GARRETT'S LIST:
3. Planetside 2
The demo we saw of Planetside 2 really impressed us. The combination of infantry battles, tanks, and aircraft in the same battlefield fighting over objectives was fantastic for gamers. Shooter and MMO fans alike will be very excited about this game. SOE has put a lot of polish on it and it ran smoothly with people playing at GDC and back in the studio in San Diego. They expect a lot of players on at the same time, so these epic battles will be something to see. One thing that resonated throughout the game is the capture of the core of what made Planetside so popular. The team is listening closely to fans and truly making the game people want to play.
2. The Secret World
Templars vs. Illuminati vs. Dragons, really that is all you have to say about the game. The depth of the story and amazingly cool concepts make The Secret World into a puzzle that everyone is going to want to put together. Wrap that up in a game that allows you to play in so many different character styles and you have an MMO which will stand the test of time. There is so much to The Secret World that discovery is only the beginning. We will be able to share much more this week as we publish our thoughts on the game.
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1. Game of Thrones
Forget for a moment that the IP is insanely popular and think of this: An MMO that is PvP focused in a sandbox setting that cuts out all of the grinding and raiding. That is the core of Game of Thrones. Plus, it plays on a browser! Trust us when we say this game looked amazing and covers what we would think the world would feel like. With a political system that allows your guild to switch factions while fighting for one of the three major houses in the stories (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon), GoT was shocking a lot of journalists with its style and great concepts. We are very excited to see this game when it comes out and more than anything battle it out over one of the greatest stories of our time.
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SOM'S LIST:
3. Brick-Force
To be honest, I have a marginal interest in Minecraft, but have as yet been too intimidated by the game's presumably hardcore depth to give it a try. Infernum Productions' new cartoony online FPS Brick-Force, sometimes called a "Minecraft shooter," might scratch some of the same itches that building worlds brick-by-brick can satisfy. Having the same general brick building approach as Minecraft at a more accessible level, and with an art style that is at once as cute as Mod Nation Racers and as cell-shaded as Borderlands, Brick-Force looks like it could be a fun and frantic free-to-play arena shooter. The building system is surprisingly deep, and the shooting looks fast and crazy. Plus, you can build maps on your phone and tablet!
2. Wakfu
I'm a sucker for stylized cartoon art in the fashion of Bastion, and eccentric turn-based RPGs like Disgaea, so Ankama Games / Square Enix's tactical MMORPG Wakfu seems like a perfect match. The game's 12 classes, 16 professions, and three pillars of combat, politics and ecology all make for a pretty rich package, considering that the starting continent of the game is free-to-play and you can have everything Wakfu has to offer for a $6/month subscription. In fact, I liked our GDC preview so much that I promptly came home and downloaded the client to check out the game systems myself. Now I'm trying not to purchase all of the original French anime TV series and ancillary game products, like the comics and TCG, and am having trouble convincing myself that they're not worth the money. I wonder if Bill will allow me to claim them as business expenses? (Bill: Don't ask me, ask the IRS.)
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1. The Secret World
I can't say much about it until the embargo lifts this Thursday, but I can tell you that Funcom's modern MMORPG The Secret World is my game of the show. When you check out what we were shown in our GDC preview, it might be yours, too.
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MIKE'S LIST:
3. Dark Legends
While mobile games don't really tend to be my thing, there is something simply awesome about the notion of taking your MMO experience with you on the go and then seamlessly continuing it on the PC when you get back home. Our world is so connected these days and we are completely sucked in by a variety of devices that bringing MMOs to the mobile space looks to me as simply a natural evolution for the genre. Frankly, I feel Spacetime Studios really got in on the ground floor of an MMO subgenre that is set to explode. With Dark Legends' edgier theme and improvements on its predecessors, I think I may finally make the leap and check out Spacetime Studios' latest effort when the game releases later this Spring.
2. The Secret World
I realize we're basically teasing you guys by naming this game in all three of our picks, even though we can't talk about we saw at GDC just yet, but just going by what is already known about the game it should be no surprise that The Secret World is on all of our lists. Funcom is doing some interesting and innovative things with this game and has picked a setting that really no other MMO is exploring. I simply can't wait to uncover all the mysteries of The Secret World when it launches in June.
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1. PlanetSide 2
I never had the chance to play the original PlanetSide, but having seen videos from the games heyday, I know I would have loved to take part in the epic battles that many a PS vet can fondly recall in vivid detail. I pretty much lost my entire year of 9th grade to Battlefield 1942 and I've been an avid fan of the Battlefield genre ever since. PlanetSide 2 basically takes the possibility of Battlefield to a whole new level with three faction territory control gameplay and simply amazing visuals. Outside of Guild Wars 2, I don't think I'm more excited for any other MMO coming out this year.
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