E3 Top 10

As seen through the eyes of an action, RPG, and sports game-centric Xbox 360 owner.



10. Wet (PS3/Xbox360)
A gun ballet from Bethesda (Oblivion, etc.) starring Eliza Dushku. There is no part of that I don't love.

9. Halo: ODST (Xbox360)
It looks and feels like Halo, both in terms of gameplay and storytelling, and the idea of playing as someone who is a bit less of a super-soldier has its own kind of appeal.

8. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Multiplatform)
I loved the original, a hack-and-slash cooperative RPG featuring almost all of the big Marvel heroes and villains; and this looks dramatically improved in every way, but most dramatically in terms of visuals.

7. Alan Wake (Xbox360)
Presented as episodes of a TV show: A novelist comes to a small town, his wife disappears, and the events of his supernatural horror book start coming true.

6. Check and update Facebook and Twitter from your Xbox
I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I'm reading and posting to every social networking site from my Xbox. The new Xbox Live upgrade also includes streaming HD movies and TV shows with no wait and no downloading, plus LastFM integration.

5. Brutal Legend (Multiplatform)
Jack Black and Ozzy Osborne star in this heavy-metal-album-cover-come-to-life action RPG/comedy. Use a guitar to literally melt faces. Looks like a tongue-in-cheek version of Fable, and anything from Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) deserves a look.



4. Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
World of Warcraft-style MMO from the creators of Knights of the Old Republic. Sure, all we saw was a (amazing-looking) prerendered movie, but the game itself was apparently shown behind closed doors.

3. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox360, PC)
The first Mass Effect was probably the most immersive, epic RPG I've ever played, and if I could only pick one Xbox game to play in the next year, this one would be it. Plans are for a trilogy in this space opera universe.

2. Heavy Rain (PS3)
Easily the coolest looking game I saw on any system at E3. The way in which the story is told is extremely clever.



1. Natal (Xbox360)
The Xbox's new image, motion, and voice recognition software. I haven't decided if this is cool, frightening, or both. But it's the first time I've thought about interactive games in the sense of futuristic, Blade Runner-style interactivity and moral dilemmas.

Just missing the cut:

Borderlands (Multiplatform)
A post-apocalyptic role-playing shooter with a really cool art style.

Final Fantasy XIII (Multiplatform)
As pretty as the presentation looks, everything else about the series just looks so antiquated when compared to something like Mass Effect.



Split/Second (Multiplatform)
You're a contestant on a racing reality show. Absolutely gorgeous, and you can trigger explosions that make the track and structures collapse as you race around them.

Fight Night Round 4 (Multiplatform)
Only misses the cut here because I had seen it before. The physics looks truly groundbreaking.

Dragon Age Origins (Multiplatform)
Sure, it looks great and it's from Bioware (The Old Republic, Mass Effect), but aside from that I just can't tell how it's better than the 17,000 other fantasy hack and slashers released every year.

Splinter Cell Conviction (Xbox360, PC)
Looks like a massive upgrade for the series, with some terrific storytelling incorporated into the game in very clever ways.