What's Next?

Although we are all enjoying the current crop of Xbox 360 games, such as Gears of War and Rainbow Six. Some of us have recently wondered... What's Next? The games of 2007 look to take us to new gaming levels. In my opinion we have only begun to bare witness to the innovative game play to come. With new games such as Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Crackdown and Mass Effect set to revolutionize their genres, we will soon exclaim "It's 2007, I'll do what I want." Here's a brief synopsis of some upcoming games. Be sure to vote on my "Bloody Poll," located underneath my Gamercard.

Assassin's Creed:

Assassin's Creed is the next-generation game developed by Ubisoft Montreal that redefines the action genre. Assassin's Creed merges technology, game design, theme, and emotions into a world where you instigate chaos and become a vulnerable, yet powerful, agent of change.

The setting is 1191 A.D. The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You, Altair, intend to stop the hostilities by suppressing both sides of the conflict.

You are an Assassin, a warrior shrouded in secrecy and feared for your ruthlessness. Your actions can throw your immediate environment into chaos, and your existence will shape events during this pivotal moment in history

• The Assassin: Master the skills, tactics, and weapons of history’s deadliest and most secretive clan of warriors. Plan your attacks, strike without mercy, and fight your way to escape.
• Realistic, responsive environments: Experience a living, breathing world in which all your actions have consequences. Crowds react to your moves and will either help or hinder you on your quests.
• Total freedom: Eliminate your targets wherever, whenever, and however. Stalk your prey through richly detailed, historically accurate, open-ended environments. Scale buildings, mount horses, blend in with crowds. Do whatever it takes to achieve your objectives.
• Epic times of the Crusades: Assassin’s Creed immerses you in the realistic and historical Holy Land of the twelfth century, featuring life-like graphics, ambience, and the subtle, yet detailed nuances of a living world.
• Intense action: Experience heavy action blended with fluid and precise animations. Use a wide range of medieval weapons, and face your enemies in realistic swordfight duels.
• Next-gen gameplay: The proprietary engine developed from the ground up for Xbox 360 allows organic game design featuring open gameplay, intuitive control scheme, realistic interaction with environment, and a fluid, yet sharp, combat mechanic.

BioShock:

BioShock is a revolution in the shooter genre that will forever change the expectations for the FPS. Going beyond "run and gun corridors," "monster-closet AIs" and static worlds, BioShock creates a living, unique and unpredictable FPS experience. BioShock is the Shooter 2.0.

• Take control of your world by hacking mechanical devices, commandeering security turrets and crafting unique items critical to your very survival.
• Upgrade your weapons with ionic gels, explosives and toxins to customize them to the enemy and environment.
• Genetically modify your body through dozens of Plasmid Stations scattered throughout the city, empowering you with fantastic and often grotesque abilities.
• Explore a living world powered by Ecological A.I., where the inhabitants have interesting and consequential relationships with one another that impact your gameplay experience.
• Experience truly next generation graphics that vividly illustrate the forlorn art deco city, highlighted by the most detailed and realistic water effects ever developed in a video game.
• Make meaningful choices and mature decisions, ultimately culminating in the grand question: do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture or save them?

Mass Effect:

Mass Effect is a sci-fi action RPG created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed developer of Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect delivers an immersive, story-driven experience coupled with awe-inspiring visuals, delivered exclusively to the Xbox 360™.

As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.

• Explore uncharted worlds: Uncover a mystery that defies imagination as you travel to the far corners of the universe. Visit unexplored planets, finding side quests that unfold parallel to the main story. Discover alien life, new resources, ruined civilizations, and powerful technologies.
• Fight in real-time: Mass Effect features a real-time, squad-based, tactical combat system. Enjoy intense and exciting third-person action as you face off against your enemies. Engage your foes with ranged weapons, biotic powers, science-based magic, and tech powers, all accompanied by astonishing visuals.
• Customize your character: Build a stunning, photo-realistic character, expanding your skills and statistics as you progress. Utilize a deep reward system as you travel further afield and discover more about the coming invasion. Change the appearance of your characters with the additions of newly discovered weapons, equipment, and armor to make each one truly unique.
• Experience the next generation: Mass Effect takes full advantage of Xbox 360 hardware, providing players with photo-realistic high definition graphics, amazingly realistic characters, branching dialogue with A.I. responses, and a massive universe to explore. As the future of gaming continues to expand online, look for premium downloads on Xbox Live.

Crackdown:

Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Enforce justice by any means necessary in Pacific City, a crime-ridden urban center primed to explode and ready for you to explore. Enter an interactive world where anything can be used as a weapon as you clean up the streets the only way you know how. Your way.

Developed by Scotland’s Real Time Worlds exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and the Xbox 360™ console, Crackdown is the brainchild of Dave Jones, the creative genius behind many innovative game titles such as the legendary Lemmings and the global blockbuster Grand Theft Auto.

• True next-gen visuals: Harnessing the amazing power of Xbox 360, Crackdown players enforce justice against the backdrop of a crime-ridden metropolis that is massive in scale and meticulous in detail. The game's unique presentation employs a highly stylized rendering technique that turns it into a living, breathing graphical novel.
• Double the mayhem: From the initial conception, Crackdown has been built to feature a dynamic and engaging co-op experience for double the action, carnage, and intensity.
• Free-form gameplay: For the first time ever, every inch of an urban playground has been designed for you to explore and exploit. Use any route necessary as you take down the crime syndicates, going under, around, or through the environment however you choose.
• Over-the-top action: Get the job done, no matter what it takes. Any strategy or tactic is acceptable, so long as you re-claim the streets. Unleash the awesome powers of your agent, developing his full genetic potential, becoming faster and stronger, learning bone-crushing moves, using outrageous weapons, and defying certain death at every turn.
• Environmental weaponry: Low on ammo? Never a problem. Thanks to an amazing amount of props and a deep physics system, you can use whatever you get your hands on as a weapon: Trash cans, vehicles, even people. Set the scene for mass destruction with a game that remembers your actions better than you do. Gather vehicles to assemble barricades, build epic piles of explosives, push it to the limit. Crackdown can take it.