Best Game Of E3

[Jupiter Jones]

My Choice: "Neighbours From Hell" by JoWood/Encore...

[GMicek]

My Choice: "Neighbours From Hell" by JoWood/Encore...

I liked Starcraft Ghost, Viewtiful Joe, and Armed & Dangerous a lot.

[Xemu]

Exempting my own game, of course, the games I saw that I'm most looking forward to playing:

-- Ratchet & Clank 2
-- Call of Duty
-- Pikmin 2
-- Halo 2
-- FF X-2
-- Trinity
-- Deus Ex 2

Clearly, without a doubt, the game with the best "buzz" of the show was Half-Life 2. Though personally, I wasn't willing to sit for 3 hours in line to see it. I'm also a tiny bit annoyed at games that generate buzz by basically not showing to anyone who has "real" work to do at the show, but that certainly didn't stop it from being the most talked about thing (just like Doom 3 the year previous).

I was a bit disappointed overall in how few PC strategy games there were, turn based or otherwise.

[Menzo]

I was a bit disappointed overall in how few PC strategy games there were, turn based or otherwise.

Blatant plug alert:

VUG had Homeworld 2, Lords of the Realm III, Ground Control 2, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rings at the show.

[Phil_Stein]

Railroad Tycoon 3 was behind closed doors.

In general strategy games don't show well in the flash and hubbub of the main show, so many publishers, including Take 2, and I think Infogrames/Atari, tend to show strategy games behind closed doors.

[Tyjenks]

I was windering how LotR III was looking. Anyone, besides Adam of course, get a look at it. :)

Plus, from what I have seen from Brad's picks and elsewhere, UFO: Aftermath may not be a complete abortion after all.

I don't need a myriad of strat. titles to keep me happy, only a few pretty good ones. (RoN gets better with each passing minute.)

[Ben Sones]

In general strategy games don't show well in the flash and hubbub of the main show, so many publishers, including Take 2, and I think Infogrames/Atari, tend to show strategy games behind closed doors.

No game shows well on the show floor. It's too hard ot hear anything, or concentrate. I always preferred the GOD-lot trailers for ideal game viewing.

[Mike Cathcart]

So did any of you guys play Prince of Persia? I had no interest in it last week but after all of the impressions I've been reading it's at the top of my list for this winter's games.

[GMicek]

VUG had Homeworld 2, Lords of the Realm III, Ground Control 2, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rings at the show.

Damn, that sucks. I totally wanted to see Ground Control 2, I can't believe I missed it! Ahh well.

So did any of you guys play Prince of Persia? I had no interest in it last week but after all of the impressions I've been reading it's at the top of my list for this winter's games.

I came across it while I was stalking Jordan Mechner. The game looks really good. I noticed a lot of bullet time stuff going on, but it was really cool. Some of the moves you do while killing guys were nuts. Nothing like the originals, but screw it, looks like it could be really good.

No game shows well on the show floor. It's too hard ot hear anything, or concentrate. I always preferred the GOD-lot trailers for ideal game viewing.

I saw a couple games like that in past years, but unfortunately they were press only unless you begged, or someone just wasn't paying attention. I got turned away quite a few times at the various trailers and only got in by luck it seemed.

[Xemu]

I saw GC2 there, but wasn't too impressed with it (or the first one) but perhaps it bears closer inspection. I must've been through the giant Vivendi Universal booth at least 10 times and never spotted Homeworld 2, War of the Rings, or Lords of the Realm... were they behind closed doors or something?

Also I know "Kings of War" (or whatever Kohan 2 is supposed to be) was showing but I never saw it, despite looking. Lords of EQ was only behind closed doors, same with Pirates! 2.

Etherlords 2 looked like it might be OK, along with some of the WW2 RTSes.

[Tyjenks]

Was UBI Soft showing Warlords IV? I saw a published list of games they were intending on displaying, but I do not believe that was among them.

For a Best of thread, either everyone has not returned to mention their faves here or you all went to parties and blacked out forgetting everything you saw.

[Matthew Gallant]

Was UBI Soft showing Warlords IV? I saw a published list of games they were intending on displaying, but I do not believe that was among them.

It was there on one machine, next to the Modern Air Combat game.

[Andrew Mayer]

For sheer technical wizadry it had to be HL2. Hands down. Very cool. Many smart ideas, and gameplay puzzles that work in the engine, not around the engine. Did anyone else see the "dune buggy" demo? Very sweet. Burned out cars with full suspension... A physics engine that programmers have been dreaming of for a decade or more.

The thing is that the source engine is the beginning of something...

Sudeki is the other one. So many design problems handled smoothly and congruently. Whether or not it is a success, it's raised the bar for the RPG. A smart integration of action and turn based gaming that takes the ball away from Square.

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Excluding my own game of course (no, I'm not that egotistical) and in order of preference from best to least

- HL2
- ST: Ghost
- Ground Control 2
- HW 2
- Halo 2
- Trinity

Sadly, I didn't get to see very many games this year because I spent almost every moment demoing my game to someone or the other - since I was the only one capable of doing it.

So, did anyone get to see Thief 3? And was Postal2 at the show? :D

[Angie Gallant]

I saw Thief III, but I was pretty tired at the time. All I remember is blockable light sources and a really neat lockpicking system.

[Andrew Mayer]

]And was Postal2 at the show? :D

For the second time in as many years I sat down to eat my lunch in a corner of the hall, and there is Gary Coleman and a group of Running with Scissors booth babes getting lunch, all led by a balding guy in a postal jacket wrangling the whole group.

It was quite a show both times...

[Jim Preston]

I don't want to be the negative guy, but this was a sort of "stand pat" E3 in my opinion. No exciting hardware or initiatives were announced, and as far as I can tell there were no oh-my-god-you've-got-see-this-game excitement except for the truly spectacular HL2 demo.

Halo2 was cool, but no longer mind-blowing, Doom3 looked great as usual and MGS3 had some okay stuff but generated 1/10th the buzz that the second one did two E3s ago.

There were a lot of really cool games I want to get, but many of them looked like refinements on a formula such as JakII, Thief III, Ratchet II, and some of the other ones mentioned in previous posts. I heard a game called Whiplash and Planet Moon's LucasArts games were sleepers, but I didn't get a chance to check them out. If anyone put hands-on, please post.

Sony had a solid booth with some strong titles and some good online stuff. GT4 didn't blow up my skirt, but I'm sure I'll get it. MS had some solid stuff with Rare's games looking very interesting. Although it wasn't in their booths, MS was clearly pleased with the fact that three of the biggest games of the show -- Halo 2, HL2, and Doom3 -- will all be making it to the Xbox. Nintendo had some absorbing games such as Pikmin 2 and MarioKart, but nothing that generated the buzz of Zelda. All in all, it didn't seem like there was one big winner to me this year.

[wumpus]

MGS3 had some okay stuff but generated 1/10th the buzz that the second one did two E3s ago.
Probably because everyone at the show now realizes what a colossal letdown MGS2 was. Just ask Greg Kasavin-- he'll tell you!

[Apekid]

There were a lot of really cool games I want to get, but many of them looked like refinements on a formula such as JakII, Thief III, Ratchet II, and some of the other ones mentioned in previous posts. I heard a game called Whiplash and Planet Moon's LucasArts games were sleepers, but I didn't get a chance to check them out. If anyone put hands-on, please post.

I saw Whiplash--it's an Eidos title. You play a weasel that is handcuffed to a rabbit. Both of you are escaping from an animal testing lab--you use the rabbit as a weapon.

It's one of those things where if it's done right, it'll be great, but if it's done wrong, it'll suck ass. Not a lot of middle ground.

[Union Carbide]

Apart from all the obvious stuff that people mentioned above, there were a few things I saw that interested me:

1. P.N.03 by Capcom (http://www.capcom.com/P.N.03/index.html). Kind of a cross between Metroid Prime and Space Channel 5. Bonus: Protagonist I most want my wife to dress as for Halloween since Ulala.

2. XIII by Ubi Soft (http://www.whoisxiii.com/). Cel shaded FPS based on a french comic book. Very stylish, very much in the comic idiom.

3. Worms 3D by Team17 (http://www.worms3.com/). Nothing really spectacular, but the Worms make the transition to 3D without too many problems. The previous versions have sucked up hundreds of hours of my free time each, I expect this one will be no different.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Evil Genius. It's the beauteous lovechild of Dungeon Keeper and No One Lives Forever.

[Brian Rubin]

Best game I saw at E3 = Savage. The mix of RTS and FPS gameplay finally pulled off, and done well to boot. I Can't wait to get into this one.

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Best game I saw at E3 = Savage. The mix of RTS and FPS gameplay finally pulled off, and done well to boot. I Can't wait to get into this one.

I actually was going to hunt this one down, but I clean didn't have time. How was it?

btw, thanks for stopping by our booth to say Hi. Much appreciated.

[DennyA]

Hey, did anyone see Secret Weapons over Normandy at the show?

[Mark Asher]

I'm kinda excited about City of Heroes. I think they can pull off the "Hey, everyone's a superhero" thing. I'm also excited about the sheer number of nice-looking MMOGs I saw at E3.

Outside of MMOGs, which was the genre I was covering at the show, I was impressed by the new Kohan game and the new Price of Persia, and was really both surprised and impressed by how good Troika's games (Greyhawk and Vampire) looked. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic looked good too, but I'm having a hard time getting enthused over Star Wars titles. Lucasarts is flooding the market with 'em.

[Bullhajj]

Did anyone see any flight or driving sims to get excited about at the show? I haven't searched much, but it seems as if there is very little coverage for LOMAC, and that's about it.

[Matthew Gallant]

Did anyone see any flight or driving sims to get excited about at the show? I haven't searched much, but it seems as if there is very little coverage for LOMAC, and that's about it.

Well, Gran Turismo 4. I didn't see anything about LOMAC that made it special other than its variety of aircraft, but I'm not exactly a flight sim specialist.

[Bullhajj]

Thanks Matthew. I will have to look out for GT4.

As for LOMAC, can they pull off modeling so many flyable planes with a reasonable level of fidelity? It's a survey sim (model multiple planes), but they've set everyone's expectations for a study sim (in-depth model of a single plane). I am eager to see how it comes off.

[Jakub]

Blatant plug alert:

VUG had Homeworld 2, Lords of the Realm III, Ground Control 2, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rings at the show.

It's too bad that Ground Control 2 doesn't lend itself to flashy E3 showings... they have some really awesome ideas for that game.

[Union Carbide]

Did anyone see any flight or driving sims to get excited about at the show? I haven't searched much, but it seems as if there is very little coverage for LOMAC, and that's about it.

Gran Turismo 4 looked good, Auto Modellista looked good (altho I didn't get a chance to play it, and word of mouth isn't favorable).

I got a chance to see a little Secret Weapons, but not enough to form an opinion either way (other than "I hope it doesn't suck").

[Dave Long]

It's too bad that Ground Control 2 doesn't lend itself to flashy E3 showings... they have some really awesome ideas for that game.

That's the problem with E3. It's all about graphics for the most part. Declaring a game of the show is essentially declaring "Best Graphics of E3". That's about all people are talking about with regard to DOOM and Half-Life 2.

The games I've seen talked about most were the most technicially proficient games, which of course says very little about how well they'll play. This year seems worse than most from the graphics rule all perspective too.

--Dave

[Kevin Grey]

Declaring a game of the show is essentially declaring "Best Graphics of E3". That's about all people are talking about with regard to DOOM and Half-Life 2.



Nah, I don't think its the graphics everyone is talking about with HL2- its the world interaction. The use of the physics in the environment is what really seems to set it apart. Watching the videos I get the feeling that I will have to sort of *relearn* how to play FPS's. It seems that thinking out of the box will be extremely rewarding. The different uses of the gravity gun alone were pretty astounding.

[mtkafka]

uhm, did any of you yahoo's see the East Bloc games (what I like to call em now)... like Soldner, Xenus, STALKER or even uhn... OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2?!?!? or did they suck?!? :(

damn you all...

etc

[Jupiter Jones]

]And was Postal2 at the show? :D

For the second time in as many years I sat down to eat my lunch in a corner of the hall, and there is Gary Coleman and a group of Running with Scissors booth babes getting lunch, all led by a balding guy in a postal jacket wrangling the whole group.

It was quite a show both times...

I saw them as well. It was signal to Get The F*** Out for the day. Before I left though, I saw Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2...it looked superb.

[Jupiter Jones]

[quote=Jakub]The games I've seen talked about most were the most technicially proficient games, which of course says very little about how well they'll play. This year seems worse than most from the graphics rule all perspective too.
--Dave

that's why I chose "Neighbours From Hell". 2D (at at least 2D looking 3D), with hilarious gameplay.

[Brian Rubin]

]I actually was going to hunt this one down, but I clean didn't have time. How was it?

btw, thanks for stopping by our booth to say Hi. Much appreciated.
I actually found the game by accident, it being WAY in the back of West Hall. I found it to be the best attempt at a mixture of FPS and RTS gameplay yet. Both portions of the game use the same engine, so it's pretty cohesive. The game is also immersed in little details. For example, while you can ignore an order given to you by the commander (the guy in RTS mode building and researching stuff), you get loyalty points and rewards for following the commander's orders.

And also, you're welcome, it was a pleasure finally meeting you after all these years. :)

[Jason Cross]

E3 is a terrible place to evaluate games, but FWIW I felt that two games at the show were in a league of their own: Half-Life 2 and Halo 2. And of those, HL2 was clearly the better of the two.

There were lots of other quality-looking titles there. Starcraft: Ghost looks nifty, Crimson Skies for Xbox has me excited, Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Xbox again) was oddly appealing when I actually tried playing it, Greyhawk has what looks to be an awesome interface, both DX2 and Thief 3 (not their real names) look extremely promising, Halo for PC sounds like a winner from the multiplayer play side and looks very nice(Gearbox is doing some nice networking stuff, we'll see how it pans out)...

One of the problems with E3 is that some games are just far better suited to looking cool in a 15-minute snapshot than others. RTS games, in particular, all seem the same in E3 demo form, and you can't see nearly enough of any MMORPG to judge it. Even so, World of Warcraft seems to have the accessibility and pacing to take the genre up a notch. They're doing some very neat stuff with Matrix Online, but it's just far too early to call it "good."

[GMicek]

uhm, did any of you yahoo's see the East Bloc games (what I like to call em now)... like Soldner, Xenus, STALKER or even uhn... OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2?!?!? or did they suck?!? :(

I saw Stalker at a couple different booths actually. The one down in Kentia hall was the largest and had the most grammatical mistakes, hehe. I looked for OpF2 forever and never found it :(

[Kitsune]

Has anyone who has gone to E3 had a chance to check out Gladius? I'm wondering because I think the game looks really promising. I like the premise for playing either of the two main characters (the woman, proving yourself in the gladiatorial world and the guy, taking over you murdered father's gladiator school and avenging him). I think the Parappa meets fighter combat in the battle system might get a little old, but the graphics look good and I've wondered why its not gotten more attention, being from LucasArts and all.

I can't pick a game I liked best, since the game I wanted to see most wasn't there (DQVIII, I want another screenshot)! Or at least another commercial on TV after the announcement-of-its-development commercial. I was really disappoint to hear Greyhawk is using 3D character models, which means it might not work on my computer. Oh well. There's always Lionheart.

This E3, it struck as kind of tame, but also the good kind of tame. There's lots of conventional stuff that looks fun, but there's also a lot of innovative avenues being explored. Nothing too mind-blowing, but nothing too stagnant either. I really want the Mario & Luigi RPG, the dynamic of cooperating with the brothers and controlling them both at the same time, looked really cool. Squashing Luigi so he can fit in a pipe and Mario jumping on his brother's shoulders to get somewhere else! Nice!

Of course Fire Emblem was announced for the US, so I expect all of you to buy it! If not I will be :evil:!

What's really ironic about E3 is that I can never go (way to expensive to consider), but I could always get in.

-Kitsune

[mtkafka]

Of all the upcoming Lucasarts games, Gladius looks the most interesting... amazingly I thought it wuold be a gladiator beat em up fighter... real time. Last I read its TURN BASED and has lots and lots of moves... AND its got some rpg in it! Plus the graphics look great for xbox. Forget Secret weapons or Kotor... Gladius could be it!

etc

[Kool Moe Dee]

Of all the upcoming Lucasarts games, Gladius looks the most interesting... amazingly I thought it wuold be a gladiator beat em up fighter... real time. Last I read its TURN BASED and has lots and lots of moves... AND its got some rpg in it! Plus the graphics look great for xbox. Forget Secret weapons or Kotor... Gladius could be it!

etc

Gladius is actually multiplatform, if I recall, so the graphics will be lowest-common-denominator. I think their combat is turn-based but with joystick/button sequences to do combos or something like that...

From their video trailer, it looked pretty cool, though, so just keep your fingers crossed...

[Scott Warner]

I really enjoyed...

F Zero
Castle Vania
World of Warcraft
Gran Turismo 4

Of course HL2, D3, and H2 look amazing...

I was disappointed by...

PN03
Starfox
Vampire

Happy about the reception for...

Full Spectrum Warrior ;)

[Tom Ohle]

What, no Knights of the Old Republic or NWN: SoU? :P heh
I actually didn't get any time to run around the show, though... Just by passing by booths, it looked like WoW was still looking to be pretty good... and by all indications, the Half-Life 2 stuff was amazing.

[Naked]

I'm not sure if I can name a game of show, and I don't want to include non-playables (no matter how impressive - Doom III, Half Life 2 etc.), but here are a few I played, enjoyed and will most likely pick up at some point in the future...

- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
- Crimson Skies
- Deus Ex 2
- Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle
- F-Zero
- Mario Kart: Double Dash
- Rebel Strike
- Silent Hill 3
- Starcraft Ghost
- Thief III (even in it's obviously way too early to be on the show floor state)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (no really!).

...for me, the biggest letdown would be (irony alert) the lack of anything, um, new. I mean, look at my list , for god's sake, it's entirely sequels, remakes and franchise titles. There were a few interesting looking non-sequels there, but in general I felt as if I was awash in a sea of graphical updates and minor gameplay tweaks.

(runners up - Nintendo failing to repeat last year's brilliance, Rare's horribly underwhelming X-Box line-up and a general lack of PC titles that I have any interest in whatsoever).