Fall is a time of change: a new semester, new professors, and new ways to spend your time not studying! That’s right, every fall the video gaming community is bombarded with high profile new game releases. It’s the equivalent of the summer movie blockbuster. This season there is a great host of blockbuster sequels that are guaranteed to keep you up later than the Gordon rule. The three major consoles are still at war and no one is backing down. Microsoft’s XBOX, Nintendo’s Gamecube, and Sony’s Playstation 2 are all vying for the number one spot in sales this fall. We, as gamers, must do our duty and answer the call to arms. But who to play for? Will it be XBOX’s Halo 2? Or perhaps Gamecube’s Metroid Prime 2? Or who could resist the ranks of PS2’s Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas? With all the games coming out this fall, variety is the spice of digital life.
Halo is the XBOX’s number one selling game and one of the most addictive games on the console. Halo is a first person shooter that puts you in the shoes of a heavily armed space marine who has to shoot a lot of alien baddies to save humanity (sounds like fun, huh?). Halo really showed its worth in the multiplayer modes-both cooperative play and death matches seemed to lengthen the game’s play life. Not much has changed in the sequel due out Nov. 8. Expect more of the same intense combat with added powerful weapons and new vehicles to hurt people with. The “plum” of Halo 2 lies in its multiplayer, though. New maps, modes, and XBOX Live will probably keep Halo 2 around for many more years to come.
Playstation 2 is banking on the success of the Grand Theft Auto line of games this fall with the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Normally, GTA games put you in the place of a fledgling criminal who claws his way to the top of a crime syndicate. This GTA will be no different. As the name implies, GTA: San Andreas takes place in a mock California, so expect to see L.A., San Francisco and even Las Vegas pop up in this anticipated sequel. The size of San Andreas is five to six times the size of the previous GTA: Vice City, with various improvements to computer AI, graphics, and gameplay. The GTA series is also known for its soundtrack. San Andreas takes place in the early 90’s and since no details have been released yet, we can only speculate on what songs to expect. Most likely gangsta rap and grunge rock will be featured, though as of now that’s only in the rumor mill. Look for GTA: San Andreas on Oct. 26.
Nintendo surprised a lot of people with the release of Metroid Prime almost two years ago. Metroid Prime was a stylish update of one of Nintendo’s oldest games, Metroid. In the Metroid series you play the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran who constantly foils the deeds of evil space pirates. Prime was revolutionary in that in took a beloved side-scrolling platform game and turned it into a first person adventure shooter successfully. Metroid Prime 2: Echos takes Samus on a new mission to try and discover what happened to a missing federation squad of soldiers on a mysterious planet. This time Samus will be able to travel between two different dimensions: a light and a dark world. The biggest improvement to this sequel is that a multi-player mode was added; up to four Samus-like bounty hunters can play at once in various death matches. Metroid Prime 2: Echos is due out Nov. 15.
Gamers can’t lose with these tried and true series. Their continuing success proves that these games are highly addictive and should not be missed.
