Pulse of the Canille

I have had a more interesting life lately, but right now, I'd like to stop for a moment, and ponder the upcoming gaming glory that awaits us in the fall season. Those of you who do not share my enthusiasm for gaming hobbies need not apply.

The issue is, there are a TON of awesome games coming up. A trio of sequels to classic games that I've been waiting for, and probably won't know what to do with myself when I get them; besides play the game that is. Here they are:

• DOOM 3: Many people simply want the graphic engine, but I'm actually looking forward to another good horror style FPS like the classic, DOOM 2. The game looks graphically beautiful and has a wonderful "ode to space marines" feel. Plus, according to [H]ardOCP, you can run the game on minimum system specs with the graphic turned all the way up, and still only run into chop when your computer has to animate multiple enemies.
• Half-Life 2: Assuming Valve ever actually releases the game, it will be totally badass, considering how amazing the Source engine looks. Plus, I would actually like know WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED in the first game, since the story was, in a word, vague.
• Halo 2: The first game was really good, and ever since Brad and I beat Halo on "Legendary" difficulty mode co-operatively, I've been pining for the sequel. If the shaky cam video from 2003 E3 is any indicator, it will be good.
• Call of Duty: Finest Hour: Now, I've seen articles that call the game "United Front," but in Electronic Boutique, the pre-order boxes labeled it "Finest Hour," so that's what I'm assumming it will be called. Even before the mission pack was announced, I was wishing there was more to the single-player, since that game was so very good. It is, hands down, the best WWII FPS on the market, and probably the last I'll ever really play, since I'm getting pretty fucking sick of that sub-genre of FPS.
• Vampire: Bloodlines: Yes, it probably won't be the best RPG ever made, or even one of the better ones, but it still looks really fun. I really like the idea of a visceral experience of slaughtering mortals and feasting on their vitae, but that's just me. Andy, you shut the fuck up right now, I know what you're thinking. I know I'm a fanboy. Moving on...
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: My friend Davy from school is a beta tester, and Jonathan and I went over to his house in West Lynn and checked out the game. It looks fucking gorgeous. The game itself is sort of an amalgamation of the tactical Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus and more generic RTS games like StarCraft or the Command & Conquer series. The graphics are both amazing and brutal; by brutal, I mean the animation for combat is really gritty and vicious. I watched Davy march a Space Marine Dreadnought power armor into a group of Eldar infantry, and it was disgustingly entertaining. The big robot unleashed multiple heavy machine guns as it approached, cutting down the fragile Eldar while it burned to death one of their number with a massive flamethrower. When it closed to melee range, it sweeped its giant clawed arm across their ranks, sending three of them flying across the screen only to splat against the ground dozens of yards away. At this point, the infantry had been demoralized and began to run, the Space Marine pilot reached down with its big claw and plucked one of the fleeing Eldar and viciously shredded him with the the spinning claw blade in mid air, spraying the dreadnought and the ground around it with blood and ichor. It then tossed the useless body away with a nonchalant flick of its arm and gleefully ran down the fleeing remenants of the squad it had massacred. It was beautiful.

Now you see my dilemma, these aren't just "good" games, these are sequels and expansions to games that helped define, reinvent, or just plain raise the bar in their genre. Plus, there are a few other gems I'm looking forward to as well. I hope I can find the time/money for at least half of these games.