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E3 Science Fiction Game Preview
10 games you don't want to miss
By Brooks Peck
 very year members of the gaming industry converge at the Electronic Entertainment Expo--the trade show otherwise known as E3--to check out the latest and greatest games that will be hitting store shelves in the coming months. This year Science Fiction Weekly journeyed to E3 to check out the hot SF titles our readers can look forward to playing, and below we've previewed 10 of the most promising we saw. The list ranges from real-time strategy games to first-person shooters to flight simulators, and it's arranged in no particular order.
- Dune 2000
Virgin Interactive Entertainment
July 1998
- Dune 2 (1992) was considered by many to be the first true real-time strategy game. It was a tremendous hit, and now there's a sequel that adds all the recent advances in RTS games to the intricate and mysterious world of Frank Herbert's Dune. All the battles take place on the desert planet Arrakis, and players can command either House Atreides, House Harkonnen or House Ordos. The stealthy Fremen and ferocious Sarduakar Terror Troops also make appearances. The game will have full-motion video mission briefings and cut scenes that feature key characters from the Dune universe (quite reminiscent of the film, actually). Game play involves harvesting spice and building bases, troops, tanks, etc., and, of course, pitched battles. As in Dune 2, the deadly sandworms lurk underground, ready to surface and devour units and buildings.
- Aliens vs. Predator
Fox Interactive
Q4 1998
- A number of high-profile, first-person shooters such as Unreal and Sin debuted at E3 this year, but while these games are very advanced technically, their game play isn't much different from Quake or even Doom. Enter Aliens vs. Predator, a shooter with a difference. In this game players can play three separate races. The Colonial Marine is a basic guy with guns (including a machine gun that sounds exactly like the ones in the film Aliens). He's slow and has powerful weapons and a motion tracker that senses when monsters or other Marines are nearby. The Alien Xenomorph is whip-fast but has no ranged weapons. Its claw and tail attacks, though, do ferocious damage and make sushi of anything they hit. Alien players can move with ease on walls and ceilings, good for surprise attacks. Finally, there's the Predator, who wears cloaking armor that makes him practically invisible to the other life forms. Predators have infrared vision as well as melee and ranged weapons, making them tough indeed. The Aliens/Predator universes are such a natural and exciting setting for this kind of game, it's surprising one hasn't been created until now.
- Star Trek: The Secret of Vulcan Fury
Interplay
Spring 1999
- This adventure game should cause quite a stir when it finally comes out. The entire game is rendered in 3-D, featuring digitally recreated actors from classic Star Trek in new "episodes" that revolve around Vulcan and Romulan history. To maximize the game's classic Trek feel, voices will be provided by the original cast, while the story is being written by original series and Deep Space Nine writer D.C. Fontana. The camera angles and shots are being chosen by John Lucas, one of the original series' directors. Little is known about actual game play at this time, except that it will have "story-based puzzles" and players will be able to take on the role of all the major classic Trek characters.
- Enemy Infestation
Ripcord Games
December 1998
- From Australian developer Micro Forte comes a role-playing/adventure game that looks like it will have a lot of style. The story: a science base on a distant planet is being overrun by aliens. Nothing too original there, but what's interesting is that the characters dealing with this problem are a mixture of soldiers, scientists, etc., each with their own special abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The game uses an isometric view, as in Diablo, and the player controls a number of people simultaneously, giving the game real-time strategy elements. Each character can be given standing orders for what to do when aliens appear, such as fight or hide, so when a door pops open and the aliens hop in, it really looks like a little movie, with the soldiers charging into the fray and the scientist types running to crouch under tables. Everything from fire extinguishers to hair spray can be useful against the invaders, so players must experiment. The game has a very streamlined interface, so that complex action trains like dragging fallen comrades to a sick bay and putting them in healing tanks can be accomplished with just a few clicks.
- Colony Wars: Vengeance
Psygnosis
November 1998
- Here's another sequel that looks even better than the dynamite original. Vengeance, a space combat simulator set 100 years after the original Colony Wars, adds more weapons, all new ships, and upgraded AI and graphics engines. It also adds a completely new element: air to ground combat. The missions have multiple objectives, and the game uses a branching story line with six possible endings, but Psygnosis promises that players will experience more of the significant plot events each time they play. Frankly, this game looks stunningly real. That, combined with Colony Wars' great game play, should make it a fun title.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Electronic Arts
Fall 1998
- Sid Meier, a pioneer of empire-building computer games, is turning his attention to space. After an interstellar colony ship is almost destroyed by an asteroid, its crew breaks into seven factions, each with different goals and designs for their new planet. Players start with just a few vehicles, and they must explore the planet, build cities, research and design vehicles and weapons, and fight their enemies. Using terraforming technology, they can alter the terrain to make things easier for themselves and more difficult for others. Economic, social and military decisions all come into play, and Firaxis, the game's developer, promises that the artificial intelligence will be tough to beat.
- MechCommander
Microprose
June 1998
- The highly successful MechWarrior line of combat simulators has spawned a whole giant-walking-tank genre, so it's only to be expected that a real-time Mech strategy game would appear. In MechCommander, players take up to 12 BattleMechs into combat against enemy Mechs, tanks, and bases. The number of units is low compared to other RTS games because each one is an individual: Units can be fully customized with different chassis, weapons and sensors. Individual pilots have differing combat abilities that increase with experience. Facing also plays an important part, as the Mechs have different armor values front, side and rear. In another departure from most RTS games, players won't command ever-growing armies, but will have a finite amount of resources that carry over from mission to mission. The good news is that working hardware can be salvaged from defeated enemies.
- Oblivion
Microsoft
Launch date to be announced
- Oblivion is the code name for a 3-D space combat simulator in the early stages of development for Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone. In this online game, players will join teams that are based on a space station, and the teammates share in defensive and offensive duties. Players can build robots to mine asteroids, bringing in wealth with which to buy better ships, weapons, defenses, etc., and they can vote on what directions their team should take in research, investments and strategies. Two flight models will be available: regular point-and-fly, and an advanced thrust vector model which allows pilots to keep traveling in one direction while they turn and shoot.
- Asteroids
Activision
Fall 1998
- After the remake of Battlezone it had to happen: Asteroids in 3-D! This update of the arcade classic retains many of the goals and themes of the original, but of course it has a completely new look. Even so, it will still be an action-oriented game. Players pilot an asteroid-clearing ship, blasting rocks into dust to clear paths for their company's space traffic. But along the way enemies will be waiting, and of course the rocks are awfully dangerous. The game will feature three ship types and all sorts of weapons. Players can even go on the offensive, hunting down competitors' asteroid-clearers, and multiplayer death matches will be available.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Klingon Honor Guard
Microprose
Fall 1998
- Here's another case in which a richly detailed science fiction universe gets its own first-person shooter, allowing the designers to draw on good SF and make a (hopefully) better game. Now Star Trek, with its goody-goody Federation, might be the last place players would expect to see a frag-fest, but don't forget those wily Klingons. In this game, players take on the role of a young Klingon warrior battling to save the whole empire. They will fight across starships, space stations and cities using a variety of explosive weapons. He or she also fights hand-to-hand with knives and even the deadly Klingon Bat'leth. Single-player mode will feature a plot-driven campaign, and multiplayer death matches will be available over a LAN or the Internet.
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