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Since 2004, Relic Entertainment has been an unstoppable force in creating some of the PC’s most endearing RTS games since the likes of Westwood and Blizzard. The original Dawn of War was one of the first licensed Warhammer games that wasn’t just a poor and misguided use of the name, and it actually came out during a lull in the RTS genre. After a string of interesting, yet truly unfulfilling expansion packs, Relic has finally released the epic sequel all the fans have been waiting for. But with so many games released between the original and now, and with the likes of a new Starcraft on the horizon, does Dawn of War II really stand out anymore? (more…)

Yet another feature I did some work on, this time it’s about the games we want to check out this year. You can find the full article here. My contributions:

Dawn Of War II - after four years of expansions, Dawn Of War is back, this time bringing the ruthless and unforgiving Tyranid race into the fray. With new and overhauled gameplay, a graphics engine to die for, and new units and heroes, this is definitely my pick for RTS of the year, even over the return of the venerable Starcraft franchise. With Relic’s new school of game design, mixing the gameplay of their highly successful Company Of Heroes series with the ultimate sci-fi license of Warhammer 40,000 will surely surprise old fans and newcomers alike.

Battlefield Heroes - with more and more browser-based games taking over a large percent of the PC gaming market, it’s no surprise that EA wants a piece of that pie. To compete with the likes of Quake Live and InstantAction.com, DICE has been commissioned to create a new Battlefield title. This time, though, you won’t be fighting in an ultra-realistic warzone. Instead, DICE has opted to make Heroes a more cartoony and silly game, featuring character designs similar to that of Team Fortress 2. With gameplay similar to the original Battlefield titles, Heroes is sure to be a big hit in 2009.

Wolfenstein - while id may be focusing on their new title, Rage, they haven’t forgotten their hardcore fans. Not only is Quake Live coming out officially in 2009, but we will also be getting another shot at taking down some undead Nazis with a sequel toReturn To Castle Wolfenstein. Simply called Wolfenstein, the game is being developed by Raven and is going to explore even more occult weirdness that was wildly popular among certain Nazi officials during World War II. With an open world, supernatural powers, and more of the crazy weirdness from RTCW, this will be one game based on the battle between the Axis and Allies you won’t want to miss.

Dragon Age: Origins - BioWare is revisiting the ideas and gameplay that made their Baldur’s Gate series so successful in order to create their new and original game, Dragon Age. Blending their more revolutionary ideas from Mass Effect with their classics, this will be a game with an entirely new fantasy universe that will not be based on the regularly used Dungeons & Dragons license. Instead, BioWare is promising something mature and different than what we’re normally used to, and if anyone can deliver on this sort of promise it’s got to be the developer of some of the best RPGs in the history of video games.

Splinter Cell 5 - after churning out sequel after sequel, Ubisoft had decided that their latest Splinter Cell game needed some work and delayed what was going to be the fifth entry, Splinter Cell: Conviction. After a break of a few years, Sam Fisher will be making his return on the PC and Xbox 360. What was changed since the original version of Conviction is unknown at this time, but we’ll surely be hearing more details about it in early 2009.

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Most of the games I wrote about were ones that were likely going to be overlooked. A lot of people forget that Splinter Cell and Wolfenstein are supposed to be coming out this year. That said, I’m cautiously optimistic about most of them at this point, though I know I like DoW II. Particularly with Wolfenstein, it’s hard to really imagine it turning out nearly as well as RTCW did, since a lot of the people that worked on it are gone or working elsewhere. What I would like is a singleplayer that gives us wide open environments and cool boss fights, and a multiplayer that strictly copies Wolf ET’s genre-defining gameplay.

Click here for 1-10, here for 11-20, and here for 21-30. The games were basically chosen via staff lists and a points system. I’ll be posting my own soon enough, as well as what I’m looking forward to this year.

Annnnyways, here’s the text I contributed to the article(s):

4. Metal Gear Solid 4

So you think you’ve seen it all. You lived as Big Boss and took down your master in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater; you’ve saved the world multiple times as Solid Snake from devastating nuclear tanks in Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Metal Gear Solid; you’ve even stopped Solidus Snake and saved the world from a terrorist attack by the Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Good Old Snake is back, though, and this time he’s fighting an entirely new generation of soldiers in an age where even he has to change with the times. Featuring the best pieces from the past entries in the series, Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily the best game I’ve played all year, and even ranks up as one of my favorite games of all time. With great graphics and sound design coupled with the intense gameplay and amazing cut scenes, Tactical Espionage Action has never been so good.

15. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Just when I felt like I could never get back into another MMO, Mythic Entertainment has pulled me right back into the fray with Warhammer Online, featuring elements of its previous Dark Age of Camelot franchise as well as those found in most every MMO these days. However, while WAR may have some similarities to World of Warcraft and the like, it differs via its original content based in the Warhammer universe, and delivers a more streamlined and manageable experience to vets and newbies alike. If you’re sick of killing boars and delivering pies, hop onto Warhammer Online and fight some truly terrifying creatures the likes you have never seen from the franchise that started the modern fantasy craze.

26=. Mega Man 9

The Blue Bomber returned in 2008 with an 8-bit classic Mega Man game, and it’s as hard and challenging as it was 20 years ago. With a difficulty level as hard as the first two games, Mega Man 9 is the antithesis of Bionic Commando: Re-armed, featuring true-to-form 8-bit graphics that look like they’re straight from the NES and tunes that will get stuck in your head for days as you try to beat all of Dr Wily’s menacing Robot Masters and save the world once again. Do it all over again as Proto Man with the downloadable content pack that enables you to finally play as Mega Man’s mysterious brother. Being able to slide is so next-gen.

So I’ve been playing a lot of HD Remix since it came out. Obviously I’ve already reviewed it, but really this game is so incredibly frustrating to me because of what it represented before we started to get more and more information. I’m a HUGE CPS1 fan, so I was a bit disappointed in the course of action Capcom took. They decided to test the market with the best entry in the series, Hyper Fighting, complete with shoddy netcode. This meant that there was zero chance of a better release down the line, and of course when HD Remix was announced I was somewhat miffed. Really, Hyper SFII, which was in the SF Anniversary Collection, would have been the true definitive version to release for an updated classic, especially when you have less to worry about with the balancing, leaving more time to work on the important things, such as the netcode, tournament options, etc. (more…)

I am now in the process of reposting my work from Thunderbolt Games so that anything I publish will be on both this site and there, as I want to have my own personal work put next to my other posts and such to keep it all in one place. No review on E1M1 at this time will have a score. I personally don’t like giving scores, though obviously writing for a site like TB requires me to grade a game on a numerical scale, here they will be withheld so as to encourage the reader to, well, read the reviews. Outside of this, expect to see more blog-appropriate posts, such as me bitching at HD Remix’s lack of patch after 2 months of waiting to fix the netcode/balancing, among other things.

As for the Thundercast… Well, that’s really up in the air at the moment, and as of that last episode (12), I would say it’s officially done. I would have liked to continue it, but Sean and I both agree that it was going nowhere fast. That’s not to say it was terrible or anything, and I feel fairly proud of how far we’ve come since the first episode. That said, The Official Thunderbolt Games Podcast was not proving itself in the realm of attracting listeners or getting any sort of response from the site’s community. Look out for some new stuff by us two that could be getting done in the next few months, starting with a Genesis retrospective.

If you’ve been reading my Sonic Boom articles, then you’ll know I’m quite a big fan of Street Fighter. In fact, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting is my favorite fighting game of all time, as I feel it is perfection in controls, gameplay, and balance. As my most anticipated title of 2007, which then carried over to 2008, I was saddened when Capcom decided to delay the prospect of more Street Fighter. It felt like it was taking ages to develop, and in the end it is what it was supposed to be: an updated Super Turbo release for the current-gen consoles. So, were all the changes Backbone made to the game worth it in the end? (more…)

Another year, another Mortal Kombat game. Outside of the large gap between Mortal Kombat 4 and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance’s release dates, we’ve had a steady crop of releases from the series in the last 7 years. While the last three entries focused more on evolving the series, for better or worse, Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe marks a return to its roots in regards to gameplay, despite starring an incredibly random cast of two franchises that couldn’t be more different. (more…)