Top four sleeper hit games of 2008 for PS3 and Xbox 360
Undoubtedly many of you have read and heard about PS3’s stellar lineup for 2008, and in fact with exclusive hit titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and Little Big Planet who can argue this isn’t the year of the PS3?
Considering how well the first Resistance and Motorstorm did, selling well over 3 million units each, it’s a sure bet these sequels will sell just as much if not more. However Xbox 360 owners maybe asking what is in store for us besides Gears of War 2 in November?
With all the buzz and hype surrounding PS3’s line up, will there be a killer sleeper game that’s multiplatform?
I consider a sleeper hit to be a title that just sneaks up on you and blows sales away without warning, pushing over a million units within a single quarter. Bioshock is a prime example of a game that went under the radar before its release and just exploded upon release with extremely high sales, going on the winning several accolades as well.
Top 4 Multiplatform Sleeper Hit Countdown:
4. Dead Space: est. October 2008 – A grisly survival horror third person shooter (TPS), where you control Isaac Clarke a space engineer, an everyday man thrust into an extra ordinary circumstance battling monster like aliens with tentacles using makeshift weapons from tools. I mean how cool is that? Who doesn’t love alien monsters, and fighting in space? With an animated movie coming out as a companion to the game, Dead Space might be thrust into the prime spot light to garner some solid sales.
With great marketing, such as immersive video graphic novels being released on XBL and PSN, gamers will be hyped up to get their grubby little palms on this game come Halloween. What an awesome idea launching this scary game on Halloween.
3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: September 16, 2008 – Urged by the George Lucas the man himself, the main character has been plotted to be Darth Vader’s secret apprentice who apparently is extremely powerful. Powerful enough to bring down a gigantic Star Destroyer in mid-flight with the flick of his force, yea I said it, just a flick of his force. I know, pretty impressive. Considering all the Starwars geeks will be lined up to pick this title day one, this game has enough flair along with a third person shooter gameplay mechanics to garner mainstream sales success as well, this is one title to keep on your radar.
2. Farcry 2 : est. October 2008 – The follow up to the popular original Farcry game has managed to stay under the radar due to the game being developed by another team, using a different engine, and with its sharp departure plot wise from the previous Farcry. So, Farcry fans are screaming outloud in unison, “what’s going to make this game good if it lacks everything the first game made it good?â€
Whats going to make this game stand out is its environment and tight action driven story. With an open-ended world much like Crysis, you can take many paths to your destination. The weather will also change going from day to dark, and sunny to rainy weather. The trees react to your bullets with branches breaking off with destructible environment. This safari simulation is detailed and immersive. The action is tight, with one event leading to another chase or another fight with intense pacing. The shooting mechanics looks to be solid, and also with the capability to sprint to your destination seems to keeps the game quick paced as well, much like Call of Duty 4.
1. Fallout 3: est. late fall release – Brought to you by the developers of the acclaimed Oblivion, which went on to sell over 4 million units, a smashing success. Fallout 3 is extremely promising, taking place in the post-apocalyptic era with war torn buildings and mutated freaks running around, it’s your goal to kick butt and take names. According to the developers you can play this game as a TPS with RPG elements, or you can play this game like an old school RPG using V.A.T.S, which is a mixture of real time and turn based battle system like your Final Fantasy XII. V.A.T.S shows an enemies vital parts and shows how much HP each part have. V.A.T.S, throws in a strategic element on how you should attack an enemy or a overgrown gigantic mutated freak trying to cannibalize you.
Also, there are consequences to what decisions you make expanding on the story of side quests. For example there is one quest where you can choose to save a city, and if you are successful it ties in to another quest. However, if you fail and the city gets destroyed you get a quest that takes you to another city which otherwise you would have never been able to get to if you did not fail the previous quest.
With over 200 possible ending this game is well worth the investment, and I predict with the massive replay value, this game will last you till 2009.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it four solid games that are prime candidates to being the next dark horse game of 2008. So, Xbox 360 owners there is more you can look forward to till Gears of War 2 in November, and PS3 owners, these games only sweeten an already great 2008 lineup.
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45 Responses to “Top four sleeper hit games of 2008 for PS3 and Xbox 360”
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June 22nd, 2008
Wait a minute…aren’t at least 3 of these titles, already highly anticipated. Nevermind the fact that anything Star Wars sells like it’s the cure for cancer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not belittling anyone here…I’m just a little confused as to why you think these classify as sleeper hits when they’re already sure to go platinum, heck, TFU should do so in a day easily.
Morne
June 22nd, 2008
Resistance 2 i am interested in, but am not interested at all in Little Big Planet or Motorstorm 2.
However, the author conveniently forgot to mention some 360 games due out this year that also look like they’re going to be great fun. Games such as Halo Wars, Too Human and Fable 2 etc, along with Gears Of War 2 and some of these multi platform releases more than ensure that 360 owners will also have more than their fair share of exclusive fun.
June 22nd, 2008
This industry is blind. Xbox360 has – GTA4 & Unreal Tournament 3 Exclusive Content, Ninja Gaiden2, Fable2, Too Human, The exclusive JRPG’s that were just announced, Viva Pinata (if thats what you like), Halo Wars, Banjo, Left 4 Dead, along with Gears 2? Seems like there is a lot more going on to occupy our time until Gears and a better selection like last year against the PS3. I’m pulling for them both but Metal Gear and Uncharted are the only things worth having until they develop God of War 3 and things of that quality. Hope they don’t screw it up like they did Lair.
Blake
June 23rd, 2008
buy ps3 worth playing good games.360 doesznt have god exclusive.my 360 collecting dust.
June 23rd, 2008
Winner,
I don’t think the article is about what other exclusives Xbox 360 has, it just quickly talks about all the PS3 blockbuster exclusives because well lets face it 2008 is the year of PS3.
The meat of the article seems is about all the multiplatform potential hits we might get.
Also sorry to say this but Too Human nor Halo Wars won’t be a blockbuster anything.
These games have zero hype, and if you goto Gametrailers all of Too Human gameplay videos are scored low by the viewers as well as Halo Wars.
I have high doubt Halo Wars will sell well anyway, RTS fanbase is small on the console platform and FPS fan does not equal RTS fan.
Alan Wake was a potential hit for Xbox 360 but they pushed that into 2009 so scratch that.
Maybe Banjo Kazooie? Nah.
Fable 2 won’t be coming out till after Gears of War 2.
June 23rd, 2008
@Mornelithe,
Star Wars games usually don’t sell as well as mainstream blockbuster games.
Probably the most sucessful spin off is the Battle Front series which managed to sell over 2 million units.
Knights of the old Republic did well too but still a very short tail.
There is very little hype surrounding Fallout 3, just like Oblivion there seems to be little interest before launch but after launch it exploded.
Farcry 2 is still under the radar, its made by a different team then first game. We will see.
By no means are these games on the same level of hype as GTA, MGS, or Halo.. so they are considered sleepers until launch.
June 23rd, 2008
come on Star Wars… gimem a good game now… no more crappy shooters with stupid saber control…
You really should have listed some 360 exclusives… Im psyched bout Fable 2… but will it be able to be a better RPG than Oblivion??
OOOoooh Geow 2… cant wait… and too human… they have been makin this game for the last half a decade… this better be good…
but then again… I buy the pirated copies… so… the publishers get no money… TAKE THAT EA!!!
June 23rd, 2008
darkwhitehair
Why name Xbox 360 exclusives everyone will just start talking trash how Gears of War 2 is so great. I will believe that when i play the game and finish it. Hopefully it will be longer than 4 hours with improved graphics.
I can’t wait to get Resistance 2 Insomniac Games always delivers beyond anyone expectations. As for LittleBigPlanet i will not be buying that is not my kind of games but is sounds like is gonna be a hit. MotorStorm 2 looks sick i will have to try a demo before i buy it. The second best PS3 exclusive for PS2 owners with a PS3 will definitely be SOCOM. I remember when i had my 6 PS2s on ranking up lol the good old days. SOCOM is like a drug hopefully this one will be just like that. Fallout 3 was it about? Star wars hate that name, Dead Space never heard of that FarCry a must buy for PS3. Sony must be loving this year just image next year will twice better.
June 23rd, 2008
Resistance 2 looks awesome!!! especially multiplayer!!! check it out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAPXd842fw
although some weapons have been modded since the first one… oh well, which reminds me, anyone with resistance add me : anihal8r.
June 23rd, 2008
Brad,
Viewers opinions of games that aren’t even released yet aren’t really an accurate thing to base your assumptions on. It could even be viewed as assinine by some. God I love that word.
I am actually looking forward to Too Human, Halo Wars, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 etc, as are a LOT of other 360 owners. I am not nostradamus, I can’t predict their scores etc, but from what I see they look great.
And since when does hype make a good game? Haze was hyped, as was Lair, and look what happenned to them!
I don’t believe that 2008 belongs to either system. Both systems have some heavy hitting games releasing exclusively.
June 23rd, 2008
Mike i’m starting to realize that you may be a biger idiot then Dave.
June 23rd, 2008
No Xbox 360 game looks blockbuster more like improve from mediocre. Halo Wars is not going to sell is looks boring as hell and confusing. Too Human looks like a PS2 game animation looks terrible. Gears of War 2 is all hype can you please tell was so great just improved graphics and maybe 16 players now from 8 players before. And maybe a longer story longer than 4 hours i hope. Fable 2 is the only one i liked a little. Microsoft should get out while they can go here to this link.
http://xboxoz360.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/metal-gear-solid-4-review-closest-thing-to-perfect-since-ocarina-of-time/#comment-1560
Read this about Xbox 360 being an insurance in case PC flopped straight from Microsoft.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/8235
June 23rd, 2008
Yes! Fallout 3! I’m surprise that the new Star Wars game is on the list though.
June 23rd, 2008
if the ps3′s 2008 lineup was “already great” it wouldn’t be selling such a low tie in ratio. it’s apparent you are too tightly wound to sony’s leg to see reality, so i’ll just point and laugh.
June 23rd, 2008
CAD, is that a compliment?
June 23rd, 2008
Oh look, kev is pointing and laughing from the inside of his box. LOL, maybe if he cut a seeing hole in it, he would see he is wrong and the PS3 has it’s sales going up, while the xbox has their sales going down, LOL
June 23rd, 2008
Bang on about sales all u want Kev, u know full well that the ps3 is seling more than the 360 at this stage in it’s life cycle
June 23rd, 2008
True Xbox has been getting an ass kicking this year from everyone. PLAYSTATION 3 is doing great and next year look ten times better.
June 23rd, 2008
ohh dont say that Ivan… both the Systems has had a decent lineup this year…. it has been a highly competitive year… hopefully the PS3 will have better games in 2009 like the 360 had in 2007…
CAD… stick to having homo erotic dreams about PS3 “fanboys”… thats what youre good at… youre comments make no sense and always look like a retard…
But I digress… I wanted to ask… does high sales mean that a game is good??? I remember playing Psychonauts…. it was a great game… one of the best games I ever played… but it sold poorly… it was a failure financially… but it was praised by the critics… so does that mean the game sucks???
Uncharted… it didnt sell 9 million units like Halo 3… but it had terrific graphics… good gameplay.. and a solid story… in my opinion… its one of the best games out there… since it didnt sell 9 million copies… does that make it a bad game???
How many copies did Crysis sell?? Most people didnt even buy it because of te high requirements… I dont know the exact numbers… but I think they sold barely over a million.. it has better graphics than ANY OTHER GAME OUT THERE!! yes even better than MGS4 according to the critics…
so does that make it a bad game??
If numbers mean everything… if a game’s quality is based only on the amount of money it earns… the nwhy not copare the old school games?? which earned more money than Halo 3 and COD 4 and GTA 4 put togather??? Games like Super Mario Bros… Street Fighter 2??
why not??
June 23rd, 2008
me – the fact is the ps3 should be OUTSELLING the 360, NOT keeping pace. you forget about the “120 million loyals ps users” sony and you fanboys bragged about. With 5 times the userbase, it should at LEAST have TWICE as many sales as the 360…but alas…
this site should just change its name to “The PS3 ROXXORS”… it’s so ridiculously one sided….
we get it; the aussies hate MS (for some stupid reason).
bah..this site it getting boring…same old crap…just more of it….
June 23rd, 2008
Kev, Blorge may be an Australian site, but not one of the writers is so that argument is void. I’m British, and the rest are American.
June 23rd, 2008
davep – the “writers” aren’t really writers at all. the lack of fact checking, misinterpretations, and just-wrongs, had me believing they were aussies. I didn’t expect anyone else to write so poorly. i was wrong.
June 23rd, 2008
lol so why do you come on here then?
June 23rd, 2008
Just to add to the PS3 lineup, MGS4, R2, LBP and
Motorstorm aren’t -all- the lineup of exclusive for the end of the year
We are eagerly awaiting “small” titles such as:
WipEout HD, InFamous, Valkyria Chronicles, The Agency, Tekken 5, SOCCOM, just to mention those few.
On top of that, if Heavy Rain is only half as good and beautiful as expected, it’ll kick “Too Human”s rear end from LA to Tombuctu.
Not couting Bioshock PS3 and Crysis PS3, both with exclusive content btw
But in truth 2008 is only the prelude. 2009 will be the real PS3 year imo.
GT5, GoW III, FF XIII, WipEout PS3, White Knight Chronicles, LA Noire, to mention only those
June 23rd, 2008
@ Kev
Your the one with the same old crap. I’ve lost count on how many times you have used the line “120 million loyal ps owners, where are they now” line. I’m sorry you didn’t contridict yourself like usual. Don’t you usually follow that up with “most PS2 owners didn’t buy the console until it was under $200″? Hey Kev, if you have a Xbox and you do a 360, don’t you end up with the same old Xbox? Just curious!
June 23rd, 2008
Dave P
I believe it is.
DWH
Why Have I allowed you to get back in my head I have no idea. So take my name outta your mouth and insert Sony Cock instead you Homo.
June 23rd, 2008
sigh… you have hurt me deep CAD… I thought we had something special… dont you know youre supposed to buy me Dinner… THEN fantasize… you have completely ignored all the rules… all the flirting and the buying drinks and the “wanna come up for coffee” part… it hurts me deep inside CAD….
Dont worry guys… let kevin use the “120 mil ps2 owners” argument… Ill keep using the Geow and Mass Effect and Halo is out on the PC so they are not exclusives…
SO guys… can we have a mature discussion here?? I was talking about whether games should be considered “good” based on their sales…
Dave Parrack is British?? That makes SOOOOO much sense… those brits would prefer the Japs to the Yanks… “cue bad jokes about drinking tea and eating crumpets”
I dont think anyone hates the 360… most of the world loves the 360.. thats why they have sold so many units… the point is that the PS3 is “starting” to catch up… maybe they will outsell them one day… maybe they wont… I wouldnt buy a console based on why 120 mil other people didnt buy one… I would buy it because it serves my purpose… and right now… GoW !!! is my purpose…. and so is region lock free games…
June 23rd, 2008
forgot to ask… is fallout a click and move RPG?? like Siberia?? or is it a regualr RPG like Oblivion?? or is it like Final Fantasy??
Cus they only say RPG.. nothing about what type of controls it has…
June 23rd, 2008
lol what the hell is this? why exactly sis they forgot too human or Fable 2?
June 23rd, 2008
WYLIE – yes.. the “same xbox”…except the controller is different, the hdd is different, the color is different, the CPU is different, etc, etc…
wow…like i said… you guys are completely clueless…
bourne – it’s like a trainwreck…i just can’t look away…
June 23rd, 2008
@ Kev
Just having fun with the name, I actually think the 360 is a pretty good counsole. However I would never act so anal about any counsole unlike you. You even talk like you know the entire history of gaming, that’s pathetic that you have that much time on your hands just for gaming. If you actually said something, anything that added to this forum and said it in a non juvinile way maybe somebody would want to listen to you. Your an Xbot an we all feel sorry for you. I’m sure you put a dress and a wig on your 360 and call it Suzy, but there are real woman and people out in the world, even for an Xbot like yourself. You do have to leave your mom’s house to find a good one though. However, they usually don’t like it if all you do is tell them how nice the 360 is looking!
June 23rd, 2008
Calling Fallout 3 a ‘sleeper’ is a bit of a stretch. If you don’t think Fallout 3 is going to be well recieved, it’s you’re a ‘sleeper’.
Plus, I know a lot of people without any consoles that are thrilled with what they’ve seen from Force Unleashed. Not exactly flying under the radar, that one. Ditto with Far Cry 2.
Now Far Cry pt 1… now THAT was a sleeper.
June 23rd, 2008
read the article darkwhitehair, it tells you what type of RPG it is.
June 24th, 2008
hehe.. BURNED BY BRad…
sorry… I just looked at the names… didnt really read it properly….
Do you hate me now Dave P?? have I made a grave mistake???
Ill look at the reviews firs tthen buy this game…. bus If Im gonna pay for an original.. I wont pay for a weird fusion controll system games…
June 24th, 2008
back to the main point…
Dead Space… dont know much about it… Im gonna read the review THEN decide on buying the game…
Star Wars.. MUST BUY!!! I dont care if it gets a 1 or a 10… Im buying this.. Im a sucker for Star War games…
Far Cry 2… its nice to see that Crysis will soon have tough competition…. these two franchises will keep raising the bar for graphics… and then lose money cus a large portion of it will be pirated… XD
Fallout 3… if the controls are good.. then Ill buy it… I loved Oblivion… Bethesa has a good rep about Rpgs…
June 24th, 2008
actually mike, many 360 owners are looking forward to brothers in arms and HAWX, to be add to the 360′s already stellar lineup, as well.
June 24th, 2008
wrong article kev.. its as if you dont even know how to read…
June 24th, 2008
It’s funny that “most” of us sony boyz have good things to say about both systems, but Kev and CAD spruk nothing but 360 elitism….you call us the fanboys. I thought you guys hated this site and was leaving already ??? Don’t let the door bash you in the back on your way out
June 25th, 2008
Im not a sony “boy”… I like all the sytems… specially the Wii… WII FOREVA!!!! yall suckz
June 25th, 2008
dwh- no, right article…it’s just you can’t keep up. again..
June 25th, 2008
Your still here…. I thought you wre going?
June 27th, 2008
@kev,
ummm…I think the writer is comparing exclusives to exclusives. HAWX and Brother in Arms will be a nice addition to both lineups but only the exclusives add to what’s already multiplatform… and we are talking about good exclusives too, games like Bajoo Kazooie aren’t really that good.
June 27th, 2008
Brad – aren’t those mulitplats in the article?
June 28th, 2008
I think Brad mixed up articles. This article is talking about multiplats only.
-Arvis
July 27th, 2008
these arent sleepers at all fallout 3 is considered the most anticipated game of E3 by a lot of people