
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Why It's Hot:
What do you get when you combine Square-Enix's unique brand of Japanese role-playing with Disney's iconic locations and characters? You get another massive hit, that's what. Already enjoying great reviews and sales in Japan, this prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts game introduces new gameplay, new characters, and a new reason for Disney fans to dust off the PSP.
Why It's Not:
Just because it's got Mickey doesn’t mean it's accessible. Birth by Sleep is still very much a Kingdom Hearts game; if you don’t dig the nuts and bolts of Japanese RPGs, you're going to have a hard time getting into it.
Halo: Reach
Think one Master Chief is cool? Imagine, like six of them. That's Halo: Reach in a nutshell. Taking place before the events in the very first Halo
game, Reach looks to go big by giving Halo fans loads of goodies, from awesome abilities (jetpacks!) to a virtual smorgasbord of multiplayer modes. If the success of the game's beta is any indication, this is bound be another major video game event.
Why It's Not:
Um, didn’t we finish the fight a fewyears ago? Between last year's ODST, the strategy game Halo Wars and now Reach, the property is in danger ofbeing overexposed.
Mafia II
Why It's Hot:Think
Grand Theft Auto in the 1950s and you've got the flavor. Mafia II puts more of an emphasis on realism: the unwieldy cars and guns of the era handle as they should, and shootouts, while copious, won’t just erupt all over the place. It's been in development for several years now, featuring a 700-page script and over 10 square miles of city to explore. Forget those mediocre Godfather games --this is the Don you've been waiting for.
Grand Theft Auto in the 1950s and you've got the flavor. Mafia II puts more of an emphasis on realism: the unwieldy cars and guns of the era handle as they should, and shootouts, while copious, won’t just erupt all over the place. It's been in development for several years now, featuring a 700-page script and over 10 square miles of city to explore. Forget those mediocre Godfather games --this is the Don you've been waiting for.