The entertainment side of the expo may not have been as hot as the electronic side, but it was no less eye-catching. The almost-ubiquitous PlayStation 2 hasn’t had many good first-person shooters, but that’s finally going to change this fall with the release of some new titles. Both Snowblind from Eidos and Killzone from SCEA take place in a near-future dystopia, but they couldn’t look more different. Snowblind, which gives you cool gadgets and weapons, such as force shields and robotic insect swarms, has a neon-drenched look reminiscent of “Blade Runner,” while Killzone’s harsh, burned-out battlefields bear more than a passing resemblance to the photos of Robert Capa. But the most impressive PS2 title on display was Sony’s God of War, in which a Spartan warrior slays Cyclopes, Medusas and other monsters from Greek mythology, leading to a final confrontation with Ares, the god of war. The game looks gorgeous, and the controls are so well thought out that even beginners will find it a joy to play.
Many still see Nintendo’s Gamecube as a kids’ console, with nothing to offer grown-up gamers. One look at Capcom’s darkly beautiful zombie epic, Resident Evil 4, will disabuse anyone of that notion. But the Disney-like genius of Nintendo is most manifest in Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, in which you control the game using a bongo with a built-in microphone. Tap the right drum to move right, the left to go left, clap to stun your foes, then whale on both drums to pummel them into submission. If you don’t fall in love with this game instantly, your heart must be three sizes too small.
For the Xbox, Microsoft’s Halo is a no-brainer, as the multiplatinum-selling shooter returns with long-awaited online support. But the surprise for Xbox was Advent Rising from Majesco, a super-stylish “Star Wars”-meets-“The Matrix” action adventure, which is being written by sci-fi author Orson Scott Card, best known for the “Ender’s Game” series of novels. When writers of his caliber want to work on videogames, it’s more proof that electronic entertainment is no passing fad.
