The Gaming Year Ahead

Leading the way towards impending Vista and DX10 delights, is EA's and Crytek's FPS, Crysis, which is the next-generation spiritual successor of the hugely successful shooter Far Cry. The visuals have changed radically, to say the least and crucial additions were made to the gameplay itself, allowing players to fight against highly improved AI. Crysis also continues the open-ended spirit of Far Cry, so you can expect to go through large outdoor sections with dense jungles, realistic water surfaces and complex underground levels. Another Vista-ready title is also on the horizon, coming from the folks at MS. After more than two years of waiting, PC gamers will finally get a chance to enjoy the adventures of Master Chief in the approaching PC version of Halo 2. Despite its unsatisfactory story and fairly short single-player campaign seen in the Xbox version, this game has done wonders for the Halo multiplayer and has added a number of fresh elements to the FPS standard. Here's hoping for even more improvements in the PC port.

Gotta get me one of these suits – for gardening.

The vehicle may have been sabotaged.

The world of RPGs is looking fine and prosperous. Those among you who prefer the single-player RPG ride, can rejoice in the fact that there are many decent-looking projects under way. For starters, we have Hellgate: London, a Diablo-inspired action-RPG that represents a first effort from the (relatively) newly formed development team, Flagship Studios. The Witcher also shouldn't go amiss. This one is set in a world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. What's more, the authors of the game have also licensed the NWN 1 engine (yep, you've read it correctly).

Bioware is coming on strongly next year with Jade Empire (PC), sci-fi RPG Mass Effect (check out our latest interview with the guys at Bioware on that) and the secretive PC title, Dragon Age. According to the developers, Dragon Age relies on evolved "tactical real-time combat," the basics of which are similar to the system in good old Baldur's Gate. Players will issue orders to multiple party members and pause the game when they need to think. Furthermore, Dragon Age uses a slightly modified version of the Mass Effect dialogue system. We've seen Bioware rave on about this conversation system quite a few times and we sincerely hope they pull it off in both games. With all this under its belt, the celebrated developer is also working on an as-of-yet unnamed MMORPG project. More info on that is expected soon.

The future of MMORPGs is looking brighter than ever. Right now, we're expecting Final Fantasy XIII, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (also on Xbox 360), and last, but not least, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. Blizzard's brand new expansion pack, as many among you are probably well aware of, introduces new flying mounts, an increased level cap (70), new playable races: (the Blood Elves and the Draenei), 3 New Cities (The Exodar, Shattrath and Silvermoon), a completely new continent (reachable through the Dark Portal), new quests, new items and a ton of additional content. In short, it's something to keep you occupied for the rest of your geek life. (Shut up, you bastard! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! - 2Lions)

Multiplayer shooters to watch out for.

Unreal Tournament 2007 and Enemy Territories: Quake Wars are by far the leading competitors on the impeding 2007 multiplayer shooter market. We've played ET: Quake Wars on many occasions and we were more than content with what we saw. As for UT 2007, we can't wait to get our mitts on that one. Just to enlighten you on the matter, we draw your attention to the weapons that were confirmed to appear in UT2007: Rocket Launcher, Flak Cannon, Redeemer, Link Gun, Shock Rifle, AVRiL, Sniper Rifle, Dual Enforcers, Impact Hammer, Stinger, Canister Gun and the Target Painter. Naturally, we haven't forgotten Eidos Interactive's new project Battlestations: Midway (learn more about it here) and THQ's Frontline: Fuels of War, which is destined for simultaneous release on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Very hush-hush...

As always, an entire range of games is discreetly being kept under wraps from the prying eyes of the press. For now, we see great potential in games like God of War 2 (PS2), Prince of Persia Rival Swords (Wii) and Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3, PC). Also, much remains hidden regarding Rockstar's hugely anticipated project Grand Theft Auto IV. They are clearly waiting for the right time to dish out info and media, and when they do, it'll be GTA mayhem afresh. Last we heard, the game is making its way towards an October 2007 launch and will apparently be released in both Xbox 360 and PS3 variants. We are also keeping a vigilant eye on Relic and their efforts, especially now that the company is looking for designers to help create an RPG as well as an undisclosed MMO project.

In addition to that, Sid Meier talked of porting his phenomenally successful PC franchise, Civilization, to consoles. We'll see what the future brings.

Surprisingly, this is the first year (after god knows how long) that we have no official Star Wars-related titles from LucasArts. However, our keen "force senses" keep telling us that LucasArts has something up their sleeve, but is hesitating to let the cat out of the bag. One of the main reasons why we feel that way is because we're still hyped about that E3 trailer for a new project, which LucasArts mysteriously refers to as Star Wars: Force Unleashed (you may check it out at YouTube). You'll see a whole bunch of beyond-cool force powers, setting off some impressive effects in, what appears to be, a well-tuned physics engine.

When on earth?

Need I remind you that the infamous "Duke Nukem Whenever" is still, supposedly, in the making. The latest preposterous rumor surrounding this never-ending project, has placed the game in line for a January 2007 release. Right. And in other news, the Pope's "wife" gave birth to triplets. Also, I can't believe the year 2006 is drawing to a close and we're still talking about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. THQ seems confident that GSC Game World will deliver a decent enough FPS, which is going to be unleashed in Q1 2007.

On the MMO scene, there are still two projects, which have been in the making forever. Namely, we're referring to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.

Contrary to hoaxes like DNF, games like Alan Wake have a far more promising future. Despite our efforts to drill MS on this one, we still weren't able to milk any additional info or media. However, we are happy to report that Remedy's scary action-adventure is on target for January 2007.

Let's wrap this up.

So, this would be it, more or less. This is the stuff we are looking forward to. Of course, one can only suggest so many titles, before a trusted reader comes along and tells us how wrong we were for not mentioning .

No, seriously, go on and do it in the comments section.