It’s the most wonderful time part 2

26 Sep, 2008 Pete M. 1 UP!

So, now that I’ve covered the consoles that matter, let’s move on to PC games.

Left 4 Dead, November 20th – Multiplayer zombie battles! This game promises to be one of the biggest multiplayer online shooters since Counterstrike made you miss your birthday party, graduation, wedding and birth of your first child oh so many years ago. Pitting you and 3 other human-flavored zombie snax against hordes of animated rotting corpses, Left 4 Dead incorporates an AI ‘director’ that dynamically alters the action, sounds and music depending on how your team is doing. Hopefully this feature is actually cool, and not just marketing box-speak for stuff that games have been doing since 2005.

Warhammer Online, Sept 18th – I’ve been in the beta for this for a couple months and I have to say it’s the most fun I’ve had in pvp since Unreal Tournament 3. The rewards system is highly developed, earning you loot, xp and money for pvp kills, as well as renown points that increase your pvp rank, give you access to pvp vendor loot and provide a way to add permanent (and noticeable) bonuses to your stats. Another cool feature is that your guild is an entity in the game world and levels up with its members, providing access to a guilds-only tavern, standard bearers and guild specific buffs. This idea is VERY cool. Not to mention that the atmosphere and background story is outstanding. Some of those people new to Warhammer might complain that some of the setting elements are too similar to WoW, and I have to agree. Warhammer has been around as a table top wargame for over 20 years. Where do you think the Warcraft devs got most of their ideas? It wasn’t from playing My Little Pony Horse Princess Adventures, I can assure you.

Endwar, November 14th – It’s been a while since I’ve played a good RTS, and Tom Clancy’s Endwar is shaping up to be something interesting. The biggest difference between this and your garden variety Command and Conquer clone is that you control your forces with voice activated commands via headset. Most of the previews give this mechanic a thumbs up, so we’ll see if it turns out to be a revolution for RTS games, or merely a gimmick to push a few copies at Christmas.

Red Alert 3, October 27th – Red Alert was always my favorite Command and Conquer game, and now there’s a new once coming out using the CnC3 engine. And the best part? This time The Empire of the Rising Sun is stepping up to take on America and the Soviets for total world domination.

Wrath of the Lich King, November 13th – Just kidding, I hate WoW! 😉

So there you have it. Enough games to keep you occupied into the wee hours of the morning for the next several months. Try not to fail your classes!