by Iamthemonkeyhead
Ok, so now that 2007 has come and gone and everyone’s still raving about how toe-tappingly awesome it was, 2008 and beyond is going to blow your pants off with the list of quality titles. Most of these you may already know of and have been excited about since, “like, forever,” but not every title gets the same coverage. What you may not know about are some of the more interesting or quirky titles coming out. Here are the ones I think will rock, both popular and obscure. Brace yourselves.
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
My first game is a 360 Arcade title by D3 Publisher called Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. Supposedly an evolution of the original, Puzzle Quest (see: Bejeweled) comes to space and has no real connection to the events in the previous game. In this title the playing field becomes circular or hexagonal, and pieces can drop from any side. Players do battle via space ships that can be upgraded, but also enhanced in battle by breaking the correct pieces to get more shields or more health… apparently.
At this stage there are little, to no details, and the diplomacy used is unclear. Since you can’t exactly buy castles I expect that those elements will still be in the game in a kind of space transposition. After all, they worked very well and would make a welcome return. No details on the release date of the title have been found so far.
Postal 3
Next up is Postal 3. Developed by the aptly-named Running With Scissors, this new title lets you approach missions in a more open manner. Now your choices aren’t only limited to how you dispose of your victims, but what moral tone you wish to adopt. You can choose to do the right thang, do the bad thang or just f**k sh*t up. I imagine that they will try to make you do the latter by making it really tedious to be good, otherwise the game wouldn’t be called “Postal”.
Another change is that the game is now set in third person. Apparently to give you some form of characterization. Though, to be honest, a crazed “postal guy” is not exactly prime soil for growing compelling characters. Set for a release on the 01/10/2008, the game is already looking fairly decent, however mindless.
Lego Batman
For you masochistic Lego fans, we’ve got Lego Batman headed your way by Traveler’s Tales. Not exactly my cup of tea, Lego Star Wars just felt like a dull, clumsy hack/slash/collectathon (cutscenes aside). But I’m optimistic that Lego Batman, with its grittier, more realistic environments, will create a game experience that is less frustrating and has more old-school pop-culture references than you have time to decipher.
The game promises a new Villain Mode that will let you play as the bad guys on their own missions, with their own puzzles and character-specific tools. I imagine this means some crazy umbrella antics as the penguin. Which, surprisingly, sounds like utter joy to me. The game looks set to come out on the 15/06/2008.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Another intriguing, yet dubious, game coming out is Condemned 2: Bloodshot. The original was a little too clumsy and bland for my tastes, with erratic melee combat and a jumpy swagger to Ethan Thomas’ step. Bloodshot promises to bring upgraded melee combat, fist fighting, the ability to throw things, as well as environmental kills. Not to mention creepier bad guys and horror induced by Ethan’s alcoholism. But seriously, will anyone ever do anything but smash hobos into toilets? I know I spent most of the original tazering people for the hilarity of the animation.
There’s also new multiplayer modes that sounded like good, wholesome fun. “Crime Scene” has the investigation team attempting to recover a frozen head whilst the bums, or “influenced” (if you want to give them some dignity), attempt to hide it and set up ambushes for your team. While “Bum Rush” has a couple players as police shooting waves of hobos as they attempt to steal your delicious pigeons. Actually I made the pigeon thing up, but it’d be great if that was the real motivation. Check out the game soon, it comes out in a few days: 11/03/2008.
Faith and a .45
Looking into 2009, Faith and a .45 is up next with a few neat promises from the strangely named, Deadline Games. Protagonists Luke and Ruby shoot their way through 1930’s depression to escape an angry sheriff named Duke. If ever there was a better distraction to widespread poverty, it’s gotta be shooting people in the face. The game promises Gears of War style gameplay along with cool co-op moves like weapon swapping. It also promises a partner that will have initiative, and perform intelligently enough for you to believe someone else is playing as them. Hmm, sounds just like Army of Two, and the partner AI in that was not as brilliant as promised.
Another point of interest is that Deadline is attempting to create compelling characters, so Ruby is going to end up being someone you care about. Apparently, she will do things like kiss you at the end of a cool set-piece or revive you with a kiss of life, Matrix-style. With the co-operative mode there is no doubt going to be a fair bit of awkward sexual tension going on as two guys team up as the gun-slinging lovebirds. It should be on store shelves on the 15/11/2009.
Fracture
Another take on the FPS is Day 1 Studios’ game, Fracture. The whole appeal to the game is going to be the gimmick of being able to morph the earth around you via weapons and your character’s suit. Publisher Lucasarts seems to be developing or acquiring all kinds of cool gaming technology lately and this looks to be no different. Set in the future, you take control of an Unreal Tournament doppelganger, Jet Brody, and morph the earth to create holes or hills with your suit or your weapons.
America has been split in two and its your job to throw enough grenades for it to be rejoined… ok that’s an outright lie. Actually the story already sounds generic beyond belief. I’m mostly just excited about making people fly into the air with a well placed ground-raising grenade. I hear you also get rockets that burrow underground and detonate when you choose. No idea how they will implement this, but come 10/04/2008 the answers will be clear.
Mirror’s Edge
Even more innovation on the first-person front comes in the form of Mirror’s Edge by DICE. In what can only be described as a first-person action/adventure/platformer, you take control of a parkour (an obstacle-negotiating discipline) master named Faith. Then, it’s up to you to move her around a massive city with multiple routes to your objectives and lots of crazy stunts across buildings, cranes, etc. As far as the motivation for all this crazy running and rooftop-leaping goes, there isn’t much information out there. All I know is the police are chasing you, and once the heat is on, you gotta run like crazy to lose them.
The developers say that it’s a game based on momentum, and the faster you’re going, the more fluid your stunts and obstacle run will be, apparently allowing you to build combos while dodging bullets, action movie style. The control system is supposed to be intuitive and simple, so, like all great games, making it easy to jump into but difficult to master. Platforming moves, like wall-running or rail-jumping will be context sensitive, as will the combat. DICE is claiming the combat will be simple and dependent on your momentum and location. For example, if you are in the middle of a wall run or if you’re sliding across the ground. Also, trying to move around efficiently will be difficult while carrying a gun you stole off an enemy. For those looking to pull off some of the cooler moves you will need to travel light.
All of this crazy running around might be a little disorienting so for the first part of the game you will have visual cues as to the most linear, and least exploratory path, with bright red telling you where to go. This could be a big red crane extending across two buildings, or a red tarpaulin as a cushion for you to land on from several meters above. So far the reports on this revolutionary first-person game look solid, and with a 15/06/2008 release date it looks like we don’t have to wait long to try it out.
Saints Row 2
Moving onto the big guns, or, erm… bigger guns, Volition is hoping Saints Row 2 will get “all up in yo grill”, in a good way. The developers sat around a table and thought about what makes a game better, ultimately deciding that “more of everything” is the key to success. Expect more vehicles, more terrain to explore, more character customization and more players. The character customization interface, for example, lets you create a highly unique character with the option of specifying the percentage of their gender. They can be 50-50 male-female, or 40-60 if you please. I’ll wager nobody makes a 100-0 character except to spite naysayers like me. Oh, and you can also upgrade your “crib”, though I honestly hope they don’t call it that in the game.
The game also looks to make your environment more interactive, with human shields and more responsive bystanders, making the city really feel alive. On top of this, draw distances have been boosted, plus Volition is pledging a 2-player co-operative mode as well as competitive online modes. Mind you, the only reason this game has not been canned in the looming shadow of GTA IV is the hope that the over-the-top style of the series will keep it fresh enough to stand out. I guess we will find out whether it sinks or floats in GTA’s wake on 15/12/2008.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Now for the titles I anticipate with even more girlish glee, comes Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode one. What a mouthful, how about we call it PAA. Developed by Hothead Games, PAA is set in a pseudo 1920’s USA with steampunk elements thrown in for good measure. You get to create a custom character that goes on an adventure with Gabe and Tycho after your home is demolished by a giant, mechanical Fruit F**ker.
The game looks to put a real-time spin on turn-based, strategic combat, ala Japanese RPG’s like Final Fantasy. Real-time events like blocking, countering, and performing special moves look to keep the action from becoming mind-numbing. Not to mention most of your attacks will be directed at mini Fruit F**kers, clowns, mimes, and the homeless, with hilarious battle-cries and commentary during the fight. More exciting, however, is the fact that once you’ve had your fill of beating down vagrants, you play the rest of the game as a point and click adventure. Here is where Mike Krahulik’s art and Jerry Holkins’ writing will really make the game shine.
Hothead Games has kept the art style quirky but functional with the semi-cel shaded look. They have kept in close contact with Mike to make sure the characters still look authentic in their 3D skins. If all of this sounds like great news to you, rejoice in the fact that PAA is going to be episodic, and Penny Arcade fans worldwide will have another part of their lives consumed by this form of internet Crack. Unfortunately no release date has been announced as yet.
All Points Bulletin
If you want something to get excited about with an actual release date, look no further than All Points Bulletin. APB, by Realtime Worlds, is a game intended to take over the Massively Multiplayer mantle and replace the RPG grind with a more streamlined (read: fun) experience. The game is basically an online Cops and Robbers where you can hijack vehicles, break into stores and commit all sorts of crime. The kicker is in the escape from all the notified police in the area. The game will select a balanced number of police players, according to experience in relation to the experience of the criminals, and alert them of the crime. It’s up to the criminals to escape via car chase, and maybe an eventual shoot-out.
Dave Jones, the CEO of Realtime Worlds, says grinding is a “broken hook to drive hours of play”. I couldn’t agree with him more, except that I play Diablo 2 and that is a massive grindfest. He believes the reason players will be motivated to invest time in the game is to further upgrade their characters not only in their arsenal, but in their overall aesthetic. High level characters will be covered in fancy clothes that, Dave believes, will be sufficient driving force to keep people playing.
So, with this in mind, the character creation system is vast. You can do everything you’d expect to with your character’s biological appearance, with reports of being able to determine how much of their veins you can see. Shirts can be tucked in or left out, tattoo’s can be user-created, as can emblems, and they can be placed anywhere on your character. It remains to be seen how the game plays or if the characters are truly as customizable as they claim. There’s plenty of time for these things to be touched up on since the game has no release date as yet, though it was originally slated for a 2008 release.
Prototype
Another game with big promises is Prototype, from developer Radical Entertainment. You play as Alex Mercer, a dude with amnesia and some beef with the government. You’ve also got crazy shapeshifting powers and get to transform into anyone you touch. It’s like Bourne Conspiracy meets X-Men, but maybe less sexually ambiguous. The game takes place in New York where a virus outbreak has caused the military to take action, and it’s your job to find out what you are and who created you.
The promises contain things like parkour-style movement, disguise through absorption of unsuspecting chumps, and obviously, badass, death-dealing shapeshifting. You can become an armoured beast or send spikes through the ground to impale any unsuspecting soldiers, or, god forbid, pedestrians. You can apparently change vision modes as well to see in different environments and track individuals in a crowd. Maybe a little like Assassin’s Creed.<!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–>
What really strikes me about this game is the developers are planning to allow for co-operative play. Imagine tearing up the town with one stealthy player and another crazy Hulk-type causing a ruckus. Set to come out on 15/06/2008, this sounds like the best thing since George Lucas gave birth to Jedi.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Speaking of giving birth, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is probably my most anticipated game right now. Developed by Gameleons, the game is probably something you know well, but I like it so much I’m going to tell you anyway. Set between episodes III and IV of the Star Wars saga, the game looks to fill in the narrative void that fans the world over have been pining over. You play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice and probably go around killing lots and lots of Jedi, though there is word of becoming a key player in the rebellion.
Following the trend of Lucasarts’ crazy technology, SW:TFU brings some incredible tech to your console. First up is the Havok physics engine. I’m sure you all know what this baby can do since it’s in almost every game nowadays: Valve’s Half Life 2, Oblivion, Halo 3 to name a few. More exciting is the Euphoria AI technology that has been developed to give individual units their own survival instincts like rolling out of the way of oncoming objects or hanging onto rails. Lets just hope they tweak this so we don’t end up with chains of guys hanging onto each other. A note to Gameleons: Not everyone grabs when they’re picked up. Finally, is the Digital Molecular Matter technology that makes objects behave realistically, not only with their own weight but also in the way they react to impact. Essentially it’s like giving digital objects molecules and particles of their own. That means jelly shakes like jelly, wood splinters, ice shatters. Cool.
The game itself is, apparently, going to mimic God of War in a lot of ways. This means quicktime events aplenty, which makes me soak my trousers with doubt. I thought we got to be a Jedi this time, not some rhythm game slave that gets told how his character kills the bosses. I think the game will save itself in the depth that it offers outside of the lazy quicktime bee-ess. This depth comes in a few options you have when you finish a level. You can upgrade your abilities RPG style, except that you have to collect “force points” and that sounds like you probably go around looking for jars full of midichlorians. GROSS! Anyway, the point being, at the end of a level you will end up with the option to increase force powers, damage, health, combo’s or talents. Naturally, this extends to your game and, in simplest terms, you will have bigger combo’s and more force power options to overcome the challenges before you.
There is a lot to be excited about, but also a lot to be worried about. Will the game be too linear to allow the force to be used creatively? Will it be deep enough to keep people interested? Will the story be more sugar-filled crap that episodes I-III managed to become? Will the quicktime events work? And, of course, it’s Star Wars! There’s always a gamble putting too much hope into the franchise after so many years of having my heart broken. I guess we’ll know for sure on 15/06/2008 when the game is released.
Be sure to also check out Dimorphic and Hyperion Ecta’s 2008 previews.
Very nice read. Great feature! Thanks for the feedback.
The progression in games the past couple of years has ben amazing but i agree with you 2008 will be a huge turning point for what players expect