14 DAY TRIAL // What should I get? A PC, a console or a ping pong table? What will win this war? Well, I'm pretty sure that the answer to that question will be provided in 2009 when all the major publishers will either go slow on consoles or start focusing more on the PC, or they'll shift gears and go full throttle into the console market and never look back. It all depends on how the PC will fair this year and from the looks of it I'm quite optimistic. Take a look for yourself.
Half-Life 2: Episode 3
Through its episodic nature, the Half-Life series manages to look like a good soap opera. It gets better with each episode and the anxiety level is going through the roof after the last game from Valve. I have no idea how many of you know what half-life stands for: it represents the time it takes a radioactive element to half it count (if you don't understand, then you have to go back to school). I really hope Valve will find a way to half the development time for the last episode in the series. I don't have the slightest idea when the game will be launched exactly, but there I get a strong vibe in my s?ances that it's going to be this year.
Postal 3
I can't say I'm a fan of Postal, either the first or the second, but apparently there are a lot of other people out there with much broader tastes. If you have found a pleasure in pissing on your dog or if you like shooting anti-violent games protesters, then you don't have to look further than Postal 3. There is little information on the exact date, but apparently it could be launched somewhere around Christmas.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R is one of the few games that fulfilled everyone's expectations. It may have been delayed a few years and it took a few patches and one dude's great mod to give it the kick it deserved, but now everyone knows what GSC can do. I'm sure Clear Sky will be everything they promised and even more. To top all this, the game is a prequel (I'm not sure why I like them better than sequels) and will tie all the loose ends from the previous one. Rumor has it that it will see the light of day on August 29.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
Although the Double Agent was supposed to be the future of stealth action, my heart has remained with Chaos Theory. The last game from Ubisoft left me a bitter taste of porting. I'm not sure if they'll remove those awful giant action buttons in the middle of the screen, but one can still hope. With all these consoles buzzing around, I've lost any hope of seeing it developed especially for PC. We'll know more somewhere in the Q2 2008.
White Gold - War In Paradise
This game is supposed to be the spiritual successor of Boiling Point: Road to Hell. I wouldn't pay too much attention to it if it weren't for those promising screenshots. Boiling Point was so buggy that even after countless patches it still didn't run properly and by the time I actually played it like it was intended, its time had passed. White Gold - War In Paradise should be available this spring.
Alan Wake
The credentials for this game are extremely solid. The developers are none others than Remedy, the creators of Max Payne. The first screenshots looked like something rendered in Photoshop, but the mystery cleared soon and the world is now awaiting one awesome looking game. Described as a psychological action thriller, the game will play mind games with all of you, convincing everyone to buy quad-core processors from Intel. The game is set to launch in 2008, so we better start saving some money.
Spore
Everyone loves Maxis. At least this is what the market is saying, because Maxis also created The Sims, one of the best sold franchises of all time. The idea is fairly simple and intriguing: control the galaxy by starting with a colony of cells. Millions of years of evolution culminating with the ultimate prize. The potential is immense and half the planet is waiting for this game with unspeakable anxiety. Even if there isn't a release date set, there were some rumors that pointed out Christmas as a possible launch date and we all know that EA is all about Christmas profits.
Fallout 3
Bethesda will have the same success with Fallout 3 as it did with Oblivion. Even if all the Fallout fans are dying of old age, new ones will take their place as the next Fallout is set to be one bad mother RPG. The demands for this type of game are ever increasing and Fallout 3 will probably deliver the goods. Bethesda will be tested somewhere in the fall of 2008.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
A Willys is slowly crushed by a German tank, a comrade is dying in your arms and trailers look fantastic. Gearbox knows its way around an engine and the Unreal 3 engine is one of the best out there. The WWII saga is drawing too close as more and more games have taken bits and chucks of its appeal. This game has the chance of being one of the last great games set in this troublesome period of time. The launch is shrouded in mystery, but 2008 will be the year we'll probably judge for ourselves if WWII is still interesting.
Disciples III
Just like in the case of Fallout, fans are hard to come by these days. They are getting fewer by the hour so Disciples 3: Renaissance better be the resurrection of a dying breed. There isn't much I can say that will make a difference, but the expected release date is somewhere in the third fiscal quarter of 2008.
GRID
We had to have somekind of a racing game coming to PC this year that would stir up some interest, besides the occasional titles we're used to see every year. For those of you that didn't hear of this game, then you should know that it is the next title in the TOCA series and that it will look like nothing the PC has ever seen before. Many have criticized it for being too similar with the Need for Speed series, especially after seeing some trailers that featured drift racing. I for one have no misconceptions about GRID and I eagerly await too see what upgrades I will need for my computer.
LEGO Indiana Jones
This one is a no-brainer. We are well used to the quality and the humor that spewed from the previous games and I have no doubt this will put a smile even on the face of Harrison Ford. The cornered shaped Indiana should provide us with another arcadish and quite interesting experience.
Assassin's Creed
Well, this one is almost ready to launch and I have to say that, for me is one of the most anticipated games to come on the PC this year, even though we are just in April. I'm aware of most of the criticism that was directed towards the console counterpart and I'm sure the PC version will get even lower ratings. Honestly, I couldn't care less if it's too repetitive and if it will be the same experience I've got from the Xbox 360, I just want to climb some stuff.
Borderlands
This one has all the premises right. It's going to be a first person shooter with RPG elements and this gets me all tingled inside. Whenever someone tells me those words I can stop thinking of Fallout 3 and Bioshock. I know there isn't too much info on this particular title but two things stand out: it will feature an enormous amount of weapons and variations (with item it will be close to a million combinations) and it will have a somewhat similar level generator with Diablo that will further prolong its replay value.
Prototype
I am one of the lucky few that had the opportunity of seeing this played live and I have to say that the few trailers and screenshots out there are not doing it justice. Produced by Radical Entertainment (the guy behind Hulk and Scarface just to name a few) it will definitely be a serious contender for open world shooters. The players will be able to do some feats of extraordinary power that have only been encountered in dreams and hear me when I tell you that if they don't screw up and release it on the Market with huge bugs and other problems, gamers will remember it for a long time.
A Vampyre Story
This is the most anticipated adventure game I've seen in some time. The point and click games are almost extinct as gamers focus either on silly gameplay from Mario or spilling guts in Gears of War. Maybe the games market is driven by supply and demand, the current generation of kids is no longer interested in this type of games. On the other hand, they are not that interested because nothing really good has surfaced since? well a very long time. A Vampyre Story is set to rekindle the link between the old days of gaming and the new era and from what I saw this far I'm sure that with the right marketing campaign it will be a hit. The game is scheduled for early 2008.
Alone in the Dark 5
June 20 is the date of resurrection for one of the pillars of horror. The last game I played was in 2001 and it scared the bejesus out of me. I mean, those dogs, right in the beginning have literally made me fall out of the chair. This new version that's coming in 2008 is set to revolutionize the survival horror genre with the introduction of physics and a lot of other puzzle based entirely on this principle. What has been released so far makes Alone in the Dark look mighty fine (as some of my fellow confederates friends used to say). I can' t wait to combine a flare with some duct tape and set a rat on fire, making the first AI driven lantern in the history of gaming.
Mass Effect
The Xbox 360 version has stirred up the hornets' nest with some partial nudity and I can't wait to see some full frontal nudity in the PC version. I'm kidding, nudity is not all that we expect from Bioware. We want what everyone wants: a nice story with big explosions (and some nudity). Apparently we get to have all that now (with a mouse and keyboard) sometime in May.
Project Origin
In 2004 Monolith Productions was bought by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and subsequently they had to lose Vivendi as publisher. Vivendi kept the name but nothing else, hence the name change in the sequel for fear. Instead of FEAR 2 (of F.E.A.R 2) we now have Project Origin. The developers have bragged about how they've listened to the community and apparently now we have much larger spaces, more detail (not more office buildings) and more enemies. The main plot will again revolve around Alma and trust me when I say she's one mean looking spirit kid.
Tiberium
Everyone was surprised to know that Electronic Arts was working on another first person shooter based in the Tiberium universe. I say another because a while back there was this fiasco called Command and Conquer Renegade. In principle it was a good idea: what if you would get down in the trenches of an RTS (somewhat similar with imaginatively going into a doll house) and make a FPS. In practice however this idea sucked big time and even with some selling points like vehicles and large opened maps, it remains a painful lesson. Apparently not painful enough because EA is set to release this year another game with the same direction of production. I'm listing this as anticipated not because it has the premise to become a good game but because I want to see if they'll screw up again.
Empire: Total War
Maybe the Total War series has lost some of its appeal for the hardcore fans, but it remains one of the most complex games out there and with the modding community hard at work it's probably one of the most difficult games to beat. It has set some real high standards for RTSs and at this point Creative Assembly has only one rival, their own creation. Empire: Total War promises large battles with cannons and muskets and more importantly a brand-new 3D approach to naval battles. If you thought any of their last titles was complicated, then you should wait and see this game; some of us will hit pension playing it.
Aliens: Colonial Marines
This is not a prank and it's not the deceased PS2 title back from 2001. This is a brand-new game build (of course on the Unreal engine) and it's developed by Gearbox. Before people start complaining about not being developed by the ones that actually made it famous, Monolith, I have to say I'm quite confident this new point of view into the Alien universe will be a successful one. I have no idea why I believe other than gut instinct. We'll settle this around the Christmas holidays when the game is supposed to make his appearance.