Future Sleepers That Can't Be Ignored

Red Faction: Guerilla

We've all heard of games like God of War III, Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, inFamous, Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, Madden NFL 10, etc, etc, etc. Those games are getting plenty of hype and good press, so it's not necessary to focus on them here. Instead, here's a quick list of upcoming games that, due to competition, timing, and other factors, may end up being sleepers. But we say...don't sleep on 'em.

Red Faction: Guerilla

The good news is that inFamous will come out a little earlier than expected, which means Guerilla doesn't have to go head-to-head with it in the same week. However, we still think that too many people are going to pass on Red Faction in favor of Sucker Punch's excellent action title and while we're not about to argue, per se, we still want you to consider Guerilla. Really, this could end up being one of the most entertaining games of the year and it'd be a shame if you missed out. ...that freakin' Ostrich Hammer is enough to keep us interested.

Prototype

Again, possibly in the shadow of inFamous, but perhaps more importantly, not enough people have heard of it after its significant delay. Ironically enough, the premise is actually quite similar to that of inFamous; it involves a main character with plenty of amazing superhuman ability, and who doesn't want to play as a dude with so much power?! Based on everything we've seen, this could be yet another title that keeps everyone's attention but is swept under the rug due to other uncontrollable factors. Really, don't be surprised if this one turns out to be great.

Resonance of Fate

Known as End of Eternity in Japan, Sega has just announced that it will be known as Resonance of Fate in North America, and it'll arrive some time next spring. The debut trailer, despite lacking any gameplay, still looks promising, and the details we've received thus far are uber-promising. tri-Ace is a very competent RPG developer (although Star Ocean: The Last Hope was definitely a little flawed), and we wouldn't be surprised in the least to see it become a legitimate gem in the eyes of role-playing fanatics. Watch yourselves, Square-Enix...these guys are serious.

Katamari Forever

Hey! Don't you dare forget about this one! The franchise returns exclusively to the PlayStation platform - after straying to the Xbox 360 with Beautiful Katamari - and it's gonna be bigger and better than ever! Sure, the premise may sound silly (rolling up stuff...? Really?), but it's crazy fun; I've owned all three installments thus far and Forever is an instant Day 1 purchase for me. Just don't make Namco regret returning to the PS3, so all you curious consumers who may be unfamiliar need to give it a chance. I promise you: it's a guaranteed winner. It's hours of simple, addictive fun that won't let you down.

Dante's Inferno

Based on release estimates, this may have to battle God of War III, which could be deadly for EA. Not only is GoWIII a guaranteed massive blockbuster that will destroy any immediate competitors, but we've heard that Inferno is awfully similar in terms of format. However, who says we can't have two awesome games in the same genre launching near one another? Well, our wallets...but even so, keep a close eye on this one. EA has been wowing people lately and we'll be very interested to see how Inferno comes out. It may not be anything like Dante's classic story but then again, it really can't be (as anyone knows who read it).

There are others, of course, but these are the five that leap immediately to mind. :)

5/14/2009 Ben Dutka

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