E3 2005 Expo Final Day Coverage

The lights have gone out at the L.A. Convention Center and another E3 has come to a close.  Like every year, this year's E3 was full of the requisite hyperbole and one-upmanship between the big 3, but didn't come up short on promising new titles.  While the majority of the games being shown were still for current generation consoles, the demos being shown for the next-gen consoles (with Xbox 360 being the only system with playable demos on the show floor) stole a lot of thunder from the current systems.  With that in mind we're going to spend some time with the new Test Drive game, Test Drive: Unlimited for the Xbox 360, as well as taking a look at some promising Xbox titles. 

            Test Drive: Unlimited is the latest entry in the long-running Test Drive series, a franchise that has released dozens of games on just as many systems.  In Unlimited, however, the franchise takes a new approach by allowing players to explore a fastidiously recreated version of the Hawaiian island of Oahu featuring over 1,000 miles of roads to race on.  In addition to this, Unlimited is doing a genre first by having you create a custom appearance for your driver, right down to the clothes they're wearing, at the outset of the game to assure that every player will have their own, unique identity.  Even though there were only two race types available on the demo being shown the game is already showing a lot of promise.  Even in this early build there were several miles of road available to traverse.  In a half hour of playing I never crossed the same patch of road twice as I twisted and turned through the natural beauty of the island.  That leads into another aspect of the game; it's absolutely gorgeous.  From the detailed lighting and reflections on your vehicle to the sweeping panoramas of the Hawaiian coast, the team behind the game has gone to great lengths to make this the most photo-realistic racing game ever released.  The little details are the most impressive, like the little roadside shacks that litter parts of the island.  From what information has been released so far it appears that the game is going to be a complete recreation of the island, right down to every last road sign and building.  The demo was using a steering wheel and pedals so I wasn't able to gauge how well the game will control with the Xbox 360 gamepad, but in any case the controls felt very tight, with cornering and acceleration feeling very realistic in all of the cars available.  Given the pedigree of the Test Drive name and the large amount of effort that has been clearly been put into this title, picking up Test Drive: Unlimited at the Xbox launch seems like a no-brainer for any fan of the racing genre. 

            Another game that I was lucky enough to be able to try out was the newest iteration of the Gauntlet series, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows for the Xbox.  With it's development being helmed by John Romero of Doom fame (and Daikatana infamy), Seven Sorrows looks to be taking the Gauntlet series in a more mature, darker direction.  Now, before the purists start throwing up their fists in anger at this, let me assure you that in my brief time with the game it felt just as fun and chaotic as the old Gauntlet games.  The gameplay still consists of taking control of one of several character archetypes (such as a Wizard, Warrior, etc.) with up to three friend either in person or over Xbox Live, and beating the crap out of anything and everything that moves in a rich fantasy world.  One drastic change in this outing of the Gauntlet series is a much stronger focus on story.  Whereas the previous entries in the series consisted of very thin stories with little or no focus, the story in this game has been moved to the forefront and will play prominently into the game.  The basic premise is, in the words of Midway, "The legendary arcade classic Gauntlet is reborn with a new vision, story and gameplay in Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. Seeking to undo the past, a powerful emperor is lost in his own dreams and nightmares. After being imprisoned by him for two centuries, four immortal heroes set out to undo their tormentor's lifetime of regrets. In the process, they must deal with the consequences of their own actions and watch as the world shakes apart around them. Seven Sorrows is the fusion of fantasy fighting action with strategy and user friendly RPG elements."  Putting such a large focus on the story allows the developers to experiment with a few new gameplay elements as well, such as light RPG features such as upgradable weapons and spells throughout your adventures.  While toying with the formula of such an iconic series as Gauntlet may alienate the old-school gamers, it seems like taking the series in this bold new direction might be just what's needed to make Gauntlet exciting again.  Look forward to a release in late 2005.

            One final Xbox 360 title that I was able to view was "The Outfit" from Relic.  Though in the past Relic has been known for it's real-time strategy games such as last year's successful Dawn of War, it's throwing it's hat into a new arena with title, namely the WWII shooter.  Though at first glance "The Outfit" appears to be your typical 3^rd-Person shooter, a few minutes watching the game in motion quickly shatters that image.  Although it takes place from 3^rd-person view, the game plays out more like a RTS game.  As far as the story, the rep showing the demo described it as "high action, like a Jerry Bruckheimer" movie, and from what I was able to see of the game, this seems a very apt description.  To play the game you take control of two of three distinct heroes; JD Tyler, the stealth fighter; Tommy Mack, a close-up guts and glory warrior; and Deuce Williams, a fighter who's specialty is high-explosive anti-vehicle weaponry.  In addition to controlling your main characters, which you can switch between at any time, you also have power over 4 man squads which you can order to do specific tasks (hence the RTS similarities).  These squads function like races in a RTS game by way of unique powers and abilities.  The gameplay itself was reminiscent of this year's blockbuster Mercenaries, in that you are able to call in drops of supplies at any time from any place on the battlefield.  These can consist of new weapons, manned gun emplacements, or even vehicles like tanks or personnel carriers.  The supply drops aren't free however, they require the use of currency which is gained by completing missions or just blowing up anything and everything around you.  The weapons and vehicles you have access to scale up throughout the game becoming increasingly powerful.  This comes in handy when you take into account that virtually everything in the game is destructible; from walls and fences to whole buildings and bridges, you can destroy nearly everything you see in the game.  At this stage in development the game seems to be "borrowing" heavily from Mercenaries, albeit with a different time frame, I have no doubt that by the time it is released it will stand up as a unique title bearing the same quality as Relic's previous releases. 

             So that's it.  E3 has come and gone, teasing us gamers with all sorts of tantalizing new distractions and new worlds.  With the Xbox 360's release looming just over the horizon, and a huge number of PC games ready to be unleashed on the gaming public, this coming year is shaping up to be a golden age for video games whether you're a console or PC gamer.  Hopefully you enjoyed reading about this year's E3 as much as I enjoyed attending it.  But just because the show is over doesn't mean there's no more news to be released.  Keep checking here at ActiveXbox and ActiveWin and we'll keep you on the cutting edge of gaming.  See you next year!

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