Each member of the CVG team picks one game that he's personally looking forward to in the year ahead. These are the games we'd actually buy with our own money! Yes, we want them that much.
If you could only play one game this year, what would it be? What's the one game that you cannot wait to play because you know it'll be incredible, even though you haven't played it yet?
Over the last week we've been asking each other the question and below are our personal favourites. Laugh, mock, ridicule but these are the games that keep us interested in, err... games! Have a read and post your ONE game in the comments section below and tell us (and the world wide web) why it tickles your fancy so much.
Total Annihilation revolutionised the RTS genre. From introducing features such as build queuing, waypoints and line-of-sight - all now a must for any modern-day strategy titles - to the way the game has lived on, and still continues to occupy a folder on my hard drive nearly ten years after its original release.
A steady stream of community-created units, maps and total conversions means TA today remains as playable as it was all those years ago. If Chris Taylor can pull off even half as much with Supreme Commander, TA's spiritual successor, I may not buy another RTS for several years to come. Bring on the giant robots on February 16 - I can't f**king wait!
What? Lord of The Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (PC) Who? John Houlihan - Editor: Development
I've never really been bitten by the WoW bug, but have always been a big MMO fan, and having played quite a bit of the closed beta for LOTRO (Nobby 14th level Elf hunter, since you ask) I can see this becoming a major consumer of many an idle hour when it gets a full launch this April.
The game looks absolutely superb; a splendid realisation of JRR Tolkien's fantasy world and even in beta, there's some intriguing and quite unique MMO features which keep me playing every lunchtime. The Monster play is excellent (watch out for Gutrot the Urak Hai) and although it's very beardy, I'll be sitting back, cracking a bowl of pipeweed and looking forward to losing myself in epic War of the Ring world events, instances and battles. You can join me next week with our 25k beta key giveaway.
Bring back online 360 deathmatch Halo style! I've only just managed to knock by Halo 2 addiction on the head after being able to play the game with my eyes shut for the last year. Now I need to see new maps, weapons and game modes.
It'll also be interesting to see if Bungie can rights its wrongs in the single player department too. This is Bungie's Xbox 360 debut and it needs to live up to ALL the hype the developer has created with its constant drip feed of updates. Time will tell, but I'm banking on a rock-solid online multiplayer experience.
What? Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC) Who? Stuart Bishop - Deputy Editor
Games Workshop's rich and colourful Warhammer fantasy universe coupled with the MMOG development experience of Mythic Entertainment? Oh yes, it's enough to make this former Warhammer tabletop player break out in a heavy sweat in anticipation for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
The developer's decision to focus heavily on player versus player gameplay - or Realm versus Realm as Mythic names it, which it invented in its MMOPRG Dark Age of Camelot - is seriously appealing and Mythic is cleverly incorporating character progression into the PvP action. Intense, glorious battles between rampaging hordes, city sieges, funny little goblins - it sounds fantastic and I for one can't wait.
What? Mass Effect (Xbox 360) Who? Andy Robinson - Xbox Channel Editor
BioWare's next great RPG has been at the top of our most wanted list ever since we got a glimpse of its gorgeous "digital actors" mid-performance at last year's E3 (RIP).
And it's not just pretty either - Mass Effect promises an endless amount of worlds to explore and an intricate combat system with extensive weapon customisation. BioWare's deepest character interaction yet is on the cards and it has a plot that will potentially span three whole games as well as downloadable episodes bridging the sequels.
When you take into account that this is the studio that brought us the brilliant Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate among many others - some of the greatest role-playing games of recent years - it's pretty clear that Mass Effect has a good chance of turning out to be the most stunning game of 2007.
What?Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) Who? Mike Jackson - Nintendo Channel Editor
Super Mario Galaxy is so much more than just another Mario game. It's the game that will redeem Mario's 3D platforming career after what I (and many Mario fans) thought was a disappointing turnout in Super Mario Sunshine.
It's the game that will prove what the Wii is capable of, not just gameplay-wise but graphically - the bump-mapped textures, lighting and draw distances look fantastic. And finally it looks like the game that will take Mario back to his old-school principles - platforming. It's going to set new standards for innovation, and for Wii gaming in general, mark my words...
What? Pippa Funnell 3: The Golden Stirrup Challenge (PC) Who? Andrew Taylor - Technical Assistant
I was torn between the horse sim and White Van Racer 2 for sometime now but my real passion has been horse riding from an early age. Pippa Funnell is a personal hero of mine, I'm flabbergasted by the confident way she controls the big horsey. I aspire to be that confident on horseback, you know. I'm really looking forward to taking care of an adorable foal, for the first time too. The thing that tipped it for me was Play.com review. Here it is in full: "Featuring Pippa Funnell!" I don't know about you, but that tells me everything I need to know. I can't wait.
Don't be shy. Hit the comments section below and get talking.
