With nearly a full year of of game releases ahead, Gamasutra is picking out noteworthy titles due in 2009 for each home and handheld platform, this time for the PlayStation 3.
While lacking hardware sales and its resulting third-place standing in current generation console marketshare has many comparing the PlayStation 3 to the unfortunate GameCube, the PS3 hasn’t experienced the diminished third-party software support that Nintendo’s purple system suffered.
We’ve collected the most anticipated titles from the PlayStation 3’s 2009 slate, previewing 15 in all, from multiplatform MMO games like The Agency to exclusive downloadable titles like Flower.
Bayonetta (also coming to Xbox 360)
Release Date: September 1st
Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Sega
Though there are still a lot of details yet to be released for Bayonetta, expectations are understandably high seeing as Hideki Kamiya, the director behind Capcom’s Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe series, is heading the project.
The action game’s eponymous witch protagonist packs two sets of pistols — one pair attached to her high heels — which she uses to dispatch monsters disguised as angels. Along with her bullet-heavy attacks, she can also perform magical strikes with her hair.
Borderlands (also coming to Xbox 360, PC)
Release Date: 2009
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Inspired by the Mad Max films and Blizzard’s Diablo games, Borderlands is a four-player cooperative first-person shooter with RPG elements. Three playable and customizable characters are available, each with their own skill trees, accessories, and back stories.
Players ride in customizable vehicles and explore a lawless, desolate planet filled with randomly generated areas and items (500,000+ weapons, 500,000+ items and armor variations), in search of a vault promising alien technology and secrets.
Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer
Release Date: No date announced
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Described by writer and director David Cage as a “dark film noir thriller with mature themes” Heavy Rain has players controlling four characters and investigating a series of appalling murders. Unlike Quantic Dream’s previous releases (Farenheit, Omikron series), the game does not feature any supernatural elements.
Heavy Rain is designed to provide a “bendable” story in which dialogue choices, interaction with characters, and moral decisions can take the player through different interlocking stories that approach “[adult] subject matter and themes rarely touched upon in video games.”
Release Date: February 27th
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Killzone 2 takes gamers to Helghan, the home world of the first-person shooter series’ gas-mask wearing antagonists, the Helghast. Along with their squad of Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) soldiers, players go behind enemy lines, fighting the Helghast and their hazard-filled planet during the ISA’s invasion.
The game’s class-based online multiplayer mode allows players to pick two ability sets from a batch of six to best accommodate their playing style or their squad’s needs. 32 gamers can join in for a multiplayer online match, with up to four players per squad (two squads can also form a group together).
Resident Evil 5 (also coming to Xbox 360)
Release Date: March 13th
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
With almost four years past since the acclaimed Resident Evil 4 debuted on the GameCube, Chris Redfield, one of the heroes in the original Resident Evil, returns in the latest entry to the series, now a Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance officer investigating a zombie outbreak in Africa.
Redfield is accompanied by Sheva Alomar, a BSAA member who provides ammo and support. Their cooperative dynamic continues with online and offline multiplayer co-op modes.
Street Fighter IV (also coming to PC, Xbox 360)
Release Date: February 17th
Developer: Capcom, Dimps
Publisher: Capcom
Almost ten years since this fighting franchise’s last numbered release, Street Fighter returns with all twelve characters from the classic Street Fighter II along with eight new playable characters, several of which were unavailable in the game’s Japanese arcade release.
Presented in 3D with an ink-like, seemingly hand-drawn visual style, SFIV features simplified, more approachable controls, but also introduces Focus Attacks, a new counter attack system for Street Fighter veterans, and Ultra Combos, a series of cinematic moves that players can execute after getting hit and filling up their “Revenge Gauge.”
Release Date: Fourth quarter
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Nathan Drake is on another treasure hunting quest, hoping to uncover mysteries behind 13th century explorer Marco Polo and his lost ships. Drake is specifically seeking a crystal said to grant its holder a wish. He’s accompanied by a new character named Chloe Frazer, who is voiced by Stargate SG-1 actress Claudia Black.
This (pictured) sequel to the 2007 action-adventure games adds stealth action segments, free climbing over walls, and the ability to flip over objects to use as cover when under enemy fire.
SOURCE: Gamasutra
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