PGR:
PDZ:
Oblivion:
DOA4:
Kameo:
Rumours:
-Family Guy game and Area 52 are in development (bah)
-SH team have a brand new X360 game in development
-Sony will reveal their online plans in November
-Jade Empire 2 is in development for PS3
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Release Date: November 2005
The basics: The latest installment in Microsoft's snazzy street-racing franchise rolls onto the factory showroom as an audiovisual showcase for the Xbox 360.
Why it made the list: "Do you want a game that really shows off how cool your new Xbox 360 is?" asks PGR3 Project Manager Chris Lee. "Just look at the game--from both a high-end audio and high-definition video standpoint, it really pushes the boundaries." Must be hard to be humble when your game looks like this. PGR3 aims to be the prettiest, fastest, and most accessible racer in the already competitive 360 lineup. "We believe that life begins at 170 mph," states PGR3 Product Manager Kathie Flood. "We don't give new players a mediocre car to start out with--nearly every single car is available from the outset, and they're all fast." It's all about freedom: Take any car and race it on any track at any time. PGR3 will still offer unlockables, but Microsoft wanted to make sure that mainstream gamers could have a blast with minimal effort. "It's still deep enough for hardcore racing fans," says Flood. "But at the same time, it's broadly accessible, with the perfect blend of realistic physics and thrilling arcadey fun."
What could possibly go wrong? Although Microsoft seems adamant that PGR3 will make it to store shelves within that mythical "launch window," the version we viewed still had some slowdown issues to overcome.
PDZ:
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Rare
Release Date: November 2005
The basics: Bullets smack the wall behind Ken Lobb, manager of the Microsoft studio overseeing some of the Xbox 360's biggest launch games, but he's too busy watching paint dry to notice. Lobb is giving us an in-game tour of a tundra-packed multiplayer level in Perfect Dark Zero, developer Rare's forever-in-the-works Xbox 360 prequel to its hit 2000 Nintendo 64 first-person shooter. Our opponents: game testers in nearby cubicles, who stalk us mercilessly despite Lobb's current pacifistic purpose. "Just look at that paint texture," Lobb says, pointing with the tip of his gun at a glistening red dab smeared on the wall of a rustic temple. "This game looks so good, sometimes I get distra--oh dammit."
Man down. A tester just bull's-eyed Lobb from 30 yards. Suddenly feeling vulnerable without our tour guide, we dive into a combat roll--one of the game's new tricks--round a corner, and flatten ourselves against a wall, ready to pop out and return fire (another new feature). Say, look at the subtle 3D texturing on this wall. Pop! We go down. Dammit.
With three months to go until launch, Perfect Dark Zero is up and gunning and looking lethal. Which is a good thing, because it was precisely looks that killed early buzz for the game. When EGM debuted the first screenshots of Zero back in our July issue, readers, message-board posters, and even our own editors founds the game's visuals underwhelming--especially for Microsoft's premiere Xbox 360 launch game. The developers bristled, claiming Zero was a work-in-progress that looked better in motion. After taking Lobb's bullet-riddled tour, we agree that the visuals have improved. Zero is looking more and more like a proper next-generation title, although it's really the game's features that made it No. 1 on our best-bet five.
Why it made the list: If you read our A to Z Guide to Perfect Dark Zero in our July issue, you already know why Zero is No. 1. It's the most ambitious online first-person shooter ever made for consoles. Let's recap: Aside from novel features such as the already mentioned evasion move, you get gadgets that let you hot-wire enemy vehicles, maps you can scale in size depending on how many players you have, a noise-sensing radar spoofed by silenced weapons, 28 guns with secondary functions (and sometimes tertiary ones), and an innovative health system that levels the field for newbies and elites.
Playing multiplayer (which, unfortunately, has been limited to 32 players online rather than the original 50 Rare was gunning for) reveals a dozen nifty details. We tried one gun whose secondary function projected a hologram of our character a few feet ahead--a perfect way to distract opponents while teammates race to flank any enemies taking shots at your doppelgA[currency]nger. Savvy players will find a weapon to diffuse any situation. The good ol' RCP90 submachine gun diplays a threat detector that'll expose holograms for what they are, as well as reveal players who use the plasma rifle's secondary invisibility function. And remember Perfect Dark's laptop gun? It returns, once again turning into a stationary turret. But beware: Enemies wielding the RCP90 can reprogram your turrets and turn them against you.
What could possibly go wrong? A lot of stuff, actually. Zero's multiplayer modes, which include special dark-ops missions that have players taking on roles, are ambitious and will require heavy play balancing. We also hope the number of supported players doesn't drop once again. The latest version we tried got a bit choppy at times, but Rare is promising that the final game will run at 30 frames per second (about as smoothly as Halo 2, but not the blazing speed we'd expect of a next-generation title).
Oblivion:
What could possibly go wrong? Despite the fact that its developer guarantees that we'll see Oblivion on shelves alongside the 360 hardware on day one, a few nasty bugs are still infecting its mammoth fantasy. "There is a unicorn in the game, and the other day when I was playing I found it dead," explains Howard. "The Minotaur killed it; he's supposed to protect it, but his A.I. is just too aggro." If the game's inhabitants can't get along, is there any hope for players? Massive patches, bug-fixes, and even recalls happen surprisingly frequently in the realm of PC games, but nobody wants to bring home a busted, buggy, and potentially crash-ridden console game on launch day.
DOA4:
While DOA4 looks great, so did DOAU. Fans expecting an astronomical visual leap from Xbox to 360 might feel a tinge of disappointment upon seeing the similar-looking character models here.
Kameo:
Big in 2006
The fun's just starting: These titles will grace the Xbox 360 next year
Kameo: Elements of Power
"It's not a collect-a-thon," Microsoft's Ken Lobb says about this colorful fairy-powered adventure from Rare--a developer notorious for making games based on nab-every-doodad busywork. That's not to say Kameo, which has you guiding a sassy fairy who morphs into different monsters, doesn't give you things to grab. She'll find coins to buy more health and fruits to power up her creatures, but it's all optional.
So instead of collecting, the focus here is on puzzle solving and combat. Lots of it. You'll plunge on horseback into four massive battles--the largest in videogame history--set on fields crammed with thousands of jostling enemies. It's a powerful display of the Xbox 360's hardware hutzpah. We're just not so sure grown-up gamers will be down with game's kiddified visuals and story line.
Rumours:
-Family Guy game and Area 52 are in development (bah)
-SH team have a brand new X360 game in development
-Sony will reveal their online plans in November
-Jade Empire 2 is in development for PS3
And I don't see why they can't reach the visual quality of the trailer.