Triple3: The Nine Games of 2010 – Part 4

For those who have been following this feature all week we thank you.  It’s been a great week and the feedback has been great so far for our countdown of the top nine games we want to play in 2010!  The list has a nice mix of everything, though it is obviously leaning more towards the action side of things.  What can we say, there are a lot of action games coming next year that we want to play.  Before we go on, if you haven’t seen the previous 3 Parts, we recommend you give them a glance now to catch up on the list.

Part 1 – The Third Party Edition

Part 2 – The Community Edition

Part 3 – The Wait-It-Out Edition

Remember tomorrow we honor the #1 game we want to play more than anything else in 2010, but we still have two games to go on this list before we can go there.  Saturday we do a little recap with honorable mentions and games we need more information on before we can judge.  Speaking of which, one of the games in today’s list sort of breaks our rules for this countdown.  As stated in Part 1 – in order for a game to make our list it has to be at least rumored for 2010 and have a title (ex: Call of Duty: Treyarch’s Next Game doesn’t count – but MAG does even though there is speculation it will be renamed).  Our #3 choice breaks this rule, but for that we can say we just don’t care.  We are this excited about this title and have all the confidence in the world that it will surface in 2010 that we are going beyond our own requirements.

What is this game, and what supersedes it?  Find out now!

Twisted Metal PS3
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Eat Sleep Play

What Is It? The untitled new Twisted Metal game will be the series debut on the PlayStation 3.  The franchise has appeared on every PlayStation system to date, including the PSP.  Twisted Metal PS3 is being developed by Eat Sleep Play, or is at least affiliated with the team in some way.  Speculation has noted the game could be in development at the London studio, if not the Santa Monica Studio or San Diego Studio.  The game has been denied on multiple occassions but there have been far too many leaks to prevent SCEA to claim this game as “not coming.”  Read our previous rumor coverage regarding the fate of the franchise.  And SCEA, if you are reading this – we beg you, don’t make us sit here and try to fool us that the game isn’t coming.  We all know it is!

Why Are We Anticipating It? Well let’s see…it’s TWISTED METAL.  Disregarding that the franchise ever had a TM III or TM IV on the original PlayStation, the franchise has rocked the house in every version that has been in someway linked or affiliated with David Jaffe, SingleTrac (now Incognito), and Scott Campbell.  The last Twisted Metal game we received was the PS2 port of the TM: Head On from the PSP – which included the lost levels from the scrapped Twisted Metal Black 2 and included hints that Twisted Metal was indeed coming to the PS3.

Head On was more of a nostalgic look at the series at its high points.  The game (both on PSP and PS2) felt a lot like Twisted Metal 2, which is considered as the best, if not second best game in the franchise.  Fans of the series have argued between Black and TM 2 as the best in the series.  Personally, I am in favor of voting TM 2 the best, but let me say that Black was f***in awesome.  It is a shame the sequel never surfaced considering the amount of popularity revolving around the first, which included a re-release of an online version when the PS2 went online.  TM Black Online remained a very popular game online, and aside from SOCOM it was perhaps the most played game on the free service.

What can we expect in the PS3 debut?  Well that we are not quite sure.  I reckon it will be similar to the dark atmosphere and fast paced gameplay of Black as the TM series has matured since the ol’ PlayStation days but truly we have no clue what direction the developers are taking.  All I know is that I cannot wait to get inside the driver seats of some classic characters like Axel, Mr. Grimm, and Roadkill.  We hope to see some new characters to the franchise but we don’t want to see any old ones taken out.  In terms of levels, well god knows what they will do to the world.  Paris (from TM 2) was perhaps the most popular level from the franchise as you could turn the Eiffel tower into a rooftop getaway, and it was later revamped in Head On.  Keep in mind though Black was re-edited (at least in Europe) of a sequence where you could destroy a jumbo jet to earn an unlockable car (Yellow Jacket) after the events of 9/11.  You can view this video below.  We are not sure how far the developers are willing to go, despite this being a video game set in a completely fictional world and atmosphere.  We sure hope censorship doesn’t take over the franchise – though we are confident that this game will be just as destructive, stereotypical, and twisted as ever!

Due Out? We are banking on November 8, 2010.  Announcement will come at E3 2010 or Gamers Day events.

God of War III
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Sony Santa Monica

What Is It? Set in the realm of brutal Greek mythology, God of War III is a single-player game that allows players to take on the climatic role of the ex-Spartan warrior, Kratos, as he scales through the intimidating heights of Mt. Olympus and the dark depths of Hell to seek revenge on those who have betrayed him. Armed with double-chained blades, and an array of new weapons and magic for this iteration of the trilogy, Kratos must take on mythology’s darkest creatures while solving intricate puzzles throughout his merciless quest to destroy Olympus.

(click to enlarge)

Utilizing a new game engine built from the ground up and state-of-the-art visual technologies, the development team behind God of War III has made standard-setting strides in giving players the realistic feel of actually being on the battlegrounds. With texture resolutions quadrupling since God of War II on PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, God of War III, in its debut on the PS3 system, will feature fluid, life-like characters, as well as dynamic lighting effects, a robust weapon system, and world-changing scenarios that will truly bring unmistakable realism to Kratos’ fateful quest. Players will have a chance to join battles on a grand scale that is four times larger than its predecessor.

Why Are We Anticipating It? We are sad to say that this could be the end of God of War.  The series was always planned as a trilogy, and this game here is the climax of the series.  However the series may not end at III, as we have seen a prequel released on the PSP (Chains of Olympus), which is one of the best selling games on the handheld.  So why anticipate the end?  Get the hell out of here – it is God of War.  Kratos has taken the gaming world by storm in such a little amount of time.  People love him, people want to be him, and chics want to have a fling with him.  Kratos is the sexiest video game man alive right now.  I won’t lie, I got man love for him despite my heterosexual tendencies in reality.

Surprisingly we haven’t seen much of the game outside a teaser trailer, an in-game trailer, and the highly raved about E3 demo from this past summer.  For those following the on-going Tokyo Game Show, it was announced today that for those who buy the God of War Collection on PS3 (which is the first 2 games remastered for the PS3 with trophy support and 720p graphics), you will get a download code to the E3 demo and you can get to play it for yourself.  Chances are the demo will be available later on to the public but this incentive is sure to sell a few copies alongside those trophy-whores and collectors.  Read more about the God of War Collection here.

God of War is the same series that whore-itized the quicktime event.  While the game didn’t invent it, it is the sole reason why that feature in gaming is so popular today.  I have no beef with the feature as long as it is done right.  Kratos takes on the biggest and baddest of them all in this game and we finally (with much sorrow) conclude the story that began 13 seconds into the original GoW.  We are saddened that it is ending, but excited as this could be the PS3 Game of the Year of 2010.  With no focus on multiplayer, we are sure to get one hell of a single player experience lasting well over a dozen hours and many combos to unlock.  Let’s get it ON!

Due Out? March 2010

Wait…God of War III isn’t the number one game we are anticipating?  How can that be?  It has everything we want in a triple A title.  A hero we all love, insane combat, great story, sex mini-game…erm the fondling of in-game women.  How can we possibly have a game on this list that outranks God of War III?  Well, we’ll find out tomorrow now shall we?

It is not our goal to give SCEA the majority of this list.  Five of the eight games listed so far are Sony-published.  We aren’t trying to score points here, but let’s be honest Sony are really delivering a killer lineup of games for 2010, and even for this current year.  It is always nice to see a line of kickass killer first party games, but this is not to say we have no love for third party publishers.  There are some awesome third party games coming as well, but it’s no lie Sony has the upperhand considering it is their console.

Tune in tomorrow for our #1 most anticipated game of 2010!