7 Most Wanted PC Games For 2007 (Part 2)

OK – SO WE’VE had the nostalgia trip, the eye candy, the cheesy goodness and even the adventure on the first part of this countdown… but what does that leave then? Well – for those of you who can count – it leaves three games spread across distinct genres. We have a frag fest spectacular, some teamwork taken to a new level and of course the most ambitious game of the year too. So let’s get started then and complete the list of Howl @ The Moons! top 7 games for 2007 (Part 2):-

Next up is an evolution of one of the main reasons I got so into playing games online in the first place. Up until I played Enemy Territory (ET), I was pretty much a confirmed offline gamer with the odd addiction to a game called Tribes, but for the most part I didn’t get much of a kick from online gaming. ET changed all that. For starters – it was free, and to make things better, it was also the best implementation of a teamwork and role/class based game available at the time. Winning a round wasn’t possible unless the sides worked together as a team, sharing roles (such as Engineer, Medic, Covert Ops etc.) in order to achieve common objectives.

Now flash forward a few years and the team behind ET are releasing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW). Picture the teamwork from ET, combined with latest state-of-the-art graphics and the character attributes of the various half-human and pure monsters from Quake. Now add a dash of strategy, a pinch of tactical control and a lot of repurposing (salvaging parts from partially destroyed vehicles to improve or repair your own, ripping out body parts from your fallen enemies to help repair your fellow team mates etc.) ET:QW has all the signs of a brilliantly balanced online shooter which cannot be dominated by just FPS heads with a quick trigger finger. It’s fast and it’s futuristic but it will take teamwork, tactics and some seriously explosive playing styles to win this one.

Check out the video promo on the EnemyTerritory website and you will see why I’m excited about this one. Might be worth a read of some reviews as well (IGN, Eurogamer, Gamespy). Current release date is set for the end of March, but this is one that I’d also count on slipping into Q2.

Now we move onto possibly the most ambitious PC game of the year. I refer of course to S.T.A.L.K.E.R, from Ukranian developers G.S.C Game World. This little beauty is a post-apocalyptic shooter which takes the standard FPS genre and turns it on it’s head. Most games try to avoid linear progressions and scripted setups, but in reality they deal with your ‘perception’ of what is linear. This game however presents you with the most advanced AI behaviour yet concieved in any PC game and a world which is constantly changing, while you play the game. If this sounds a little mad, well then you’d better read some of the previews and playtests, because IGN, Gamespy, Eurogamer and a hell of a lot more sites are literally drooling at the mouth waiting for this one to hit the shelves.

For me the attraction is the interactivity which this new game world-engine and AI implementation will afford the player. Every decision you make, every choice you implement will affect the world around you, and the way the game responds. Playing the same level twice in exactly the same way won’t guarantee an identical result, because things constantly change. This means lots and lots of head scratching, of what-if scenarios and of experimentation – which sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to me. Current release date is estimated as Q1 2007, but it’s already slipped so much that I’m thinking it’s a June release myself; mind you Play.com have it listed as 16th March… so keep your fingers crossed.

Lastly we come to that splatterfest, that absolutely adrenelin fuelled trigger-happy death match in the sky known as Unreal Tournament from Epic Games. In this case I’m referring to the latest incarnation due this year, Unreal Tournament 2007 (UT2007). This time around the graphics engine has been tweaked beyond belief and the weapons and vehicles have been improved massively. UT2007 offers a perfect platform for you twitchy killers who survive on reflexes alone. This is FPS junkie heaven; make no mistake.

The last iteration of this franchise was back in 2004, so the technology has moved on considerably since then. The game development has been based upon the Unreal Engine V3 and if early screenshots and demo movies are anything to go by, it’s a hell of product. It’s pretty, it’s fast, it’s insanely unforgiving to newbies and it’s the only real proving ground for competitive players who want to exhibit their prowess and speed. No teamwork necessary, just pure unadulterated speed, accuracy and I guess just plain old big balls.

Early previews (Gamespy, Gamespot) are all quite positive and it looks like this beastie is due to hit the shelves in May of this year, but I personally think it will be a christmas release. Still – when it hits, it will hit hard; expect a massive marketing campaign and lots of repetitive stress related injuries and sore fingers.

So that’s it then; my very own most wanted PC games for this year. If even 50% of them hit when they are promised, it looks like March is going to be a very busy month for me