Ones to Watch: October 2008 PC Games

By Joe Haygood | October 3, 2008

Basically, all I can say is hold on to your hat, because October is the start of a bumpy ride this fall.  There are so many games coming out, not just on the PC, but on every platform this month.  The train wreck that is October 21st is something I do not want to even think about, because it just looks like I am going to lose my entire paycheck to gaming that day.

As you can see to the left we have a new customized case for your viewing.  Not sure who it belongs to, but that imposing Unreal Tournament gladiator is sure to protect the contents that reside inside this beast of a machine.  Watercooled with a clear radiator at the top, this gaming rig has it all, including me being jealous.  If you have any customized mods you want to see in this column, or a picture of your rig, send it in and I will be sure to use it for the monthly article.  With that, onto the release onslaught we go!

The gaming bonanza starts off with the long awaited third part of the Brothers in Arms series, Hell’s Highway.  Hell’s Highway, takes place in a new section of World War II, implementing the same tactical cover fire, move system that have made the series successful.  There is no running and gunning in this game if you want to live to see another day.  Slowly work your way forward, by using supressive fire and flanking your opponent.  The graphics are solid, if looking a bit dated at times, but overall, you will not find a better tactical shooter on the market, that will make you think before rushing in, guns blazing.  Look for Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway on October 7th.

While Electronic Arts has forsaken football, baseball and just about any other sport on the PC, soccer (or football for the rest of the world) still has a home on the PC, due to the huge sales that this title does for EA around the world.  This time around, the graphics have been spruced up, and the action looks to be tighter than ever.  Add in all the major leagues from around the world, and you have another great soccer franchise that looks to step forward in front of the competition.  About the only flaw is the worrisome talk that came about last month with a community rep from EA mentioning that the PC version had to be changed, because computers cannot handle the complex programming that goes into caculating the game.  Everything was clarified later, but it was not the kind of talk PC gamers want to hear about a franchise that sells like it was made out of gold.  Look for FIFA 09 on October 14th.

The first Saints Row was a breakout hit, singularly separating itself from the GTA clone calls, by adding a custom character creator, wild, over the top scenarios, and solid multiplayer.  About the only flaw with the first game is that it never came to the PC.  This time around, THQ and Volition have decided to show some love to the PC crowd, by releasing Saints Row 2 on the PC.  This time around, there are even more crazy missions, awesome multiplayer, character creation, and for the first time in an open sandbox like this, full co-op multiplayer available for the campaign.  The game does get a week delay from the console version, but if you can wait, and you have the PC that can meet the specs required to run it, this should be a solid pick up at launch.  One can only hope mod tools become available at some point, as that would just be frosting on the cake for this title.  Look for Saints Row 2 on October 14th.

Dead Space looks to redefine the survival horror genre on the PC with a tale of deep space mining, and necromorphs.  Actually having hands on time with the 360 version of the game made me realize how awesome this game will be once I get a mouse and keyboard in front of me.  Stunning visuals, a minimal interface, and solid story mechanics are all huge pluses from the house of Electronic Arts.  The biggest problem that I am having with this title is hoping that EA learns from the mistakes of Spore and does not put a horrifying DRM lock on this disc, because that would just take the winds out of owning it on the PC.  Look for Dead Space on October 20th.

So let me get this straight: we are getting a Far Cry sequel, but it does not star Jack from the first game, there are no Trigens, and the tropical island setting is but a thing of the past?  Okay, as soon as I read no Trigens, I was sold.  Far Cry 2 moves the franchise to Africa where you play as one of several mercenaries, working with one of multiple factions while following along the main story.  A huge amount of terrain has been mapped into this game along with a full day/night cycle, degrading weapons, and of course, the bad ass fire effects that allow you to use the environment as another weapon when trapped.  The graphics look top notch and the story looks to have a more natural flow this time.  Look for Far Cry 2 on shelves October 21st.

Knowing full well that Rockstar releases all their games on PC eventually, did I wait for Bully on the PC?  Of course not, because I am an idiot.  That said, Bully is coming, and most likely, I would assume this to be a port of the 360 version.  Not many details have been released about the title, but I would hope that given the recent news that GTA IV will support LIVE for Windows, maybe Bully will too, allowing gamers to get yet another 1000 points in this game on their gamercard.  If you already own it on the Wii, PS2 or 360, I will probably say that this game is a pass, unless the aforementioned acheivements are in there.  Or if they add some sort of extra content that was not in any other version.  Look for Bully on shelves starting October 20th.

Okay, now for the big daddy of this months cavalcade of games.  Fallout 3 comes in at the end of the month, showing off all the good stuff that Bethesda has been able to do with this license.  Packing in the vibe of the first two Fallout games, including the option to pan the  camera to an almost isometric view (YAY!), complete Games for Windows LIVE support so you can get your achievement whoring on, and a top notch story that will give the player a good 35-50 hours of play, plus the inevitable replays, how can you ask for more gaming in one box.  Also, don’t forget the awesome collectors edition that comes complete with a bobblehead and a lunch pail.  Look for Fallout 3 on shelves October 28th.

Red Alert 3 steps into the limelight at the end of the month with three different factions, all complete with campaigns for you to sink your teeth into.  And Electronic Arts spared no expense getting tons of actors and actresses to star in the full motion video sequences.  Resource gathering, tank rushing, and specialized units like fighting bears and mind controlled octopuses better find their way back into this title, which could be the big RTS hit of the fall season.  Also, it looks like Electronic Arts has heard some of the complaints from the Spore fiasco, and has made significant changes to the way that Red Alert 3 will use DRM.  It is still SecuROM, but now it just phones home once, and when you uninstall the game, it will add back an install.  Not perfect, but better than before.  Look for Red Alert 3 on shelves October 28th.

Final game this month in the PC roundup, and hopefully one of the better Spider Man titles to hit the PC in quite some time.  Spider Man: Web of Shadows features a new story that is independent of all the movies, and offers up a new combat engine that looks to show off the maneuverability of Spider Man when waging combat in the sky.  Now Spidey jumps from bad guy to bad guy, letting off strings of combos, all the while making sure that he does not end up as a splat on the ground.  A huge worry that I have for this title is that lately it seems like a lot of the superhero games that get released on the PC end up being lousy PS2 ports.  One can only hope that Activision realizes that PC players can play these games, and all they have to do is learn how to use scaling mechanisms to get their games to work best on all types of machines.  Look for Spider Man: Web of Shadows on October 28th.

And there you go, another month, another round up of great PC games.  And with so many coming out, and even more that I did not get to that might intrigue you on the PC, like Guitar Hero World Tour, the Europa Universalis III Complete pack, and many others.  And if you just want a game that will make you give up on life, there is always the High School Musical 3 game coming out at the end of October. Ugh!