Ones to Watch: PC Releases for August 2008

By Joe Haygood | August 1, 2008

Well, the month of August is here, and while I would like to say that you are going to have a great month of PC gaming, I have to be honest and state that it probably won’t be that great as there are so few titles coming out this month.  I really had to struggle to put this list together.

It also does not help that we have some floaters that have not pegged down a date, like the new Telltale game, Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People.  We have the review code, but there is no firm date for its release.

The good news in all of this is that we are looking at a jam-packed fourth quarter of PC gaming, so lets get past this speed bump on the way to Holiday 08 PC gamingapalooza.

Space Siege is the new game from Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games.  You play as Seth Walker, who has to battle the alien race of the Keraks, while they try to destroy the last remnants of humanity from the galaxy.  Space Siege has been built on a spruced up version of the Dragon Siege engine, and adds new gameplay tweaks geared around the space faring nature of the game.  Loot is no longer dropped, but parts are dropped which you have to use to craft into new weapons and protection.  You can also upgrade yourself with cybernetic enhancements, which will make you stronger, faster and better adept at battling the Keraks, but it will syphon away your humanity in the process.  Space Siege is shaping up nicely as a must have game, but it will have to show that a game can be great while using three year old tech.  Look for Space Siege on August 12th.

Some would think that racing games suck on the PC, but surprisingly when done right, they can be a lot of fun, with a lot graphical detail thrown in for good measure.  Flatout: Ultimate Carnage is one of those racing games, that is not great, but always seems to be a lot of fun.  Never taking itself too seriously with its track design, while adding the ever popular body launching mechanic, Flatout: Ultimate Carnage offers a lot of fun at a decent price.  Not much has changed from the console version of the game, but the PC version does boost the graphics, and support the now free Games for Windows Live service, including the ever popular achievements.  About the only flaw is that to get the best out of this game, you will probably need a decent gaming rig, and a gamepad or racing wheel, as driving with a keyboard and mouse is not advised.  Look for it on August 29th.

STALKER: Clear Sky is a prequel to the original game that came out two years ago.  Clear Sky takes place one year before the events in STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl, and will show the mayhem that happened in the unstable Zone.  Clear Sky will refine the graphics engine as well as the dynamic enemy system, some of the goals that were done in the first STALKER, but were a bit buggy at times.  Clear Sky will sport day/night cycles and new environments.  You will assume the role of a mercenary that does not like Strelok, the protagonist from the original STALKER, and will fill out some of the backstory that was missed.  While the title is looking good so far, the first STALKER was a great game, but bugginess out of the box hurt the end sales.  One hopes that they have realized this problem and will make the game stable before its release.  Look for STALKER: Clear Sky on August 29th.

That it folks.  That is everything that we feel is worth playing on the PC this month.  Well unless you like playing an Alaska Crab Fisherman, then you might want to add Deadliest Catch to the list, but we hope good taste will grab you and you skip it.  Look back in September when we hope to see a bigger selection of titles coming out for the PC.