Top 10 games to look forward to this holiday season
It’s almost that time of the year; the period of a two month interval where tons of highly anticipated video games are released. And even though lots of games this year have been pushed to early 2010 because it was simply too crowded, there’s still a ton of great, quality AAA titles which will be released in the upcoming months. Here are our ten picks:
10: Avatar (November 15)
James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar has been in production for years and sci-fi fans around the world are looking forward to its December premiere. The game adaptation, developed by Ubisoft, uses the same technology as the film, and will be in 3D as well.Very little is known about the game, mostly because it follows the movie closely, which itself has been a tightly kept secret.
9: NBA 2K10/NBA Live 10 (October 6)
The rivalry between NBA basketball series NBA 2K and NBA Live has been ongoing for several years, and for the 2010 versions of the respective games — which will be released on the same day — the stakes are even higher. 2K Games and EA have added a ton of new features to their games, which will make this years line up even more compelling to basketball fans around the world.
8: Aion: The Tower of Eternity (September 22)
Korean developer/publisher NCsoft is known for creating lots of MMOs, from Lineage, to Guild Wars, to the failed Auto Assault. Aion is their latest creation, and unlike many other MMOs, the main attraction here is that combat will, for the most part be airborne. Unfortunately however, unlike Guild Wars, Aion will be subscription based, and will cost $15 a month to be a part of.
7: Halo 3: ODST (September 22)
Halo 3 ODST (”Orbital Drop Shock Troopers”), doesn’t follow the main protagonist Master Chief, instead, it centers around an unknown soldier, “The Rookie”, who crash lands on a hostile planet and must find his teammates. While it’s not a true sequel, rather something in between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo Reach, it’ll most certainly satisfy hard core Halo fans this holiday season.
6: Assassin’s Creed 2 (November 17)
Assassin’s Creed 2 features an all new setting: Venice during the Renaissance in the 15th century, where the player will not only have the opportunity to roam free around the city by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, it’ll also have the option of swimming in the countless canals. Even cooler, your weapons and gadgets will be made by none other than Leonardo da Vinci, who has been recreated in the game.
5: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (November 15)
New Super Mario Bros. for the DS was a mega hit for Nintendo, and true to company nature, it’s releasing a NSMB game on the Wii, which will be a sequel to the DS game. It’ll feature four-player multiplayer gameplay throughout the single-player campaign, and will include Wiimote motion capabilities (although players can still play the “classic” way by holding the Wiimote horizontally).
4: Forza Motorsport 3 (October 27)
Forza Motorsport 2 was the ultimate racing sim on the Xbox 360, and Forza 3 will take that to a whole new level, with over 400 cars which are ten times as detailed as in Forza 2, and 100 tracks as well, all built with a brand new graphics engine. The single player mode will include over 200 events, ranging from racing, to time trails and even drifting competitions.
3: Left 4 Dead 2 (November 17)
Despite the outrage among hardcore Left 4 Dead fans that Valve was doing a sequel only a year after the original game, lots of Left 4 Dead fans are eagerly awaiting the sequel, which brings four new survivors, a new setting and a lot of new weapons, including chainsaws and other melee weapons.
2: Borderlands (October 20)
Gearbox’ Borderlands was originally announced back in 2007, and was pretty much left alone until earlier this year, when an all new art style of the game was revealed. It’s a first person shooter with RPG elements and a “drop-in/drop-out” co-op mode in single player, set in a “Mad Max” type environment. Players will have a choice between four different characters, each with different abilities and skill trees.
1: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (November 10)
The sequel to the best selling FPS game in history has a lot to live up to, from compelling single player campaign to fully fledged multiplayer, and it looks like Modern Warfare 2 will accomplish all of that, and then some. It’ll build on the classic MW multiplayer formula by offering even more unlocks and bonuses, including perks that are now upgradeable.Even the visuals have greatly improved, with an updated version of the engine that will provide even more detailed worlds than before.