Starhawk

When Sony released third-person shooter Warhawk in 2007, they pulled the single-player campaign last-minute for fear it didn't measure up to the multiplayer. For this spiritual sequel ― no doubt inspired by countless "dude, this'd be way cooler in space" message board posts ― single-player is one of the main selling points, but still can't compete. The underlying story is a Firefly-esque space western riffing on our ongoing energy crisis and the dangers we subject ourselves to for electricity and cars. But it never does more than riff, reducing the story of Rift Energy and its potential mutating affect on prospectors ― who then become "savages" trying to stop the drilling ― to stylized between-battle cut-scenes rather than use single-player to properly unspool the socio-political set-up. Instead, it's essentially a tutorial for the multi, which needs it thanks to a real-time strategy twist requiring considerably more strategizing than usual for a shooter as well as land and air vehicles. So consider the innovative 32-person multiplayer the real game and find out what an oil war of the future might feel like.