Games Of Summer 2006

[JCalCGM]

Summer may be a traditionally slow season for games, but FiringSquad digs around and finds some gems slated for release during the sun months (http://www.firingsquad.com/features/games_summer_2006/). Here is a snip:

Prey: (July 10) Perhaps the most anticipated game of the summer, this first person shooter has certainly taken a while to get completed. 3D Realms took a stab at making the game just after Duke Nukem 3D in the mid 1990s but cancelled the project, only to have it be revived by developer Human Head Studios with 3D Realms’ blessing and assistance. The storyline has you taking control of a Cherokee Native American who finds himself being abducted by aliens with hostile intentions towards the Earth. They apparently didn’t count on your character to mess up their plans. This game uses the Doom 3 engine in some new and cool ways, including warping to different locations via portals, running on walls and the ceiling and some wild looking organic locations. Oh and the bad guys are huge….really. This game shows up on the PC and Xbox 360.

[GodFather]

Anyone hear what the visual difference will be between the pc and 360 versions?

[Citizen Philip]

I was excited at the idea of Prey is sounds really awesome. Then I saw some gameplay footage and my interest dropped considerably: just looked like a shooter.

[Major Dan]

Hey, the didn't mention Chromehounds, I love me some giant MECH combat.

Thanks.

[Voodoo]

Wow! The Prey engine will feature items found in the Unreal 1 engine. Very neat! I don't know about you all, but this isn't one of the most anticipated games for me. It is nice that it is finally coming out but I am more excitied about a great number of many games beyond this one.

[DigitalFirefly]

Now that there's nothing on TV (except baseball) I'm planning on finishing all the games I've been putting off for the last 9 months. Games like Oblivion, GRAW, CoD2, Paper Mario 2, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Resident Evil 4, and trying to get all the achievment points in my 360 games.

[Soap]

"Cherokee Native American who finds himself being abducted by aliens with hostile intentions towards the Earth"

Or he could have just taken too much Peyote.

[Kefkataran]

I'm mostly looking forward to Prey. Nice that we have some good solid summer titles coming.

[balamoor]

Or he could have just taken too much Peyote.

Good times...good times. :rolleyes:

[The Continental]

Glad to see they listed Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War. I've been having a blast with the demo. The core RTS is pretty straight forward Rock/Paper/Scissors fare but the hero mode and the naval combat are just spectacular. It's easily the most fun I've had in an RTS since Dawn of War.

[Zawath]

Glad to see they listed Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War. I've been having a blast with the demo. The core RTS is pretty straight forward Rock/Paper/Scissors fare but the hero mode and the naval combat are just spectacular. It's easily the most fun I've had in an RTS since Dawn of War.

I agree. The RTS portion isn't very complex so most likely expert players won't like it but still it's a damn fun game thanks to the hero mode. Naval battles are just so awesome now that you can board the enemy vessel and own their sailors with your hero.

[Dag-Sabot]

Hey, the didn't mention Chromehounds, I love me some giant MECH combat.

Thanks.


Chromehounds: (July 8) Big Xbox 360 exclusive mech tactical action from From Software and Sega. And when we say “Big” we mean “Big mechs”...man, your mind is in the gutter today.


-They did miss "Over-G" fighters.

[bean19]

This story didn't make me feel BETTER about the summer. . . a lot of those top 10 are lackluster.

Summer is ACTUALLY about getting into beta tests for MMOs coming out in the Fall though, so I'll do alright. :)

[KnobGoblin]

After seeing the long High-def E3 footage on IGN of Prey last year I was stoked on how awesome it looked, and that abduction sequence in the bar was crazy. But after seeing the most recent trailor of the game the story looks incredibly corny as hell, I started rolling my eyes as soon as his indian grandfather started speaking and when that evil tiny evil alien dude started speaking I was like "your kidding me right? Why did they make him speak english in such a corny evil voice is beyond me. I'm sure I'll enjoy playing it in all but I know I'm going to feel the same way I did while seeing that trailor when I play the game, rolling my eyes at the corny parts.

[Sternn]

ummmmm in the middle screenshot for Prey ..what's that on the wall over the left shoulder of the spider looking thing ...reminds me of a ...something, looks almost feminine :eek:

[Klade]

The only two games I'm interested in are Prey and Half-life 2: Episode 1.

Actually Half-life expansion drops later this week so thats probably what I'll be playing this weekend.

[Deadend]

ummmmm in the middle screenshot for Prey ..what's that on the wall over the left shoulder of the spider looking thing ...reminds me of a ...something, looks almost feminine :eek:

Shit, now it's going to be rated AO, why did you go and point out the wall vagina?

Oh, and Soap gave away the big ending plot twist, that the whole game was just a bad trip.

[StoneGut]

I'll be picking up Prey for sure... everything else is just gravy.

[Zurik]

Too bad half the list is 360 exclusives. Hitman is pretty sweet, also interested in Titan Quest, the demo made if feel like an upgraded Diablo. Anything Diablo style multiplayer would make a nice lan game for the summer.

[Worldcrafter]

Wow! The Prey engine will feature items found in the Unreal 1 engine. Very neat! I don't know about you all, but this isn't one of the most anticipated games for me. It is nice that it is finally coming out but I am more excitied about a great number of many games beyond this one.

People love to bash Prey for not adding anything new, but I've played Unreal 1, and as far as I can tell, it didn't feature the technologies Prey is bringing to the table. I don't remember walking around on the floor and then being able to walk up the walls and ceiling. It looks like the engine allows arbitrary definitions of where gravity is. I do remember portals in Unreal, but they were static. In Prey they can pop up at weird orientations, and send you to locations at weird orientations.

I saw a video where you are hanging upsidedown, and a portal pops up in front of you. Even through it's vertical, it opens to a hallway where you're looking down at a monster. So the player throws a grenade forwards which enters the portal, and falls down. It explodes and knocks the enemy through the portal in the ceiling and out towards you. I never finished Unreal, but I don't remember doing that sort of thing.

I'm still not sure Prey won't be mediocre, but at least they're trying something new. I'm excited to play the game. Oh, and I took too long to respond, but I was going to mention the wall vagina. Those seem to be popping up in games more frequently now. Anyone here traveled to Oblivion? Man, that was a smooth ride. :eek:

[kabutor]

And where is M&M: Dark Messiah ?

I think is summer release isnt it?

[Soap]

Oh, and Soap gave away the big ending plot twist, that the whole game was just a bad trip.

It's the Total Recall plot line.

[destoo]

Nice list. A few of those are already out in Japan, like NNN.

For me, summer already started with Heroes of Might and Magic V, and will end with Neverwinter Night 2.

[The Continental]

And where is M&M: Dark Messiah ?

I think is summer release isnt it?

September, so technically fall.

[Major Dan]

-They did miss "Over-G" fighters.



OOPPS, I was lazy and missed that I guess, thanks for the correction. :o

[Kelegacy]

Hmm, I guess Liberty City Stories and Dead Rising will be cool, though I'll be surely renting the latter. And Chromehounds does look good, I'll admit. The rest I'm not looking forward to. It's too bad the RPGs out this summer for PC are all the hack and slash variety, but why am I surprised at the continuous raping of my genre?

[Achilles]

I’m looking forward to Prey and N3. Picked up Table Tennis and Field Commander last weekend, and both are very good.

So far I enjoy Field Commander more than I have the last two Advance Wars games. The rules are a clone copy of Advance Wars, but the units have different capabilities, and some other things were added, like the ability to reduce cities, and destroy forests.

[Jack B]

They also decided not to mention Madden, NCAA, Moto GP '06, Street Fighter II, and Enchanted Arms.

I wish they'd do a Next Gen only version of Madden. I think it will be somewhat of a port again... :mad: Maybe not, but until the last gen is left behind, I won't be happy. Selfish, I know. Sorry.

I've heard a lot of people raving about Dead Rising. Not my type of game, but I laughed out loud at the video. It started slow and then just got more and more ridiculous until I started busting up laughing. :D

[Kefkataran]

Jack B, I can maybe see Moto GP and Enchanted Arms making the list, but the others... not so much. Madden and NCAA are just the current-year rehashes of the same sports franchises that have had yearly iterations for how many gens now? Sure, there's an audience that will get them and they'll sell like wild, but nothing to really get excited about... And Street Fighter II is a re-release of a game from the SNES! :p

[Liquidize105]

I hope the new Stronghold will be better than the last one. Castle sim is pretty cool.

August 1st ... it's gonna be a Fall game.

Hitman Blood Money and HL2: Episode 1 sound good.

[Metal Jesus]

I'm planning on picking up Prey for X360. The E3 gameplay demos of that looked absolutely AMAZING. Unlike any other FPS out there.

[Kefkataran]

Unlike any other FPS out there.

Care to elaborate? I'm totally interested in Prey, I'm just not sure I've seen anything *that* original as of yet.

[Achilles]

Care to elaborate? I'm totally interested in Prey, I'm just not sure I've seen anything *that* original as of yet.The gravity rooms seem pretty damn cool to me. Shooting switches and having the whole level flip as a puzzle mechanic is just neat. There’s also the ability to leave your body, portals, and sections that appear to be out in space with you hopping between asteroids.

It certainly has the most robust puzzle elements in any FPS I’ve seen.

PostedOval may be talking about something else though.

[Metal Jesus]

>>Care to elaborate?

You do crazy shit in that game... walking through worm holes that you can SEE through as well. Everything is real-time. There is one video where you are looking through a wormhole into another room.. You see a guy way off in the distance standing there looking through a wormhole and you get ready to snipe him....Only to realize that it's YOU you are seeing. There is a wormhole BEHIND YOU.

[Metal Jesus]

>>Care to elaborate?

There is another video where you enter a wormhole in a room and find yourself shrunk down to about 2 inches in height walking on a planet that looks about the size of a basketball. You can see that your "basketball world" is inside a glass cage on a spaceship and you are viewing the entire thing from this incredibly small perspective. Go back through the wormhole and you are big again, as though nothing happened. All real-time. No load screens.

[TrackZero]

Chromehounds: (July 8) Big Xbox 360 exclusive mech tactical action from From Software and Sega. And when we say “Big” we mean “Big mechs”...man, your mind is in the gutter today.

Yes! Can't wait. The lost planet mech has only made me want this more. Next gen mechs FTW!

[Jack B]

Jack B, I can maybe see Moto GP and Enchanted Arms making the list, but the others... not so much. Madden and NCAA are just the current-year rehashes of the same sports franchises that have had yearly iterations for how many gens now? Sure, there's an audience that will get them and they'll sell like wild, but nothing to really get excited about... And Street Fighter II is a re-release of a game from the SNES! :p

Kefkataran,

Yeah, I'd agree on the sports titles. I'm really disappointed in their support of the last gen (selfish, I know). I can't wait for the sports titles that are Next Gen only!!

As for the others, I just added them, because I know they are important to others. Don't really have an opinion on the quality of the list.

Dead Rising, Moto GP '06 and Saint's Row are the ones I care about this summer. I'll give Prey a try too, because I like FPS's and it may have the best Next Gen graphics to date for an FPS (not for long however....).

And with Moto GP, I'm hooked on the demo, but the demo plays very close to Moto GP 2. The controls are a bit more responsive and the powersliding has been toned down, but so far it's pretty close to the same as the last version with better graphics.

The riders do seem to have better and more random AI however. I love that. Nothing worse than a racing game with 15 AI drivers all in a big row doing almost exactly the same thing. These AI drivers seem to make a lot of random mistakes. I like that...

I'll check out Enchanted Arms, but I really know nothing about it.

[Kelegacy]

They also decided not to mention Madden, NCAA, Moto GP '06, Street Fighter II, and Enchanted Arms.

I wish they'd do a Next Gen only version of Madden. I think it will be somewhat of a port again... :mad: Maybe not, but until the last gen is left behind, I won't be happy. Selfish, I know. Sorry.

I've heard a lot of people raving about Dead Rising. Not my type of game, but I laughed out loud at the video. It started slow and then just got more and more ridiculous until I started busting up laughing. :D
Street Fighter II? C'mon, man. It will be a neat little arcade game, but this is the next-gen. At least it should be. :confused: Anyway, it shouldn't be on the most anticipated list. Will be a nostalgic diversion from the other lackluster titles, though. (this should bring on a response from many of you, but I don't fucking care.)

And Enchanted Arms is supposed to be mediocre at best. I think it's already out in Japan and I've heard nothing good.

[Jack B]

Street Fighter II? C'mon, man. It will be a neat little arcade game, but this is the next-gen. At least it should be. :confused: Anyway, it shouldn't be on the most anticipated list. Will be a nostalgic diversion from the other lackluster titles, though. (this should bring on a response from many of you, but I don't fucking care.)

And Enchanted Arms is supposed to be mediocre at best. I think it's already out in Japan and I've heard nothing good.

Kelegacy, opps, I should have been more clear in my post. I didn't mean these were my choices (see response to Kefkataran), I just added them as titles I know others cared about...

I agree on Street Fighter. I never got into 2d or 3d fighting games, but I know there seems to be a huge following. A lot probably has to do with online and scoreboards.

A chance for those Street Fighter 2 champs to go beyond their local arcade leader board and see how they stack up against the world.

I'd probably be dead last.

[Spigot]

I'm actually hoping that there aren't a lot of games released over the next month or two to help me save a few bucks for the crazy fall season. I'll probably rent Liberty City Stories. The Dungeon Siege 2 expansion might be worth looking into. I enjoyed what I played of Dungeon Siege 2 and am planning on sitting down and playing through the whole thing now that my computer won't chug so much. Nice mindless Diabloesque fun. Otherwise, I'm hoping to just work on the stack of JRPG's and such near my various consoles. And play a lot of DS.

Of course, if I had a 360 I'd have a lot more games to tempt me, but I dodged that bullet :)

[Kelegacy]

Of course, if I had a 360 I'd have a lot more games to tempt me, but I dodged that bullet :)
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