Looking Ahead in 2010

The past month or so, gaming-wise, has had my brain locked in an RPG dominate state. And really, if you are a fan of RPGs, how could your mind be anything but? I mean with Dragon Age at the end of last year and with Mass Effect 2 in January and Final Fantasy XIII in March, I can't seem to look at other games right now. I am just intent on saving the galaxy, destroying hordes of monsters and just leveling up like a mad man!

But yes, life must go on and it continues beyond that next level or piece of gear. While the journeys are usually fun and memorable and the characters feel like old friends by the end of that 60+ hour odyssey, the fight just can't last forever.

It just can't! I mean surely you could just keep replaying the same game over and over and over again. But there life is too short for that and I don't imagine that sort of living is too healthy for neither your mind or your body. Besides that, good games are springing up left and right these days! Unless of course, you own a Wii....

Har... har... har...

Then again, the games that have caught my attention recently are not, by any means, must-buys in my book. At least not a good portion of them (Final Fantasy XIII is LIFE... don't judge me). Take for example, the game called Heavy Rain.

I've been reading what people are saying and I have kept on eye on this for a little while now. Am I interested in it? Surely. It does sound promising with the amount of freedom to chose how you interact with everything that happens around the character.

But at the same time, I can't help but be wary about a game like this because it feels like it is hyped up to be so many great things. It reminds me a lot of the original Fable, which was hyped up to be a godsend of a game that would change the face of the universe as we know it. And failed.

For me personally, the make or break on this deal is how the demo for this game plays out (the demo is set to be released on February 11th on PSN). That will decide if I should bother to buy it now or save it for sometime down the road.

Hey, hey! I saw some interesting news about a previous double delayed RPG, Alpha Protocol! Great news game fans! It got delayed... again! I read something about the developers wanted to add more polish? What the hell is this, a car or a video game? Seriously though, With the number of delays and amount of "polish" this game is getting, it damn well better blow away games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

Pictured up top (with that huge guy *Current UFC Heavy Weight Champion, Brock Lesner* punching the inside of the game case) is UFC Undisputed 2010.

My hope is that this game will manage to make the fights a bit more playable and at least a little easier to learn the ground game. Last time around I spent my character's entire UFC career just throwing a ton of head kicks to take out everyone that stood before me.

What I am hoping for here is maybe a little more unpredictablity in the career mode. As for the game itself, what else can really be done? I mean they can't throw in other match types (it ain't pro wrestling!) and... and it will be something to see if THQ can keep things fresh with this new iteration. Besides, I believe they have to bring their A-game as EA has their own MMA video game in the works too.

Ah, Final Fantasy XIII... the only question I have on my mind that has lingred for some time now is this: Will there be a US release for that spiffy collector's edition? And if not, WHY?! Why no love for us folks in the States? What have we done that deems us unworthy of throwing more money at a bunch of extra stuff that we may never use for anything besides collecting dust?

Deja vu? I feel like I've wrote about that one before... hmm....

Lastly, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4! Wow. Just watching that quick promo video on the game's site brought back a lot of memories for me of when I was a kid. Yeah, just like those old school Mario games, Sonic also helped me develop my rage as a gamer and there were times when that controller learned to fly man!

Wait, am I really interested in this game? Besides it going back to it's roots and dumping the cast of about a half million other animals, do I want to go back to my angry childhood? Considering the fact that game controllers cost about as much as a game these days, smart money says.... maybe?

I just hope it plays well without having to resort to a bunch of weird crap like the last many of Sonic's games have featured. Just let the hedgehog run free damnit! Let him blaze so fast across the screen that it can't even keep up with 'em!

Ah, the good old days playing through levels as Super Sonic...