It's still too early for me to decide what I could potentially perceive as "surprisingly good". I say surprisingly because if 2008 was any indication then it's that Nintendo has largely abandoned its long-standing franchises leaving long-time gamers like myself out in the cold with no umbrella to ward off the torrential downpour while developers for the 360 and PS3 seem to be content with making the grittiest, ugliest, bloodies, most naked shooting RTS sim on the market.
There are only two games I'm looking forward to this year: Guitar Hero Metallica and Miles Edgeworth: Perfect Prosecutor. Having played all of the Ace Attorney games and still feeling like the series can make up for its lack of overall good performance following the disappointment of AA3 and its failed attempt to inject new life into the franchise with the. Apollo Justice sequel, I'm looking forward to a potentially refreshing take on the franchise. Instead of thrusting you into the shoes of a newbie, no-name defense attorney who has a knack of solving cases and clearing his clients' names by magically pulling evidence out of his ass, I'll instead get to assume the role of his witty, stoic, sharp-dressed childhood friend who's attended law school and become the most esteemed attorney at the Prosecutor's Office. From the videos and trailers I've seen *insert behind-the-back sniggering here* it looks to be an interesting take on the text-adventure/pseudo-law sim I've grown familiar with and I look forward to seeing what kind of potential it has as a stand alone series.
Guitar Hero: Metallica, I confess, has potential to be one of my favorite games of the year with its hard-edged, cut-throat heavy metal soundtrack and featuring all of the additions from Guitar Hero World Tour minus the vocals. This means I'll only have to pay a third of the amount for World Tour's ticket price (assuming I don't buy the guitar + game bundle) but it's also because I love Metallica. Even at their worst, they've stuck to their guns and issued a series of critically panned yet not completely unsatisfying albums. Of course, having only heard samples from Load, Reload, and St. Anger and owning all of their first five albums it wouldn't be unfair to call me biased. So call me biased if you want, I'm going to buy Guitar Hero: Metallica and at least try to judge it fairly.
RO in my 360 - a proper simulation I'm told. But I'll wait and see, with anticipation. :-D
