Half Life 2
Half Life 2 (HL2) has got to be the closest thing to a big surprise as
anyone was going to get at E3. The screen shots look good and the
previous game was excellent, so people expected a solid game. The
several hour wait to get inside the Half Life 2 demo chamber would turn
out to be worth every second. The amazing detail that the Valve
designers have come up with will make you downright giddy with
excitement! HL2 is a single player first person shooter (FPS), which in
itself is not unique at all, but the level of detail found in the game
is so advanced, that it almost feels like a new genre. The single most
important advancement has got to be the realistic physics and
deformation. Body’s flail through the air as if the really had joints
that bent and resisted like their real world counterparts. The game
levels that were shown have alternative ways to winning. Rather than run
n gun, like most games, you can shoot the supporting beams to a balcony,
making the balcony lean over and fall, spilling its contents and
sometimes crushing the things it falls on. The animations and physics
will give you a heightened sense of gravity and reality. Fighting along
side computer AI allies will give you a deeper immersion into the story
and unique weapons will add depth as well. One weapon in particular
spawned aliens that resembled StarCraft zerglings, after an egg was
thrown at an object. These zerglings would attack anything that was
organic around it, except you of course. The explanation was that your
pheromone (scent) was programmed to be an ally to these aliens. So in a
sense, you are using them to do your dirty work as you trail their
attack searching for items. Graphically, HL2 is easily a level beyond
everything else at the show. Only Doom 3 would give it direct
competition, and this year Doom 3 was a no show. The colors, the
textures, the terrain, animation, smoothness, people, everything is top
notch. I see nothing but stunning success for Valve and Vivendi
Universal. Best game of the show? Hell yeah!
 Halo
2
Acquiring Bungie was an excellent move for Microsoft (MSFT). In a sentence, it
gave MSFT the exclusive right to one of the best games of modern gaming. You may
wonder how the designers of Halo 2 could top the original game. Well, they did
it, and in what looks like Hollywood style. The Halo 2 demonstration was
presented in a way very reminiscent of its predecessor (e32000/bungie.html). A
video using in game action sequences was used to create a 15+ minute movie. It
had appeared that earth was being attacked by the same aliens that were in the
first game. Your character was immersed in the battle along side many comrades.
One highlight of the entire demo was when a dying commander gave you is twin
machine guns, which when fired produced a harmonic note, erupting the E3
attendees in a loud cheer. Chase scenes in a downtown area with alien tanks and
Halo buggies looked intense as well. The action was rich and the graphics were
definitely better than the original game. Halo 2 will certainly be MSFTs golden
egg this holiday season.
 Fable
E3 attendees were treated to a live demonstration by legendary game designer
Peter Molyneux, who is the genius behind games like Populous and Black & White.
His latest game entitled ‘Fable’ tries to mold a new genre using a mix of
action, RPG and adventure all in one. What is so unique about Fable is the
non-linear path your character can take. There are many decisions to be made in
the game. You can chose to be revengeful toward your adversaries and use power
and force to get what you want, or you can be forgiving and play the role of a
traditional hero. There is no right or wrong, but the game will unfold out
differently for all who play, depending on your actions and decisions. Your
character can also learn almost anything from other characters in the game. If
you come across someone who is fishing for example, you can learn that ability
be studying his moves. Peter showed the E3 crowd how a simple burp could be
learned, then repeated by the character. Burping in front of women in the game
will get a very negative reaction. Also very important to note is that the
character ages. You start the game a young lad, and by the time the game is
over, you will have aged into an old man. The look of your character will also
morph depending on the lifestyle of your character. If you don’t do much, you
can grow a pot gut. Evil will be represented by aggressive hair
styles/tattoos/etc. This is far from another hack n slash game. It is an
exclusive for Microsoft and will be a top contender for your gaming dollar.
 Four
Horsemen
I had not heard anything about this title until I stumbled across it at the 3DO
booth. Apparently, there are nearly one hundred people working on this project.
That sounds like an awful lot to me. The game itself is an apocalyptic religious
story. It is not exactly ‘religious’ but uses religion to tell its rich story
(think End of Days). The levels are highly detailed and highly graphic. I
witnessed the main character enter a room with a priest crucified on the wall
with a satanic star painted on the wall in what looked like blood. I‘ll bet the
MPAA rating gurus will have a field day coming up with a new rating for this
game. 3DO recognizes that many of its previous releases over the past couple
years have been junk (verbally admitted) and that they have really focused on
this game to be a rich game with a unique plot and to tell an entertaining
story. The theme of the game is pretty unique to the gaming world, so I applaud
them for that.
 World
of WarCraft
I’m not too eager of the idea of the MMORPG. The biggest detractor is the
expense. Why should I pay $170 for the first year of game play when I can play
StarCraft for life for $50? If Blizzard announces an affordable pricing point
for their long awaited PC game World of WarCraft (WoW), this may very well be my
first MMORPG. The game environments are simply breathtaking. The detail of each
are is very high and many colors are used to bring the WarCraft universe to
life. The capital city in the game is as large as a real city. There are tons of
streets and shops and spires everywhere. You can view the city in the distance
from what would be miles away. Simply gorgeous! There are no load times when
transitioning from one area to another. This means you can come out of the
Dwarven caves and emerge in the snow fields, then hop of a Gryphon and ride to
the city without any hesitation on your system. The game provides a seamless
experience and promises to entertain like only a Blizzard game can. Blizzard
promises to add content and world events that change the way you will play to
keep the WoW game an evolutionary experience. Wow is looking mostly complete;
hopefully we can look forward to a nearby release date and an affordable price
plan! A special thanks to Carlos Guerrero; Associate Producer of WoW for giving
Technodynamic a personal tour of the game.
 Metal
Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
I pray that someone tells Konami that in America, snake eater could be an insult
to Solid Snake, the lead hero for the Metal Gear games. Metal Gear Solid 3
(MGS3) is a sequel to the popular Metal Gear games and part of the fastest
growing genre in gaming. This tactical stealth espionage game looks to offer as
much fun as the its predecessor plus adding in some additional components like
survival. The demo they showed had Solid Snake in the jungle evading villains
and beasts. It seemed as if you had to feed him (survival) and that he could
feed on the creatures in the environments. The game plot was not really revealed
at E3. All we know is that there are commandos in the jungle and the game had a
Rambo 2/Vietnam flavor to it. MGS3 had the same high production look that the
past MG games had and promises to offer a fun experience with Hollywood like
special effects and drama. MGS3 looks to be a PS2 exclusive… for now.
 Gladiator:
Sword of Vengence
While wondering through the Acclaim booth I stumbled on Gladiator SoV.
Traditionally I am not overly impressed with the Acclaim titles, but this game
really stood out to me as unique and having that special something that sets it
apart from most other games. Graphics and game play are the strong suits of the
game. The graphics are very realistic, providing true to life environments for
gladiator combat. They even purposely over expose areas to represent the evening
sunlight peering through windows. The effect is really quite nice! The game
plays strong to that of an action title, but adds a lot of flare with special
parrying moves and multiple weapons. The character I was using had a pair of
extended claws, similar to that of the X-men character Wolverine. A sword and
huge battle axe were also available. The parrying allows you to take on an
opponent while deflecting a secondary attacker. Doing some of these moves looked
very much like the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe’s character embarrasses
and slaughters the other combatants be taking them down one by one. The result
in the game is stunning and looks to be a lot of fun.
 Prince
of Persia - The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia (PoP) is a very pretty game, which was surrounded by pretty
booth babes, so things got a little distracting. The older Prince of Persia
games never did much for me, but the newest title in the series had some flare.
The graphics were about as good as things got for a console game and had some
good puzzle solving levels. To assist you in solving them, a zoom out view has
been added to the game to help you see the ‘big picture’. The team that
made Splinter Cell worked on this game, so that should say something! It
will be available for all platforms this fall.
 Castlevania:
Lament of Innocence
Barely making it into the ‘best of’ category is the new Castlevania. I have
always been a big fan of the series since its inception around 15 years ago. The
latest in the series successfully takes off into the 3D realm where games like
Castlevania 64 tried to go. Nice looking environments bring the classic
Castlevania flavor to life. The primary drawback preventing this game from being
showcased as a top contender is the graphics. While detailed and rich, there is
not a single use of anti-aliasing anywhere, and the result is a jaggy looking 3D
game reminiscent of a PS1. Perhaps these details are yet to be programmed. A few
enhancements in the graphics departments and Konami will have a solid title on
their hands for veteran gamers to enjoy. As of now, Castlevania LOI is only
being developed for the PS2 platform.
 WarCraft
3 Expansion: The Frozen Throne
Blizzard’s expansion pack for WarCraft 3 is almost worthy of a sequel. Each race
is given a couple new units, adding immense offensive potential to the game. If
you thought sitting around your own base building up your force was tough
before, this game will redefine your strategy. Each race also has a new unique
hero to pick from in addition to the new ‘neutral’ heroes. Neutral heroes are
available at the beginning of the game and will add depth and surprise to any
army. If single player is your thing, a campaign has been made with new tile
sets to continue the WarCraft story in all its glory. Special thanks to Chris
Sigaty; Producer of WarCraft 3 Expansion for spending a fair amount of time
giving us a demo of the game. As of the writing of this E3 synopsis, War 3
expansion is gong gold and will be available shortly. With quality games few and
far between, WarCraft 3 Expansion is a welcome addition to the PC market and
will be one of the best games of the summer.
 StarCraft
Ghost
Blizzard’s first console entry in about a decade stars a Terran Ghost in one of
the newest and most popular genres; the Tactical Stealth/Espionage games. Like
Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, Ghost’s best features are it’s rich
environments and less obvious methods to solve levels. Running and gunning is
not the name of this game, instead, observing the environment and formulating a
strategy based on your abilities using psy ops and techno enhanced weapons will
cater to your intellect as well as your thirst for good action. Ghost was
recently delayed until sometime next year, allowing Blizzard to continue
development to bring fans the top notch experience we all expect from gaming’s
best company. Ghost looks very solid so far, but a little more detail will make
this game a real gem and a fine addition to console market.
 Call
of Duty
Activision has enhanced the World War 2 multiplayer genre dramatically with Call
of Duty (COD) for the PC. Just when you though Wolfenstein was as good as gaming
could get comes this excellent enhancement. COD had all the graphics you could
want and features a few extra moves for your character that end up making this
game very different than your standard game. The ability to duck and run and
crawl to locations add an incredible amount of depth to the game. The levels
have been designed to reward you for taking your time advancing, using the
terrain to your advantage, just like in real war. If you run and storm an enemy
bunker, you’ll probably be mowed down rather quickly, but crawling to a fence,
dashing to a car for cover and chucking grenades around corners will bring
gamers one step closer to the real thing. COD looks to have the graphics and
game play to keep PC gamers happy until Activision/ID’s Doom 3 is released.
 Ninja
Gaiden
Veteran gamers will certainly remember this name. This action/adventure game
developed by Tecmo features great graphics and quick actiony game play. The
game’s main character can do maneuvers like Trinity in the Matrix. Run along
sides of walls leaping to higher areas and doing incredible attacks. Ninja
Gaiden seems to take full advantage of the Xbox and is graphically one of the
prettiest console games at the show. Tecmo claims to have a ‘revolutionary’ use
of the online feature of the Xbox, but details have not been announced yet. The
game was demo’d by creator “Tomonobu Itagaki” (A name I dare not try and
pronounce or spell without the aid of cut n paste). He clearly has a very solid
game in development that will certainly help the Xbox as being the superior
platform for hardcore gamers.
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