RAY’S OTHER E3 REPORT: THE BEST OF THE REST OF THE FEST – Welcome to Just Adventure + – Articles
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RAY’S OTHER E3 REPORT: THE BEST OF THE REST OF THE FEST by Ray Ivey |
In addition to the many promising adventure games at this year’s E3, there were many upcoming games of interest in other genres. Here are the games for the adventurous adventurer that caught my eye:
Absolutely the Two Games Everyone Should Have On Their Shopping List: Deus Ex: Invisible War and Thief (this third installment of the series doesn’t yet have a subtitle or an official Roman numeral).
Warren Spector, one of the gamegods I most admire in the business, is overseeing both projects at Ion Storm’s Austin studios. The two games are sharing technology, which is benefiting both games tremendously. The original Deus Ex was a stunningly entertaining first person action-RPG hybrid, sort of a thinking-person’s shooter. In the sequel, the stealth elements will be so beefed up that it will be possible to go through the entire game without ever touching a weapon! Like the first game, the problems presented in Invisible War will have multiple solutions, depending on the player’s style. The game will be finished within a few months.
A bit further down the pike is the third installment of the Thief series. After LookingGlass was shut down by Eidos, many of us despaired of ever seeing another Thief game. Happily the project is alive and well at Ion Storm Austin. The original game shattered the conventions of first-person action gaming, by making the goal to avoid confrontation, thus effectively inventing the “first person sneaker” genre. Despite the greatness of the game’s original premise, the designers lost their nerve in places, especially near the end, when the game became much more of a pure action game (LookingGlass’s classic System Shock 2 had the exact same problem). The sequel, Thief 2: The Metal Age, was the best example I’ve ever seen of a game designers really listening to fans and fixing everything in the sequel. Thief 2 set a very high standard, and the team is working hard to surpass it.
One of the most notable features of the new Thief game is that it is much more colorful. The designers really expanded the palette from the first two games, and the result is extremely attractive. Also, the real-time dynamic lighting effects (such as fluidly changing shadows cast by torch-bearing guards) are truly stunning, and will add to the game play. I await the finished game with almost maniacal eagerness.
IT’S IN THE CARDS
I’m also looking forward to the visually stunning Etherlords II from the nice folks at Strategy First. The game will be a visually realized combat game similar to Magic: The Gathering. Instead of static cards, however, the battles will be completely visual. I’ve been interested in fantasy card games since ArcoMage in the Might and Magic games, and looks like a visually sumptuous way to learn this kind of game. Offering more RPG elements than the first game, meaning characters can accumulate experience and skills.
KILLING, KILLING AND MORE KILLING!!
Serious Sam continues to influence the first person shooter genre for the better. Three over-the-top shooters caught my attention at the Expo.
The first was DreamCatcher’s Painkiller. I had a lot of fun playing the demo level of this frantic shooter, which took place in a sort of beautiful, drowned Venice. The graphics were superb and the action fast, furious, and entertaining.
The second was LucasArts’ Armed and Dangerous. Despite its regrettably dull name, the game looks to be an absolute riot, with over-the-top situations and a generally lite tone. I’m not including screenshots because I don’t think they do the game justice at all.
The third was, of course, UbiSoft’s XIII. With absolutely killer cell-shaded, graphic novel style, this gritty game looks irresistible.
FRESH PRINCE OF PERSIA
You can’t keep a good action-adventure hero down. I was about the only critic in the universe who liked 1999’s Prince of Persia 3D, and I’m not sure how many people expected a fourth game in the series to ever get made. Well, glory be, UbiSoft has assembled some of the peppy guys who made Splinter Cell to create the gorgeous and forthcoming Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. The game’s visuals and musical score are sensuously beautiful and engaging, and the controls appear to be far more streamlined than they were in the last episode. Designed with the participation of Prince creator Jordan Mechner, this is a game to truly look forward to.
UbiSoft’s Beyond Good and Evil looks like a very promising action-adventure title, as well. We’ll tell you more about this title in the upcoming months.
IT’S A WARCRAFT WORLD
I’ve yet to play a massively multiplayer online role playing game, but that is going to change this year. I’ve been wanting to dip my toe in this wild new gaming frontier, and I thought, who do I trust more than Blizzard? Those guys sure know how to build a damn game, so why shouldn’t they be able to build a damn good online game?
I’m not sure how close the game is to release, but seeing it in action at E3 just made me more eager for it. It takes place in the same orc-infested fantasy world as the Warcraft series, but this time around the game focus is role-playing action, not real-time strategy. The graphics look fluid and inviting, and the game mechanics seem solid. Hurry up, Blizzard, I’m ready to stomp me some orcs!!
NERDS IN PARADISE
The E3 wasn’t all great games and fraternizing with those that make them. Like every year, it was a kaleidoscope of the good, the bad, and the scary. Once again, Booth Babes ruled. There seemed to be fewer of them this year, and each one (or set) had a huge line of nerds waiting for a titillating photo op. I say this with a hint of bitter jealousy, because as always, there was precious little eye candy for women (and the homos who love them). Okay, there were a couple of grunts at the America’s Army booth, but they were nothing to write a Dear John letter home about.
I’ll close this overlong article with some further random observations from the festivities.
Rudest booth: 3DO. I wish I could give you the scoop on what’s happening with the beloved Might and Magic RPG series and the Heroes of Might and Magic turn-based strategy series. But about a minute into my conversation with the 3DO guy at the booth, another conventioneer with a more impressive credential than mine (hard to imagine, I know) suddenly insinuated himself into our conversation. 3DO guy dropped me faster than a jittery hospital orderly with a newly-dead SARS victim. I literally ceased to exist to the guy. Now, this seems like very odd behavior, considering the trouble that both of the above-mentioned franchises are in. Indeed, the RPG series is “circling the toilet bowl,” according to Computer Gaming World editor Jeff Green. Note to 3DO: Not a good time to be rude to friendly journalists.
Worst booth placement: Eidos put Thief right next to an incredibly loud wrestling game. What were they thinking? This is one of the quietest game franchises ever, and the sound design of the first two games was glorious. I assume the sound on this third installment will also be sweet, but I sure wasn’t able to hear much of it at the E3.
Most cynical use of a movie license: Bethesda’s Softwork’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Now don’t get me wrong; I think Bethesda is a superior shop which puts out consistently interesting titles. Last year’s Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind was a landmark RPG, and I enjoyed their strategy/RPG hybrid, Sea Dogs, enough to be very interested in the sequel.
Sea Dogs II, by Russian developer Akella, was at last year’s E3, and I was looking forward to seeing how far along it was. Curiously though, all talk of Sea Dogs II disappeared recently on the Bethesda website, right around the same time they announced that they were now in business with Disney and would be producing the game tie-in with Disney’s huge summer 2003 release Pirates of the Caribbean.
The only problem is, the game is still essentially Sea Dogs II. About the only two things it has in common with the film is the fact that it has pirates and that it takes place in the Caribbean. Not a single character or story element from the Disney film will be found in the game. And while I think it’s going to be a very good game, it’s rich and complex blend of strategy and role-playing is going to appeal to the hardcore gamer, not the lightweight 14 year old who thinks Johnny Depp is cool. I’m afraid Bethesda is going to have an awful lot of angry gamers on their hands when they shell out their bucks for this game, expecting a merry game version of the rollicking summer event movie, and instead find Akella’s somber and serious Sea Dogs II instead.
Jacqui Lund of Bethesda assures me that the game will be flexible enough to appeal to casual gamers as well as hard-core gamers, and also explained that there will be a tie-in with the Black Pearl backstory. We’ll see . . . and if it turns out that all of my concerns were unwarranted, I’ll say so in a future article.
Best celebrity sighting: Jane Jensen, of course!
Of course, the coolest thing about the E3 is the opportunity to torture Randy in person for a few days, after having only the phone and email to do it for the rest of the year! [What Ray has failed to realize is that, as editor of JA, I have the opportunity to have the last word. So Ray, I now say with nothing but love in my heart – Bite Me!]
