Civilization V
Civilization is getting another sequel. A few years ago we saw a pretty big leap from Civ III to Civ IV, and now I believe we’re seeing another huge leap in the series.
Civilization V now uses hexagon tiles instead of the classic square tiles – this isn’t the biggest change but it does change how movement is handled. The game is prettier, as expected. It’s not just the graphics engine that makes it look nice, but the interface. The game features an in-game hub for accessing mods, talking with the community, and even visiting fan sites. The combat system has been revamped. Ranged units will now fire from multiple hexes away – it’s a bit of a wonder that it took almost two decades for this to happen. The diplomatic system is also seeing some new additions and now we have both city-state and nation-state powers in the series.
A big addition to the series is the new culture system, in which you add-on to social policies you made in the past instead of choosing one as you go through the tech tree. The idea is that the player can craft their own society by building on top of the foundations of their previous decisions. It adds life to a section of the tech tree that’s usually a bit of a joke with players.
Civilization V is set to hit shelves September 21 of this year.
Medal of Honor
I’m a fan of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault; I think it’s one of the best shooters ever made. When the reboot was announced, I was happy to see it. Medal of Honor is going the direction of the Call of Duty series (Infinity Ward is composed of many people that worked on Allied Assault, so it is fitting), by entering the world of modern warfare. The Call of Duty influence is not hard to miss. The multiplayer component, developed by DICE, reeks of it. However, a few tweaks have been made to the formula. The biggest, for multiplayer, is the kill streak bonuses are both offensive and tactical and the player needs to decide what would be more beneficial either to them or for their team.
The single-player trailer is gorgeous, no other way to describe it. One of the best looking games I’ve seen. The game will feature some nice charges across open areas as the enemies shoot you, some vehicle sections, and presumably more than a few Afghans to shoot. The biggest change to the game, aside from the rather jarring shift in setting, is how gunplay handles. A bullet that grazes the players will still hurt the player, but not as much as direct hit. Gravity will affect the travel of bullets and the speed of the bullets is more realistic compared to other shooters.
Expect Medal of Honor to hit the shelves this October.
Portal 2
Portal 2 was not the announcement I wanted from Valve – I do recall seeing a trailer for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 after I completed Episode 2 and the wait is becoming a bit unbearable – but I’m not too disappointed. Valve is going for better storytelling – hopefully making this the testing grounds for the advances that they want to implement into the game starring that silent Gordon Freeman. GlaDOS makes a reappearance and there are more AI entities in this game than her. The environments you’ve seen in Portal have changed and will change as you play through the game. GlaDOS is rebuilding the facility you destroyed.
Portal 2 is scheduled for next year – hopefully with Episode 3, but I’m not crossing my fingers.
Rage
Rage has been, and will continue to be, compared to Borderlands. However, iD’s new shooter seems to be shaping up to a return to shooter form for the beloved developer. Rage is about the player being on a nice and twisted game show called Bash TV. The object is to survive – not just enemies but traps. Rage’s corridor shooting is mixed with vehicular combat, which doesn’t seem to be too noteworthy. However, for me, the true appeal of this game is seeing iD finally develop a new IP and seeing them return to what made their old games enjoyable – just having the player shoot at waves of enemies for no reason other than survival.
Rage is slated for sometime next year.
Shogun 2: Total War
Ah, another monolith of the strategy world. The Total War series made it’s debut in 2000 with Shogun: Total War. I’m a fan of Medieval: Total War (and am very sad that it does not work on Windows 7), and seeing a new instalment to this series warms the cockles of my heart. Creative Assembly is hoping to make this the biggest game in the franchise – with the ability to display around 56,000 units on-screen at once, with some units being composed of 1,000 polygons. However, there will be a lower variety of unit, as Creative Assembly felt too many units in previous games were too similar. Naval combat and siege combat have seen some upgrades. The navy units will now have terrain considerations and in a siege the defender can open up the gates and have choke points set up inside their castle.
Shogun 2: Total War is expected to be released in 2011.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
My favourite series of games under the Tom Clancy banner is Ghost Recon; I love the originals. I really like the 360 games, so I was waiting to see this one. I’m a bit worried – the GRAW games were pretty easy and this game includes cloaking technology, tiny shoulder mounted rocket launchers, in addition to the CrossCom we saw in GRAW. This all seems like overkill, to me. The CrossCom system itself has a bit of an overhaul, the HUD associated with it is minimized and enemy detection is a bit to perfect. The cloaking, thankfully, is briefly disabled when you fire your gun. The active camo is justified with a new emphasis on getting up-close and personal; apparently the best and brightest soldiers in the military have never just considering walking slowly and staying in the shadows when they need to sneak. Enemies however, are better equipped this time around – this time with thermal goggles. Active camo doesn’t cover up the heat your body gives off, so you’ll need to be careful of the buggers equipped with the goggles. Like the GRAW games, the game is much less like the original Ghost Recon and more like Gears of War in a more modern setting. Not that I’m complaining, but here’s hoping the game maintains some of the challenge of the original game.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is slated for the first quarter of 2011.
June 16, 2010
#1
Personally, I’m looking forward to Portal 2. Looks like it will have more environments and will hopefully be a longer game.