Western RPGs

What was once a very PC-centric genre is now everywhere, thanks in large part to the constant efforts of longtime genre stalwarts like BioWare and Bethesda. In moving to consoles and handhelds these games have taken on some of the “local flavor,” so to speak, with some becoming simple while others take on more action game elements. Yet most of them can trace at least some of their lineage back to, say, the SSI Gold Box games.




1. Fallout 3
X360/PS3/PC
Bethesda/Bethesda
Oct 7, 2008
Bethesda’s thorough re-envisioning of the beloved cult series Fallout is positioned to be the breakout hit of the holiday. Here’s a case where the cachet of long-starved Fallout fans represents the bare minimum of the market. This game has impressed in every public showing with its wide variety of emergent, visceral gameplay—that combined with the compelling post-apocalyptic environment makes for a title that appeals across the breadth of the adult male demographic. It’s an exciting product that, with the marketing campaign it deserves, should top sales charts well in 2009 and push the multi-million unit mark.




2. Dragon Age: Origins
PC
EA/BioWare
TBA 2009
RPG stalwarts repulsed by BioWare’s action-oriented turns in Mass Effect have been waiting forever for Dragon Age: Origins. It’s been seen as a return to the developer’s “good old days” when Baldur’s Gate tickled players for hundreds of hours. Of course, this is entirely BioWare’s intention—this is, after all, an M-rated dark fantasy for adult gamers, and if you like you can play the whole game with the camera situated in classic Infinity Engine isometric. Of course there are many concessions to modernity as well, so it should be extremely competitive—it’ll do a million worldwide if it releases in all the European languages simultaneously.




3. Alpha Protocol
X360/PS3/PC
Sega/Obsidian
Early 2009
Obsidian doesn’t get to work on original IP all that often—the studio’s best-known works are sequels to KOTOR and Neverwinter Nights, giving it the distinct feel of a “BioWare light”. So it’s great to see the company take all kinds of risks now that it has an original property to work in, and as a result Alpha Protocol looks like nothing else on the market—it’s a modern-day spy RPG that lets you play any sort of espionage agent you would like. But since it’s like little else, it’s also hard to tell if the market actually wants this. It looks like it’s scheduled to release as gamers tire of Fallout 3, which is probably the ideal place for it to be.




4. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
NDS
Sega/BioWare
September
It’s strange that the most hotly anticipated Sonic game in a long time is a handheld game, but that’s what happens when you repeatedly fumble the console entries while putting BioWare in charge of the franchise’s DS RPG. The character roster is loaded and the rhythm-based combat is endearing in theory, and this title will sell to children in the same numbers all Sonic games do regardless of quality. But if BioWare’s handheld division can actually pull this off, it will also draw the curiosity of older Sega and BioWare fans alike, yielding perhaps around a half million in sales and a surprising new turn for the aging hedgehog.