I haven’t really been playing many new games lately because most of what’s coming out right now is pure crap. I haven’t been extremely interested in any new titles for several months, but there are a few I have tried recently. I thought I’d share my comments and invite your thoughts on the matter.

1. Beyond Good & Evil - This is a short, but fun romp through a futuristic alien takeover plot with an adventure seekin reporter. There are equal parts comedy and suspense and overall, the gameplay is quite good. It has some puzzle solving elements as well as side-quest options (which end up being kinda necessary). The controls are easy and natural and the look is pretty refined. I was quite pleased with this one and am still in the process of beating it.

2. Oblivion - I decided to try Oblivion (borrowed a copy from a friend) and went into it not expecting too much. I knew the graphics were supposed to be insane, but I generally like a little faster paced gameplay. As I assumed, it looked good, although I did have to lower some settings to get it to run nice and smooth on my oc’d 6800 GT. The controls weren’t too bad, but after 4 hours I still wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing (I realize that’s part of the ‘fun’). There were several points at which I knew this wasn’t the game for me though. The first time I ended up having to read 24 pages of world history I decided I’d had enough and uninstalled it. This game lifted my spirits by showing me what’s possible with next-gen graphics, but in the end I’m just not an RPG-er.

3. Quake 4 - Wow! Doom III engine and blindingly fast framerates. At first I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing, but after several checks I came to understand what is possible with ID’s current game engine. Granted, Quake 3 lacks some of the shader effects seen in Doom III, but it was quick and still looked quite good. I haven’t played this one much yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Please leave your comments and let me know waht other sweet games I should try out. I’m always looking for something new.