It's that time of year again, or wait a minute -- isn't E3 supposed to be gone and done already? It's usually in May, in case you forgot, but since the last few years have seen it devolve into an insight-devoid, cost-exorbitant media circus, company support collapsed, spawning this year's "E3 Media & Business Summit," i.e. media and industry professionals only, for an ostensibly less carnival-esque upcoming products hands-on.
Jury's still out on that one, but here's a quick top-of-my-head list of titles that'll be big or at least noteworthy this year, with apologies for the ones I'm no doubt missing.
Age of Conan (PC, Xbox 360): Gimme your best Tina Turner, and everyone with me now: "We don't need another MMO-whoa..." Okay, maybe we could almost stand one based loosely on Robert E. Howard's brawny, bare-chested fantasy-verse, and the "real combat" system which lets you target specific body areas (in realtime) plus the option to create battle formations may indeed spruce up one of the dullest aspects of online gaming today -- combat. Release Date: October 2007.
Assassin's Creed (PC, Xbox 360, PS3): The last really great "sneakers" were Looking Glass's Thief games (though I'll make an exception for the first Splinter Cell), so Assassin's Creed leaps out at me for two reasons. One, it's Ubisoft Montreal, the folks most recently responsible for the phenomenal Rainbow Six: Vegas. Two, it looks like a marriage of stealth and context-relative action with dynamic crowd A.I. capable of reacting to subtle shifts in your behavior. Producer Jade Raymond calls the protagonist "a medieval hitman." Think fully interactive environments (their claim), three historically modeled open-ended cities (Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus), and a mission to kill nine historical figures behind the Crusades. Release Date: November 2007.
BioShock (PC, Xbox 360): This title interests me less as time goes by. When I first spoke to Ken Levine, his ambition was "to be the stake in the heart of the FPS." Now he's back to somewhat nonchalantly calling it "a shooter." The premise? You're an amnesiac who's stumbled on an art deco Ayn Randian underwater dystopia. Your objective? Ostensibly to figure out what happened and why. What started out sounding like a great story concept now looks more or less, as Levine seems to be suggesting in his down-hype, a glorified shooter with freaky body-mods and only nominally "eco-interactive" NPCs. But hey, it'll have "the best water FX you've ever seen!" Release Date: August 2007.
Call of Duty 4 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3): Not only did I play Call of Duty 2, I took it for the full 1000-point Xbox Live achievement monty, but I only lasted a few levels into Call of Duty 3 before effectively dozing. Maybe I'm just burned on World War II settings. Thus Call of Duty 4 sounds intriguing simply because it's the first not to be set between 1939-1945. Think modern combat but with competent enemies (as opposed to terrorists using asymmetric weapons like IEDs) and a "realism mode" where a single shot to the leg makes you fall and a single shot to the chest means instant death. Release Date: October 2007.
Clive Barker's Jericho (PC, Xbox 360, PS3): Supernatural horror fans haven't had much to monkey with since FEAR. It's tough to go wrong with Clive Barker when it comes to freak-me-out horror, whatever else you think of his writing ("overwrought" and "purple" come to mind). Enter Jericho, a horror-themed FPS set in a lost desert city, where you play a member of a special forces squad trained in conventional and arcane warfare and hunting "an ancient evil." Ah, ancient evil, that stalwart standby of sensationalist scribblers... Release Date: October 2007.
Devil May Cry 4 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3): Want to know why I hated Devil May Cry 3? Simple -- I sucked. I doubt Devil May Cry 4's going to be any easier, but for those of you into this sort of game, it's basically a major visual up-kick with new characters, weapons, and fighting styles. Release Date: September 2007.
Dungeon Hero (PC, Xbox 360): I have no idea why this made the BBC's "Top titles at E3 2007" list, but it's apparently supposed to be a kind of "dungeon simulator," i.e. realistically depicting underground life. According to the press blurb, it "combines HD graphics with...detailed environments [and]...immerses players in their newfound surroundings, complete with goblin cheese merchants, jailed troll miners and helpful imps just looking for peace." Eat, sleep, chat, socialize, trade, travel, and battle, which sounds intriguing enough...perhaps Dungeon Keeper meets The Sims? Release Date: 1Q2009.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, Linux): It's an enhanced version of the Doom 3 engine deployed in the Quake 2 / Quake 4 universe with gameplay modeled on Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and multiplayer-only. If you like twitchy shooters with fairly predictable class-based teams (soldiers, medics, engineers, covert ops, etc.), this one shouldn't disappoint. Release Date: August 2007.
Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, PS3): What can I say that you don't already know? It's Liberty City, it's 2007, it may be the most detailed simulation of New York City in history. With the up-tick in realism, it'll also no doubt be one of the most controversial games going (depending of course on when/whether Manhunt 2 comes out). Release Date: October 2007.
Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii): Somehow I've missed all of these, which probably says more about my life as a social gamer (I prefer to socialize over a beer, not a video game) than anything. But I've seen the kids lined up to play at kiosks and watched my colleagues rock out in delightfully silly shred-fests at game conferences. The important thing to watch with Guitar Hero 3 is its developer, Neversoft (the original two were designed by RedOctane). Still, it'd be hard to foul up something this elementary. The only major change in store looks like "Battle Mode" which lets competing shredders store power-ups like "broken string" (temporarily disable a fret button on your opponent's guitar) and "double notes" (your opponent has to play twice as many notes in the same time span). Release Date: October 2007.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two (PC, Xbox 360, PS3): Unacceptable. That's how long the wait's been since Episode One was released on June 1, 2006 (which in turn was released nearly two years after the original game). Why the delay? Well first of all, different design teams worked on Episodes One and Two. Where Episode One was more or less a continuation of Half-Life 2's linear progression, Episode Two emphasizes open-ended environments and nonlinear mechanics. I suspect the latter -- for a team probably new to "nonlinearity" -- is what's been holding things up. Release Date: October 2007.
Halo 3 (Xbox 360): If you own a 360, you're planning to buy this whether it gets the critical nods or not. I was pretty disappointed with the multiplayer beta, but -- like you -- am holding out hope that the story and solo gameplay turn out to be as diverting as the original was back in 2001. Release Date: September 2007.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360): It's been years since we've had a decent BioWare RPG, i.e. the original Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Obsidian Entertainment did an okay job with KOTOR 2 but pretty well wrecked Neverwinter Nights 2 (both of which vamped off Bioware's take on Wizards of the Coast's D20 system). Even BioWare's Jade Empire lacked the novelty of its seminal PC RPGs Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2. Sci-fi, designed from scratch, and first in a trilogy, Mass Effect resembles a less linear version of KOTOR with a "galactic map" giving you roam-where-you-will access to side-quests on unexplored planets. BioWare also claims the trilogy "will cover the Xbox 360's five-plus year cycle." If they're as lengthy as previous BioWare efforts, start scrimping vacation days. Release Date: December 2007.
Rock Band (Xbox 360, PS3): From the original developers of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix Music Systems) comes Rock Band, a Guitar Hero clone with instrument perks. In addition to guitars for bass and lead rolls, Rock Band will expand peripherals to include drums and a microphone capable of distinguishing between vowels and consonants, or which can alternatively be used as a tambourine/cowbell during non-vocal sequences. As for tracks? How's Blue Oyster Cult's "The Reaper" and The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again"? Release Date: November 2007.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii): All your favorite Nintendo characters in a fighting game, plus Konami's Solid Snake (Metal Gear) and the option to use the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, or GameCube controller. My only complaint? Not enough alternative first party Nintendo Wii games a-coming in 2007. Release Date: September 2007.
Stay tuned -- PC World will be running live coverage courtesy yours truly and my blogging colleague Danny Allen, July 11-13!
wow.. almost all of the games are also on the PC :)
call of duty 4 is not on the PS2 as well??? oh well..
i guess that date of the PS2 is drawing near.. still the console is still alive almost a year after it's never version's release:) while the xbox and gamecube are dead long before that :(