2404 - PC Gaming - E3 2004 Day 2

E3 2004 Day 2

Posted by Hengst June 14, 2004

E3 for the PC day 2 by Hengst

Having had a productive and exciting day yesterday, despite the flood of humanity I was exposed to, I was fairly confident that today would be a bit more of a low key affair. Well I was wrong. Having a 10:00 AM appointment to view Half-Life 2 and Counterstrike 2, I figured would absorb much of my day.

At the rather large Vivendi Universal Booth, I was given access to see and play many of their upcoming PC titles. I began the day with Evil Genius a game released by Sierra which looks set to revolutionize strategy gaming and bring back a concept I haven't seen since Dungeon Keeper stormed onto the PC years ago.

Evil Genius is quite simply an Evil Genius Simulator game. By this I mean it takes the best of real time strategy games, building a base (or in this case a hidden evil lair), recruiting troops and then defending yourself from invaders (a.k.a. the good guys). The use of humor was clearly evident in the alpha build of this game that I had a chance to sit down with today. The main goal of your genius is to create a doomsday weapon, activate it, and then take over the world. In an effort to stop your plans, the various nations of the world will send their own commandos and secret agents, each with varying abilities and skills, all bent on stopping your quest for world domination.

If the devil is in the details, then this game is certainly leaning towards the evil side of life. Nearly everything in this game is customizable. The ability to design your own evil lair, where to put the rooms, the torture devices (yep I said torture), and of course the traps. Any self-respecting villain needs to secure his hidden lair with a series of intricate traps designed to keep the good guys out and of course the prisoners in. The version I saw showed you a test dummy feature where a stupid dummy intentionally walks down a set path and tests your defenses. I watched as the dummy strolled along, got smashed against a series of walls by way of large springs, got pushed through flames before finally landing on the floor, only to be swallowed by a large beast. The level of detail here was truly amazing.

The units you use in this game are also quite interesting, from the stupid worker units, to the colorful training units, to the sometimes gruesome work of your henchman. This game is slated to include 3 different evil genius', as well as up to 10 different evil henchmen, all having different skills and abilities. The highlight of the demo for me was seeing a torturer move a prisoner from a prison cell to a strange looking chair. Strapping the prisoner into the chair, the evil man began to dance like Michael Jackson in front of the prisoner. Strange as it sounds I am being serious. From the moonwalk to the trademark hip gyrations, this guard did it all. The inclusion of strong humor, as well as the sheer number of entertaining small details this game includes made it easily one of the most impressive games that I have seen here at E3 so far. Before I move on, I should add that an expansion pack will be developed for the game, which aside from new units and henchman will include a multiplayer component, allowing for good vs. evil and of course evil vs. evil gameplay modes, more on this to follow as we get further details. After playing a little bit of this game, I was of course ready for my appointment to see the new Valve game…what was it called…..oh yeah Half-Life 2. What I saw was simply amazing. I saw the best looking water effects I have ever seen, as well as some very impressive physics. I also saw a hint of the storyline for this game, taking place in a more futuristic setting than the first one, in a dark crumbling world that is merely a shadow of the one we live in now. One of the first things that was shown was the ability to truly have an impact on the environment. I saw how a vehicle teetering on the edge of the cliff was moved back onto the road thanks to the help of some selective shooting. I also got to see more of the vaunted gravity gun as well. Perhaps the coolest thing I saw was Freeman shooting his vehicle into a guard and killing him. Nearly everything in the gaming environment looked capable of being moved, and/or destroyed. They also showed a demo of the hovercraft vehicle that is available in the game. The Valve rep promised plenty of vehicles would be included in this game.

After completing the Half-Life 2 demo, the Valve people showed a quick movie of what appears to be Counter-Strike remade with the Half-life 2 graphics and physics engines. While it looked more like a movie clip than an actual gameplay clip, it is obvious how great a game Counter-Strike could become with the new HL2 engine. Sadly neither game was available for a hands-on demo.

The next game I got the chance to not only see, but also to play was the new Tribes game, Tribes: Vengeance. This game has been in development for some time, but was looking fairly far along today in action. I started the day in the standard Capture the flag multiplayer game. Using my Heavy Suited warrior and some speed jets, I tried out the jetpack and my fragging luck. I found the controls to be fairly standard with other similar FPS games and I certainly enjoyed the jetpack more in this game than in Tribes 2. The one thing I did notice, was that while the game looked good, it didn't seem to be, at least in the build I played, as ready to go as UT2k4. The graphics seemed smooth, but not as detailed or textured as those in UT2k4. The one huge difference in this game though, is the inclusion of a Single player campaign. Yes you heard me, this game will include a single player campaign, as well as a storyline with missions and objectives to fulfill. For a single player gamer such as myself, this is great news indeed. I was told that we could expect anywhere from 12-20 hours of single player experience, as well as a fully developed multiplayer game with various modes and maps and vehicles to choose from. This game is looking at a 4th quarter release.

Having spent some time in the Star Wars: Republic Commando's movie booth yesterday, (incidentally how you can wear a storm trooper suit at the LA convention center around so many people and not die of heat exhaustion is amazing) I was definitely excited to get to play through two of the game's missions. While this game may have the look and feel of Nintendo's Metroid Prime, at least in the area of the visor First person perspective, it was simply not a clone of the game. When they say that your true weapon in this game is the squad, they are not joking.

With a simple one key command mode, and a list of short ones like form up on me or seek and destroy, this game actually makes squad based play very easy to use properly. The level I played had me and 3 other squad mates fighting through the Geonosian bug men, as well as Trade Federation war droids in some dark caverns as I looked to find a way to destroy a shield generator. I found it very easy to give my squad mates commands to take up and use sniping positions, or even to heal themselves or fallen comrades on the go. Now if this is too much for you, you can always have the squad back you up while you do all the heavy lifting. Me, I liked issuing the orders and then providing cover fire from a position of if not cover, then at least concealment. This game was both intuitive, as well a fun and certainly had a great looking graphical engine. The inclusion of a multiplayer mode also promises to make this game a must have title for the PC. Yes, yet again a Star Wars game that doesn't stink has reared its head.

The last game I have to talk about today is from NCSOFT, the apparent leaders in the innovation and development of MMORPGs. The game I saw and played today was called Tabula Rasa and it has one advantage over every game on the market right now…it was created by Richard ''Lord British'' Garriott. If you aren't certain what I am talking about, stop reading now and search online for this little game series known as Ultima. This game takes place in the near future, and although it looks similar to many of the current fantasy games out there, it's really quite futuristic once you get into it. One of the biggest claims this game has been making is the pledge to combine the best aspects of solo gaming and multiplayer gaming into one larger experience. Featuring a robust graphical engine and the incorporation of in game voice chat, I was quite intrigued by what I found. I joined a party of 4 and proceeded on a rescue mission to save a prisoner. Using a female fighter garbed in a sleek and well let's just say rather fetching outfit, I gathered my wits about me and went off to battle.

Like many of the more recent MMORPGs, this games uses the WASD controls as well as the right mouse button held down for mouse looking. The combat was easily initiated by selecting an enemy and beginning the melee. After getting killed once, I discovered the proper way to combat was not just bum rushing the enemies and hoping to survive, but rather the use of team work as well as my abilities. My character had 3 abilities as well as one special or Chi ability. These abilities allowed me to knock my enemy down, as well as to inflict massive damage on them, when they hit their target anyways. I saw how easy and seamless it was to switch from weapon to weapon in the game, as well as discovering that some enemies are only susceptible to ranged attacks. The environment was also very easy to interact with incorporating a simple one click to use action feature. The soundtrack to the game, featuring music from a former member of Nine Inch Nails, was also a very nice touch which helped add to the atmosphere of the game.

Having made it through 2 solid days of E3, I can honestly say that I am very hopeful about the next year and a half in PC gaming. After a somewhat lackluster E3 showing last year, I am happy to say that the PC has made a powerful showing this year. Stayed tuned tomorrow to my day 3 coverage of E3, where I will get an in-depth look at Everquest 2 and the new expansion to Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, Jump to Light Speed.

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