Blitz: The League

Midway was showing its 2005 lineup at E3 and there was no doubt that they are using their arcade past to build a big chunk of their future on. At first glance a great deal of it works and a little doesn't so much, but let's look at some of the goodies.



Ever since EA managed to bogart the entire NFL video gaming license, companies have been casting about to try to figure out how to keep their own football franchises afloat without real NFL teams and players. Midway has hit upon a rather unique solution: they're going to do everything that would piss the NFL off if they had put it in an officially-licensed game. That's right, Midway's Blitz: The League in some ways harkens back to its over-the-top rough arcade game while at the same time injecting an in-your-face story mode that will have gamers deciding such things as whether to bench an injured player to have him healthy later in the season or juice him up with drugs for a quick win now but possibly losing him later in the season. Of course why wait for an injury? A player may just need a little somethin'-somethin' to boost his performance for the big game now. It is a much grittier, and some would say more realistic, portrayal of football than we've been seeing in the NFL-enforced, squeaky-clean licensed games. Set to reach store shelves late in 2005, Blitz: The League will be available for both PS2 and Xbox.

Going back yet again to the ever-popular arcade Gauntlet franchise, in the winter of 2005 Midway will release Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. But the tie-in to the arcade name is about where the similarity ends. Where previous Gauntlet outings were really non-existent in terms of story, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows offers a full story mode. The game is also not all frenetic hack and slash. There is a new combat system in place that allows the gamer to achieve a little more finesse in his attacks and the use of a selection of weapons. There are also puzzles to solve before your merry band can proceed with their quest and tough bosses aplenty. Midway also promises an online component. Though it was still a fairly early build, this game is already looking pretty tight. If Midway manages to polish it off nicely, PS2 and Xbox action-adventures should have lots of fun with it.

The new Mortal Kombat

A game that disappointed me in the Midway lineup is one of their fall 2005 releases, L.A. Rush. San Francisco Rush is an old Atari Games arcade franchises that Midway acquired some time back. Moving the game to L.A. and adding in elements from every other street-racing game out there has not done the game a lot of good. As usual there is a contrived situation to make you start with one crappy car and work your way up. Midway has added the West Coast Customs guys into the game to ?imp Your Ride? which I suppose for some people will be a draw. The game also has 35 licensed vehicles that show damage. Yep, actual damage on a licensed car. But as soon as damage reaches 50 percent the car resets to like-new condition. Of course the game will have all the secret routes that made the arcade game popular. The thing is I'm just not seeing much new with this title over what the crowded street-racing genre has already. Wonder if L.A. Rush will carry the same friendly Price that Narc ended up with for Xbox and PS2 owners?

Featuring a mixed bag of arcade racing titles, Midway Arcade Treasures 3 is sure to poke the nostalgia button on many gamers. Unfortunately the compilation is a mixed bag of quality too. Some of the games seem to be arcade ports. Others clearly are not. One of my personal favorites is Hydro Thunder, so you can bet I went straight to it when I got on the demo kiosk. I was badly disappointed. The version playing did not seem to be even as good as my version for the Dreamcast. It felt more like the N64 version. At least the list of included games is long and illustrious: Badlands, Hydro Thunder, Off Road Thunder: Blood Sweat n' Gears, Race Drivin', San Francisco Rush ?The Rock: Alcatraz Edition, San Francisco Rush 2049, S.T.U.N. Runner and Super Off Road & Bonus Tracks Pack. I love a good arcade game compilation, so I am going to do my best to hold off judgment until Midway Arcade Treasures 3 reaches my PS2 and Xbox this fall.

The Suffering: The Ties That Bind

Ed Boon's Mortal Kombat has always lived in controversy. Well it lives on in 2005 with Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. In this more story-driven outing, the action takes place just after the tournament in the original Mortal Kombat. The gamer can initially play as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao in either one-player or two-player cooperative modes. The story mode is integral to the enjoyment of the game as designers say that in every area the player fights in there will be at least one secret to discover and unlock. There is of course also a versus mode that will start the player with the initial two characters with many more characters to unlock in the course of the story mode. See why you have to play it? Naturally it would not be a Mortal Kombat game without fatalities, brutalities and mutilations, so expect lots of those when the game ships this fall for PS2 and Xbox.

Jumping off the arcade bandwagon for a moment, Midway is offering the sequel to its pretty-well-reviewed The Suffering entitled The Suffering: Ties That Bind. This time antihero Torque is on the outside in the hell-ravaged city of Baltimore. If you completed the first game and still have your save, this game will start you at the appropriate beginning of the game, of which there are three. If you don't have a save, the game starts the player in the second, neutral beginning. Once the game is completed, the player may start again from any of the three beginnings. Like the last game, The Suffering: Ties That Bind allows the player to choose the moral path they will take in the game. How the game ends is based on the decisions they make while playing. More new creatures, useful non-player characters and a general tweaking of the gameplay to improve the overall experience, like making the "insanity mode" a little more useful, round out the game. Xbox, PS2 and PC players will all get a version of The Suffering: Ties That Bind this fall.

UT 2007

Coming in behind the new Link game at Nintendo's booth and the PS3 presentation in Sony's booth, in terms of longest line to see it, probably had to be the Unreal Tournament 2007 theater presentation. Not due until 2006, the game is already looking pretty sweet. Designed around Epic's Unreal Engine 3, the game promises to have terrific visuals and all the great multiplayer features that have become the hallmark of the franchise. Still somewhat early in the development process, it is likely to be a bit before all the details of this game are filled in. I want my flak cannon!