While the third-person perspective has been around since the advent of gaming, it took Lara Croft and Tomb Raider to transform the voyeur-cam game into a legitimate genre. What's notable about new games like Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Giants:Citizen Kabuto, Messiah, and Oni is that the third-person perspective they use is, as far as developers are concerned, less about trying to fit into a genre than of finding the best way to present the game.

So why third person? Why run the risk of your game character's butt blocking the action? In the case of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the decision was dictated by the character's visual appeal. "Obviously the strongest appeal of playing Indy is seeing him," says Wayne Cline, production manager for that title. "People want to see the hat and the whip. It's much more believable than just telling them it's there in a first-person game." This sentiment is echoed by Bob Stevenson of the Giants: Citizen Kabuto team. "A third-person perspective fundamentally connects the player with the game character and environments all at one time," Stevenson says. "We have three main characters, so it's even more important to be able to see them on the screen and identify with them."

The removed perspective is also used to highlight gameplay elements. In the case of Oni, Konoko's hand-to-hand moves need to be seen to be used effectively; similarly, the bodies Bob the cherub possesses in Messiah need to be seen in order for their capabilities to be best appreciated.

The big hurdles in third-person games are maintaining believability and handling camera movement. Animation is crucial, as is placement of the character in his environment. "You don't want to have your guy skating around, unattached to the ground," says Cline. Camera movement is even trickier, with that aspect of the game taking up as much of the Messiah development team's time as any other game element - blocking a player's ability to see what's going on around him is like writing a one-way ticket to the uninstall utility.

While the third-person action genre may have been birthed by Lara Croft, it may grow to adulthood in the hands of Konoko, Bob, Kabuto, and Indy. What follows are what we're betting will be some of the hottest third-person titles this year.

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