e’re in San Francisco Los Angeles this week for a deluge of pre-E3 coverage. First stop, EA. During the opening remarks at their event, EA Games’ VP of marketing focused on the company’s latest mantra that “it’s all about the games.” EA’s taken its share of lumps over the past few years, but it was clear just by looking at what the company had on display that the company is dead serious about exceeding gamer expectations.

While many of the games on the floor were familiar from other events—including the Wii version of Rock Band, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield Heroes and Mass Effect PC—there were plenty of others that we hadn’t played with recently, and a couple of surprises, too.

BattleForge
EA Phenomic’s BattleForge is a new RTS from the producers of Settlers, which adds something a little different to the mix: co-op play. Rather than just pit players against one another, the team decided to create an experience for up to 12 players working together.
Co-op play manifests itself through terrain-based challenges, like providing cover support for a teammate who is caught in a bottleneck below.

The game centers around fast-paced battles and preparation, with little waiting time for unit placement and no battle queues. If you want to put a particular unit on the map, click its card and, provided you meet any specific requirements it might have, it’s done. The cards that represent the units will seem familiar to anyone who’s played a collectible card game. Each virtual card has a picture of the unit or effect, the cost to play the card, tech costs and hit points, and a few other stats. Units range from small melee squads of grunts to the towering Juggernaut, a hulking beast with a swordlike horn on its head. Units have special attacks and abilities, too. For instance, the Juggernaut can smash through enemy fortifications, clearing the way for his comrades and other reinforcements.

The game renders an impressive amount of carnage, including tons of well-animated creatures as well as their attacks. Large attacks, such as an Inferno spell that blasts targets with 10 meteors, create shockwaves that rock the screen and blow nearby vegetation and other small objects around.

While the RTS elements are central, we couldn’t help but notice a few elements that MMORPG players might welcome, too, including large raid-type encounters with attack and heal cycles. We didn’t see any of the 12-player action, and we’re curious to see how well such massive battles play out.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
MMORPGS are a tough sell in these venues, requiring a time investment and level of concentration that’s hard to maintain amid noisy crowds. That said, we liked what we played of Warhammer Online, and we’re looking forward to digging a little deeper.
We played as a female scout during the demo, which allowed us to target faraway enemies with our longbow and finish the job with our melee skills once they got close enough. The quest we completed had us walk to an area—marked on our minimap with a helpful red border—and kill a number of witches. When we arrived, we found the witches embroiled in combat with a handful of NPC allies. After the witches were defeated, some allies stuck around temporarily and helped us fight the next batch.
One particularly interesting thing about Warhammer Online is a feature called the Tome of Knowledge. Players can open this in-game resource and read about creatures they’ve encountered, lands they’ve traveled and more. Some enemies even have particular challenges associated with them. Encounter an imp for the first time, and a check will appear next to that challenge. Slay 25, and the next challenge will be completed. They’re kind of like mini quests that are always available.

If the idea of slaying 25 of anything controlled by an AI bores you to death, take solace in the fact that PVP is a completely viable way to level your way from the beginning to the maximum rank of 40.

Left4Dead
All you really need to know about Left4Dead are the words “zombie apocalypse.” For some, that’s all the information needed to ensure a sale. If you need a little more persuasion, fine.
 
Left4Dead is a co-op shooter centered around four human survivors of this zombie apocalypse, now in its second week. A helicopter crew told the quartet that a safe zone is across the town (a fictionalized east-coast community loosely based on Philadelphia), and the only things standing in the way are about a million zombies. Fast ones, too.
Cooperation is at the center of the game in virtually every way. Players need to stick together, lest they get overpowered or surprised by swarms. If a teammate is in danger, fellow players can come to the rescue with medical attention or gunfire. If you think you can stomp off alone, prepare to be humbled, and humbled quickly. Enemies are plentiful and speedy, and even worse, are spawned in random places. The game uses an AI director system, which generates enemies based on pacing. Rather than have it all action all the time, Left4Dead ratchets up the dread by interspersing moments of calm with terror.

Unlike the Half-Life games, each of the four playable human characters has a strong personality and—gasp—a voice. Francis is a tattooed biker type, a former outlaw whose skills with a gun are paying off in a big way now. Old codger Bill is like a father figure to the group, with newly orphaned Joey acting like the little sister. Our favorite has to be Louis, a manager at an electronics store. An avid gamer, he quickly realizes that his video-game experience did little to prepare him for the realities of this horrible new world. Damn.

While EA didn’t bombard the audience with a ton of reveals, the announcements made at the event were solid—and better still, playable. Once again, it’s all about the games. Let’s hope the company keeps that theme in focus.