PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010: Part 2

So, you've hopefully read Part 1, and now you want to see the next ten in the series, represented here. These are all games that I'm looking forward to seeing and playing this year. Some of them might make it and some may not, as is the case with the industry, and this article may or may not be followed by a part 3 somewhere down the line, but another article will be up soon which ties in with this on.

Kane& Lynch 2: Dog Days

_{Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Distributor: Square Enix
Engine: Glacier Engine
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date: Jun 1, 2010
Genre: Third-person shooter}

The first game, Kane& Lynch: Dead Men, pretty much bombed according to a lot of people. I remember my brother played it years ago, and I watched, and just kind of shook my head in disappointment. To think that it was made by the same people behind the Hitman series, and it just failed on so many levels.

Now though since last year it was revealed that there would be a sequel, and not only that but a movie based on the series which will star non other than Bruce Willis starring as Kane, the hitman character in the series. We still as of yet have to learn who will play Lynch (probably someone like John Malkovich or Peter Stormare – remember Peter in Quake 4 when he talked to the player character whose name was Matthew Kane? It just works.).

Dog Days will feature a new art direction or visual style based on user-generated content (basically anything on the internet - think YouTube), and the plot will see twosome travel to Shanghai, as was seen in the two teaser trailers along with the game's announcement.

So anyway, I think possibly that this title if done properly should be better and not to mention receive some added interest because of the film, which has a script that Bruce Willis says is one of the best he’s ever read.

Mafia II

_{Developer: 2K Czech
Publisher: 2K Games
Distributor: Square Enix
Engine: The Illusion Engine, PhysX
Platforms:PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date: May - July 2010
Genre: Third-person shooter, sandbox}

We all loved the Godfather movies, or at least the first two, and The Sopranos and pretty much everything else to do with the Mafia or gangsters and that sort of thing. It’s been a while since the first Mafia game, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, and we’ve had to put up with two average Godfather games that were based on the movies (and they say they won’t make a third one), so now it’s about time that Mafia II arrived.

The game will be set in the mid-twentieth century, during or after World War II, in a fictional city known as Empire Bay - place influenced by real world US locations. Along with the usual gangster weapons you'd expect to see, there are some new WWII era weapons, but from the German side, like the MP40 and the MG42 machinegun.

Mass Effect 2

_{Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Distributor: Square Enix
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Platforms:Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date: January 26, 2010
Genre: Action RPG}

I must admit that when I first played Mass Effect on PC, I wasn’t too impressed. But after a while at playing it, it started to eventually grow on me, with its quite vast universe, and interesting story and side missions. I ended up playing it through more than once.

Mass Effect 2 is set to be a lot better than its predecessor, doing away with the elevator rides, although replacing them with the more traditional loading screens. Characters from the original will make appearances in this title, and that’s not all: you’ll even be able to import saved games from the original and play as your preferred character. How often is that ever done, especially in a sequel that features so much new and improved stuff?

Not to mention that the game will see many well-known stars making an appearance through voice acting roles, like Martin Sheen, Carrie-Anne Moss, Adam Baldwin, Seth Green, and Keith David.

Max Payne 3

_{Developer: Rockstar Vancouver
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Distributor: Square Enix
Engine: RAGE (not id Tech 5), Euphoria
Platforms:Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 3
Release date: Q4 2010
Genre: Third-person shooter}

It’s been years since the last game in this series came out. It was 2003. This time Max Payne is being developed by Rockstar and not Remedy, and doesn’t feature the writing talents off Sam Lake, who also served as the model for the original Max. People were horrified to see the new Max Payne, who looks nothing like either of the other two renditions in the series. He’s ugly, bald, and fat, and the game is set in a different location: São Paulo, Brazil - instead of New York. And he's now a private security guard instead of a cop. The game is set twelve years after Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, with Max being in his forties or fifties, I would guess.

This might have all hurt the game’s marketability and continuity if it weren’t for the Max Payne title. To be honest, we’ve all seen bullet time a lot over the years. Max Payne was probably one of the first games to feature it, but it got the idea from The Matrix. If Max Payne 3 is going to thrill anybody, it’ll have to bring something really good to the table – something new.

Medal of Honor

_{Developer: EA Los Angeles, EA Digital Illusions CE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms:Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 3
Release date: Fall 2010
Genre: First person shooter}

It’s been years since I’ve played a Medal of Honor title. The last good one was probably Allied Assault. EA has since decided to go the way of Call of Duty, and drop the WWII setting, seeing as it’s been done so many friggin’ times and we’re sick to death of it, aren’t we?

Instead, the reboot of the series, Medal of Honor, is going to take place in a more modern setting like Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, and will see players fight in Afghanistan and take the role of a Tier One Operator - a special forces soldier of the highest calibre, although hardly ever heard about. He will report directly to the National Command Authority (NCA) - think Barry Obama and the S.O.D. (secretary of defence).

Some say that it’s a blatant attempt at copying the CoD series, but let’s not forget that Medal of Honor came first, years before Call of Duty stole the scene of the WWII shooter, so I think it’s justified. Let’s hope it’s just as good if not better than Infinity Ward’s attempts. They should make a larger singleplayer campaign for one.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

_{Developer: Kojima Productions
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
Release dates:2010
Genre: Stealth-action}

It’s also been years since I’ve played a Metal Gear game. Even though some of the sequels were released on PC, like MGS 2, the last time I played a MGS game on PC was Metal Gear Solid.

This one, MGS: Rising, was revealed at the last E3, and doesn’t feature the lovable Snake as the main protagonist, but instead Raiden, the guy from MGS2: Sons of Liberty. But he’s different than he was when you played him in MGS2 – now he’s a cyborg, like when he appeared in MGS4: Guns of the Patriots.The game will use a new engine and it's being labeled as the new generation, MGS5.

It’d still be cool if some sort of Snake or Snake clone made an appearance. It wouldn’t be MGS without him.

Metro 2033

_{Developer: 4A Games
Publisher:THQ
Engine: 4A Engine
Platforms:Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
Release dates: 16 March, 2010
Genre: Survival horror, First person shooter}

This is being developed by 4A Games, including some of the team who worked on STALKER. The first time it was announced was in 2006. Although the titles look similar, this one is based on a book by the same name, and is going a more linear, story driven route than the more open world STALKER series. From what I’ve seen, it looks to be just as creepy as said series though, and a lot of it will take place underground in train tunnels.

The game will use an enhanced X-ray engine like the one used in STALKER, and will also have support for nVidia PhysX.

Rage

_{Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Engine: id Tech 5
Platforms:Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release dates: 2010
Genre: Driving, First-person shooter}

This will be id’s first original IP in many years. For the better part of the last two decades, it’s been Keen, Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake – the latter two receiving most of the attention.

Rage will be a new title in a series that will likely all ready feature a sequel, and looks similar to titles like Fallout 3 or Borderlands in terms of setting – a post-apocalyptic one, which is all the rage right now according to some articles. Rage is even said to feature classic id game weapons, and we’re all sitting there thinking it must be the BFG. But it will also feature some driving in the game too as well as the usual shooting – something that has been experimented with, mainly in the Quake series, but not in a title developed by id, to my knowledge. And not to mention, Rage will be the first title to feature the all new id Tech 5 engine.

Some are doubtful that Rage will make this year, but id said it would likely do so after it was said it wouldn't make 2009, and hell, the last game that they were really in charge of developing was Doom 3. It's been over five years, going on six years since then, so I demand that Rage comes out in 2010!

Stalker: Call of Pripyat

_{Developer: GSC Game World
Publisher: GSC World Publishing, bitComposer Games, Viva Media
Distributor: NAMCO BANDAI
Engine: X-Ray V1.6
Platforms: Microsoft Windows
Release dates: February 2, 2010
Genre: First-person shooter, Role-playing}

Each year since 2007, there’s been a new episode ever year in this original series which probably for the first time took players inside the feared Zone in what’s left after the deadly Chernobyl Incident of 1986 (a true event even though the series is fictional).

Most of use didn’t get Call of Pripyat in 2009 as it was released in Eastern and Western Europe, with a release date for the rest of us (the US particularly) set for February 2010. And even though there are translation packs on the internet that allow people to play the game in English, hopefully the version released next year will contain less bugs and such, like the catastrophic Clear Sky which was unplayable for many until numerous patches were released to correct those issues such as frequent crashing. Hopefully in the extra few months the game will receive more polish for the generally more critical American and international crowds.

Call of Pripyat is said to be more like the original, Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, in terms of atmosphere and isolation, and is also one of the first games to use DirectX 11 technology along with others, like Aliens vs. Predator.

The title is the sequel to SoC, unlike Clear Sky, which was a prequel, but will place the player once again in control of a different character, an undercover agent who poses as one of the local stalkers found in the Zone. The game's locals feature Pripyat (or Prypiat), Ukraine, and areas surrounding it. The game has some new weapons, enemies, and also a free play mode unlike the other two, which allows the player to resume playing after finishing the main quests. The faction wars have been taken out and there will be other improvements to the gameplay as well.

Starcraft II

_{Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Engine: X-Ray V1.6
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release dates: 2010
Genre: RTS; Real Time Strategy}

It’s been years since Starcraft and its expansion pack, Brood Wars, came out. More than ten years. Now the game some refer to as Starcraft 1.5, essentially Starcraft with much prettier graphics and effects will hopefully arrive in 2010 unlike one of Blizzard’s other titles in an equally popular franchise, Diablo III, which has been said to be releasing in 2011 at the earliest.

There have been doubts as to whether Starcraft II will even see 2010 either, but there’s probably more chance in my opinion than for Diablo III. SC II was all ready delayed from an original 2009 release.

The game will release as a base pack called Wings of Liberty, which will contain the Terran campaign, and afterwards two expansion packs will follow, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, which will be the Zerg and Protoss campaigns, respectively.

New units, upgrades, and such will appear as well as interactive briefings, and non-linear gameplay. One controversial decision was to possibly remove support for LAN play entirely.

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That's the end of Part 2 in this series. If you haven't read Part 1, do so now.There may or may not be a part 3. The reason I say this is because I haven't really written enough to make a third part yet, there may not be ten more games that I'm looking forward to, and if I do write one it'll take a while longer. There will be another article however, soon, which ties in with this series, called "PC Games That Likely Won't Make 2010", or something like that. That might be part 3...