And that’s as official as this kind of news can possibly go, and the first time ever I got a vaguely interesting e-mail from any PR team. Thanks for the tip oh id software and thanks for letting us know you still haven’t finalized the team to work on DOOM 4 and are thus on the lookout for developers. Now, please do give us a moment to cath our collective breath. The announcement was really exciting. Too exciting to be frank, as is any continuation of the ultimate battle against the abominably nasty forces of evil. DOOM will get a sequel! Sometime!

Problem is though, that id was extremely sparse on any kind of other info. I’m free to speculate! Yay! Well, DOOM 4 will surely appear on the PC and judging from the Xbox version of DOOM 3 I could hazard a guess and say it will probably -at least- make it to the Xbox 360, though the PS3 shouldn’t realistically be left out either. Now, as I have only played the PC version of DOOM 3 and still consider it extremely good looking, I’d like to remind id (who presumably won’t be able to sleep till I get on with my rant) that they should not solely focus on the engine, with which I’m sure they’ll make a stellar job. Enemy AI, atmosphere, gameplay and a marine that can simultaneously hold a flashlight and a gun should under no circumstances be ignored.

I can’t really say what got into me, but I just felt this unstoppable urge to write about Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its brilliant expansion The Frozen Throne. Now, as I’m pretty sure everyone has heard about the games, probably played them to death too, problem is I can’t do much more than urge anyone who hasn’t tried them to actually do so as soon as humanly possible (they are among the best RTS games ever as far as I am concerned, you know), remind everyone else just how interesting a character Arthas was, wish for a sequel, moan a bit about Wolrd of Warcraft and how boring it has turned out to be, light a cigar and go to bed. Not much of a post really…

To patch things up, I’ve decided to focus on the story bits of the game(s), as they were admittedly both great and oddly at odds with what most ludologists consider proper video game storytelling. You see, both WC III and its expansion used the much-maligned old-fashioned way of telling in-game stories: the not particularly interactive cutscene method. Truth be said, the cutscene, no matter how impressive, smart, touching, whatever it turns out to be, is not playing to the strengths of the medium and definitely doesn’t help the player feel as if his/her actions impact on the gaming world. It isn’t considered a good immersion technique. Yet, it can work, and Warcraft is all the proof anyone should need that there is no particular way a story should be told. In Warcraft III the player (well, ok, I at least) feels engrossed, impressed by the visual quality of the storytelling and deeply involved in the proceedings. Why? Because the quality of a story itself matters more than the way it is delivered, that’s why…

So, uhm, without further ado, here goes…

Silent Hill Origins

Horror can be quite difficult to pull off on a handheld and this game is probably as good as it gets. Well, so far really, as this is the very first Silent Hill game to go portable. It’s not perfect, not by far and definitely not when the clunky camera and combat mechanics are taken into account, but Origins still is a great game that really nails the Silent Hill atmosphere and reveals the… err… origins that originally turned Silent Hill to the hellish ghost town it now is. Brilliant and disturbing graphics, superb sound effects, new characters and chilling monsters make this best PSP horror game yet.

Metal Slug Anthology

Ok, I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but apparently you keep ignoring it. Tsk, tsk, I say, how dare you? This is a collection of the best side-scrolling action platformer shooting game-thingies ever and even comes with a nice scent of nostalgia. And don’t get me started on the aesthetic pleasures the graphics provide. Or the sick humor. Besides, this PSP offering includes Metal Slug, Metal Slug 2, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4 and Metal Slug 5.

Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony

A PC action-CRPG that manages to decently squeeze itself to appear on the PSP’s small but shiny screen, while simultaneously adapting to the needs of on the go gaming, is quite an impressive sight indeed, and that’s what Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony is. Impressive. It offers hours of smooth gameplay, three story lines, tons of weapons, an impressive variety of baddies, excellent controls, good audio, multiplayer options and nice graphics. Oh, yes, and lots and lots of hacking and slashing while waiting for the bus.

It might be almost a decade old and should probably qualify as retro, but I just can’t help feel that Star Wars X-Wing Alliance still does a pretty impressive impression of a modern game (especially if you patch it up and probably more so when its new homebrew textures hit the Internet). Besides, 10 years isn’t such a long time, is it? And good games never age.

Especially so, when said good games are more or less the last offerings of their sub-genre, as was X-Wing Alliance, for it sadly was the very last Star Wars space-combat sim that let players sit inside a cockpit. Following the excellent X-Wing, nigh on perfect TIE Fighter and multiplayer-only X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Alliance not only brought the series to an explosive climax and allowed anti-social kids and accountants worldwide to fantasize about being starry-eyed space heroes, but also let us proper gamers relive key events from the Star Wars saga and even the end of the Empire itself. And, yes, this does actually mean we got to fly the Millennium Falcon inside the second Death Star as never before and never since. See the screenshot?

Sheer computer gaming joy. What’s more, the game also let (arguably still does, as it’s got no problems on my XP PC) you pilot a variety of classic Rebel Alliance starships ranging from the aptly named X-Wing classic, to the vaguely A-shaped A-Wing, to the Y-Wing, through a brilliant campaign that spanned 50 missions. Oh, and graphics and audio are still impressive, the gameplay hasn’t aged a day and multiplayer dogfights are unsurpassed.

I did try to live under a rock for awhile and actually ignore Grand Theft Auto 4 and all of its pre-release hype, post-release ridiculous reviews and everything in between, but apparently I failed. Not hopelessly mind you, but failed nonetheless. I did watch a few video reviews, you see, couldn’t help but check a few admittedly impressive trailers, noticed the impressive sales and even though I haven’t yet gone for either GTA 4 Xbox 360 or GTA 4 PS3, I must admit to being quite a bit intrigued. GTA 4 it seems, is an incredibly polished, huge, ridiculously detailed and feature-laden game, but impressively it’s more than that too, and no I’m not talking about the apparently decent story either. Nor the abundance of mini-games and new mechanics.

What really got me was the brilliant -obviously stylized too- recreation of New York City, which, the way I see it, is the first time a city has been so vibrantly portrayed in a video game. Now, I may just be wrong about this as I haven’t gotten my hands on the actual game yet, but it felt beyond right. It felt as if someone has really managed to present a beautiful, detailed, interpretation of NY with a distinct but well-meant touch of sarcasm (how very contradictory) using some utterly amazing technology. What’s more, the thing is interactive too! And it’s even got what look like normal people in it!

For a more elaborate look and an accordingly longer post though, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for me to get a copy of the thing, which hopefully wont take too long…