Obviously I checked out a few upcoming titles at E3 (playing demos of some of them, looking at trailers and gameplay for others); here are a couple of the highlights.
Star Wars: the Old Republic
This one I was really looking forward to and I waited in line for about 3 hours for the 10 minute video and 15 minute playable demo. I played a Sith Inquisitor Assassin (I was more interested in the Sorceror spec but that was already taken) and honestly, it felt like playing a magicky sort of rogue in WoW. I am disappoint; the game feels very much like WoW with a Star Wars skin, and as I've said before, I'd rather be playing a Mass Effect MMO, so if it's gonna be WoW with an SF skin, it should be Mass Effect. Maybe the story and content will make up for my disappointment with the gameplay, but we'll see. For now, though, I agree with this guy.
TERA
I wasn't so interested in this one before, because, well, oh joy, yet another fantasy MMO. But the gameplay impressed me - the combat system is much more dynamic and interesting than the typical click-waitforcooldown-clickagain mechanic. Basically you can either click the abilities and use them immediately or hold down the key to charge them up, with up to three levels of charge. Then there are combos, kind of like attacks of opportunity which you can take advantage of by pressing the space bar when prompted. The animations are quite pretty too. The main question for me now is whether it has the content and depth of story to match.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Resident Evil will always have a special place in my heart; the first one was one of the first games to ever scare me and I remember playing almost the entire thing in one long playthrough (not leaving the house for something like two days - ah, those were the days). However, I've been somewhat disappointed with the last couple of entries in the series, with their greater emphasis on action and combat and less on atmosphere and horror. This one seems to be no exception; however, I'm a big fan of co-op gameplay and overall the controls and so on seemed better than, say, Resident Evil 5. So while I'm not excited about it, I'll wait and see how the reviews go and consider picking it up (especially if I find some fun people to play it with).
Silent Hill Downpour
I didn't get the chance to get my hands on this one but looking at the gameplay, I'm definitely interested. Silent Hill has generally been reliable for the creep-out factor I look for in my horror games and this one looks like it might be a decent entry in the series.
Dead Island
I spent more than a few minutes at the Square Enix booth looking at this one and I must say I'm pretty excited about it - it looks like just the sort of pulse pounding zombie killing action that is my idea of the perfect stress relief.
Other Games
There are a few other games I'm looking forward but didn't get to preview: namely Saints Row: The Third (I tested the second one and I must say I thought it was significantly better than its rival, GTAIV), Dark Millenium Online (maybe this will satisfy my desire for a decent SF MMORPG) and of course Mass Effect 3 (to say that I am frustrated that the preview was press only would be an understatement).
Yea, I want to be very excited about SW:TOR, and there are definitely elements that excite me. Then I watch the gameplay videos, and it just looks too much like WoW. Personally, I would like something that is a compromise between twitch heavy action, and stand and thwack RPG combat. It sounded like SW:TOR was heading in that direction when I first heard about the Smuggler and it's cover mechanics, but it hasn't turned out to be much like that. Tabula Rasa was a good mix of shooter and RPG mechanics, and I liked it a lot for that.
ReplyDeleteAge of Conan was kind of like that, it was a very different combat system than WoW. Then I didn't play for a couple weeks, and when I came back, I couldn't remember any of my combos or rotations anymore, and ended dying to everything I encountered. It was frustratingly unforgiving.
Basically, I'm a little worried about a full on action game like TERA, since I'm not super good at action games. If it ends up with the same kind of elite raiding type experiences like in WoW, I expect I would find myself in a difficult position just because I would probably not be good enough. I mean, there are a lot of ways they could handle it that would make it work for me, so we'll see. It is a game I've had my eye on, just because it's pretty and sounds like an interesting concept. I've heard it is similar to Vindictus, which is very interesting, and a very action heavy MMO. I've played it a bit, since it's free to play. I like the style, except that it's like Guild Wars, central hub that leads to all instanced questing areas. It's less compelling to me than a game like WoW where you get to explore a fully realized world.
And yes, I would totally play a Mass Effect MMO. Even if it were more like WoW, which would be disappointing, but I would still play it.
Ha ha, your posts always get me thinking way too much. I had to seriously cut this one back or it would be multiple pages of me rambling. lol Anyways, I enjoy your posts.