Left 4 Dead
Developer: Valve
Publisher: EA
Release Date: November 4
Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360
The zombpocalypse is coming, and the dead are fast on their feet. Valve's action-horror tribute to zombie movies is a unique game built for four-player co-op, where, as survivors of a worldwide plague, your goal is simply to survive and make it to the end of each scenario. The game's hallmark is continual and Zerg-like rushes of zombies from all angles, made all the more complicated by tight spaces and the danger of friendly fire (stop shooting your teammates!) as well as several "boss" zombies with special abilities, whose random appearances can take a bad situation and make it much, much worse.
In addition to four people playing together against computer AI, it's possible for smaller numbers of people to play together, with bots filling the roles of the remaining survivors. A multiplayer mode will also allow humans to step into the mutated forms of the boss Infected and set up devious traps for incoming humans. It's a rare unique twist on multiplayer shooters that we haven't seen before, and we can't wait for that first wave of zombies to round the corner.
Call of Duty: World at War
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 11
Platform(s): PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
If you're a regular reader here, you know that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was GameSpy's Game of the Year for 2007. That gives Call of Duty: World at War, developed by Treyarch, some mighty big shoes to fill. But from what we've seen so far, World at War, using the same engine, looks like it might be up to the challenge.
This time around the series once again moves back to World War II, with a large chunk of the action on the Pacific campaign. The minute-to-minute gameplay looks pretty tense, with Japanese soldiers often lying in wait to ambush your squad (as with all the CoD games, you're rarely alone). A new flamethrower has been added to your arsenal, giving you the ability to clear jungle foliage and flush out potential enemies as well as set fire to certain buildings. For the first time a cooperative mode will play a major role, allowing you and a buddy to progress through the campaign together, and the XP-based multiplayer of CoD4 will also return with new maps, modes and vehicles. Come this November, we'll be more than ready.
Mirror's Edge
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA
Release Date: November 11
Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360
With Mirror's Edge, DICE is trying to make the act of getting from here to there much more personal, trading in the usual arsenal of first-person shooters and replacing it with Assassin's Creed-style athletic dynamism. Consider yourself warned: This isn't for those with weak stomachs.
Protagonist Faith is a courier who specializes in delivering contraband information in an authoritarian society using only the power of her body. While her trade was previously tolerated, the city's police force has recently begun shooting to kill. Luckily, Faith is at the top of her game; she'll trapeze, wall-run, and pole-swing out of the clutches of the law, stopping only occasionally to pop off some shots and theatrically disarm whoever gets in her way. A robust control scheme enables it all, and the game's look is as striking as the action.
DICE is keeping the particulars of the story close to its chest, but even based on what little we've seen, Mirror's Edge is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing releases of the year.
Prince of Persia
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 11
Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360
After the successful revival of the Prince of Persia franchise, Ubisoft could have just sat back and cranked out sequels until the Sands of Time ran out. Instead it decided to reboot the series with a new Prince, a new storyline, a beautiful new art style and some exciting new gameplay options. The Prince is now a wandering thief who gets caught in a sandstorm and deposited in a mysterious garden where the Tree of Life is being destroyed by an evil spirit named Ahriman. It's up to the Prince and his new companion, an enigmatic girl named Elika, to defeat Ahriman and restore the garden.
The character of Elika is no mere story prop; she'll actually be travelling with the Prince on his adventures as a computer-controlled companion. Players will have to work with Elika and use her magical powers at certain times in order to reach unreachable places and solve the environmental puzzles that are a hallmark of the series. The world itself is a much more open, less linear affair and the whole thing is rendered in a beautiful pseudo-watercolor style. If Ubisoft Montreal can equal or surpass its previous efforts in the series, this Prince will find us some very willing courtiers.
