My Future Games As an avid gamer it’s always fun to read about the enthusiasm of other gamers and what adventures they anticipate. Articles like Waiting on Warhammer, found on the MMO focused Massevely site gives you the sense that you’re a child again. Remember the days when you sat around the porch with your friends during the summer struggling to decide how to entertain yourself? Suddenly an idea sprung forth that everyone could get behind. Well, here are some games I can get behind and some I can’t.
Future Fun to Consider
Mythos (Free download!) – Release unknown. Summer 08?
Mythos by
Flagship Studios will be free to download and play. Flagship Studios are the people who brought you HellGate:
London (See review below). Nonetheless, this looks more promising and what might be the best Diablo remake of all time…and then some. The game will feature a non-advantage micro transition model that remains a mystery in terms of details. The developers promise the game will be 100% playable without dropping a dime but this pet project gone big time is a must try. What have you got to lose beyond HD space?
LOTRO’s Mines of Moria (Expansion) – October 08.
The first expansion pack to the successful Lord of the Rings Online game (see comments below) will feature the underground realm of the dwarves that was lost to the goblins their nasty cave trolls. This will be welcome, and in my opinion needed addition to the game. The question is one of timing. Will it be able to keep its fan base when Warhammer Online hits the shelves? If they add two new character classes without providing additional character a slot (which is the rumor) it will force players to delete an existing character. That’s a deal breaker for this Middle dork.
SPORE – October 08.
Drop everything else for this title. Taken directly from the web site, SPORE is “An epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space.” It will be big, deep, and worth the price of admission. As the tag line says, the game lets you evolve from a single cell organism to a space ship driving sentient being with laser beams. The only thing better than that might be laser cats.
Warhammer Online – October 08 (maybe).
Don’t listen to all the AoC hype; Warhammer Online is the first MMO that will suck players away from the dynasty that is WoW for two reasons. First, WoW has been on the market for about four years and starting to show its age. Second, Warhammer will be that good. It’s 65+million production budget is the closest to WoW’s 80m big American boffos to date. Warhammer has the advantage of time and experience. The industry has learned a great deal from WoW. Warhammer may be the first MMO to develop all the features the community has been asking for (Living Guilds, Capital cities that evolve, Keep Sieges, deep classes, and more). This could be the spoiler for all other games in my humble desktop world. I’ll be purchasing this the day it’s released.
Check out the Massively website for the best coverage of Warhammer Online to date.
Fallout 3 - More soon.
Ratings for Present & Past Games
All scores range from 1-10 with 1 being horrible (stay away because it will infect your children) to 10 being gaming perfection.
BioShock: Score = 9.
Amazing single player game. BioShock is a beautiful piece of work and one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. The story is so original that Universal Pictures and Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski have signed a deal with publisher Take-Two to bring acclaimed FPS BioShock to the silver screen. For now let me leave it at this, it's the perfect single player shooter and so much more. It was a stylistic romp that was very difficult to put down. I would highly recommend this to anyone who still thinks computer games are simplistic and two dimensional...just make sure you have a system has enough hutzpa to run it properly.
Call of Duty 4 (Currently Playing): Score = 8.5.
The immensely successful FPS (First Person Shooter) has sold a g’billion copies (that’s a lot) and it’s easy to understand why. You get dumped right into the action, advance your character in ingenious and persistent ways, create classes, and get to shoot bad guys and blow things up. Fun! Others have rated this game higher and I attribute my “low” score to the fact that I’m looking for more than sheer shooters these days. Thus, we have a personal tilt. In the end, this is a fast pace FPS that gives you the heart pounding, keyboard smashing adrenalin based fun you're looking for.
Company of Heroes: Score = 8.
The WWII based RTS (Real Time Strategy) games are plentiful and this one tops them all. In a WWII saturated world it shinned like the first of its kind. I never finished the game but played through about 60% of it. In my little world CoH had stiff competition from games that suite my personal proclivities but this is a fantastic game. It will challenge you’re battlefield readiness, ability to think on your feet, and micro managing aptitude. If you like RTS games you will no undoubtedly rate this game even higher.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Score = 7.
Enemy Territory is a solid squad based FPS but offers nothing new. ET:QW rides the strong history of Quake games but it does not stand out in the present sea of talent. There are no fatal flaws but we (that means me) wanted more. Tilt for my past Quake affection. What’s next Id?
HellGate: London: Score = 5.
HellGate just failed to capture my attention and was riddled with bugs at release. I played the beta and just could not bring myself to boot this title up after a week of head scratching. It promised so much and left me wanting. Some may like HellGate but many did not. After I wrote all this I found the following article regarding this sinking ship.
Lord of the Rings Online (
Currently Playing): Score =
8.
As a life time J. R. R. Tolkien enthusiast this game was a rich gateway into that lore. Middle Earth was beautifully rendered and the game deep. Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) was also welcomed after a long break from MMOs and WoW burnout. Nearly a year into the game I can say that it presents little innovation. In many respects the game lore is more intriguing than a game like WoW because of its literary source. However, and it pains me to say this, WoW is a better executed game with more features and a longer life. I get the feeling that Turbine’s wonderful game is a placeholder between WoW and the next best thing (Warhammer?). Whatever the case, it’s a fun game and worth a good long stay. It’s a cozy hobbit hole. Did I mention that FattyLumpkins (can you guess from where the name hails?), my main character, owns an in-game hobbit hole? Anyway, FattyLumpkins is a Female Human Champion (pictured below-click to enlarge) and she reached the level cap long ago. Unfortunately, like many MMOs the end game requires instance runs to tweak out your toon…and as a busy person with a new son these all night stints are almost impossible. I have resorted to crafting and mulling around with my alts. Both endeavors are enjoyable but leave you wanting over time. The score is probably representative of professional opinions but I will always be giving that number a personal shine...just not enough to warrant the $199 life time membership fee. The expansion pack may keep me going past October but let’s see if I am tempted away and to the dark side (misplaced Star Wars reference?) over the next 4-5 months. For now, I’m happy to dwell in the lands of Middle Earth online.
The Orange Box (HalfLife 2: Episode 2, Portal & TeamFortress 2). In the Orange Box you get the following 3 games, all of which make this purchase potentially the best boom for your buck in gaming history. Sound a little hyperbolic? Good!
HalfLife 2: Episode 2 = No Rating but thumbs up!
I have not had time to play this game BUT the hour I devoted to it leaves me to believe it is as good as its predecessor. It promises to be a worthwhile single player FPS based on story line, original universe, and immersive sound effects.
Portal: Score = 9.5.
Having played through about 75% of the game I find myself holding off on the rest to the experience never ends. In Portal by Steam there are few enemies shooting at you, just first person environments filled with mind teasing puzzles. Oh, and you get a portal gun. If you want to introduce someone to a computer game for the first time…this is a good choice. The “non 10” score is due to the fact there is not more game play hours.
TeamFortress 2 (Currently Playing): Score 9.5!
TF2 is a near perfect multiplayer game that relies on teamwork and some fast twitch skillz. The class based system really works. The highly stylized remake features a 1960s spy design, fast paced action, solid sound engineering, great maps (classic and new), and enough action to keep the most pathetic of addicts high and happy.
Unreal Tournament III: Score = 1.
This disappointing hunk of junk did not work on my machine where every other game, software package, and virus (hehe) ran smooth as butter on a hot pan. I sold the game on eBay to recoup some cash. Someone actually purchased it. The fact that sales were disgusting backs up my personal feelings that the series has crapped out. That is unfortunate because it's a good series. The people who like it even say it is the same as the previous installment but with better graphics. That would make it a good game but also a ploy to make more money. I might have rated this higher had I been able to experience the steaming turd of a product.
Summary
The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, and LOTRO have been enough to keep me busy for over a year and they’re likely to keep any gamer (who likes these types of games) afloat until October when Mythos, Warhammer Online, and SPORE steal the show. I hope the LOTRO expansion pack holds a punch powerful enough to stay in this gamer’s scope of attention. Warhammer Online could be the cake topper. MMOs can be very addicting but this particular title appears to have been laced enough layers of fun to keep the Peewee Herman of games charged up.
