Before we start looking at the individual games, there were a few things from the conference in general that are worth a mention. When Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was being showcased, the presenter from Id Software slipped in a mention of Gamertags being able to track your progress. Sure enough, during Q&A time, the question was asked about whether this was a hint to a possible 360 release. While we didn’t get a confirmation, the idea certainly wasn't shot down.
Activision did confirm that it will have a few Wii titles available from launch, including Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Call of Duty 3. The PlayStation 3 won't be left out, with Tony Hawk's Project 8, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Call of Duty 3 all confirmed as launch titles in Australia as well. Once we took our seats, Activision started the presentations, with a member from Red Octane's team giving us a glimpse of Guitar Hero 2.
Guitar Hero 2
Guitar Hero 2 really was an appropriate title to begin the conference with, in light of Activision's recent acquisition of developer Red Octane. The game will be exclusive to the PlayStation 2, and will be available in November 2006 in PAL regions, so we won't be waiting as long as we did for the first title to arrive on PAL shelves. The game will include over fifty tracks and the first licensed track is also set to feature on the game, a song by Primus called John the Fisherman. Red Octane also took the opportunity to announce three new songs which we revealed on Monday.
The developers really appear to be giving fans of the original Guitar Hero exactly what they're requesting. This time you'll be able to play in the band as the lead guitarist, bass guitarist or rhythm guitarist, but the biggest changes to the game appear to be with the multiplayer, which has been upgraded exponentially. One of the major disappointments of the original Guitar Hero was the shallow multiplayer, but Red Octane has certainly taken note of the criticism. The multiplayer can be customised so that two players are playing the same song but have different roles and the difficulty level can also be adjusted so that you're facing off against one another, but one player may be an expert and one player may be an amateur; apparently, it's all about making this game fun in multiplayer for everyone, regardless of their skill with a guitar. You can even pack in some co-op action – just like a real band experience. The game will also include a Tutorial mode (where you can practice certain parts of a song) as well as two new venues and three new characters. A harder expert mode will also be included for those, such as ourselves, who found the original game too easy.
Guitar Hero 2: Sure to be a hit come Christmas.
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
Activision also went to the trouble of getting a Wii onto the stage so it could demonstrate the launch title Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. Interestingly, the release date was marked as November 2006, but this could be speculative, or even the release date for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions. Downhill Jam is the only downhill skating game available and features Tony Hawk as the only licensed character. From what we could tell there were no signs of other professional skaters, which may just be a blessing in disguise. Controlling the game looked extremely easy - you tilt the controller left or right to move, and pull off moves using the face buttons. If you fall off your board then you can shake the controller to recover, while shaking the controller whilst on the board means you'll go into a boost. The final game will include eight real world locations, as well as three main race modes: Slalom, Downhill and Trick mode. It was obvious that Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam will be short on features. This was evident when Activision CEO Mike Griffith made a point that Downhill Jam is targeted at 8-12 years, unlike Project 8 which will be taking the 16-35 demographic.
Tony Hawk's Project 8
We actually thought Tony Hawk's Project 8 was a codename rather than a production title when we first heard it. The game’s title apparently relates to the storyline of the game. In Project 8, you begin as a ranked 99 skater and try to work your way up to being in the top eight. Yes, that sounds like a poor premise for a game title to us, too. The game has been built from the ground up for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The next generation versions appear to be the primary focus for Neversoft. The tedious tunnel system from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is gone, so you'll be able to switch to new levels on the fly without loading at all.
When your focus meter is full, it will be possible to slow down as you're performing a trick to use the analogue controls to kick the skateboard around. This was an effect that looked rather impressive on the big screen, but we're not too sure how often it will come in handy in the game. One of the challenges we saw involved following a cameraman around, whilst he called out some tricks for you to perform. A mini screen appeared in the right hand corner so you could see when you were correctly in focus. We also saw a challenge featuring a set of bowling pins where the player had to launch their skater into the pins, and whilst this seemed to contradict Activision's claim that the game was solely focused on skating, it did also look like a little bit of fun. Tony Hawk's Project 8 doesn’t look as polished as we'd have hoped by now, but the game still has quite a few months of development to go.
Call of Duty 3: Everyone's favourite WWII game.
Call of Duty 3
We had an opportunity to see the latest build of Call of Duty 3, the follow-up to the best-selling Xbox 360 launch title Call of Duty 2. Call of Duty 3 will be a launch title for both the Wii and PlayStation 3. The game concept is to “put the player closer to the action than ever before." It's now possible to engage enemy soldiers in melee combat. At one stage during the level, a soldier attacked and the demonstrator had to push the left and right trigger repeatedly to break out of the struggle. We could tell by the expression on the soldier’s face how close he was to winning.
The detail in the levels is also absolutely staggering. The blades of grass have been individually rendered, so it’s possible to trample down the grass, or to crouch and camouflage yourself. Alternatively you can track soldiers through the paths they leave. The explosion and smoke effects are rather impressive. The game uses its physics engine to generate realistic dispersion effects. Surprisingly the game will feature no loading, as the following levels stream in the background. In terms of multiplayer there will be support for up to twenty four players online but multiplayer modes weren't elaborated on. Disappointingly, it seems as if Call of Duty 3 is currently only scheduled for release on consoles, which is sure to disappoint veteran PC gamers. You can check out exclusive images of COD3 from the conference here.
Looking for Part Two of our feature? It can be found here.
Perhaps other regions will get Guitar Hero 2 on Xbox 360 (as rumored)?
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