Loading Time’s
Top Ten Next-Gen Franchises
by N1ntendo, Sirfalcon, and BR88KLYN
#10 Gears of War
Gears of War is one of the first games to actually get a cover system that works well and can be used universally. Gears of War wasn’t the first to use cover systems, but borrowed it from an older title known as Kill.Switch, and has now perfected its execution. A simple plot and stereotypical characters has made Gears of War very popular with the American gamers. When you think Gears of War, the first thing that comes to mind is the chainsaws. Gears of War 2 took that concept and improved upon that with chainsaw duels, more of the solid multiplayer mechanics that fans adore and the will to continually please every fan out there with their massive updates every so often, adding new gameplay modes and maps to the game. The Gears of War franchise is the second killer app on the Xbox 360 next to the Halo franchise. Gamers will surely be eager to see how Delta squad deals with the Locusts in the inevitable sequel.
#9 Lost Planet
Keiji Inafune, creator of the popular Mega Man series, has created a mech-based game known as Lost Planet. Lost Planet follows the story of Wayne and his bouts of amnesia through 13 different levels all packed with adventure and lots of snow. Environments are massive and have lots of enemies’ known as the Akrid. The main idea of Lost Planet is to gather heat energy, known as thermal (T) energy from the creatures to power mechs and use them for survival. As a friend once stated, “Why do you lose energy when you jump?” , to which the reply is that it just adds to the realism of the cold and arctic setting. Lost Planet comes packed with multiplayer action where your team works together to have the highest amount of T energy to win the game. Lost Planet has become so popular that Capcom decided to release a port for PS3 and released an expansion that allows you to play as the creatures known as the Akrid, known as Lost Planet Colonies. Lost Planet succeeds with giving the player the experience and scope of traversing a silent and harsh cold planet like no other. The popular franchise continues on with Lost Planet 2, this time with no snow and lush environments as the battle for survival continues on EDN III.
#8 Dead Rising
Capcom took the cult classic concepts of George Romero’s Dead series and decided to work it into console games, starting a beautiful relationship of the zombies against the hero we had not experienced since the first Resident Evil. Developer and all around company icon Keiji Inafune, put a character in the game with no weapons or combat training, into a mall taken over by zombies. Using the processing power of the Xbox 360, gamers were treated to the first shock of walking into the mall and seeing literally over a hundred zombies in front of one store alone, and to the awe of being able to use anything and everything at the mall’s disposal to take them down. Every store in the mall can be entered and weapons can be fashioned out of everything from a food court umbrella to sports equipment. Never before has a survival horror game allowed gamers so much freedom to explore and find our own solutions to the zombie invasion. Add in multiple endings and various storyline characters to rescue to ensure the best possible ending, and you have a winning formula. One can only think of the possibilities that Dead Rising 2 has with the new setting in none other than VEGAS BABY!
#7 Uncharted
Start with one part Tomb Raider and one part Indiana Jones movies, sprinkle a little modern action hero in there, the result is a recipe for the new undisputed king of the action/adventure genre. Uncharted takes the mystical artifacts of Tomb Raider and blends them seamlessly with the hardcore action sequences from the Indiana Jones movies to give a start-to-finish experience that is hard-pressed to duplicate. Add that with a main character Nathan Drake, whose wit and charm displayed on screen add a certain magic to a game that has not been felt since the first Tomb Raider. Having its environment completely climbable and random, not obvious and scripted like most platform to platform sequences is a breath of fresh air. The sequel Uncharted 2 looks to innovate again by adding versus and co-op play into the mix. Cheers to Naughty Dog, they showed gamers that a likable main character doesn’t always have to be female.
#6 Mirror’s Edge
As one of most original and beautiful games to grace the gaming industry, Mirror’s Edge jumps onto the stage. The marriage of a first person shooter and a platformer gives birth to this beautiful game. The game follows a Runner known as Faith as she leaps from rooftop to rooftop, trying to clear her sister’s name from a murder. From the loud wind rushing past the character, to the intermittently great dangerous leaps from structure to structure, Mirror’s Edge will leave you breathless by the end. Players jump, run, slide, and scale buildings in parkour’s fashion to their heart’s content. With the occasional combat interspersed within, Mirror’s Edge gives players a satisfying experience from beginning to end. With a trilogy planned by EA Dice as well as spinoffs, it will be interesting to see what the series has to offer. Players are eager to take another leap of Faith!
#5 Dead Space
Dead Space is a tension filled psychological thriller with gruesome action. This is the game that re-energized the survival horror genre. The story is a well paced tightrope of tension that dares you to play alone in the dark. Strategic dismemberment is one of the innovative features that elevate the action in Dead Space, as a head shot is no longer your savior. Each enemy requires different dissection, limb by bloody limb. Full third person movement partnered with Hollywood quality voice acting and an immersive soundtrack, puts the gamer in an experience that will make them feel fully emotionally invested in the main character of Isaac. That emotional investment extends to the other characters found on the ship as well as the disembodied voices on the audio logs that inform the player of what happened before his arrival on the doomed ship.
Dead Space provides the trinity of gaming. Gameplay, story, and the dedication given to the voice acting and soundtrack of the game achieves what just a year ago would have been unthinkable. Dead Space Extraction will be the game that truly brings survival horror to the Wii. Not just a port of the existing game but an original game that serves as a prequel further expanding the Dead Space universe. When dealing with Survival Horror, Dead Space is the very best.
#4 Skate
The Skate franchise gave fans of the skateboarding genre greater realism and an appreciation for the audience that played those games. The natural and intuitive controls allowed those with no real-world skating abilities, to feel as close to riding a skateboard as they could without ever needing to do an ollie or kick flip. For skaters this game felt like a natural progression from board to game and respected the culture of skateboarding, by eliminating the ever increasing arcade feel and unrealism of the Tony Hawk franchise. Skate 2 showed that the developers were listening to fans when they provided players with the ability to not only get off the board but move obstacles in the world to create their own lines. Solid multiplayer further cements Skate as the king of this generation. Can Tony Hawk Ride dethrone the new king of skateboarding games? We shall see.
#3 Mass Effect
When the first person shooter genre collides with the Role Playing genre, the sci-fi space thriller known as Mass Effect is born. Bioware, creator of Knights of The Old Republic, created Mass Effect in the likeness of KOTOR. Considering that most of your character abilities, dialog speeches, and party members are all borrowed ideas from KOTOR, that’s not a surprise. Gamers follow Commander Shepard as the character uncovers a mystery on Eden Prime and battles the Geth. Mass Effect changes the way most people look at RPG’s and gives the First Person Shooter players something to gander at. Utilizing cover controls, a tight control system, and numerous biotic powers the game lets the player play the way they want. With a sequel on the way continuing the epic story, Mass Effect 2 might be the most anticipated game of the year.
#2 Bioshock
Every once in a while a game comes along that throws conventional wisdom aside and redefines what is expected from not only games within the same genre but from all games. Bioshock is that game. The moral questions that the player faces in the underwater city of Rapture create a great game and will make gamers question their own morality and values, as the decisions they make will stay with them long after playing. The story told is one of the best in video games and illustrates that there is an audience for a smart, well told plot attached to an engrossing first person shooter. Gameplay is the hallmark of Bioshock, allowing a multitude of options for creativity as the conventions of first person shooters are thrown on their ear. The abilities obtained within the city of Rapture provide many choices beyond those that can normally be found at the end of a gun.
The Little Sister and Big Daddy characters are now iconic after only one incarnation and their place in the pantheon of gaming will be cemented with the release of the second installment of this franchise. Bioshock is a game that contains moments that will be referenced for years to come by gamers. Bioshock 2 returns us to Rapture ten years after the events of the first game, giving the player the chance to play as the first Big Daddy. By changing your viewpoint to the Big Daddy, Bioshock 2 will once again make you question your own morality , illustrating that life is truly lived somewhere in the grey area.
#1 ROCK BAND
The revolution that took the music genre to the next level. After being brushed aside by Activision to consider other options, developer Harmonix took their skills from developing and creating Guitar Hero (yes, they did!) to the next logical step, a Rock Band. Very few games can boast bringing so many people together and not being a trivia or party game. Rock Band brought new innovations and ideas never before seen in a video game, namely weekly downloadable content and the ability to import songs from a previous Rock Band into the new Rock Band 2. Harmonix will forever be known as pioneers of the music genre and with the success of Rock Band, will always hold the top spot among all the pretenders and imitators. And acquiring the songbook of the Beatles as well as the innovation of harmonization with multiple singers in the next Rock Band just adds to their powerful repertoire. Name any other genre that has allowed hardcore and casual players to play together so harmoniously.
