It wasn't so
long ago that uninformed pessimists were proclaiming "PC is dead." The
incredible success story of
last year (including
Civilization
III,
Return to Castle
Wolfenstein,
Harry
Potter, and
Dark Age of
Camelot) silenced most of these deranged fools, and this year's
strong showing at E3 sent even hard-core cynics packing. As expected, massively
multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) made a big splash, but there
were a few surprises out there, as well as a couple of games that expanded the
massively multiplayer online thing by replacing RPG with adventure or
first-person shooter.
Below you'll find what I thought were the best PC games at the show.
I limited the list to games scheduled for release in 2002.
1.
Star Wars
Galaxies (MMORPG)
Ever since I first saw
EverQuest in action, I've dreamed about an
online version of
Star
Wars. In my dreams, this online
Star Wars
game
would let you assume the role of nearly any type of character in the
Star Wars
universe and interact with thousands of other players'
characters as well as established characters from the movies. When I heard that
Verant, the software company that created
EverQuest
, was
developing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game called
Star Wars
Galaxies, I feared that it would simply be
EverQuest
with
Star Wars
graphics. Boy, was I
wrong. Verant took their unmatched online game expertise and crafted the most
sophisticated, refined, technologically impressive online game known to
mankind. You can be a shady smuggler, like Han. You can be a cold bounty
hunter, like Boba Fett. You can even be a Jedi, like Luke. You can create and
develop any character you like and seek out adventure and excitement as you see
fit. Best of all, the game never ends--it persists and changes online, even
when you're not playing. Interaction with other players is what this game is
all about; you can get together with your Rebel friends and raid an Imperial
bunker, or work with other Imperial troops to squash Rebel scum. You can
instruct young Jedi in the ways of the Force, or you can work with other bounty
hunters to hunt down outlaw Jedi and bring them to justice. Or you can manage a
cantina or parts shop and marvel at the galaxy's vast variety of heroes, scum,
and villainy. This game is due for PC sometime in late 2002; start saving up
those vacation days now.
2.
The Sims
Online (MMORPG) The Sims
Online lets you take your Sims to an online world where you get
to be yourself or whoever you want to be. In this world you have your own piece
of land to do with as you please. Create a house, coffee bar, dance club,
museum, or whatever you can imagine. Explore the neighborhoods around you and
meet scores of Sims along the way. Build a network of friends to enhance your
power, wealth, reputation, and social standing. Be a peacemaker or pest, a
recluse or rabble-rouser. In this open-ended online world, you choose your
role, your attitude, and your destiny. It's more than
EverQuest
for
The Sims
; the game's complete suite of online communication
tools (including buddy lists, e-mail, and instant messaging) will completely
replace players' online lives.
3.
Battlefield
1942 (First-Person Shooter) E3 was
full of new playable games, but
Battlefield
1942 easily stands out as the most fun game at the show. You're
a WWII soldier on a true-to-life battlefield, equipped with weapons that look
and sound authentic, able to storm the beaches on foot or seamlessly jump into
and out of any of 35 vehicles of war. The depth is incredible. While on foot,
you play as one of five specialized classes (assault, medic, scout, antitank,
or engineer) with varying equipment and abilities. The choice of vehicles
ranges from a selection of tanks, jeeps, and other fairly standard mechanized
land vehicles to exotic craft like battleships, submarines, and dive bombers.
Best of all, you can pit yourself against your fellow man in objective-based
online battles in four distinct WWII theaters of war: North Africa, South Asia
Pacific, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe. This is everything that
World War II
Online should have been. This is
Tribes 2
with better code, graphics, control--everything, and without the cheesy sci-fi
trappings. This out-WWIIs
Medal of
Honor and
Return to Castle
Wolfenstein. This game is like the ultimate sandbox, with all
the best toys.
4.
Neverwinter
Nights (RPG and MMORPG)Neverwinter
Nights is a new Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing
game from BioWare, developers of the wacky 3-D action title
MDK2 and the wildly
popular
Baldur's Gate role-playing series.
Throughout its history of hit titles, BioWare has become well known for its eye
for detail and commitment to rich and evocative storytelling in its games.
Neverwinter Nights
raises the bar even higher, with the official
campaign drawing its players into an epic and unforgettable tale of faith, war,
and betrayal along the windswept Sea of Swords. Gamers looking to re-create
all-night high school game sessions can use the included campaign editor to
build characters, castles, and individual adventures. Ambitious gamers can even
link their individual campaign modules with others to create a persistent,
ever-changing online world. Time to put that dice bag away and get back
together with long-lost D&D buddies online.
5.
WarCraft
III (Real-Time Strategy)WarCraft
III lets you wage war in a fully interactive world that
incorporates nonplayer characters, wandering monsters, neutral towns,
strongholds, temples, and environmental effects. The game features four unique
races armed with distinctive units, magical abilities, and weapons of war. Two
of the nations of warriors are new to the WarCraft universe, the plague-ridden
Undead and the mysterious Night Elves. Brilliant three-dimensional graphics
powered by Blizzard's own 3-D engine bring the individual units to life. Taking
a cue from
StarCraft and mixing in a bit of
Diablo
gameplay results in the ability to build legendary heroes, whose ability to
advance in levels and learn new spells and abilities makes them the core of
each race's force. Everything is tied together with topnotch cinematic
cutscenes that tell the kind of epic story gamers have come to expect from
Blizzard.
Honorable MentionsOf the other games that I have heard something about, the
following are the ones I consider to be the most intriguing:
Best Games That Didn't Make the Top
Five:
Unreal
2
(first-person shooter) and Unreal
Tournament 2003
(online first-person shooter). Don't get me
wrong; these action hits were the best-looking games at the show. But my top
five were just a bit more impressive from a design
standpoint.
Best Game That Wasn't There:
Halo
for PC
(first-person shooter). The best we could get out of Microsoft was that Bungie
is in fact working on it. No word on whether it'll be a port of the
Xbox version,
an all-new game, or an online version designed to compete with the massively
multiplayer online sci-fi first-person shooter
Planetside
.
Best New Multiplayer Mode:
The squad-based multiplayer of
Tom Clancy's Raven Shield
. Each player gets to lead and
command a squad of AI bots.
Best New MMORPG Other Than
Star Wars Galaxies
:
Shadowbane
is my personal favorite, but
only because the hard-core every-player-for-himself design is so refreshing.
The Sims
Online, of course, is the game that will destroy all online game
records.
Best PC Games of E3 2003:
Planetside
(MMOFPS), Myst Online
(MMOG), Doom
III
(first-person shooter), City of Heroes
(superhero MMORPG). Let's hope that Star Wars Galaxies
stays on
schedule and doesn't join these guys on next year's release
list.
Blasts from the Past:
Revived franchises revealed at the show
include Full Throttle 2
(action-adventure),
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
(giant robot action),
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Vault
(action-adventure),
Freelancer
(space trade/exploration/combat), and
SimCity 4
(city-building software toy). Most sequels are
lame, but these actually looked very, very good.
Rumored Games I Didn't See:
In addition to a PC version of
Halo
, I didn't see The Matrix Online
(MMORPG), Lord of the Rings Online
(MMORPG),
Half-Life 2
(first-person shooter), Star Trek
Online
(MMORPG), Dungeons & Dragons
Online
(MMORPG), or my personal wish-list favorite
Battletech Online
(MMORPG). Note: The Matrix
Online
has since been announced after the show.
Views from OutsideThe other Amazon.com Computer & Video Games editors sound
off:
Porter Hall (Nintendo
Editor):
Grand Theft Auto
III
(action). Man, the graphics here are so much better than
the PlayStation2 version. Too bad it isn't an MMORPG.
David Stoesz (Sony
Editor):
Star Wars
Galaxies
(MMORPG). The developers said that this is the game
for people whose fantasy is to live in the Star Wars
universe.
They have succeeded so frighteningly well that an entire generation may
disappear into their computers forever.
