Entertainment Expo Allows a Glimpse at the Video Games of the Future

Few things are as frustrating as playing the first level or two of a great game only to find out the rest won’t be ready until at least Christmas--and probably even later.

Sadly, that experience repeated itself over and over last weekend here at the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the annual video game convention that lets developers and publishers hype their hottest new titles.

Most of the 1,500 or so games so loudly showcased at the three-day show will either never make it to shelves or end up on the discount tables by this time next year. But there are still plenty of titles on both consoles and computers that serious game players will want to check out in the months ahead.

For starters, owners of Nintendo 64 should find GoldenEye 007 a nice break from the humdrum shooters flooding other platforms. The game’s glitz depends in part on the Rumble Pak features built into play. With Nintendo’s new vibrating Rumble Pak peripheral, which comes included with Star Fox 64, players can actually feel gun recoil and hits. But the guts of the game are as smooth and furious as any other shooter on any other platform. Particularly fun: Four-player split-screen mode that allows the kind of play previously available only over a network.

With the notable exception of Star Fox 64, most of the rest of the games displayed by Nintendo seemed to lack a certain something--like fun. Noodling around with games like Tetrisphere, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker’s Quest, it was tough not to wonder what Nintendo was thinking. One bright spot: video previews of Zelda 64, the role-playing adventure that will use Nintendo’s bulky disk drive when it’s released next year.

Sony and its third-party developers, meanwhile, have assembled a fairly meaty lineup of titles. None stand out as particularly groundbreaking or original but, as developers learn how better to exploit PlayStation’s resources, all look and play better than earlier generations. Sony’s Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, for instance, takes a great second-generation game and smooths out the edges to make it even better.

And Blasto adds some nice touches to standard platform action. With the voice of actor Phil Hartman, Blasto follows a self-important superhero through the drudgery of saving the universe.

Once interstellar warfare wears old, Namco’s Treasures of the Deep looks to offer some intelligent and less destructive underwater exploration. Think Aquanaut’s Holiday with a point.

Always hip Psygnosis disappointed no one with a lineup of gorgeous games from Colony Wars and G Police to Rascal and Shadow Masters--all different, all great-looking, all dripping with attitude. And in a growing trend, most of Psygnosis’ games are being developed on two tracks--one for consoles, one for PCs--so the days when choice of platform dictated choice of games may soon be ending.

Even hardware giants like Sega are getting into the game, committing that all of its games will release simultaneously on PC and Saturn. With a laggard like Saturn, it’s not hard to see why. But some of Sega’s upcoming games look pretty good. Manx TT Super Bike, Sonic R and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in particular, seem like winners.

Staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every other Thursday. To comment on a column or suggest games for review, send letters to The Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Or send e-mail to Aaron.Curtiss@latimes.com