One’s the third installment in a classic series, the second’s the expansion to a heavyweight franchise, and the last one’s a newbie that looks sweet. One’s a roleplaying game, the second’s a turn-based strategy game with a dash of real-time, and the last one’s a pure RTS.

The titles of the three are Fallout 3, Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, and Ancient Wars: Sparta. Guess which is which.

Fallout 3 is the highly-anticipated follow-up to Fallout 2, easily one of the best RPGs in history. I blogged about it last February, and the hype-o-meter level for the game remains high. The hype is partly fueled by concerns whether Bethesda, the game’s current license-holders, will be able to match the masterpieces that Interplay crafted.

Fallout 3 ETA: TBA. Yes, it’s frustrating!

Next up, we have Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, the massive expansion to Creative Assembly’s latest Total War offering, Medieval II. Now, let me confess something here: I’ve never played Medieval II. I do, however, have spent countless hours massacring Gauls and Carthaginians in Rome: Total War (see my game review), and I’ve been meaning to grab a copy of Medieval II for quite some time now. I have no doubt that I will enjoy Medieval II, and probably its expansion, too, seeing its juicy features: four new campaigns and a slew of new factions.

Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms ETA: Fall 2007. It looks like this game will have to tide me over until Fallout 3 arrives.

Lastly, Ancient Wars: Sparta is a real-time strategy game sporting purty graphics and riding on the HA-OOOH! hype over the movie 300. But purty graphics and just that doesn’t make a great game, so World Forge’s new child will still need to prove itself come launch time.

Ancient Wars: Sparta ETA: Well, according to this press release, the game has shipped to North American stores. I’ve yet to see it here in the Philippines, though. Game reviews rate the game as a ‘generic’ RTS, but as they say, to see is to believe!

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