Top 8 Computer Video Games Titles for Fall 2010

This article goes over the top 8 rated computer video games to come out for Fall of 2010.

Call of Duty Black Ops
With Call of Duty originator Infinity Ward out of the picture (for the time being, anyway), alternate developer Treyarch takes the mantle this year in Black Ops, and it looks like the company doesn't want to be taken as just the B-team anymore. The result is a new, non-World War II Call of Duty that deals with black ops missions in places like Vietnam and Afghanistan, with plenty of explosions, daring feats, and dudes yelling over gunfire. In all seriousness, there's a lot of questionably similar plot elements in the campaign, but knowing the series, it's going to be multiplayer that will keep Black Ops in the limelight until the next installment: Features include a four-player co-op campaign, revised Create-A-Class, tons more achievements, and we'll bet on a new mode or two. As Thierry Nguyen writes in our original preview, "While Call of Duty: World at War did show that Treyarch is a damn fine developer that can get out of Infinity Ward's shadow, it's encouraging to see that the studio is putting its all into Black Ops, and that it has the capability of actually surprising us."


Dead Rising 2
Zombies may be in danger of becoming passé in pop culture, but outside of Nazis, they're still the go-to enemy when you need to recklessly slaughter large numbers of something. Either way, they're back in full force for Capcom's sequel to the popular 360 launch title Dead Rising. This time, you're taking the battle against the undead to Fortune City, a fictional Las Vegas facsimile), as you search for a cure to save the life of your infected daughter -- but that doesn't mean Dead Rising has taken a turn for the melodramatic. A large part of the game focuses on your ability to craft your own weapons (like taping knives to some boxing gloves to make an improvised Wolverine-like weapon). Oh, and you can also beat your foes senseless with dildos while wearing leather S&M gear. This is supposed to be like Vegas, after all.


007 Blood Stone
With no new James Bond film for the foreseeable future, the games will have to suffice. Luckily, at least one of them already has a ton of interest behind it: For those with the high-def consoles, you get your own original Bond story, Blood Stone for the PC, which plays up the fact that it has just as much variety as the average Bond movie, with cover-based gun play, a host of driving missions, and other levels full of daring feats. Why not casino mini games and martini recipes, too?





Star Wars The Force Unleashed II
LucasArts is going to make a franchise out of this, gosh darn it, and Force Unleashed II had better keep it fresh in your minds! Force Unleashed II takes place just a few months after the events of the first game, where a confused Starkiller thinks he's now a clone, except that can't happen to Jedi, so the story involves a bit of personal investigation. In terms of the game, though, this involves a lot of slashing, smashing and crashing as you play as a pissed off Starkiller using enhanced Force powers, including a bonafide Jedi mind trick move that ends with you blowing up the targeted enemy. We're just hoping all the bigger action isn't masking more boring gameplay, which became a chief complaint of the first Force Unleashed.


Civilization V
It seems like only yesterday that Civilization IV was released, and Civilization Revolution captured the free time of even more people, so why so soon with Civilization V? Haven't 2K and Firaxis destroyed enough marriages?! Well, even the best strategy games can benefit from some rethinking. For one thing, Civilization V now uses hex tiles instead of squares, but besides that and the usual additions and improvements to civilizations, unit types, cities and so on, Civilization V's units can only occupy one tile at a time, encouraging better strategy in small places. Plus, AI opponents will have more dynamic difficulty levels and ways of approaching the game. Either way, expect to spend many more nights and weekends by the warm glow of your monitor, watching empires rise and crumble, and your bedtimes slip ever further into the early morning.


Final Fantasy 14
PC players get the first taste of Final Fantasy XIV in September, and with it, a head start on exploring Eorzea, the new world that takes the place of Vana'diel from FFXI. On top of prettier graphics, FFXIV attempts to flip the script on some finer points of online adventuring, like streamlined quest acceptance using "guildleve" plates that allow teleportation to associated areas, among other perks; simple job changing based on the equipment you hold at the time; and an entirely skill-based leveling system -- no XP to worry about (except some other stats, probably). Either way, let's hope the game is actually fun in its first few months, or else the privilege of playing first on PC will just seem like an extended beta test.


World of Warcraft Cataclysm
The juggernaut MMO World of WarCraft may have reached an audience saturation point, but that doesn't mean Blizzard isn't still pouring their resources into the game to make sure it appeals to both newcomers and lapsed players alike. That's at the very heart of Cataclysm, a world-changing expansion for WOW that, in addition to a myriad of other changes, alters the starting realms for all the classes in the game and introduces two new playable races -- Goblin for Horde and Worgen for Alliance. Even longtime Alliance player Alice Liang feels the new race choice might finally convince her to switch factions: "I still love my Alliance Druid, but when Cataclysm launches, I may very well finally roll a Horde character."


Fallout New Vegas
This Fallout 3 follow-up is just too big to be considered a mere expansion pack or DLC mission: It's a brand new adventure with all the glitz a post-nuclear Las Vegas can provide, and it just happens to use Fallout 3's engine. Besides the location, differences abound in the cast of characters (including celeb voice acting by Wayne Newton, Felicia Day, and more), item and weapon selection, and even the dialogue, as the whole game is being crafted by the RPG quirksters at Obsidian. And if you really want a new experience, try playing it on Hardcore mode, which forces slow healing, weighted ammo, and more draconian tweaks to keep your head in the game.