@ Mastermetal:
Most anticipated....
The Secret World (Funcom)
MMOs. Love them or hate them, they are Massively popular. The last decade could easily be called the decade of the MMO, as literally millions of players flooded the once-niche market. Alas, after more than 10 years of refining, MMOs have, for the most part, become fairly stale affairs. I play SWTOR and I find the story fresh and fun, but I can still level a few complaints at Bioware for sticking to the usual formulas when it comes to end game and to a certain extent, character development.
The Secret World is the first new MMO that actually looks to be trying to turn the genre on its ear. No more classes, no more levels, no more GEAR. None of the carrots MMOs usually dangle to keep people playing are present. So why will people play the game? This is a company that constantly talks about gameplay and fun-factor, exploration, and quests that aren't just "follow the blinking light on your map until you see a glowing X and then go visit Y."
Heralding back to the adventure games of old, players will need to explore the environment, find clues, solve mysteries, all in an effort to unlock what is actually going on. All this set on planet earth, today.
I am reminded of New Cap city in the show Caprica. A whole world that is a game, and no one knows the objective; finding out what the game is, is all part of playing.
Apparently the game spans a time period of TEN MILLION YEARS, has inter-dimensional shifting, time travel, and is all wrapped up in a secretive global domination package straight out of Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy (WEIRD ****).
I got my beta key TODAY, and will be playing this for the first time tonight. One guy that played this at PAXEast said "I kept getting reminded of Joss Whedon's stuff. My friends and I formed a party of misfits dressed in the latest fashions and then went out and fought demons. The investigation missions are bad ass. Oh, and challenging. This game is hard! Games are too easy these days so this has been refreshing. Although, I must say, I feel like I have to clear some cobwebs from my brain after a decade of fetch quests in games like WOW. "