IGN meldt even wat zij aan toppertjes verwachten voor 2004 :
Spider-Man 2
Publisher:Activision
Developer:Treyarch
Release Date: June 2004
Why it will rock: The original Spider-Man title based on the first movie showed tremendous promise. The line on this game was that the outdoor web-swinging stages were great, but camera became a bit problematic when you got indoors with all of that spider-agility and wall-crawling. The early version of Spider-Man 2 we saw at E3 was the most exciting, fun-filled one level technology demonstration we've come across in a long time. Spidey can walk around Manhattan streets, leap dozens of feet in the air and either start web-swinging or begin throwing all kinds of special combat moves that'll warm the hearts of comic fans everywhere. The game is designed so that Manhattan will be a living city with lots of little crimes and people for Spider-Man to interact with. The influence of the GTA franchise is far and wide indeed. Besides there's no telling what extras and bonus gameplay modes Treyarch has planned for this bid budget movie tie-in.
Fable
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer:Big Blue Box
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: Fable is going to be hot because Peter Molyneux, head of Lionhead Studios --godfather to developer Big Blue Box, told us it was going to be "the greatest role-playing game of all-time." Seriously though, this ambitious title could be one of the games that ends up defining what the Xbox was all about when everything is said and done. Sick of RPGs that were little more than medieval tales with graphics, the developers behind Fable wanted to create a game where everything your character does brings about a reaction from the environment, the nonplayable characters and the game itself. So in Fable you're always drifting down a path towards evil or good. Using excessive weaponry or magic will physically change the appearance of your character as he ages from adolescence into adulthood. The people of the world in Fable will know your name one way or another as you attempt to become the most renowned adventurer of all time. And that has a familiar ring to it.
B.C.
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Intrepid
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: The same Peter Molyneux --he's Intrepid's daddy too by way of Lionhead Studios-- could've called this the greatest role playing game of all time, but there's far more action in B.C. for it to be limited to the RPG category. He did however say it will be the bloodiest game of all time, so there's the hyperbole you need. Big nasty dinosaurs and cavewomen in skimpy outfits will be the highlights of this innovative game that will have players using their 21st century intelligence to guide primitive humans in their quest for survival in a cruel prehistoric world. You'll have a simple action interface that will help you get stuff done as well as demonstrate important new skills and abilities that members of your tribe will need to learn if they're to out-evolve the treacherous primate tribe. All that anthropological crap aside, this game is going to be about slaughtering a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex or two at regular intervals using nothing more advanced than sticks, stones and bones. Merely calling a T-Rex names would never hurt it.
Halo 2
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Bungie
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: Who says this game will rock? Seriously. Just because it's going to be the ultimate evolution of the very game that justifies the Xbox's existence; just because it's going to push the limits of what Xbox Live can do; just because it's added new weapons, new enemies, new vehicles, new melee combat moves, car-jacking and dual weaponry; just because the mere thought of Halo 2 makes the greatest games currently stocked in our Xbox libraries look like weak-kneed intruders on your gaming shelf; just because it's probably going to be the best looking videogame of all time, redefining the limits of bump-mapping and lighting techniques; none of this means Halo 2 is going to rock for sure. It's going to roll over any other software that hits store shelves that week of release and we're not even sure when that is. Our advice is to start looking for department store Santas you may know, camp out in his lap and wish your ass off between now and Christmas.
Star Wars: Battlefront
Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: Pandemic
Release Date: Fall 2004
Why it will rock: It's a team-based shooter where you have to fight to capture control points on a planet before moving on to another planet to do the same thing and conquer the galaxy. Because of this and the Episodes I-VI elements, Star Wars: Battlefront might follow in the footsteps of Knights of the Old Republic as the next game to have more Star Wars juice than any SW movie from the last five years. This is a multiplatform release including the PS2 and PC, but the Xbox version will of course be able to take advantage of Xbox Live functionality and reliability so that the massive 32 player battles across the Star Wars universe will feel like Battlefield: A Long Long Time Ago. Imperials, Rebels, Old Republic and Trade Federation forces will all be mixed up in there with usable vehicles like TIE Fighters, AT-STs and speederbikes. Pandemic Studios could be the ones to deliver us all from the dark side of EA's ownership of Battlefield 1942.
StarCraft: Ghost
Publisher:Vivendi-Universal
Developer: Blizzard
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: Wacky corporate shenanigans helped get this game off track for 2003, but that doesn't mean Blizzard's third-person action-adventure has somehow become less appealing. Our heroine Nova has all of the abilities of the Ghost unit from the almighty StarCraft real-time strategy title from the PC plus several new weapons and gadgets. Units, vehicles and other trappings of the PC title will be featured throughout StarCraft Ghost and seeing them up close and from a ground-level perspective will be a huge treat for longtime StarCraft fans. Nova will play like a super-futuristic version of Sam Fisher with all kinds of stealth weapons and moves, including the hot-for-2004 inverted sniper ability where she hangs upside down from a bar or other structure to pop a cap or two into unsuspecting bad guys. The basic gameplay elements are appealing enough, but Ghost will get a tremendous amount of cool points thanks to its StarCraft heritage.
Full Spectrum Warrior
Publisher: THQ
Developer:Pandemic
Release Date:Spring 2004
Why it will rock: Take all of the quick thinking and planning you'll need in a real-time strategy game and present it with a close quarters, third-person perspective and you're getting the basics of Full Spectrum Warrior. The innovative title from Pandemic is closely based on software developed to train US Army soldiers for a variety of squad-level combat situations. Managing two fire teams of troops with an emphasis on safety and effectiveness elevates FSW above the level of typical military themed videogames where you're just asked to aim and shoot with precision over and over again. The successful Full Spectrum Warrior player will have this game looking like something out of the film "Black Hawk Down" to the casual observer because it mimics authentic modern urban warfare as closely as that 2001 Academy Award winner. You will have to think like a soldier to get through this one. And we're talking about the macho harshness of Tom Sizemore's character not that pansy-ass Josh Hartnett. Who put him in charge anyway?
Hitman: Contracts
Publisher: Eidos
Developer: IO Interactive
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: The last Hitman title was a pleasant surprise on the consoles, so we can't wait to see what IO Interactive can do the second time around on Xbox. The same company made Freedom Fighters this past year, which worked well as an action game but certainly didn't look like the evolution of an assassin's game like we're expecting with Hitman: Contracts. There's not much info out there right now about Agent 47's next adventure but the badass bald man should certainly look sharper than ever before and we're hoping the camera problems and other mechanics that held back Hitman 2 from true greatness will be addressed in 2004.
Psychonauts
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Double Fine
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: We came out of E3 2002, thinking Psychonauts could be the mascot game Microsoft has been looking for since the system launched in 2001. A wannabe psycho-secret agent/circus performer with vast mental powers sounds like a good premise for any game, but the developers at Double Fine --headed by Tim Schafer-- take it a step further by having the main character, Raz, physically explore the twisted minds of several characters in Psychonauts. This is where the fun begins because there will be a unique art style and feel to each of several psyches/worlds. The mind of the conspiracy theorist continues to be one of our early favorites with everything in his mind's eye existing as a part of a government plot against him. His paranoia is manifested by a character who actually is hanging around his mind waiting to kill him when you happen to run into him. Psychonauts looks like kids stuff, but the developers are going to let us out of this game without tickling our minds a little bit.
Grand Theft Auto: Next
Publisher: Rockstar
Developer: Rockstar
Release Date: TBD 2004
Why it will rock: The next Grand Theft Auto title will rock because it should be as good if not better than the last two that showed up on Xbox. The appearance of GTA3 and Vice City on Xbox was all we needed to be convinced that the series has a third home on Microsoft's console. The sales numbers for the GTA Double Pack, most likely was all Take Two needed to be convinced of the same. Whether it's San Andreas, Bogota, Tokyo, Sin City or some other locale, the next evolution of the franchise that changed everything will be something to behold. Regardless, we'll see what several extra months of development time will mean to a game where the real main character is a living, autonomous city that's going to be doing its own thing and reacting to your free will. Let's just hope there's no more huge chunks of city that do nothing this time around.
Dead or Alive: Ultimate
Publisher:Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Release Date: March 2004
Why it will rock: Fortunately for Xbox owners, Team Ninja only works with the best gaming hardware available. That means they love the Xbox. And that in turn means we love Team Ninja. Besides the incredible Ninja Gaiden, the team is also bringing us Dead or Alive: Ultimate, also previously known as Dead or Alive Online.
But this isn't just Dead or Alive 3 with online play. In fact, it's Dead or Alive 2 and the original Japan-only Dead or Alive, available in one tidy 2-disc package. Though the game is based on earlier versions of Dead or Alive, don't expect the gameplay to be a step backwards. Team Nina has gone and completely redone the graphics engine for DOA 2 so that the game looks as good, if not better than Dead or Alive 3. Gameplay has also been tweaked, and new arenas added. The original DOA game uses the old-school character models, but we can't deny the nostalgic tears it brings to our eyes. With a ton of extra goodies (trading cards, etc) included in the deluxe packaging, DOA: Ultimate should be just that - the Ultimate.
Jade Empire
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: BioWare
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: If you consider yourself a gamer, then you should be familiar with our Overall Game of 2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. If anything, the game proves that a good Star Wars-based game is possible. It's also a great example of BioWare's game-making talent. With a track record that's almost completely untarnished, it's no wonder that we're super-stoked on BioWare's newest title, Jade Empire.
The easiest way to describe the game is KOTOR meets kung-fu. But even that's portraying the game in a lesser light than it deserves. The core game bears an uncanny resemblance to the Star Wars epic, complete with Light and Dark story-branching, but rather than turn-based combat, Jade Empire uses a real-time fighting engine. We had a look at the game at last year's Tokyo Game Show, and we must say that we were thoroughly impressed. The game's visuals are significantly better than KOTOR's, the voice acting just as good, and the fighting looks tense and intuitive. While we're still waiting to get up-close-and-personal with the game, we can say that it looks to be one of the most promising Xbox games of 2004.
Doom 3
Publisher: Activision
Developer: id Software
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: If you have to ask why this is on our list of most anticipated games, we're a bit worried. Doom 3 is not only one of the biggest games of 2004, but it's one of the most anticipated games of all time. After id did Doom 2, the company moved onto the Quake series, seemingly leaving the revered Doom games behind. But that could only last so long, right?
Though no official release date has been given (id's motto is, "When it's done, it's done."), the first public showing of the game almost two years ago gave us hope that it would be out sometime soon. We were wrong, but it looks like the worth will have been worth it. Featuring some of the most impressive visuals seen in a game yet, Doom 3 is as much eye candy as it is terrifying nightmare. With an emphasis on the light and shadow dynamic, Doom 3 doesn't stray far from the series roots - you still shoot mindless zombies and monsters. But it's the terror and suspense that the breakthrough graphics makes possible that put this game above just about everything else. We've heard from inside sources that have played the game that it will own us; we're happy to oblige.
Half-Life 2
Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Valve
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: Okay, besides Doom 3, the other game that is on every gamers' list of wanted games has to be Half-Life 2. The first game shook the gaming world with its impressive AI and perfect pacing. The sequel looks to do the same, only with graphics and physics like the world has never seen. It's that impressive. While we've only seen live demos of the game, something tells us that this game will once again redefine the first-person genre.
The biggest worries on gamers' minds regarding Half-Life 2 is whether it will look as good as the PC version. Well, it's highly unlikely that it will look exactly like the PC version, but with a hardware configuration that isn't flexible, clever optimizations can make the game look really close to its PC counterpart. We've actually heard that the game is moving along quite nicely on Xbox, and looks better than you'd think. Yeah, we're pumped.
Far Cry
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Crytech Studios
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: Sometimes a game comes out of nowhere and shocks us with amazing graphics, realistic physics, and great gameplay. Far Cry is one of those games. We first saw a demo of the game at last year's Game Developer's Conference. We were impressed then, but now that we've spent some time with the PC version of the game, we can honestly say that Far Cry has the potential to be a seminal FPS.
Far Cry uses the Crytech engine, which allows for some insane graphics and physics. And the draw distance is unreal. The Xbox version of the game won't be an exact port of the PC game. Instead, expect a slightly redone single-player campaign, with a heavy, heavy emphasis on Live multiplayer. We have a feeling Ubisoft will be positioning the game as a direct competitor to Halo 2. Yes, that's an uphill battle, but if there's a game that might be capable of that task, it's Far Cry.
Thief 3
Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Ion Storm
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: When most people think of stealth games, they think of Metal Gear and Splinter Cell. But those of us who know better think of the Thief series. Originating on the PC, the Thief games were doing advanced stealth gameplay way before Snake or Sam. Why isn't the franchise more known? Probably because the games were ahead of their time; while everyone was shooting each other in Quake, a select group of gamers were living out their stealth fantasies in Thief.
Using the Deus Ex 2 engine, expect Thief 3 to have the same incredible lighting - a must for a stealth game - and physics. Additionally, because the game is coming to the PC also, the game will probably have a console-friendly user interface. We're a little worried about the framerate issues that DX2 had, but with gaming legend Warren Spector at the helm, we have faith that Thief 3 will take stealth-based gameplay to the next level.
True Fantasy Live Online
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Level-5
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: If there's one genre the Xbox needs a bit of help in, it's RPGs. Thankfully, the folks over at Level-5 feel our RPG pangs and are developing True Fantasy Live Online, a massively multiplayer online RPG. The most intriguing feature of the game is the graphics. Completely cel-shaded, TFLO looks just like a cartoon. We know there are other cel-shaded games out there, but TFLO takes the cake.
Besides the great graphics and flexible character-creation system, TFLO also has the developer's reputation. If you don't know of Level-5, you should. They're the same folks who brought the PS2 Dark Cloud 1 & 2, and also the upcoming Dragon Quest VIII. If you haven't played Dark Cloud 2, or are unfamiliar with Dragon Quest's following in Japan, just know that if Square-Enix trusts them with one of the most beloved RPG series of all time, we should trust them too.
Otogi 2
Publisher: TBA
Developer: From Software
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: We loved the first Otogi. It's one of the best action games out on any console. It's also one of the most beautiful. We don't know where the game came from, but we don't care. We're just glad From Software made it, and that Sega published it in the US.
Released in Japan this past Christmas, Otogi 2 came out in the same year as the original. This short turnaround time makes us appreciate the sequel even more. Believe it or not, it's significantly better-looking than the original. The gameplay has also been improved, with tweaked controls and six playable characters. There's really too much to gush about when it comes to Otogi 2, so we'll keep it simple: if you love games, you need Otogi 2
Ninja Gaiden
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Release Date: February 12, 2004
Why it will rock: What? Ninja Gaiden hasn't been released yet? No, it sure hasn't. Funny, the game was actually one of our most anticipated games for 2003. But who cares, the extra time Team Ninja took with the game seems to have proven useful. The graphics are CG-quality, the controls are incredibly tight, and hey, it's Ninja Gaiden for Pete's sake!
That's not enough for you? Okay, well, the game also includes the first three Ninja Gaiden NES games, and the original arcade game. It also features an online tournament mode where players can download missions and compete for prizes. There are some more online features that we can't talk about yet, but let's just say that they're really freakin' cool. The extra bonus features (old television commercials, etc.) are just the icing on the frozen fruit cake.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: March 2004
Why it will rock: The Xbox is home to many AAA games. It's got Halo, Project Gotham Racing 2, and KOTOR, just to name a few. But one game that really pushed the hardware to not only produce amazing graphics, but also gameplay, was Splinter Cell. A Tom Clancy game, Splinter Cell features the typical day-after-tomorrow storyline and gadgetry. It also featured some of the best lighting ever seen in a videogame. The sequel, Pandora Tomorrow, has all of the above, but also an innovative online mode.
Two spies, two terrorists. That's all you get in the online mode. What makes it special, though, is the way that each side has weapons and gadgets to counteract the others. It sounds simple - and it is - but it's that simplicity that makes the gameplay so intuitive and so tense. With the spies and terrorists having third and first-person views, respectively, this is one online feature that's been thoroughly thought out. It's really that good.
True Crime 2
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Luxoflux Corp.
Release Date: TBA 2004
Why it will rock: Coming later this year is the sequel to True Crime. You know, that game that was labeled as the GTA-killer. Well, it wasn't quite a GTA-killer considering the two games were quite a bit different, but it was a really cool game. So it's no surprise that the sequel is in full production.
Scheduled for release at the end of the year, True Crime 2 will probably be more of the same, only more refined and polished, and with less bugs. We don't know much else, but sources tell us that the celebrity voice actors will be reprising their roles, and that the game will again take place in L.A. We haven't been able to confirm the information, but if it's true, then we have every right to be excited.
Other Notable Games of 2004
Republic Commando
Star Wars meets Metroid Prime. What more do ya want?
Manhunt
The most violent game in history. Neat.
Metal Arms 2
The sequel to the second-best shooter (besides Halo) on Xbox.
Burnout 3
Arcade racing at its best. Also rumored to be online!
Silent Hill 4
Could be the scariest game ever, besides Pulse Racer.
Battlefield 1942
We still hear that it's coming, though it may be a full sequel rather than a port.
SNK VS Capcom
SNK's take on the versus series. Complete with online play.
Guilty Gear XX Reloaded
High-res sprites, kooky characters, and a deep fighting system. Online, too!
Call of Duty
This is how a war game is made.
Rallisport Challenge 2
Fast, gorgeous, and online. Best damage modeling ever.
MechAssault 2
Yeah, it's coming. Expect more of the same, plus some surprises.
Brute Force 2
Only rumors, but we wouldn't be surprised.
Freelancer
Online space-flying combat? Sign us up.
Steel Battalion: Line of Contact
Big controller can now be used online!
Tenchu: Return From Darkness
Like the PS2 game, but better graphics, new levels, and online modes.
DRIV3R
Hot sequel to a hot series. Think GTA but more realistic.
Sudeki
A beautiful, epic RPG for Xbox. Finally!
kill.switch 2
The best firefights in a videogame.
Knights of the Old Republic 2
Not developed by BioWare, but we have faith.
Rebel X
All of the Nintendo Star Wars games in one package. Sweet.
Star Wars Episode III: Darth Vader
Not the official name, but you do get to play as Darth Vader.
X-Men Legends
X-Men RPG? Took long enough, dangit!
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