2007 is slated to finish very strong in video game releases. Several high profile games that have been shown off for the last 2 years the major conventions (like E3) are finally coming to release and will truly demonstrate the much touted power of the next generation consoles. For this reason I do not include any Wii games in this list as fun as they are (don’t hate me). The following games are games that will move the industry forward in some way or another. They aren’t “just another shooter” or cookie cutter RPGs. These are games will make HISTORY! Without further ado!!!:
#7 Blue Dragon
At first Glance Blue Dragon is nothing more than an extra shiny cartoon RPG. Take a look at who is behind this wonderful looking game you you’ll double take:
Hironobu Sakaguchi – Writer for the first 5 Final Fantasy games.
Akira Toriyama – Character designer of Dragonball cartoon and manga as well as Dragon Quest video games.
Nobuo Uematsu – God knows how many beautiful scores and soundtracks Nobuo has cranked out for the Final Fantasy series in his lifetime.
Still, the game is already released in Japan and has recieved tremendous positive feedback and can possibly be considered the sole reason for the 360’s decent performance n Japan. The WORLD CHANGING part however, is that this game will be the first good JRPG (japanese RPG) to be released on any Microsoft console and its success could begin the deterioration of Square Enix’s love affair with Sony and Nintendo/exclusion of Microsoft. Lack of lengthy RPGs has long been a major lacking in the Xbox department and Blue Dragon is here to change that.
Those of you with an Xbox 360 – Plug that baby into the internet and download the trailer for this game. It’s almost like 3 minutes long or something but it really shows off the artistic style of the game, the emotional voice acting, and all-star music. Check it out! In case you can’t here is one from YouTube!
#6 Half-Life 2: Orange Box
So this game already comes as a GREAT steal if it’s priced similarly to the other next gen games ($60) because its really like 5 excellent games in 1.
Episode 1 – Don’t know too much about this game other than that it is the continuation of HL2. It incorporates a few new features (minor) and maintains the quality of the main series.
Episode 2 – Been waiting for this for ages as some of the movies show some new AMAZING uses of physics such as Farmhouses EXPLODING and whatnot. Looks cool! More episodic content through Xbox Live? Probably. Sweet.
Team Fortress 2 – Probably the longest delayed game in the whole world. Team Fortress was originally a fan favorite in terms of military squad/role based shooters. TF 2 surprised the world with it’s cartoony look and action packed game play. Get ready, this ones gonna be major.
Portal – Probably worth the whole $60 by itself, Portal must have been made by some of the world’s smartest people. I can’t quite describe the concept. Actually yes I can, but I cannot do it justice. Just watch this video. Portals GALORE! This part is probably what makes the Orange box on this list – Pushing existing game types to the next level, thereby reinventing an entire genre and bringing a completely unprecedented level of game play to customers. Thats huge!
#5 BioShock
Much more than your average shooter. From what I’ve seen BioShock combines an amazing first person shooter concept with a historical yet futuristic yet fantasy-esque scenery with the same demented horror an imagery as the Resident Evil series. I’ll try to paint a picture, with words….Mad Scientists escape to underwater refuge, create a utopia base on DNA alteration and scietific progress of the most horrific type. Society collapses, freakish mutants run wild in the underwater world. Enter you. Who knows who you are but you’re there for a reason. You fight anything from little girls, to massive monsters, to demonish mutants. Can’t kill a certain dude? Alter your DNA and shit, maybe make a living beehive out of your hand and use that to your advantage. Or any number of other awesome alterations. Or use your cleverness t reprogram security systems to help you or pit several enemies against each other while you watch an then finish off the survivor. It is an incredibly ambitious game and upon first hearing the level of ambition in this game I was incredibly skeptical but after seeing some of the game play footage, I am totally sold.
Disgusting…
#4 Lair
This game looks amazing. It is a ps3 exclusive. The premise you ask? Dragons. Killing people, killing other dragons, killing huge monsters, attacking castles. I simply cannot comprehend how the AMBITIOUSNESS of this game is even this generation. After watching some of the videos and seeing what the ps3 is truly capable of, I am truly convinced that Lair is going to truly next generation. The graphics are beautiful, the game play looks dazzling, involving, complex but not overly so, strategic, and vast. I mean I could just keep listing adjectives, or I could show you a video of this monster of a game in action. I can’t wait to play this on my friend’s ps3 and if the system ever gets enough of these types of games for me to actually shell out the dough to buy one, I’ll definitely pick this one up.
#3 Halo 3
What do I even need to say about this game? This is going to be the biggest drop of the entire year no matter what happens. Actually, between this and the next game on the list, they’ll probably make more money than the rest of these combined….Actually I have no data to back that up but I feel like that’s probably true? Lets take a quick look at what’s new with Halo 3 and what it brings to the “court”
New weapons: Between the spartan laser, the halo 1 battle rifle, spiker, improved needler? There should be a lot new stuff about this game that will make it even more fun than before. There’s a few weapons that are so big in fact that the camera shifts out of 1st person view and into 3rd person!!!
Graphics: From what i hear, they are simply beautiful.
New vehicles: Updated vehicles and one new mongoose! Its looks like the warthog but smaller and faster? I saw this video too of the car driving over this spot of light that makes it jump over this building!! Amazing. They can pretty much throw shit at the game and the players will love it.
Items: I’m not sure about the details but the commercials show Master Chief throwing down a gernade that immediately expands into a huge shield. It looks pretty. There was this huge mystery over what the X button would do but apparently it has something to do with all the new weapons they are putting in the game, which i know nothing about.
First Halo game on the Next Generation system!! – This is MAJOR!! First halo game on a console that is actually already good without halo! Microsoft is definitely on the right track
#2 Grand Theft Auto 4
There is very little information out on this game right now but given RockStar’s amazing track record at delivering games that take the system and the genres to the next level, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this game turns out to be one of the best of all time. Best for me? I can still play on my 360 because for the first time Xbox is recieving GTA at the same time as a Sony product. This is big news. You can be sure to bet that RockStar will be edgy but lets hope that they don’t get carried away like with San Andreas, hot coffee anyone? I read a quote somewhere by someone on the GTA4 team saying that comparing GTA4 to GTA3 will be like comparing GTA3 to GTA2. That is quite a statement. Lets hope they weren’t participating in the Sony Attitude of “overpromising”. Nevertheless, Grand Theft Auto 4 will be one of the best games ever made. I’ll bet on that!
#1 LittleBig Planet
This is a strange one to make the list but is perhaps one of the most impressive games I have EVER seen. In case you are not keen on the video game market (as I try to be = P) , there has been a recent trend in focusing less on the technological prowess demonstrated with the game and more on the fun, simplicity, and originality that made us all fall in love video games in the first place all those years ago. The perfect example of this is the Xbox Live Arcade. Here is a library of over 100 original or remade games that all scream “I’m simple and fun, I don’t require 20+ hours to beat/enjoy, I’m inexpensive!” instead of “I am the newest thing that technology has to offer, I was made using a multimillion dollar budget, my FPS is slow even for a next gen system, I’m gonna charge 10 dollars more!!” Xbox Live Arcade is massively successful and has often been known for allowing the serious gamer’s kids, girlfriend or wife to play some low involvement games and thus get some good involvement in the gaming as well! I think its a fantastic trend.
ANYWAYS… LittleBig Planet takes the simple game, but also puts a present day spin on it. Keeping the extremely simple game, LBP incorporates social networking, the power of the internet, user-generated content, blahdy blahdy blah, and is a modern game with a simple concept with enough bells and whistles to keep players entertained for literally FOREVER. The same way YouTube revolutionized online video, LBP will revolutionize these mini games. It is only available for the ps3 through the marketplace… DOH!
So what the hell is this master concept I keep talking about? You and up to 3 friends play through a 2.5D world/level full of interactable objects and events. Your cute little characters have almost limitless possibilities in customization and the levels are completely user generated which means a double limitless game! OMFG. Like before, I won’t feebly try to describe the concept any further when I can show you right below!!!! This game is going to rule, and I may have to get a ps3 some day to join in the fun.
#0 Mass Effect
All the build up and now we are finally here…Unfortunately, I’m going to build up a little more. I’ve played a shit ton of games in my life but without a doubt my favorite of all time is definitely Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic. This game is amazing in its own right in almost every way. The length is very appropriate, the story is epic, non linear, and original with MANY twists and turns to boot. You can choose to be good or evil which will completely change the way the game turns out at EVERY point in the game! BioWare is the company that created this game… They’ve been missing in action since KOTOR came out a few years ago and I think this is what they were working on.
Mass Effect.
“The game takes place in the year 2183, with the player assuming the role of an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard. The story revolves around an ancient alien prophecy stating that, every fifty thousand years, an alien race comes to the galaxy to harvest all organic life, and the time of their return is approaching. As the first human Spectre – sworn defenders of galactic peace – Shepard’s mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. Shepard will lead an elite team across hostile alien worlds and discover that the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined. “
This game looks and feels a little like Knight of the Old Republic when you first see the videos, but there is a difference. This game is TRULY next generation. Instead of conversing and choosing speech by reading text, you look at the face of your dialogue partner and read his emotions right off his rendered face. The dialogue is so fluid in fact I can hardly beleive that the whole game can be like this! The fighting system looks so unbelievably cool, and original. It seems to combine recent evolutions in squad based combat, turn based combat (?), and first person shooter elements all into one monstrously cool LOOKING game. I hope this area doesnt fall through as it is incredibly important. The graphics are truly incredible and are definitely the most beautiful I’ve seen on the web anywhere, for any game for any system! The world is enormous too as you can travel from solar system to solar system within your galaxy and from planet to planet in each solar system! I mean to tell you the truth the whole game is so damn AMBITIOUS that I’m a little afraid that EVEN BioWare won’t be able to pull it off though. However, I am an optimist so I’m sure it’ll happen.
Please take a look at some of these amazing videos and tell me what you think!
Well that concludes it everyone! These are the 8 most important games of the year according to yours truly. Please let me know what you thought of this article! I spent a ton of time on it but it came easily because its my passion 
. Enjoy and happy playing!
BTW Enjoy this magical music!
You And I Both by Jason Mraz
Posted by austinwang 
Posted by austinwang 
