I was lucky enough to attend San Diego Comic-Con this year and got the chance to play a few upcoming titles. These are my impressions:
Dead Island - For those unfamiliar with the premise, you play a few different characters set on a tropical island when, what else, a zombie outbreak occurs. Doing their damnedest to set their zombie game apart from the pack, Teachland has created a vibrant, open world rich with places to explore. The main draw to the game is it's unique RPG elements in which you will quest to rescue survivors, receive XP, level up, and inevitably turn into your very own zombie killing machine. The game is fixed on a first-person perspective and melee combat is the focus. I was told firearms will be available, but I found none in the demo I played. This wasn't a concern being as how the melee combat was responsive, fun, and absolutely brutal. Have a machete? Swing away and see body parts fly independently and realistically. There is a fatigue meter you need to keep an eye on and weapons do eventually deteriorate, but neither presented problems enough to frustrate me. This was a quick demo, one running at about 4-5 minutes long, but if the full game can maintain the fun of first-person zombie slaying and addictiveness of constantly evolving and leveling up, Dead Island could be the next great zombie game. 4-player co-op never hurts, either. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - A prequel set before the original Deus Ex, you play Adam Jensen, a private security officer for Seriff Industries, the company responsible for the soon-to-be biomechanic revolution. Jensen and his company get attacked, leaving him disfigured and left for dead. Luckily, in Six Million Dollar Man style, he gets his broken parts replaced with biomods, essentially making him a complete badass. The game mainly plays from a first-person perspective, but switches to third-person when in cover. The best way to describe this game would be to call it the RPG player's Metal Gear Solid. Stealth is a main focus, and while it is possible to run and gun, it's not necessarily the right or most fun way to play. The developers did a good job of supplying multiple paths and ways to get through a level. Want to go in guns blazing? Want to stealthily take each thug out, one-by-one? Want to sneak around and conserve ammo? Maybe a combination of the three? Deus Ex presents gameplay-oriented choices not seen in many other games nowadays. My only complaint was touchy controls, but that could be solved with a quick change of sensitivity in the full game. Other than that, shooting was solid and biomods were fun to use. Cloaking, turret hacking, seeing through walls, and super strength were all present and many more augmentations were promised to be available from the game's start. XP is gained to be spent on these. Overall, the Human Revolution demo was a fun, refreshing return to the tactical first-person RPG genre and I cant wait to see how the full game plays out. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT
Dragon's Dogma - A brand new IP from Capcom boasting development talent such as Hideaki Itsuno and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Dragon's Dogma is a third-person action RPG in a medieval fantasy setting. You control a central character and issue commands to your party members. In the demo I played, I was tasked with defeating a group of goblins, then a giant griffin creature in an expansive, open field. The first thing you'll notice when playing this game is the graphics. The character models are impressive and the settings are large and often beautiful. It's immediately easy to tell this is a passion project for the dev team, as the animations are incredibly smooth and intuitive for a Japanese-developed title. Where the real fun is at, though, is the gameplay. Initially, you're presented with two skillsets for each class system that is chosen. In the demo, my character was fixed on archery and dual-wielding daggers. Damage is impactful and satisfying, with arrows sticking out of enemies where they were struck. The skills available to me were a cool arrow-rain attack where a reticule shows you the path of your arrow, unleashing a storm of them on a group of enemies, and another being a skill-shot, which must be charged to deal a crazy amount of damage on a single enemy. As for the dagger class, an impressive flurry of slashes, swipes, and kicks are directed at an enemy and lasts nearly as long as you can mash the action button. The rest of the party consists of who you'd expect, complete with a ragtag group of mages, scouts, knights, etc. They respond to orders well and not once did they put themselves in any stupid situations. In fact, they would frequently yell out to me, suggesting what moves I should make next. This was especially useful in the griffin boss fight when one of them would crouch down and suggest I run over to them to get a boost up to the creature. This plays out smoothly and impressively, as my character desperately grasps the creature and starts stabbing away with either light or heavy attacks until it loses energy and comes crashing to the ground, leaving it open to attacks from the rest of my team. This all played out very similarly to a boss encounter in Shadow of the Colossus. I was awestruck by this little demo and if the full game can maintain the greatness I experienced, I could see Dragon's Dogma being the sleeper hit of next year. Welcome back, Capcom. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT IMMEDIATELY
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - I still have yet to play FFXIII, so I went into this demo with a bit of optimism. Bad idea. I was tasked with defeating an enormous boss monster, but to do so I had to reach a lever at the end of the map that would inexplicably cut it's health in half. The demo may have been more enjoyable if they gave me more than two actions to perform. There's only so much enjoyment you can get out of a standard melee and magic attack, especially when you're forced to battle through dozens of random encounters before reaching the end. The voice acting was decent at best, but the lip syncing was absolutely atrocious. Not once did I feel any sort of connection with the two characters I was playing. If you liked XIII, you'll probably end up liking this game, too. And who knows, once they work the kinks out and I'm allowed to perform more than two different actions, I may end up enjoying it too. But as it stands, I wouldn't put XIII-2 anywhere near my list of most anticipated games. Oh, and there's finally a jump button. So there's that. Initial Recommendation: SKIP IT
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Nintendo had a massive showing at Comic-Con, renting out their own ballroom to demo their various first-party titles. With Skyward Sword, I was presented with three demos to choose from: a boss battle, a dungeon, and a flight mini-game. I chose the boss battle while a buddy of mine took on the dungeon. I was immediately impressed with what Motion+ brought to the equation. The controls were responsive and very nearly 1-1 to your very own motion. To swipe with your sword, the wiimote is used, and to use your shield, the nunchuck is shaken. The boss was what you'd expect with a Japanese developer: a skinny, effeminate, makeup-wearing she-man with anger issues. From what I could tell from the "dialogue," he's out to kidnap Princess Zelda (who else?) for his own nefarious reasons, blah blah blah. The real fun was in the battle itself. Timing and skill was required to shake the nunchuck at the right moment to parry attacks and and engage in your own impressive flurry of attacks. It was challenging, not frustrating, and very rewarding. After whooping he/she's ass I received my heart container and that was that. My buddy was playing at the same time I was, so I didn't get to see much of the dungeon portion of the demo, but he says he was impressed with the new mechanics like the flying beetle. The art style is clearly a blend between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, and the results are pretty stunning, even on a "dated" system such as the Wii. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT
Mass Effect 3 - AKA Mass Effect 2 with the ability to use an omni-blade attack. If you had told me that the demo I had played was just DLC for ME2, I would've believed you. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved ME2 and thought it was one of the best games of last year, hands down, but the demo of ME3 felt almost too familiar. Classes were the same, weapons were the same, powers were the same. The level up system is a bit refined and intensive, but not to the extent of the original ME's. I have no doubt that ME3 will be a great game complete with characters I'll care about and a solid storyline to enjoy, but from the small demo I played I can't help but feel like Bioware is taking the whole "if it aint broke, don't fix it" thing a bit too seriously. Initial Recommendation: RENT IT (unless you liked the others)
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - To all those Resident Evil fans who have feared the series has become a middling, action-packed shooting fest, this is your nightmare. The game is designed to be played with friends, and I was in a team with three others. Initially, you choose your character, their skills (which range anywhere from cloaking to creature-controlling), and your weapon. From there, you're tossed into some point of RE2's timeline, tasked with eliminating any evidence of Umbrella's involvement in the outbreak. The game is a third-person shooter, straight up. There were a few very cheap scares, but nothing that could be considered survival horror. In the demo, my team and I mowed down zombies, BOW's, and soldiers from the US military, culminating to a boss encounter with a Tyrant and the end of the demo. Grenades, melee attacks, and a ton of firepower are your tools of destruction, with various herbs and anti-virus items scattered around the map to be used to heal, obviously. If you are harmed too much, you'll start to bleed out and attract groups of zombies around you. It's also possible to become infected in this game and, yes, turn into a zombie for a short period of time and attack your friends. If you have a couple friends who are RE fans this game could supply some good fun, but it won't be winning any awards. Let's hope RE6 is a return to form. Initial Recommendation: SKIP IT
Resident Evil: Revelations - Capcom has heard your complaints, RE faithful, and they're doing their best to bring survival horror back to the series with Revelations on the 3DS. In the demo I played, I was in control of Jill Valentine. The controls and camera angles are very reminiscent of early Resi Evil games. Ammo is scarce, puzzles are aplenty, and enemies pop into view unexpectedly. I was most impressed with how the game looks, both in 3D and standard 2D. The 3D effect does a commendable job adding to the scare factor, with enemies jumping out at you and settings being fittingly eerie. If you miss your old Resident Evil games, be sure to give this one a look-see. Initial Recommendation: RENT IT
Resistance 3 - If you enjoyed the previous two games, you'll like R3. The graphics have taken a substantial leap forward and the art style is appropriately grim. Controls are still solid and the shooting mechanics are still satisfying. I didn't get to experience any new weapons sadly, but Insomniac ramped up the amount of XP gained in the demo to show off how the weapons upgrade this time around and it truly doesn't disappoint. If you ever thought the weapon upgrade system in many of the Ratchet & Clank games were addicting, you'll have a blast in R3. I admit I hadn't been too excited for this game based solely on the footage I had seen, but after playing it I believe it'll be a solid, fun shooter and a good addition to the series. Initial Recommendation: RENT IT
Starhawk - Remember that kinda crappy Xbox 360 game The Outfit where you could call in turrets, vehicles and the like? Imagine that on a much more massive scale, in space, and you've got Starhawk. In the demo I was tasked with taking out an enemy faction and using their massive satellite to relay a transmission. The game is a third-person shooter, and the mechanics are solid, if familiar. I had a assault rifle and shotgun to use, and both were satisfying. But that's not where Starhawk shines. About half-way through I'm given the ability to call in various structures to use in the battlefield in real-time. Have enemies about to drop in? Plant a set of turrets at their drop location. Taking heavy fire? Call in a wall to supply some cover while you regroup. In true Transformer fashion, a Warhawk can be called in, a massive mechanical robot that can traverse both land and air, to dispose of enemies and engage in some truly awesome dogfights. While I don't see the game winning any awards for outstanding writing or plot progression, Starhawk is looking to be a fun, fresh shooter that fans of Warhawk will absolutely eat up. Initial Recommendation: RENT IT (unless you were a fan of Warhawk)
Twisted Metal - Oh Twisted Metal, how I've missed you. The demo at Comic-Con was strictly multiplayer-centric, but it was an absolute f***ing blast. This time around, the focus isn't on the characters, but the vehicles. You have a wide range to choose from including favorites such as Axel, Sweet Tooth, and Grimm. New vehicles such as helicopters were also available. Gameplay was classic Twisted Metal fun. You drive around, collecting various weapons scattered around the map, and blowing the hell out of your opponents. Specials were still present and car-specific, such as Sweet Tooth's ability to morph into a crazy mech-like vehicle. Playing the game immediately brought me back to my childhood, spending countless sleepless nights playing Twisted Metal 2. I may have some bias, but TM is shaping up to be one of the most purely enjoyable games to release this year. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - This demo was strictly multi-player focused as well. If you played the recent beta, you didn't miss anything here. For those who didn't, the game is frantic, fast-paced and an absolute blast. Like Call of Duty, you're constantly gaining XP and collecting new items, skills, weapons, and mods. People will be sinking hundreds of hours into it, and will love every minute of it. Initial Recommendation: RESERVE IT
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Game of Show: Dragon's Dogma
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