Well it better be. Man, 2008 was a rush huh? Great and crap shooters alike came out in fury along the Spring and Fall periods like a flow of cresting waves. But that was 2008 with its Far Cry 2, Fallout 3(counts as a shooter to me), Left 4 Dead, and whatever else that blew our minds. This is officially 2009 and let us go with optimism and consider the next line of shooters -along with more posts. Later we can review the awesome line of 2008 games.

PC: Battlefield: Heroes, Borderlands, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Shellshock 2, Wolfenstein, RAGE.

PS3: Chronicles of Riddick, Medal of Honor: Operation Anaconda, Killzone 2.

Wii: The Conduit, House of the Dead: Overkill.

XBOX360: Call of Duty 6, Section 8, Bioshock 2, Dogtag, Dead Island.

Good, not many shooters may be coming out this time around. Which is very disturbing. At least the market is not going to be “oversaturated” as the econs would usually about FPS releases. Well I could see some of these titles possibly not meeting the standards of gamers and some hopefully blowing some minds. Other than that it will be the year of Killzone 2 making the PS3 the formidable console it should have been earlier. A year where id Software will take the next leap as it did earlier with the Quake engine evolve the genre. A year where the Wii will see its first “core audience” targeted shooter.

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After a much uncalled for hiatus for the summer, We three breathe again into our layman take on the FPS genre. Now here are some rather promising titles heading up these school shackled weeks. A number are well acclaimed series and some may risk becoming the next Blacksite, or Conflict. This is kind of in chronological order but whatever:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky (September 15): I think they were being ironic with “clear sky”. PC.

Crysis Warhead (September 16): A much more…”psychotic” episode 2. PC.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (October 7): Hope this tactical shooter will refresh the genre. PC.

Far Cry 2 (October 21): Beef up the rig for this arm-dislocating, warlord-hunting, survival shooter. PC.

Legendary (November 4): Unfortunately this may go down the “Blacksite” path. X360

Mirror’s Edge (November 11): Not much shooting. But a lot of leaping. Plus hot East Asian woman.

Call of Duty 5 (November 11): World at War: The Pacific theatre andCO-OP campaign makes this a buy. X360.

Left 4 Dead (November 20): The ridiculously lauded fast-zombie CO-OP fest.

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Why not celebrate the first of many posts then discuss the most potential or promising franchises of First-Person Shooter releases? Hey, less effort on my lazy-arse. In no particular order of badassness or importance this entry is will lay out the original(or nearly original) releases of 2006 and 2007. Note that this is a fairly amateur entry so some recipients can be arguable so don’t be predictable with the playerhatin’. Because we here possess the love for all of the FPS’ god’s creatures of gaming-even freaking Daikatana- I even beat that game when I was like, ten. Heres a tribute to the successors of Halo, Half-Life, and Battlefield.

1: Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

No favoritism or anything but this the first title that came to mind upon this writing. It could possibly be the intriguing premise of a rather messed-up alternate history surrounding what would have became World War II. In short, WWI ended abruptly and as result a more unified Europe was recreated, Einstein begins to make several discoveries and advancements in modern technology, Germany’s Weimar Republic prospers with no Adolf or Socialist party in sight, and America didn’t hassle through the Great Depression. Everything seemed pretty tight…except for Russia. Even though the Marxist rebellion was exterminated by the Czarist monarchy a decades old evil from another planet in the form of the Chimera ravages the rest of Europe from the Siberian epicentre. A solid story like this is grounds for a chain of comics, novellas, and subsequent sequels. Panic on the streets of London indeed Senior Morrissey.

2. Bioshock (XBOX360)

This may not seem extremely original considering it is the spiritual sequel to the renowned SystemShock series of yesteryear but it is sure one hell of a superb first impression. Aside from the irritating lag issues this can be considered the pinnacle of the Science Fiction and Historical Adventure First-Person Shooter With the Occasional Survival-Horror Elements subgenre if not FPS’ overall. Like the above entry, its presentation of a terrifying alternate history is vivid and immersive with an equally immersive gameplay repertoire stressing creative use and consideration of one’s environment with the conjunction of weapons and the spell-like plasmids.

NOTE: The XBOX360 version is presented because we own crap-ass PCs that could run Age of Empires III at best. But hey thats one fun RTS.

3. Haze (PS3)

Coming out just in time for Thanksgiving, Haze’s not-so-original premise is still badass enough to be in our library. Well at least its a little more straightforward than the prior two entries: A dystopian future ran by corporations and their respective PMC supersoldier legions in the cliche police states. One particular company, Mantel, develops a supplement called ADAM- my bad, NECTAR. Its basically a drug that stimulates the already faceless judicial cops to be more deadly though much more thoughtless. As such one Sergeant is ambushed by rebel forces which leads to the severance of NECTAR flowing into his system thus ceasing the brainwash and landing him as a rogue who sides with the rebels. Sounds like an 80′s film but that makes it all the more badass. The game’s not out yet but seems promising.

4. The Darkness (XBOX360)

This may have received mixed reactions but on our account this game is smooth like fudge. Considering its already rich mythos of the Top Cow comic series and the brooding influence of the development team behind the Chronicles of Riddick. This melancholy cross between the elements of Horror and Crime spawns a surprisingly beautiful game where ambiance is key. As a disowned Mafia hitman in the shadowy slums of NYC, demonic influences possess the player. Though it may sound “glass-half empty” the player can take on hordes of traitorous mafia brothers with the creative use of minions and consuming the shadows. So considering the the subtle ending and the multitude of stories the hitman experiences in later books along with the powers he discovers this is a straight up no-brainer.

5. Clive Barker’s Jericho (PS3)

We were more surprised than disappointed at Clive Barker’s Undying inability to achieve franchise success but this title shows promise. With a plotline reminiscent of last-gen’s horror-western Darkwatch. A black-operations unit born out of the U.S Army’s Chaplain unit during WWII deploy themselves into a near literal hell on earth with God’s retarded firstborn as the POI. Not only that but the unit travels through fragments of time under the command of their ghostly Captain so tactical gameplay is involved. Oh and the environments are extremely bloody at times.

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