14TH ANNUAL AWARDS ISSUE TT New Honor System ages New Instances —=<@e fay Battlegrounds World Events (HRS TS Hands-on with aI 6S Age of Empires Ill {Zag Act of War = Pariah ans Brothers in Arms //am Civilization VfNO. | PREFER “JAGGIES.” With so many new online games hitting the shelves, you could spend all winter trying to CeO a ier nce ean erie NP eet ee Cae eg ec ee ae ec ee ee ee ne coe form an alliance with an NVIDIA GPU, every little part of the world looks as epic as it feels. For blazing performance and rock-solid reliability without the “jaggies,” nSIST on NVIDIA.WORT Sae te ae See SeedThe 14th Annual Computer Games Awards Though 2003 was a good year, one domi- nated by quality console ports like Knights of the Old Republic, Prince of Persia, Grand Theft ‘Auto Vice City, and The Simpsons Hit and Run, 2004 was filled with purely PC-based games of almost unprecedented quality. Picking the top game of the bunch, though, was extremely complicated. So many of the year's best games offered such completely different kinds of experiences. What is the thread that connects World of WarCraft to Painkiller, or Sid Meier's Pirates! to Rome: Total War? And for that matter, what con- nects Catwoman to Spider-Man 2? Maybe it’s best not to think about that one, Without further ado, flip the page for the "10 Best Games of 2004;” plus the year’s worst. storsoters: William Ane, Kyle Ackerman, Steve Bauman, Bret Berger, John Callaham, Tom Chick, Troy odfellow, David Long Tiffany Martin, Gregory Micek, Dave Panchyk, Kevin ice, Kurt Squire, Peter Suciu, Bet Tod, Kelly Wand, and Cindy YansWORLD OF WARCRAFT the hat happens when you throw thou: sands of peo populate it with stuf to do and things to kill? There have been plenty of ‘games offering up answers, from the wild wild-west early days of Ultima Online to the gold standard—subscriber-wise, at least. of EverQuest. Each new entry has been met with varying levels of anticipation, but nothing short of Star Wars G the expectations of Word of War it exceed: le into a world and laxes has had raft. That hose expectations, much les ‘meets them, is practically a revelation, As with Di StarCraft, and Wa lizard Entertainment Vivendi Universal Games Blizzard isnt redefining the formula for the genre as much asit is working toward per fecting it. World of WarCraft, by any stretch of the definition, a bog-standard massively multiplayer game. Ithas all of the -onventions down pat: interesting charac ter selection choices with two distinct sides Horde vs. Alliance), a massive world, lots of interesting things to kill lots of motivators to push you to the ‘next level ites you craft, and tons of amazing loot and It wont necessarily convert all of the players that find MMOs boring or poin less. Ithas the same du choices that no one would ever put in a single-player game, lke the need to re cover your body after you di dious busywork, and lots and lots of run- ning from point & to B, though mounts, zeppelins, and gryphon/bat rides help somewhat. Some changes were added after the lengthy beta test in order to slow players down—if you can reach the level 60 cap in a matter of days, that’ a problem. e changes made it lia 8 worse for everyone, which shows how the hardest of the hardcore are really harming the MMO have met the -xperience for everTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS Combat can get quite choot and thos (PVE vs, PvP). The PvP implementation i launch, rather point superb job of making every ass choice distinct. Players hav their character, and you rarely find people tended period unhappy. are better than most hy drole to pla be played much of the game. Ifyou rea u can find the ing, Fishing, and Fie ble to everyone}, and all ae in ing and surprisingly entertaining. They ally emphasize adventuring to find ma snd the actual act of constructing fast and painless, The “Create All godsend. button for ‘Watch out fr this guy: hes a5 tough ase ks ling found and me standard in mini-eBay for buyin festand out crafted items) : every future game killed players ability ver the predictable mob sults) The only problem for most players play PvP, wl sort of “MMOs for he interface is superb: yo ish” approach of Electronic ‘the feeling tha if 4 every element of make it as complex as you like (particularly behavior and combat ulled out the best ones, ith the free Cosmos aftermarket ut realy screw up is their ou dont g ttention to putting ev hit needed, without all 19 against c every other game on fea- MMOs. It makes th Jopers;you feel like gating players who d.In keepingth that approach, there are minimal death penalties (mostly time, never ex cel, and it never feels like a grind. It do its incredible world without making it feel once in town, all ofthe people wit are identified with a yellow exclamation their head. (IF you've completed itchanges to a question mark This removes the tedium of talking to even single person to find that one guy whol ell you what to do next—in other words, doing quests is alot more interesting than looking for the J the sheer quantity of available quests (literally thousands) killing mob after mob of monsters, Sure, finding 15 Bloodscalp ear ‘means you need to killa bunch of Tol but of the quests are annoying, (Lik unny, and only a few are P ne are mundane (Stockade) (Gnomeregan) While PvP is pointless, it does add a new dynamic to the usual gameplay. The fiction separates players out of the gate, but quests inevitably draw you into ‘con. ested” zones, w gle. On PVE servers, you can avoid the other side and optionally dabble in PvP combat; it's a terrific compromise. Armie flag, Anyone defending also be comes a target, atleast until a person's PvP flag wears off The Auton Hous prety much the greatest thing ever. Another draw for new players—and vet trans as well—is the art direction, Almost drop. And all ofthe charming touches, ike All ofthe areas are unique, but it still man everyone immediately the rabbits and cows wandering around, to ages to fee ike a world k. Sure, EverQuest the personality-filled and amazingly ar Whether World of WarCrotis better tha ‘ogy, but Wor isa much, much mated monsters (a personal favorite is th m vestisn't af petter-looking game. Not that it's a arvest Watcher), all comes together to _—_question, though if you compare what it de Jouch—is technology is subtle from the make itlooklike some Warner Brothers car- livers today to all existing MMOs, its ama ymazing sound and music to the way light toon come to life, A oft : inman ts alrea ounces off snow at the right angle and as being unique, from the lu ow the water ripples. And the citi Ashenvale tot eset be ik Hi One glance at lronforge, Underc artens, from to the majestic hil urns out, one thing is clear:it's the bTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS SID MEIER'S PIRATES! Firaxis Atari World of Half-Life 2 WarCraft Doom 3HALF-LIFE 2 ' He Valve Software| Vivendi Universal Games h technology to die for, THE SIMS 2 ewes Electronic rts «Thief: Deadly Half-Life 2 Kohan Il: Unreal Shadows Vampiretve Kings of War Tournament 2004 Malttife2 ‘Masquerade: Bloodlines Done opeaeasTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS EVERQUEST Nl RK Online Entertainment ‘munity management syst have improved upon n cessor, But ju KOHAN II: CITY OF HEROES KINGS OF WAR | gy tonto peers TimeGate he MMO Studios Global Star Software ll jominated by games that ti 0 3 dendupdongnathng pr particularly ref Thief: Deadly Shadows, Warhammer 40K: Davn of War, Unreal Tournament 2004, Battlefield Vietnam, Tribes Vengeance, Joint Operations World of The Sims 2 Dene ec savvier over the years, having, on Cer eure leap directly into a "promise em every- Cra ee he selves engaging in a tail-between-the- legs retreat when (a) It just wasn't ready, OT ee ee as didn’t work, period. Now we see alot De ee et ee pletely upfront indication that no space ee eed launch, City of Heroes’ not announcing a Dees Cer eae Ter cere well in keeping with this trend, Cr ener Ce ee oe eae ‘ments throughout the life of the game Eee ee eed See ees PvP Battlegrounds, and “special events.”‘fost lant makes an appearance near some Aliance payers. Alterac aly ists place for players to battle there are unfriendly mon- ers that wil attack both sides, and many quests to undertake aswel The Twist of Nether—For the Good of Many The biggest effort early on wil be to add many new instances in cluding raid instances, to the current mix of spawned areas (see the sidebar). The rid instances are designed to challenge around 40 people a a time with various objectives in mind, with some pretty ‘amazing loot at stake. At this writing the highest level of tems in the game is coded purple, or Epic” such as the Deathstriker Dagger, with a speed of 1.70, and 45.6 damage-per-second, with all atacks ‘guaranteed to land, all of which wil be critical strikes forthe next three seconds (eat your heart out. But ina raid, you might be able to pick up two more valuable classes of equipment Legendary (Red, and Artifact (Orange) The reason they picked 40 a sot of the“magic number"fora raid population cap was because, on average, tha’ the sizeof a WoW guild. They foresee these encounters as mostly guid-elated aff, since guilds wil initaly have the easiest modes of organza tion within the game's guild interface, or via their wn websites They/d like to enhance this though. Long term, once we get some extra resources, says lead de signer Rob Pardo, “weld like to do some of the web-based [group coordination] stuff—some of the stuff that EverQuest lis doing, but that is, as | said, more long term? There are what they're calling "sc ters of difficult yin the raid in ‘This Taurens special armor denotes his station as one ofthe premier leaders ofthe Worde army in Alterac Vale. stances, and they anticipate guilds working through them lke play fers might work through levels (and hence gain the ability to survive in the next highest-level instances). "We designed our raid game very methodically” says Pardo. At the bottom levels youl fight something like Onyxia, one ofthe low tend dragons, but as you get to the higher levels, oul need a lot better gear to survive. We consider Onyxia a tier six dragon, which is, the bottom tier... and then the Molten Core, whichis in Black Rock Depths, is a tier five area” But you can go to Molton Core without having slain Onyxia, i's just that they balanced it to be more difficult. "I's been a big pain inFiraxis is hard at work on Civilization IV; more on that can be found on page XX, People Can Fly is working on anew, yet tunannounced game. It will not be a sequel to Painkiller. ‘According to Valve, i's working on bringing Half-Life 2 toat least one console" and stil has plans for Team Fortress 2. Also, in the works: Day of Defeat: Source, and updates for Counter- ste at The Creative Assembly can be found adapting its Total War series to television, as well as working on “unnamed future products" (Unnamed in large part because no one could get hold of anyone) The frst expansion for is Control your Sim through his or her"young adult” life stage, which may or may not involve dorms, fats, sororities and/or projectile vomiting. Sony Online was clearly so stunned with the positive re- sponse to EverQuest I that it was dumbstruck and speechless when asked fora peek into its future. The chances are pretty good that there's ‘an expansion in the ‘works. TimeGate Studios is working a couple of next-genera- ton real-time strategy games, which they say will set a new standard’"The titles are unannounced, so no details are forth ‘coming at this point. Cryptic Studios is hard at work on Its add-on to City of Heroes twill let you create the super villain of your dreams, and work your way up the crime ladder tothe point where you can take on all of those awful, awful do-gooder superheroes. Sweden's own Starbreeze Studios plans to follow up Chronicles of Riddick with something or other (they didnt respond to e-mails at press time). Theres been some talk ofa sequel to Enclave, but the developer isnt working on any projects for Vivendi Universal at this time, so don't expect another Riddick (atleast from ther) anytime soon Compe Games| Mar 205, 3: Source and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. The creative chaps ‘frend of Vrimatras—imitationis the sincerest frm of hoovey. jure out what should be harder than what, so we could anticipate what the order should be’ continues Pardo. “In some cases, there isa litle bit ofa forced progression. For instance, you do need to kill Onyxia before you can kill her brother, Nefarian, who isa tier four dragon. ot more organic froma difficulty point of view! (Onyxia Lar isan instance that a really good guild could conquer from stat to finish in hal-an-hour to an hour’ time, whereas enter: ing the Molten Core to kill Ragnaros, the really amazing-looking fire ‘elemental, will probably require sweat and tears over several days. but in alot of cases it's a “We're really trying to go fora lot of variety and depth, says Pardo, me you can do right away, and some yo ‘raid instance will be available through a green, instead of blue, portal, and while similar to the regular dungeon i behave the same way. In the latter, f you leave, or die, you havea short time to go back before the die critters respawn. In a raid In stance, though, itl start out the same way, but there'll be a pre-de fined event that will trigger an automatic “save of your raid groups state. This will often be'The Slaughter of the First Boss"’Once the set amount of time to finish the rest ofthe instance, or the whole encounter wil reset. But take save is triggered, your group ha heart, this doesn't mean dreadfully tedious and long play sessions. rk Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis master level that resemble marathons, For example, The Molten Core instance, when triggered, wil give[above] More battles between the Horde and theAliance in Alterac ale. ght] ll tend to swoon at the feet of aia Proudmoore you up to seven days to finish the dungeon, This way ifall your healers and tanks are at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, you can just hold off fora day or so."Wette trying to be sure we have really reasonable time periods defined” says Pardo. “We really don't want the in stances to be a race against time—that’s definitely not the point of them. Molten Core is a good example. Seven days should be plenty of time to do what you want to do. Ifyou can't kill Ragnaros within, seven days, then you probably just can kill him yet tal Death works pretty much the same way, with just a few differ ences, Some of the raid instances are actually behind dungeon in stances, Molten Core, the raid instance, is actually within the group instance of Blackrock Depths, and there's another one in Blackrock Spire. So when you die, you actually respawn outside the instance ‘of Blackrock Depths—which will have most likely regenerated many gly things. At that point, hopefully, you have a surviving Warlock in the raid instance that can summon you back beyond the green door (Warlocks being the only class that can summon members into an instance), or if your group wiped completely, i'l be a long Fight back. The raid stuff is probably the content we'e adding the most to says Pardo, "since thatll be the endgame:en eee te errr tn) roe See ere et See tee) et ee eo Ce a eet ele For Instance When you alone are never really alone Here is what you can expect from a few of the new high-level instanced dungeons that Blizzard has planned for early this year. Dire Maul This great city, now in ruins, once comprised the greatest Night Ef city in ancient Kalimdor. Known as Eldre'Thalas, it was the crown jewel of Highborne society and arcane research and study. Yet, as Kalimdor was shattered by the Great Sundering, the city was broken and the Sorcerous Highborne were cursed to wander the wreckage forever. The city lay abandoned for centuries until the mighty Ogre, King Gordok, took possession of the ruins. Now the Ogres hold the city in an iron grip—covetous of the arcane secrets still held by the Stirring Highborne ghosts. Its also ru ‘mored that a band of Satyrs have slipped into the shadowed ruins —also bent on plumbing the city’s secrets for their own dark machinations. GAMEPLAY: Located in Feralas, Dire Maul willbe a“winged” instance dungeon similar to the Scarlet Monastery I's being tuned for groups of players ranging from levels 46 to 57. This dungeon should be a nice Kalimdor counterpart to Blackrock Depths. Alterac Valley (Battlegrounds instance) ‘The frosty peaks of Alterac valley have been stained with the blood of warriors. The windswept valley has been claimed by both the Horde and the Alliance. The Frostwolf Ores (Warchief ‘Thrall’ hereditary clan) have lived inthe secluded valley for many decades, but their village has been threatened by the re cent arrival ofthe Dwarf expeditionary force led by General Vanndar Stormpike. The Dwarves, seeking the precious minerals beneath the frosty earth, care litle for the Ores land claims. Now the forces of the Horde and the Alliance spill into the area daily-intent on retaking the valley for their respective causes However, unbeknownst to both factions, the Winterax Trolls have arisen to make their own claim upon the frozen wasteland. Only time will tell which faction will have final dominion. GAMEPLAY: Alterac Valley is nestled in the Alterac Mountains. This zone is the first of World of WarCraft’ planned Battleground Zones. The primary focus here will be PvP combat, with team-based goals winere the Horde and the Alliance can square off against one another. This zone willbe for players that are level 51 or above, ‘Abn Qiraj Little fs known of the ancient kingdom of Ahn'Qiraj, save for scattered legends concerning its creators—the enigmatic sorcer- ers known as the Qiraji Night Elf tales abound of the Qira’s strange hold over the insectike Silithid—and their symbiotic link with that terrifying race. I's become clear that the Qiraji are stiring once again behind the sandblasted walls of their king dom. The Slithid have begun to amass in the southern regions of Kalimdor. None know what vast evil might spew forth ifthe gates to Ahm Giraj were ever breached. GAMEPLAY: The gates of Ahn’Qiaj can only be opened by a mighty, player-driven quest. Once the gates are open, the spells of Ahn‘raj will be available for any on the server who can ise to the challenge. This wil be a full: blown raid zone, tuned for 40 players of maximum level. Encounters will be vatied in the zone, with some taking place con the sprawling sands of this once epic city, and others taking place deep within the hive tunnels Blackwing Lair At the fiery pinnacle of Blackrock Spite lies the menacing Blackwing Lait. Originally built as part of the Dark ron fortress, the lair has recently been transformed into the abode of the sin- ister back dragon, Nefarian. Guarded by fanatical dragonspawn, and various agents of the black flight, Blackwing Lairis one of the most hazardous locations on Azeroth. Nefarian is ruthless in, protecting his dark sanctum and the vile experiments he lords ‘ver. Only those brave enough to enter his lair will discover the terrifying secret of the black dragonflight—and uncover their true plan to re-conquer the mortal worl.ee eed GAMEPLAY Blackwing Lair is an upper-ter raid zone, designed for raid groups of 40 players of maximum level. The Lairlies deep Within Blackrock Spire inthe heart of the Eastern Kingdoms Karazhan Nestled in the forbidding peaks of the Deadwind Pass, the lonely tower of Karazhan stands as a haunting reminder of slories past. Once the home and sanctum of the Guardian Medivh, Karazhan andits surrounding hamlet have fallen to complete ruin, Now the dead tower's home to the restless dead—and worse. Rumors abound that Medivh’ private labo- ratories and libraries hold the key to mysterious portals to the “Twisting Nether. Those who have returned from the dark tower told of demonic horrors that roamed the upper floors. ‘Though none now know who truly controls the tower, itis clear that some evil force has taken up residence in Medivh’ stead. GAMEPLAY: Karazhan isan instanced dungeon found in Deadwind Pass. Only the players of highest level wil be able to overcome the challenges ofthis dungeon. Unique in its design, Karazhan will offer multiple sections, each of which will play as a dungeon Inand ofitselt, with atleast three seperate instance entrances. Zul'Gurub Zul'Gurub isthe capital of the fallen Gurubashi empire that ‘once dominated the lands of Stranglethorn, and various is- lands of the South Seas. Zul'Gurub is still quarded by the can- ribalistic Jungle Tolls and their holy order of Hakkar priests. ‘Some believe that the nefarious priests seek to bring their an- cient blood-god, Hakkar the Soulflayer, back to life. the secrets to Halkar's rebirth are kept safe within the crumbling Troll city. However, none who have ven- tured into the savage land have ever returned to confirm these dark rumors. ‘GAMEPLAY: Zul'Gurub will be aleve 55-60 instanced exterior zone, similar to Zul'Farrak. Tuned for groups of 5 the instance should prove tobe both challenging and rewarding for those who feel up to the task of conquering the savage Trolls. least for the PvP environment folks it will—PvP-ers, who have been long awaiting a more structured environment for fairer combat, wl be looking forward to the Battlegrounds, An Alternative to Ganking The Battlegrounds are also instances where players can compete against the opposing faction in a more organized way than in other areas of the world, and you can anticipate many different types of goals. “In our fst Battleground, the goa sto defeat the enemy com ‘mand’ says Pardo, “You can try to accomplish this by charging the enemy base, but that will be extremely hard, f not impossible, un: less you have an overwhelming advantage in numbers Yu can make your goal easier, though, via various quests that will give your side a greater advantage when it comes to taking cover the enemy base. For example, you can gain control of the graveyards, which allows you to respawn closer to where the action is. Once you defeat the enemy commander, your side has tempo rary control ofthe Battleground and everyone with be rewarded with additional honor points. Honor points are the “reward! for doing well at PvP. You can think cof them as PvP Experience Points" Prior to their was no thyme or reason to PvP activity, and grifing was rampant (on PVP servers only, ofcourse). While that'll probably continue, the honor point system will atleast give some players the incentive to play nice” when they're massacring one another. As long as youre killing which wil transfer into what might be considered “military ranks: ‘And these ranks are what confer you different benefits such as ven dor discounts, or special gear. The very highest ranked players will leven be able to buy equipment and weapons that are on par with the stuff you'd only find inthe raid instances. itll worka lot ike the WarCraft Illadder where your gained expe: rience is always decaying, so you have to keep playing to stay on top of things. You don't actually gain honor for killing a player atthe mo- ‘ment he dies instead, youl gain honor atthe end of each week istence, there players within a nable level range, you'll gain honor, Based on your ranking and how well you PvP for the week, you get a certain amount of honor. You'l always be able to view your current status, though, to see how you're doing, and they'e also looking into a daily update mail notice. Finally, at the end of the week, youll {get your reward. Ths type of thing makes the game competitive within your own faction, as well as against the opposite side. That way, we're never going see that ever-escalating situationike you see in Dark Ag ppoints just go into the gazilions. Our system will kinda always be set ‘up more like the WarCraft system, where itl be more of ladder so that there'll always be more of atop group. So even if you join a server, say year late, you can still become the number one player ‘Along with individual PvP honor in the game at large, there are also team-based goals—which is where the actual Battlegrounds come in. (For the people on the regular servers, this is the only place they'll encounter PvP at all) I you control a Battleground, then your whole side is awarded honor points, so that way, every Cone that participated for the week will get more honor than they would have if Pardo explains: "So even though you'e kind of competing ‘among your own alliance to be the number one person, everyone still wants to complete team-based goals because then everyone ‘of Camelot” notes Pardo.”In that game, realm xs hadn't gotten that control.Making sense of PvP Alliance versus Horde action gains some substance Quests will play a major part in PvP Battlegrounds. While some players will be actively engaged in fighting enemy players, oth- ers will contribute by fulfilling quests that directly help their side's war effort. One of the earliest quests you can complete to help your cause is finding mounts to create NPC cavalry units. (On the Alliance side of Alterac Valley roam large rams, while frost wolves wander in the Horde side. One of the quest-giving NPCS in your base will tell you that your side is in need of ‘mounts for their cavalry unit. Alliance players will be able to tag rams and bring them back to base, while Horde players will be able to do the same with the frost wolves. After you bring back the appropriate number, the quest will be complete and your side will automaticaly spawn a unit of cavalry troops that will ‘then rush to the frontlines of battle to assist your side's player characters. Players can repeat this quest, and thus send in waves of cavalry throughout the battle. They're hoping this type of activity will add a bit more meaning to happily slaughtering members of the other faction. will get more honor. Whether or not you participated in the battle grounds at all, youl! stil get honor experience” There will be modifies, though, in diferent areas of the world that will afford you more individual honor, giving you an incentive to accomplish certain tasks such as killing the other side's world leaders, lke Thrall, Caime, and so on. If you're defending your town—say youre in Stormwind and you're fighting against invading Horde trying to kill the General—your reward will be pumped up with a bonus, since the very act of defending your own city const: tutes one of those modifiers ‘There are things that they definitely plan on adding, lke siege combat, but they'll need more live testing in the Battleground envi ronment before they decide on other things that'l work. Pardo ‘even hinted at air combat (non-definitively of course}, so you can just imagine things like Gryphon vs. Zeppelin ar wars. Snowballs and Fishing Derbies (Over the holidays Blizzard showed the first example of the type of ‘special events” that the team is planning. Special Christmas cookie ‘quests, snowball fights, decorations, and other holiday hoopla def nitely added to the ambience of the games major areas. They're {going for a kind of Animal Crossing approach, where seasons pass and everything is cyclical. Computer Games March 205 “There's not really an MMO that's doing anything similar to what, ete trying to do with our world events” says Pardo, “because most {games at this point have either done the Asheron’ Call thing, which isthe huge unfolding story'that they do every month, And then you have kinda the EverQuest or Ultima Online examples where you have GM-run event stuff” What they are really trying to do is build content over time throughout the lifecycle of the game, much of which will be linked to the calendar. For instance, they might have something like a fish ing contest that runs every Sunday, or big festivals that run for a two-week period of time. They might have certain zones that change during the summer solstice—a whole variety of stuff ‘And the really cool thing about that approach is there are always things to look forward to, and even if you miss something you still can see it again next year says Pardo. It really gives a dynamic feel- ing to [the world), and really kinda keeps on using this content: overtime’ approach. We really want to, ‘much more living and breathing, If they're thinking about regular annual events, then they must be pretty confident that World of WarCraft will see an awl lot of seasons come and go. If they can produce a continuing flow of new, duality content akin to what they started out with, though, they can pretty much bank on that. "Lothar!" make the world feel that