E3 2005 Expo Day 1 Coverage

Greetings from Los Angeles!  Well, another E3 is upon us and, as always, you can count on Activexbox to bring you the coverage of the hottest games at the show.  There are hundreds of games being shown for the current and next-generation iterations of the Xbox this year and today we'll be looking at some of the best and the brightest of these titles.

     One title in development for PC and Xbox360 that was being shown off this year is Call of Duty 2.  The sequel to the hit PC first person shooter, Call of Duty 2 is trying to keep the fast and furious action from the first game, while adding a bevy of new elements to the gameplay.  A demo of one of the levels was being shown at Activision's booth, and from what was shown, this sequel looks to do that rare feat of surpassing the original game.  The demo starts with your character in a landing craft headed to Pointe Du Hoc, an imposing 100-foot tall cliff topped by German artillery guns, which was one of the locations that needed to be secured to assure victory on D-Day.  As your craft reaches the base of the cliff three grappling hooks are shot out to the top of the wall, giving you and your men a route to the top.  Seeing the mass of soldiers attempting to scale their way to the top really shows off the new graphics engine, which surpasses recent titles such as Doom III and Half-Life 2. The first thing you will notice in Call of Duty 2 is that the battlefield is a very noisy place.  You're assaulted from all sides by the sounds of weapons fire and, more impressively, the shouts and orders of your teammates.  Unlike most FPS games which usually have only a few NPCs that have lines, there are literally hundreds of soldiers barking orders, talking to each other, and even giving advice on how to proceed; it definitely brings the battlefield to life.  As you reach the top of the cliff you are tasked with taking out the German artillery guns.  The explosions going on around you showcase the particle effects in the game, which creates the most realistic looking smoke seen in any console (or pc for that matter) game to date.  After destroying the guns, the demo drew to a close.  Call of Duty 2 looks set to continue the tradition of quality World War II action set by it's predecessor when it's released for the Xbox360 and PC later this year.

     Anoter high-profile game being demoed at E3 this year was a little game called Quake IV.  Built on the Doom III engine and taking place directly after Quake II, Quake IV is easily one of the most impressive shooters being shown this year.  Set to release on Xbox360 and PC, Quake IV uses the Doom engine to impressive effect, showing incredibly detailed character models and backgrounds, as well as rendering vast outdoor battlefields.  The demo being shown gave a glimpse at the first few levels of the game.  The game begins with you as a soldier headed to the Strogg homeworld shortly after the news that the Strogg leader has been killed, but things don't go quite as expected.  Your ship is shot down and you find yourself on the surface of the planet, one of only a few survivors from Rhino squad.  As the demo continued the soldier made their way inside of a Strogg compound, showcasing the impressive lighting and shadowing effects that the Doom engine is known for.  After a few minor firefights with an ally at your side, you make your way deeper into the compound but (spoilers ahead) are captured by the Strogg.  When your character awakens you are strapped down on a conveyor belt, watching the person ahead of you being sliced and diced by some rather nasty looking machinery.  Instead of pulling the normal video game move of freeing you at the last possible second, you have to watch as you are impaled by a huge metal spike and have your legs cut off.  As you watch, Strogg bio-mechanical legs are grafted onto your body, along with chest armor and a neural link.  Before the link can be activated, however, you are rescued by your comrades.  Though you are now part Strogg, you are still fighting the good fight, with a few new powers as well, which were unfortunately not shown.  Even though it's going to be several months to release, Quake IV looks to be shaping up nicely, with gameplay and visuals appearing very polished.

     The next demo I had the opportunity to witness was King Kong.  Following the story of the soon-to-be-released film from director Peter Jackson, King Kong places you in the roll of Jack Driscoll, the "hero" of the film.  The game is being helmed by Jackson himself who hopes to bring a cinematic, emotional touch to games that hasn't been seen before.  With help from the creative director behind "Beyond Good and Evil", a sleeper hit from 2003, it looks as if Jackson might well achieve his goal.  The game itself is a first person shooter but with several interesting elements.  First and foremost, from the gameplay that was shown, King Kong is very focused on providing a very rich experience for the player.  The demo started with your character in a sacrifice pit watching as King Kong snatches up a blonde beauty who has been placed as an offering for him.  You escape your binds with help from your friends and begin to make your way out of the pit.  Nearly as soon as you escape, however, you are assaulted by the indigenous people of the island on which you'd come to find Kong, with flaming spears being chucked at you from all over.  You are able to take these spears and toss them back in an attempt to buy yourself some time to escape.  This is only one example of the many weapons you will be able to use in the game.  While it looks like firearms will be your best choice most of the time, you are also able to use spears, clubs, and other objects found lying around to defend yourself from the dinosaurs and creatures that roam the island.  After fighting back a T-Rex while rafting down a raging river, you find yourself cornered with nowhere to go.  Suddenly Kong emerges on the scene, blond still in hand, and the game seamlessly shifts you to control of Kong.  The sequences where you play as Kong take place from a third person perspective and look to be focused on brawling and destruction.  The dinosaurs which moments ago had seemed so menacing when you were playing as Jack are now nearly helpless as you pummel them with Kong's massive strength.  Though the demo was extremely short, it showed a lot of potential.  If it continues on it's current course, King Kong looks to be a game that could re-define the medium, blending action, story, and character development like never before.  Look forward to this one coming out on all the major consoles (including the Xbox360) near the movie's release.

     Finally, we'll take a look at Prey, a first person shooter from 3D Realms, makers of the Duke Nukem games, and Human Head Studios.  Prey puts you in the role of a Native American man trying to get away from his ancestry and heritage, but fate has other plans.  As you are walking around your grandfather's bar a strange green light illuminates the outside, and you see a car being drawn into the sky.  Without warning, the building begins to shake and the lights go out.  The green light now floods the interior of the bar, the roof dissolving away above you.  Your grandfather and girlfriend both struggle to keep from being drawn into the light but to no avail; the three of you are pulled up into a strange alien craft.  Before I go any further, let me say this: Prey is without a doubt the best-looking game that I have ever laid eyes on.  The Doom III engine is used to create a world that is bizarre and surreal, and unlike anything you've seen in a game before.  Back to the demo, though.  After being "beamed up" you are in a sort of control room when a portal opens in front of you, another part of the ship visible on the other side.  When you step through the portal it is a seemless transition to the other room, as was shown in the demo by having the protagonist run back and forth through it as they fought vicious four-legged aliens that were attacking.  Going through another portal brought the player to a brightly lit walkway which went up the wall in front of you.  Defying gravity, these walkways allow you to traverse floors, walls, and ceilings while fighting enemies who attack from seemingly every direction.  In addition to allowing you to walk anywhere and everywhere, gravity can also be used to solve puzzles in the game as was shown when the player shot a block ahead of them that flipped gravity in the room, sending you to the ceiling and allowing you to bypass an obstacle that had blocked further progress.  Although you're in a spaceship, not all of the enemies you fight are alien, one that was shown looked to be a zombified little girl who, quite brutally, kills another little girl before your eyes.  Another interesting aspect of the game is in how it handles player death.  Instead of forcing you to restart after dying, you are sent to a "spirit realm" of sorts where you must kill strange flying creatures in order to gather enough energy to return to your body, and subsequently continue from where you left off.  In the same vein as the spirit realm area, your character is able to astral project themselves, leaving their body temporarily to solve puzzles or kill out-of-reach enemies.  This does, however, leave your physical body vulnerable while your spirit is roaming around.  With many unique and original gameplay elements, and out-of-this-world visuals, Prey seems prepped to make quite a splash when it comes out for PC and Xbox360.

     That's it for today's E3 coverage, but be sure to check back tomorrow when we take a look at Microsoft's booth at the show and get some hands-on time with the new Xbox360 along with screenshots and videos of the games for the new system.  And for those of you (myself included) who still love the original Xbox, we'll also have coverage of all the big games coming out this year, including the long-awaited port of Half-Life 2, and the latest iteration in the Burnout series.  Like always, keep checking ActiveXbox for the most up-to-date news and previews for the Xbox and Xbox360. 

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