As summer’s end approaches here in Northern California, my thoughts turn toward the autumn and the inevitable release of a bunch of new PC games. This year is a little odd, though, because quite a few titles have been pushed back to 2010. What will inevitably happen is that I’ll get excited about a bunch of games. They’ll (eventually) ship, and I’ll be disappointed with half of them, satisfied with most of the rest and really jazzed about one or two.
Despite having gone through that cycle of anticipation and disinclination, I still find myself getting pretty wired about some of the games coming out, though my radar now extends a little further out than it once did. Which ones will disappoint, and which games will actually deliver? I can’t say at this point, but I can talk about what looks the most interesting.
I’m really more of a gaming generalist – in other words, I like to play a variety of different games, including first person shooters, RPGs, and strategy games. I’m not big on side scrollers, top-down beat ‘em ups and fighting games, though the occasional third person action game can grab me, like the recently released Prototype. Now that you understand my preferences, here’s my list of anticipated games.
Near Horizon: Games This Year
Despite the delays, there are a few games shipping this year that have really grabbed my interest.
Borderlands
- Which character are you?
Borderlands is probably the game I’m most looking forward to playing this fall. It’s got a weird, but interesting setting (post-apocalyptic + Firefly like universe), and combines first person shooter with RPG elements. The overall action seems to have a Serious Sam sort of wacko action vibe. The RPG elements are definitely “RPG Lite” – we’re not talking Deus Ex level of RPG-ness, but something a little less involved.
Oh, and it will have four player co-op. The Friday Night Follies gaming crew (my regular LAN party group) will likely grab onto this. The only thing that worries me is that it’s by Gearbox. I’ve had fun with Gearbox single player, but they’ve consistently dropped co-op from some of their earlier games. It was a feature promised in Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, then left out of the shipping game.
Dragon Age
Whoa, that's a big one!
I’ve enjoyed almost every PC RPG shipped by Bioware. The exception to that have been two Neverwinter Nights games. The clunky UI and broken multiplayer turned me off. (An aside: by “broken”, I mean the multiplayer experience. Four players, plus summoned creatures, just didn’t work well in the constrained levels of the game.) However, I was completely hooked on the two Baldur’s Gate titles, plus the two Knights of the Old Republic games. More recently, I played Mass Effect through four times, which is pretty unusual for me – I almost never play games through more than once, particularly story-based titles.
So I’m definitely looking forward to Dragon Age. On the other hand, Bioware has been suggesting that Dragon Age is the true successor to the Baldur’s Gate series. I beg to differ. I played the Baldur’s Gate games with four other players through both games and expansions. It was a blast multiplayer, but Bioware has chosen to leave that element out. So Baldur’s Gate it’s not, but I’m still looking forward to the single player game. With Mass Effect, Bioware proved it could create an interesting and compelling science fiction universe. Let’s see what they can do with classic fantasy tropes.
Good article, very informative, but I’m sad to say that I’m years behind in my game play due to neglect, life’s little setbacks, and my continuous addiction to old DOS based games. I will never grow up. If I told you what games I was playing now ( besides the DOS games), you would laugh. Perhaps next year at this time when you start looking ahead to the upcoming games for late 2010 and early 2011, I will be able to participate.
Definitely Dragon Age.
I’ve not played a MMORPG since they changed the combat systeme in Star Wars:Galaxies. I was pretty close to being a Jedi when they screwed up the entire thing… So, I wait, with much concern, for “The Old Republic.” I know I don’t have time for a MMORPG, but if the game is cool enough, and it is something that I can pick up and play for an hour or two here and there, I know it will be worth the $12 bucks a month. What with a busy job and 3 kids of my own, I just can’t keep up with the twelve to fifteen year olds playing seven hours a day.
The game looks awedome, and as described above, BioWare usually gets it. I’m hopeful. And skeptical.
I particuarly like RPG, probably becasue I like the idea of self improvment
I remember playing the original Baldur’s Gate on a Commodore 128, now that was a game, lightyears ahead of the later versions which I played and hated. Just finished playing WIzardy 8, yeah I know it’s an oldy, but I had been wanting to play the wizardary series but never got round to it. Currently playing Kings bounty, which is a poor game, but once I get started it has to be really bad for me to stop. Looking forward to starcraft II I loved starcraft I although I have to admit I was (am) a very bad player, even with hacks…….
I’m with you in eagerly awaiting Mass Effect 2! Unfortunately I do not believe that I still have my saved game file from Mass Effect 1. I do plan to pick up the new STALKER game; however, I still have not completed playing through Clear Sky (I’d estimate I’m about 70% through at least) as I lost the disc when I moved (though I do still have the case lol). You also brought up a few games I was not aware of, and I’ll be sure to look into those!
IIRC, the main thing that was broken with NWN2 multiplayer was the NPC interaction interface, but this is precisely the sort of detail that makes the difference between enjoyable and unplayable. When the entire party is interrupted and “frozen” every time one player stops to chat with an NPC or use a vendor, that’s unplayable. Dungeonsiege did it right. I don’t know how you can playtest a game and get it so wrong. It’s a case where the requirements for multiplayer are qualitatively different — it’s not just adding network code.