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Games
Very personal selection, of course...
Tribes 2 came in a peculiar truck, with four linked screens, and a depressing waiting line. But there didnt seem to be any really revolutionary change, a better 3D engine, a few new models...
Final Fantasy 8, a nice display, but not a lot of efforts, besides the movie room at Square.
The all different pieces I was talking about at the E3 booth were quite noticeable, to say the least ! Here, Shogun might be a real good 3D realtime strategy game, with a turn based management phase too.
Another piece, Tiberian Sun, the most awaited RTS probably, just in front of Age of Empires 2.
And last, in the EA subsidiaries, was showing Dungeon Keeper 2, which seems great. The game evolved a bit, with new creatures, a modified system (the creatures spirit is more important).
No shots of : The Sims from Maxis, between Tamagotschi and Little Computer People, you have to build and make families live.
At Fox, Alien vs Predator, with four linked screens, seemed interesting.
There was also Croc 2, well presented, and Planet of the Apes, with a lot of attractions, but not much to show. An attractive licence anyway !
In the Ubi 3rd party games (got to sell them :), Arcatera, role/adventure, continually drew people, very positive and interested on the average. The 2D side didnt rebuke them, with such great graphics.
Just on the side, Deep Fighter, underwater shoot and adventure, between X-Wing and Privateer, also drew crowds, with the 3D engine getting good commentaries.
At the heart of the Dreamcast booth, was Redline Racer (and also Monaco), but it was the japanese version, the direct port from the PC version. the euro/american version was being modified.
As I was saying, the Sony booth was, from the general point of view, lacking any interest. When you're leader, and when you can shake the world with a simple announcement, dont need to break a sweat. The only nice game would be Ape Escape, where you have to gather apes. The handle is very well used, with one paddle to move around, and the other to use the net.
At the Infogrames booth entrance, Outcast seemed interesting, with a complete world modeled, and a good use of the voxel. The shown version will need some more work...
The Sega booth was of course 100% Dreamcast, with lots of good and nice games. I write down Shenmue, which will be like an interactive movie. It was displayed strangely though, with each screen having a very limited part of the game (dart throwing, fight, cinematic...), hard to get a clear idea with that.
Not possible to get Sonic out of the selection, extra speed game as usual.
Probably the most innovative game of the show : Seaman. A kind of virtual pet, ala Tamagotschi, fish with a man's head. ( check The meaning of Life from the Monty Python ), using voice recognition ( a small micro to plug on the dreamcast handle ). The background put you in the mood at once, with skeletons of the animal, scientific photos, etc.
In the strategy games, Kingdoms will be a noticeable sequel to Total Annihilation, with a medieval background, and the gameplay from the first game.
The rest of the pictures come from the Havas booth, which the best offer on PC (along with the EA subsidiaries), to my opinion. Here is Diablo 2, which will undoubtedbly be a success. Nothing revolutionnary, but seemed to offer more freedom, and thus more interesting, a bit less hack and slash ?
Team Fortress 2, a realistic Tribes, thats tactical shoot, with teams and vehicles, should be excellent !!!
Homeworld is strategy in space, seemed risky, but the result is attractive, and could be great if the camera handling is intuitive and simple.
The big Sierra displays were kinda closing the booth, but nice. Here Homeworld, on the side of Half Life, a great selection !
The really missed shots :
Quake 3 Arena, coulnd let this one out, but the camera wouldnt want. A high podium, half a dozen linked screen, a veeery long waiting line, players glued to their screens, lets wait and play this at Ubi.
Drakan, looking like Tomb Raider with a dragon. Nice background and attractive environments, the gameplay seems nice, although manoeuvering the dragon was difficult, but should be good.
At Eidos, lots of things to shoot, but it was packed up ! Remember : Braveheart, Daikatana
(for 2002), Omikron, Soul Reaver...
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