Black Mesa
Black Mesa Team
PC
2009

It's been a long time coming, but the meticulous fan-made graphical update of Half-Life is nearing completion. With a shiny new trailer under its arm, the Black Mesa Team looks poised to finally release the product of its considerable labors this year.

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Red Faction: Guerrilla
Volition
PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Q2 2009

Continuing the Red Faction series' trademark of destructible environments/geometry, Guerrilla will shift the series to a third-person viewpoint. Set 50 years after the events of the first Red Faction, the game will largely take place on Mars. A multiplayer component will offer the typical Team DM and CTF modes.

Aliens: Colonial Marines
Gearbox Software
PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2009

A four-player co-op Aliens game, with a story by Battlestar Galactica writers, represents a very promising concept. This exciting game is still slated for 2009, though if recent rumors prove true, it may be delayed beyond its target of a summer release.

Saboteur
Pandemic Studios
PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2009

Not to be confused with Sabotage--the now-renamed Velvet Assassin--Saboteur is another World War II game with an unconventional angle. Based on French war hero William Grover-Williams, the game will see the player singlehandedly taking on the Nazis in an open-world setting.

Demigod
Gas Powered Games/Stardock
PC
February 2009

Stardock has teamed with Gas Powered Games to release their own flavor of DotA--that competitive strategy mod for WarCraft III. In Demigod, users will command giant monsters in an RTS setting, using special powers and commanding NPC minions to tip the scale of battle in their favor.

The Last Remnant
Square Enix
PC: Spring 2009

Hiroshi Takai's RPG has already been released on the Xbox 360, to largely mixed reviews. The game makes its way to the PC in the spring--hopefully lacking the graphical glitches that plagued the original release.

Mafia II
2K Czech
PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Fall 2009

Set in the 1940s and 50s, the sequel to Mafia will take place in Empire City, a fictional mobster playground based on San Francisco and New York. Boasting a screenplay twice the size of the original game's, Mafia II will feature over 2 hours of in-game cutscenes, continuing the first game's storytelling ambition.

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