05/26/05 |
PC | Chris Martin
One of the best real-time strategy series has had a face-lift. Not only that, it's had a gameplay-lift as well. Read our E3 coverage of Ensemble Studios' brilliant Age of Empires III to see why lightning will strike thrice.
05/25/05 |
PS2 | Laurie Taylor
In terms of fear and clever design, the Fatal Frame series is very possibly the most successful trilogy of horror games ever created. Brilliantly introduced in the first Fatal Frame, and refined with the introduction of the first-person view in Fatal Frame 2, the series is looking to once again scare gamers with Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, due out later this year. Take a look at what the new title has to offer in this E3 preview.
One of the more polished games shown for the Xbox 360 at E3 2005, Gears of War is an over-the-shoulder shooter with a style reminiscent of Brute Force, only fun to play. While the world was wondering what the next generation titles would look like, screens from Gears of War have been on the Internet since E3 2004, when they were shown off under a different name for an Unreal 3 engine demonstration. Now we get to see more details about how the game plays as Aaron checks out the title behind closed doors.
05/24/05 |
PC XBox | Laurie Taylor
Few things can lay claim to influencing the horror genre over the years as strongly as Lovecraft's dark tales of the unknown. The malformed shapes of the enemies in games like Silent Hill owe a debt to those creatures that first made an appearance in the mind of H.P. Lovecraft. Now, a game is coming that's using Lovecraft as source material directly. Read our E3 preview of Call of Cthulhu for an inside look at what you'll want to be afraid of in the coming months.
05/24/05 |
PC | Blaine Krumpe
There were some dissapointments down at E3 this year, what with lack of any real gameplay footage from a number of hyped games. Civilization 4, the hotly anticipated title from strategy master Civ Meier, fell into that category, sadly. Blaine was able to drudge up some info.
05/23/05 |
PC | Chris Martin
Stardock let us take a first look at Galactic Civilization II: Dreadlords, the sequel to their bestselling 4x space strategy of the same name sans the postscript. We're happy to report that the project, though early, is coming along very nicely. Chris has the scoop.
05/23/05 |
PC | Blaine Krumpe
The original Star Wars: Battlefront allowed players to experience their favorite Star Wars locations from the eyelevel of the troops on the ground. Whether you played on the side of light or the side of dark didn't matter; you were sure to enjoy using the weapons of Star Wars to battle it out in a galaxy far, far away. LucasArts was kind enough to take us behind closed doors down at E3 2005 and show us the goodies of the next game in the franchise, cleverly named Star Wars: Battlefront II. What are they doing to make a great game better? How about some space battles? Read Blaine's preview for more details on what you can expect.
05/22/05 |
PC | Shawn Rider
One of the best things at E3 wasn't even a game. "Wha?!?" you say, in your best Jon Stewart, "B-b-but E3 is about games?!?" True dat. So if we must justify it, let's put the Ministry of Sound StikAx in the category of "performative play." Using a unique hardware controller up to two people can collaborate to mix audio and video on the fly. It's a revolution for VJs and DJs, and it's real, real fun.
05/22/05 |
PC | Eric Bodrero
There haven't been many really great hack-and-slash titles since Diablo II left the stage a few years back. While the classic franchise exited in fairly good form, it left behind a void that's been taken on by any number of competent top-down dungeon crawlers. While a number of these attempts were solid, we're still waiting for the title that will help us forget just how good Diablo was. Dungeon Siege II attempts to improve everything it's carried over from the first game, and wipe Diablo from your memory. Eric sits down to lay out some of the details about how they intend to do that.
For all of its innovative design and touch screen, so far the DS has not really delivered the kind of different experiences that it has the potential for. Blaine identifies one great use of the touch screen that makes possible a thoroughly enjoying pocket form of Age of Empires: Age of Kings. AoK is a classic turn-based strategy game, and so far the direction this handheld version is taking might make it one of the first pocket strategy games to be as enjoyable as the PC version.
This game is totally cheating.