E3 2004: Wrap Up

Another E3 has now come and gone but that doesn't mean that there isn't more info from the show to make your mouth water. As promised, today I am going to be taking a look at the best titles of the show, as well as my some of my favorites.

One intriguing game being shown for the first time at this year's E3, albeit only as a non-playable video, was Dead Rush, a new action title from Activision. With a story described by one of the developers as being heavily influenced by Escape From New York, and a heavy focus on vehicular combat, Dead Rush looks like a fast-paced thrillfest. The game features on-foot combat, but the real excitement starts when you step into one of the vehicles. As you speed your way across the game's city setting, you will find your car being besieged by monsters on all sides, forcing you to drive defensively in an effort to make it out alive. Look for more details on this game soon.

On the RPG front, fans of last year's smash hit Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic have reason to rejoice as the upcoming Xbox sequel looks to be continuing the epic story from the first, while adding several new features. The game will be set five years after the original and contains a much darker storyline that will have an all new cast of characters, as well as appearances from some fan favorites from the first game. This time around you will start the game as a Jedi, with access to all the powers that come along with the title, and have 3 different classes you can choose to play. You find yourself on the run from the Sith and must constantly be on your feet to avoid their relentless pursuit. As in the first game you will be able to guide your character down either the Dark Side or Light Side path, but this time your actions will affect not only yourself, but they will also sway the leanings of your party (which can consist of up to 10 other characters!). In the first game your allies were largely unchanged by your orientation, but the sequel will allow you to have your own team of do-gooders (or a rogue's gallery of scum and villainy, if that's how you choose to play the game). The role of droids will also be expanded, allowing you to send them on missions and tasks of their own. There will be a multitude of ways to customize your character, from their sex to their skills and abilities. Spanning 7 worlds which mix familiar locations with some brand-new ones, and a projected 40 hours plus of gameplay, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic too seems posed to prove a worthy successor to it's forbearer.

Without a doubt the most exciting-looking game at this year's E3, at least in my humble opinion, was Epic's Unreal Championship 2. The follow-up to 2003's Xbox Live shooter, Unreal Championship is expanding on the original in almost every way imaginable. While the first Unreal Championship was, for the most part, a port of the PC shooter Unreal Tournament 2003, albeit an at times heavily flawed one, Unreal Championship seems ready to break away from it's roots and establish it's own plays in the halls of FPS fame. The first thing you'll notice about the game is that it does away with the series traditional first-person view in much of the game. This is to allow you to more fully make use of the new melee weapons which have been added to the game. A first for the series, the melee weapons will allow you a variety of new moves and strategies (including the ability to launch projectiles back at your adversaries, a favorite trick among the developers of the game), and give you the chance to execute devastating finishing moves against your opponents. Another new feature will be the wire-fu style movements of your characters which will allow you to jump amazingly high in the air and do flips, wall jumps, and other acrobatic feats of agility, all while pumping the other guy full of lead. Like it's PC and Xbox predecessors the game will contain special moves that will become available as you fill your adrenaline meter. The game has over 12 playable characters with more possibly being added during the development cycle, and support for 8 players over Xbox Live. Xbox fans looking for a new online addiction should be counting down the days until this game's release.

While we're talking about Xbox Live, I should mention MechAssault 2, the sequel to the lauded Xbox Live-launch title MechAssault. The game features a stunning new graphics engine and several new mechs, but the most interesting addition is the ability to get out of your mechs for the first time. Nothing can quite describe the sense of size you get from looking up at an Atlas mech as it stomps it's massive foot down on your squishy little self. The ability to leave your mechs is much more than a pointless add-on though, as it allows you to take control of a variety of new vehicles, such as Power Armor and VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) vehicles. The Power Armor will all let you jump jet your way around the map and, if your timing is right, jack your enemies' mechs ala Grand Theft Auto, as well as letting you grab a hold of the sides of buildings to get a better shot at the other mechs. The story for the single player game will pick up where the original's ended, with you once again taking on the forces of the Word of Blake on 5 worlds. Where the game really shines though is the multiplayer. The new vehicles add all sorts of new elements to the multiplayer game, such as being able to help out your teammates by dropping off health of powerups for them with one of the VTOL vehicles. All in all, MechAssault 2 appears to be another healthy dose of massive multiplayer mech action on the Box.

This year's E3 was full of exciting new titles that Xbox addicts such as myself have surely by now added to their must-have lists. Those who in the past said Xbox's software library lacked variety and choice have little to complain about now. Microsoft looks to be ready to stand up against whatever the competition throws at them, laughing all the while as they release one amazing title after another. The coming year for Xbox owners looks primed to be full of pitched firefights in Halo 2 (which will be released Nov. 9), jump-out-your-seat scares in Doom 3, multiplayer stealth action in Splinter Cell 3, and countless other entrancing moments in all the games in between. Well, that's it from the show floor for E3 2004, but keep checking back here at ActiveXbox like always for the links to the latest news and updates on all the hottest Xbox titles. I hope you enjoyed the coverage of this year's show as much as I enjoyed telling you all about it. Now if you'll excuse me, there's some new Halo 2 screenshots I've been meaning to drool over.

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