I've been watching the game announcements and the preview footage that came out of E3 this year (Xbox Live has a nice section, "E3 2007" that has the trailers all in one place). Holy crap will my gaming plate be full! I have the following to look forward to, mostly on the 360, but some PC titles as well:
- Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's action title set in the Third Crusade featuring "crowd stealth" and the ability to climb anything and everything. Sam Fisher meets Prince of Persia.
- Army of Two, EA's third person shooter, a game (finally!) designed specifically to be played by two players cooperatively. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory co-op minus the stealth.
- Beautiful Katamari, the first appearance on a Microsoft console of this charmingly weird game about rolling up crap into a giant ball. Think "dung beetle" but cuter and more Japanese.
- Bioshock, the spiritual successor to System Shock, promising amazing visuals and a haunting atmosphere. System Shock in the 1920's, underwater.
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, id's entry into the larger-scale team-and-class based FPS realm. Quake meets Wolfenstein mulitplayer meets Battlefield.
- Fable 2, the follow up to Peter Molyneux's action RPG that although didn't deliver on its grand vision, was still a great game. Fable with a pet dog and pregnancy.
- Guitar Hero III, the game that makes you think for a second you can actually play guitar. Guitar Hero II plus Slash of Guns and Roses.
- Half Life 2: Episode 2, the continuation of Valve's epic FPS telling the tale of Dr. Gordon Freeman and his fight to save Earth from the Combine. Half Life 2 plus 2.
- Halo 3, the last chapter in Bungie's FPS juggernaut chronicalling Master Chief's fight to save the Earth from The Covenant. A prettier Halo with a better ending.
- Project Gotham Racing 4, the latest in a line of not completely arcade/not completely sim racing games. HD PGR with motorcycles.
- Mass Effect, Bioware's non-Star Wars space opera RPG. KOTOR minus Star Wars plus realistic facial animations.
- Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the adventure/RPG game with the ridiculously long title from the Penny Arcade boys. Gabe and Tycho meet Sam and Max.
- Rock Band, the game that makes you think for a second you could actually be in a band. Guitar Hero plus Karaoke Revolution plus Drum Mania.
- The Simpsons Game, a third-person action game (surprisingly) not based on the upcoming movie which parodies videogames themselves. The Simpsons plus everything.
Not to mention...
- All Pro Footbal 2K8, the spiritual successor to (the greatest Xbox football title) ESPN NFL2K5. NFL2K5 minus NFL license.
- Bomberman LIVE, which is just what it sounds like (arcade action/puzzle). Bomberman plus Live.
- Burnout Paradise, another entry in the arcade race-and-crash series. Burnout on the beach?
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, finally pulling the popular FPS into the age of modern combat. Call of Duty minus WWII plus Middle East conflict.
- Civilization Revolution, bringing the classic strategy game to consoles. Civilization minus mouse and keyboard and complexity.
- Fallout 3, the much anticipated return to a classic post-apocalyptic RPG series. Fallout plus Bethesda sprinkled with Ron Perlman.
- Grand Theft Auto IV, the next entry in this long running "sandbox" series. GTA returns to Liberty City, this time as an Eastern European.
- Halo Wars, an RTS set in the Halo universe (which, ironically, is what Halo was originally to be). Command and Conquer meets Halo.
- Stuntman: Ignition, a stunt driving game under the guise of being a stuntman on a film set. PGR's kudos plus Burnouts crash events with a dash of Lee Majors.
- Switchball, a platform puzzler involving an "ever changing ball rolling along a narrow course suspended in midair". Samus meets Marble Blast Ultra.
- Tetris Splash, which is Tetris for Xbox Live. Tetris Worlds minus the sucking, plus Live.
- Team Fortress 2, a long awaited entry in the team-based twitch online FPS arena. Quake plus classes meets ACME.
- Unreal Tournament 3, another entry in the classic online FPS category. Prettier Unreal Tournament.
...all which look interesting.
Guess I should start saving up those pesos.
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