Original Games Found at E3

SANTA MONICA--Behind the walls of sequels like Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, Halo 3, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Resident Evil 5, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, there were original games at E3. Thanks in large part to the Wii, Nintendo DS and the online options of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, more companies were introducing original properties to gamers. The following are some of the games that stood out from the crowd.

De Blob--THQ has jumped onto the Wii bandwagon with its excellent WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 game on Wii. But the game that really got my attention was just across the room from the wrestling masterpiece. Le Blob (don't let the strange name fool you, it's NOT French) is the type of mass market game that anyone can pick up and play. It's hard to categorize into a genre, but it's colorful lead character literally paints the town in primary colors (and secondary colors, once you mix them) to free the citizens from their gray days. The gameplay is truly unique as your alien blob rolls and hops from building to building painting. There are also battles with the Inkys, a police force assigned to stamp out all fun and colors from the city. The four-player games offer loads of options and gives this already solid game a ton of replay and makes it a must-have party game.

Echochrome--Sony showed this game during its E3 press conference and it was not in its booth or on the show floor. But the short demo for this black-and-white PSP game, which likely is coming out next year, really stood out. The game features levels that look quite simple. The background is white and the levels are in black. You control a stick figure through these areas by manipulating the 3D world. The game's unique in that the puzzles are all done by twirling the world, itself, making areas unreachable, reachable, by simply altering the angle you're viewing it from. This looks like an amazing puzzle game and it's one that I can't wait to play.

Little Big Planet--Sony may lag behind Microsoft when it comes to its PlayStation Network verses Xbox Live, but I've never seen a game anything like Little Big Planet, which ships exclusively for PS Network this fall. The game is all about playing levels that come in the initial game, creating your own levels with intuitive tools and then sharing these levels and playing other people's creations via the Internet. Everything in this game, from the cute playable characters to the worlds themselves, is completly customizable. The game looks amazing in 720p (and the final version will by in 1080p). I was able to build a level in about 20 minutes and I could have spent hours pasting stickers, bolting pieces together and lining up stairways. The good news is other people will spend hours doing this and this game will never grow old, as a result.

Everyday Shooter--Sony had a one-man show in its booth with a young man, Jonathon Mak, who created this downloadable game (out in September) in just a few months. This colorful game is simple to play but very addictive. In addition to featuring an endless array of colors in the foreground and the background, the game provides music as you play. Guitar riffs take off as you explode the different items on the screen creating new music every time you play. Since everything is randomly generated, the game's always different and the eight levels that come with this initial download are not at all limited. Despite the fact that we have high definition next gen consoles, it's nice to know good games can still be made in a garage (or living room) by creative minds.

Drawn to Life--Ubisoft has an excellent portable platform game with this title. Before the gameplay starts, players can design their own lead character using the stylus. Whatever you create for this protagonist then becomes the chracter you control as you explore the colorful worlds of this game. It's a nice touch to be able to step into the role of a platform game that's custom-designed. Sonic is great, but seeing your own guy on screen brings another dimension to gaming. This personal experience remains fun thanks to the many different obstacles and adventures that have been included in this very large adventure. Nintendo DS has helped developers really dream up new ideas and bring them to life without investing millions of dollars.