Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered

For me Summer has frankly been one huge disappointment so far. Months of cold wet weather followed by a respite that had me hoping…a week of thirty degree heat, I was all set for some fun.

Then the rain came back and I realised it’s almost August, so instead of remaining disappointed at the total lack of summer I’ve chosen to check out the inevitable stream of games coming this Autumn and Winter to cheer me up. It’s quite a long list this year which is excellent, so here’s my real favourites.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil - August.
While I’ve not seen a whole lot on this one, I’m simply interested in it as a Hellboy tie-in, though I hear it isn’t related to either film.

Lego Batman: The Videogame - September.
While not the Dark Knight game that’s apparently in development (and could have done with being developed in time for the movie, however never mind) this one will be joining my collection of lego videogames (Star Wars and Indiana Jones so far…)

Silent Hill: Homecoming - September.
Just what my Halloween will be needing, along with another good bout with BioShock. The Silent Hill series never fails to leave me with the shakes.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - September.
We’ve been eagerly awaiting this one for a long time, finally a Star Wars game done well (That is, since Knights of the Old Republic) which will actually make the Force almost as important as the lightsaber wielding.

Dead Space - October.
Joining BioShock and Silent Hill we have a non-franchised game apparently inspired by a cross between Doom and Event Horizon as you play a nameless, faceless survivor who wakes aboard a seemingly abandoned ship in the depths of space.

Ghostbusters - Autumn.
Originally intended as the official second sequal to the popular nineties franchise, I’ve heard rumours now that we may actually be getting a Ghostbusters 3 movie. Until that materialises though we finally get to don proton packs of our own in a game written by and starring Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, along with Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe - Autumn.
The chance to play as Batman taking on Sub Zero? Who could pass it up?

Prince of Persia - Autumn.
My favourite series of games finally makes a long overdue appearance on the next generation consoles. I’ve played Persia since the days of my Pentium 286 and always been a fan of the revolutionary control systems.

Call of Duty 5: World at War - November.
Call of Duty 4 got me through the poorly timed two week Christmas recovery from an operation last year and Call of Duty 5 will see a return to the World War 2 battlefield that I so loved from the first two in the series. This one as pretty much a given.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Not soon enough.
Needless to say, my most anticipated game of the year. I truly cannot wait to dig into my new Deathknight character as he cuts a swathe through Northrend. The beta information that’s been flooding out has been mouthwatering.

So what could be enough to drag me away from my usual “What do I feel like tonight?” tour of World of Warcraft, EverQuest 2 and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2? (My current new obsession I should add, though to be honest it’s nowhere near as enjoyable as Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War.)

Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack. Four new multiplayer maps!

There’s ‘Creek’, a departure from other CoD4 maps with wide open fields and numerous farmhouses in disrepair scattered around. This is the map I’ve had a chance to test and it’s certainly a very different affair to that which I’m used to, it’s open environment has made it fairly easy to get picked off unexpectedly.

Then we have ‘Broadcast’, a multiplayer modified version of the slaughter fest that was the single player map ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’, set as you may have guessed in an Arab TV station.

‘Kill House’ sounds like an exciting change, a small and tight recreation of a training kill house as the name implies, with lots of chipboard walls and mocked up buildings.

Finally the one that really excites me is the import of Call of Duty’s Carentan level. However for CoD4 it’s been modernised with a conversion to a Chinatown theme and apparently it’s set at night…which is also a fun setting.