My top 10 most anticipated games of 2018
1. Burnout Paradise Remastered
I already pre-ordered it on the PlayStation store this will be the 3rd time I've bought Burnout Paradise and will be the 3rd time I will complete it and I just can't get enough of it. The beautiful destruction, the deafening engine sound once you hit the boost, the incredible and fluent online, the addicting Road Rage races, the barrel roles and the amazing sense of speed. This game is a damn classic from the 7th generation and I'm so happy it's getting another chance to shine.
2. ONRUSH
If you're a fan of the the Motorstorm franchise then you'll already know that the developing company of those games, Evolution Studios have been shutdown by Sony. Which means the Motorstorm franchise is dead, right? Sadly yes- but! Don't be sad for too long because Codemasters have acquired everybody from Evolution Studios and they're developing a 'spiritual successor' of Motorstorm called, ONRUSH. I am excited for this. ONRUSH looks just as chaotic and destructive as Motorstorm and with the lack of true arcade racers in the market that's been missing in the 8th generation ONRUSH looks to be a special experience.
3. The Crew 2
I was unfortunately disappointed with The Crew. The driving felt sluggish, the graphics weren't up to par and the story wasn't good. Whilst many gamers abandoned The Crew upon launch week many others have stuck with it and Ivory Tower have improved on most of those aspects with The Crew: Wild Run update giving the game a much needed upgrade and a lot more content. With these updates fans finally saw how good of a game The Crew had become and because of that I am ready for The Crew 2.
4. Dakar 18
Bigmoon Entertainment has hyped this game up for me and they better not disappoint. They said this is a huge scale open-world driving game based on realistic simulation so I'm expecting Dakar 18 to be an open-world version DiRT Rally. I'm not particularly fond of Bigmoon's track record of Rally games, if you didn't know Bigmoon Entertainment have developed the WRC franchise with mediocre reception from critics and fans so naturally I should keep my expectations down but for this game I just can't help but get excited when I think about it. If Bigmoon does accomplish what they are hyping up Dakar 18 to be then this will truly be ground breaking.
5. Hover
If you made it this far on my list than you would notice the plethora of driving games here (I like really driving games if you haven't noticed) so here's something different, Hover. It was first shown in PSX 2017 it's obviously heavily inspired by Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio: Future, and the composer for Jet Set Radio did the music for this game. I am super excited for this game I've been hoping for a while now that Sega would make a sequel to Jet Set Radio: Future and they just won't make one. But now Sega doesn't need to because there's somebody else making Hover and I'm so happy.
6. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
I absolutely adored the rebooted Tomb Raider games. Tomb Raider released in 2013 was a pleasant surprise and an addicting one. I couldn't put my controller down and once I finished it I immediately bought Rise of the Tomb Raider and I couldn't put the controller down for the that game either. Rise of the Tomb Raider was more of the same while adding a few more new gameplay elements and while more of the same isn't a bad thing I do hope Shadow of the Tomb Raider can be more innovative without losing itself.
7. Forza Horizon 4
Now let's get back to driving games. There were rumours several months back that Forza Horizon 4 is taking place in Japan. If so that would be incredible. Driving through the beautiful landscapes and mountains of Japan then street racing the neon lit city of Tokyo would be a dream come true. I do hope the developers can make the Forza Horizon series more innovative because the past 3 games (although) were great but very similar. I do hope they can shake things up a bit in this franchise.
8. Fire Pro Wrestling World
After watching The Beast crew tackle this game and Alex's defence for it in the Giant Bomb 2017 Game of The Year discussions it's safe to say that the duders have convinced me to buy this game when it comes out. I did my research of this game and it's a unanimous opinion that the game play is awesome but there's no story mode or campaign for it. But recently NJPW signed a deal with Fire Pro Wrestling World and there will be a story mode based on NJPW for this game and my hype just doubled. As a wrestling fan the WWE 2K games are the only games on the market and they are terrible products. I'm so glad that there's finally going to be a good modern wrestling for the 8th generation.
9. Spider-Man
Spidey is my favourite super hero of all-time but he hasn't had a good video game made for him yet. After years of the Batman Arkham franchise getting the spotlight- it's time for a new comic book licensed hero to take the brass ring. Insomniac Games a studio with a stellar reputation for the Ratchet & Clank franchise and Sunset Overdrive are more than capable of developing an awesome Spider-Man game. With the E3 live demo showing a lot of great gameplay and what looks-to-be a lengthy story I am proudly excited for this game.
10. Slightly Mad Studios unannounced Fast & The Furious title
I love a good Need for Speed game but the past 4 games in that franchise are met with nothing but disappointment for me. I love driving games that have an urban-illegal street racing theme to it but I haven't found one I liked in years. Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell said that he's signed a 6-year deal to make an all new Fast & The Furious video game franchise I just hope Slightly Mad follows the movies from 2001-2006 and not anything beyond that. Ian Bell was outspoken about how Electronic Arts almost killed his company and what better way to have sweet revenge if his company beat EA's racing crown jewel that is the Need for Speed franchise. It would be a passion fuelled rivalry if Slightly Mad Studios made a noteworthy game to compete with the Need for Speed and with Ghost's output so far, I'd put my money on Slightly Mad.
