Winter 2009: A Season to Game

Every so often, there comes a period when a huge smorgasbord of good games are released at the same time. This upcoming winter will be one of those periods. Since the start of 2009, the PC gaming scene has been relatively barren despite the start of the summer season. I guess this is because all the games are set to release this winter! Lets take a look at some the top games you'll definitely want to add to your collection:

1. Mass Effect 2: Every REAL gamer has played at least one game from Bioware. The famous creators of Knights of the Old Republic returned to the space opera genre with Mass Effect in 2007. Building on the dialogue system introduced in KOTOR, which was probably the greatest narration project ever seen in a game at the time, Mass Effect added player narration and cinematic, almost photo realistic expressions and character models to this winning combo. In the game, players followed the epic journey of Commander Shepard in his hunt for Saren who seeks to revive an ancient race that periodically devours all living matter in the galaxy before sowing the seeds of life anew. Players were faced with some pretty serious decisions throughout the story and the consequences of these choices will be felt in Mass Effect 2. That's right. Mass Effect players who've kept their save games, will be able to use them in Mass Effect 2 and it will grant them with not just a whole different starting point, but also different events in the story. ME2 picks up where number one left off. Humanity is apparently facing an unknown crisis and Shepard has taken on a suicide mission in an attempt to save it. Many elements are being kept in wrap but players can expect to see a shift in combat direction, more armchair gripping story events, and hopefully, another love story. After all, it wouldn't be a Bioware RPG without a touching love story. Mass Effect 2 is set to be released early 2010.
2. Modern Warfare 2: Not Call of Duty anymore, now just Modern Warfare. Technically Call of Duty 6, Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to Infinity Ward's best selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare released in 2007. The original certainly didn't change too much from classic Call of Duty but brought players from WW2 into modern, 21st century warfare. A nonstop, mind blowing action ride, Modern Warfare saw players fighting as two separate characters in the Middle East and Russia as they hunted an infamous terrorist set on destruction of the free world. It was probably the only game where players could die two times in the same story. The true jewel of the game however, was the multiplayer which was even more fast pace than the campaign and is still very popular today. We won't know the full backdrop of Modern Warfare 2 until its released but as the direct sequel, we can expect it to continue its predecessors story and style. Players can expect to see some familiar faces return, lots of new locations like Brazil, and best of all, more crazy fast multiplayer action. Modern Warfare 2 is set to be released September 2009.
3. Bioshock 2: Bioshock was touted as the spiritual successor of one the scariest games of all time: System Shock 2. As a gaming classic, Bioshock had a lot to live up to to even hold a "Shock" title. It brought players to the world of Rapture, an underwater city built after WW2 and run on a principle of pure capitalism. With no moral obligation or ethical concern, the city fell to anarchy. The player arrives only to find the city in ruin. As the story progresses, the player is used by a multitude of characters and eventually discovers he was born on rapture. The player character escapes rapture after confronting the power crazed rebellion leader Fontaine. Personally, I despised this game for many reasons. It did not live up to System Shock 2 in either scare factor or story telling. The developers also boasted of the game's morale dilemmas of which none had any real consequence since they did not effect the story of the game or effect the game play. Bioshock 2 does not continue the original characters story but does follow its time line. Some time has passed in Rapture since and players will now inherit the body of the first big daddy. If you didn't play the first game, these were diver suit clad super soldiers that protected biologically altered, zombie like little girls who hunted for highly demanded gene altering material. It is a bit odd since the time is now after the first story while you play a character who was around before the first story. Players who liked the game play of the first story can expect more of the same thing. The developers have added plasmid and weapon dual wielding as well as a new main enemy known as the big sister - a woman version of you who is kidnapping unaltered children to turn into little girls. Bioshock 2 is expected to be released November 2009.
4. Alan Wake: Revealed way long ago at E3 2005, this thriller boasts a very novel story telling technique. The game follows a writer named Alan Wake who goes off into the country side with his wife, loses his wife, goes looking for here, but ends up facing off with daemonic entities and what not... how would you guess that? Well if it was that cliche obviously I wouldn't be looking forward to it. There's ton of the story that we don't know about yet. Whats really cool about this game is that it features episodic story telling like a TV series and some really great graphics too. Alan Wake is expected to be released... actually I don't know, but since it's been in production since 2005, winter 2009 seems like a good time to release it : D.
5. Assassin's Creed 2: Assassin's Creed was well received at its 2007 inception. It sported absolutely gorgeous graphics which was used to show off equally spectacularly made maps of medieval cities and an ingeniously done building climbing system. The story revolved around Desmond, a normal guy with genetic memories of his assassin ancestors that people want to take. Playing through his memories, the player experiences the life of a medieval assassin. The games sequel, Assassin's Creed 2, sees the return of our hooded and, imo, badly voice acted, 11th century killer... Oh wait, its not Altair, its some other hooded assassin that looks exactly the same. Once again they appear to be digging though Desmond's brain with the same old Animus device that I thought totally didn't fit the story. Still the details of the story are sketchy beyond the fact that it takes place directly after the first and that you'll be going to Italy. The most notable location in which will be Venice. You're new medieval avatar will not be a full fledged assassin this time but a simple man after revenge for a plot to kill his family. As for the game play, we know you'll have some cool Leonardo da Vinci contraptions like a flying machine and apparently even a wrist mounted gun. Expect more of the same climbing, hiding, sword fighting, and jumping game play as well. Assassin's Creed 2 is set to be released November 2009.
   
6. Operation Flashpoint 2 Dragon Rising: I don't know much about Operation Flashpoint other than it being a super realistic military simulation for which its developer Codemasters is famous for. Beyond being one of the few games to attempt to fully simulate modern military combat, Dragon Rising is also interesting since all game play takes place on one very gigantic island. This island named Skira becomes a battle zone between the US Army and the Chinese military when oil deposits are discovered on the island. Really the story of any military simulation is never that interesting so it really doesn't matter. What matters is that this island has over 270 square miles of ground for you to play on freely. You will be taking on missions but unlike other games, your destinations won't be separated by load screens but tens of miles of lush vegetation and mountains. To speed up your trips, there will be plenty vehicles for you to drive and wreck your enemies with at the same time. Even the multiplayer will be interesting with 32 players per game with each human player given three AI squad mates which means each game will have 128 things to shoot at. Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is set to be released November 2009.
7. Starcraft 2: This needs no explanation. Starcraft 2 is set to be released December 2009... Hey a man can dream right?