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« on: November 01, 2009, 06:42:13 AM »
So armed with a head full of ignorance, having known little about what was there, i wandered to London Bridge with my friends to see what the day had to offer and what games could inspire me.
Getting the first burning question out of the way, the Nintendo showing there was shitty. They ONLY showed New Super Mario Bros Wii, and downstairs in the (poorly lit) basement next to Beatles Rock Band was Mario & Luigi and Pandoras Box along with Metroid Prime Trilogy.
My next problem was all the PS3/Xbox games had 26+ inch TV's all in 720p or higher, in some cases 50 inch, and all the Wii games were on 20 inch TV's not outputting in 480p (which admittedly doesn't make too much difference, but if everything else is putting their best foot forward...)
Red Steel 2 - It's definitely less clunky than the last one, and WMP calibration is quick and simple. The controls seem to flow better and the sword action is very very accurate and responsive. I'm not so sure about the new visual style tho. It's definitely a better step forward than the last but it seemed like it still aiming "cel-shading into realism" rather than full blown "cel-shading for art style".
Need for Speed Shift - I tried this on PS3 and promptly began to hate it. It seems to have done the same "helping hand" idea that NSMBW uses, by having an optional "steering assist" and "driving assist" functions in the game. This essentially game puts the car in "loose rails" and puts driving lines and driving colours (indicating when to accelerate, brake and turn). All you have to do is drive with loose directional controls and it will nudge you into place. My friend liked it for that reason because "IT HAS A WIN BUTTON!". 1st place and he never took his finger off the accelerator. If only that worked in real life. When we turned it off the car went everywhere and a little flick to cause drift sends it flying into a wall. It does look great (damage physics and all) and feel "stiff", if thats what they were aiming for.
Beatles Rock Band - *continues waiting*
Heavy Rain - Wow. I'm intrigued by the open-ended-ness of it and how it can play out. Some of the "open" isn't very "open" in that some branch back to the same storyline. It does really feel like an interactive cutscene in places, but when the more actiony things get going it does feel better. and generally free to go anywhere. The voice acting was very good. The eyes though catch me everytime for being too eerie. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this one. I didn't get much playtime because my PS3 overheated and shut down.
Split Second - This game is Burnout meets Die Hard. It's. Just. Insane. First i blew up a bus, taking out another car. Then i blew up a helicopter. Then i caused a train crash into a building causing debris to fall onto the track. Then i caused an airplane to crash into the track. Then i caused part of the track to blow up (making the track layout change). And meanwhile i have to avoid all of the damage i've done. It's arcadey and and silly and a massive amount of fun. INSTA BUY.
Mario & Luigi - I didn't play it because RPG's aren't my thing really, buy my friend hated it because "THERE'S TOO MUCH TO DO!" and couldn't work out how to control both players.
DJ Hero - A missed opportunity. My friend said that with it being launch week it should have had some exposure there. The boat has sailed.
Blue Toad Murder Files - Why was there a massive queue for this game ALL DAY? Nintendo has quite literally opened Pandora's Box with this one.
God of War 3 - This looks very very good and quite violent. Definitely one for the brother to keep an eye on. I only saw the same level demo, which really spends half of it introducing you to the controls.
Wii showing in general - An awful amount of waggle games there that nobody wanted to play. No sign of Dead Space Extraction amongst other properly-done games.
3D Gaming - I was intrigued by this, and even went to the presentation, but it's hard to see through the back of people's fat heads. I'm only 5'4 making it worse... i literally couldn't see much except the 3D text in the corner. Wow. 3D text(!) About 3D gaming itself it has potential but is veering back towards the Virtual Boy. All participants and watchers need to have glasses, else you cant watch it.
Avatar (the movie game) is being made in 3D too, but you only can play it on a 3D TV of which none are on general release yet. Nvidia were hyping up how 400 games are already capable to use it and you "don't need to upgrade your computer". My PC is a few years old and i don't believe AGP cards are being made much... so yes i would have to upgrade my PC. Charming.
There's two types of 3D glasses. Passive ones, which you get in the cinema for Up and other films. And active ones which actually "sync" to 120hz TV's. They looked good and everything but they said that for a pack of active-style glasses its £100. For glasses that's ridiculously expensive. And the TV will be in the region of £400 - They didn't mention TV sizes either. Inevitably someone will be left out and largely thats the biggest issue with 3D gaming for me. Everyone has eyes and ears, but if you don't have glasses you can't watch. I understand why Nintendo wanted to get new/different people to play because 3D gaming will just exclude some people completely. You can share a Wii Remote around and still keep actively involved in the game.
The 3D gaming topic really did made me think that it's steering in the wrong direction but it did cap off playing some really fun and interesting games.
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