Alright, I’ll write off some things before they are forgotten, but here are the titles that I’ll want to look into this year after seeing them at E3….
Playstation 2:
ICO
Silpheed (yeah it’s old, but I never saw it until now..)
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
FF Chronicles
FF X
Gran Turismo 3 (and the wheel by Logitech)
Twisted Metal Black
Harvest Moon for PS2 (maybe?)
“ICO” seems mystical and looks quite nice. At first I wondered why there weren’t any menus or on screen text while playing. What I found out was that this game is reminiscient of Prince of Persia on some respects. Graphics for this are very nice, and it’s supposed to be released July of this year, so keep an eye out for this third
person adventure.
Dark Cloud reminds me of Zelda, I spent a few looking at various sequences and gameplay. I haven’t really seen any RPGs out for the PS2 that I’ve wanted to buy, but this one just might have the elements I want to make it a purchase.
FF Chronicles, which will have Chrono Trigger and FF4, is another pick. Who didn’t like FF4? We have to talk…
GT3 is absolutely gorgeous. It was rather difficult at “Normal” mode, which means I’ll probably have to end up practicing many times to fully enjoy this game. I recall muttering “It’s arcade perfec– wait a minute, that statement is pretty void now isn’t it?”… While playing a night driving mode, the break lights coming from cars in front reflect off the road. During wet weather this is even more apparent. The game ran at a smooth 60fps and I couldn’t see any pop in- you can see off into the distance pretty well, which was impressive. Rally racing even looks wonderful and realistic. Polyphony has nothing to worry about as developers. Are they ever going to make anything else?? GT3 is supposed to be out next month.
Electronic Arts ran with the same booth design as last year.. massive with a huge video setup. The things that I noticed immediately were “SSX Tricky” and “NBA Street”, both by EA BIG.. SSX got my good side, so NBA Street ’should’ be nice. It is, as with SSX, abundant with “attitude”.
When I heard that Incognito, developers of Twisted Metal 2, came back to make TM Black, I figured I’d give it a chance. It looks real slick, with tight controls and tons of action, so I just may buy it. I recall trying TM 3… Was that the one developed by 989? I know Twisted Metal 4 was, and it was pretty damn bad.
I’ve totally been naive about Harvest Moon.. I saw a “50% complete”, PS2 version over at the Crave/Natsume booth (Crave is publishing for them), and it looked beautiful… I’ll have to rent it. Will it come out by Xmas?
PC Games:
Red Faction
Anarchy Online
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Aliens v. Predator 2
I was curious about Anarchly Online when I heard that it was going to be a MMORPG with cyberpunk elements of sorts. I didn’t get a chance to play the game very much (as I told Rick while we were driving home from the con on day two, I can’t get into an RPG at a fast-paced convention). Funcom says it will be 12.95 a month to play Anarchy Online, and the game ships June 27th. For now I’ll call it “Everquest with tech elements”. It looks very complex and has the potential to destroy my social life.
I’m big on first person shooters, so Medal of Honor, Return… and Aliens v. Predator 2 look like possible buys. I hope my Duron 700 can handle ‘em.
Red Faction, may be published by THQ, but is an FPS developed by Volition (Descent: Freespace for PC). The PS2 version is out this Thursday, with a PC release due out “third quarter”. Personally I’d rather play an FPS like this on a PC, so I’ll hold out.
The key selling point for Red Faction is a weapon which destroys walls/barriers, which can change the gameplay considerably, especially for multiplayer I think. Hear shooting in the other room or hear your opponent picking up an item there? Blow a hole in the wall and freak him out. Fun fun fun. RF takes place on Mars, I believe, and consists of FPS play in addition to flying / controlling certain vehicles. The name of Volition’s engine escapes me, but it’s got to be a derivative from their Freespace engine.
Etc:
Factor 5’s “Star Wars Rogue Leader” for Gamecube looks like the only title I’d really want to buy. The Battle of Yavin looks beautiful, with barrages of laser fire coming at you from turrets and space craft. As usual, John Williams’ score makes everything exciting…
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on Game Boy Advance was surprisingly fun and smooth.. The game uses a isometric (overhead, 45 degree angle sort of) view. In addition, a Bomberman title was also playable (Bomberman Story).
Reflections’ “Stuntman” was not playable - they only ran a teaser reel. Beneath it was a booth babe setup with a female cop and a crashed police car to boot. While the scenes displayed were impressive (some Bond stunts in there I’m sure), I was sad I couldn’t see anything playable. Stunts I saw included weaving in between cars successfully and one where you drive such that you hit a ramp so that one side of your car goes over it for that all-too-common “car is launched and does a roll” scene used in A-Team and older car chase films. The game, which is sort of self explanatory, involves you trying to pull off stunts successfully for Hollywood productions. The better the movie, the more difficult the stunts. I hope to see this one at E3 next year. Infogrames announces a “Fall 2002″ release.
I guess those are my initial thoughts for now. I’ve been coming home tired every night because of the drive to and from the Convention Center.
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