A closer look at 10 Upcoming Games

with New Environments (Part 2)

By dkpatriarch

© 2008 David Hilton

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In Part1 back in April I looked at twelve upcoming games with new gaming environments including some that have since been released as either retail or demo versions like Alone In The Dark, Lego Indiana Jones, and Too Human, as well as some we still have not played like Highlander, Alan Wake, Far Cry 2, and The Crossing.

Now that E3 for 2008 is over and we’ve had a chance to see a bit more, I’d like to add ten more to the list of upcoming games that seem to offer some new gaming environments, or twists on existing ones, that might help make for more interesting gameplay.  As I said before, I know there is much more to gaming than gameplay environment, but it is what sets the scene and keeps the visual interest of the gamer.  More and more we are also seeing greater interaction with the environment, which means it becomes more than just background eye candy.

• 1: Sonic Unleashed: World Tour

I’ll start with a simple fun one to begin with.  This game is billed as a return to Sonic form after an average outing with the iconic hedgehog. Sega claims that it “utilizes the powerful ‘Hedgehog Engine’ to mesh seamless 3D and classic 2D camera transitions, whilst delivering a rich and expansive world with multiple paths to choose from.”

It looks fantastic with a sprinting Sonic doing a world tour through beautifully rendered environments from the Greek Islands to China and Africa and more.  Not only that, apparently Sonic “can engage in different ways during the day and night time levels, bringing a completely original way of playing the beloved series.”  Hope the game is as fun as it is colourful!

• 2: Pure: Lake Garda, Italy

My five year old son is really excited about this one after having the time of his life getting a ride on one of these four-wheeled off-road ATVs at a farm recently.  Pure takes off-road ATV racing to amazing new heights (literally) combining arcady racing with incredible jumps and tricks like in a snowboarding title, all in a variety of environments that are so much better than boring tracks or cities we’ve all raced in before.

My favourite environment to jump about in will be Lake Garda Italy, judging by the videos, but there are seven real-world locations including Wyoming, Italy, and New Mexico, with more than 30 different tracks.  There is nothing worse than racing and jumping around in boring locations, so this one looks great for the young and young at heart.

• 3: Velvet Assassin: Warsaw Ghetto

Is gaming finally dealing with ‘real’ previously too confronting issues?  Previous World War II games have focused on the glory, bond of brotherhood, chaos, and violence of battle, but hardly ever even hints at the killing of civilians and certainly not the Holocaust.

Velvet Assassin (previously known as Sabotage) is amazingly being made by a German group too, Replay Studios, and promises to show “disturbing scenarios”.  You will find bodies and signs of execution, but the level where you, as female spy Violette Summer, infiltrate the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews from around Europe were held until being sent by train to concentration camps and their death, is certainly a new environment in WW2 games.

I’m really looking forward to this one, and hope they pull off a good spy stealth game that dares to show the devastation war has on people, not just soldiers, in a mature intelligent way.

• 4: Prince Of Persia: “Illustrative Style”

Sure, we’ve had cell-shaded environments in the past, but Ubisoft’s new approach to the Prince of Persia franchise is what they call ‘illustrative’ style.  And it looks great.  I loved the more realistic historic environments of Assassin’s Creed (also by Ubisoft) but Prince of Persia is perfect for this sort of imaginary exotic dreamy style of presentation.  It’s like an interactive art-book.

• 5: The Wheelman: Barcelona

Finally, an open-world driving/action game not set in the U.S. or London.  I find this very refreshing already.  Barcelona is a fantastic city full of a huge diversity of environments ranging from the medieval narrow streets of the Barri Gothic, to the famous Gaudi landmark the Sagrada Familia, to the more modern city, and very European squares.

Vin Diesel’s game, to be released before a film of the same name, has just been delayed, which is a good thing: though the car chases did look very cinematic, the graphics looked to need more polish and the street roaming mechanics for the protagonist (who looks like Vin Diesel) were apparently quite stiff.  I want this game to shine, and so I’m willing to wait.

• 6: To End All Wars: World War 1 Environments

This game is a bit of a mystery and from what I’ve seen certainly still needs polish, but the idea of a game set in World War I could provide a new shooter environment that is different to the modern war or World War II ones we’ve come to know recently.

The ‘alternate’ World War 1 section in The Darkness was interesting (if a bit surreal) and if the game offers more than what we’ve seen before in war shooters and more than just trench warfare, this could be a surprise hit.

The game maker, Kuju, says: “Set in the war-torn trenches of World War I Europe, “To End All Wars” will deliver unrivalled atmosphere and realism” and “no two battles will be the same and game maps will feature a massive variety of terrain”.  Let’s hope it offers something new.

•7: Alpha Protocol: RPG Goes Spy

When you think of game environments for role playing games you tend to think fantasy or sci fi don’t you?  Well Obsidian, makers of Knights of the Old Republic II, have decided that an action/RPG involving a ‘24′-like story with round-the-world James Bond-like locations and even the ability to seduce women in between your many missions and side-missions will be a hit.

I’m not usually inspired by sci-fi RPGs and Oblivion really is the only fantasy RPG I need, so a spy RPG has me really intrigued.  If they get the combat element right, this one could attract even non-traditional RPG players.

• 8: Faith and a 45: Re-imagined Depression-era America

This one, from Denmark independent studio Deadline Games, looks to take some Gears of War style cover and shoot gameplay and mix it with a romantic road movie storyline.  The story of two outlaw lovers in a re-imagined depression-era America, fighting to survive against a corrupt oil-man and his men, certainly seems original.  It intends to be a gritty co-op shooter with an atmospheric cinematic quality.

The game takes the unlucky Bonnie and Clyde-styled couple, Luke and Ruby, across 1930s America fighting against a “dark army of steel-plated vehicles, and armour-clad pyromaniacs”.  The fact that they are a couple is important to the game as Ruby will apparently give a “kiss of life” to Luke if he falls in battle to revive him and kisses as rewards for good work.

They really want the characters to ‘need’ each other and the player not to have a side-kick he/she doesn’t care about.  “Since we at Deadline have our roots in movie production, we value original stories, settings and characters very highly,” said CEO Chris Mottes.  I’m always cheering on the independent studios willing to try new game environments and ideas and so let’s hope this one gets a successful release, probably next year.

• 9: Tomb Raider: Underworld:  Thailand and More

Tomb Raider environments are among the most diverse of any game franchise, with the possible exception of James Bond games (see below).  Underworld promises more of the same with exotic locations from the frozen Arctic, jungles of Mexico, beneath the Mediterranean sea, to coastal Thailand.  The focus is on greater interactivity with the environment.

Crystal Dynamics wants an “interactive world that reacts and remembers”, so footprints can be left in the mud but rain can wash them away, Lara can push foliage aside with one or two hands, depending on if she is carrying a weapon, and wet weather will make the environment more difficult to navigate when climbing ledges.   Matt Knoles, marketing manager, says each level in Underworld will be an “epic environmental playground”.

Legend was a step in the right direction after Angel of Darkness, so this one should combine the variety of locations with more interactive environments and even greater Lara Croft gymnastics, which is always a good thing.

• 10: Quantum of Solace: Siena and More

James Bond is heading in the right direction after the excellent Casino Royale movie.  Activision and studio Treyarch, using the Call of Duty 4 engine, plan to get the Bond games heading in the same direction after the poor last efforts from EA.

As always, Bond movies and games feature a variety of exotic locals and this game will thankfully be no different, covering environments from both Casino Royale and the upcoming movie sequel Quantum of Solace.  We know about some of the locations already seen in Casino like Venice, Madagascar, and Montenegro but there will be a few more like Siena, the beautiful medieval walled city in Tuscany.

So far I’ve only seen footage of a chase and shoot scene in the columned Siena sewers (sewers are always overused as an environment in games in my opinion) but hopefully it goes topside too.  What I did see showed a great amount of detail with dust obscuring vision, rubbish being pushed about, shaky-cam with slow-mo explosions, and good water and lighting effects.  Here’s hoping we aren’t limited to linear interior locations that don’t much reflect the locations visited.

Part 3 of the Environments Series in a short period, so stay tuned.

© 2008 David Hilton

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