The Month Ahead For PC Games – October
Welcome to ‘The Month Ahead’, a new feature where we take a brief look at some of the PC games coming in the month ahead and what we think of the games that you are dying to play, or dying to avoid. This month we have monster titles such as Medal of Honour and Fallout: New Vegas coming, the racy Official WRC Game, an…interesting sounding Garden Simulator and more readying for release.
Medal of Honour (u added for British’ness) is EA’s answer to Call of Duty, which was at one point in time Activision’s answer to Medal of Honour, how times have changed, this is the first time since Allied Assault that I am remotely interested in the series. That is in large part down to the controversy surrounding the inclusion then exclusion of the Taleban in multiplayer. Apart from that I haven’t seen enough of the game to convince me that it can take the series back to its’ very impressive roots.
The modern setting is starting to get a bit of WWIIitis now with the heavyweight prescence of the Modern Warfare titles, but there is a chance that EA will pull of what Infinity Ward managed with the original Call of Duty and make the setting feel fresh once again.
The new Fallout game is coming from Obsidian with many staff members having worked on the original Fallout titles. While Fallout 3 alienated many die-hard fans of the games it will be interesting to see how they take to a game made by developers with links to the past like Obsidian. While it will remain to be seen whether it wins over the few, New Vegas seems to be a much more alive game than the desolate plains found in areas of number 3.
With changes to the VATS and melee systems along with the new Hardcore mode and the Vegas setting, this one is sure to offer players a radically different perspective on life after nuclear devastation to what there was in Fallout 3.
The new official WRC game is right up there with New Vegas in games coming out this month that I am really looking forward to playing. The prospect of a real rally game has me very much excited, the interview I did on it last month cranked up my anticipation considerably. I am prepared to be disappointed though, the game engine doesn’t seem to have the bells and whistles found in Codemasters’ EGO engine which could hold the game back considerably. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out.
Uhm yeah, I was serious, there is a game called Garden Simulator coming out this month. Need I say much more?
It does remind me that I still have Police Simulator and Demolition Company to play…
While they are just some of the highlights…and lowlights, of October’s PC releases there are some other titles which may catch your eye. Front Mission Evolved looks like it could be a half-decent mech-’em-up while JoWood will be hoping Arcania – Gothic 4 manages to capture the imagination of people outside Germany. Lionheart: Kings’ Crusade looks like a promising take on the Crusades and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II will feature Guybrush Threepwood so immediately gets my seal of approval.
I know what I am looking forward to, what are you all expecting from the games coming out this month?
18 thoughts on “The Month Ahead For PC Games – October”
I’m looking forward to Singularity oneday becoming affordable, and my Lovefilm account getting sorted out so I can finally play Alan Wake.
The present day can go and.. duck itself. I’m slow.
Singularity is sitting there installed on my machine…yet I haven’t played it yet, despite all my good intentions.
The envies. They burns. Times like this, I just need a good old Raven massacre. In the same way that I can appreciate Plants versus Zombies for what it is, despite my high-minded tastes in gaming, Raven shooters are somehow infinitely entertaining. I’m getting twitchy little cravings for the first level of Soldier of Fortune 1 even as we speak.
.. those neat little ‘fountains’ of blood that would leak from a 9mm pistol headshot. Sick. Wonderful.
I remember the gore in one of the Soldier of Fortune games, god that was a bloody game :D
Seriously nasty, but strangely restrained in some ways – lower calibur weapons would never cause more than standard wounds, only the high cal stuff would dismember.
It’s a little bit over the top, but I think games like Call of Duty, Medal of Honour and the like would benefit from recalling that in real war, bullets don’t conveniently group at the centre-torso and create small bloody ‘pops’. I’ve a friend who served in Iraq for a few years, and recalls with a shudder moments like witnessing a man take a bullet in the pelvic region, causing the pelvis to crack and collapse – the abdominal organs lose their support and sink, mash together – the legs are rendered useless by the lack of a central anchor – it’s almost a fate worse than death.
Bullets are horrible things that smash bones, leave muscles flapping in the breeze and open exit wounds larger than your fist. I don’t want to be an adult in a world where everyone younger than me grew up playing games that convince them bullets just make people fall over.
If we’re going to make games about war, show the honest consequences. I like extreme violence systems. They make me feel guilty for what I do to my enemies, and think twice before choosing to kill.
Very good points there Jak! The games supposedly based on realism with lean effects and accurate sounds and real world levels often don’t have a system to accurately represent the consequences of your actions.
I wonder sometimes whether some games are simply dumbed down so that they are able to get released on the consoles without getting a Mature/Adults Only etc. rating that you can get in America. (flagrantly copying here what someone mentioned on some other forums the other day)
Hopefully as personal transactions and direct payments become a more common means of acquiring our games, from retailers that self-publish digitally, we’ll get more, more mature and ‘unrated’ games that don’t feel bound by the demands of mainstream marketability and age ratings.
It’s a pity the only games to have shown ‘true’ violence tend to sensationalise it as a gimmick. I guess that’s the nature of time-investment in development – teams are rarely willing to make a good system for a game without making it a core, overemphasised feature, slapped onto the bulletpoints on the back of the case.
Take Manhunt, for example.
.. Fortunately, it was actually a good game ^^
I would have thought so yes that with the continuing rise in digi distrib we will see more games being made by devs that don’t feel bound by the expected standards in retail.
The consoles as well are a totally different story, there is enough trouble with Live and games having to have achievements and pass various tests or whatnot (i’m not 100% clued on on it mind) to get released. Pfft, there shouldn’t be quite as much control as there is at the moment on the consoles.
Am I the only person looking forward to Lego Universe? That’s due the same day as Fallout.
In fact, this month is a bit too good for games on all formats, I don’t know how I’ll afford it all. :(
Thats out this month? Blimey didn’t realise that! It does sound good I have to be honest :D
On the note of The Force Unleashed 2, I’m presently replaying Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. It’s so, so very much better than TFU1. I don’t quite know how or why, I simply know it feels a hell of a lot more entertaining. The ugly, clunky level design is so much more rewarding, the visuals and sound effects feel so much more like the classic Star Wars movies. In every little way, it makes me happy.
Nostalgia cannot account for the fact I enjoyed a few hours of JK2 yesterday far more than I’ve enjoyed any more modern game I’ve played in the last three months.
Star Wars has never appealed to me either as a movie franchise or any of the games that have come from the movies. Shocking I know! I do remember playing the demo of a Star War FPS, was it Republic Commando? I did enjoy that one a bit :)
Aye, Republic Commando was a surprisingly good game, but it hates more recent NVidia cards, so I was never able to revisit it.
Great AI control systems, and a wonderful visor – remember the way it wiped the blood of your enemies away, and repaired damage when you took a shot to the head? ^^
I wonder why you don’t like it. Are you fond of the Pirates, or Mummy movies, at all? I find they have a similar flavour of ‘everything in one movie’, genreless entertainment with a rich world.
How about The Fifth Element?
Liked The Fifth Element and I assume you mean Pirates of the Carribbean? Yeah I do like them too!
I guess I was always more of a Star Trek (Next Generation specifically) kind of guy, especially after I played the very impressive (at the time in my young eyes) Star Trek: A Final Unity which was just a really enjoyable game.
Anyway I have some vague recollection from the demo of a really good allied AI system in Republic Commando.
Ah, then you do have taste, and can be forgiven ;)
May you discover the awesomeness of Star Wars oneday – stick to the old trilogy and appreciate the rusty, awkward, multicultural realism of it. As a kid, I could never believe the future would be as shiny and clean as Star Trek ;)
.. I think we just cemented our positions in Geek Hell.
BACK TO THE GAMING! =D
Haha Geek Hell indeed Jak :D
I may have to have a look around upstairs and see if I still have a copy of A Final Unity…probably won’t be able to get it to run on Win7 mind!
I saw the interesting article is on N4G, btw. The Ball in digital download games could be an interesting option, from swedish Teotl developer.
That was originally a mod for Unreal 3 wasn’t it? May have to check it out.