Today Midway officially announced two new titles slated for the 360 this summer.  Blacksite: Area 51, the sequel to the original Area 51 game released on PC, Xbox and PS2, and Hour of Victory, a WWII 360 exclusive.

“Featuring a powerful single-player campaign, along with multiple online multiplayer modes, BlackSite: Area 51 delivers vicious combat action, next generation graphics and A.I., and a plethora of powerful weapons and vehicles.  Set in present day, players take the role of a decorated military veteran charged by the government to lead a squadron of “secret soldiers,â€? each with his/her own specialty skill set, into the Rachel, Nevada area to fight off the invasion of unidentified enemy races.

..“Gamers will be instantly immersed in the game’s seamless storyline, set in the desert and small towns surrounding Area 51 that feature highly detailed environments that transform themselves into awesome battlefields.  Without question, BlackSite: Area 51 will raise the bar in the next generation FPS genre with its stunning visuals, life-like squad interactions and its multitude of online multiplayer modes.â€? “

Well, the first Area 51 was pretty fun, but nothing spectacular.  A solid shooter, but no redefinition of the genre.  The story was terrible, though, so I’m not sold on their claims of having a seamless storyline.  I hope the squad plays more like Republic Commando than G.R.A.W., personally, because I hate it when my squad mates are too stupid to keep themselves from dying on their on.

Hour of Victory, scheduled to be available exclusively for Xbox 360 in Summer 2007, allows you to play a key role in the pivotal and cinematic battles from the European and North African theaters of World War II, using the skills and gameplay style you choose.  Built with Unreal Engine 3.0, Hour of Victory allows you to sneak into enemy territory as a covert operative, storm the gates as a British commando, or snipe from afar as an Army ranger – each character’s unique attributes will be needed for the fulfillment of the overall objective.  Only with all these skill working closely together will you be able to say that you helped define the Hour of Victory.

What can you say about another WWII FPS?  Not much…

- Chris (Grohdinger)

This entry was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 8:27 am and is filed under Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.