E3 2003: Activision's line-up

Two words: Doom III. Anyone who has seen this running will know it represents the true next-gen in gaming visuals. Whether it stands up in the gameplay deparent remains to be seen, but it’s in our top five ‘must see as soon as humanly possible’ list, and is arguably the star of Activision’s E3 2003 line-up, which is the usual eclectic mix of hardcore and mass market.

Scanning through the line up, it’s fair to say that the PC games hold the most appeal, with Doom III, Rome: Total War, The Movies, Call Of Duty, Elite Force II, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, and Trinity providing some almost guaranteed hits among them.

On all console formats (i.e. PS2, Xbox, Cube and GBA – except those with stars) there’s a fair smattering of quality, mixed in with the usual mass market guff that clogs up Activision’s release schedule. In no particular order of merit, we have Shrek 2*, Spider-Man 2*, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, Pitfall Harry, X-Men: Legends*, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, True Crime: Streets of L.A and MTX: Mototrax featuring Travis Pastrana.

On Xbox look out for Trinity, Solider Of Fortune II: Double Helix, and Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray (which is also on PS2).

Thankfully it looks like its obsession with releasing seven identical extreme sports titles a year seems to have abated for now, with no Matt Hoffman or Tony Hawks titles on show this year.