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Sam & Max: They Stole Max's Brain (PC, Mac, PSN)
• Publisher: Telltale Games
• Developer: Telltale Games
• Release Date: June 2010
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
The end of Episode 2 saw poor Max with his heard sawed open and his brain removed. Now Sam has to find it. Gone is the cop in the Joe Friday mold, replaced by a noirish detective ready to yell at anyone to save his little buddy. The mood shift follows the sharp differences between Episodes 1 and 2. It's a darker world where Sam must rely on everything he learned in interrogation school. A new conversation system allows Sam to browbeat suspects until he learns what he needs to know to retrieve Max's weird little brain.
• What We Think:
  Troy: With Max's humor almost always stealing the scenes, it's great to see Sam mix it up as a Sam Spade type. There's no reason to think that Telltale will botch the humor or story telling, so it really comes down to how the interrogation mechanic works with these tried and true elements. The big challenge is how to have a Sam and Max game with a lobotomized Max. The interplay of these two characters is one of the big draws. Is Sam strong enough to carry a game on his own?

Ship Simulator Extremes (PC)
• Publisher: Paradox
• Developer: VSTEP
• Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Slow moving boots on choppy seas. It is apparently big in Europe. It's a good looking game but targeting a very specific niche. The mission to put out an oil rig fire seems eerily prescient.
• What We Think:
  Troy: This is really not the game for me, and I don't necessarily see the appeal. The move to add multi-mission campaigns to the usual single scenario mode could attract more goal oriented players, and the Greenpeace missions are ripped from the organizations own history. But I can't see myself playing this.

Shogun 2: Total War (PC)
• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Creative Assembly
• Release Date: 2011
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Pretty things. Lots of original art drawn in the style of Japan's Sengoku period. Samurais getting filleted, horses getting arrowed, daimyos looking kick ass in their finery. A brief shot of the original Shogun was shown in order to highlight how amazing the new battle engine looks. And it looks glorious. We were shown a large scale battle with thousands of men on screen. The soldiers look as realistic and anything you'll find in the videogame space and the movement of the horses as they charge is persuasive. Lots of great new battle animations. There was a short reveal of the coastal naval possibilities, but no action.
• What We Think:
  Troy: It looks great, but looking great has never been the problem with the Total War games. The rationale for going back to the Shogun era (“It's been ten years and now we have new toys”) doesn't really ring true when you think about how Creative Assembly's most recent games – which I still liked a lot – had AI issues in both the battles and the campaign levels. The Total War series has always been a visual delight and spectacle can go a long way in making a video game appealing. A pretty land battle is not as new and amazing as the naval combat they unveiled for Empire two years ago. Shogun 2 remains a question mark.
  Bill: The game that started it all is getting a major facelift -- and the hands-off demo was gorgeous. We didn't see any overland map stuff, just a night battle with charging cavalry and fire arrows. There are a disgusting number of units on the field now (up to 56,000) and everything looks stunning. But how will it play? I thought the series took a step back with Empire, but this game sounds more focused -- with fewer unit types (30), fewer factions (9 clans) and a more confined map space with clear goals rather than the sprawling crawl of Empire and Rome. Siege warfare sounds decidedly different than in games past due to the style of siege that took place in this era, and so we will hopefully see less "crush the walls then charge" approach that we have played countless times and more tactical depth. Still, the proof is in the pudding with this series (the pudding is the AI) so we need to wait and see. Creative Assembly knows all too well that the game needs to have more aggressive AI, even telling us that they have a 'hygiene list' or something similar that the team uses to focus on things that must work before the game ships with AI patterns topping the list. Knowing is, as they say, half the battle.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior (Xbox 360, PC)
• Publisher: City Interactive
• Developer: City Interactive
• Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Your mission is to eliminate a South American island dictator because he is evil. In the nine to eleven hours of gameplay, you get all the sniper mechanics you've gotten used to over the years. You have to adjust for the wind and keep your heart rate down if you want to make that shot. Get spotted and you are finished, since there's not a lot of support out there for you. It's obviously a stealth game, so you have to maximize use of cover and sneakiness. In an old school move, Sniper uses medkits instead of regenerating health. I saw a lot of Bullet Cam – make a special shot and you get rewarded by seeing the bullet rip your target apart.
• What We Think:
  Troy: Maybe the guy demoing the game was just super awesome, but I can imagine getting tired of Bullet Cam. Do I need that many gory shots? With a new Ghost Recon also on the way, Sniper will have a lot of work to do to capture any of the stealth game market. It looks fine and it's not like you need a lot of weapon variety here (though you do get throwing knives, a pistol and two kinds of explosives. Just in case sneaking fails.)

SOCOM 4 (PS3)
• Publisher: SCEA
• Developer: Zipper
• Release Date: Fall 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
While we got to see SOCOM 4 played with PlayStation Move, we only got to touch it using a regular controller. The Move controller looked like it was working quite well, with responsive and accurate aiming working far better than you might expect from the bulbous controller.
• What We Think:
Mitch: SOCOM’s always been a weird shooter series. The methodical, slow pace of it rocked for tactical/stealth nuts, but he controls sucked from the get-go. Why nobody bothered improving them over the past ten years is a mystery. Now that Zipper’s changing things up, SOCOM 4 barely recognizable as a SOCOM title. SOCOM 4 cribs the cover-based mechanic every shooter falls back on, and scraps stealth for balls-to-the-wall action. It’s still very tactical, which Zipper reassured me about, but it’s a different breed of game, and it’s one we’ve all played before. Ordering teammates into cover and to take out targets isn’t new to either the series or the genre, but it’s supposed to play a crucial role in this iteration. I pointed my team to various spots, but didn’t feel like they could keep up with me as a blasted everyone away.
It’s certainly a solid game, and I’m sure the always-popular online multiplayer is where SOCOM 4 will shine, but like a lot of games at E3, I can’t help but feel like this has been done before, and been done better. It’ll be interesting to see how SOCOM fans react to the simplified, more familiar pace and feel of the new game, too.

Sonic Colors (Wii)
• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Sonic Team
• Release Date: Q4 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Sonic Colors is the new “proper” Sonic action game, due out on Wii (and DS) this holiday. The developers were adamant that it will be all about action – no meandering, crappy werehog stages (which dragged Unleashed down from an “A” or “B” game to a “C”), or other game-slowing mechanics. The demo featured two areas – a Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain – the latter of which is a Sonic-ized candy land. The game is organized in an almost Mario-Galaxy-like fashion, with little themed planetoids chained together to form Dr. Eggman’s twisted idea of an amusement park. Considering the weird leaps of logic that Sonic games have been premised upon (remember Sonic and King Arthur? Actually, don’t bother.), this isn’t so bad.
The new hook is in the “wisp” powers – Sonic can absorb these cute colored aliens for new abilities, such as the demoed blue laser and yellow drill (Sega has promised a rainbow of powers/colors for the final release). Each power has a variety of main uses – the laser allows your hedgehog to fly across a path at the speed of light (and it can also be used at “laser-specific” points to interact with the stages in specified ways. There are also mirrors, which act as beam-splitters. The drill lets you use Sonic as a power drill, seeking new power-ups and rings (and paths through the levels) in sandy “underground” areas. I watched the PR demo, and then got my own little paws on the game. It feels fast and tight – like Sonic should. The available stages twist from 3D to 2D and back again, and feel much like the good “daytime” levels from Unleashed.
• What We Think:
  Danielle: Sonic is taking some cues from Mario, and if I may say so, it’s about damned time! The power-ups and planetoids-in-space theme aren’t the only things Sonic Team need to steal – I’d love a tighter feeling to Sonic’s jumps (he still feels a little slippery in the air), and I’ll forever be a skeptic until I get my hands on the final game (Sonic has burned us a few times since 1999’s Sonic Adventure). I’m going to be cautiously optimistic, however – the levels in the demo were frantic and fun, and rang true to the franchise’s roots.

Soul of Darkness (DSiWare)
• Publisher: Gameloft
• Developer: Gameloft
• Release Date: 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
I was able to play a demo of this downloadble, Castlevania stye platformer. The game has a striking, gothic visual style and the combination of melee and magical combat you'd expect from a riff on Castelvania. The game has an interesting tie in with the Dsi's camera as you'll come across statues that give off souls to be used for character power ups and the color of the soul you obtain is based on the predominate color of whatever you take a picture of. It's an odd mechanic, but it adds a level of randomness to the game that helps to make things interesting.
• What We Think:
Brandon: The game is very clearly trying to tap into the Castlevania market, both in visual style and gameplay mechanics, but Castlevania doesn't have the patent on platforming and beastie killing, so I don't mind another game entering into the same space. Plus, for a downloadable game, there's a lot of content here making the value proposition that much higher.

Spec Ops: The Line (360; PS3; PC)
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Developer: Yager Development
• Release Date: 2011
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
This was a guided, hands-off gameplay demo. Spec Ops is a game that 2k says brings the strengths of the “2k narrative and depth to the military shooter” genre. Whether that really means much beyond marketing buzz is up for debate, but this is a modern day (or near future), 3rd-person military shooter in which story, narrative, and atmosphere are intended to play a big role.
We watched an opening level sequence from the game, which takes place in and around the area of a ruined Dubai. It seems a deluge of sandstorms have laid waste to the city and now a small (stranded?) American military force must go in on a mission to discover what has happened to a person of interest. Owing the state of the city, sand is intended to be a big deal in this game in the same sort of way water is used in Bioshock.
As a shooter it looked like a very well-polished shooter. There was a load of detail in the environments, the voice acting of the player’s three squaddies (whom you can order around) was top-notch, and we saw one situation in which the player was forced to make a life or death decision that would have dire consequences. 2k says the notion of playing with gray areas and moral choices is a big component of the game and that, despite our demo taking place on the outskirts of Dubai, that much of the game would take place in the city itself, with its impressive collection of massive skyscrapers.
• What We Think:
Todd: I think I would’ve had more fun at the demo had I been in the group before ours, which included Felica Day (The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog) in its attendance. Alas, she missed out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet me.
Don’t get me wrong, Spec Ops looks to be a very-well conceived military shooter. The presentation really could not have been better, although I worry that some of the battle sequences are going to be a bit too heavy on the body count. With the kind of environment Yager is setting up, I would’ve expected smaller encounters that required precision positioning and shooting more so than running and gunning a legion of adv ersaries, but I’m not exactly the target audience here. To me, this was a military shooter in market loaded with military shooters. If I don’t get excited for Modern Warfare games or Crysis 2, then I’m not getting pumped up for this.
Bill: So there is this big build up after the first firefight to fight this mysterious "second enemy" and I'm thinking this is about to get all X-FILES with some kind of cool sandworm thing from Dune. Turns out...just more dudes to shoot. It's pretty, it's got a lot of shooting and there's sand. A lot of sand. Granted, I did like the part when you had to make a decision to kill the bad guys or watch a contact get tortured. More stuff like that and less mass firefights and this could be a good time.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (360)
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: Beenox
• Release Date: September 7, 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
We saw a developer led demo of the game that showed off the three dimensions that have been released to the press thus far: Noir Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099. Noir focuses more on stealth with Spidey having web slinging powers but not the super strength we've come to expect. The game's color palette switches to black and white when Spider is in shadows and being spotted will put down a last known position marker allowing you to make your escape while guards search where they last saw you. The Amazing universe is the Spidey we all remember with plenty of web powers and brutal melee attacks. The 2099 universe was my favorite with tons of bright, neon colors, some gliding levels and a feral, super powerful Spidey. All Spideys will share moves in terms of button presses but a heavy attack in Noir will look different than a heavy attack in 2099, you'll just pull the attack off the same way. Each universe is centered on a particular villain and you'll fight that villain throughout that dimension, similar to how Spidey has multiple tussles with the same villains in the comics. Finally, various voice actors who have voice Spider-Man across the ages, including the actor from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the 90's Spider-Man cartoon are voicing Spidey in the game, allowing for multiple versions of the same character that all feel and sound like Spider-Man.
• What We Think:
Brandon: I haven't been excited about a Spider-Man game in a while, and this is from a guy with a Spider-Man tattoo, but this game looks really interesting. It's hard to tell if the game will have any real depth to it or just a bunch of beating up lesser enemies in between boss fights but the visual styles, which I was pretty down on before, look great and the gameplay differences present within each dimension make them more than just palette and character model swaps. Right now I've gone from indifferent to interested and if the fourth Spidey, to be announced at Comic-Con ends up being Zombie Spidey, I'll camp out overnight for the blasted thing.
Danielle: Though Spider-Man isn’t my favorite of superheroes (blasphemy, I know), this game looked cool and different. I loved the “different universes” approach, wherein the levels each have a theme and play style. I especially liked the super-stylized black and white noir universe and the funky, futuristic “2099” world, wherein Spidey is a genetically enhanced badass flying through neon cityscapes.

Splatterhouse (360, PS3)
• Publisher: Namco Bandai
• Developer: Bottlerocket
• Release Date: September 1, 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
We played one level of Splatterhouse, the troubled, long-in-development revival of the Genesis cult-classic. Like Ninja Gaiden before it the 2D sidescroller is transforming into a 3D action game. Over-the-top violence, an unseemly amount of gore and cool comic book style replace the cheesy Jason Voorhees-esque hockey mask and haunted house vibe of the original. It’s more mature, still completely aware of itself; while searching for his kidnapped girlfriend, the main character cracks jokes about the game’s M-rating.
• What We Think:
Mitch: Splatterhouse is the most absurdly violent brawler I’ve ever played. Its blood is absurd to a comical degree, with gallons of gore gushing from your mutant victims. Aside from that, Splatterhouse is a fairly standard 3D action game. I hopped from one cubical box arena to the next, mashing buttons to pull off basic combos and grabs against progressively larger and stronger enemies. Splatterhouse isn’t breaking new ground, but it’s solid and earned a couple good chuckles out of me. With any luck, the breaking-the-fourth-wall humor persists throughout and the combat develops enough to keep it interesting.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2 (PS3, Wii, X360, PC)
• Publisher: LucasArts
• Developer: LucasArts
• Release Date: October 26, 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Since we weren't already tired of the loud, lightsaber filled and explosive trailer that had been playing on an endless loop all show, they decided to show us again. Wait – is that Starkiller? Isn't he dead? Surprise! He was cloned. We were treated to a Starkiller freefall that looked a little like a flying game where he moves from side to side avoiding obstacles. Once he lands, he starts breaking imperial heads, cutting through Stormtroopers like they were so much wheat to be harvested and all kinds of SuperTroopers with jet packs and staffs. Starkiller has even more souped up Force powers that make one wonder why anyone even bothers with blasters any more. He can persuade enemies to jump to their deaths, use a Force overload to kill things faster and nuke things more easily than a Death Star. Starkiller is a menace out for revenge and seeking the secret of his past.
• What We Think:
  Troy: A clone? Really? The first Force Unleashed had lots of problems but at least had a good story with a powerful ending about sacrifice and the greater good. But instead of seeking a new hero they just resurrect the old one. No sacrifice anyone makes now in this universe will have any meaning, since we know they can come back. This is narrative heresy. The gameplay? Bigger and louder.
  Bill: That trailer was crazy loud and reposnsible for more headaches than I care to count.
  Mitch: I liked the first Force Unleashed quite a bit, even in spite of its lengthy levels and repetitive combat. I’m a huge Star Wars nerd, and I absolutely adored the story and characters. Starkiller is a badass, and his relationship with Vader is one of the best in the franchise. The game’s ending, though, that was the stuff of legend. The main character kills himself to save the newly founded rebel alliance? That’s up there with Vader tossing the Emperor to his death. Force Unleashed II either forgot about that memorable death, or decided to willfully destroy its impact. Starkiller’s alive? He’s a clone? You’re kidding, right? I’m going to play the game to see its story through, definitely, but I’m as skeptical as could possibly be at this point. That the combat doesn’t look improved – it’s different, but not better – is a bit worrisome, but this is still a ways out. Here’s hoping for some sweet new Force powers and big boss battles.

Star Wars: The Old Republics (PC)
• Publisher: EA/LucasArts
• Developer: Bioware
• Release Date: 2011
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
LucasArts loves the four minute trailer. Sith villains conquer Alderaan and are ambushed by a plucky band of troopers and a Jedi. It's very nice, but takes too much time. The game play stuff is more interesting. Every character in the universe is voiced, giving the galaxy real life. Every player gets his/her own personal starship, roughly the size of those in Knights of the Old Republic with lots of variation for each faction (Empire and Republic). We were shown how the appearance of characters changes as they level up, making it easy to distinguish newbs from vets and adding that little bit of bling that all MMOers love. The combat demo showed off how each of the four main Republic classes (Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi, Jedi Councilor) interact to defeat the bad guys. They are roughly analogous to the four MMO archetype classes.
• What We Think:
  Troy: This is obviously a very expensive game to make. So, EA and LucasArts need it to be huge. There's little reason to think it won't be. With separate stories for each class, there is a lot of incentive for completionists to try just about every possibility and work their way through the world. We only had a brief mention of the PvP warzones and learned nothing about the economy or crafting system. But it looks great, sounds great and bears a lot of resemblance to a larger scale Knights of the Old Republic. EA probably has a hit on its hands here.
  Mitch: I’ve seen The Old Republic a few times at this point, and every time I see it I walk away with the same reaction: “That looks like an MMO, alright. Count me in.” I don’t have an eye for what makes an MMORPG great or terrible, so I’m no authority when it comes to talking about the genre. And yet TOR manages to impress me with its short samples each time I see it. This time around it was just one fight, with some light dialogue selections. It looks like KOTOR blended with Mass Effect, and that makes me tingle in all the right places.

Super Scribblenauts (DS)
• Publisher: Warner
• Developer: 5th Cell
• Release Date: Q3 2010
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Super Scribblenauts was pitched as the game that would deliver on the promise of the amazing tech of the original game – a pure, sandbox-style puzzle game that allowed you to conjure up damn near anything, just by typing it in. The demo certainly looked promising – we started out in the free-for all area, just playing with the new adjective system. You can now string adjectives together to make even more objects – we had an angry pregnant purple dinosaur running around, then a giant confused pig and a tiny wolf – all kooky stuff, but it’s enormously fun to play around with combinations.
Then we took a look at a few of the levels – we were told to expect 120 stages (all arranged in “constellations”). It’s immediately apparent that the controls have been fixed, and there is now a money-based hint system. We tried a stage where Maxwell needs to get to the front of a line by bribing people (there are characters like a rock star, a witch, a Viking), wherein you simply figure out what each one would want and rustle it up.
• What We Think:
  Danielle: They might as well call it “Scribblenauts: For Real This Time”, because this game looks incredibly promising. The first title was a prime example of great tech and a great idea surrounded by crappy gameplay (the controls were a huge complaint last time around), which seems to be fixed here. Much was said about the overhauled UI, improved controls, and new level structure, and my hands-on time felt intuitive. The controls were smooth and accurate, and the spawning-by-spelling system is fun as hell to play with. I was most impressed by the adjectives – you really can modify any object, and while it won’t always give you the results you intended, it’s always cool to see what the game comes up with.
  Meghan: Super Scribblenauts is the first Scribblenauts done right. The physics aren't whacked, Maxwell doesn't run off cliffs so easily and the tether system doesn't require perfect accuracy. Still, the stages have about the same level of innovation as before and don't always offer accurate instructions. For instance, one of the levels asked that you turn this one dude into a dragon. I tried giving him wings and stuff, but it wasn't until a PR person told me that I needed to give him potions that I made any real progress. I wrote “green potion” and handed it to the guy. Nothing happened. I typed green potion and used it on the guy. Ah ha! He turned green! So I typed “fire breathing potion” and was left with just a blank potion. And so on and so forth. Even the PR person next to me got a little frustrated when her suggestions didn't work.
  The outrageous results you get from writing stuff is still pretty fun though. I typed in “emotional woman” and ended up with a woman who would turn from sad to angry to confused to loving to whatever every few seconds. Then a vampiric lawyer infected God with vampirism who, in turn, started smiting a nearby telekinetic baker who was, at this moment, riding a nonplussed unicorn. Good times.
  Brandon: It's easy to read all of the praise heaped on this game and think that you're just going to end up being burned by cruddy controls again, and that is indeed possible, but if you get burned on this game, it won't be from the controls. The game's controls are totally updated and allow for both stylus and d-pad usage. The new adjective system makes for some funky moments and expands on the joy of messing around with words. In case you're wondering, a tiny wolf can eat a giant, confused pig in about half a second. I played the first game for about an hour before giving up on it because it was too hard to control and I am very excited to play this game, so take that for what it's worth.

Supremacy MMA (360, PS3)
• Publisher: 505 Games
• Developer: Kung-Fu Factory
• Release Date: TBA
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
Two Kung-Fu Factory gentlemen went toe to toe in Supremacy MMA, which is about 35% completed at this point. The game stars fictional characters and locations, although the devs hinted at some sort of licensing announcement in the future. The bare-bones demo showcased the basics of combat and served as a look at what the team is striving for. There’s less emphasis on realism in Supremacy, and more of a focus on brutality.
• What We Think:
Mitch: It was quite clear that Supremacy wasn’t terribly far along in development. This game showed really, really early in its life. The basics of it are clear though. It reminded me of something you might find in an arcade, since it’s based on a very three dimensional sport, but set on a 2D plane. Big punches and kicks send teeth and blood spurting from opponents’ mouths, and you don’t win just by KOing or submitting the other fighter. You can shatter your opponent’s knee with a monster kick and end the fight, for instance. Conceptually, Supremacy could be a great diversion in the MMA space. It’s going for something different, and that’s always a good thing.

Swords (Wii)
• Publisher: Majesco
• Developer: Panic Button
• Release Date: September 2010
• What We Saw:
Sadly, my live demo was hands-off, meaning I couldn’t cause a spazzy Wii-mote flinging scene at Majesco’s booth this year. Swords is all about Punch-Out style gameplay – only with blades instead of fists. This is a first-person fighting game in which you wield a (Wii Motion Plus-enhanced) sword and do battle with an assortment of generic fighter stereotypes (a Viking, a pirate, medieval dude etc.), all of whom have their own arena. You win better swords as you beat opponents, adding some incentive to kick generic warrior ass.
• What We Think:
  Danielle: Well, it wasn’t very pretty, but the sword controls did look solid. It’s a budget title, so perhaps the unimpressive graphics and unambitious design won’t bother anyone, but I’m waiting for Zelda to get my fantasy swordplay on.