something(s) to look forward to

I just finished a big box of Pocky and a bottle of Vanilla Coke, so get ready for a big ass sugar-fueled post.

• Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC)
• Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (PC)
• Star Wars Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy (PC)
• Shining Soul (GBA)

Unreal Tournament 2004

I was a little reluctant to get excited about this one, since it's only been roughly a year since the release of the fantastic Unreal Tournament 2003. That is, until I read the interview with the always interesting game designer CliffyB. Gamespy also has some nice teaser screenshots here.

One of the greatest aspects of Battlefield 1942 was that you could hop in any vehicle, take any role and fight it out on a massive battlefield. There was also a very large focus on team strategy and holding points on the conquest maps. What UT2004 seems to be doing is honing in on the action aspect of large team battles. The maps will be bigger, and the game now has land and air vehicles more akin to Tribes than anything else. The player models have also been updated, which is always nice. Regrettably, I don't really see much improvement in the Unreal Warfare engine. But after a year of development you can't expect too much and it's still as sexy as ever. The bot AI has been tweaked a bit, and apparently uses more humanlike tactics (such as dodging/diving behind walls and obstacles).

I've been playing UT since the first version, and finding out the Sniper Rifle would be included again was a welcome surprise. Well, as long as I'm not on the receiving end. The Assault mode of play will also rejoin the multiplayer options. I found Assault to be fun, but not as much as the standard CTF or Bombing Run. It's a fan favorite though, and wise of the team to include it in UT 2004. Onslaught, which is the new mode of play, will aim to incorporate team strategy on the massive battle maps along with the new vehicles. It sounds a lot like BF1942 in the sense that you need to capture and hold control points in order to win.

Cliff also mentions that some sort of discount will be available to those who purchased UT 2003, which would be a welcome bonus. I mean I'd hate for this series to turn into something like EA's sports series where a version is released every year with minimal tweaks to the gameplay. I also understand that either a dedicated server or possibly the full version of UT2003 will also be included on the game discs, so that people will be able to play right away as opposed to waiting for UT2004 servers to pop up.

After reading the preview and interview, my internal hype meter is now registering UT 2004. I was part of a short-lived UT2003 clan, but every battle we fought was exciting, combined teamwork and of course involved blasting the shit out of the other team. As I ponder the thought of larger maps and new vehicles, I have a feeling this iteration of the game will be even more conducive to teamwork, which is always a good thing in my books. On the whole UT2004 will be an action-packed frag fest - I can't wait to try it out. The game hits stores November 18th. I will be waiting.

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Could this be EALA's answer to Call of Duty?

From one of the screens it looks like there will be some squad based combat, complete with giving the AI team commands. Sounds a little like Call of Duty's MO, but then again when it comes to a successful franchise/setting the industry doesn't usually go out of it's way to innovate. This game will obviously take place on the Pacific front, picking key battles such as Guadalcanal and Tarawa as the setpieces.

Any fan of the series has known about this next installment for some time (ahem), but what came as a shock was the engine being developed specifically for the game. No more tweaking the Q3 engine! Check out the screens to see it in action, it looks pretty impressive. As always it will support many multiplayer modes where you can choose from British, American or Japanese armies. I wonder if kits will be included like BF1942 or Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory? That would definitely add a nice dimension to multiplayer; I found I got bored of the run and gun of MOH:AA when I had the option of BF1942 to choose from. The game aims for an early 2004 release.

Star Wars Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy

It's been a long time coming, but finally the folks at LucasArts/Raven realize the dreams of so many fanboys. I'm not talking about weilding a dual-bladed lightsaber like our friend the Star Wars Kid, no, I'm talking about fighting with two lightsabers. Like in in Episode II? Yeah, it was kind of lackluster overall but that final battle was pretty sweet. The standard Force powers from Jedi Outcast are all there, and a large portion of the lightsaber combat engine has been redone to incorporate the new lightsaber types. There is an informative Q&A over at TheForce.Net about this game, so you might want to give that a read.

Now go watch the trailer, you fools!

Update:Jedi Academy went gold on August 13th. It should be hitting stores September 17th! (thanks to Blue's News)

Shining Soul

I did a bit of reading about another upcoming game that I flipped out for: Shining Soul. As noted it was released in Japan some time ago and not due in North America until this September, however the UK actually received the title in February. Not sure how I could miss the reviews, but I found one at Eurogamer that was pretty negative. After reading I was a little disappointed. Further investigation through gamerankings sealed the deal: the game is repetitive, boring and basically a boil on the ass of the Shining Force lineage. I guess I'll have to set my sights elsewhere for multipayer RPG adventuring. It's really sad; I had high hopes for this game. So my question now is, where the fuck is Shining Force Advance?