Being released in the same week, it almost seems unfair. I felt as if I was being forced to choose between two very solid titles and well-loved franchises. But I’m going to be walking away with my pre-ordered copy of Battlefield:Vietnam. I’ve already seen what Unreal Tournament 2004 has to offer in the amazing demo, so it essentially came down to me being more interested in BF:V’s subject matter. Strangely enough, if you look back two years Battlefield 1942 was released a month before UT2003. And UT2003 was largely forgotten; I think many gamers felt that it was just an attempt to cash in with fans of the 1999 original, with a game that had no recognizable reason for buying into it aside from the massively updated engine. I got it anyway and haven’t regretted it since. The gameplay was even more fast-paced and Bombing Run quickly replaced CTF as my game mode of choice. For UT2004, a number of new features have been introduced – like the amazing Onslaught, which is taking the online circuit by storm. Don’t get me wrong, though, as I am definitely planning to partake in what the gaming media are calling the best FPS and multiplayer game of the year so far.

A question that seems to be slowly rising to the surface of this week’s releases is that of Eve of Destruction. Other than the excellent Desert Combat it is probably the most well known mod in the BF1942 community. Some believe that BF:V is encroaching on modding territory – and some reviewers are calling DICE Canada’s game just that, an overpriced mod – but is it really fair to make a comparison? I’ve played Eve of Destruction, and although it is only at Alpha 0.3, it’s in great shape. Given that DICE has money to spend on something of this nature, you would expect a product of the utmost polish and professionalism. This didn’t prevent any backlash, though, and at the end of the day gamers that are looking for a sequel may be turning their eyes elsewhere. It’s tough to see around all the flak when a widely anticipated game is finally released, and it has quickly become one of the more disappointing aspects of the industry.

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation, was released for the Gamecube last week to fairly decent reviews. I enjoyed the Playstation version for what it was: one of the first games to take stealth action seriously. Now it seems that anyone trying to improve on the action/FPS genre almost exclusively looks to this same approach. People are telling me it’s a great game, and worth checking out, despite having played the hell out of the original. I won’t go so far as to add it to my already growing backlog, but I’ll make a point of renting it one weekend.

Another big name in the genre, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, went gold and is on schedule for release at the end of the month. A continuation of Sam Fisher’s adventures is assured in this next installment, but what has me really excited is the multiplayer. The third person stealth vs. first person mercenaries is an ingenious design decision, and makes me think of last week’s article at EvilAvatar about “Non-Intrusive Competition”. Why not make an entire game around this concept? As a soldier sent to deal with nearly invisible adversaries, who’s to say your entire opposition force is not controlled by humans? The possible futures of muliplayer gaming are bright indeed.

Back in August, there was news that multiplayer would be added to the extremely enjoyable 1503 AD: The New World in a free patch. Last week, Sunflowers made the official annoucement that the patch was cancelled. In a heartfelt apology from the Sunflowers team, they cite reasons such as internal development conflicts and not being able to settle on a stable batch of code that would result in a playable multiplayer experience. What strikes me as a bit odd, however, is that the team continued development of the expansion pack “Treasures, Monsters and Pirates” without any plans to include multiplayer in this. Call me old fashioned, but wouldn’t the time already spent creating a multiplayer patch for free be justifiable if you turned around and sold it as part of the add-on pack? It seemed to work for Civilization III.

I was able to choke back the tears caused by GMR’s hideous Top Games of 2003 list long enough to see their brief article this month about a new Forgotten Realms game for the PS2*. In a more normal situation this type of news would mean about as much to me as another Tomb Raider movie, and you’d be right. Except this game is being developed by Stormfront Studios – the same people that brought you the classing D&D PC games of yesteryear, including what was then one of the first MMORPGs, Neverwinter Nights. The tentatively titled “Forgotten Realms” looks more like a relative of Dark Alliance, which is probably nothing new for console gamers. I’m just a little concerned that there’s no PC port in the works for this title – because I’d be interested in checking it out. Yes, you read that correctly: I would be interested in a PC port. I mean fuck, it’s not like the development team doesn’t have any credibility in the D&D universe or that half assed action RPGs aren’t being ported already.

With the sad news about the cancellation of Sam and Max: Freelance Police two weeks ago, I caught some comments from the series’ creator Steve Purcell about the situation. It sounded like the game was fantastic, and more than ready for release this year. Clearly the founders of modern Adventure Gaming have lost their minds, and are basically giving up their chance to breathe new life into a struggling genre. And if you’re looking for an excuse to do something about it, Save Sam and Max is a good place to start. Online petitions seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but I guess if it makes you feel better it can’t be all bad.

Something gave me a bit of hope for adventure games this week, though: news of a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky. You might recognize Revolution Software as being the same team that brought you the Broken Sword series. Back when the original was released, “cyberpunk” was still a fairly new concept for games unless you played Shadowrun. I remember it having a superb story, and a suprisingly usable interface outside of LucasArt’s SCUMM. If you want a piece of PC gaming history, the people at SCUMMVM can hook you up with the full version of Beneath a Steel Sky.

*It arrives in my mailbox every month. It’s about games. It’s not like I have a choice.