Games to Watch in 2008

Something New

Invention – in technology, it’s pretty much the name of the game and key to success. While some developers are content to produce infinite sequels there are others who are simply unable to rest with the current status quo of game design.

Forever on the move, these developers are constantly innovating, crafting and engineering new ways to play. They are repeatedly going bust with flops that don’t take off, occasionally striking into the big leagues with games like Portal. The Warren Spectors and Looking Glass Studios of the world.

New, successful and interesting IPs are often bewilderingly rare in the computer games business as they can all too easily be drowned out in swathes of Resident Evil re-runs and Peggle clones. 2007 was a bumper year for new franchises, but that doesn’t mean that 2008 is going to come up short – as proved by our list of new games for 2008…

Brutal Legend

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release Date: Unconfirmed, 2008

If you take the hyperbolish introduction above at face value then the lead designer of Brutal Legend fits the bill perfectly. Tim Schafer, Lucasarts alum and creator of both Psychonauts and Grim Fandango, Tim is a visionary with an imagination so colourful you’d need sunglasses just to glance at it for a second. Brutal Legend is the next game from the lead designer of Full Throttle and ties into similar biker-rock themes, though this time even more overtly and comically.

The best bit; he apparently came up with the idea for the game when he was working on the classic The Secret of Monkey Island. Instantly, heavy metal games are credible.

Players take the role of Eddie Rigs, a Heavy Metal roadie who is sucked into a alternate history populated by demons and Nordic myths after he gets blood on his cursed belt-buckle. Eddie finds that this alternate world is a grim one where humans are given a choice – be enslaved by the Rock Demons or serve them as twisted, Emo Goth priests.

Soon enough, Eddie grabs an axe, dons some leather and sets out on a massive hack and slash, action-adventure epic to save the world and the woman he loves from the evil Lord Dolivicus. With a boatload of voice talent on board, including Jack Black, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio and Lemmy Kilmister, Brutal Legend could be the definitive comedy action for 2008.

Alan Wake

Platform: PC (Vista only), Xbox 360
Release Date: Unconfirmed, 2008

Instantly, you know Alan Wake is a game developed by Remedy Entertainment because they always name the game after the main character and they always give the character a stupid name. Max Payne? A. Wake? Tsk.

Semi-lame naming traditions aside, Alan Wake could be awesome. Billed as a psychological action thriller, the game looks to be as cinematic as they come and has a story which is suitably complex, but also predictable. An author whose wife has gone missing, Alan is an insomniac on the edge of a breakdown.

Alan goes to Bright Falls in order to rest, recuperate and relax. He calms down, starts writing again. This time though, his writing starts becoming reality and when night falls Alan has to survive in a monster-filled ghost town with only a torch and a pistol.

What makes the game interesting though is that function of the torch and the pistol are often reversed – during the daytime the pistol is your best weapon and the torch is a bludgeon/tool at best. As soon as the night falls things change though and Alan's personal demons creep out of the woodwork, invulnerable to everything except light. Suddenly, the pistol is useless and your only weapon is running on limited battery power.

Playing as a fusion of Pitch Black and GTA, Alan Wake could be the best reason yet to buy Vista – to which the PC version is exclusive.

Indiana Jones 2007

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PSP
Release Date: Unconfirmed, 2008

Indiana Jones will be returning next year, big time. Not only is the new film, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull set for a release at the end of May, but the mysterious video game should also see a release this year, along with Lego Indy.

Pretty much nothing is known about the plot other than that it will be set in 1939 and make extensive use of a new animation engine, called Euphoria. The Euphoria engine works closely with the graphics engine, called Ronin, and means that no two character animations should ever be alike as NPCs try to maintain a set of prioritised stances.

To showcase the capabilities of the engine, the game will feature an extensive melee combat side and use a lot of classic Indy set pieces and chase sequences – get set for fistfights on careering cable cars and elephant chases set in the lush jungle!

Word in the industry is that the game is an original title which won't tie-in to the new film, Crystal Skull, or draw from any of the existing films or spin-offs. Whether that means it'll be as bad as Indiana Jones and The Infernal Machine remains to be seen, but early reports suggest that this could be the best Indy game yet. In fact, the only problem at the moment seems to be that the game will have to compete against the assuredly awesome Lego Indy.