EA Spectacularmathon Round-up: First Details on Spore Action-RPG, American McGee's Alice Sequel, Tons More

Posted 07/22/2010 at 12:12pm | by Nathan Grayson

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E3 who? EA recently threw its own summer videogame announcement shindig, with blackjack and hookers three brand new, previously unannounced PC games. So then, let's dive right into the deep end, which some might argue EA's gone off with Darkspore.

Remember Will Wright's intelligent design sim Spore? Yeah, well, forget everything you knew about it and replace it with Diablo. Yep, Darkspore's an action-RPG to its very DNA, with its producer going so far as to say it's all about “loot.” Thing is, your loot pinata enemies won't be exploding into swords and gold when you take a swing at them. Instead, they'll drop more limbs than a defective Potato Head doll, which you'll then glue to your own creature, probably resulting in a monstrosity so ugly that it'll even give The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's character creator a run for its money.

Speaking of Oblivion and its world where lizard people even manage to be better looking than humans, Morrowind and Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston trotted out his new game, an open-world RPG with an all-star dev team. Renowned fantasy artist Todd McFarlane, writer R.A. Salvatore, and – coming literally out of left field – baseball star Curt Schilling, who founded the development studio, are all heading up a title called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Apparently, it will bring “a new level of intense action combat to the RPG genre” in addition to presenting a large, detailed world. Sorry, Elder Scrolls V, we're seeing someone else now.        

Last but not least, if – instead of “Disney classic bunny bird rainbows!” – the first thing you think of when you hear “Wonderland” is “disturbingly high bodycount,” then you'll be happy to hear that American McGee's taking another crack at good ol' Alice. Titled Alice: Madness Returns, the game picks up ten years after the original game's conclusion, and begins with Alice still haunted by the death of her family and – as a result – completely insane. So basically, move over, Tim Burton. Here's how it's really done. 

All three games are set to launch in 2011, and – as you've seen – none of them are Mirror's Edge 2. Oh well. We'll keep on dreaming.