The 50 Hottest Things in Gaming in 2009

Here's the ultimate list of things to look forward to in your 2009 gaming calendar. This massive preview of the year includes E3 2009, The Reinvention of Atari, the Return of Itagaki, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Half-Life Episode Three, Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, Rare and loads more.

Page: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 

Page 10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Q4 2009 (PS3, 360, PC)

Although we really liked Call of Duty: World at War, on reflection - and on revisiting Call of Duty 4 - it isn't quite up to the standard of the Infinity Ward effort. Going back into the spotlight for 2009's entry in the Call of Duty series, the developer will return to its own, homegrown COD4 engine - and also take the series back to modern day, too. Refer back to our own interview with Infinity Ward boss Grant Collier: "We actually wanted COD1 to be Modern Warfare! Modern Warfare is what we want to do, and what we've always wanted to do." Not exactly ambiguous - and it's been confirmed since then as Modern Warfare 2. You know what though, as brilliant as Modern Warfare was, we'd really like Modern Warfare 2's single player campaign mode to be a bit longer. -AD

Movie Tie-ins
Summer 2009

Movie tie-ins are usually pants, and the Terminator series is no exception, with the Terminator 3-era titles turning out to be a load of old rubbish. This time, to coincide with the fourth film Terminator Salvation in May 2009, the interesting decision was taken to develop the game internally at The Halcyon Company, which owns the rights to the IP, rather than hand it out to an established game studio. They've named the division Halcyon Games, and they're specifically working on the game-of-the-film. On the one hand, a movie studio making a game sounds precarious at best and a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, one of the reasons frequenclty cited for poor quality game-of-film titles is that working with the original IP owners and getting decent access to assets can be such a pain in the arse. So this one could go either way. Pixar movies, meanwhile, have always translated into appalling game releases, and if you ask me Pixar needs to take a serious look at what it's doing on the game sides of things. Perhaps it will get its act together for this year's Pixar movie, entitled Up - or if not, then for next year's Toy Story 3. I guess we're only including this entry in our list to mention that there are some films we're looking forward to as well as games, and whether they translate to a decent game or not is more just a curiosity to check out. -AD

Halo 3: ODST
Q4 2009 (Xbox 360)

Having fleshed out one set of core mechanics across three Halo games, Bungie has abruptly decided to throw precedent to the wind with ODST, a standalone expansion to Halo 3 which casts the player as an ordinary human trooper, "the Rookie", hunting for his squad-mates in the aftermath of a Covenant assault. Gone are the corridors of old; the game's setting, New Mobasa in Kenya, is fully open-ended. In a schmaltzy yet affecting touch which is perhaps characteristic of the series, the Rookie "relives" moments from his friends' lives when he discovers their abandoned possessions. While apparently aimed at Halo 2 fans left wondering about the defence of Earth during Master Chief's absence, ODST has the pedigree to be something special in its own right. -EET

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Q3 2009 (PS3)

I'm still not entirely sure why I like Uncharted's Nathan Drake. There are plenty of reasons not to - the boyish sneer, the trendy flick fringe, the implausible habit of wearing jeans in a humid jungle environment - but somehow my revulsion won't stick. That's just as well, because it looks like Naughty Dog's second shot at the franchise is going to be as unmissable as the first. Among Thieves follows Nathan as he searches for the lost plunder of Marco Polo, a quest which takes him from Italy to Tibet. Stealth plays a greater role this time, we're told, and Nathan now climbs walls more realistically, but the most impressive features are those new snowbound levels. Stunning. -EET

Duke Nukem Forever
2009?! (PC, PS3, 360)

We're trying to keep a straight face when we put this down in a "2009" related feature, but whether Duke Nukem Forever actually sees a release this year or not, 3D realms is likely to keep drip feeding screenshots and information about it. And even if it turns out to be one of the most mediocre FPS releases of all time, for it to actually, FINALLY get a release after its 12-odd years in development, will be something of a momentous occasion. The recent screenshots do actually look pretty good though - and the original Duke Nukem 3D was fantastic - so really this could end up being something special. It would be a nice conclusion to its ridiculous development story, at any rate. -AD

Happy New Year from everyone at Kikizo!

Page: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 

MORE FEATURES >>