2009: Another Year For Sequels and Continuations

This past year was all about the sequels. Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, COD 5, MGS 4, GTA IV all the down to Rock Band 2. Some may claim the market was bloated, however these titles not only boosted the industry into the 13.5 billion dollar range (NPD Figures) they also set the aggregated video game world on fire. Combined scores (meta) between the "big guns" were in the mid 9.0 range and multiple awards were handed to many of the developers; can't ask for much better than that. The bar has been set high, real high. Can 2009 even come close to "doing it again?" Here are just a few of the upcoming 2009 titles that might just do so.

Remember the first time you played a seriously good game? Perhaps it was Mario 3 or MGS 2. Or better yet it could have been something like Mortal Kombat II or Street Fighter II; doesn't matter really. Just remember the feel you got when playing it for the first time; that, "Holy sh*t" moment perhaps is a better way to put it. For me, I had that moment within the first five minutes of Bioshock back in 2007. The moment I arrived at Rapture for the first time I knew I was in for one hell of a ride. Lush graphics, extremely intuitive control scheme as well as user interface, moral choices to make and a great premise/plot and a super twist at the end netted this game 2007's Game of the Year Award by just about every 'gaming' outlet in the world (hats off to developers 2K Boston).

Skip to Q4 of 2008. Enter: Brand new trailer for Bioshock 2 leaked on the Internet and downloaded/streamed over a million and a half times within the first twenty-four hours. Hind sight is 20/20, so when I see a million and a half hits in less than twenty-four hours I would suffice to say Bioshock 2 may just be the biggest game to hit the shelves come 2009. Same development team, same art director and of course backed by Ken Levine (creator) make Bioshock a sure fire contender to make a big splash. Check out the trailer:



Sometimes games that are extremely original and ground breaking come out and no one really notices. They kind of fly under the radar, taking months if not years to hit gamers unforeseen eyes. Physconaughts anyone? Well, with Mass Effect...this wasn't the case at all (see what I did there). Mass Effect perhaps was one of the biggest names of 2007. In fact with a meta score of 9.4, M.E. perhaps was the overall fan favorite amongst gamers all over the world.

This science fiction opera of a game has spanned a supposed movie script, multiple books as well as animated shorts on the Internet. Suffice to say, Mass Effect had its own massive effect on the gaming world (wow that was corny). Technically, Mass Effect was solid. The game supported a full character creation section, real time combat with the option of turn based commands, excellent graphics, branching dialogue trees that effected the outcome of the game and had one of the best scores I've heard since Eternal Sonata. Mass Effect spanned multiple awards in 2007 and teased players with the announcement of a sequel come late 2009. In all retrospect, Mass Effect made my officially "favorite games of all time list" and that's no easy feat. 100+ hours dumped into the campaign as well as DLC makes for a hefty entry into the already cluttered world of RPG's.

Rumors ran ramped of a late 2009 sequel make Mass Effect 2 an extremely huge game to hit store shelves. No real solid information has been given to the public as of yet; however it's more than likely developer Bioware (my 3rd favorite developer) will drop a few "news bombshells" in the upcoming months. Here's to hoping they keep everything the same...except for the driving parts!

2009 is looking up. In fact, I would be more than pleased with just the two listed games above coming out. But as we all know (and love) there will definitely be some sleeper games that sneak into the fray and make just as big of an impact as Bioshock and Mass Effect once did. The winners in all of this? Us, the gamer and in all reality would you want it any other way?

Until another year f sequels and follow ups comes around............

-GAME HARD-