eGamer’s 15 Most Anticipated Titles of 2009

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We know that 2008 was an incredible year for gaming with many exceptional titles and innovations on show to keep it on fire. We’ve just entered 2009, and the flame has already ignited with all the games due to be released this year. Read and enjoy, eGameRadar’s 15 Most Anticipated Titles of 2009.

*Note: The order is in no way depicting the most anticipated, but rather sorted out by release dates.*

Credit to eurogamer.net for the screenshots
Credit to neogaf.com for game number13 screenshot
Credit to aol.com for game number 15 Screenshot

1. Street Fighter IV
Genre: Versus Fighting
Players: 1-2
Multiplayer: Online (1-2 players) and Local
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release date: 17 February 2009

It’s been an incredibly long time since we’ve last seen a Street Fighter title, about a decade. In February, we witness the return of the classic two player fighting game, Street Figher IV during the next gen era. It’s hard to come across someone who hasn’t heard of or played a Street Figher game and I can definitely say it’s quite surprising to see it being revived. Moving on to the actual game, we can really see the incredible changes in graphics, sound and animation. It’s easy to say that it looks like a new game entirely. It’s hard to recognise our old time classic, but if you look closely, you can begin to see the greatness of this fighting title. The game’s characters have gone back to it’s roots, drawing the original cast and crew from Street Figher 2 with the addition of a few others from the various games as well as entirely new playable characters. The cast of characters is great, but it’s hard not to be slightly disappointed at the removal of a fair few fighters from old Street Fighter titles. Still, that being said, the game has been out on arcade for quite sometime now and fans all over seem to be very happy with it thus far.  There’s not much to explain in terms of game as you already know how it plays, so what’s left to mention is that it’s been a long time and we’re all crossing our thumbs and readying ourselves for this newest installment.
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2. Dawn of War 2
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Players: 1-6
Multiplayer: Online 1-6 players and LAN
Platforms: PC Exclusive
Release Date: 23 February 2009

I think it’s easy to say that most strategy lovers know about Dawn of War. The first game was a unique strategy experience and after three expansion packs (Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm) all of us were very used to the general formula. Now, this year, the minds behind Dawn of War plan to redefine the whole gameplay experience with some massive changes. One of the largest changes has to be mentioned here, being that all units and upgrades will now be built from the central command station (base). Yes, it seems there are no more barracks, vehicle factories or supply depots. The reason for this, however, is to shift the game’s focus more onto micro and unit management than knowing which buildings and upgrades to go for first. It’s an immense change, but one that could prove to be for the better. Equipped with more gameplay modes, units, campaigns, maps and races, Dawn of War 2 is ready to deliver the goods and live up to it’s name. Look out for it this month.
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3. Killzone 2
Genre: First Person Shooter
Players: 1
Multiplayer: 16 Online and offline local modes (allowed to play with bots for practice)
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Release date: 28 February 2009

Ever since Killzone 2 had it’s debut in 2006, it has gathered incredible attention. The first game on PS2 was not very well received, but it was difficult not to notice how jaw-droppingly incredible Killzone 2 has looked over the years until today, where we finally get to see the game for ourselves in due time at the end of this month. To recap, Killzone 2 follows the events of the first game and Killzone Liberation on PSP, but don’t worry, you don’t need to have followed or played the past Killzone games to get the gist of the story. To sum it up, two years after the Helghast assault on Vekta (during the PS2 and PSP titles), the ISA is taking the fight to the enemy’s home world of Helghan. The ISA goal is to capture the Helghast leader, Emperor Visari, and they’re going all out since they believe the Helghast are in weak spirits after their losses in Vekta, but little do the ISA know, they’re in for hell as the enemy are more than ready for their attack.
Boasting incredible graphics, physics, quality and new mechanics for the FPS genre, the anticipation for this title is huge and it definitely looks set to be more than a winner for 2009.
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4. Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Players: 1
Multiplayer: None (but possible downloadable content in the future)
Platforms: PS3, Xbox360
Release date: 3 March 2009

My, my. Now is this an eye-catching title. Eat Lead: Return of Matt Hazard has got to be the most unique, different and randomly funny game to be released this year. It actually struck me as funny when I first heard about how insane it sounded, and with more reading and looking up on this game, I discovered humour was the key to their success. This game’s goal is to rip off all other games of all genre’s that it can lay its hands on.  In this game, the protaganist is Matt Hazard, an old time degraded and washed out video star from the 80′s who is given a chance at a comeback when huge game publishing company, Marathon Megasoft offers him  the starring role in their massive upcoming title. As luck would have it, Matt discovers only after he hurridly accepts the offer that the enemies he’s up against are not fake, but instead out to kill him. So poor Matt is forced through stages of violence and all out shooting action filled with messed up ideas of current games and ideas. If you take the screenshot for example, it may give you the impression that the game is some sort of RPG, but this is not the case. As you can see, the enemy Matt is up against is a rip off of some anime or final fantasy character so the entire setting and theme warps into anime type humour and playstyle, right down to the red “damage inflicted” points and enemy life bar. Believe it or not that dude with the huge sword even speaks in dialogue boxes.
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard looks set to be the odd one out (in the very good way) this year, and is definitely worth a lot of interest for how uniqe it is. I mean, come on, when Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson, TV Series ‘How I met your mother‘) is doing the voice acting for the main villian you know something is up.
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5.  Resident Evil 5
Genre: Third Person Survival Horror
Players: 1
Multiplayer: Online Co-Op 1-2 players as well as Co-Op splitscreen (2 players)
Platforms: PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: 13 March 2009

Resident Evil is another series in the gaming industry that is very popular and well known. Dating back to the PS1, the game has taken quite a journey to become what it is today with roughly 6 titles currently in existence. Resident Evil 4 was the ground breaking change in the series and was very well received as it redefined the entirely gameplay and formula. Now, this year,  the disturbed (in a good way) minds behind Resident Evil 5 plan to go all out with their first next gen RE game. The protagonist this time around is Chris Redfield, a member of a group called Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), who is sent to investigate a suspicious incident in a desert area in Africa. The game takes place ten years directly after Resident Evil 4 (an unusual event regarding Resident Evil, since there haven’t been true sequels before) and the gist of it is what goes on during those ten years with Chris. With awesome graphics,  super intelligent enemy AI, vastly improved gameplay from Resident Evil 4 and intense Co-Op modes that won’t destroy the tension you’re used to, Resident Evil 5 could be the ultimate action/horror experience for this year.
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6. Resistance Retribution
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Players: 1
Multiplayer: 1-8 players both online as well as Ad Hoc offline.
Platforms: PSP exclusive
Release date:  17 March 2009

The Resistance series exclusive to the PS3 has made quite an impact in the first person shooter genre. Not only for it’s amazing content, gripping story, over the top action and gameplay but for it’s impressive selection of entirely unique and awesome ideas for weapons. Then again, what could you expect from Insomniac, the guys behind Ratchet and Clank? Resistance Retribution is exclusive to the playstation portable, and why it deserves a spot on the list is because it’s adding to the famous Resistance series and bringing the action back onto the shadowed PSP in many ways. This is quite possibly one of the biggest titles the PSP will receive this year and for good reason. Anybody who has played a Syphon Filter title on the PSP will be shocked at the resemblance with Resistance Retribution, and it’s hard to argue since they are very much alike, right down to the movement animation, interface and controls. Still, RR plans to expand on the Syphon Filter engine and create new gameplay mechanics as well as refine the controls so that they fit perfectly for the PSP. Back to the main game, however, Resistance Retribution doesn’t follow the story of Nathan Hale, the hero from the other titles, but instead focuses on James Grayson, a former British Royal Marine. The game takes place right after the events of Resistance: Fall of Man up until before Resistance 2. James Grayson, after being forced to kill his brother inside a Chimeran conversion center, suffers a nervous breakdown and is imprisoned for desertion. Thereafter, The European resistance call for Grayson’s help, and he joins fellow squad members Cartwright and Parker in Operation Overstrike to retake the European continent from the Chimera. Enraged at the fate of his brother, Grayson plans to destroy as many conversion centers he can to do his part in stopping the chimera, until he learns that the Chimera find other ways to breed themselves…
Resistance Retribution seems to the PSP’s star title this year, and PSP owners all over await eagerly for it in March.
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7. Infamous
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: TBA
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Release Date:  Q2 2009

Infamous, as said before, is the rival to the upcoming Prototype. Infamous is an open world action game featuring Cole as the main character; the surivor of an explosion. The cause or effects of the explosion are unknown as of yet, but what we do know is that everyone who was within the blast radius was instantly killed…everyone except Cole. He discovers that the after effects of the explosion has changed the city for the worse, but turned himself into something so much more. Newly equipped with extraordinary electric powers, it is up to the player to decide the moral path they’re willing to take of whether to save what is left or destroy it all.
Infamous, like Prototype, started off small and hid itself in the shadows, but as soon as it started to let itself out it grabbed loads of attention. For good reason, since what’s on offer here is something truly unique and innovating for the open world genre.
Featuring amazing special effects for the electric powers, large player interaction and environments, innovation and uniqueness and altogether something so different and special compared to the norm, Infamous looks set to exceed all expectations. For detailed information on the game, check out the preview presented to you by eGamer.
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8. Prototype
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: 2 player online co-op
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release date: 30 June 2009

Prototype is one of the biggest open world titles to be released this year. It started out as interesting and small but soon rose high in the ranks and joined the stage as one of the most anticipated titles for 2009. For those unaware, Prototype follows the shapeshifter and anti-hero Alex Mercer in current day New York City. To make a long story short, Alex is experimented on and infected with a Prototype formula, resulting in him losing all of his memories but gaining incredible shapeshifting abilites and powers. Alex finds that the entire army has him locked in their sights and in order to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, namely what’s happening to himself and New York City,  Alex Mercer has to fight back and deliver his wrath to all who stand in his way. This game is a power fantasy, and it plans to show us the true meaning of destruction and chaos making it more than worthy to make this list. For more information, check out the in-depth preview brought to you by eGamer.
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9.  Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
Genre: Role Playing First Person Shooter
Players:  1
Multiplayer: TBA
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: 30 December 2009

Bioshock is a very well known game, and certainly good enough to be in the running for game of the year. Utilising WWII weapons, magical powers called plasmids and your best friend – the wrench, it was a game pumped with action. It was a unique game, being a mix between role playing, fast paced action, magic and a theme of horror at times. This year, we were very excited to hear a sequel in the making, titled Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams. Unfortunately, that’s as far as it goes as the game is scarcely in production, and there isn’t much to go on at the moment. Still, it being announced is reason enough for it to make the list.
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10. Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion
Genre: Versus fighting
Players: 1-2
Multiplayer: 1-2 players online and offline local
Platforms: PS3, Xbox360
Release date: Q4 2009

Just like Street Fighter, it’s hard to come across someone who doesn’t know of the Tekken series. In a nutshell, Tekken is about a whole cast of fighters, each with their own personal stories and agendas, who find themselves clashing head to head in the King of Iron Fist tournaments. It’s reasonable to state that with the latest game on its way, there is a huge amount of excitement and sceptism. Excitement is easy to understand, but the sceptism comes from a) Tekken 6 being announced as a multiplatform game and b) that there are a fair deal of changes to the gameplay to make the game more friendly for newcomers. I say not to worry, this latest installment in the franchise, as it stands, looks to be the ultimate Tekken experience. With mighty impressive graphics, a whole lot more skills, a bucket load more customization options, a few new modes and game features and 42 playable characters,  the largest cast of characters to ever appear in a Tekken game, Tekken 6 definitely can’t be ignored this year.  It has been said that every character from Dark Ressurection will reappear in Tekken 6 as well as new and additional ones. Well, there you have it, all we can do is wait for Tekken 6 to arrive. Rage mode on!
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11. Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2
Genre: First Person Shooter
Players: 1-?
Multiplayer: (definitely…) 1-? players online and offline local
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: 31 December 2009

Call of Duty has been a huge success for the WWII FPS genre, back when world war 2 was the business. Sadly, after Call of Duty 3 the series took a long drop downhill to the dumps, and because of this, Infinity Ward sat back and thought long and hard at what they could do for the next game to revive the series. And so have it, the masterminds released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It’s safe to say that CoD4 was a huge success, possibly the largest in the entire franchise.  Stepping away from world war 2 and into modern day war, it was a great experience, especially  to pump enemies (other than Germans) full of lead from weapons that come from our time. With an impressive single player loaded with immersion, amazing graphics, sound and atmosphere and not to mention the all out brilliantly addictive multiplayer modes,  CoD4 was exactly what the series needed – and more. It seemed Modern Warfare was locked into people’s minds and it was hard to hide the disappointment regarding the news of Call of Duty 5: World at War returning to the WWII roots. It was by no means bad, it was actually a really impressive shooter and still awesome fun in multiplayer, but it wasn’t modern warfare and it was hard to adapt back to the old times. You can imagine the huge uproar of excitement when Infinity Ward quickly made the announcement of Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2 returning to everything we loved about CoD4. There is next to nothing out on the game currently, but we have a vague idea what to expect. Still, we’re ready to have our minds blown away with Modern Warfare’s return at the end of this year.
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12. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Genre: Third Person Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: TBA (to be announced)
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Release Date: Q4 2009

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was a surprisingly impressive title that held strong on the PS3 while arriving at just the right time. Naughty Dog knew what they were doing and even though the game was far from perfect, it was a solid title. It was a combination of heated gun battles, puzzles, platforming and an interesting story. It was a package that had it all. Now, set for this year, Uncharted 2 has been confirmed. It’s gained a large amount of attention and interest, and for great reasons too. Firstly, Naughty Dog understands the standards they have to meet, and have undergone immense work into redesigning their gameplay and entire engine for the game. There’s definitely going to be new gameplay mechanics, such as vastly improved stealth sections, smoother platforming and an improved snap to cover system are among the list of upgrades. Also, to make for more intense action, enemy AI is being worked to adapt to the new stealth sections as well as the environment, meaning they’ll be able to follow Drake as he climbs on buildings or tries to run away. However, there still remains an extremely impressive piece of information, being that Uncharted 2 is going beyond the limits. The new and improved game engine will maximize the PS3′s power (namely the utilisation of the Cell’s SPUs) which, to break it down, means incredible graphics and more realistic environments and animations. Naughty Dog stated that their first game utilised about 30% of the PS3′s power, but this time they’re going all out. It’s really amazing, since the first Uncharted looked so good already, imagine what Among Thieves will be when it’s done.  From what you can see of the screenshot, there is no debate. The game looks jaw dropping at this point in time and I, among many, can’t wait to see the final product. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is definitely a huge highlight for 2009 and PS3 owners all over.
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13.  God of War 3
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: TBC (to be confirmed)
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Release Date: December 2009

It’s easy to explain why God of War 3 makes this list. God of War is known for being a merciless and gory all out action game and was a huge hit on the good old PS2. There’s a buzz of excitement for the return of God of War 3 which will be the last game in the franchise.  It looks like God of War plans to go out with a bang and it’s evident from the little information out on it at the moment. First and foremost, action is definitely going to be over the top, we don’t even need to be told. What was mentioned, however, is that the game will run at a full 1080p HD resolution, speculated at 60 fps (frames per second) Wow, that is spectacular news and we can’t deny how impressive the game looks already, a year before its release.  It was also hinted that there might be a co-op mode, but only if the developers can find something interesting to do with it. Moving on to the story,  God of War 3 plans to show us hell on earth as the gods and titans dive into all out battle for complete domination. Sadly, this is all there is on the game at this point, but we think it’s enough to recognise this title immediately. The anticipation for God of War 3 is high, not only for PS3 owners but gamers all over the world, but unfortunately all we can do at this present time is wait for it, and expect to be completely blasted away when it’s finally released.
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14. Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: J-RPG
Players: 1
Multiplayer: TBA
Platforms: PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: December 2009

With a massive amount of games out as well as movies, it quite possibly is one of the biggest franchises around in the gaming industry. With the PS3, it was hard not to expect another Final Fantasy game working its way towards the spotlight.  However, there was a large amount of suprise surrounding FFXIII. Firstly, the game was going multiplatform, but not to worry fans, for Final Fantasy is still being primarily developed on PS3 and thereafter ported to Xbox360. Secondly, there are two games being released this year, namely Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Versus XIII remains a PS3 exclusive, and is set in the same world as FFXIII, except with a whole new story and cast. Going back to Final Fantasy XIII, the idea behind the main character was to create a female version of Cloud back from Final Fantasy VII. Named Lightning, the new main character for FFXIII uses a combination of a gun and a sword for her weapons.
Like most games set to be released at the end of the year, there isn’t a huge load of  information on the game, but there has been mentioned changes to the gameplay. The game strives to continue the RPG style of strategic command-based battles, except this time the developers plan to make the battles look and feel like the FFVII Advent Children movie.  It’s very impressive news indeed and only one hint at the major improvements for the final game. It’s a very long wait, but still, Final Fantasy fans are definitely fired up to get their hands on the newest title(s) that will be arriving at the end of this year.
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15. I am Alive
Genre: First Person Survival
Players: 1-?
Multiplayer: TBA
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: Vague, most probably December 2009 or worst case 2010

You can argue that the release date is vague, or that there is hardly any information on the game or even that it hides itself too much, but there is no questioning the large amount of interest and inovation surrounding this title. I am Alive has finally revealed itself and the idea behind this game is so unique and impressive that it immediately deserved a place on the list, purely because it keeps all of our eyes on it to see what it will reveal about itself.
I am Alive plans to write a new genre into gaming, that being ‘Survival’. It is said that players will actually feel the magnitude of every situation upon them and be forced to make life changing decisions throughout the game. Now you may ask, what is this game about? It’s time to answer that very question.
I am Alive follows an ordinary (so far) businessman named Adam, who witnesses the destruction of Chicago by an unexplained earthquake of sorts. 6 days later, and the city is cast in ruins, leaving everyone on their own fighting for survival. In the trailer it showed three of Adam’s own colleges and friends threatening and cornering him for just a bottle of water. That is just a small example of what’s in store for the player in this game.
What’s been revealed about gameplay is that it’s being played from a First Person perspective. Also, it was hinted that little things like water will prove to be useful bargaining chips and commodities throughout the game. A brief indication at the story was mentioned, being that Adam is desperately trying to find his girlfriend, Alice, assuming she’s still alive after the earthquake.
I am Alive is definitely one of the more exciting titles around, and it was difficult not to take notice of its fantastic and original ideas. It’s a far cry away, but the basic foundations are solid, only time can show exactly what this game has to offer.