Left 4 Dead Opening Cinematic

It’s been a slow year for new video games for me. I bought Grand Theft Auto 4 at mid­night, then bare­ly played it. I bought Mad­den 2009 and love it, but I’m rarely in the right frame of mind to be active­ly chal­lenged by it.

Now there are some deci­sions to make. I’m look­ing for­ward to Gears of War 2, but am unsure about titles like Dead Space and Left 4 Dead. Both seem to be up my alley; I like third-per­son shoot­ers just fine, espe­cial­ly with the hor­ror twist to keep it inter­est­ing. My main gripe is that it’s not as obvi­ous as last year’s crop of out­stand­ing games that are fun to pick up and play whenever.

What games are you look­ing for­ward to as the hol­i­days near? Chris, if you’re read­ing this, help me out!