With a new year comes new faces, new classes, and of course, new video games. The dog days of summer are coming to a close, and the gaming drought is nearing its end. With the advent of fall comes a slew of new titles to whet your gaming appetite; from racing to adventure to sports. These culminating months before the dawn of the next generation of consoles have everything a gamer could desire.
Burnout again
Be on the lookout for the latest in the Burnout series: Burnout Revenge. The follow-up to last year’s stellar arcade racer, Burnout 3: Takedown, Revenge will be sporting brand new features such as Crashbreakers within races to get an “explosive payback” at your opponents, and the ability to crash traffic into your rivals. The style of the new tracks will also take a turn for the more dangerous by introducing much more hazardous designs geared to make getting through the races unscathed a daunting task. Expect ramps, more hairpin turns, and shortcuts galore.
Gaming for sports fanatics
For sports fans, September acts as the vessel for a number of titles from both publishing behemoth EA and Take Two Interactive’s 2K Sports. EA’s NHL ’06 and 2K Sports’ NHL 2K6 are already on store shelves for those looking for a substantial hockey fix. However, on the horizon lay EA’s NBA Live ’06 and 2K Sports’ NBA 2K6. Like the rivaling hockey games, these two titles happen to be slated for the same release date: Sept. 26. For those interested, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’06 also ships Sept. 20. So sports fans, be sure to update your calendar.
RPG on the horizon
On the subject of September releases, role-playing game fans should keep an eye on Lionhead’s Fable: The Lost Chapters for the PC, which hits stores Sept. 20. Perhaps one of the most unique and ground-breaking RPGs available on Xbox, the original Fable received rave reviews from many critics. For those who never played it, now is better than ever to find out what the buzz was about last September. For those familiar with the adventure, The Lost Chapters may still warrant a purchase if you were a fan of the original.
A good mystery
Being as the industry is so broad, it would be an injustice to focus simply on the games that receive the greatest attention and are the most mainstream. If that were the case, games such as Indigo Prophecy (Sept. 20) would never get sales. Indigo Prophecy is a supernatural thriller, which crafts a tale told from multiple points of view, including the main character Lucas Kane and NYPD detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles.
The mystery occurs in the restroom of a diner; Lucas enters into a trance and after regaining consciousness, discovers himself covered in blood, knife in hand, and the body of a fellow patron at his feet. How you manage the situations each character is thrown into will ultimately affect the central storyline, as well as the individual scenes within the game.
There will be many opportunities to take a look at upcoming games this school year, like a special title from the makers of the game ICO that transcends from simply being a video game to what can easily be considered art.
