That year was going to be a big one for the PC world. We take a look at the top games for 2005.

Up until 2004, many critics had written off the PC as being a has-been gaming device. That is, until Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 came out. Those blockbusters proved that the lowly PC can and will stand up to the consoles that populate our living rooms, and after taking a look at the 2005 PC lineup, it appears that the platform will be hosting first person shooters and glorious RTS titles for years to come, so without further ado, here is 2005’s PC preview. It’s by no means a complete list (and some of these titles have already been released), but these games are without question ones to watch.

First Person Shooters

Game: Battlefield 2

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Digital Illusions CE
Releases: June 2005

Mobile… attack… plane!

The Battlefield series provides some of the most intense PC thrills money can buy and the sequel is going to blow you away. Ditching the old school threads, DICE has brought its first person shooter to more modern times, so you’ll get to use the same weaponry our armed forces are using overseas. There are also well over 30 vehicles in the game including helicopters, planes, tanks, and boats.

There are three different factions you can play as in Battlefield 2: The U.S., the Chinese, and the Middle Eastern Coalition, each having its own weapons set. Plus, there’s a new option called Commander Mode that allows you to step into the shoes of a general and play the game as an RTS while your soldiers are in the field. When you factor in 32 Vs 32 multiplayer action, a bevy of maps that shrink or expand depending on the number of players, the ability to rise up in rank (all the way to general) no matter what role you play (I’d like to give a shout out to all you medics out there), and an all new physics engine that features material penetration and ricocheting bullets, what we have is the top candidate for PC first person shooter of 2005.

Game: DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Nerve Software and id Software
Releases: April 3, 2005

DOOM 3 is so $#^#%^& scary that I can’t play it for more than five minutes without getting spooked, but I got the feeling that I’ll be feeling pretty confident while enjoying the upcoming expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil. The game takes place two years after the Mars incident, so you’ve gone to the site to explore ruins of an ancient civilization, and per the usual you won’t be able to just waltz right in. There will be all sorts of nastiness waiting for you. In fact, the game features 6 new demons, but it also has some cool new weapons such as the double-barreled shot gun, and this time you can wield demonic powers to manipulate the environments and turn the opposition into steaming piles of gibs! You’ll even be able to slow down time to avoid attacks, and by the way, this game looks amazing! If you’ve tired of DOOM 3, definitely give Resurrection of Evil a look.

Game: Star Wars: Republic Commando

Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: LucasArts
Releases: Already Released

You guys have some really bad aim!

Now this is what I like to see, a Star Wars game that actually encourages disintegrations! As the leader of a three man squad of…well…republic commandos, you must travel across the galaxy squashing any that oppose you, whether it’s battle droids or vicious trandoshans. You’re able to issue orders with ease using the game’s one-button command system, and your small yet effective arsenal packs a punch that reduces enemies such as droids to twisted sparking hulks. All I know is this game’s amazing, and with Episode III fastly approaching I want to immerse myself in as many Star Wars videogames as possible. If you’re looking for a great starting point, this action heavy and gorgeous FPS will do.

Game: Area 51

Publisher: Midway
Developer: Inevitable Entertainment
Releases: April 2005

A viral outbreak has occurred in everyone’s favorite secret government research lab and you’re sent in to investigate, only to discover that a mutagen has turned the area’s inhabitants into alien freaks that are hell bent on killing you! Midway’s sci-fi FPS is an exciting thrill ride full of cool weapons and alien powers. It looks great, plays even better, and features a pretty slick multiplayer mode. Time to send those aliens back where they came from…New Jersey!

Game: Bet on Soldier

Publisher: Digital Jesters
Developer: Kylotonn
Releases: TBA

While the jury’s still out as to whether Bet on Soldier will actually be good, I can’t help but be intrigued by its concept. A first person shooter set in the future, the game heavily revolves around betting on the outcome of your matches in order to net cash that’s required to buy ammo, new weapons, and save your progress. If anything, developer Kylotonn gets an “A” for attempting something different.

Game: F.E.A.R.

Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Developer: Monolith
Releases: June 2005

That cast certainly looks scary.

Vivendi Universal and developer Monolith are going to scare the hell out of us with F.E.A.R., an action-packed and spooky first person shooter that’s going to plunge us into a darkness the likes of which we’ve never before experienced. When an aerospace compound is taken hostage by a mysterious paramilitary unit, the government sends in a special forces squad to defuse the situation, but when the signal’s lost, you’re sent in to investigate, and what you’ll find will eclipse your worst nightmares. F.E.A.R. features a plethora of weapons, realistic damage modeling that allows you to rip through glass and tear chunks from walls, and a multiplayer feature that actually lets you to slow down time to get a leg up on your enemies. Ready your trigger fingers and take a deep breath. Otherwise, F.E.A.R. will consume you.

Game: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl

Publisher: THQ
Developer: GSC Game World
Releases: May 2005

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is a terrifying first person shooter that takes place at the Chernobyl power facility in the year 2012. As a Stalker, you’re after rare radioactive artifacts that you can sell on the black market, but you’re not alone. Not only will you have to compete against rival Stalkers, but there are soldiers running about and even worse, mutant freaks! Explore 20 square miles of real Chernobyl terrain, battle against advanced AI, drive all sorts of vehicles, and sneak around in the cover of darkness after the sun’s gone down, all the while unraveling Chernobyl’s secrets and working your way to seeing one of the game’s eight endings! With spectacular graphics, a deep and engaging story, and a 32 player online mode, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will be the next evolution in first person survival horror.

I’m attracted to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. because of its open-ended gameplay design. You can really play it any way you want, so if you want to blow everything up that’s fine, but if you’d rather watch your step and do your best to not piss people/things off then that’s okay too. Plus the AI in this game is amazing. NPCs will actually size you up, so if a monster deems you to be a serious threat and highly dangerous it may back off, but if you get wounded it’s a whole other story.

Game: Close Combat: First to Fight

Publisher: Destineer
Developer: Destineer
Releases: March 8, 2005

Talk about realistic! Close Combat was developed in conjunction with members from the U.S. Marine Corps and features realistic squad-based action. Stuck in various middle eastern hot spots, you must guide your team through hell and back, but you’re everything but their babysitter. Not only are they more than capable of watching their backs, but yours as well! However, you’ll still need to issue commands and make smart decisions if you plan on making it out alive.

First to Fight definitely intrigues me, not only because of the Marines’ involvement, but also because of its detailed visuals and smart AI that will actually run scared if you break its will.

Game: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Gearbox Software
Releases: March 8, 2005

No, you can’t have my sandwich!

Developed by Gearbox Software (who created Half-Life: Opposing Force and Halo PC, among other great games), Brothers in Arms chronicles the days leading up to the invasion at Normandy and tells the story of the soldiers of the 101 First Airborne, courageous men who were scattered across France in a drop gone awry. Playing as Sgt. Matt Baker, you must lead a squad of soldiers through the countryside completing various missions, a unique situation since Brothers is the first tactical WWII shooter. Blindly running into battle will more often than not get you killed. Rather, you must work together with your highly intelligent squad mates, telling them to lay down suppressing fire or raid a house, take out a tank, or lob a grenade.

Game: Pariah

Publisher: Groove Games
Developer: Digital Extremes
Releases: May 2005

The creators of Unreal and Groove Games are going to turn up the heat with Pariah, a wildly intense first person shooter for the PC and Xbox that brings new meaning to the word, loner. Set in the year 2520 A.D., Earth is now the galaxy’s largest prison, and when your ship is mysteriously shot down while transporting a convict, you must find a way to survive through 18 levels filled with ruthless killing machines. Featuring a modified version of the Unreal engine, Pariah sports wildly intense graphics, and with a script pegged by actual Hollywood writers (as well as an impressive array of deadly weapons, all of which can be upgraded) you’ll be in for a non-stop explosive thrill ride that’ll shake your PC and Xbox to its very core, but don’t get too lost in the single-player campaign. Online multiplayer for up to 16 promises to be even more intense, and with the inclusion of an in-depth map editor, you may never explore the same battleground twice. Come June, Pariah will make being an outcast a very attractive prospect.

Pariah doesn’t look like it’ll reinvent the first person shooter wheel but I’m eager to play it nonetheless. Its story intrigues me, and its visuals are extremely impressive.

Game: SWAT 4

Publisher:Sierra
Developer: Irrational Games
Releases: April 5, 2005

SWAT 4 is a first person shooter where you fill the shoes of a member of, naturally, SWAT, and basically you’ll go with your team of bad @$$ hombres and shoot bad guys in the face, though the roles may definitely be reversed. Sometimes you’ll be the bad guys. For example, the current demo has a game called VIP where members of SWAT need to escort this guy to the top of a building and into a helicopter, but trying to thwart their plans is a small terrorist group. What ensues is pure chaos, where you must capture the VIP, cuff him, and then hold him for two minutes. When time is up, you’re free to cap him in the face.

Game: Rainbow Six: Lockdown

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
Releases: May 2, 2005

This sequel to the popular smash hit series sees you leading an elite team of soldiers into combat against a bioterrorist threat, but things are just a tad bit different. Not only is the storyline more mature, but you can play as two characters; the star of the series Ding Chavez, and a sniper by the name of Dieter Weber

Racing Games

Game: TrackMania Sunrise

Publisher: Enlight Interactive
Developer: Nadeo
Releases: June 2005

If you loved or still love building your own tracks and zipping your toy cars off of ramps and around loops you definitely need to buy Nadeo’s TrackMania Sunrise. Easily the greatest PC game you’ve probably never heard of, this gorgeous racer allows you to construct your own tracks and then test them out, but this isn’t your dad’s racing game. A marriage between Tony Hawk, Sonic the Hedgehog, and San Francisco Rush, you can build environments that feature half pipes, tunnels, ramps, boost pads, and other assorted cool stuff and then share your creations online with what should be a community of thousands who are basically doing the same thing, so there will be an unlimited amount of tracks to test out. Also, when you’re not trying to beat a best time you can hop into racers that feature well over 40 cars! Oh, and did I mention that TrackMania’s one of the most beautiful games that I’ve ever seen? There aren’t a ton of racing titles on the PC, but rest assured that this is the only one that you’ll ever need.

Simulation Games

Game: The Sims 2 University

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis
Releases: March 1, 2005

I’d like to get in on that party!

I have to be honest with you. Looking back on my six years of college, I should’ve done a lot more than I did. Become more involved in campus life. Gone to a few more parties. Dated. Well no, let’s correct that. Dated intelligently! Anyway, most of my college time sucked, but thankfully Maxis and Electronic Arts’ The Sims 2 University allows me to change all of that…sort of. In this version of the wildly popular simulation series, you’ll guide a sim through his or her college years. The game has eleven majors to choose from, and you’ll make sure that they study hard, do the extra credit…oh who am I kidding!?! Your sim’s going to want to bust loose from the parental ties and go crazy! They’re going to want to join fraternities and sororities, play pranks, sleep around, and destroy school property! Besides, if you don’t slack off and wait until the last minute to do everything, how do you think your sim will earn that degree in BS?

Game: The Movies

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Releases: June 15, 2005

From the mind of Peter Molyneux comes a simulation that lets you become the toast of tinsel town and paint it red! As the owner of a movie studio, it’s your job to make sure you hire the best actors, create awesome sets, manage your staff, and of course, make movies! The game lets you choose which genres you want to explore (horror, comedy, romance, among others), and you can get as personal with your flicks as you want. Want to be behind the camera filming every shot or would you rather hang back and let that famous director you hired do all the work? It’s totally up to you.

The Movies begins in the 1920s, so you’re only going to be able to make silent films, but as time goes on and new technology is introduced, you’ll be able to harness its power and pump out more advanced pictures. However, the game isn’t just a point and shoot experience. If your actors suck they’ll have to go to acting school, and if they’re whiny, how you deal with them will define your character. If so and so hates her trailer, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll cave in to her demands or tell her “tough”!

There are a multitude of different reasons why I’m psyched for this game. Not only is it a great concept, but it also has a pretty deep character creation system, so if you apply just a bit of artistic flair you should be able to create NPCs that look like actual famous people. My only concern has to do with the logic used to decide what are good and bad films. After all, Troll 2 is a classic B-movie crap fest that’s garnered quite a cult following, but will the AI in The Movies be able to spot the middle ground between great and awful? Come June, I’ll see YOU at The Movies. Oh man! That was terrible!

Game: Silent Hunter III

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Releases: March 15, 2005

Silent Hunter 3 is a U-boat simulator that takes place in the North Atlantic during World War II. As a sub captain, it’s your job to give the correct orders to your men so you make it out alive. This of course includes instructing them to fire torpedoes and make sure the ship is operating properly, but you’ll also need to consider their morale and fatigue. The better captain you are, the more success you’ll have, so the game’s much more than a simple blast fest.

Third Person Action Adventure Games and RPGs

Game: The Godfather

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Redwood
Releases: Fall 2005

This is an offer you can’t refuse!

Electronic Arts will make us an offer we won’t refuse when it publishes The Godfather, a game based on Mario Puzo’s book and Francis Ford Coppola’s movie of the same name. Through the use of intimidation and negotiation, you’ll gain info from your victims about the famous mafia families and rise through the ranks until you’re the Don of Dons. The game features a fantastic presentation that includes a slick graphics engine as well as voice work from 20 actors who were in the film, including James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Marlon Brando.

Game: LEGO Star Wars

Publisher: Giant Interactive Entertainment and LucasArts
Developer: Eidos
Releases: May 2005

The force is with you in this cute yet deadly LEGO adventure featuring famous Star Wars characters and locales from Episodes I, II, and III. Grab your light saber and leap into battle against an army of battle droids and other assorted enemies. Lego Star Wars features various scenes from the movies as well as a cool graphics engine that causes NPCs to break apart just as LEGOs would in real life.

Game: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords

Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: Obsidian
Releases: Already Released

You think you droids can stop me!?

Obsidian did BioWare proud in its sequel to the award-winning RPG masterpiece, as The Sith Lords is an engaging and incredibly deep experience. Taking place five years after the first KOTOR, the Sith Lords plunges you into an epic adventure where you must save the Jedi from being exterminated by the evil Sith. KOTOR II features new planets to explore, enemies to battle against, new force powers to use, and most important of all, it allows you to realize your destiny through the making of critical choices that’ll determine whether you walk the path of light or fall to the dark side.

Game: Psychonauts

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Double Fine Productions
Releases: April 2005

Tim Schafer’s (from Full Throttle and Grim Fandango fame) dark platform game is FINALLY set to release on the PC and Xbox and I cannot wait for this one. Playing as the “gifted” Raz, you’ll need to stop a mad scientist and other assorted bad guys by literally going inside their heads, where you’ll wrestle with their nightmares as well as take a peek at their deepest secrets.

Game: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Releases: March 15, 2005

Sam Fisher returns in this sequel to the smash hit series that sees him traveling to Asia to take out various evil doers. Now he can grab enemies through paper walls, snuff out candles with his fingers, and mask gunshots by timing his assassination attempts with thunder claps. Also, as you approach an enemy from behind, Sam will automatically go for his knife, which allows you to kill quicker and more efficiently. However, just as Sam has new abilities, so too do his enemies. The AI is a lot more intelligent this time around and it has a long memory, so if you turn off a light and a guard notices it’s out, even if you did this ten minutes ago, everyone will go on high alert.

Chaos Theory is Splinter Cell refined. Fisher’s bag of tricks allows the game’s developers to take a non-linear gameplay approach where there are several different ways to solve a problem. Also, as in the Splinter Cell tradition, Chaos Theory is quite a visual showpiece.

Game: Advent Rising

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: GlyphX
Releases: Summer 2005

Majesco and developer GlyphX Games is about to show us all what it truly means to be human in the third person action adventure title, Advent Rising, a science fiction tale that is the first entry in what should be a captivating trilogy. Featuring a story by award-winning author Orson Scott Card, Advent Rising puts you in the shoes of a human who must save his species from being exterminated by the Seekers, an alien race that’s hell bent on our destruction. To do this, you’ll use of all sorts of cool weapons and vehicles both alien and human, and harness and make use of unbelievable powers such as human shield, levitation, and energy blasts. Unlike other games that feature lulls in the action, Advent Rising promises to plunge you into one blockbuster movie sequence after another, and combined with its spectacular visuals and soundtrack composed by a 70 piece Hollywood union orchestra and Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Advent Rising may blur the line between videogames and film.

Game: Stubbs the Zombie in “Rebel Without a Pulse”

Publisher: Aspyr
Developer: Wideload Games
Releases: Summer 2005

After capping undead freaks in the face for what seems like decades, we’re FINALLY going to get the chance to put the shoe on the other foot in Wideload Games’ Stubbs the Zombie in “Rebel Without a Pulse”. After a billionaire playboy builds a futuristic city over the grave of Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield, the undead traveling salesman wages war against an entire city of humans who just happen to have some very tasty brains. Using Stubbs’ unique abilities, you’ll shamble around town punching holes into the backs of people’s heads, devouring their brains, using your innards as weapons, and ripping off your hand and sending it to do your bidding. Of course, the best thing about feasting on your hapless victims is they’ll turn into zombies, so at certain parts of the game you’ll have a huge army of undead freaks! Featuring a modified version of the Halo engine and a licensed soundtrack, Stubbs should be one of 2005’s most delicious games….that is…if you love BRAAAIIINNNNSSSSSSSSS…

Game: BloodRayne 2

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Terminal Reality
Releases: March 29, 2005

Wow… claw me anytime!

Here’s a gem you may have missed when it released on the Xbox and PS2 late last year. Playing as a sexy vampire known as Agent Rayne, you run around a variety of locales looking to feast on unsuspecting scum bags, but the game’s antihero loves to play with her food. One of the most violent games ever made, BloodRayne 2 features enemy dismemberment and has more gore than a slaughterhouse. Not only can you suck the life out of your foes but you can also feed them to a possessed garbage truck and cut them to ribbons by tossing them into a giant fan! You didn’t need that right leg, did you?

Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Publisher: Rockstar
Developer: Rockstar North
Releases: June 7, 2005

Rockstar’s epic adventure plays more like an action RPG! Not only can you customize your character’s hair, clothing, and physique (don’t make him too fat), but you can also play a variety of mini games including pool, sky diving, arcade games, and low-rider hopping. Of course, there is a point to playing this mammoth adventure. Framed for homicide by a couple of dirty cops, Carl Johnson (that would be you), must do his best to save his family and himself, and to do this he’ll have to explore and complete various missions across three enormous cities that are modeled by famous U.S. locales Los Angeles (Los Santos), San Francisco (San Fierro), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Naturally, the over-the-top violence that is the series’ trademark is alive and well in San Andreas, so you can still jack any car you want and run down old ladies, or open fire on crowds using a variety of different weapons, all the while immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of a 1990’s presentation that includes music by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Boyz II Men, Tupac, and Guns and Roses.

In addition to the quality music and voice acting (Samuel L. Jackson and James Woods are just two of the game’s stand outs), GTA SA also features impressive graphics, and I’m willing to bet that the PC version will include some enhanced effects.

Real Time Strategy Games

Game: Codename Panzers Phase Two

Publisher: CDV
Developer: Stormregion
Releases: June 2005

Just when we thought we had seen the last of those pesky Nazis, CDV and developer Stormregion are taking us back to war in Codename Panzers: Phase Two, the sequel to the critically acclaimed PC RTS Codename Panzers. Phase Two focuses on different areas of WWII, allowing you to play as one of three groups: The Anglo-American Allies, the German-Italian Axis, and Yugoslavia. An improved graphics engine provides gorgeously-detailed cities and forests, all of which can be obliterated using all sorts of weapons. New to this game is an enhanced editor that allows you to craft your own missions as well as cut scenes, the ability to hijack enemy vehicles by raising the temperature, and a multiplayer mode that’ll allow four players in teams of two to annihilate one another. Releasing this June, Codename Panzers: Phase Two may redefine the RTS genre.

Game: Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars

Publisher: CDV
Developer: GSC Game World
Releases: April 2005

Like many of you, I’ve logged more hours in history classes than I care to count, but thankfully I like reading about what happened back in the day, which is why CDV Software’s Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars fascinates me. The sequel to the 2.5 million selling prequel, Cossacks II plunges you into 19th century Europe and forces you to not only use your strength to crush enemies, but your wits as well. Will you rise above your peers and dominate the map, or will you get crushed within your first few moments of play? To the armchair generals of the world, victory is yours!

Cossacks II is not your standard RTS. Playing more like a board game, the solution to a problem is not always solved through splattering the enemy across a field. You’ll need to negotiate treaties, make your case for safe passage through a certain territory, and manage your resources including food, because if you run out of that, your troops will actually starve to death!

Game: Age of Empires III

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Releases: Second half of 2005

An epic battle to say the least.

Taking place right after Age of Empires II (and discarding the “god-like” abilities found in Age of Mythology), Empires III takes place in the New World (the Americas) during the years 1500 A.D. to 1850 A.D.

The goal is to essentially carve out your own path through history, setting up colonies, making use of natural resources, and exploring far beyond your borders. There are eight old world peoples you can select from though only three have been officially announced (the British, French, and the Spanish), and each of them has advantages that can be exploited. For example, if you choose to play as the Spanish, you’ll instantly gain access to a large army and benefit from lots of supplies from your homeland (which I’ll get to momentarily).

Conversely, while the Spanish have that big army, its military isn’t as strong as the French’s. Also, the French are more peaceful, as it is easier to ally with Native Americans. Speaking of which, you’ll come across numerous peoples as you explore the continent, and it will be to your benefit to ally with them and establish trade routes, not only because it beefs up your manpower, but also because you’ll receive all sorts of new goods such as weapons.

So basically, the whole concept behind Age of Empires III (in multiplayer at least) is to settle better than the other guys. You can play against up to seven other people, and you’ll have to build up your territory while at the same time hungering for more.

How you acquire new land, either by force or through peaceful negotiation, are up to you. You certainly can’t be peaceful all of the time, and you’ll have to always watch your back, so it may be a good idea to construct a fort near water to shield your settlement(s) against ocean attacks. It’s stuff like that that you’re going to need to be aware of. With seven other countries gunning for you, it’s survival of the fittest.

Game: NEXUS: The Jupiter Incident

Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Developer: HD Interactive
Releases: Already Released

Battle evil corporations and blast a myriad of different alien species in Mithis and hd interactive’s Nexus: The Jupiter Incident for the PC. When an enormous discovery is made on the edge of our solar system, you’ll find yourself caught in the middle of an interstellar conflict. Nexus is what’s called a Tactical Fleet Simulator, or TFS. It allows you to control up to a dozen different space ships (50 capital ships and 10 smaller ones), ranging from small one man star fighters to enormous battle cruisers, all of which can be upgraded, so you can outfit them with better weapons, engines, and shields. All told, there are over 90 different weapons and devices you’ll come across, which makes Nexus an extraordinarily deep game, but not just because of all the gadgets you can use. The single-player campaign is divided into six episodes and there are 26 missions to complete, and they’re not all the same. To mix things up, the developers put in place stealth, espionage, sabotage, rescue, and full-on war objectives to complete, so you won’t go from one gigantic space battle to another.

Game: Act of War: Direct Action

Publisher: Atari
Developer: Eugen Systems
Releases: March 15, 2005

RTS games are good and all but I’ve been getting a little tired of always playing in older time periods, which is why I’m very excited about Atari’s Act of War. Eugen Systems has crafted a modern RTS title that allows you to command groups of elite bad @$$ soldiers and hunt down terrorists. The game’s graphics engine is insane, allowing you to blow up buildings, parks, and vehicles, and the real world locations, which include Washington D.C. and San Francisco look very much like their real world counterparts. However, while Act of War’s game-play is great the game really shines because of its quality presentation, which includes a story written by New York Times best-selling author Dale Brown and 41 minutes of live action footage that was shot by SWAT Films.

MMORPGS

Game: The Matrix Online

Publisher: Warner Bros and Sega
Developer: Monolith
Releases: March 22, 2005

A relationship of the future…

This ambitious MMORPG lets you create a character and jack into the Matrix, where you’ll be able to hack into it and extract its secrets, wander about enormous environments, interact with thousands of players, and battle those pesky agents. The Matrix Online is quite an ambitious project, as it’s somewhat in the shadow of the awful Enter the Matrix AND it’s quite a departure for Monolith since the developers have done quite a few first person shooters (such as the upcoming F.E.A.R.). Sega certainly appears confident that it has a winner on its hands, but it remains to be seen whether the game can restore faith in the franchise. In April, we’ll all find out if it’s The One.

Game: Guild Wars

Publisher: NC Soft
Developer: ArenaNet
Releases: April 2005

Think back to when you were in middle school. Remember that kid who always went above and beyond what the teacher asked for and delivered amazing papers/dioramas? That pretty much sums up ArenaNet and its baby Guild Wars, an MMORPG that lets you create a character from scratch and then explore this HUGE continent searching for items, slaughtering all sorts of monsters, and interacting with thousands upon thousands of players. The attention to detail in this game is astounding, so impressive that Guild Wars makes other games in its genre look foolish!

Joining up with other players to battle against NPCs is awesome but this game’s real bread and butter is its PvP. You can create and join guilds, and not only can you just go out with your fellow comrades and bludgeon opponents but you can defend your guild hall from attack. To do this you’ll make use of well over 300 different skills that you can mix and match to produce varied results, and because Guild Wars is a game of skill, someone who’s only been playing for an hour can obliterate someone who’s logged months of game time, to which I say; kudos to ArenaNet for crafting an MMORPG that’s actually fair!

Game: City of Villains

Publisher: NC Soft
Developer: Cryptic Studios
Releases: August 15, 2005

I don’t think I need to tell you about “the balance” in our world, right? Peanut butter and jelly, yin and yang, mustard and ketchup; all of these things belong together, and when one’s missing things just aren’t right, so with that being said, the same goes for hero and villain, a point of interest Cryptic Studios is paying close attention to in its upcoming City of Heroes expansion entitled…wait for it…wait for it…City of Villains!

Summary

If you’ve ever wanted to be the bad guy and crush those pesky tight-wearing superhuman bozos, now’s your chance, as City of Villains allows you to create your own evil doer from scratch and then unleash him/her/it upon the hapless folks of Paragon City. You can either go solo or join up with some fellow bad dudes and wreck havoc upon the populace, but be prepared for some hero resistance. The game will feature numerous missions where you’ll battle good guys for control of items and locations, and you’ll be able to construct a lair and create weapons! So take to the skies, run like the wind, and show those pathetic punks why being nice is sooooo overrated.