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PHANTASY STAR ONLINE:<br />
BLUE BURST<br />
PUBLISHER: Sega DEVELOPER: Sonic Team<br />
RELEASE DATE: 2005<br />
What We Said: “Phantasy Star is coming to the<br />
PC? It’s about phreakin’ time!”<br />
What We Saw: Higher resolutions make Sonic<br />
Team’s colorful worlds and characters look that<br />
much prettier. PSO is as addictive as ever; while<br />
it’s still most at home with a gamepad, it is surprisingly<br />
playable with mouse and keyboard controls.<br />
THE LORD OF THE RINGS<br />
ONLINE: SHADOWS<br />
OF ANGMAR<br />
PUBLISHER: Turbine DEVELOPER: Turbine<br />
RELEASE DATE: January 2006<br />
What We Said: “We have one burning question:<br />
Does anyone really care?”<br />
What We Saw: The game formerly known as<br />
Middle-earth Online attempts to provide a fictionheavy<br />
experience that LOTR-savvy MMO fans<br />
should dig. But, as with all licensed MMOs, what<br />
fun is it when you’re a nobody? We want to be<br />
Gandalf or Aragorn, not John Wayne Hobbit.<br />
DREAMFALL:<br />
THE LONGEST JOURNEY<br />
PUBLISHER: Funcom DEVELOPER: Funcom<br />
RELEASE DATE: September 2005<br />
What We Said: “We love The Longest Journey,<br />
but the sequel has us worried.”<br />
What We Saw: The three Lara Croft–esque<br />
playable characters confirm the de-Myst-ification<br />
we suspected, but all the grandeur of classic<br />
adventures still seems to linger. We’re still not<br />
sold on that combat stuff, though.<br />
VANGUARD:<br />
SAGA OF HEROES<br />
PUBLISHER: Microsoft DEVELOPER: Sigil Games<br />
RELEASE DATE: 2006<br />
What We Said: “We need to see for ourselves<br />
what makes Vanguard different from everything<br />
else.”<br />
What We Saw: We now know what makes it different—it’s<br />
the most ambitious MMORPG ever,<br />
which is its salvation or doom. Covering traditional<br />
adventuring, crafting, diplomacy, exploration,<br />
and so much more, Vanguard’s design doc must<br />
be big enough to stun an ox. But is it too big?<br />
AGE OF EMPIRES III<br />
PUBLISHER: Microsoft DEVELOPER: Ensemble<br />
Studios RELEASE DATE: November 2005<br />
What We Said: “Rather than acting as yet<br />
another carbon copy of its forebear, AOE3 introduces<br />
some new gameplay elements.”<br />
What We Saw: AOE3 is the series’ first 3D title,<br />
and while that’s hardly a revolutionary element, its<br />
impact on the game is undeniable. In general, it<br />
seems Ensemble hasn’t tried to fix what wasn’t<br />
broken—thankfully. (Check out our exclusive<br />
hands-on preview of AOE3 page TK.)<br />
CALL OF DUTY 2<br />
PUBLISHER: Activision DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward<br />
RELEASE DATE: Q3 2005<br />
What We Said: “Why is it we are so excited<br />
about COD2? The gameplay.”<br />
What We Saw: Death porn. That sounds harsh,<br />
but more than one of us was disturbed by the<br />
COD2 D-Day demo shown at E3. We understand<br />
the desire for authenticity, but this felt like it was<br />
reveling in death and destruction. We’re hoping<br />
the finished product makes us feel less icky than<br />
the demo did, though the game looks great—for a<br />
look at exclusive new screens, turn to page TK.<br />
STAR WARS<br />
EMPIRE AT WAR<br />
PUBLISHER: LucasArts DEVELOPER: Petroglyph<br />
RELEASE DATE: November 2005<br />
What We Said: “Yeah, we know that previous<br />
Star Wars RTS efforts have been mediocre, but<br />
our hopes are still high.”<br />
What We Saw: After getting a good look at<br />
Empire at War, we were impressed by the ingame<br />
battles, which seemed appropriately larger<br />
than life and incredibly detailed. Well, either that<br />
or we were still on a high from seeing Darth Vader<br />
back in theaters, kicking ass old-school style.<br />
AGE OF CONAN:<br />
HYBORIAN ADVENTURES<br />
PUBLISHER: Funcom DEVELOPER: Funcom<br />
RELEASE DATE: 2006<br />
What We Said: “Funcom hopes that by getting<br />
players acclimated to the game offline, the MMO<br />
experience will be less daunting and more dynamic.”<br />
What We Saw: A single-player RPG that turns into<br />
an MMO adventure after level 20? It sounds ingenious,<br />
looks damn impressive, and is true to the<br />
Conan lore—expect a full onscreen abattoir. Definitely<br />
not just another MMO, Age of Conan is one to watch.<br />
E3 2005 POST-MORTEM RADAR<br />
CGW @ E3 2005<br />
The editors sound off about this year’s show<br />
JEFF GREEN<br />
It was a great E3 for PC<br />
gaming, and I’m not just<br />
saying that because it’s<br />
my job. Spore, AOE3,<br />
Prey, and Enemy Territory:<br />
Quake Wars were<br />
amongst the best games of the show, on any<br />
platform. I hate E3. E3 sucks. I wish it would<br />
go away forever. But this year I loved it.<br />
ROBERT COFFEY<br />
While E3 was nasty—tons<br />
of people with<br />
questionable hygiene<br />
made even more<br />
questionable thanks to no<br />
air conditioning—it was<br />
great nonetheless. For me, this year was all<br />
about games I hadn’t known much about<br />
beforehand, like Prey and Spore. I also liked<br />
Creative’s X-Fi technology (see page 82 for<br />
more on X-Fi), which is going to make gamers<br />
stop taking sound for granted.<br />
KRISTEN<br />
SALVATORE<br />
This was by far the most<br />
crowded E3 I’ve attended.<br />
In terms of getting around<br />
and finding food, and the<br />
proximity of sweaty<br />
bodies with which I am not interested in<br />
becoming familiar, that was a bad, bad thing.<br />
In terms of the health of our industry and the<br />
wealth of great games to look forward to, it<br />
was nothing short of kick-ass.<br />
DARREN<br />
GLADSTONE<br />
This was a year of bona<br />
fide surprises. Who<br />
cares about the PS3 and<br />
Xbox 360 when we’ve<br />
got Spore, the most<br />
revolutionary game I’ve seen since…well,<br />
The Sims? Top that off with new games such<br />
as UT 2007, Huxley, and Quake Wars, and<br />
2006 is already looking hot.<br />
RYAN SCOTT<br />
One thing never<br />
changes: E3 makes my<br />
feet hurt. But even with<br />
the legwork, the show<br />
is always a blast. My<br />
favorite game of E3 had<br />
to be Titan Quest. I know everybody’s hot<br />
and bothered for Diablo III, but, man, does<br />
this game look awesome!<br />
>> at it again, working on Dungeon Siege, the movie. Strangely, some big stars have signed on—including Burt Reynolds and Ron Perlman.. >><br />
CGW.1UP.COM < 39