E3 2006 Impressions
The realm of the smaller companies - Kentia Hall!
E3 is over, and I'm trying to filter all the impressions. I read at IGN that they though this year had a surprising amount of quality products on display, even if none of them were really mind blowing. I agree with them, and in the following article I'll tell you a little about the games I saw, and the ones I checked out in press kits after the show. Though many of the games I describe are strategy games, there's also a fair share of other genres represented.
Being a small site, with a community focused on a few series of games, we didn't really have to check out any specific game. We did try to find out what was going on with the series we cover of course, but besides that we asked the community what games they wanted us to check out. That, and some games we had a personal interest in, were what we checked out.
For me, the smaller publishers from Eastern Europe are the most interesting ones. The high profile games from the western publishers are covered by so many sites that people don't really have to come here to find information on them. In addition, the eastern European publishers can take high risk projects that most western ones would never seriously consider.
For those of you that find the company names below a little confusing, let me break it down for you. The companies in large bold letters are the publishers. They do everything from advertising to distribution, and often pay for the development of the games. If there are two companies listed in indent, the first one is also a publisher. In this case, they are most likely sort of a middleman between the developer and the larger publisher. The last company listed is the actual developer - the guys making the game.
Strategy First
Game Factory Interactive / MiST land - South:
Jagged Alliance 3D is being developed by Russian developer MiST land - South. There are some very experienced Russian developers out there, but MiST land's track record isn't too impressive. Still, Jagged Alliance 3D has decent looking graphics and turn-based gameplay. We did an extensive interview with GFI about it, and it's obvious they are doing what they can to please the JA fans. The game seems to be more or less a 3D remake of JA2 as many of the core fans have requested. The potential problem I see with this is that the core fans that demand a 3D remake are usually the same complaining that there's nothing new in the game when it's released. I really hope they do well with JA3D, as Jagged Alliance is one of the classic turn-based tactical series out there, but I am a little sceptical. Oh, and if you are a little confused, Jagged Alliance 3D and Jagged Alliance 3 are not the same games. Jagged Alliance 3D will be released this autumn. Strategy First is working on Jagged Alliance 3, but it seems to be still in the design stage. Read more about Jagged Alliance 3D in our E3 interview.
Akella / .dat:
Disciples III is being developed by Russian developer .dat. I know little of what they did before Disciples III, but what I saw in the trailer and through our interview with Akella had me quite excited. Seems they are staying relatively true to the previous games, and that they listened closely to fan feedback. That is maybe what was most apparent with both Strategy First games, that fan feedback seems to be a priority. If you're not familiar with the Disciples series of games, Heroes of Might and Magic is a series in more or less the same genre. Read more about this game in our E3 interview.
Lighthouse Interactive
Kerberos Productions:
Sword of the Stars is the first game from Kerberos Productions. The members of the team have worked on several high profile games before however, so the experience is there. I knew little about SotS before we interviewed Kerberos at E3, but I have to say that I'm very impressed. Kerberos talked to us for maybe two hours about the game, and then demonstrated it to us. It's obvious that they put a lot of thought into it, and given their small team it's amazing what they have achieved. This 4X space game should be right down any Master Of Orion fan's alley, and seeing the huge battles was a blast. It gave me some lovely Babylon 5 flashbacks, and I really look forwards to giving it a try sometime in August. Find out more in our very extensive E3 interview.
Cenega
IDEA Games / ALTAR Games:
UFO: Afterlight is the third game in the UFO series, being developed by ALTAR Games. The team at ALTAR changed quite a bit after the first two games, and so has the artistic profile it seems. From the little material Cenega has released so far, it looks like this incarnation of the game will be cartoonier. In UFO: Afterlight you'll find yourself on Mars, with the goal of building up a colony and terraforming the planet. The changes from the previous games in the series include a stronger focus on RPG elements in that you should know all your soldiers, scientists and technicians by name this time. The base management will also be altered somewhat, along with some other features. All in all however, Cenega couldn't tell us much due to the game being in such an early phase of development. We'll do an interview with the developers soon to get more information on this upcoming title.
Plastic Reality Technologies:
El Matador is a very different game from the strategy games we cover at this site. It's a 3rd person shooter in development at Plastic Reality Technologies. Their previous game Korea: Forgotten Conflict wasn't received too well, but El Matador seems to be shaping up nicely. If you watch the trailer, you'll notice that it looks a little like Far Cry at the start. What was interesting with this title was the focus on AI. Cenega gave us a demonstration of how your fellow soldiers worked together with your character, never running ahead, but trying to watch your flanks without getting in your way. I've seen a lot of sad tries of building proper team AI in FPS and 3rd person shooters through the years, so watching the interaction in El Matador was quite refreshing. If it is as impressive in the finished game as it looked in the presentation remains to be seen, but good AI does add a dimension to the gameplay.
Tri Synergy
Chaos Concept:
UFO:Extraterrestrials is a game being developed by Czech developer Chaos Concept. It is a game heavily inspired by the X-COM series of games, with turn-based tactical gameplay and everything. As we sat down with Tri Synergy, they first showed us a fairly long gameplay video. I've been a little sceptical to the artistic direction of the game from seeing screenshots, but the trailer gave me some nice X-COM flashbacks. It can't compare to other modern games in the quality of the graphics, but that might not be the most important issue for a game like this anyway. After seeing the trailer we had a look at the strategic view, base management and a few other parts of the game. We didn't have enough time to study it closely, but for retro fans of X-COM this is one to watch. For more information, check out our interview with Chaos Concept.
No publisher
IDEA Games / Bohemia Interactive:
Armed Assault is the new game from the Operation Flashpoint developers Bohemia Interactive. They don't own the rights for the Flashpoint name, but Armed Assault is the new Flashpoint in all other respects. As IDEA Games demonstrated the game, it was especially impressive to see how the team worked together, and to see them switch from soldier to soldier. The mission we saw was an assault on a village, and we started out controlling one of the foot soldiers. Then we jumped in as the gunner in one of the tanks, and ended in the cockpit of a helicopter. As opposed to games like Call of Duty, Armed Assault will be a combat simulator. Your soldiers aren't bullet proof, and it's more about the battle than the individual soldier. If you liked Flashpoint, this is definitively one to watch!
IDEA Games / Black Element:
Alpha Prime is a first person shooter from Shade: Wrath of Angels developers Black Element Software. Shade was a game that showed lots of potential, without blowing anyone's mind when it was released. Alpha Prime is shaping up to be a very good looking FPS, with interesting physics. IDEA Games demonstrated how you could hack into a security camera, see the enemy through the camera, and then blow a steam pipe as he walked by. They also hacked into all sorts of other stuff, like a fork lift to clear the way ahead or building ways to sneak past the enemy. You can actually use the fork lift to place crates so that you can sneak past enemies that you'd normally have to fight. The enemies in question here are relatively stupid robots that don't suspect the automated fork lift of building a corridor for the player. If this is enough to make it a really interesting FPS is too early to tell, but the aforementioned features are surely interesting.
Quick impressions from press kits
As I said earlier, I picked up several press kits from Russian publishers. Akella, Buka and 1C all had lots of games lined up, and some seems to be showing great potential. Keep in mind that these are mostly just quick impressions from watching a trailer and reading a little, so if something piques your interest, make sure you read up on it more closely. Also keep in mind that there are a lot of genres represented here, with only some of them being strategy games.
Akella
As mentioned before, Akella is the publisher for Disciples III together with Strategy First. They also have lots of other games lined up however, both in-house and externally. The in-house games they're developing didn't look too impressive, and one of the trailers had me laugh out loud in fact. A pirate game trailer with heavy metal music in the background and insane looking fights was just hilarious. It's called Age of Pirates: Captain Blood if anyone's interested. The other in-house ones were PT Boats: Knights of the Sea, Rage Riders and Swashbucklers: Blue vs Grey. The last one did show a little potential, but all in all I found the external developments to be the interesting ones.
Electronic Paradise:
Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is an adventure game being developed for PC. It's based on a novel, and the atmosphere of the games is very intriguing. The trailer didn't reveal much however, so time will tell if it's worth a closer look.
IceHill:
Empire Above All is a coming action RTS. It has some very impressive looking physics, and promises some entertaining action for people that enjoy this genre. As with the other games mentioned here however, this is only based on a quick look.
Centauri Production:
Evil Days of Luckless John is a weird looking action adventure coming for the PC. The trailer is very weird, and quite amusing. It's hard to tell what it was that intrigued me with this trailer, but I advise you to take a closer look if action adventures is your cup of tea.
Primal Software:
Heavy Duty is a neat looking action game where you control large robots. Wild firefights are backed up by deformable terrain. Yes, you'll see craters in the ground from your rockets, and trees can be knocked down. Take a closer look if you like robot action with neat physics.
The rest of their games are Hard to Be a God, Inhabited Island: Battlefield, Inhabited Island: Prisoner of Power, Showdown: Scorpion, Tanita: Plasticine Dreams, Tarr Chronicles: Fade of Ghosts and Numen. A few of them looked decent, while one looked like Wolfenstein 3D. The height of these trailers was Nightwish as the background music in one of the trailers!
1C Company
This is a very large Russian publisher, and they have a lot of games coming.
Katauri Interactive:
Battle Lords has bundles of potential! It looks like a blend between Nox and Heroes 5, with real-time strategic adventure and turn-based tactical combat. You play as warrior, paladin or mage, and explore the adventure map with your hero. We'll be sure to check this one more closely as more information is released.
Ino-Co:
Mythic Wars is a turn-based wargame that looks quite interesting. The artistic style is undeniably similar to Warhammer, and orcs, elves and humans should be familiar enough to anyone. That being said, the gameplay looks very appealing, with focus on cooperation between different sorts of units and tactical choices.
X-bow Software:
Star Wolves 2 is the sequel to Star Wolves. It's more of the same, and it looks promising for anyone that enjoyed the first game.
1C Company:
Theatre of War is a World War II RTS that recreates several of the large battles from 1939-1945. It should appeal to anyone that likes historically correct RTS games, and is definitively one to watch.
There are also several other good looking games, but those were the ones that caught my eye. The other games listed were Adrenalin 2: Rush Hour, A.I.M. 2, Ascension to the Throne, Blood Magic, Death to Spies, PT Boats: Knights of the Sea, Rig'n'Roll, Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey, The Tomorrow War, Whirlwind of Vietnam: UH-1, XIII Century: Death or Glory and You Are Empty.
Buka Entertainment
Buka is another large Russian publisher.
Lesta Studio:
Pacific Storm: Allies is the expansion to Pacific Storm. Being a blend between RTS, wargame and simulation, it has quite a bit of potential. Being able to control the battles both on a strategic scale and single units has a certain appeal if done right.
Lesta Studio:
Aggression: Europe 1914 has bundles of potential! Even in the fairly early version it is now, it is something! The game starts with World War 1 and runs through the 1940's, and the player can choose to be Russia, Germany, France or England. With a strategic portion where you research technologies, do diplomacy, troop movement and so on, and a tactical portion with epic battles, it should please any strategy fan! Seeing how the buildings crumble, trees fall over and so on is very impressive. So is the amount of units in the battles! This is definitively one to watch!
Targem:
Hard Truck Apocalypse: Rise of the Clan is the expansion to Hard Truck Apocalypse. It looks like Interstate 76 meets Mad Max, and has the potential to be very entertaining. Hard Truck Apocalypse has been released in Russia, but we're still waiting for the international release. This might be one to watch!
Orion Games:
Dusk-12 is a FPS that reminds me a little of the infamous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The atmosphere of the game looks very good, even if it's hard to tell if that will make it stand out from other FPS games. Depending on how it develops, this might be one to check out closer as more is revealed.
Besides these games, Buka also listed The Stalin Subway: Red Veil as one of their coming games. It looked uninspired however, and is hardly meant for the international market at any rate.
No publisher
Fireglow:
We didn't get to check out their two games, Stranger and Sudden Strike III, closely, but the trailer to SSIII looks promising. It reminds me a little of the Blitzkrieg games from Nival, and fans of that series or the previous Sudden Strike gamers should have a lot to look forwards to.