E3 2004: Day 1 Coverage

     Well Xbox fans, it's that time of year again, time for E3.  As I'm sure most of you are aware the Electronics Entertainment Expo is where all of the players in the gaming industry get together to show off their latest and greatest, and this year's show was especially exciting for fans of the Xbox.  In today's article, the first of three, I am going to give you a glimpse of some of the Xbox games currently in development from Activision and Vivendi Universal Games.

I started my journey into gaming bliss at the Vivendi Universal booth. Vivendi's lineup at this year's show was heavy on licensed games, such as Chronicles of Riddick, while also including a few lesser known but equally appealing games.  The first game I'll be look at is Fight Club.  Based on the cult classic film of the same name, Fight Club has you assuming the role of one of over a dozen playable characters in story-based fighting game that seems determined to change the way people look at the genre.  Beyond it's heavy emphasis on storytelling, the game also has several interesting looking features
not typically found in fighting games.  The most impressive of these was the multi-tiered environments.  In the gameplay segment I was shown, Tyler Durden and Jack were fighting in the streets outside a rundown dive of a bar when suddenly Tyler threw Jack through a door and into the bar where the fight continued.  Another interesting feature is the location-based damage modeling for the characters which allows you to, by pressing the A and B or X and Y buttons simultaneously, break a character's arms, back, or even legs, thereby disabling that particular body part for the remainder of the match.  On top of all this is Xbox Live support, allowing you to enter your character into your own world-wide Fight Club.  With impressive graphics and solid controls, this is definitely a title you should be looking out for when it's released this fall.

Another title on display this year from Vivendi was Men of Valor: Vietnam from 2015 studios, the makers of Medal of Honor Allied Assault.  The heavily scripted, action-packed style of FPS gameplay gamers grew to love in the Medal of Honor series has been put into Men of Valor.  The game has several levels, although the final number has not yet been announced, and an arsenal of 20 weapons, with 10 unique weapons for the US soldiers and 10 for the Vietcong forces.  Men of Valor is taking a decidedly more adult direction than the previous games from 2015.  In addition to profanity in the game (hence the M rating), the story will deal with the racism that many African-American soldiers suffered through during the Vietnam conflict, as seen through the eyes of the protagonist, himself African-American.  Other features that are sure to have gamers drooling are several types of multiplayer modes on Xbox Live, with up to 16 players on a dedicated server and 8 players on non-dedicated servers, including Capture the Flag and Document Retrieval, where one team attempts to steal documents from a heavily guarded enemy location.  With only 4 months until it's expected release, Men of Valor is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the Medal of Honor series.

In addition to the titles mentioned above, Vivendi also showcased a handful of other promising games this year such as Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a prequel to the upcoming film.  Magna Cum Laude is of course the sequel to the original Leisure Suit Larry games, a series that gained notoriety for the sex-crazed, and often hilarious, antics of it's main character.  The new game has you assuming the roll of Larry's good-natured nephew as he attempts to earn a place on a Dating Game-esque game show.  With an innovative real-time system for conversations and the series' trademark humor, Magna Cum Laude is one to keep an eye on.  Finally, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a prequel to the upcoming film which itself is a prequel to Pitch Black.  Playing as Riddick, with the likeness and voice of Vin Diesel, you must make your way through the treacherous Butcher Bay prison in an effort to escape the hellish penal colony.  Along your way you will have the opportunity to engage in melee combat, stealth gameplay, and of course have your choice of a huge arsenal of weapons.  Add some of the best Xbox graphics this side of Doom III and you have a recipe for a hit.

The big story at Activision's booth this year was Doom 3.  Doom 3 is, simply put, the most astonishing looking game I've laid eyes on for the Xbox.  The game oozes detail, from the bits of peeling skin on the zombies to the bump maps covering every surface in the game.  Fans of the original can rest assured that Doom 3 will induce the same level of fear in gamers as the first Doom (as this writer can attest to after almost jumping out of my seat when I was attacked by an imp hiding in the shadows of the demo level!).  While there was no multiplayer demo to be found, Activision has stated that the game will ship with not only 4 player multiplayer over Xbox Live, but also Co-Op play online, a feature exclusive to the Xbox version of the game.  Get ready to scare yourself silly when the game is released later this year.

Continuing the increasingly popular movie tie-in trend in games Activision also showed off A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is based on the hit children's books and will allow you to control 3 different characters in a variety of environments while solving puzzles and completing plat forming stages, and Shark Tale, which has you taking the role of a fish who finds himself in hot water after lying about killing a shark and subsequently becoming famous.  The game is based on a new film by DreamWorks and will closely follow the story of the movie.  In an effort to keep gamers constantly doing something new and fun while playing, the game will feature 6 different game types: Stealth, dance, action, adventure, evasion, and race.  In stealth mode you must try to sneak through various underwater environments while avoiding the sharks, while in action mode you will go through similar levels, only this time killing everything that moves.  One of the more interesting gameplay types is the dance mode, which allows you to use a Dance Dance Revolution pad to try to keep pace with the steps displayed on screen.

Last, although certainly not least, Activision was showing a video of Call of Duty: Finest Hour which is a spin-off of the popular PC shooter.  Not only will the game feature all new levels, weapons, and music; it will also give you the chance to play as not only US, British and Russian soldiers as in the PC version, but also a member of the famous 761st Black Panther tank division as well as 2 other playable characters.  With excellent sound effects and graphics that rival it's PC counterpart Call of Duty: Finest Hour will undoubtedly be an edge of your seat action fest when it comes out late this year.

Well, that's all for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow when I will be previewing the games on display at Microsoft's massive booth.

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