Genre : Action
Developer : Bungie
Publisher : Microsoft
Release Date : November 9, 2004

After Microsoft showed off the stunning Halo 2 multiplayer at their pre-E3 press event, there was only one question on my mind. When would we get a chance to play it ourselves? Well, that chance came a few days later at the show itself in the form of a behind-closed-doors play test of one of the biggest titles of 2004. We here at WorthPlaying were able to sit down and play Halo 2 for the first time ever for close to

Genre: Action
Developer : Massive Entertainment
Publisher : Vivendi
Release Date : June 22, 2004

A new title from perennial heavyweight Sierra is always looked upon by me with some trepidation. Over they years they have given me not only some of the most memorable gaming experiences I have had, they have also been the perpetrators of some major disappointments. And when they release a new RTS title that really doesn’t bring anything new to the table, well, I think you can see where I am going…

When Blizzard released the original Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans, the gaming

Genre: Action
Developer : Day 1 Studios
Publisher : Microsoft
Release Date : January 30, 2005

When you play games day in day out everyday year after year it takes a really special game to make you say Wow. Mechassault 2: Lone Wolf is that game. Instead of improving one or two of the things that made the first Mechassault so great they decided to make all of them better. The focus of the game is vastly different from its predecessor, but they managed to keep everything that was so fun about the original intact. From the moment you

Genre: Action
Publisher: Encore
Developer: Surreal Software
Release Date: TBD

I can sum up the overall feel of Encore’s newest survival-horror release for the PC in one concise sentence: The Suffering is Resident Evil meets Oz. Yes, this is an oversimplification, but you will undoubtedly come to the same conclusion as soon as you begin play.

You play The Suffering as Torque, a man convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of his wife and children. You arrive by boat to Carnate Island, a maximum security lockdown 10 miles off the coast of Maryland, protesting your

Genre: Action
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Irrational Games
Release Date: November 23, 2004

Back in 1998 (yes THAT long ago) a certain developer called Dynamix came into the market with StarSiege Tribes, which literally took the online community by storm. Many to date still credit the original StarSiege: Tribes as the title that made the move from regular deathmatch online action into the more organized cooperative, or an early version of team-based gameplay. A few years later, 2001 to be exact, Dynamix put their not-so-finished touches on Tribes 2, which was received with mixed feelings, not due

Genre: Sports/Racing
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Microsoft
Release Date: TBA

For years now, we have been waiting for a true Gran Turismo killer to come out and knock GT 3 off of its pedestal, and take the racing sim crown. There have been many attempts at this, but so far none have been able to dethrone Sony's masterpiece which has really stood the test of time. Not only that, but the latest version in their GT series, GT 4, is due out later this year, promising online play as well as an updated list of features. Before E3, it looked

Genre: Action/Fighting
Publisher: SNK
Developer: SNK
Release Date: September 14, 2004

Let’s clear one small thing up here, all right? This isn’t really SNK’s first foray into the realm of 3D. Before this, they had the Samurai Shodown games on NeoGeo CD, 64 and Warrior’s Rage, neither of which are worth the considerable effort they take to find; and Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, an excellent game on extremely rare hardware, which is unfortunately better known for a terrifically botched PSOne port.

So this, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, is really SNK’s fourth foray into 3D, and the

Genre : Fighting
Publisher: SNK NeoGeo
Developer: SNK NeoGeo/Eolith
Release Date: TBA

And so we return, and begin again. SNK, apparently wishing to avoid another quick volley of rapid bankruptcies, is once again bringing two of the latest King of Fighters games to the PlayStation2 as well as the Xbox, within the same affordable package. In this particular case, it’s a weird set; it takes the series from one of its lowest points, to arguably its highest, within the same package.

King of Fighters 2002 is the second of the two “placeholder” games, which were kicked out

Genre : MMORPG
Publishers : Mythic Entertainment
Developer : Mythic Entertainment
Release Date : Q3 2004

When a company releases a free expansion, it’s usually a their way of saying, “Thanks for playing”, by giving you a fluff pack that adds some trivial new content. New Frontiers is much more than that – it proves Mythic takes Realm-vs-Realm combat, the much-touted “end game” of Dark Age of Camelot, seriously. The previous two expansion packs, Shrouded Isles and Trials of Atlantis, had no direct changes to the RvR system, causing many fans to clamor that Mythic wasn’t supporting what they

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Gas Powered Games
Release Date: TBA

Dungeon Siege was a great little hack-n-slash title except for one fatal flaw: it darn near played itself. By the time I finished the original game and its expansion, Legends of Aranna, I felt like I was just managing my party’s health while they automatically beat up anything they came across. Gas Powered Games has listened to that criticism and one of their stated design goals was to fix this little annoying problem.

One of the ways they are doing this is by breaking the classes down further by

Genre: Fighting
Publisher: SNK
Developer: Playmore
Release Date: September 15, 2004

Between SNK’s and Capcom’s Street Fighter offerings at this year’s E3, fans of the famous 2D fighting franchise had it made in the shade. Over in Capcom’s booth, they had an assortment of genuine Street Fighter 2 arcade cabinets, running every version of the game from the original to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo Edition. This was, of course, a clever attempt to promote the upcoming 15th Anniversary Edition of Street Fighter 2 for the PS2 and Xbox, which will include all the aforementioned Street