GOONL!NE

Well, we’re almost there. Tomorrow is our No. 1 game? Made any guesses yet? It may become obvious to you when we reach No. 2 today. So lets get cracking.

2 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – Playstation 3 [Release Date = Thursday June 12th 2008]

NOW…I bet your surprised. Hey, this is the biggest game I am looking forward to but the list was put together by the team, not me. So in the end, MGS4 was never gonna be our no.1 but it doesnt mean by all means, you shouldnt look forward to this. This is THE game that will convince you to buy a PS3.

5 years after the Big Shell, 7 years after the Discovery tanker incident (Both Metal Gear Solid 2) and 9 years after Shadow Moses (Metal Gear Solid 1), this is it. This is the game that will finish off the Metal Gear Solid series once and for all.

Solid (or Old) Snake has aged…terribly due to the cloning process or Foxdie, that is not known yet but the world is overrun with PMC’s (Private Military Companies or Mercenaires to you and me) and the top 5 PMC’s seem to be run bya mother company…and that mother company is…Outer Heaven. Yip the same exact Outer Heaven that Big Boss tried to build in Zanzibar long before Metal Gear Solid for the PSX.

This time its been run by Liquid Snake (or rather, Liquid Ocelot) and your final mission…not approved by The White House, not approved by the U.N…is to kill Liquid.

As this is the final game in the series, this will mean that the whole entire cast that have stayed alive so far in the series will be back. So that means Meryl, Otacon, Colonel Campbell (Not AI this time, thank fuck), Naomi, Raiden, Vamp and even..EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3.

As well as characters, old Metal Gear’s from the past return as we are bound to be seeing a Metal Gear Rex vs Metal Gear Ray battle on Shadow Moses Island (Check near the end of the TGS 07 trailer) so could we even see the Shagohod…or even (hopefully too) Arsenal Gear return for MGS4? I hope so.

This is the game…quite frankly imo, should be No. 1 but it isnt. But come Thursday June 12th 2008 at 9:30am *traffic pending*, for an entire month, my social life is gone. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Online 2 will be my social life for the enitr month between June 12th and July 12th 2008.

Brace yourself folks, its here 3 months yesterday.

3 – Grand Theft Auto IV – Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 [Release Date = Tuesday April 29th 2008]

CONTROVERSIAL MOVE!!! GTA NOT NO. 1 OR NO. 2 :O

Oh shut up.

There are 2 other games that just are head and shoulders above it, but thats not to say GTA IV wont be a great game, it will. All the tantalising previews, all the screens, all the promo vids and trailers and the small to little amount of info released on the game has resulted in the most antcipated game of the century (Halo 3 does not count as being that) so far.

Niko Belic has been called to come to America by his cousin, Roman to live the American dream. If by American dream, you mean run down appartment, no hot-tub, no girls and all the shabang insted of girls, hot-tubs and drugs, that sounds about right for the American dream. Rockstar have said this isnt a story of rags to ritches like it was in GTA 3, Vice City or San Andreas.

Once again, just like GTA 3, you are bag in Liberty City, bigger and bolder then before. While not bigger then San Andreas, the city is said to be absoutely huge and will also give a new meaning to a free roam game.

Not much of the multiplayer has been confirmed except there is no online co-op, just there will be mutliplayer, it will be online and it will be 16 players and it can be accessed by the mobile phone you’ll have throughout the game.

People…mark April 29th in your date…its the day, not gaming, but the whole entertainment…and just maybe the world stands still.

4 – Gears of War 2 – Xbox 360 [Release Date Emergence Day = November 2008]

Emergence Day 2 is coming folks…and its touching ground big. Marcus Fenix is back in what is the Xbox 360′s killer app this year (and so far, it seems to be the only one, maybe except Fable 2). While nothing of the story has been confirmed, although it is heard in the trailer that if anything happens to Dom as in Dominic Santiago, Marcus’ friend and partner through the first Gears, he says look for Maria, Doms wife, the Locust will sure as hell be back for the 2nd one after seemingly seeing the horde getting destroyed in the 1st.

And were you one of the many millions of people who were annoyed in Single Player or Multiplayer when Locust/Xbox Live player’s chainsawed you and there was nothing you could do? Well, it now seems there will be chainsaw duels as seen in the trailer, so you can do something about it.

November cant come quick enough.

5 – Motorstorm 2 – Playstation 3 [Release Date = Fall 2008]

Just to point out, this was a last minute entry made last night by the team but it throughly deserves it. The trailer maybe CG but when the first Motorstorm was unveiled just under 3 years ago, that was CG as well and when the final product hit at the PS3 launch a year next week, it was very very close to what the final product looked like.

It will look awesome, but it will play awesome. 16 new tracks on a new island setting, 4 player split screen annnd…16 player online…up by 4 from 12. This game will absoutely be brillant, knowing how well the first one was and we can look forward to Autumn 2008.

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So Metal Gear Solid 4 or Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t No. 1, shock horror. So what is? Well tune in tomorrow as we give the games that never made the list that honorable mention…before crowning our No. 1 game.

I bet ya now I have you on tenderhooks like an episode of 24 or Lost…or maybe even Heroes…dont lie, I know you are.

In light of tonight’s unveilment of Motorstorm 2, I dedcided to hunt down our old beta site so I can re-post the Motorstorm review I did just last year. Motorstorm 1 was a great laugh (as you’ll see below) and I hope for one that it’s sequel will be better. Now of course, our review scoring was different back then last year so I had to change the score accordingly but it’s still got the score it got last year.

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Developer: Evolution Studios
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: March 23rd 2007
Also Out On: PlayStation 3 Exclusive

When people first saw the “pre-rendered” footage of Motorstorm, many were impressive but there was still the skeptical people who though the CGI wouldnt do it any good saying its “make-up” for the real verison of the game. But when the PS3′s original release date of November 17th came round, people were starting to get convinced of it’s true potential but still believed the game should recieve a delay by maybe a release for christmas. However…it HAD to be delayed because of the launch. Now of course Motorstorm launched at the Japanesse launch but at the loss of the online mode with Motorstorm. Americans had to wait till Februrary to get their hands on the game with an online mode. But whiel it was accepted very well with the American games media such as IGN and 1UP, the gamers themselves were still saying it was crap…but then nearly all of America are 360/Wii fanboys, no pun intended to Ryan.

When the European launch of Motorstorm came with the console, Europe was impressed with the game and though online and offline were brillant. The only downer was that you couldnt play with Americans who could afford $600 for a PS3. Although in a patch due for this month, along with Resistance, it looks like the game is going worldwide as far as online goes.

That said the game is absoutely supurb with great handling with the analogue stick or the SIXAXIS motion sensor, either way making the game a challenge offline. But when you go online, your challenge mulitplys…by X5. You’ll be playing with Euros for now but near the end of the month, you’ll be playing with the Americanos. But as far as online goes, it’s a bitch to challenge…but totally worth for the fun. Just one tip, dont use the motion sensor if your new to the game online. Other then that, you will enjoy the game online.

Graphics-wise………………………………………………………………………………is all I can say. Silence, because your mouth will not be able to say anything about the graphics because they are so good looking. Probably one of the best graphics about in a console game. There is great detail too in the levels about as well as the cars, bikes, ATVS, big rigs used in it. As well as that, if you crash, all bets are off. Your automobile will practiclly fall apart when it crashes.

The game sounds perfectly with authentic engine sounds for the cars/bikes looking brillant. But it’s the soundtrack of the game which sound brillant as the game is set in a music festival. Bands such as Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Kings of Leon and Primal Screem. But I dont listen to them lot. In fact I dont even listen to the soundrack except for one song, which is Lunatic Calm’s Leave Your Far Behind. But even still, it’s a good soundtrack worthy of the game.

While it does looks good on a Standard TV (Trust me, I’ve noticed), it looks stunning on a HDTV, especially the intro of the game which combines real footage with CGI and gameplay. It is brillant looking and while gamers had been hoping for the full 1080P experience, the 720P given in Motorstorm is a fair compromise. If you have a PS3, Motorstorm and HDTV, you will love the look of the game.

Overall, Motorstorm is a absoutely stomp popping game. Its really brillant and if and once you do get a PS3, if you only get 1 game, it should be this. The only downside…and it’s THE only downside is that there is no custom soundtracks. It was meant to be in the game at first but somehow they ditched it. Hopefully it will be added in a patch. So I’m going to take a point off the score for that there. But other then that, dont let it stop you from getting Motorstorm. Out of the 3 console launches of 360, Wii and PS3, Motorstorm is the bet launch title between the 3 of them, period. You see that Ryan? Period, you can argue with period!

Gameplay – HINT: Do not try the motion sensor online if your a newbie – 9.4/10
Graphics – Best. Graphics. Ever…for a launch game. End of story – 9.7/10
Sound – Authentic engine sounds and a great soundtrack is brillant, but no custom soundtracks…sad – 9.4/10
Online – Brillant. Absoutely brillant except a few laggs. But other then that, brillant – 9.6/10

Overall – It’s not only the best launch game for PS3, its one of the best launch games out of any of the current gen consoles – 9.5/10

Well, it was confirmed at last year Toyko Games Show just as Evolution Studios, developers of the game were bought by Sony. Now…the sequel is here. Motorstorm 2 is finally here. First off, it will move to a new location, a island setting, set in Hawaii if the rumors are true with the rock/trance trio, Pendulum set to be included in the soundtrack for the game with one of their songs included in the trailer, but we aint here about the music.

It confirms that the game will be taking place on an island but what about the gameplay? It’ll have 16 new Track Routes from that island, 4 Player offline multiplayer and heres the best part…16 player online!

Kick ass!

Tell ya what, I am going to dig up the review I did for the beta site last year and post it. In the mean time, enjoy the trailer below.

Well, we’re only halfway through our top 20 but you can be sure there are still no duds in this half like there wasn’t in the first half. Today, we look at 10 to 6, tomorrow being 5 to 2 and Friday being our final post in this list, giving some honorable mentions to games that never quite made it to the list before…crowning the No. 1. Lets get on with it.

6 – Ninja Gaiden 2 – Xbox 360 [Release Date = June 2008]

5 words to describe Ninja Gaiden 2. Blood, Guts, Swords, Graphics, Ryu.

Those words pretty much describe the game in itself. There will be blood (No pun to the movie intended), there will be guts flying about, swords been swung around, great looking graphics…and Ryu…is back.

And this time, there is more weapons, new features and plenty more gore that Jack Thompson will be off his high horse for GTA and will get on another one for NG2. And yes, this game will be just as hard as Ninja Gaiden 1 was for the Xbox or Sigma was for the Playstation 3.

7 – Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – Playstation 3 [Release Date = March 28th 2008]

They have all tried. Forza, PGR4 (Despite its arcade roots) and the others have tried…but none can come close to the realism that is Gran Turismo. OK, the yhave not had any damage in their games which brings it down a notch. But the fact that there will be a patch coming soon (hopefully) which enables damage to the game will mean that GT will have finally hit that realism with a bang.

Plus, with 16 player online, this is t he full GT online experience which has been looked for since the days of Gran Turismo 4 when there was online due to be in GT4 until it was canned near release. But with 16 player online…could be seeing possibly 32 players in Gran Turismo 5 itself? Only one can dream.

We will have the full review of the game when GT5: Prologue is released in a matter of weeks on March 28th.

8 – Killzone 2 – Playstation 3 [Release Date = November 2008]

OK OK…it was pre-rendered at E3 05, we all know that. But the fact that it has now gone into an alpha stage with gameplay been shown at last year’s GDC (behind closed doors), E3 and GC (both publiclly), you can bet that Killzone 2 will surely be alot better then its predicssor.

The game is set 2 years after the events of Killzone 1 with you taking the role Sev, part of a special force’s unit called “The Legion” with the game been set in the Helghast’s home planet of Helghan with most of the action it seems to be taking place in the capital, Pyrrhus. Catch the new E3 trailer and the full E3 demo (Not the montage blocking the gameplay, I mean the full demo…with a crappy phone XD) here. But as it is, Killzone 2 is shaping up to be the finest FPS this year.

9 – Portal 2 – PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 [Release Date = TBC]
OK, we havent a releae year for it confirmed yet, but if there isnt a Orange Box 2 this year, it will most likely be released on its own this year, which is very good news for Xbox Live Marketplace and the PS Store as most people thought it was a game which would be perfect for them rather then a disc, although if that happens, there could still be a disc verison of it for people with no internet.

Anyways, while nothing of the kind has been confirmed, Doug Lombardi of Valve said to Eurogamer recently that there would be “more” of Portal with “accidental” confirmation of Portal 2 coming from the recent GDC from Portal producer, Kim Swift.

This game was last year’s biggest hit (To hell with Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4!!!) in my opinion and was certainly innovitive. And we for one, cant wait for Portal 2 whenever it touches ground.

10 – Resident Evil 5 – Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 [Release Date = 2008?/2009]

OK, by default, this should be 2009 as Capcom have said it’ll most likely be 09 before we see this game. But if rumors are true, we could be getting it earlier before 09.

So, we’ll put it in here for now.

Anyways, the game was out of the woods for the first time in 2 years at E3 07 after its debut at X06 (The now defunct conference for Microsoft). You play as Chris Redfield, the main character from Resident Evil 1. RE5 is slated as being 10 years after Resident Evil 1 with setting Haiti apparently.

We hope that this can be just as great as Resident Evil 4, because it was just awesome for the PS2 and it proves that if Silent Hill wants the horror crown, it had better fight for it. Resident Evil 5 vs Silent Hill V = DING DING!

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Remember stay tuned tomorrow for our rundown of Gamzsone’s top 20 games from 5 to 2.

Well, throughout this week, Gamzsone will be giving its top 20 games of the year that we should all have for the systems, if its for the PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii, its here on this list. No DS or PSP games here (After all, this is a console blog), just nice graphics and great gameplay here.

The list will be from top to bottom (EXAMPLE: 16 at the top, 20 at the bottom etc etc) and will consist of 5 posts all this week.

Yesterday, we did 20 to 16. Today, we’ll be doing 15 to 11, Tomorrow, its 10 to 6, Thursday being 5 to 2 and on Friday, we’ll be giving honorable mentions…before crowning our No. 1 game of 2008.

So…do you think you may have the No 1 already…maybe. Just wait till Friday and see. So without further delay, lets get cracking.

11 – Metal Gear Online – Playstation 3 [Release Date = June 12th 2008]
OMG, SHOCKS HORRORS!!! MGO2 JUST BEFORE THE TOP 10!!! Yes yes, but its not exactly MGS4 now is it. But thats not to say, you will be dissapointed with MGO2 because trust me when I say this, you wont. 8×8 Multiplayer only stuff and a few maps from the first MGO back when it was bundled with Metal Gear Solid 3: Susbsitence will return.

This is only a “starter pack” as Konami and Kojima Productions have put it. Now thats caused some confusion as to what that means, wherever there will be the full MGO2 experience on a entirely different Blu-Ray or it’s basiclly that for the expansions and DLC.

Either way, one thing is for certain, when June 12th hits, the only thing you’ll be playing (Other then MGS4) will be Metal Gear Online 2. I for one cant wait, [PS] is back baby!!! OK, I’ll spare you all the [PS] stuff for another time

12 – Resistance 2 – Playstation 3 [Release Date = September 2008]
To say Resistance: Fall of Man was a great game would be wrong…but to say it was a bad game would also be wrong. Considering Resistance 1 was only a launch title which could have been more, it was a decent game. Single Player was good but annoying at times (Especially the narration during cutscenes) but its multiplayer was great. Balls to the walls, all weapons and unlimited ammo, 20×20 on Rooftops was absoutely brillant. Remember playing that the night I got my PS3…magic.

But now, Insommniac are up the ante…by making some massive changes. The first and biggest is that MP is now 60 people. Which means 30×30 should be awesome compared to 20×20 and with classes added such as Medic and all that (ala Team Fortress 2), it should make MP awesome.

The 2nd biggest change is that there will be two storylines. One involving the hero from Fall of Man, Nathan Hale which sees him join a black ops task force unit called ‘The Sentinels’ (Wont explain why, spoilers from RFOM involved) which will see him take on the infamous Chimera. This storyline is single player although it is possible to play 2 player co-op split screen in that. The 2nd storyline, while nothing has been shown of that yet, will run parallel to Nathan Hale’s story and here’s the smart bit, it’s co-op for 8 people online.

It shows that Resistance 2 has the potential to be one of the biggest games this year, not just for the PS3 but for gaming this year.

13 – Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Nintendo Wii [Release Date = TBA 2008, Out Now in the US]
If you want a game to buy a Wii for, this is most certainly it. When it was released on Sunday in America, there was problems with its discs but other then that, its been getting raving reviews.

Hopefully, Ryan will get off his high horse and stop striking about Goldeneye and hopefully give a review of the game when it is released but right now, this is only the real game thats tempting me to buying a Wii.

Lets just hope Nintendo announce a European date for the game very soon (Sorry Nintendo, the first two weeks of June doesnt cut it for me if your curious)

14 – inFamous – Playstation 3 [Release Date = TBC 2008]

Crackdown + City of Heroes X the developers of Sly Racoon = inFamous.

Its a game I have been looking forward to for a while since it was unveiled at E3 last year, would probably place it No. 8 in my most wanted games for the PS3 but for now it may do with No. 14 in this list.

Still, it has got elements of Crackdown as well as City of Heroes but here is the interesting part, you can be inFamous for either being a hero…or a anti-hero (Otherwise known as “be bad”) and that’s what has got me excited for this game.

It is not known if there is online for it, either a co-op multiplayer or a section of the game being a MMO but you can bet Sucker Punch, the devs behind inFamous and Sly Racoon, will include something somehow.

15 – Left4Dead – Xbox 360 & PC [Release Date = September 2008]

OK, a zombie game. Yeah, not exactly innovitive. But a zombie game with co-op, online or off certainly is.

If you want the reason why we aint hearing anything about Half Life 2: Episode Three right now, this is it. Valve are so far about 50% – 60% through development of the game with a September release projected. The game will be running on Valve’s Source engine, which all Valve’s games have been running on since Half Life 2.

Hopefully it’ll have the great graphics and suspense which Valve have been known for since Half Life 10 years ago. But for any PS3 owners out there who want, Valve have said there arent any plans for a Playstation 3 verison…but they havent ruled it out, so watch this space.

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Remember stay tuned tomorrow for our rundown of Gamzsone’s top 20 games from 10 to 6.

Well, throughout this week, Gamzsone will be giving its top 20 games of the year that we should all have for the systems, if its for the PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii, its here on this list. No DS or PSP games here (After all, this is a console blog), just nice graphics and great gameplay here.

The list will be from top to bottom (16 at the top, 20 at the bottom)and will consist of 5 posts all this week.

Today, we do 20 to 16. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing 15 to 11, Wednesday, its 10 to 6, Thursday being 5 to 2 and on Friday, we’ll be giving honorable mentions…before crowning our No. 1 game of 2008.

So…do you think you may have the No 1 already…maybe. Just wait till Friday and see. So without further delay, lets get cracking.

16 – Half Life 2: Episode Three – P.C, Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 [Release Date = Late 2008]

Nothing yet has been confirmed for Half Life 2: Episode Three with Doug Lombardi of Valve saying to Eurogamer recently that it could be a while before we hear anything of the game. But what we can assume is that Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, after the events of Episode Two, will be heading to the Borielis for this adventure with Valve hinting at some pretty big stuff for this, the end of the 3 episode arc and thus closing the Half Life 2 story arc but Valve have said that Half Life wont end at Episode Three.

Plus, we may be getting hints at a 2nd Orange Box for the PC and consoles if the GTTV episode at Valve was anything with the previous Orange Box added plus Episode Three, Portal 2 and maybe…just maybe a Counter Strike 2 on the way.

For now, we may hope that Valve does something soon and show us something at E3 at the latest.

17 – Silent Hill V – Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 [Release Date = September 2008]

It would have been a bit higher up the list, hadnt I would be so skeptical after the last game. The game has now been handed over to the Americans over at Konami after the Japanese made a cock-up oof a game with Silent Hill 4: The Room.

You play as Alex Shepard, who is a war vet coming home after a 4 year tour of duty around the world, only to discover that his brother and father are missing with his mother having mental issues. After looking in his hometown of Shepards Glen, he eventually ends up in…yes, Silent Hill.

But dont worry, you have help in a female supporting role in Elle, who is said to be playable but as of yet, Konami has neither confirmed or denied it. So far, the only confirmed enemies are the nurses and a new set of enemies called the “Slam” as well as Schism and Smog.

If it’ll face up to Resident Evil 5 for the horror crown, we dont know yet but so far, this looks set to be giving us a few more nightmares at night. Whereever it’ll be as good as Silent Hill 2 or Silent Hill 3 (The best in the series IMO) remains to be seen but just as long as its great and better then SH4, that’ll do.

18 – Halo Wars – Xbox 360 [Release Date = TBC 2008]

I’ll admit, I ain’t really a fan of RTS games but if Ensemble Games and Bungie work together well, this could be a must buy for you and me. The game takes place just before the first Halo, Halo 1 for the Xbox. You control the crew of CFV-88 Spirit of Fire with your instructions coming from A.I. Serina.

For now, I’ll stand by from the sides and see if its a must-buy but the signs seem to be encouraging.

19 – Eight Days – Playstation 3 [Release Date = Fall 2008]

Not much has been heard of the game since its unveiling at E3 2006. But recently at GDC, it’s been said that there was new info at the game plus a new trailer which shows a arms deal going down in Colorado before in a mysterious way, the gun dealer most likely commits suicide (Its shown in the trailer that he raises his gun to the head before fading to black, thus the suicide theory) but the trailer was shown behind doors, thus a theory that it could be properly unveiled at this year’s E3 in July (Killzone 2 was the same, a new trailer shown behind closed doors at GDC 07 and unveiled at E3 2007)

Still, if all this tasty new info is true, it warrants the 19 spot.

20 – Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo Wii [Release Date = April 11th 2008]

To say Mario Kart is a part of a group games for the Wii which would make it the excuse why you bought a Wii…is true. But Mario Kart seems to be one of the many games why you bought a Wii, featuring up to 8 player battles and 12 player races online. It will also ship with a Wii steering wheel where you place the Wiimote into the wheel’s centre housing it.

Mario Kart is looking great and we’ll hopefully have a full review for it at release.

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Remember stay tuned tomorrow for our rundown of Gamzsone’s top 20 games from 15 to 11.

Hey guys, just to point you in the right direction for this year, all next week I’ll be publishing a list of the biggest 20 games of the year with…

Monday – 20 to 16
Tuesday – 15 to 11
Wednesday – 10 to 6
Thursday – 5 to 2
Friday – Honorable Mentions and No 1

Stay tuned all next week to find out what the no. 1 game of this year is gonna be.