2010: What Video Games You Should Play This Summer

A lot of great games have come out recently: God of War 3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Modern Warfare 2 just to name a few. And that's wonderful. Fine and dandy. But will they still hold that same luster by this summer? When you finally crack open the last Olympian god's skull, blow up your last tank, and when you've stabbed your last camper, what are you going to be doing this summer? Is anything even remotely playable going to be waiting for you and your wallet on the shelves? Are you kidding me? It's summer! There's going to be tons of games out designed to waste hours and hours of the school-less kiddies and sun fearing adults. But what about us game connoisseurs? What should we be playing this summer? Luckily there will be some wonderful ways to wile away the time in front of that wonderful glow of a TV or computer screen. I selflessly spent hours of my time drooling in front of the screen wondering the same thing, and now present my top five picks of this summer just for you.

5. Gran Turismo 5
Racing fans across the world, kick up thine heels, the holy grail of driving simulators has been promised this summer. Lauded by millions for it's incredible realism, both physically and visually, this series has been at the forefront of real driving games since it's first release, except by Forza fans, to which I kindly ask where their sequel is. Made famous by the countless photos of real life and in game shots shown side by side with banners proudly challenging to pick which is which, along with videos of drivers in real life and in game going around the same track in the same car and getting results within seconds of each other. This latest iteration will finally include the long awaited Ferrari brand in it's impressively long list of over 1000 cars, each carefully modeled inch by inch and pound by pound after their real life counterparts.

Another wonderful feature that will be included in this version is the in cockpit view, complete with a wonderfully modeled hand that shifts! When you see these images, inside and outside the car, you can begin to understand where all the time went. Drifting also received special attention in this game, including a game mode that does a surprisingly good job scoring your drift, something that seems like it needs a human observer to do, but fear not, the fine folks at Polyphany have not let us down. A special half game was released in 2008 called Gran Turismo Prologue, which was designed to slake our thirst until the real game came out, of course that was two years ago, there's no telling what visually ridiculous improvements could have been made since then. Go to trailer

4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
When Super Mario Galaxy came out it blew the world away with it's ability to both return to it's Nintendo 64 roots and at the same time exude originality from every facet of the game. There was something magical about fighting a planet sized boss on the most colorful and fantastical planets ever squeezed out of an artist's brain. The new game will feature Yoshi as Mario's sidekick, and yeah, that will be as awesome as you can imagine, since riding a Yoshi in a Mario game is without a doubt the coolest thing one can do in a video game except MAYBE skateboarding on a shell in Super Mario 64. Also featured is a new drill one can use to basically drill your own tubes wherever you feel like on the planets. If these facts and the trailer don't make you feel twelve again, I'm afraid that you, sir, have no soul. Go to trailer

3. Red Dead Redemption
I know, I know, we've all been there. You're blowing cars up and racing through Grand Theft Auto and you think to yourself, "You know, I wish I was a cowboy right now, that would be the tits." Well it's a good day for you, since somebody at Rockstar was thinking pretty much the same thing. And it looks like they pulled it off spectacularly. The controls and combat look fantastically fluid. There are tons of old westerny things to do like play poker and collect bounties. The new "Dead Eye" (read: Matrix Mode) looks like the best implementation of such a system yet. Time slows for a few seconds, during which you have the opportunity to suggest to each bullet in your trusty revolver where it oughta go. When time resumes normally, your character blasts out a handful of ridiculously precise bullets like Neo only dreamed he could. The world that you are free to wander about in looks absolutely gorgeous, with huge rolling thunderstorms and tear jerking sunsets. There are woods and deserts, forts and towns, beautiful women and some of the trashiest looking hill billies you've ever seen outside of Deliverance or your local Bait shop. Save up for this one, and make sure to get yourself a cowboy hat for when you play it. Go to trailer

4. StarCraft 2
Ok, this one MAY not be out in time for summer, but quite a few of you were lucky enough to grab a beta copy and I hate all of you. StarCraft 2, and it's lovely Blizzard cousin Diablo 3, are some of the most highly anticipated games of all time. StarCraft 1 is STILL being played competitively in Korea for thousands of dollars of prize money. The new game features the same old races and a decent amount of the same units, but each is dramatically revamped with new, tactically improved units and buildings that will usher forth a new era of strategery and cursing. There are now "high yield" vespene geysers and mineral fields, along with towers that allow you to see for some distance any enemy units coming as long as you have a unit at the tower. Maps have been created with tactical chokeholds and high risk/high reward areas that could turn games on their head. These new features will prove to bring the already terrifyingly tense atmosphere of a person on person game to a whole new level.

The single player has been improved as well, although the game coming out first will only feature the Terran missions, with the Protoss and Zerg missions coming in expansion packs. But be honest, you're going to skim through the single player and then jump right into Battle.Net and start losing horrifically as soon as possible. While looking a bit dated now, the first StarCraft is still not an awful looker at all. The new game features such incredible detail and animations it seems like you're hovering over these horrific asteroids and planets yourself. My advice is to break out your old copy of StarCraft and polish off those clicking skills in preparation for this masterpiece. And if you haven't played StarCraft, shame on you, for there is nothing we have in common. Go to trailer

1. Lego Universe
Yes. The Lego MMO. There's two groups of people reading this right now. People who say, "A Lego MMO is number one, are you kidding me? How old are you dude?" and the other is a group of twenty somethings screaming out in either surprise or joy. Yes, Lego Universe is a Lego MMO due out in the second of 2010, although with any luck we'll be able to pick it up this summer and commence wasting the rest of the year building ridiculous trucks and forts. This game is not designed to compete with World of Warcraft in terms of seriousness or depth. It's not designed for people who want to grind all day and level up, or unlock new classes and skills. There are no classes in Lego Universe. There are no levels, or grinding. This game is designed for you and your friends to build giant robots and catapults and cars and go trash some evil Legos. You then get parts to make even more awesome giant robots. Your character comes with a preset system of attributes and various weapons you carry add or subtract to that. Yes, it's simple, but so is checkers. Go to trailer