For my first ever blog post (after many aborted starts!) I’ve gone for a write up of this weekends Eurogamer Expo. So without further ado, and in no particular order here’s what I saw/played!
Fable III played and looked very much like Fable II, which is no bad thing. After Lionhead’s promise that the moral choices wouldn’t be so “BLACK AND WHITE” (see what I did there???) this time, I was interested to see what this would entail, as I find it a little annoying when developers claim to have “morality” in their games that ends up being really one-dimensional. Whilst the choices essentially still boiled down to press A to do option 1, press X to do option 2, the choice I was faced with....
SPOILER WARNING
- Save your childhood sweetheart, but kill some revolting peasants.
- Save the peasants, kill your sweetheart.
I did feel like this had more weight behind it than the Attack the Farm/Defend the Farm style choice in Fable II. Only got to use the hand-hold mechanic once, in a tutorial, so not much to say about that, except I trust the manic loveliness of Peter Molyneux, so I’m sure it will be as awesome as Fable II’s button-less dog! Once again voice acting is superb. Graphics engine seemed to be suffering from “ghostly trails” ala GTA3 on the Playstation 2, not that it’s the end of the world, but a little off-putting considering the slickness of the surrounding games.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 looked as though it would deliver on everything it promised! I didn’t have a go as everyone playing it looked like they were far too good for my stand in the corner and Hadouken! style of play, but it was bright, colourful, loud, silly and most of all a whole load of fun. A definite winner.
Fallout: New Vegas looked like more Fallout, which is no bad thing, in a new and therefore interesting setting! I didn’t play it as I know I’ll be getting it anyway, and I didn’t feel like the floor of a Game Expo is the place to get my teeth stuck into a new RPG.
Saw II was a trashy 3rd person shell built around a series of puzzles. Might as well just be a Professor-Layton-with-a-movie-license game to be honest, but then you couldn’t try and do HD gore-porn on a DS. Not worth it unless you're a massive Saw fan, and if that's the case I feel very sorry for you!
Killzone 3 was interesting to me, as I hadn’t yet experienced the marvels of 3D gaming (although I’m aware of the basic principals of 3D, thanks to Pixar). To be honest, I’m neither convinced of 3D, or of the Killzone series. The graphics didn’t seem sharp enough when put in 3D and I started to get a headache after a while. Killzone seems a fine enough game, but nothing in that series particularly appeals to me. Guns and Aliens……again! There was a Jetpack section, I'm beginning to think that Jetpacks are going to be this year's cover system/levelling up in multiplayer/aim down sights/general FPS trend, Halo:Reach has done it, and I'd bloody hope that Duke Nukem Forever has them too!
Rock Band 3’s pro mode was a big draw for me, as a guitarist I was interested to see how this would work. It’s faithful enough to actual guitar playing and would serve as a useful tool to those who’s forays with plastic instruments have left them feeling like they might actually want to learn an instrument. The track-listing seemed good fun as well, I got to play some At the Drive-In and some Pretty Girls Make Graves. My friend Jay (tweet @thejaymo), who also plays guitar, pointed out that it would have been better to see more of the approaching notes in pro mode, perhaps even the whole tablature of the song, as it is more complicated playing different chords and moving up and down an entire fret board then just hitting 5 coloured blocks that are in easy reach of your hand. Also to actual guitarists, having the approaching notes run horizontally in pro mode would make more sense, as this is how you read both music and tablature. Didn’t have a go on any of the other instruments, the drums don’t seem to have changed much, there’s just a few more of them, and the piano seemed far too daunting to this lowly guitarist.
I’d say Microsoft’s Kinect was a bit of a let down, but then I wasn’t that excited in the first place. The games seem fun enough (for a short while), but when you consider the price tag, it really doesn’t seem worth it. There was a little bit of lag as you’d expect and sometimes it didn’t seem to respond enough.
Playstation Move aka HDiimotes. I’m going to get a couple of these eventually. I miss the silly fun of the Wii (I sold mine) and this is exactly the same thing, to the point where I’m surprised there have been no lawsuits.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer was on show. I had a great time with this! I loved Assassin’s Creed II so was excited about the further adventures of Ezio, and this is going to be a great bonus that will keep me coming back. Just imagine Assassin’s Creed, with actual people to hunt and actual people hunting you. Seemed to have some kind of CoD style levelling up, killstreaks and perks thing going on. You have two specials that operate on a cooldown timer that you choose as your “loadout” before starting the match, which adds for a bit of variety in play styles if you keep finding yourself lying in a virtual pool of blood, in virtual renaissance Italy.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was an exciting prospect for me. My only experience of Castlevania so far is Dawn of Sorrow on the DS, which I was a massive fan of, but I’ve heard it’s pretty much agreed that the 3D versions have so far been utter pap. This was pretty much God of War meets Shadow of the Colossus, and there were 2D platforming sections for a bit of added nostalgic fun. The Art Direction looks absolutely amazing for this one. Something I can really see myself getting my FANGS into!
NINTENDO IN GENERAL – I WISH THE WII WAS IN HD. I’m not the kind of person who needs really impressive graphics in a game, but I would have liked everything to be much sharper. Zelda: Skyward Sword was being shown in a black booth, but the ridiculous queues kept me away. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it’s pretty much…..like a Zelda game! Go on Nintendo, prove me wrong! Goldeneye looked awful, a pointless bit of nostalgia if you ask me, and I’m not sure why it’s a Wii game, it was being played with Classic Controllers. Considering that you could pick up an N64, 4 controllers and Goldeneye for less than this (honestly, go check eBay!), why would you buy it? Metroid: Other M looked really cool, but seems like a real step back after the Metroid Prime Trilogy, and whilst I appreciate the nostalgic value of turning the Wiimote on it’s side, I’d like 360 degrees of movement in a 3D game! I also think that Retro Studios captured the tone of early Metroid, whilst making an innovation in its play style. Donkey Kong Country Returns was a Donkey Kong game….but on the Wii, I was a massive fan of Jungle Beat which felt interesting, new and was a great way to get the Bongos out again, but this is exactly the same as the SNES games with ACTUAL 3D GRAPHICS THIS TIME. Kirby’s Epic Yarn was great, the art direction in this game is absolutely amazing, and it looks like heaps of fun, especially in co-op mode. In DS land we had another Tetris game, another Professor Layton and the sequel to Hotel Dusk, all played exactly like you’d expect them to if you played any of their predecessors.
In the Indie Games Arcade I had a go on Scoregasm, a twin-stick shooter that played a lot like Geometry Wars Galaxies, small arenas gave an excellent sense of urgency and panic. Joshua Nuernberger’s Gemini Rue was an interesting looking point and click, sort of Beneath a Steel Sky minus the humour, plenty of moody Blade Runner neo-noirisms going on. Tiny and Big from Black Pants Studio was an awesome physics-based puzzler and platform game with a cool laser and grappling hook mechanic. It had a great visual style with big cartoony onomatopoeias popping up in conjuction with the sound effects, but the rather kooky storyline involving rescuing some underpants was pretty PANTS! Not something that would put me off recommending this game to anyone though, it was great fun!
So, that was my Eurogamer Expo 2010! Tried to get in as much as I could and had a great time wandering about, definitely a yearly fixture on my calendar. As for my lack of write-ups on the myriad of FPS on display, I’m sorry. These had the biggest queues generally speaking, and I’m not really one for queues. I didn’t play any of the Dance games because I honestly don’t care for them! Ditto Sports!
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