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Behold the 9 games that we're looking forward to the most in 2009. Yes, 9. Because 2009 is going to be one louder.

In choosing the games that should make waves this year, Game|Life contributors Nate Ralph, Earnest Cavalli, Chris Baker and I made sure to select titles that we were personally excited about.

The types of games that pack the most appeal will naturally be different for each of us. For example, Nate is too young to remember Punch-Out!!, but when I get the Wii version of the game, I am going to tear open the shrink-wrap with my teeth.

We also tried to constrain this list to games that will actually come out this year. So no Alan Wake, no God of War III and certainly no Duke Nukem Forever.

Fact: Sucker Punch makes excellent action games -- the Sly Cooper series was a great addition to Sony's PlayStation 2 lineup. Fact: Grand Theft Auto plus superpowers can equal an amazing experience — I don't think I need to remind anyone of Crackdown.

Sucker Punch is billing Infamous as the ultimate superhero simulator, a game that lets you choose your path, saving the city or wreaking destruction. I'm really interested to see how the story plays out and how the open world environment is used — is it just window dressing for your destructive amusement, or will you really feel like the most powerful being in a living, breathing world? We know so little about how Infamous will play, but as it is likely to be Sony's marquee title for 2009, I imagine we will be hearing a lot about it. — Chris Kohler

I'm sick of hanging out with Niko Bellic. I mean, I know he had a rough adolescence in Serbia and all, but that can only excuse so much murderous, sociopathic behavior. But man, oh man, I sure do miss kicking it in Liberty City. What a place! The sights, the sounds, the insane stunt jumps and plentiful rocket launchers! I'm itching for the chance to visit again, this time in the company of grizzled biker Johnny Klebitz.

Until we zombie purists convince George Romero to open a game development studio, Capcom Entertainment is our best substitute in the pixelized fight against the undead. Metal Gear Solid 4-level visual polish, a nicely modified strain of the Resident Evil 4 control scheme, online co-operative multiplayer and the woefully underrepresented setting of the African Savannah all indicate that Resident Evil 5 almost has to be something special.

Honestly, I'm just giddy for a chance to pop off heavy munitions into the brains of some undead foes. At the end of a long workday, nothing is more satisfying than the wholesale slaughter of shambling hordes. — Earnest Cavalli

For more than two decades, the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 has captivated countless fans with relentless miniature figurine battles waged between hyper-religious superhuman space fascists, space Orks, space Elves and savage, genetically engineered insect-things that are also from space.

The transition to the real-time strategy genre on the PC went fairly well, but the onset of sequel-itis has left the original Dawn of War looking a bit tired. Fortunately, Relic Entertainment is bringing players back to the basics with Dawn of War II — namely, control of small, elite squads embroiled in close-quarters combat, with a number of traditional RPG mechanics rolled in. Dawn of War's gleefully excessive brutality and visual flair have been revamped, adding tantalizing levels of detail to the act of vigorously throttling enemy units before hurling them through the air like a large, wet sack. There will also be bits of traditional base-building and resource gathering on the multiplayer side of things, but confess: We're all really in it for jetpacks and chainsaw-swords. — Nate Ralph

Gears of War's cover system is getting a bit tired these days, so when I heard at E3 that Capcom's upcoming shooter Dark Void lifts it, I had to stop myself from yawning. But then the developer giving the demo twisted the camera angle to reveal that we weren't walking down some dark hallway blasting enemies — we were flying up the side of a tower, leaping from cover point to cover point courtesy of a very Rocketeer-ish jetpack.

Let's review: The original StarCraft, released in March of 1998, was one of the deepest, best balanced, most addictive real-time strategy games ever made. It had three richly varied races, an actual story and near-limitless potential for strategic variations. Now, Blizzard Entertainment — a developer that has never released a bad game — is finishing up a sequel with gorgeous graphics, new unit types and abilities, and improved online matchmaking.

What's not to anticipate about StarCraft II? I mean, except for the fact that I'll be losing my job and my friends and getting scurvy because the game will end up devouring every waking moment of my life. Some people are griping because Blizzard has already announced plans to hold back some content for expansion packs. But come on, do you really think you won't get your money's worth? People are still playing the original, 11 years later. — Chris Baker

With a name like Killzone, you'd be forgiven for dismissing this first-person shooter as yet another hypermasculine, shades-of-gray gorefest. Don't get me wrong — there'll be plenty of blood sprays and vulgar übermenschen, but Guerrilla Games' next stab at the good-guys-versus-space-Nazis formula promises to deliver much more.

The run-and-gun mantra of console shooters past has given way to a focus on tactical supremacy, with a snappy cover system giving you time to plan your next move. The slower pace should let us really appreciate the eerily hypnotic reloading animations and the stunningly realized crackle and pop of machine-gun fire. Right up until those brutally clever baddies either flank your position, or blow chunks out of whatever it is you were hiding behind. Good looks and brains to match. Where do I enlist? — Nate Ralph

I'm cheating a bit here, because I've already played the hell out of Rhythm Heaven. The game has been available in Japan for months, and it's been riding the sales charts as if its name were Brain Age or Nintendogs. If you think that hard-core games have been pushed to the back burner in the Japanese consciousness, you obviously have not yet played Rhythm Heaven, a collection of hilarious, inventive and often brutally difficult music-based minigames created by the WarioWare team.

Failing to release the stellar Game Boy Advance original is one of the crappier things that Nintendo of America has ever done to you, but at least you're not being cheated out of the sequel. I can say with deep certainty that this is one of the best games on Nintendo DS, and you should be anticipating the hell out of it if you like Parappa the Rapper or Elite Beat Agents. — Chris Kohler