All but one of the titles LucasArts had on show at E3 involved Star Wars. Some, like Battlefront, involved all the Star Wars characters ever to have appeared in movies. I got a chance to look at the lineup at E3.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Obsidian Entertainment is taking over the development from Bioware. Before fans of the series begin to cringe, it should be noted that Obsidian is the same company behind titles like Icewind Dale; games that used the Bioware framework and expanded on it. How do you live up to one of the greatest RPGs to be released on the Xbox and one of the better ones for the PC? Obsidian’s strategy is to take everything that was good in Knights of the Republic and do more of it. You won’t start off as a newbie anymore. You will start off as part of the Jedi. There will be more Sith enemies to combat. Obsidian will also be expanding the story and increasing the depth of the game. Both the PC and Xbox versions are slated for release in February 2005.

Star Wars Republic Commando

Republic Commando was one of the biggest noisemakers during the Microsoft press conference. The game places you in the shoes of a group of crack elite commandos who look like the later evil stormtroopers only these guys are from the first trilogy so they still work for the Republic. I got to see the game in action on both the PC and the Xbox. The squad control system looks more intuitive. The best feature has to be the pre-set actions. A ghost image of your squad mate’s future position will appear. All you have to do is command them to assume that position and they will proceed to do it. This eliminates a lot of the guesswork and the micromanaging ordering found in other tactical titles (for example, ordering your squad to stand in the exact position required). During the demo, a commando was ordered to kick over a box and snipe while the rest of the team proceeded on search and destroy. If no squad members are alive, you can complete the task yourself. However, should you die the game will not switch you to the surviving members. Team competitive modes like Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch and regular Deathmatch will be implemented.

Mercenaries

Mercenaries is a third person action game using the Havok physics engine. The engine enables you to destroy vehicles and level entire buildings. As a female British secret agent, the developers showed off how they ordered a jet to deposit a bunker buster inside a building. The shockwave leveled the entire surrounding area. This isn’t a ‘you versus the world’ game. There are lots of neutral units that can be persuaded by the right action. Start blowing up UN convoys and the UN will stop assisting you. Mercenaries is also different in that it lets you accumulate money. The money can be used in the missions to purchase vehicles (in our demo, it was delivered by helicopter). Mercenaries is shaping up to be a deep single player action game.

Star Wars Battlefront

Battlefront is getting top billing all over the E3 show. We got to see a multiplayer Playstation 2 game going on. The demo involved getting into AT-ATs and AT-STs as part of imperial forces. Others were battling us as Rebel forces. Battlefront is structured like the command and hold style popularized by the Battlefield 1942 series. Instant Action, a string of battlefields linked in a campaign and a variety of worlds, including the first game that will let you do combat with Ewoks will be in store for gamers on September 21st 2004.

Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed

My look at the new addition to Galaxies was limited to a few minutes but what I saw was a fast paced PC expansion to the existing Galaxies online game. In truth, it looked a lot like the other LucasArts spacefighter titles with intuitive controls and arcade-like combat. You aren’t shooting and hoping 20 hit points will be deducted from the enemy. The people behind the game also assured us you could use natural elements tactically; hiding in asteroid fields or within nebulae. Because Galaxies is also an online RPG, you could at any time exit your post (ex: as a gunner on the Millenium Falcon) and move around your ship on foot. You can even decorate the interior of your own ship. Years ago, I had a dream about a multiplayer game that would feature more than one player in a single ship with a maneuverable interior. My dream certainly was realized yesterday when I saw this.