Rock, Paper, Shotgun

We’ve not been paying much attention to Sony Online Entertainment’s new MMO, spy-shooter The Agency, but since 2009 is clearly Year Of The Spy, we thought we’d best post up some of the E3 09 insight. In this case it’s a GameTrailer’s-acquired developer walkthrough, posted below. The game definitely has a whiff of City Of Heroes to it, in that the public areas are “City Of Spies”, but there’s nevertheless something quite refreshing about seeing someone playing real-time FPS (or TPS) combat in an MMO instance. It’s going to take some successful hands-on time with this to really convince me, however, as it does just seem a little lightweight. Being an MMO, I do wonder where the grind will come from, and how cookie-cutter those missions are really going to be. Anyway, go take a look.
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And the award for Most Prosaic-Ever RPS Headline goes to…

All’s been a bit quiet around well-received, dodgily-translated blood’n'boobs’n'moral deliberation RPG The Witcher for a while, with its fans hoping E3 might offer news of a follow-up. No such luck, unfortunately, but there is more Witcher inbound – the 1.5 patch, which promises two rather exciting changes. Also, CD Projekt RED’s cavalier mention of a “Director’s Cut” will doubtless fuel a speculatory fire.
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It’s not all impossi-budget shooters being shown to the drooling crowds at E3 here on RPS this week. For a change of pace, we’ve rounded up Steve Breslin and Alexey Kozyrev, editor and producer respectively on upcoming RTS/management/RPG sequel Majesty 2: The Fantasy Management Sim. They’d very much like to give you sterling people an exclusive look at the men, women, beasts and demonic rocky things that’ll be populating Maj2′s tongue-in-cheek world of war and greed. As well as that, there’s a fresh-from-the-show-floor developer interview to feast your ocular organs upon. Oh, and we’ve got a couple more of these developer write-ups due as Majesty 2 approaches its release later this year.
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Hello! I’m at E3. I’ve been doing this job for over a decade, and I’ve never been before this year, so I feel at once all wizened and experienced, and young and naive. I’m settling for a compromise of old and tired. Since I’m here, and trying to find moments in which to write up bits and pieces (see today’s Brink and The Old Republic pieces), I figured I’d also write a bit about the whole experience. Um, I should make this pretty clear: this won’t be productive.

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A new class for BioWare’s forthcoming Star Wars MMO was revealed today: the Smuggler. Described by BioWare as, “The Han Solo fantasy,” the Smuggler is a ranged fighter who makes cunning use of a freshly revealed cover system. More details, plus a reaction to our seeing some fantastic battles, below.

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After a mysterious announcement of Brink last week, we tracked down Splash Damage at E3 to see the game running.

With over a billion matches played over six years in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, London-based developers Splash Damage feel pretty cocksure of their multiplayer prowess. What makes Brink so interesting is that rather than simply repeating a tried and tested formula, once again they’re attempting something new. Brink is… well, this will take some explaining.

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Wahey – proper footage at last of what looks to be an epic comback for Aliens, Predators and fallen-from-grace Britdevs Rebellion alike. Should we be concerned they’re trying to rescue their reputation by revisiting past glories? Nah, not when it looks as good as this. Only the Predator mode is shown off for now, but there’s nonetheless plenty of opportunity to ogle the sci-fi FPS’ other two species. In motion, it’s perhaps not quite as pretty as screenshots suggest, but that doesn’t stop it from being the FPS I’m currently most excited by, hapless little nerd that I am.
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I adore the sheer arrogance of this video. The Old Republic setting requires leaving familiar Star Wars characters behind, right? Well, seems Bioware have said “fuggit – let’s just put Darth Vader in there anyway.” Clearly it’s not actually ol’ talk, dark and bronchial, but, y’know – it really is. And, come the end of this video, it’s the Vader vs Obi-Wan lightsaber fight the world had been praying and hoping Episode 3 would offer, and that it so summarily failed to deliver upon. This cinematic, then, may not be explaining all that much about how the game plays, but it is saying one thing loud and clear – “we’re going to fix Star Wars.”
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I uttered “oh come on” at least four times during this footage of the sequel to Avalanches’ gloriously stupid GTA-with-a-parachute sandbox actioner. But they were, I assure you, happy “oh come ons”. Just Cause 2 clearly intends to push plausibility far past breaking point, turning hero Rico into a fully-fledged superhero who can do whatever a spider can, but without the fruity suit and restrictive moral code. Take a gander at his absurd parachute and grappling hook skills below. Grappling a moving plane while in free-fall! He’s some guy, that Rico. Some guy.
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Sam Fisher’s been off the radar for a little while, Ubisoft having given the old lad some time off whilst they made that bloke in the hood from Assassin’s Creed their stealth-man of the hour. Well, the guy who pays Michael Ironside’s rent is coming back this year, in the long-delayed Conviction. In the CGI and in-game footage below, it’s clear this is an earthier, angrier, more brutal Fisher. Maybe he’s so grumpy because he just heard the Left 4 Dead 2 announcement?
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EA have announced that they’ll be publishing Realtime Worlds’ gang-war MMO, All Points Bulletin. Creator Dave Jones is keen to compare the game to GTA or Call Of Duty. “WoW’s great, and it’s attracting huge numbers, but let’s face it there’s probably still more players on GTA and Call of Duty in terms of online,” Jones told Gamasutra. It’s looking pretty slick, and it’s hard to see it not being awesome. (Jones is, after all, a key brain behind the original GTA concept, and a pretty distinguished designer in the subsequent years.) The game is due “early 2010″ – and is PC-only, apparently. Woo!
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