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E3 2004 Conclusion and Awards June 04, 2004 |
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Summary: We have the rest and the best of our E3 coverage finally available. It took much deliberation but we've settled on a best in show PC game and also took a second sober look back at the show itself. As you can tell by the teaser icon, one part of the show most definitely impressed, but not to the exclusion of others. Don't forget to check out our 7 exclusive, high-res (1280x1024) screenshots of Tribes: Vengeance!
 Dragon Age | Page:: ( 1 / 5 ) |
The interesting point about Dragon Age is that this is BioWare's own, exclusive intellectual property. Having worked with AD&D Forgotten Realms and Star Wars in the past, it seems our frozen friends from Edmonton have become accustomed to having a full, realized world with a rich history and cultural background to draw upon.
So, rather than proceed without one or go to the expense of licensing, BioWare is creating the world itself. There are several cultures and races in the game, with about 5000 years of history for the designers to work with. Those cultures all have social structures in place, and their own architecture to help distinguish them from one another. On top of that, BioWare has hired a PhD student in linguistics to develop languages for the various races and cultures. This all will have the end effect of not only giving a world to explore for the hardcore RPG fans, but also of making it feel very complete and realized to the more casual players.
As BioWare is no longer dealing with the AD&D license, they've had to develop their own rules set and combat system. This is being automatically tested daily by a computer, which is helping the designers balance the game. Combat is harkening back to the days of Baldur's Gate, with a party-based tactical system. During the demonstration, it was interesting to note that there were only two key characters but other, almost generic NPCs joined the player's party specifically for the purpose of combat.
The character will of course be player created, first by selecting an archetype and then a background. The background story will have an effect on the plot of the game. Dragon Age is meant to be an epic experience and will have characters and a story of epic proportions. BioWare showed off a huge battle scene in their demo, which we got to witness up close and from a higher perspective.
| The Witcher | Page:: ( 2 / 5 ) |
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CD Projekt put the NWN engine through some amazing changes in a short period of time. While there are cues and effects that are still recognizable, in many ways the engine has been completely redone. Gone, for example, is the limited perspective camera, which has been replaced by one that tracks the game's character from a Tomb Raider-style view, though the camera is adjustable. Also departed are the tile-based maps, instead being replaced with areas designed by artists in 3DSMax that give the game a more natural look.
One of the key facets of the world that the team is trying to recreate is the focus on sword combat, and while the style shown off at E3 was hardly compelling, it did add a measure of complexity that is missing in a game like Diablo. An excellent combat system is key to the game's success and we feel that CD Projekt should experiment and playtest to find the best possible solution.
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Dialogue is to be a focus of the game and a comparison was made to Fallout, how NPCs would remember what you said and what you did, holding grudges or being particularly willing to help. In keeping with Sapkowski's narrative world, good and evil aren't readily discernible, it's usually a matter of shades of grey, and this will be reflected in the conversations the character will have. Along the way to one of three possible endings, the player will cross a world map from location to location, find random encounters and set the tone through his words and deeds.
CD Projekt is aiming for a 2005 release, though they wouldn't specify further than that.
| Silent Hunter 3 | Page:: ( 3 / 5 ) |
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The realism options are extensive and reach into territory rarely covered by other sub sims, like having torpedo reload times follow accurate historical precedents - which is dramatically longer than that which sub sims tend to set as default. Crew members are also simulated - they gain experience, can be injured or tire out, they're qualified for certain tasks and can also be rewarded for heroic performance. As crew quality improves, so does the u-boat's performance.
The game will offer a semi-dynamic campaign, consisting of a series of branching missions (the longest possible chain being 24), that have some limited freedom in them. Despite expressing our concern over the appeal of this setup, the producer insisted their design had significant advantages, such as more diverse and complicated mission designs. While this may be true, a dynamic campaign has been a fixture of submarine sims as far back as silent service - failure to deliver one is not likely to go over well.
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In fact, just by browsing UbiSoft's message boards, we see our sentiment echoed in many posts. Why the company would choose to continue to develop what its audience seems to have rejected is confusing at best, but we wish them the best of luck. Unfortunately, it seems as though these same forums have been invaded by the kind of realism obsessed fans that drove the flight sim market into the ground. It's our sincerest hope that UbiSoft balances out realism and gameplay, giving the nod towards gameplay if tough choices have to be made. The average gamer doesn't care about the exact quality and capabilities of U-Boat targeting optics in early 1943 compared to 1941, any more than they care exactly how the gauges were arranged in a late model Bf-109G.
| Summary | Page:: ( 4 / 5 ) |
Forget the EA/Microsoft deal. That may be the foundation for the rising popularity of the Xbox, but EA wasn't the reason to be excited at E3. One trip to the Xbox booth revealed the biggest crowds at the show - a situation somewhat exaggerated by the walls encompassing the booth, but still an impressive sight. Gamers were lining up to play racing games, sports games, two highly notable action RPGs in the form of Jade Empire and Fable, as well as Doom III and the surprisingly good Chronicles of Riddick. Unfortunately we missed the Halo 2 event, and judging by the size of the line, we're sure a lot of others did too. MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict drew considerable interest from the multiplayer crowd.
The Xbox absolutely crushed all its console competition. The only PlayStation 2 games to receive as much attention are the next Metal Gear Solid (which drew audiences for the giant screen video reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid 2), and Gran Turismo 4 (it looks absolutely amazing, the driving physics are terrifyingly realistic). This surprising success for Microsoft's console bodes well for Xbox 2, particularly since the Xbox isn't riding on the strength of any single title alone. Sure, there's no game as big as Metal Gear Solid 2 was at E3 2000, or Doom 3 in 2001, but the Xbox has just the most solid lineup overall and is nicely complemented by Xbox Live.
The decision to make Xbox owners pay for online access was seen as very risky a few years ago, but given the extra features Microsoft has been delivering, it is obviously totally worth it. The unified network is simply the most convenient and attractive online console option and in fact it leaves the PC behind in many ways.
On the PC front, all the major publishers - Vivendi, UbiSoft, EA, Activision - had strong showings, though we'd give the nod to Activision and Vivendi. THQ and NCSoft showed the biggest improvement - having firmly established themselves with huge booths in South Hall. These two smaller publishers were not so long ago relegated to the more distant corners of the LA Convention Center.
| Best in Show | Page:: ( 5 / 5 ) |
Although no single title drew complete attention like Half-Life 2 last year, E3 2004 was more notable for the huge lineup of games that look strong across the board. We eventually settled on three finalists, and this being FiringSquad, it should come as no surprise that two of them were first person shooters. Tribes: Vengeance, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl and Rome: Total War probably make this the first all-subtitle best in show award in FiringSquad history.
These games are here not only because they look great, but because they don't shy away from delivering all the features you'd want. Tribes now has singleplayer, STALKER has a dynamic world and multiplayer, and Rome has, well, everything but the kitchen sink.
Third Place - Tribes: Vengeance
Tribes: Vengeance is obviously the next Tribes game, but it's not just that. It's also the first Tribes with a major singleplayer component - a brave move that we applaud, though the question of how well the singleplayer will turn out is precisely what keeps Tribes in third place. Tribes 2 had enough difficulty with multiplayer, and the last time singleplayer was attempted in the series, the game was canned. From what we witnessed however, the development team is very much on their way to recreating the speed and flow of the original. The balancing of the vehicles remains the trickiest part, but we hope that Irrational doesn't get stuck on the big issues. Small touches are left to be done as well, like a surprisingly weak-looking and sounding mortar.
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Second Place - STALKER
Is STALKER the game with everything? Hard to say - you decide for yourself. Take a beautiful graphics engine and build a dynamic world around it - a world painstakingly modeled on the real Chernobyl reactor site. Populate that world with all sorts of monstrosities and loot, as well as rival AI STALKERs. Take this solid foundation and throw in a mystery, a plot, the deep dark secret around Chernobyl - one that you have to discover by ranging across the aforementioned dynamic world and plumbing the depths of the power plant itself. Sprinkle this beautiful cake with the icing of a very solid-looking multiplayer model, and you might just have yourself a Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 killer.
Check out our 52 STALKER screenshots in our gallery!
First Place - Rome: Total War
Rome as a national entity was not an empire known for its subtlety or cunning. Romans tackled problems head on, constantly attacking until the issue was resolved - it took them three tries to get a fleet to Carthage - and it has taken three tries for Creative Assembly to perfect Total War. The first two attempts shared an engine and thus flaws - such as an interface ill-equipped to handle a game of such magnitude. The new game fixes all previous issues and a whole lot more. The late game is exciting thanks to the Roman Civil War, rather than dragging out with a mop-up operation and revolt management. Diplomacy is compelling, permitting treaty options as complicated as Master of Orion 2 or perhaps even Alpha Centauri. To top it off, the battles are even more exciting than ever, with cavalry realistically charging through the flanks and rear of infantry formations, elephants tossing tight-packed legionnaires aside and all this is portrayed in glorious 3D. Creative Assembly might just kill the RTS and TBS genres with this masterpiece - what can measure up?
You can take a look at our Rome: Total War screenshots at our preview gallery.