So, anyone here follow the announcements of E3 2003? If so, which games particularly pique your interests?
For me, they have to be:
“Pirates!” by Sid Meier, scheduled for 2004. Enough said.
The Civ3 add on “Conquests” which will add 8 new civs, multiple scenarios, a revised editor, new governments, resources, and wonders, among other things.
“Call of Cthulhu,” which finally found a publisher with Bethesda (think “Morrowind”).
Rockstar North’s “Manhunt,” whatever it may be.
“Axis and Allies,” however it is to be done.
“Half Life 2” because, you know, it’s Half Life.
“Republic” which is looking to be quite the geopolitical simulator.
“True Crime: Streets of LA” which should be a good game in the style of GTA.
As an attendee of E3, I was most impressed by Nintendo’s booth, followed by Microsoft’s and then Sony’s. Mario kart: Double Dash was a blast to play on an 8-player LAN and the new Zelda GC/GBA connectivity game was a breath of fresh air. Both were insanely fun multiplayer games. F-Zero GX was essentially F-Zero 64 on steroids, not that that’s a bad thing. The sensation of speed is unparalleld, no doubt due to the amazing graphics and frame rate. Pikmin 2, while essentially a cookie-cut sequel does contain several unique aspects that will assist in differentiating it from the original, co-op mode was highly addictive. Finally, Viewtiful Joe was a gaming masterpiece with its stylish graphics and amazing gameplay. Much to my dismay, Star Fox 2 (previously Star Fox Armada) was mediocre at best. The graphics were lame, control sloppy and the game play mechanics unrefined. I hope Namco pulls that one through.
On the GBA front, Mario and Luigi is essentially a sequel to Paper Mario, albeit with slightly altered game play and graphics. Mario and Donkey Kong had amazing graphics which even surpassed the less-than-stellar Donkey Kong Country port. Finally, Wario Ware was an absolute riot with it’s amazingly fast paced mini-games.
Over at Microsoft’s booth, Conker’s Bad Fur Day: Live and Uncut, Kameo, Grabbed by the Goulies and Halo 2 all caught my attention. While Conker was only shown in multi-player form, it was very fun, though I was disappointed to find that the story mode is simply a remake of the N64 original. Grabbed by the Goulies (which looked retarded at the press conference) saved face by possessing gameplay which has some serious potential. Kameo’s shape shifting game play also played interestingly and was quite enjoyable. I’m just upset that Halo 2 wasn’t playable, instead being shown in demo form only. But what was shown looked amazing.
Sony’s booth didn’t contain much that I cared about except for the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater trailer. It’s hard to determine how the game will play from the preview, but if the previous entities in the series are any indicator (sans story) it should be a great game.
Oh man, I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for Mario Kart: Double Dash!! to come out since the Game Cube came out. I can’t take it much more!!!
I’m also very interested in all the Lord of the Rings games set to come out. The one based on the movie will be out for consoles, but the other two games will be for PC only. I know the LOTR game that came out last year not based on the movie sucked, but I have hope for these new ones. One’s massively multiplayer though, which I’m sure means I’ll have to pay to play.
Another game that looks awesome is World of Warcraft, but it’s also a MMORPG. I might just have to break down this year and pay the monthly fee for WoW and Middle Earth Online if they’re as great as I think they might be.
I actually missed a good deal at E3 this year, however one of the best looking games is Savage by iGames. It’s a mix between RTS and FPS which actually works, I recommend checking it out.
Also, World of Warcraft looks wonderful. Blizzard is aiming for a more mainstream crowd, not the standard MMORPG crowd, so they’ve got a lot of nice touches for players who don’t play much, or don’t like to just stat build. I got a demo of the game for nearly an hour at the show and it’s going to be great.
Halo 2 just blows away everything else on the XBox so far, which is very impressive. Half Life 2 blows away Doom III.
Finally, Atlus USA is making a Final Fantasy Tactics clone who’s name I can’t remember, but it is great. Nice graphics, decent looking story and some nice game mechanics. I’ll get the name for you and get back to you.
Ninja Gaiden for Xbox is #1 on my list of shit-my-pants games.
MGS3 looks badass. Glad its back in the jungle where MG belongs. Too bad its not being developed for Xbox right out the gate otherwise it would look even better.
Ninja Gaiden looks good too.
Halo 2 looks cool.
Also, Ninja Gaiden looks like it will be pretty good.
Anyone looks forward to Ninja Gaiden? I heard its gonna be good.