Introduction

2006 was perhaps the biggest year for game consoles ever, thanks to the launch of two little known pieces of tech called the Playstation 3 and the Wii. Now that the launches of all the next-gen consoles are behind us, the big three (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) and all the third party developers can now concentrate on making great games. In the next 12 months publishers are going to try to make you want their new titles. FiringSquad decided to come up with a list of the 20 most anticipated console game releases for 2007 to give you an idea of what games we are most looking forward to playing next year.

Please note that this is a list of our 20 most anticipated console games, not our predictions of what will be the best games of 2007. We are very excited about the prospect of playing these games but we also know that the final product might not be as good as we are hoping it might be. Another note; some games that are scheduled for release in 2007 have not yet been released and are thus not on our list.

Now lets look at our top 20 picks. As always feel free to state your views on our picks in the comments:

20 – Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360; Microsoft – First Half Of 2007): While the Gran Turismo developers are still working on a version with online multiplayer, Microsoft is getting ready to release their second detailed online supported racing sim game. Forza Motorsport 2 is also the first game in the series for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console so expect a big leap in graphical power along with lots of cool cars, tons of customization features and of course more choices for online racing. Add in the possibilities of downloadable content via Xbox Live and you have a racing sim that might bring in people that don’t normally care for the genre.


19 – Stranglehold (Xbox 360-PS3; Midway – First Half Of 2007): Midway’s first major entry for next-gen consoles is this third person action game that’s based on Hong Kong movie director John Woo’s classic film Hard Boiled. Using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, Midway has already made people get excited with some previews that show lots of Woo’s trademark high octane action with akimdo handguns firing, fluid energy and lots of destructible environments as a long Hong Kong police officer takes on that city’s underworld. If Midway can bring Woo’s style of movie making to Stranglehold, this could be one of the best action games not only of 2007 but of all time.


18 - Crackdown (Xbox 360; Real Time Worlds-Microsoft-February 2007): Developer Real Time Worlds takes on the much copied open world action game in a new direction with Crackdown. Developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 for publisher Microsoft, Crackdown not only has a vast city to explore and lots of vehicles to drive but has the added feature of giving the playable characters special powers and abilities. There are also plans for multiplayer and co-op in the game as well. Will this game make us forget about GTA? Most likely not but this could keep us busy until GTA 4 is due for release later in the year.


17 – Heavenly Sword (PS3; Sony-Sometime In 2007): It impressed us at May 2006 back at E3 and this year we can expect Sony to finally release this one time PS3 launch title for its next gen console. The early gameplay footage is one of the few that really looks like it’s using the PS3’s hardware with some impressive graphics as we see the heroine take on a horde of enemies with combo moves combine with sword and blade melee attacks. Sony hasn’t revealed much more about the game since its E3 debut but that hasn’t stopped us from wanting to play this game and that’s saying something about how it impressed us back then.