Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
The game about the most intense mission of Bravo Company,
Third Ranger Battalion is coming. One this is for sure
though, they're getting the game done right. With Delta
Force operators as consultants and a huge amount of information
from their military allies, this game is shaping up to
be done as accurately as possible, while still maintaining
the fun factor.
I got a chance to play through the first level, starting
from taking off in a MH-6 Little Bird, strapped into the
pod on the side. Flying through the streets of Mogadishu
at breakneck speeds, trying to get in some good shots
at incoming RPG fire, I could feel the reason why I joined
the Rangers. Allowing you to play as Delta, Rangers, and
pilots you'll be able to jump on the .50 cal machinegun
of a Humvee and lay down some heavy fire. The guns that
I saw were very well done. My only issue with weapons
was the flashbang and I talked to a member of the development
team and got with him on how to make it better. That's
service for you!
There will be online gameplay, though the game isn't nearly
to the stage where I could see any of that. Expect big
things from this game. I do. And from what I've seen,
they're going to deliver.
Delta Force: Task Force Dagger
Featuring actual missions from Operation Enduring Freedom,
this game takes it right to the Al Qaeda and lets you
jump straight into America's latest war. It's created
by Zombie Studios, the creators of the SPECOPs series.
Zombie is led by CEO and former Ranger Mark Long, whose
attention to detail is amazing. In addition to being a
thorough play tester (he paused in the middle of showing
me a level, to page his development team and tell them
about a bug) he also DJs Downtempo and Bhangra in Seattle.
Mark Long is without a doubt the coolest CEO I've ever
talked to, as well as, the most interesting person to
talk to in the entire E3. He even did some of the music
for the game! The game looks awesome and accurate. With
25 missions to go through, 10 different Special Operations
groups to choose from and 30 weapons, it seems as if it's
time to bust some terrorist heads.
TRON v2.0
Yes, that's right. The classic is back, and it's coming
straight into your PC. Playing the role of Alan Bradley's
son, Jet, you're launched into a digital world. Featuring
incredible graphics, Syd Mead back at the helm, helping
create a brand new world, without giving up the TRON feel.
The graphics put you right back into Tron as you feel
the distinct look of the electronic world, but with a
new feel as everything looks more power than before.
This is being played as a first person shooter. In addition
to being able to upgrade your weapons, as you progress,
your programs will become simpler to you, allowing you
to use more and more of them. Data disks are back and
allow you to pull off trick throws. Light cycles aren't
forgotten and despite what a larger gaming magazine said,
light cycles will be in the multiplayer. This is coming
straight from the mouth of the lead developer. "It
just wouldn't be TRON without light cycles." In addition
to the original action, light cycle combat will be in
all three dimensions, inside of a 6-sided cube.
While the game is in early alpha right now, it's doing
the original TRON justice, and simply because of that,
the hoards of gamers that remember the movie will flock
to this wonderful creation. Expect tough competition in
the light cycle races.
Turok: Evolution
Coming to all 3 of the next generation consoles, this
game keeps the Turok style while adding more gore, more
explosions, more guns and more fun. For those looking
for some arcade type first person shooter action on your
console, this is it. Adding in the ability to fly, as
well as nuke things, not to mention dismemberment and
decapitation, this game looks to be action packed. Playing
through a few levels, the game looks and sounds life-like,
while still being unearthly enough to give it a sci-fi
edge. Looks like fun, to me.
Counter Strike: Condition Zero
Featuring massively updated graphics, this stand-alone
update of Counter Strike takes it to the next level. The
graphics are beautiful, with a HUGE number of player models
(160, including Valve's UPS deliveryman, who is featured
on the front of the box!) Not only is everything improved,
but the coding has been tightened up, as well. With over
twice the graphics punch as the original Counter Strike,
it actually uses less RAM.
With the addition of new weapons, including the molotov
cocktail, the LAW antitank rocket (what's this doing in
a strategic first person shooter anyway?), gas grenades
and a riot shield, game play is going to undergo some
new changes. Adding on to their abilities to eliminate
cheaters from Counter Strike, Valve promises that they
have a few tricks up their sleeves to keep cheaters off
of servers. Bots have gotten a huge overhaul, bots have
learned tricks and climb things that only veteran players
had access to before.
Level design has picked up the pace, as the design crew
from the original Counter Strike returns to do everything
they did right again. The biggest addition with Condition
Zero is that there are 6 single player episodes to go
through, each with its own plot. It looks like they learned
from Global Operations mistake of throwing random missions
together and calling it a campaign.
For those concerned CS players, nothings going to change
for you. A patch will be released, updating current versions
of CS to be compatible with Condition Zero. The graphics
will remain the same, however and you won't get the single
player campaign. It looks like Valve is flexing their
might and it just may pay off.
SWAT: Urban Justice
I'm going to be honest, only one thing about this game
impressed me: the ability to totally customize your guns.
You can pick out the upper and lower receivers, the barrel,
the magazines, the sights, any add on items that you'd
like to have. It's very adaptable to situations and doing
guns properly always makes me happy. Other than that,
this game is lacking. It pits SWAT against gang against
gang against gang. The concept of the police showing up
to kick some ass and lay down the law is really cool,
but it just doesn't work the way that they were showing
at the E3.
In trying to blend action and strategy, they went too far
and it seems like you're Johnny Rambo. The enemy AI is,
to put it bluntly, retarded. Not only do they not seem
to care about covering each other, but they have no qualms
with walking directly into the path of bullets. What the
game feels like, is an updated Doom, without any of the
style that the original had. I think it's time to bury
Sierra's SWAT series.
Deus Ex 2: Invisible War
The classic First Person Shooter/RPG is returning. Not
only are the graphics given a huge overhaul and everything
that you loved about the first one is improved on, but
the plot is actually responsive to you. In addition, your
conversations with other characters will be meaningful.
They'll effect their attitudes to you later on and have
a real impact on the plot.
The AI is also given the work over. There's going to be
a wide variety of tactics used by the AI and the enemies
will try to sneak up on you. They'll work as a team and
they're going to try their best to kill you without themselves
being killed. And they'll look damn good doing it, with
the beautiful graphics engine and it's ability to work
not just reflections but real time shadows and lighting
effects. This game is more of what made the first one
so damn good. You want it. You know you do.
Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter
A mix of a Space Shooter and a First Person Shooter, this
game somehow manages to blend the two genres, without
making it seem odd. The AI in the game has been tweaked
so that they'll react differently depends on what the
situation is. The "Rag Doll IK" system is in
place, resulting in enemies falling and getting thrown
against walls realistically. Skeletons are deformable
and snappable. What's that mean to you? You can dismember
people and bash their ribs in. It even has per polygon
hit detection, which means that where you shot him, it
where he's getting hit.
The game is a veritable laundry list of new 3D technology,
but will it all work together and make a good game? I'm
not sure. But it looks like it's worth checking out, when
it hits streets.
Project IGI 2
Fixing the horrible blunders that they made with the original
Project IGI, Codemasters take the First Person Shooter
to an almost James Bond-like level. The game injects realism
into the FPS genre. No longer can you run with 4,000 rounds
of 7.62mm ammunition (that weighs around 350 pounds) or
carry 30 guns. Now you've got to pick and choose which
gun you need and which one you think you can scavenge
enough ammunition to do well with. Like the original,
stealth is of the essence. Sneaking past guards, taking
out security cameras and killing people silently will
make everything so much easier. But it's not impossible
to get through the mission with the alarms blaring. It's
just really really hard. The game looks like it's going
to be something worth checking out and Codemasters is
working hard to redeem themselves after the first game's
problems. Give them a chance.
Operation Flashpoint: Resistance
Welcome to the next phase in the evolution of the market's
most realistic FPS. This game puts you in charge of a
rag-tag band of freedom fighters in Russian. With your
forces scrounging for weapons, vehicles, and ammunition
and short handed on people, saving everyone and doing
it as efficiently as possible becomes a serious issue.
Allowing you to fly helicopters, as well as lead a squad
of soldiers on the ground, this game really makes you
feel like you're fighting for your life and for your people's
freedom. This is an expansion pack and will require the
original Operation Flashpoint, but it updates the graphics
engine considerable, giving the graphics a much-needed
punch. I like this one.
Die Hard: Vendetta
This FPS entry for the Gamecube sets itself apart by giving
the enemies a human element and letting you take advantage
of it. It does this, mostly by letting you grab an enemy
around the throat and stick a gun to his head, then yelling
for his buddies to lay down their weapons. Whether or
not you kill them all afterwards, is up to you. Just as
the Die Hard movies spoke volumes about style and action,
so does this game. Watching the teaser video at the E3
just made me say, "Oh hell yeah."
Alien Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt
You should have known better than to think it was over.
With 9 new missions; three for the predalien, three for
the Predator and three for the Corporate Mercenary, this
game expansion pack doesn't look like nearly enough. It
adds 13 levels total, 5 new guns and 3 new species. So
what? If you're looking for more AVP2 action, just download
a fan-built modifications and levels.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s way
Everyone's favorite female super spy is back and looking to
avert nuclear catastrophe. With amazing graphics, innovative
controls that allow you to distract enemies, unscrew light
bulbs to create hiding spots and plenty of guns and action,
Kate Archer is back. If you missed the first NOLF, here's
your chance to see what you've been missing.
The Sum of All Fears
If you've read the book, seen the movie or played any of the
long line of tactical FPS by Tom Clancy's Red Storm entertainment,
you already know all you need to about this game. If not,
it's a tactical FPS, based on Tom Clancy's book The Sum of
All Fears. The game uses the Ghost Recon engine and continues
the great tactical FPS series. If you haven't picked up a
copy in the Rainbow Six series, you might want to give this
a try.
Rainbow Six: Rogue Shield
Speaking of Rainbow Six, here's the newest one. Instead
of continuing use of the somewhat clunky Rainbow Six graphics
engine, they picked up the Unreal Warfare engine and it
looks great as a result. Implementing weather, lighting
and the ability to go prone, the Rainbow Six series just
keeps picking up steam.
Splinter Cell
Continuing Red Storm's explosion of new Tom Clancy games,
Splinter Cell is a third person stealth action game, not
unlike Metal Gear: Solid or Siphon Filter. The main differences
are that, it uses the latest build of the Unreal engine,
making its graphics look top notch and it's a lot more
tactical. This means that you can't simply walk around
snapping necks, you're going to have to get in and out
without being seen. It doesn't mean you can't have fun.
They've even included FN Herstal's new F2000rifle/grenade
launcher system, which I've recently got my hands on and
can tell you that it's an awesome gun.
XIII
The world's first cell shaded FPS. What a unique concept.
This isn't so much an action game as it is a comic book that
comes to life the second you press start. However, only the
people and main items are cell shaded, the backgrounds are
rendered in beautiful 3D with particle effects that somehow
manage to work with the animated portions. Definitely something
to take a look at.
