the story actually goes on. Will definitely rent this. Not sure if it’s a 2009 release, but whatever.

The House of the Dead: Overkill
Killing zombies is always fun. So this should be fun too.

InFamous
An open world game using a guy with lightning-based super powers. Lots of potential, let’s hope they do it properly.

Indiana Jones
Not much info on it. If it comes out in 2009, I’ll check it out.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
It’s a remake of the first Klonoa. Will be fun.

Killzone 2
Great graphics. That’s just about all I know. We’ll see if it’s gonna live up to the hype

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
KH on DS. The very short gameplay I’ve seen looked fast-paced and really good.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
KH on PSP. Looks great.

The King of Fighters XII
Proof that 2D should never die, even in current/net-gen consoles. It looks great and seems to play great.

MadWorld
Not sure about this. If the gameplay complements the over-the-top violence, should be good.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3
The first 2 were kinda fun.

Massive Action Game
256 players online. That’s basically all I know. No gameplay was seen but people are hyping this up like crazy. Let’s prepare to be disappointed right away.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade
2D beat-em up game I think? Made by Vanillaware, the guys behind Odin Sphere. Should be an interesting Wii title.

Ninja Blade
I lost all interest when Wintrale told me it was just a big QTE-fest, but it might still be interesting. The demo coming soon should help make a good decision on this.

Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (Wii)/
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (Xbox 360)
Japanese Schoolgirls killing zombies with katanas. On 2 consoles, so most likely you’ll be able to experience it. I’ll most likely be going for the 360 version though.

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?
You play as a Prinny, who wouldn’t want to get this? The demo was great, let’s hope the full game is just as good.

Prototype
Another game I know nothing about, but it’s really hyped. We might see what it’s all about in 11 days though (official website countdown)

Phantom Brave Wii
ORLY? Okay, I’ve already played a lot of Phantom Brave on the PS2, but if you didn’t, check it out. Really fun strategy RPG.

Punch-Out!!
HOLY SHIT! PUNCH OUT!! Though Nintendo seems hell bent on making lame games like Wii Music, it seems they got the right idea as to what to do for “core” audiences, and this looks awesome.

Resident Evil 5
It’s Resident Evil…yay! Rental only for me since I suck at RE games, but still potentially interesting.

Sin and Punishment 2
I have yet to get the N64 version on the Virtual Console, but I did play it once and it was fun, so the sequel should be nice.

Sonic and the Black Knight
Okay, after what sounds like a deception with Unleashed, I can’t really get excited for this. But there might be potential.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection
Now that’s Sonic at its best. And there’s a bunch of other games that aren’t Sonic too. You might already have all of those on other compilation discs, or emulators, but if not, and if the price is right, why not?

Splatterhouse
Remake of the first? That’s what I read. Could be good. Maybe.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Not exactly sure what to say about this one. It’s Star Ocean. The previous games in the series were fun. I’ll be sure to at least rent it.

StarCraft II
The first starcraft was and still is great, the sequel looks just as good. Check the 21 minute battle report, great stuff there.

Street Fighter IV
A sequel to SF2, fun. From various videos I’ve seen it looks really good, and the console versions have more characters than the arcade.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The first was fun, if the sequel improves on a couple elements it could be really good.

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf
Didn’t play the PC version, but it seems interesting enough, especially since the console versions will apparently have more stuff in them.

White Knight Chronicles
Another game we’ll hear about relatively soon on here, with hopefully a review in January. Level 5 makes relatively good games most of the time, this could be nice.

Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein 3D was good for its time(though it didn’t age well) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein was really good. If it comes out in 2009, I’ll be playing it.

Yakuza 3
The first 2 were good, let’s see if the PS3 one is good as well.

 

So that’s it for now. Lots of great games coming on all systems, this sounds like it’s gonna be another great year in gaming, no matter which system you have. I did leave some games out, but I couldn’t find ALL the games coming out in 2009. And some are probably yet to be announced.

Share/Save