Let the Games Begin!

[bigjko]

So, let's begin this with Tron 2.0. Ok, I've been absolutely captivated by this game. I'm currently at the old mainframe, after the Seeker fight. The fight was pretty boring 'cause it was so tedious. But that was only because I forgot about my cluster disc. Could've saved me some time, not to mention health. Anyways, I'm at this insanely frustrating part where some invulnerable tanks are shooting blocks of ground into pieces, all in while trying to shoot me high into the sky too. Oh, and did I mention that I have to actually walk across those blocks? ;(

Anyways, I didn't mean to talk about Tron the whole time! Man alive are we getting some solid releases in the coming months. It's gonna be hard to scrape together the money to buy all the AAA titles coming out soon. Half-Life 2: 30th September, Max Payne 2: October 15th, Deus Ex 2: October and of course Doom 3 for the holidays hopefully. There are probably more I'm forgetting on the PC side but those four titles will most likely be enough to satisfy gamers for a long time. Deus Ex's opne-ended nature promises many hours of replay value, HL2's Source engine's mod-capabilites ensures us content for many years and I bet the preferred playing mode of Max Payne 2 will be slow-mo bullet-time so I bet the game will last a while.

Oh, and I almost forgot about Worms 3D, a game that will hopefully successfully bring the Worms series into the third dimension all in while keeping the spirit in-tact. Also it doesn't look too shabby, either.

Why am I so super excited about all these titles, you ask? Why am I speaking like an over-enthusiastic salesman? Well, the answer to that is my brand spanking new Ati Radeon 9600 Pro card which will enable me to view all of these AA titles in spank-tastic detail. Bring on some Alien Headcrabs and Gun-toting gangsters!

Right, so is this going to be a year to remember for PC gamers?

[pleto4_ryan]

Right, so is this going to be a year to remember for PC gamers?

and a 2 year for adventuregamers :P

I am gonna buy all those games.I just hope i find time to put them in my full game program :D

my brand spanking new Ati Radeon 9600 Pro card

YEEEE....in good use i hope it for you...*thumps up*

--------------

tron 2.0 has gotten real bad review from Gamespot ;(

[bigjko]

YEEEE....in good use i hope it for you...*thumps up*

Hey, Yoda called. He wants his VOICE BACK!

And about the bad Tron 2.0 review what was the score? 'Cause I don't consider 70% as a bad score, like most of earth's population. And besides, since when are people's buying decisions based on reviews alone? If you like FPSs you should definately consider buying Tron 2.0.

[ragnar]

Broken Sword 3, Deus Ex 2, Syberia 2 and Worms 3D. These are what I look forward to.

The sad thing is that it is only sequels that I look forward to.

[pleto4_ryan]

The sad thing is that it is only sequels that I look forward to.

Actually if you think about it...NO

All these ARE sequels, but all have very different approach of creating than their predececors...SO they are like whole new games ;)

[ragnar]

But still a reiteration of an old concept (except Syberia 2, which is just the continuation on the first game).

[pleto4_ryan]

Hey, Yoda called. He wants his VOICE BACK!

And about the bad Tron 2.0 review what was the score? 'Cause I don't consider 70% as a bad score, like most of earth's population. And besides, since when are people's buying decisions based on reviews alone? If you like FPSs you should definately consider buying Tron 2.0.

LOL :D

As for tron...In gamespot...i stopped looking at the grades for some years ;)

Despite its great look and some exciting moments, Tron 2.0 is a fairly conventional and uneven shooter.

reviews are just something more. I don't count my buying on them, it's just something ...magical :P if the game you love,like, want has good remarks

[Garyos]

I got a new PC just now.... Worked hard all summer for it, but it's worth it... It's great to have a computer where things actually go fast! And this also means that I'll be able to play anything they throw at me.... So, lessee....

* Half-Life 2 (Of COURSE)
* Deus Ex 2 (Even more Of Course)
* Broken Sword 3 (Of Course Returns)
* Max Payne 2 (Return Of The Killer Of Course. I like sequels to things I like)
* Jedi Academy (Maybe... the demo was cool)
* Tron 2.0 (Ditto)
* Call of Duty (Even more Ditto. There's been some kickass demos out lately)

.... And a lot of other stuff. Worms 3D demo out soon!

[Marek]

The last couple of weeks I've been playing a lot of GTA: VC, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

The next few weeks I hope to get into Morrowind. I also still need to play Splinter Cell. Then of course there's Broken Sword 3, Half-Life 2, XIII, and so much more coming out relatively soon. It's going to be busy!

[Ninja Dodo]

The thing with sequels is that you know what the expect. The only other games you know you can look forward to are games by great studios or designers. You can always be sure that any game by Blizzard will be a fun, quality game and I'm sure many are eagerly expecting Psychonauts and Project J-J... but hype for new original games by unknown developers tends to be non-existant until word of mouth gets around well after its release.

by the way... in case anyone here hasn't played it... I'm playing American McGee's Alice at the moment and it's a wonderfully twisted and original game. It's got a good sense of humour and is also weird beyond belief. I can recommend it to anyone who likes a good action game with some adventure elements.

[bigjko]

Yeah, I'm thinking about finishing Splinter Cell now that I can enjoy it to the fullest.

I just hope I can finish it before the stream of quality games hits our shore!

[Marek]

Speaking of Psychonauts, I kind of doubt it will be released this year. :sad:

[Garyos]

Right now (as you may guess from my avatar) I'm playing NOLF again, since it's one of the most brilliant FPSes EVER. I need to get my hands on NOLF 2 soon, just have to get the money.... I'm also testing out Morrowind (Got it free with my graphics card... cool), which looks gorgeous, Deus Ex (also, AGAIN, needed to fresh up on things before DE2...), and a heckload of demos and various other games (All with maxed out settings with my new machine, of course.... :9~)

[Royal Fool]

I haven't seen Psychonauts on any release lists so far, and XBOX.com still lists it for Winter 2003 for the U.S. Kinda optimistic.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I have in my hard drive right now:

No One Lives Forever 2 - I have no idea how it happened, but my savegames got deleted, and I haven't been in the mood to restart the game; I had left off during the Pierre boss fight (had to save Armstrong's ass). I may get back to it in the next month or so. Excellent game.

Unreal Tournament 2003 - I lost interest in this a few months ago, but it's a stunning looking game. Will most likely play it off and on, as it's one of those titles that's mindless and easy to pick up.

Soldier of Fortune II - never finished the singleplayer, boring as hell, uninspired. But the multiplayer is AWESOME! Completely, utterly, and heavenly violent, gory, and disgusting. I feel such a visceral sense of accomplishment whenever I gib someone. I play deathmatch almost everyday to wind down from work and commuting. This is my preferred deathmatch game. My player name is Krispy Krotch :P .

Silent Hill 2 - left off during the first Pyramid Head boss fight; :shifty: only had a tiny bit of health left and 14 bullets, kept dying. Will get back to it towards Halloween. Beautiful, stunning graphics and atmosphere, best dynamic shadows this side of Splinter Cell. Gameplay is annoyingly slow to respond, Konami need to study FPSs for pointers.

Splinter Cell - Left off at the start of the oil rig mission. Absolutely excellent, even though it's not as refined as Thief. This one I want to take my time with, as it's one of those kinds of tactical action/adventures. Jawdropping visuals, the shadows are gorgeous!

Syberia - Okay, this one is what I'm focusing on right now in particular. As with everyone else, I'm finding it stupefyingly breathtaking. Did they use Bink for the cutscenes? I've just disembarked the train at Barrockstadt. Will get back into it this weekend. Main complaints: noticeable lack of interactivity, puzzles are too straightforward, unnatural puppet-like character animations, "I can't go down there. I can't go down there...".

Tron 2.0 - Left off just after meeting Mercury for the first time. The gameplay seems pretty cookie cutter as far as hybrids go, but it's damn good and challenging, really keeps you on your toes. A little bit more complex than NOLF2, a lot more simple than Deus Ex. The graphics and art direction, of course, are jawdropping. A visually seductive exotic experience in a sea of tired-ass military and space marine shooters.

[Royal Fool]

Splinter Cell - Left off at the start of the oil rig mission. Absolutely excellent, even though it's not as refined as Thief. This one I want to take my time with, as it's one of those kinds of tactical action/adventures. Jawdropping visuals, the shadows are gorgeous!

Syberia - Okay, this one is what I'm focusing on right now in particular. As with everyone else, I'm finding it stupefyingly breathtaking. Did they use Bink for the cutscenes? I've just disembarked the train at Barrockstadt. Will get back into it this weekend. Main complaints: noticeable lack of interactivity, puzzles are too straightforward, unnatural puppet-like character animations, "I can't go down there. I can't go down there...".

I don't know why, but I also stopped playing Splinter Cell... can't remember which mission, although it was farther ahead than the oil rig. I gotta get back to it someday, it's an excellent game.

As for Syberia... ugh. I totally lost interest in it, the puzzles are too straight-forward (Although tricky in some places, mostly due to a few of them not making much sense... to me, at least) and the people are nowhere to be seen. Works with horror games where the emphasis may be on isolation and loneliness, but not in a plain adventure game. And yes, I found the severely limited interaction a real turnoff. :(

Gotta try out NOLF2 and Tron 2.0.... :9~

[SamandMax]

What I've been playin':


Soul Calibur 2 (GC)- I rented the game, because I saw Link from Zelda was in it, and was surprised by how much I liked the game. I'm not much of a fighting game fan, but I really liked the game. There's so much extras and options, it's amazing.


Half-Life- Since HL2 comes out soon, I thought I'd play a little Half-Life to get ready. Of course, I get hooked to Team Fortress Classic again.


Animal Crossing- I'm beginning to get bored of the game. It's fun for awhile, but eventually you just run out of stuff to do. Everyday you get up, do a few errands, sell some stuff you caught, buy a little furniture, and then repeat the next day.

[Egarthen]

I've got quite a few games on my upcoming list.

Half-Life 2 - No question. THE biggest game of the year, hands down.

Soul Calibur 2 - won it in that tournament, and it's supposedly in the mail. Good times.

Tony Hawk's Underground - also won in the tournament, but probably not in the mail yet. Looks awesome, though

Harvest Moon: It's a Wonderful Life - I love the Harvest Moon games. Hopefully, this one'll make it out this year. Not sure if it will, though. We'll see. I needs me my farming/dating/fishing/ranching sim action.

XIII - After playing the demo, I must have it. Sooo stylish.. :9~

Deus Ex 2 - If it's anywhere near as good as the first, I'm all over it.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - I enjoy a good tactical RPG, especially if it's handheld. Should be fun.

[remixor]

There are more upcoming games I want now than there have ever been in my entire gaming career. This could possibly be due to the fact that last time I actually WAS a hardcore gamer, I didn't have the internet yet, but I'd also like to think there's just a lot more quality than usual in the coming year.


Here's what I'm looking foward to:

Broken Sword 3 (pending acquisition of Xbox or new PC)
Psychonauts (pending acquistion of Xbox)
Sam and Max 2
Half-Life 2 (pending acquisition of new PC)
XIII (pending acquisition of new PC)
Worms 3D (pending hopeful non-suckiness of new engine)
Max Payne 2 (pending acquisition of new PC)


Here's what's out that I need to play or finish playing:

The Longest Journey (pending my computer not continuing to be stupid)
Shadow of Destiny
Syberia
Sanitarium
Gabriel Knight


More in both categories I'm sure...

[Arik]

You've all forgot about Republic!
It sounds very promising, and I'm waiting for it for a long timr now..
It should be released in the next few days, and waiting will be harder as soon as I get my new R9600P :)

And of course, I'm waiting for all the games mentioned above (specially HL2)

[remixor]

I saw Republic on the shelf when I picked up SoD and Syberia, so it must be out in at least certain places.

I remember hearing about that game being in development a couple years ago I believe, but I haven't heard anything about it since then.

[Garyos]

I kinda lost interest for Republic after I read the reviews (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/378093.asp).....

There's enough REALLY good games coming out to worry about a seemingly less-than-perfect one.....

But I'm disappointed, I've been interested in Repbulic for a loong time....

[pleto4_ryan]

I kinda lost interest for Republic after I read the reviews (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/378093.asp).....


I just want to cry ;(

[bigjko]

I tried Republic over at my friend's place, and it was just so damn confusing! I'm sure it's OK once you get the hang of it, but I won't have time for that until like...when I'm done with all the super-amazing titles coming out.

[James]

On my hard drive at the moment:
Morrowind [with Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansion packs]: still providing many hours of entertainment, and now looking like an angel on my Area-51m laptop, fantastic machine.
Freelancer: Haven't really gotten into it yet, some stability issues unfortunately, but looks fantastic, and plays beautifully, with a very innovative control method, capitalising on a "WASD/Mouse" gaming culture, to create something very fluid and natural.
Championship Manager 4: a perennial game, no doubt to keep me busy all season. Playing as Manchester United, the team of choice for an Irishman.
I'm really looking forward to Deus Ex: Invisible War, Half-Life2, Thief [3], Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Rome: Total War, The Matrix Online, and Sam and Max 2. The future looks bright and strong for PC gaming.

[ysbreker]

on my games-partition at this moment

lessee...


Tron 2.0 -- I ran though this game up to a point where I kept dying, so I started to cheat. I know, I know. Bad ysbreker, but I still got to enjoy the story and the absolutely jawdropping scenery (The firewall and the corrupted server being my 2 favorite locales)
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 -- Obtained this just to see if it was any good. It does add some nice new gameplay elements but the quality of the port is so bad it's no fun to play, and besides it's one of the biggest RSI inducing sieries I hacve played so I'm not touching it too often
RTCW: enemy territory -- Actually I got this installed twice, one for online playing and one for my map I'm making/designing for this exelect online shooter. This game gets played almost daily by me, if you happened to get a riflegrenade shot at you by a certain Joop Sloop you ran into me :)
Blade runner -- installed it a long time ago, played it a bit, got stuck and left it there
GTA: vice city -- Got all the packages, and most of the missions, might play this one again when I get the CD's back from Marek
Republic -- The very nice diplomatic simulator, I haven't taken enough time to play this one yet so I really need to clear out a weekend just for this game...


Lets hope I can add some more top-titles to this list real soon :)


BTW:

Republic is worth the price! it's a lot easier to get into than the reviews say. And when you're playing it's easy to forget everythong around you and submerge yourself into the game.

[Garyos]

Knights of the Old Republic,

How could I forget KOTOR???? A game that I'm 100% certain I will buy. If it hadn't been for the later release dates of Psyconauts and fable, I'd buy an X-box just to play it.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Isn't KOTOR turn based in combat? If it is I want nothing to do with it. Turn based strategy sucks and sucks really bad:

Player: "Okay, you first."

Computer: "Okay. Left swing upward. Right swing across."

Player: "Ooh, I'm stunned but not down yet. My turn - right swing upward, left kick."

Computer: "Ouch! Pirouette kick rightward, then straight forward punch!"

Player: "Scissor kick from ground, then knock down and elbow across face.....*yawnnnn*...."

Computer: "Hello? Hey, are you getting bored?"

Player: :Z

[Garyos]

I see your point, trep, but KOTOR is only semi-turnbased. You can pause the game at any time to give commands to the characters and plan your actions, but if you don't it will keep on going, real-time.

Actually, they deal with "turns" in the game, but you get more/less turns depending on your speed, dexterity, etc. So that's just part of the strategy and invisible in-game. It's NOT Final Fantasy, and that's one of the reasons I wanna want it.

[James]

Bioware promise combat more engaging than the Final Fantasy series, and indeed more so than the NeverWinter Nights / Baldur's Gate area. I believe key to this is the game's console origins, firstly being released for X-Box prior to a PC release. This would suggest to me more immediate combat, suited for the console market. Indeed, the X-Box press, bless 'em, have ranted and raved about the game. They have had very few good RPGs on the X-Box, with only Morrowind, which is not really suited for consoles, and Shemnue II, an undoubted classic, as examples.

[Kolzig]

Things on my harddrive:

Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory - oh man I've played this game so much during last months, it seems I just can get enough of this, and now there's new maps and all...

Republic - still haven't even started the game, I think I may need more time to concentrate on it.

Tomb Raider:AoD - in loan from a friend of mine. I still don't know what this crap is doing on my hardrive?

Jedi Outcast - still quite in the beginning, haven't got time to play it yet.

Live For Speed S1 - ahh, the greatest of the racing games ever. This is heaven, when talking about racing.


So many games still to be played... and so little time.
I haven't even installed Deus Ex yet.

Also my good old trustworthy Dreamcast is taking much of my gametime.

Soul Calibur and Shenmue are just so excellent games.

[Tamara]

Hey, Yoda called. He wants his VOICE BACK!

hee, nice put-down, couldn't have done better myself :)

Anyway .. despite mixed reviews, I'm still interested in Republic. A 70% average ain't at all bad, especially considering it's such a complicated game that some people won't get into it. I won't even think of trying it till I get my new computer tho.

apart from that .. I finally got Freedom Force in the post, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Also, I want to get to starting BG2 again, I abandoned it in the middle of a hard fight some months ago and haven't gone back to it yet. As for new games - Broken Sword 3 :)