This year seems to be chock full of the most amazing games ever seen for many gamers. And it’s true, games like the long-awaited Starcraft II are starting to ’pop’ up.  As the Kinect opens up to Xbox360 owners everywhere and Xbox players from the squeakiest-voiced kid on Xbox Live to the incredibly, serious (and foul-mouthed)  gamers begin to save up their money, we’ve chosen our top five Xbox360 games to look forward to, perhaps buy, and play for many moons to come.

# 5 – Fable III

Fable I was quite enjoyable, and many gamers who preferred RPG over other genres of games simply loved it. The ‘Fart’ expression was perhaps one of the most memorable features of the game. Other than that, the gameplay was solid and the storyline was quite fresh out of the oven. Some aspects of the game like marrying multiple wives was a new experience. Yet, Fable II was just ‘so-so’ when compared to the high expectations, even for some of those who loved Fable I, Fable II was a little plain. The storyline was essentially the same, the dog was quite annoying, some of the features were quite wack (we understand eating meat makes you fat, but evil? Come on.), and the entire game just wasn’t…satisfying.

So, when some of us got word that Fable III was being developed by Lionhead Studios and got scheduled to be released this Fall (October 26, 2010) we decided to give the series one chance and hoped that we wouldn’t be praying to any god that this would be the last of the Fable series.

Weapons from Fable II, like rifles and pistols, make a return in Fable III. The plot takes half a century after you ended Fable II. Apparently you became ruler of Albion but was usurped somehow by your eldest son, Logan, and now your second son (who you will be playing) becomes a ‘Hero’ and leads a revolt against Logan.

Fable III may be longer than Fable II in terms of how long the story, excluding the miniquests, is. The first half of the game, you will have to become king yourself and in the second half, decide a course of action against a foreign nation from another continent that calls itself “Aurora”. We expect that because of the feedback from Fable II, the developers at Lionhead Studios may have improved the game. But when pitted against the other games people are looking forward to, Lionhead Studios may not make as much profit as it wanted to.

#4 – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

There are many words to describe Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. Words like “amazing”, “revolutionary”, “majestic”, “beautiful”, and “stupefying” are just the beginning. A couple of years ago, the first Assassin’s Creed seemed to come out of nowhere. Many saw the Assassin’s Creed trailer commercials the day the game itself came out. The characters, storyline, and gameplay were absolutely thrilling. Weapons like the hidden blade were very interesting. The same (and much more) can be said for Assassin’s Creed II, which assimilated some puzzle-solving gameplay and had two hidden blades; the sequel had surpassed its predecessor.

 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the sequel to Assassin’s Creed II, but don’t be fooled! It’s not Assassin’s Creed III. However AC: BH takes place right after the ending of ACII. Ezio’s uncle, Mario, is killed and Ezio seeks revenge (again). It turns out that Rodrigo Borgia has a son, Cesare Borgia who killed Mario. AC: BH has a multiplayer feature where you can pit your skills as an assassin against other players. Single-player wise, you, as a Master Assassin, can build up your own Order of Assassins and send your apprentinces on missions all over Europe on November 16, 2010.

#3 – Call of Duty: Black Ops

The Call of Duty games never get boring to play, but perhaps that’s because the COD games come out too fast. This first person shooter game, often contested against games like Halo by many, have come out from the dark abyss of World War II and leaped into a slightly fictious, modern world. The sixth COD, (Call of Duty: World At War) was somewhat worth playing because of the Nazi Zombie mode, the fifth COD (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare) was fun but its sequel (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) was an absolute form of gaming satisfaction in campaign, Alpha/Delta/Epsilon/etc. games and multiplayer.

On November 6, 2010 the seventh COD, Call of Duty: Black Ops, will be released. The theme of this game will be the Cold War. The player will play as a black ops specialist stationed in various parts of the world during the Cold War period like Vietnam. New weapons will be available like the deadly crossbow that shoots explosive bolts. The game will also bring the ability to drive vehicles during multiplayer. Furthermore, you may pilot helicopters during the campaign. Unlike COD: MW2, if you kill 25 people in a row online without dying, you will not get a nuke. Black Ops will have a co-op option for 4 online players. 

#2 – Gears of War 3

The first Gears of War accompanied the release of the Xbox360 years ago and it certainly didn’t dissapoint those who bought the game along with the console. The 3rd person shooter game combined new gameplaying aspects such as taking cover, a feature that many other shooting games simply didn’t put in but expected the player to meekly take cover behind whatever. And of course, the weapons introduced in GOW were quite fun to use such as the ‘chainsaw gun’. The gory storyline was mesmerizing and left us wanting for more after we killed Raam.

Gears of War 3, heartbreakingly will not be released this year. Instead it will be released sometime in April 2011. Although it’s a long wait it will all be worth it once you put that disc into your Xbox360. Gears of War 3 will be the last game of the trilogy finally concluding the epic and grim story of Marcus Fenix and his squad fighting in the war against the terrifying Locust.

#1 – Halo: Reach

No Master Chief, no Cortana, no Arbiter, no Guilty Spark 343, and certainly no Halo arrays. But it’s still Halo. Bungie weathered down many Halo fans’ expectations when Halo: ODST was released. While Halo ODST wasn’t terrible, it could have been better for a $60 game. Such notions were however stifled when Bungie allowed ODST players to play Halo: Reach Beta.

 The multiplayer in Halo 2, Halo 3 was decent enough to have many gamers not be bored until 2009. After ending the war between humanity, the alien Covenant, and the ancient Flood with the help of the Covenant Separatists led by the Arbiter, Master Chief and Cortana’s fate is dubious as part of the ship they were in slowly crawled towards a mysterious planet many fans speculate as Onyx or the Elites’ homeworld.

If you’ve read the book, Halo: The Fall of Reach, then you will have an idea of what to expect from the game’s plot. Halo: Reach is the prequel to the first Halo, Halo: Combat Evolved. A secure, part of the human UNSC (United Nations Space Command) territory, a planet called Reach is guarded by numerous human space warships equipped with bristling weaponry and orbital guns that make today’s nuclear warheads look like grenades. Reach with its population of over 700 million is a major manufacturer of UNSC warships and equipment, cannot be lost to the Covenant.

 The player plays Noble Six, a new addition to a  team called Noble Team. Comprised of Spartan II soldiers, these are the best of the best. They’re sent down to Reach along with groups of other Spartans. Master Chief and Cortana hangs back on the Pillar of Autumn under the leadership of Captain Keyes.

Reaching down on Reach, the Spartans begin to engage the landing Covenant while the human and Covenant fleets engage in a brutal battle above the planet’s atmosphere that will decide the war’s events in the rest of the Halo series.

Halo: Reach is a must get. It may more than likely be a potential candidate for the top-selling game of the year. Although the game significantly differs from its predecessors, it’s an improvement not a butchering. Although it is still first-person shooter and its Heads Up Display is essentially the same, the newer concepts and the campaign and multiplayer of Halo: Reach is worth saving up for. The game will be released on September 14, 2010.

- Article Contributed By: Gam Haven