Sam Hart

Finally, let's take a look at the games for 2008 that I'm looking forward to,

• 
  

  LittleBigPlanet

  
  

  PS3

  
  LittleBigPlanet is the poster-child for "high concept gaming".
  
  Sandboxy, multiplayer platformer with a do-it-yourself, Youtube-y vibe. Yes, I know that's a whole lot of marketing bullshit... But what if they manage to pull this off?
  
  In case you missed it in the last page, here's the LittleBigPlanet movie again:
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Rainbow Six Vegas 2

  
  

  360

  
  The first game made it onto my list last year, and the sequel looks to be shaping up nicely. There's no real revolutionary leap forward in the graphics as near as I can tell... But this is the Unreal Engine, so you know it will look amazing anyway. The differences seem to be subtle: better team AI, better enemy AI (yikes, do we really want that?), and a sequel/prequel in one package.
  


• 
  

  Super Smash Bros Brawl

  
  

  Wii

  
  I've never been a big fan of Super Smash Bros. It's the sort of game that required you to have 3 other people capable of playing with you in person. Since my friends are spread all over the country, it makes it difficult to really enjoy SSB.
  
  That being said, the next iteration of the series will finally be online... and looks amazing to boot:
  
  
  Plus, it's the ultimate fan-service with all the myriad of crazy characters it sports. Sure you have Nintendo mainstays like Mario, Kirby, Zelda, and Samus, but you also have characters from other franchises like Sonic, Kid Icarus, and Metal Gear Solid.
  
  Yes, that's right, Solid Snake is in this bastard. That alone has to be worth something.
  
  Look at that video above and tell me this doesn't look to be a spectacular game. Wario has flaming farts and looks like he is doing some sort of Drunken Boxing, Samus is sans-suite, and Pit is all hyper-realistic (making fanboys salivate at the thought of an updated Kid Icarus).
  
  So, as long as they don't do anything stupid, this should be an awesome game. Now if I can only convince all my friends to get a Wii....
  


• 
  

  Unreal Tournament 3, Community

  
  

  PS3/360

  
  UT3 has already come out for the PS3, and will come out for the 360 in 2008, but that's not what I'm excited for.
  
  See, we used to play Unreal Tourney back in the early ClanAM days. In fact, we played that game for ~4 years. The only reason we were able to play that long was because of the passionate and capable community that built up around the game which produced tons of new maps and content that kept the game fresh and exciting.
  
  UT3 has made its way to consoles with somewhat of a whimper, and the only thing that can really salvage it at this point is if a similar map-making community grows up around it. If this happens the community's custom content must make it onto the consoles!
  
  It really shouldn't be that hard to do, this custom content could be easily added to Live. I'm sure something similar could be done on the PS3. All that has to happen is for Epic to realize that the UT3 community is needed in order for their latest game to live as long as their previous ones.
  


• 
  

  Grand Theft Auto IV

  
  

  360

  
  It's true; GTA: San Andreas didn't thrill me the way past GTA games did. Sure, it was bigger, bolder, and in most ways better than the previous GTA games. But a lot of it didn't feel very fresh to me. In fact, it seemed like a whole lot of regurgitated previous GTA experiences rolled in with even more busy-work. So, for me, San Andreas sapped my hopes that future GTAs would capture the same joy the earlier ones did.
  
  GTA IV, however, looks like it may very well be the fresh start the series needs. Who knows? Rockstar doesn't have the best track record these days so GTA IV could be the biggest let down yet. But I won't pass judgment until I try it.
  


• 
  

  Haze

  
  

  PS3

  
  Free Radical, developers of the classic TimeSplitters series, are heading up this FPS. Sure, the TimeSplitters series peaked at part 2 and the subsequent games have been less than stellar, but I still have high hopes that Free Radical will make us a new classic in Haze.
  


• 
  

  Too Human

  
  

  360

  
  Too Human is mired in controversy. Developer Silicon Knights has filed lawsuit against Epic claiming that the Unreal 3 engine they licensed for use in Too Human was unfinished at best and broken at worst. Further, they allege that Epic shipped them (and other developers) a "hamstring" edition of the engine to show everyone up with Gears of War at E3. Finally, they say they had to ditch the Unreal engine altogether and roll their own.
  
  Now, I personally suspect this lawsuit is without substance (afterall, Silicon Knights aren't the only ones to license the Unreal engine... In fact, it's been used by third parties for a lot of games including Bioshock, Rainbow Six Vegas, and several XBLA games... and yet you don't hear anyone else complaining). However, in spite of this lawsuit, I'm really excited for this game.
  
  One part hack and slash, one part MORPG, this game looks to be everything we wanted Phantasy Star Universe to be. Here's hoping this lawsuit gets resolved quickly and quietly so we can evaluate this game based upon its own merits, rather than on its murky upbringing.