"Next year is going to be a big year for PC Gaming", declared Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor in a recent interview with CVG which we'll be publishing over Christmas. And you know what? He ain't lying. When we sat down to pick out our 10 most-anticipated PC games due to hit next year, the list topped 20 titles within minutes, and it actually proved difficult to cut it down. In fact, don't tell our editor, but we've actually sneaked a couple more into the list without him noticing. Shhhhh... So, below, listed in no particular order, are the 12 games that we've chosen...
Crysis German developer Crytek delivered Far Cry - which was its first game - an incredible achievement and a first-person shooter that some regard as better that Half-Life 2. It's no surprise then that anticipation for its second shooter, Crysis, is hitting fever pitch, and it has to be said that to date it appears that the game is going to live up to hopes. The science fiction storyline is a real aliens-hit-Earth classic and we're crossing fingers that the free-roaming gameplay, stunning environments, nuts physics and thrilling action will be blended together to create one scrumptious FPS dish. Don't let us down, Crytek.
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars It's been nearly 10 years, incredibly, but now Command & Conquer is returning and with it GDI vs. Nod destruction. The game boasts an impressive cast of actors - including the legend that is Michael Ironside! - and, while sticking to the series' tried and tested formula in many ways, does introduce a number of cool new single-player features - like multiple campaign branches. We've been promised a strong the storyline too and, of course, with the acting talent that's been signed up, the game's live action movie sequences will, all being well, ladle on the atmosphere.
Check out the Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars game page here.
Spore It's the latest title from The Sims creator and all-round videogame design genius Will Wright, and naturally that makes it one of the PC stars of 2007. It's an ambitious game, Wright explaining that "It's a game about life. It's about life starting at the cellular level, working it's way up through evolution, into tribal societies, civilisation, and eventually going out into space and spreading through the galaxy". Crikey, it sounds like 15 games crammed into one but, if anyone can pull it off, it's Will Wright. Go Will, go!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Ah, the infamous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It's been development for so many years we've lost count but is finally due early next year - and it's made it into the list. Despite waiting for it for an age, and the fact that it's been streamlined a bit and some of GSC's original features planned for the game left by the wayside, we're still keen, keen, keen to experience the survival-FPS and explore the wasteland surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant while scavenging for artefacts and tackling mutated beasts and fellow fortune seekers.
Hellgate: London 2007 sees ex-Blizzard dev maestro Bill Roper return with Hellgate: London. Hell's demons have waged war on the Big Smoke in a FPS-RPG that melds sci-fi and fantasy, and the idea of roaming around London and twatting the shit out of stuff is very appealing. The phrase "infinite replayability" is being attached to the title, with the promise of dynamically generated levels, items, enemies and events - so kind of like Diablo. You play a hi-tech Templar Knight character who, as well being a wielder of magic, is additionally kitted out with hefty firepower, armour and plenty of skills to battle Hell's forces.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Mythic Entertainment's MMOG based on Games Workshop's fantasy tabletop game is one of two titles in the genre due next year that we're eager to get dirty hands on. Staying faithful to the rich and hugely popular Warhammer world, a major focus is Realm versus Realm combat - PvP mass fighting mayhem, which Mythic has plenty of experience with thanks to developing MMOG Dark Age of Camelot - and having seen the title at this year's E3, we can honestly say that our inner dwarf is frenziedly grooming his beard in anticipation of its arrival.
Check out the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning game page here.
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar Turbine's LoTR game happens to be the second of 2007's MMOGs that we're dying to leap into. We've been big fans of Tolkien's novel - and videogames - for years and, truth to tell, since the dawn of the MMOG we've dreamed of adventuring in a Middle-earth-powered persistent world. Turbine's experience in the massively multiplayer online gaming genre should, all being well, mean the gameplay and game mechanics are rock solid but the real, real pull for us is the fact that we can team up with other folks and roam the hills and dales of the famous fantasy world.
Check out the The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar game page here.
Unreal Tournament 2007 The latest instalment in Epic's veteran multiplayer FPS series looks simply amazing. Years of experience with the genre really should mean the developer has fine-tuned the gameplay close to perfection, and the new content its introducing in UT 2007 - the massive, Strider-like vehicle, for example - is awesome. It's also, of course, benefiting from running on Epic's stunning Unreal Engine 3.0, and the last time we saw the game in action our jaws hit the floor and hung around in the carpet pile for a while before re-attaching to our faces. Beautiful, hot action spitting out of every polygon and killer game modes - we can't wait.
Check out the Unreal Tournament 2007 game page here.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two Summer 2007, eh? Well, yes it's still a fair old way off, but we're standing firm in the face of adversity and refuse to let our little tapping toes of anticipation kick off their dancing shoes and admit defeat. After finishing Episode One, we were desperate to immediately get on with the show but unfortunately that was never, ever going to happen. We're an impatient bunch. Anyway, Episode Two - more Freeman, more quality Valve FPS-ness, outside City 17, in the woods with massive Striders on the attack. And, its coming bundled with Portal and Team Fortress 2. Now that's not to be sneezed at.
Check out the Half-Life 2: Episode Two game page here.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Quake Wars appeared like a bolt out the blue at E3 2005 and we've wanted it - like, really, really wanted it - ever since. In development at Splash Damage - the chaps behind Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory - the game's a team-based, class-based multiplayer showdown between the GDF against the Strogg war machine that features FPS and vehicular combat and even includes RTS-style elements. Truly sounding incredible, it also looks the mutt's nuts - thanks in part to it employing id Software's MegaTexture rendering technology, which is able to render large, highly detailed and un-tiled outdoor environments. All we can say is: Battlefield, beware.
Check out the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars game page here.
Bioshock Weirdness lurks beneath the waves. Its name, is Bioshock. And it does, look rather bloody good. We shall stop, putting commas in funny places for emphasis now. Anyway, Irrational Games' FPS-RPG takes to the seabed where lies a failed utopia reeling in the aftermath of a war between genetically modified humans. Oozing creepiness, it also comes across as a game that could genuinely be quite disturbing - wicked! And we've said it before but we'll say it again: the decision to use an Art Deco style for the environments is genius. Plus, we're finding the mixture of cool and odd characters utterly compelling.
Supreme Commander Want an epic RTS? Say hello to Gas Powered Games' and Chris Taylor's Supreme Commander. A spiritual sequel to Taylor's classic Total Annihilation, it holds the potential for hundreds of thousands of units in a single battle, each built to scale and sporting weapons physically simulated for less rock-paper-scissors guessing and more realism. A mass amount of on-screen action calls for serious strategy, and thankfully the interface makes managing your massive army easy-peasy. Plus, the gigantic experimental units - such as the Aeon Galactic Colossus that towers at almost 100ft high and sports twin gravity guns and devastating lasers that blast from its eyes - are pure RTS heaven.
