High Expectations - The most anticipated games

1. ???

This game doesn't exist, and the possibilities is that it never will. I'm unable to talk about it, nor is there anything to talk about, even if I wanted. But we can always hope that we'll be able to see this one in a few years from now.

2. Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed will be a game about your environment. You're supposed to be able to climb on everything and go anywhere, giving the game a whole new depth that actually take advantage of being made in 3D. Besides, who doesn't want to play the role as an assassin?

3. Mass Effect

From the creators of Knights of the Old Republic comes yet another space adventure. This time it's going to be bigger, better, and (hopefully) totally awsome! Where the most mediocre part of KotOR was the stiff fighting, it seems to had a huge overhaul featuring some realtime action and squad based tactics. Beyond that, it seems they've actually tried to update the outdated dialogue system of todays games, by adding a bit more interactivity to it, instead of waiting for the other to finish his line so you can select a pre-defined response from a list.

4. Fable 2

"I honestly don't see the point in making a game that you don't honestly believe has a chance of being the greatest game of all time." Mr. Molyneux have always had high ambitions, and a tendancy to hype his projects. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually have all the time in the world to complete them, and this leads to features being cut, and the game being rushed to meet the deadlines. Judging from the small previews that are available from the game, it looks to be even more characteristic and atmosphere heavy than before, which is greatly valued when most games nowadays try to strife for realism, which only make their flaws even more apparent...

5. Bioshock

I'm still very reserved for this game, since it hasn't actually shown me anything other than nice environements yet. While reducing scripted events, they're hoping for some more unique playing experiences, aswell as providing the players with a choice of how to handle situations. The risk is that it will just be too narrowed down to simple things that won't deviate much from each others, as wether you should try to run past a turret, block it with a box, blow it up or short circuit it.

6. Fallout 3

It seems impossible to create a game as Fallout 3, and meet the high expectations of all the eagerly waiting fans. Bethesda might be able to create fantastic worlds, but they're yet to prove (in my eyes) that they can create compelling gameplay other than exploring. But since half of Fallout was about exploring, the odds are looking pretty good. Now, let's hope they're going to implement the same open-ended gameplay as the original games, and give a bit more life to their characters than those featured in Oblivion.

7. Spore

This game is a bit different from the other ones on this list. Maybe that's mostly the reason why I'm looking forward to it. There's no story, no scripted events, or predefined ways of how to play the game. It's going to be a total sandbox where you can play for 15 minutes, or hours at a end. And since it's always fun to create things, and see the consequences of your creations, this is looking out to be something real interesting.

8. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

A game about survival, and mystery. You're not to set out to save the world, or defeat the boss at the end of level 6, but to survive, and make money while doing it. You venture into a huge 30km area, which you explore and try to find anomalous formations that you'll later sell to underground dealers. You're not alone in doing this, and both neutral and hostile Stalkers are out to do the same thing, and the risk are, if you have the bounty and they know about it, you might find yourself as the target.

9. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Furthest down on the list is a game I haven't had much about at all. It's from the Danish creators of Hitman, and even though you're no longer a sole hitman, your still having some problems with the law, and both of the anti-heroes are sentanced to death in the beginning of the game. They're reluctantly forced to work together as a team, where one of them is either controlled by the AI, or controlled by another player.

10. Alan Wake

A game more focused on story and atmosphere, than running around and shooting things? This looks like it's going to turn out as a adventure game, which have been really sparse lately. Even though it's most likely going to be about going to point A to pick up object B and return it to position C, or activating script D when talking to NPC E, it atleast looks like your travelling means won't be restricted. Which means it's not going to become yet another walk down that very long corridor to complete the game, but actually giving you the choice of how to travel.