There is one time out of every single year that all gamers look forward to and it’s the holiday season that begins right around the end of summer. It isn’t holiday in the traditional sense so much as the time when we look forward to Christmas as it is when all of the best games are releasing. However, this year it seems there is a bit of a wider birth being granted as several games are nudged into the first quarter of next year. In the meantime, I have scrounged together my 10 must haves of the hottest games releasing before 2009 comes to a close.
10. Darksiders - Dropping the original Wrath of War subtitle, I find it very interesting that this title hasn’t slipped into 2010 yet as several sites including Amazon still have it coming at the end of the year. Personally, I think the concept is interesting and stands apart from Dante’s Inferno in that instead of being definitively good or evil, you just want to kill everyone. After all, you’re filling the shoes of War, one of the four horsemen of the freakin’ apocalypse. This isn’t a day job for the weak of heart, given that when you’re finally called in to the office you’re expected to slaughter everything in sight. Oh, and it’s the end of the world. All the same, the basic plot of the title involves you, as War, being blamed for prematurely causing that whole Armageddon thing and both Heaven and Hell are pretty upset about it. So, you have to do what anyone trying to prove their innocence would do, annihilate their way to absolution. While the videos of Darksiders have shown very intelligent gameplay mechanics on the part of the development team, I can’t help but fight off the feeling that this title will slowly drift out of the year into the next. As it never hurts to have time to finish polishing a game, I still would like to see this game be of truly biblical proportions before the year is out.
9. Tekken 6 - I love fighting games and fighting games were always and will forever be meant to be played in the arcade. Tekken 6 has a special place in my heart, being the first fighting game I played when I received my original Playstation. Now it has become all the sweeter that I can finally enjoy it on my 360 and with an arcade stick no less. Frankly, I’m almost tempted to buy two so I can have a spare for when a guest arrives or I break the first from playing the hell out it.
8. Borderlands - I’m a pretty big fan of role playing games if you haven’t already been able to notice. Now, I haven’t been too impressed with Gearbox since they decided to delay Aliens: Colonial Marines and totally botched Brother’s in Arms: Hell’s Highway, as far as I’m concerned, but in hindsight, it seemed as though they didn’t totally have their hearts into it on BIA: HH. Borderlands, which coincidentally releases on my birthday is looking like a definite must-have. The fast paced gameplay makes it seem like an RPG with adrenaline injected right on to the disc itself, which nicely sets it apart from Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. Additionally, the style change significantly creates a distinction between Rage and Borderlands. Personally, I like the cell-shaded, almost hand drawn appearance as it creates a unique, beautiful appearance. As many preliminary reports have surfaced stating that the game has been coming together very well, this doubtlessly makes my list as a title to own before the year is out.
7. Left 4 Dead 2 - Getting it out of the way, Valve knows what they’re doing and they have given an epic amount of exceptional content to the video game community, so the boycott garbage is inconsequential to me. Watching how L4D2 has developed over time just takes what the original was and seemingly builds on it in amazing new ways. New infected enter the scene in order to make life ever miserable for survivors just trying to make it to the end. Throw in new weapons, both ranged and melee and it’s a recipe for new multiplayer and single player mayhem that I can’t wait for. While it is coming out in the same window as another certain big name title may seem daunting, but offering a different overall experience will set this title apart from other holiday releases.
This feature top 10 list continues on the next page, please click below to find out our middle 3 choices.
