After E3 07: PC Picks

Written by Jason Cisarano  on July 16, 2007

Special: The cream of the upcoming PC game crop

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When you come right down to things, E3 is a trade show. It's game developers and publishers putting their best foot forward and trying to get folks interested in their products. They spend countless hours polishing their presentations, choosing their words, and hand-picking the gameplay moments and trailers they want to feature. Everything about E3 tries to make gaming look good, and it would be one sorry publicist who let journalists leave the convention with a bad opinion of their game. Still, some games do stand out from the crowd, and here are the ones that caught my eye along with the doubts and questions they raised.

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Gearbox Software, Ubisoft, Nov 2007): This series has always been a great marriage of tactical gameplay and high-voltage action, and based on the latest video out of Santa Monica, the upcoming installment is no exception to the trend. On the tactical side of things, the new game will keep the squad combat dynamic while adding several new units to the player's command, including a bunker-busting bazooka team. It'll also add a threat indicator that flashes the screen red in the direction of incoming danger. We'll see how that plays out, but it feels very console, a feature that hardcore PC players will likely disable the way the disabled the suppression indicators in the earlier games. As far as the action is concerned, it'll ramp up the intensity and cinematic feel with dynamic slow-motion moments that feel very John Woo. In the E3 demo, the game zoomed in on grenade explosions and ragdoll-physics enabled bodies flopping through the air. There was plenty of wild battlefield action keeping things exciting: lots of shouting, overwhelming explosions, chunks of the environment flying all over the placeЧin short, everything a high-intensity shooter should have these days. Expect the same graphical goodness all the E3 blockbuster titles showed this year. Gearbox has been tweaking the Unreal III engine to improve its looks and add features you'll find in no other game. The laundry list of features never ends with this game. Expect to find environments based on real places and shootouts based on battlefield walkthroughs with WWII veterans. If Hell's Highway delivers on half of its promise, it will singlehandedly breathe new life into the WWII shooter.

World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment, Sierra, November 2007): I went into E3 wanting to know more about World in Conflict. The УEverybody Wants to Rule the WorldФ trailer looked amazing, but it was a trailer after all, and that's what they're supposed to do. Fortunately, E3 gave us a look at gameplay footage that did not disappoint. Massive Entertainment presents players with a Уwhat ifФ situation: What if the Cold War went hot in 1989. Players can take on the role of US or USSR commanders in battles that take place in the US, Europe and the USSR. The scenarios are planned with the help of Larry Bond, period expert and game designer who worked on the novel Red Storm Rising with Tom Clancy after designing the PC classic Harpoon. The game will have a fully developed single-player campaign alongside an on-line multiplayer that will have gamers teaming up against one another. Players will choose a role in the battleЧone might choose to command the air forces while another will command armor or infantry. And hearing that there will be no base building or resource gathering was like a breath of fresh air. Instead, players will have a bank of credits that they'll spend on units in their concentration area. Players will have to work together in order to build a combined-arms force to take over control points and push the enemy off the map. Hind helicopters, 16-player multiplayer, fully destructible environments, and tactical nukesЧwhat more could a gamer ask for?



Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (Infinity Ward, Activision, Fall 2007): Okay, so I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to find out that the Call of Duty franchise was dumping WWII for an imagined conflict in a fictional country set sometime in the near future. I got over that about 3 seconds into the trailer. Infinity Ward is hard at work on making a compelling single-player experience that they've compared to an episode of 24: players will move from one character to the next in different times and places to complete a campaign that's much more plot-driven than earlier installments. The multiplayer will get just as much attention, with its new reward and ranking system that gives players unlockable УperksФ that grant special abilities. I knew most of this going in to E3 and was pretty well set on giving the game a try, if only because it's the continuation of a favorite series. But when I saw the new E3 presentations, I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on the game. For one thing, the new game will include stealth elements. I can't wait to get my (virtual) hands on a ghillie suit and stalk a few bad guys so I can take them out with a single shot to the brain box. I about jumped out of my seat at the beginning of the demo when the spotter teammate stood up out of the grass and basically appeared from nowhere. And then when he started giving the player hand signals, I knew I had to have this game... yesterday.

Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, November 2007): I'm a sucker for stealth gameplay, and since the Thief series seems to have died with Looking Glass Studios, I've been waiting for something to take its place. Assassin's Creed might be just that game. It's set in the Middle Ages during the Crusades and has the player controlling a warrior from a secretive sect bent on stopping the hostilities. The game updates the stealth mechanic to allow for social stealth and acrobatics. The assassin will be able to blend into crowds to hide in plain sight and get close to targets or get away from guards. It's up to the player how to behave in these crowds: the assassin Altair can mill around meekly with the rest of the sheep or stride through them like a lion, shoving the innocents out of his way. He'll also be able to scale walls in a way that Garrett never could. The E3 demo showed Altair nimbly scampering up the sides of buildings by grabbing narrow ledges and window sills. He leaps from rooftop to catwalk and sneaks up on unwary guards for the quick kill. It looks like it will be a lot more action-oriented than many stealth games, maybe working out some of the slow pacing that they often suffer. On the other hand, this has the potential to devolve into another platformer, with the usual jumping puzzles that rely more on hand-eye coordination than on thought. Still, this is a game worth keeping an eye on.

Bottom Line
There was so much going on at E3, it was a task and a half to limit myself to just these four games. I'm almost as psyched for the arrivals of stuff like Spore, Hellgate: London and the PC version of Gears of War. Then there's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. prequel Clear Sky and expansions Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate. And all that's without mentioning the elephants in everyone's PC gaming room, Crysis and Starcraft II. Yes, the future of PC gaming is bright.