E3 2005: Midway Booth Tour

Written by Matt Swider  on June 08, 2005

Special: There was a lot to cover at Midway's booth, but Matt got the job done and previews L.A. Rush, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Blitz: The League, Unreal Tournament 2007 and more in the process.

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L.A. Rush (PS2, Xbox)
It's been a while since we've seen a Rush racing title from Midway and, during the series' downtime we've cheating on it with other arcade racing franchises like Burnout, Need for Speed, and Midnight Club. Instead of attempting to tear us away from these titles, though, L.A. Rush incorporates some of their underground street racing elements like driving licensed cars that are tricked-out and then modifying them yourself or taking possession of a rival's car by winning it. However, it still feels like a classic Rush title built for the consoles with jumps and shortcuts scattered all over the place. Of course, instead of San Francisco, Alcatraz or the Bay City in the future, this game takes place in scenic Los Angeles and includes hotspots like Hollywood, Santa Monica, South Bay, South Central and Downtown. It'll be interest to see if the final version is able to live up to today's arcade racing standards when the game releases in October.

The Suffering: Ties That Bind (PS2, Xbox)
The Suffering was a creepy and gory action-horror title and its sequel, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, looks like it'll outdo everything the developer put into the first game. This third-person action title takes place in a rundown Baltimore, as Torque, the returning УheroФ of the game, hunts down Caleb Blackmore. Somehow, Blackmore, voiced by actor Michael Clark Duncan, is tied to the murder of Troque's family. Along the way, players will be faced with moral choices that keep Torque either stable or insane. The latter turns Torque into a frightening monster, so the game builds quite a morality system and puts it on your shoulders. Besides being a hideous monster, you'll run into and away froma lot of new and interesting creates while shooting, of course. Like the first game, this sequel's presentation is really a sight to see and you'll be able to pick it up when it releases (or makes a break from development jail) during the month of September.

Blitz: The League (PS2, Xbox)
The Midway producer said something like УBasically, we took the list of censored material that the NFL wouldn't allow in past Blitz games and we put all of it into this unlicensed version we're calling Blitz: The League. There's everything from more painful hits to painkillers, both offline and online.Ф I replied, УSold!Ф

Midway Arcade Treasures 3 (PS2, Xbox, GameCube)
The third edition of Midway Arcade Treasures with focus on past racing games from the publisher. The list is as follows: Badlands, Hydro Thunder, Off Road Thunder: Mud, Sweat СN Gears, Race Drivin', San Francisco Rush The Rock: Alcatraz Edition, San Francisco 2049m S.T.U.N. Runner. This compilation of 8 racers will release on all three major consoles in September.

Unreal Tournament 2007 (PC)
It's not even 2006. Hell, it's only midway through 2005, yet Epic Games is already hard at work on Unreal Tournament 2007 for the PC. Besides tightening up some of the gameplay mechanics and adding improvements to the deathmatch, the game is looking amazing. One might say, Unreal. However, information on the game is only vague and expected or completely unconfirmed. One bit of semi-unconfirmed news is that it'll release on next-gen consoles as well as the PC. This means that Unreal Tournament 2007 may be taking on either the PS3 or Xbox 360, or even both!

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War (PC)
Stainless Steel, the developer of Empire Earth and Empire: Dawn of the Modern World, is sticking with the real-time strategy genre for its latest project, but also adding in a bit of the action genre at times. Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War takes place between 1000 B.C. and 0 A.D and seems like a true historical RTS at its heart. Players command forces of Persians, Greeks, Romans or Egyptians during this time and can also control two heroes from each civilization. These notable characters range from Achilles to Alexander the Great and give gamers the chance to battle it out in a third-person perspective for a limited amount of time.

This Уhero modeФ is said to act like a sort of super weapon in the game and give it a sort of super unique gameplay touch at the same time. Something we've seen before, but seems done better in this RTS is the seamless transition of fighting on land to battling it out in the sea. You can do everything from board the enemy vessels in the sea to battleramming your naval ships into their fleet. With over 80 unique unit types, the game should provide plenty of real-time fun for real-time strategy fans when it releases in October.