With all of the hoopla about the Xbox 360 this week it’s easy to forget that Microsoft still developers games for the PC and I was fortunate to get a look at four of their upcoming titles.
The first was
Dungeon Siege II and the game has come a long way since I
previewed the game last month. A lot of content has been added and the final layer of polish has been added to the game. Makes sense as the game will be in stores in August.
Next on the docket was
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. While the original game was a historically based RTS while this one will be more fantasy based. The game will feature four playable situations. Two of the races are magic based while the other two are more technology focused. It creates an interesting dynamic as you’ll have magic wielding sorcerers going up against robots.
It looks like the game will have three levels of units. You’ll have your standard infantry units, hero units, and monster super units. Hero units will gain experience and level up but even at higher levels they are no match for the super units. In the demo we were showed today we watched a large force of ground troops assault a city. The developer beamed in three hero units which made quick work of the army. Then the super unit for the other side moved in (an amazing looking giant mechanical spider) which then proceeded to mop the floor with the hero units before beginning the process of destroying the city. It’s an interesting system but looks to be something that will require a bit of balance tweaking.
The units themselves looked great even in this early build of the game. The game featured a couple of dragon units with translucent wings that were just beautiful to look at. The cities also look good and each of the four races will have unique style of its own.
While the
Rise of Nations:Rise of Legends won’t be out until 2006 we looked at something that will be out a little sooner.
Fable: The Lost Chapters isn’t just a straight port of the Xbox game but rather a new version of the game. The developers have added 16 new quests to the game, nine new environments, and a truck load of new content (spells, armor, tattoos, gestures, etc) to the game as well as an entirely new ending. The PC version really benefits from the increased resolution and the game looks a lot better than it’s Xbox cousin. Diligent gamers will also be able to find several new hidden items in the game as well.
Last but certainly not least is
Age of Empires III. The game picks up after the second game and this time it will be up to you to colonize the new world. What’s interesting about the game is that for the first time you have a strategy game where the graphics are the focus of the game. That’s not to say that they aren’t focusing on the gameplay and the other attributes that have made the game successful but you can tell that a lot of effort went into look and feel of the game.
A new feature for the genre is location specific damage. Rather than shifting through a pre-set list of tiles for when a structure is hit, you’ll actually see that part of the building being destroyed. The demo we say had a cannon attacking two structures by the coast line. On one building the cannon shot a ball through the roof before sending a second ball through one of the balls. A nice touch was that the cannon balls flew through the other side of the house and into the water below. Other examples of this could include knocking the mast off of a ship or knocking a row of enemy soldiers in formation down.
Another new feature in the game is the concept of the home city. The home city (from one of the larger cities in Europe) acts as a second level of technology tree. As you accomplish certain feats while playing the game you fill up a meter back at your home city. When the meter is full you can have a shipment sent from the home city to your colony in the America. So while you have a blacksmith that you can upgrade in the new world you can get an additional, permanent upgrade for that particular building. You can have multiple, concurrent home cities in the game but you can only earn points towards one at a time. Luckily you won’t have too long to wait for the game as it should be out in time for the holidays this year.
Page 4 of 10