Looking back at the last year, I thought I'd collect a list of the best games I played (or reviewed) in 2013, in no particular order.
Dishonored
Yeah, the review was posted just after the new year, but I was playing it before the review posted (obviously). And yes, the game came out the year before, but I really played the game in 2013, since that's when I finally purchased it. Even so, the game is a fantastic single player experience if you enjoy stealth games. The whole game is just done right with regards to stealth, travel and playing it your way. The sheer amount of freedom and the options at your disposal make the game worthy of replaying. It may be short, but it is sweet.
Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds
Fun, beat-em-up gameplay, awesomely 16-bit sprites and fluid animation make this a fun game to watch and play. There's challenge, skill and stat upgrades, unlockable characters and multiplayer. What's not to like? It's a shame more people don't know about this title, since it is one of the best games I've played in 2013.
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness
I had some reservations about playing this game. The original Disgaea is my favorite game, so I was unsure if the sequel would live up to the expectations I would have. While it did not replace the original as my favorite game, Disgaea D2 is a wonderful strategy RPG that had many improvements to the series. I'm not as hot on the plot, but the gameplay is top notch. Definitely a worthy successor to the series and a great game that I recommend to RPG fans.
Project X Zone (3DS)
True, there is no formal review of this great RPG on my site, but that's only because I had other ones to right when I was playing it. I will hopefully still have a review in the future, as the game is really fun. I love the combat, since it rewards you for timing, and they find a way to cram in all the character's signature moves into the combos. While I don't agree with every choice for who is included in the game and who isn't, the insane amount of characters, enemies and locations from each franchise is amazing. The story isn't great, as it is a flimsy excuse to gather all the characters, but I really enjoyed the game. Try the demo, and if you like the combat, check the full game out!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (3DS)
Finally, the Phoenix has come back! To 3...D...S! I love the PW series, but didn't enjoy Apollo Justice or Ace Attorney Investigations as much. I was excited to see the return of my favorite defense lawyer (sorry Perry Mason) to the courtroom, and it was worth the wait. The story is engaging, the characters memorable, and it still has the best 3D effects in any game I've played. No objections to this game!
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U/ 3DS)
Surprised? Probably not, if you ever listen to the XGR weekly podcasts. While still only an improved and expanded version of the Wii, it is very worthy of pouring many, many hours into (almost 300 and counting). It's a bit strange to do, but the cross-save feature works, and the cross play is great too. I wish the 3DS could connect to the Wii U game and both could play online, but alas, no dice. It's a fun multiplayer experience that has my friend come over every Tuesday so we can put some more time into it. Hopefully Monster Hunter 4 will come to the states, so we can keep it going!
So there you have it. Kind of surprising to me that I had three games for the 3DS, when I'm not that happy with the system in general (maybe if I had an XL...). There are a few that just didn't quite make the cut, so I'll list them below, in no particular order.
Runners-up:
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep (Borderlands 2 DLC)
Foul Play
Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2
Saints Row IV (rental review)
Diablo III
Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Monday, September 23, 2013
PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 4
The final part, #4, will focus on the indie titles that I saw and played at the Indie Mega Booth (or something along those lines).
Dragon Fantasy: Book 2
I enjoyed Book 1 of Dragon Fantasy, so it stands to reason that I would be looking forward to Book 2. The style is more like Chrono Trigger (the first game was like Dragon Warrior) and the enemies were on the field as you fought (no random encounters). I mostly watched a bit and talked the lead creator about the game. Adam Rippon was pretty cool throughout my encounter with him. A real down to earth guy, he was also pretty candid about the game and other things. He also seemed interested in bringing a version of Dragon Fantasy to other systems, which would be cool to see.
Since the show was about a week and a half before the game came out, I was able to get a review copy, so a review of Dragon Fantasy: Book 2 will be here soon if you are interested in hearing more about the game.
Foul Play
I had not heard of this game until I wandered across the booth at PAX, and it looked like a side scrolling beat-em-up in the vein of Castle Crashers. Since I like those kinds of games, I figured I would give the game a spin.
I'm glad I did. The game is set up as a character performing a play about his life as a demon hunter. High hitting combos and evading enemy blows would win them over and get you more points. The presentation was really nice and I liked the concept. The game also played pretty well, and was definitely build for co-op since the main character has a side kick helping him perform the play. The enemies were also actors, and wouldn't die so much as lay down and crawl away when the lights were off of them.
My partner (another random dude) and I performed well enough that after the boss of the stage, we got an "encore" where enemies from the stage would rush us and we could fight them off again for more points. It was really fun and I look forward to trying the full version. As it stands, I did receive a review copy so in the near future I can tell you all how the full game panned out.
Galack-Z
The game has been described as taking the best of 80's anime and cramming it into a space flight/ shooter game like the original Asteroids. After seeing it in action, that is a very good way to describe it. The main character was named A-Tak (har har) and his look and spacecraft did remind me (and just about everyone else) of Macross/ Robotech.
The game isn't a standard shoot-em-up (shmup), either. You can slyly go around unsuspecting foes and catch them off guard. This is important because the bigger enemies can kill you quickly. The ship controls in a floaty manner reminiscent of Asteroids (as mentioned before), so you have to be careful not to run into your surroundings. Probably the best part are the missiles. You can target several enemies in your cone, and fire a barrage of missiles (complete with missile trails) to destroy them. Yup, Macross.
The game is slated to come out next year, but looked surprisingly far along. The developer talked with me a bit about the game as said they started with making the core concepts solid and plan to build all of the other stuff on top of that. Given what I saw of the game, they have a solid core intact, so we will see what all gets piled on the top. The game looks fun, but hard, and I look forward to trying it next year!
I enjoyed Book 1 of Dragon Fantasy, so it stands to reason that I would be looking forward to Book 2. The style is more like Chrono Trigger (the first game was like Dragon Warrior) and the enemies were on the field as you fought (no random encounters). I mostly watched a bit and talked the lead creator about the game. Adam Rippon was pretty cool throughout my encounter with him. A real down to earth guy, he was also pretty candid about the game and other things. He also seemed interested in bringing a version of Dragon Fantasy to other systems, which would be cool to see.
Since the show was about a week and a half before the game came out, I was able to get a review copy, so a review of Dragon Fantasy: Book 2 will be here soon if you are interested in hearing more about the game.
Foul Play
I had not heard of this game until I wandered across the booth at PAX, and it looked like a side scrolling beat-em-up in the vein of Castle Crashers. Since I like those kinds of games, I figured I would give the game a spin.
I'm glad I did. The game is set up as a character performing a play about his life as a demon hunter. High hitting combos and evading enemy blows would win them over and get you more points. The presentation was really nice and I liked the concept. The game also played pretty well, and was definitely build for co-op since the main character has a side kick helping him perform the play. The enemies were also actors, and wouldn't die so much as lay down and crawl away when the lights were off of them.
My partner (another random dude) and I performed well enough that after the boss of the stage, we got an "encore" where enemies from the stage would rush us and we could fight them off again for more points. It was really fun and I look forward to trying the full version. As it stands, I did receive a review copy so in the near future I can tell you all how the full game panned out.
Galack-Z
The game has been described as taking the best of 80's anime and cramming it into a space flight/ shooter game like the original Asteroids. After seeing it in action, that is a very good way to describe it. The main character was named A-Tak (har har) and his look and spacecraft did remind me (and just about everyone else) of Macross/ Robotech.
The game isn't a standard shoot-em-up (shmup), either. You can slyly go around unsuspecting foes and catch them off guard. This is important because the bigger enemies can kill you quickly. The ship controls in a floaty manner reminiscent of Asteroids (as mentioned before), so you have to be careful not to run into your surroundings. Probably the best part are the missiles. You can target several enemies in your cone, and fire a barrage of missiles (complete with missile trails) to destroy them. Yup, Macross.
The game is slated to come out next year, but looked surprisingly far along. The developer talked with me a bit about the game as said they started with making the core concepts solid and plan to build all of the other stuff on top of that. Given what I saw of the game, they have a solid core intact, so we will see what all gets piled on the top. The game looks fun, but hard, and I look forward to trying it next year!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
PAX Impressions: "Might Monday": Part 3
Bayonetta 2
I enjoyed the first Bayonetta (not on hard difficulty, though), so I was anxious to see how the sequel is shaping up on the Wii U. I really don't like her with short hair, but the game was really fun. I was definitely very rusty at getting the Witch Time dodge at first, and the normal grunt troops were hitting me a lot. After a few of them it was time for the miniboss, which I did much better on. The demo ends with a gigantic boss fight, and the whole game was very flashy, as you might expect from a Platinum Games game.
The controls were responsive, and I really like that getting hit does not completely deplete the magic meter like it did in the first game. When it's full you can activate Umbral Climax mode, which will make your attacks very powerful and hit a very wide range for a limited time. I stood in line for 3 hours, and it was pretty much worth it. I was apprehensive about the game heading to the Wii U (before I knew why), but it plays really well on it, and I hope it supports the Wii U Pro controller, since I recently picked one up.
Bayonetta 2 also has a touch screen play style, where you can play the whole game just using the touch screen. The guy in front of me tried it out, the brave soul. First thing I noticed was the massive health bar. At least they give you lots of leeway, and it made me question just how accurate it all was. Sliding the stylus around the screen would move Bayonetta, and flicking it up would make her jump. Sounds good in theory, but games like that have had spotty platforming because of it. You can tap on enemies to unleash stylish combos automatically, so I imagine it's better if you would rather watch the game than play it. Dodging was done by flicking the stylus away from the enemy. I had trouble getting the timing right when I could push a button, so trying to time that would be a nightmare unless they were very generous with the timing.
While the demo sometimes had Jeanne (from the first game) fighting beside you, the demo assistant was tight lipped about her being playable in the main game. Either way, I'd like to try the release version, as the demo was fun. Now if only we could get a costume for Bayonetta that makes her look more like the design in the first game...
WWE 2K14
The graphics appeared better than last year, but I thought last year's game looked fine until Chriz aka The Mole showed me some comparison pictures that highlighted just how bad they were. The game was pretty fluid, but felt as fast as WWE 13. Supposedly they were going to slow it down, but wrestlers still got up from moves quickly, which admittedly I prefer earlier in the match.
The match I played was from the "story" mode, 30 years of Wrestlemania, and it was the Undertaker vs. HHH match #2 3 (Hell in a Cell). Thankfully I was the Undertaker. If you have played any historical matches in any of the Smackdown vs. Raw or WWE games, you know that you are given a laundry list of things to accomplish besides winning the match, all in the name of accuracy. Just like previous years, you don't have to do them all (but will likely get a bonus for doing so), and some of them are probably hidden. The first two were visible, but the rest came out as the match went on. Unfortunately, when fulfilling one of them, getting HHH to moderate damage, caused a cut-scene that also put me in moderate damage. Yeah, not fun there. Pretty much all of the bonus objectives I did would result in a scene of some sort, like last year's game. I still managed to win, but I had to work for it more than I wanted to. The match I did was pretty fun, but the "story" match reminded me of last years, which wasn't my favorite (but should have been). We will see how the final version is later this fall.
EDF 2025
I really liked EDF 2017, and even kinda liked Insect Armageddon. 2025 goes back to the style of 2017, and played really well. Pale Wing, from the PS2 EDF, returns and we get another "class" in the form of the Lancer. He has a mechanical apparatus on his head/shoulders that allows him to wield heavier weapons. It also makes him really slow. The weapons I saw him use were a big hammer and two shoulder-mounted vulcan cannons. Pretty cool looking, but probably not ideal for every mission, and likely best with another player to help you out.
Each demo station was set for co-op, so some random dude and I jumped on. Since I really liked the jet armor in IE, I wanted to try out Pale Wing. I didn't read the weapon descriptions thoroughly enough. I though I was picking a rapid fire weapon and a grenade launcher, but I ended up with a single-shot rifle and a grenade. The rifle was ok, but ate through energy quickly if I fired it quickly and the grenade...sucked. I tried it a few times, but it flew really slowly toward the target. After helping up my partner (he set it to hard, sigh...) I flew to the top of a building and tried to throw a grenade down on the ants/spiders below. The grenade then proceeded to fly backwards and destroy the building I was on and kill me in the process. Thanks, I hate you too grenade. It was funny to watch my poor soldier fall down 300 feet while flailing her limbs around and crash onto the floor.
After waiting a bit to get help, we tried to wade through the enemies. It didn't go so well and my partner was quickly overrun. The problem is, the spiders were all over his body, so I couldn't rescue him. They flooded toward me and it was soon over. Oh well, it would have been much better on a different difficulty and if I had read all of the weapon's stats. One cool thing I will also mention is the larger enemy spiders. They will still shoot webs at you, but if one hits you, they will slowly drag you toward them. It's a small thing, but pretty cool. I imagine it will be annoying after it happens a lot, but still pretty neat. I'm looking forward to the release of EDF 2025 since 2017 was lots of fun and this is more in 2017's style than Insect Armageddon. I'm sure my buddy DTJAAAAM is looking forward to it as well.
The controls were responsive, and I really like that getting hit does not completely deplete the magic meter like it did in the first game. When it's full you can activate Umbral Climax mode, which will make your attacks very powerful and hit a very wide range for a limited time. I stood in line for 3 hours, and it was pretty much worth it. I was apprehensive about the game heading to the Wii U (before I knew why), but it plays really well on it, and I hope it supports the Wii U Pro controller, since I recently picked one up.
Bayonetta 2 also has a touch screen play style, where you can play the whole game just using the touch screen. The guy in front of me tried it out, the brave soul. First thing I noticed was the massive health bar. At least they give you lots of leeway, and it made me question just how accurate it all was. Sliding the stylus around the screen would move Bayonetta, and flicking it up would make her jump. Sounds good in theory, but games like that have had spotty platforming because of it. You can tap on enemies to unleash stylish combos automatically, so I imagine it's better if you would rather watch the game than play it. Dodging was done by flicking the stylus away from the enemy. I had trouble getting the timing right when I could push a button, so trying to time that would be a nightmare unless they were very generous with the timing.
While the demo sometimes had Jeanne (from the first game) fighting beside you, the demo assistant was tight lipped about her being playable in the main game. Either way, I'd like to try the release version, as the demo was fun. Now if only we could get a costume for Bayonetta that makes her look more like the design in the first game...
WWE 2K14
The graphics appeared better than last year, but I thought last year's game looked fine until Chriz aka The Mole showed me some comparison pictures that highlighted just how bad they were. The game was pretty fluid, but felt as fast as WWE 13. Supposedly they were going to slow it down, but wrestlers still got up from moves quickly, which admittedly I prefer earlier in the match.
The match I played was from the "story" mode, 30 years of Wrestlemania, and it was the Undertaker vs. HHH match #
EDF 2025
I really liked EDF 2017, and even kinda liked Insect Armageddon. 2025 goes back to the style of 2017, and played really well. Pale Wing, from the PS2 EDF, returns and we get another "class" in the form of the Lancer. He has a mechanical apparatus on his head/shoulders that allows him to wield heavier weapons. It also makes him really slow. The weapons I saw him use were a big hammer and two shoulder-mounted vulcan cannons. Pretty cool looking, but probably not ideal for every mission, and likely best with another player to help you out.
Each demo station was set for co-op, so some random dude and I jumped on. Since I really liked the jet armor in IE, I wanted to try out Pale Wing. I didn't read the weapon descriptions thoroughly enough. I though I was picking a rapid fire weapon and a grenade launcher, but I ended up with a single-shot rifle and a grenade. The rifle was ok, but ate through energy quickly if I fired it quickly and the grenade...sucked. I tried it a few times, but it flew really slowly toward the target. After helping up my partner (he set it to hard, sigh...) I flew to the top of a building and tried to throw a grenade down on the ants/spiders below. The grenade then proceeded to fly backwards and destroy the building I was on and kill me in the process. Thanks, I hate you too grenade. It was funny to watch my poor soldier fall down 300 feet while flailing her limbs around and crash onto the floor.
After waiting a bit to get help, we tried to wade through the enemies. It didn't go so well and my partner was quickly overrun. The problem is, the spiders were all over his body, so I couldn't rescue him. They flooded toward me and it was soon over. Oh well, it would have been much better on a different difficulty and if I had read all of the weapon's stats. One cool thing I will also mention is the larger enemy spiders. They will still shoot webs at you, but if one hits you, they will slowly drag you toward them. It's a small thing, but pretty cool. I imagine it will be annoying after it happens a lot, but still pretty neat. I'm looking forward to the release of EDF 2025 since 2017 was lots of fun and this is more in 2017's style than Insect Armageddon. I'm sure my buddy DTJAAAAM is looking forward to it as well.
Friday, September 20, 2013
PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 2
Part two will deal with PS4 launch title Knack and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which had its demo on the PS3.
Knack
This is the launch title for the PS4 that I wanted to play the most. I'm not the only one since the line was at least an hour and a half. Watching the people in front of me, I could see there were a few different levels in the demo. After completing a section of one, it would jump to another part later in the game. Each one had a different part of Knack's growth, from little knack getting the wood power-up, larger Knack with the wood power and a building sized Knack that could throw cars and was running around a city. Most people got to play at least two sections...but not me (d'oh).
My portion of the demo was after Knack had acquired the wood power, so he was a step larger than his normal self while powered up. It essence, the wood gave him a second health bar. I made my way through the enemies and rudimentary platforming without much trouble, until the spear enemies appeared. Before that, the enemies with crossbows were annoying since they back away from you while shooting, making it take longer to get to them since Knack doesn't really have a ranged attack. Then the armored/ robot spear-toting enemies came in. They would charge their lance and then throw it. The first time one hit me, I died. "Wow" I thought, "I didn't notice I was that low on health." The next time, I grew suspicious. The third time I specifically watched my health and the spear killed me in 1 hit (or did 75% damage, both of which are ridiculous). Yeah, pretty stupid. Knowing that, I targeted them first and went through without a hitch...until the next section. I actually wanted to try it, since you fight the Shrek-looking orcs and you are outside.
Terrible enemies aside, I like that there were differing locales shown in the demo stages. There was a cave, a wooden fortress and even a city block. Knack's super moves were cool and useful, but if you die and restart a checkpoint, you don't get them back if you used them. Another terrible decision, but hopefully they will change it for the release. All in all, not bad, but not as fun as I had hoped.
Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns
I was fully expecting not to like this game, but came away pleasantly surprised and actually wanting to play more. For a little background: I played and beat Final Fantasy 13. I liked it enough, but it was far from the best FF game. I only played the demo for Final Fantasy 13-2 (I do own it and will get to it one day), but really liked the changes they made (even though the main guy looks like he came from Kingdom Hearts). Since I feel they are dragging out FF 13 for too many games (just about any other Final Fantasy game would be better), I was not expecting much from Lightning Returns.
However playing the demo changed that. It was really fun. You have 3 attacks and a block assigned to the face buttons. Each attack costs a certain amount of your meter, so you have to weigh attacking more times or a stronger attack. It's pretty action-oriented, so you will have to manually block enemies' attacks (hence the block button). Multiple attacks can stagger an enemy, letting you do more damage. If you've played FF13, the stagger concept should be familiar.
The best part, however, is that Lightning can equip 3 different "classes" (maybe more in the final build), and switch between them at will during battle. All 3 have their own separate action bars, which makes the combat fluid and fun. As a mage, throw a few high-powered fire spells, then switch to sword fighter (I don't remember the in-game class names, sorry) and unleash a flurry of weak attacks. If they are still alive, switch to the third class and use their attack. As long as you don't pick all of the costly attacks, you can keep up a near constant barrage of attacks to some poor sap.
The enemies you fight will appear on the map, and if you hit them with your sword, you will lower their HP before the battle starts. Hitting them from behind will lower it even more. However if an enemy catches you before you attack them, the battle will start with Lightning's HP lowered. There's also some platforming and climbing over obstacles and whatnot to round out the demo. I wasn't really interested in the game before, but now I'm hoping to play the final version, since it was surprisingly fun.
Knack
This is the launch title for the PS4 that I wanted to play the most. I'm not the only one since the line was at least an hour and a half. Watching the people in front of me, I could see there were a few different levels in the demo. After completing a section of one, it would jump to another part later in the game. Each one had a different part of Knack's growth, from little knack getting the wood power-up, larger Knack with the wood power and a building sized Knack that could throw cars and was running around a city. Most people got to play at least two sections...but not me (d'oh).
My portion of the demo was after Knack had acquired the wood power, so he was a step larger than his normal self while powered up. It essence, the wood gave him a second health bar. I made my way through the enemies and rudimentary platforming without much trouble, until the spear enemies appeared. Before that, the enemies with crossbows were annoying since they back away from you while shooting, making it take longer to get to them since Knack doesn't really have a ranged attack. Then the armored/ robot spear-toting enemies came in. They would charge their lance and then throw it. The first time one hit me, I died. "Wow" I thought, "I didn't notice I was that low on health." The next time, I grew suspicious. The third time I specifically watched my health and the spear killed me in 1 hit (or did 75% damage, both of which are ridiculous). Yeah, pretty stupid. Knowing that, I targeted them first and went through without a hitch...until the next section. I actually wanted to try it, since you fight the Shrek-looking orcs and you are outside.
Terrible enemies aside, I like that there were differing locales shown in the demo stages. There was a cave, a wooden fortress and even a city block. Knack's super moves were cool and useful, but if you die and restart a checkpoint, you don't get them back if you used them. Another terrible decision, but hopefully they will change it for the release. All in all, not bad, but not as fun as I had hoped.
Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns
I was fully expecting not to like this game, but came away pleasantly surprised and actually wanting to play more. For a little background: I played and beat Final Fantasy 13. I liked it enough, but it was far from the best FF game. I only played the demo for Final Fantasy 13-2 (I do own it and will get to it one day), but really liked the changes they made (even though the main guy looks like he came from Kingdom Hearts). Since I feel they are dragging out FF 13 for too many games (just about any other Final Fantasy game would be better), I was not expecting much from Lightning Returns.
However playing the demo changed that. It was really fun. You have 3 attacks and a block assigned to the face buttons. Each attack costs a certain amount of your meter, so you have to weigh attacking more times or a stronger attack. It's pretty action-oriented, so you will have to manually block enemies' attacks (hence the block button). Multiple attacks can stagger an enemy, letting you do more damage. If you've played FF13, the stagger concept should be familiar.
The best part, however, is that Lightning can equip 3 different "classes" (maybe more in the final build), and switch between them at will during battle. All 3 have their own separate action bars, which makes the combat fluid and fun. As a mage, throw a few high-powered fire spells, then switch to sword fighter (I don't remember the in-game class names, sorry) and unleash a flurry of weak attacks. If they are still alive, switch to the third class and use their attack. As long as you don't pick all of the costly attacks, you can keep up a near constant barrage of attacks to some poor sap.
The enemies you fight will appear on the map, and if you hit them with your sword, you will lower their HP before the battle starts. Hitting them from behind will lower it even more. However if an enemy catches you before you attack them, the battle will start with Lightning's HP lowered. There's also some platforming and climbing over obstacles and whatnot to round out the demo. I wasn't really interested in the game before, but now I'm hoping to play the final version, since it was surprisingly fun.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 1
So as you may have already read, I was able to go to PAX Prime for one day, the last day, which I dubbed "Mighty Monday" for no reason other than to be sarcastic about getting to go on the last day, which usually is not the best to go. I was able to play a few games, despite the stupid long lines and the massive crowds. First up are the two Xbox One games I looked at.
Ryse: Son of Rome
The game looked really good (graphically). The shadows and details were crisp and looked natural. There is a noticeable difference between the next gen and the current gen (although not as big a difference as the previous to the current gen). You attack with the X Button and block break with the Y Button. The A Button is for parrying. The controls were responsive, especially the parry, since it would interrupt my attacks to do it. That's very helpful and kept the combat fun and fluid. It reminded me of the early fights in the Batman: Arkham games, where you were supposed to be aggressive and counter when the enemies attacked. There was also a "rapture" mechanic where you filled a meter to become really powerful for some time. Yeah, nothing new or ground-breaker there, and would have been better if you could activate it yourself rather than just when it finishes filling up.
The demo paired people off for some co-op fights. Executing an enemy would restore some health to both players, and you could revive a fallen friend quickly (which is very helpful with a group of guys breathing down your neck). For my demo, a partner and I were in an arena for a few fights. At first we had to kill a few guys, then a champion appeared, and he had flaming swords. I ran up to take him on. After a few block breaks and a combo, he had the skull above his head that signified he could be executed. I tried that, and it didn't work, then I tried to attack him so he would fall into the spike pit... which also didn't work. Then spears shot up around us and I was trapped in a tiny space with him. Uh oh.
We traded blows for a bit while I was hitting the spears to break my way out. I eventually did (those spears are surprisingly sturdy), but not before I lost a good chunk of health. The champion was slain and my partner had taken out the rest of the enemies to finish the wave. The next two waves of opponents were not as... eventful, but they were fun. There were more of the dual flaming sword guys and even some shield guys. Since I wasn't trapped in a closet with them, I was able to dispatch them without much trouble. Plus, I had finally figured out that it takes multiple block breaks to get through the guards of the stronger opponents.
I like the execution mechanic, but it didn't seem to always work on the stronger guys. There were some multi-part executions, and I had to just guess what would work, since there were no on-screen prompts. I could deal with that but nowhere did they explain what buttons to hit. I don't think Ryse: Son of Rome a system seller, but I enjoyed the game and would play it with a friend (especially if there is local co-op, but I don't know if there is yet).
Killer Instinct
Wow, again the graphics looked very good in KI. I've watched several videos, but they really don't do it justice. Admittedly I didn't try it, since it's a fighting game and the people I watched had a decent grasp on what to do, so I would just get demolished. I do think I watched too many videos of it on Youtube, since whenever someone would do an Ultra Combo, I could hear the music, despite the fact the game audio was through the headphones. Yikes.
Also, thinking back on it, I don't think the Microsoft booth showed off any 360 games, just Xbox One games. I could have missed them, though, it would fit in with how MS handled the transition from Xbox to Xbox 360 (they just dropped the Xbox almost immediately). Sony seemed to have a better mix of current and upcoming gen games to play.
Ryse: Son of Rome
The game looked really good (graphically). The shadows and details were crisp and looked natural. There is a noticeable difference between the next gen and the current gen (although not as big a difference as the previous to the current gen). You attack with the X Button and block break with the Y Button. The A Button is for parrying. The controls were responsive, especially the parry, since it would interrupt my attacks to do it. That's very helpful and kept the combat fun and fluid. It reminded me of the early fights in the Batman: Arkham games, where you were supposed to be aggressive and counter when the enemies attacked. There was also a "rapture" mechanic where you filled a meter to become really powerful for some time. Yeah, nothing new or ground-breaker there, and would have been better if you could activate it yourself rather than just when it finishes filling up.
The demo paired people off for some co-op fights. Executing an enemy would restore some health to both players, and you could revive a fallen friend quickly (which is very helpful with a group of guys breathing down your neck). For my demo, a partner and I were in an arena for a few fights. At first we had to kill a few guys, then a champion appeared, and he had flaming swords. I ran up to take him on. After a few block breaks and a combo, he had the skull above his head that signified he could be executed. I tried that, and it didn't work, then I tried to attack him so he would fall into the spike pit... which also didn't work. Then spears shot up around us and I was trapped in a tiny space with him. Uh oh.
We traded blows for a bit while I was hitting the spears to break my way out. I eventually did (those spears are surprisingly sturdy), but not before I lost a good chunk of health. The champion was slain and my partner had taken out the rest of the enemies to finish the wave. The next two waves of opponents were not as... eventful, but they were fun. There were more of the dual flaming sword guys and even some shield guys. Since I wasn't trapped in a closet with them, I was able to dispatch them without much trouble. Plus, I had finally figured out that it takes multiple block breaks to get through the guards of the stronger opponents.
I like the execution mechanic, but it didn't seem to always work on the stronger guys. There were some multi-part executions, and I had to just guess what would work, since there were no on-screen prompts. I could deal with that but nowhere did they explain what buttons to hit. I don't think Ryse: Son of Rome a system seller, but I enjoyed the game and would play it with a friend (especially if there is local co-op, but I don't know if there is yet).
Killer Instinct
Wow, again the graphics looked very good in KI. I've watched several videos, but they really don't do it justice. Admittedly I didn't try it, since it's a fighting game and the people I watched had a decent grasp on what to do, so I would just get demolished. I do think I watched too many videos of it on Youtube, since whenever someone would do an Ultra Combo, I could hear the music, despite the fact the game audio was through the headphones. Yikes.
Also, thinking back on it, I don't think the Microsoft booth showed off any 360 games, just Xbox One games. I could have missed them, though, it would fit in with how MS handled the transition from Xbox to Xbox 360 (they just dropped the Xbox almost immediately). Sony seemed to have a better mix of current and upcoming gen games to play.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Off to PAX Again
My "Mighty Monday" pass for PAX came in the mail today. I'm happy that I get to go, but Monday was the day I wanted to go the least. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to buy a pass, Monday was the only day left. It sucks that in all but the last 2 years I've been able to actually get the passes I wanted (and could afford). After they switched to a "new system", it's been a horrible experience trying to get one. It's crap, but the people in charge don't actually care, and in fact, make light of the very people they should be helping. I don't really know why I would expect them to, considering all the stupid stuff the guy says, but hey, I can always that people act like decent human beings...
I'm often disappointed, but that's life.
Anyway, I'm going to check out what I can on that last (and probably barren) day of the convention. I'll of course have some posts about that and probably a podcast or two on Youtube, since those seemed to get a fair amount of hits last time. Speaking of those, it's still funny to me that my impressions of DMC and God of War Ascension mimicked what a lot of people thought of the full versions, but people that hadn't actually seen or experienced either of them would smash on the thumbs-down button.
I'm not going as press, obviously, but I'm still hoping to make a few contacts for review purposes. I'll probably make some business cards and just look pathetic handing them to people, haha. Let's see what this year brings!
I'm often disappointed, but that's life.
Anyway, I'm going to check out what I can on that last (and probably barren) day of the convention. I'll of course have some posts about that and probably a podcast or two on Youtube, since those seemed to get a fair amount of hits last time. Speaking of those, it's still funny to me that my impressions of DMC and God of War Ascension mimicked what a lot of people thought of the full versions, but people that hadn't actually seen or experienced either of them would smash on the thumbs-down button.
I'm not going as press, obviously, but I'm still hoping to make a few contacts for review purposes. I'll probably make some business cards and just look pathetic handing them to people, haha. Let's see what this year brings!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
E3 2013: Nintendo Direct Impressions
Ah, Nintendo Direct. I'm a fan of these, since to me, it shows that the current E3 is not really the future of the game industry getting out its message and previews of new games. That aside, Nintendo opted to have another Nintendo Direct in lieu of a huge stage conference. They had some really good trailers in it, too!
First off, we got some new info on the next set of Pokemon games, Pokemon X and Y. They now have a release date, October 12, which is always good news. In an effort to balance out Dragon type Pokemon, they are adding another type- Fairy. Yeah, I know... Well, dragons did need to get knocked down a peg, since they made ice types harder to get, and the ones from Pokemon Black and White were just terrible and ugly. They showed the first 4 fairy types, one of which is...wait for it...a new Eevee evolution. Who didn't see that one coming? The rest are: Jigglypuff (might be useful now? ...No, I doubt it), Gardevoir (awesome Pokemon, even if I can't spell it's name correctly) and Marrill. I'm not sure how a water balloon is a fairy, but whatever. There's also a mode that allows you to play with your Pokemon like Nintendogs. I don't think this is necessary (or wanted by the older fan base), so hopefully I can ignore it entirely.
A few other games were shown: a new Mario or two, Pikmin 3 and some of the two "new" Legend of Zelda games. I don't really like the Mario games, including the new Mario Kart (shocking, I know, considering how much I loved the first Mario Kart), and I still haven't gotten around to trying Pikmin (I have one of the remakes on Wii). As sad as it is, I don't like the Wind Waker art style and I'm not really a fan of the 3D Zelda games, so I'm not really excited about that. The re-imagining/ sequel to A Link to the Past does look really cool, as that is my favorite Legend of Zelda game. A day or so after their Nintendo Direct, they talked more about it. It seems Link now has an ability to make himself a 2 dimensional cave drawing looking thing and travel along walls. I have no clue why in an actual 3D game, the hero has a power to make himself 2D. Almost seems counter-productive.
Before I get to the final awesomeness of what all they covered, I want to talk about the new game being made by the team that made Xenoblade. It looks similar, but you can also summon a "doll", or giant mech suit that you can pilot in battles or even while moving around the map. As a robot fan, and fan of the team's other works, Xenoblade and Xenogears (currently my third favorite game of all time), I want to play this game. If I don't have the Wii U by the time that game comes out, I will probably get it. The game is right now just called "X" (which looks a lot like the Xenogears/ Xenoblade "X" in the titles), so hopefully it gets a real name soon. Maybe Xenodoll? Oh, and at least one of the mechs you run around in can transform. I can't wait to roll out, even though the game appears to have multiplayer. As long as I can play the whole game solo, I will be a happy camper!
Now to the star of the show...Smash Bros! Being developed by a team at Namco Bandai (whom I affectionately refer to as "Bamco"), there were some trailers released that showed three of the new fighters. First up (in reverse order of excitement) is the nameless Villager from Animal Crossing. Yeah, I don't care either. Next up, the generic Wii Fit trainer girl. She'll likely be a joke character, like Game & Watch, so I don't mind her, even if there were much better choices for a character (the princess from Archaic Sealed Heat? Anyone?) However, all other character reveals shall pale in comparison to the character I was pulling for last game. The one, the only, super fighting robot...Megaman! Yes, the Blue Bomber, in a 3D-ified version of his 8-bit self has finally come to the world of Smash Bros! He's a perfect addition. They showed several of his moves, but I'm still hoping he has a similar mechanic to Kirby, but he copies the move of the last opponent he killed. The only sad part is Nintendo (or Bamco) is picking up Capcom's slack.
Since some of Nintendo's games from the show floor were also playable at Best Buy stores, but curiously not in the area near the Nintendo of America headquarters, I'm sure some of these will be at PAX Prime so I can get some first hand impressions. Check back in September!
First off, we got some new info on the next set of Pokemon games, Pokemon X and Y. They now have a release date, October 12, which is always good news. In an effort to balance out Dragon type Pokemon, they are adding another type- Fairy. Yeah, I know... Well, dragons did need to get knocked down a peg, since they made ice types harder to get, and the ones from Pokemon Black and White were just terrible and ugly. They showed the first 4 fairy types, one of which is...wait for it...a new Eevee evolution. Who didn't see that one coming? The rest are: Jigglypuff (might be useful now? ...No, I doubt it), Gardevoir (awesome Pokemon, even if I can't spell it's name correctly) and Marrill. I'm not sure how a water balloon is a fairy, but whatever. There's also a mode that allows you to play with your Pokemon like Nintendogs. I don't think this is necessary (or wanted by the older fan base), so hopefully I can ignore it entirely.
A few other games were shown: a new Mario or two, Pikmin 3 and some of the two "new" Legend of Zelda games. I don't really like the Mario games, including the new Mario Kart (shocking, I know, considering how much I loved the first Mario Kart), and I still haven't gotten around to trying Pikmin (I have one of the remakes on Wii). As sad as it is, I don't like the Wind Waker art style and I'm not really a fan of the 3D Zelda games, so I'm not really excited about that. The re-imagining/ sequel to A Link to the Past does look really cool, as that is my favorite Legend of Zelda game. A day or so after their Nintendo Direct, they talked more about it. It seems Link now has an ability to make himself a 2 dimensional cave drawing looking thing and travel along walls. I have no clue why in an actual 3D game, the hero has a power to make himself 2D. Almost seems counter-productive.
Before I get to the final awesomeness of what all they covered, I want to talk about the new game being made by the team that made Xenoblade. It looks similar, but you can also summon a "doll", or giant mech suit that you can pilot in battles or even while moving around the map. As a robot fan, and fan of the team's other works, Xenoblade and Xenogears (currently my third favorite game of all time), I want to play this game. If I don't have the Wii U by the time that game comes out, I will probably get it. The game is right now just called "X" (which looks a lot like the Xenogears/ Xenoblade "X" in the titles), so hopefully it gets a real name soon. Maybe Xenodoll? Oh, and at least one of the mechs you run around in can transform. I can't wait to roll out, even though the game appears to have multiplayer. As long as I can play the whole game solo, I will be a happy camper!
Now to the star of the show...Smash Bros! Being developed by a team at Namco Bandai (whom I affectionately refer to as "Bamco"), there were some trailers released that showed three of the new fighters. First up (in reverse order of excitement) is the nameless Villager from Animal Crossing. Yeah, I don't care either. Next up, the generic Wii Fit trainer girl. She'll likely be a joke character, like Game & Watch, so I don't mind her, even if there were much better choices for a character (the princess from Archaic Sealed Heat? Anyone?) However, all other character reveals shall pale in comparison to the character I was pulling for last game. The one, the only, super fighting robot...Megaman! Yes, the Blue Bomber, in a 3D-ified version of his 8-bit self has finally come to the world of Smash Bros! He's a perfect addition. They showed several of his moves, but I'm still hoping he has a similar mechanic to Kirby, but he copies the move of the last opponent he killed. The only sad part is Nintendo (or Bamco) is picking up Capcom's slack.
Since some of Nintendo's games from the show floor were also playable at Best Buy stores, but curiously not in the area near the Nintendo of America headquarters, I'm sure some of these will be at PAX Prime so I can get some first hand impressions. Check back in September!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
E3 2013: Sony Conference Impressions
As we did with the Xbox One, let's start with the things that make people think that Sony "won" E3 (I wasn't aware it was a contest): it doesn't need to connect to the internet and Sony won't require DRM. These both are pretty much what the PS3 already does, so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. While Sony won't require the DRM, they did say that the publisher has the final say on if that is imposed or not. Much like the online passes that people hated, I can see this making people mad later on down the line. I'm not saying that third party companies will have a one use key code like the Xbox One, but you can't rule it out. Also, since the next gen will undoubtedly push digital sales even more, there's a chance that the Xbox One's ability to transfer the ownership of a digital sale might give it an advantage. Of course, third parties might just have the same transfer system for both systems and it will be a moot point in the end. Time will tell on those fronts.
The price, however, is a lot more attractive than the Xbox One. It will be $400, a whole hundred less than its competitor. This price doesn't include the camera though. Again, I doubt I will be buying one at launch, as I learned my lesson doing that with the Wii and 3DS. It comes with a 500GB hard drive, but no word yet if it is upgradeable. Given how happy I am with upgrading the PS3 HD, I'm hoping it is. Ideally, I think a 1 terabyte would be the best for me, given the push to digital releases will fill up 500 even faster than last gen. As for the look of the console itself...well, I'm not a fan. It looks too asymmetrical to me. It's a parallelogram and just does't look right to me, since it will take up a bit more space looking like that. Granted it doesn't need to look good to preform, but it couldn't hurt it to look better.
Let's move on to the games. As with most presentations, we got a lot of cinematics and not much gameplay. Mad Max, The Order: 1886 and Infamous: Second Son look nice, but I'd like to see gameplay before deciding. The Order has a nice setting, and I'm digging the steam-punk looking weapons, but I'd like to see if it's third or first person and if there's any multiplayer before getting too interested. My friend remarked that he will buy Second Son since it is set in Seattle, which we live very close to. Later there was a video showing the gameplay of Second Son, and it looked pretty fun. I wish they would have shown some of that during their conference. Another extremely pretty game they showed was Dark Sorcerer. It had a funny trailer, but again, I want to see what kind of game it is before caring too much.
They did show some in-game footage from Final Fantasy Versus 13, now renamed Final Fantasy 15. Yes, I'm too lazy to use roman numerals. Anyway, it looked too action oriented. Yeah, I might end up checking it out, but I'm not holding out too much hope. After Final Fantasy 10, the series really fell again for me. I kind of enjoyed 13-2 so far, but the rest were not that fun to me (even though I completed 13). Also their second MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14, is coming to consoles at some point. Yay? I might try it if it were a free to play game, but I don't think it is. The races of that game and FF 11 were not appealing at all to me, quickly turning me off.
Playstation Plus will continue being a great value by adding PS4 to its family. There will still be the current benefits (yay free games!), but now will be required to play games online, similar to Xbox Live. I'm fine with this, since Plus was a great purchase for me, even just for the free games. I don't play online games very often, but I understand that it will be a deterrent to some. Let's hope their network improves since it will no longer be free.
Just like the Xbox One, I'm hoping some of these will be playable at PAX Prime. At the very least, I'd like to use the controller to see how it feels compared to the PS3 one.
The price, however, is a lot more attractive than the Xbox One. It will be $400, a whole hundred less than its competitor. This price doesn't include the camera though. Again, I doubt I will be buying one at launch, as I learned my lesson doing that with the Wii and 3DS. It comes with a 500GB hard drive, but no word yet if it is upgradeable. Given how happy I am with upgrading the PS3 HD, I'm hoping it is. Ideally, I think a 1 terabyte would be the best for me, given the push to digital releases will fill up 500 even faster than last gen. As for the look of the console itself...well, I'm not a fan. It looks too asymmetrical to me. It's a parallelogram and just does't look right to me, since it will take up a bit more space looking like that. Granted it doesn't need to look good to preform, but it couldn't hurt it to look better.
Let's move on to the games. As with most presentations, we got a lot of cinematics and not much gameplay. Mad Max, The Order: 1886 and Infamous: Second Son look nice, but I'd like to see gameplay before deciding. The Order has a nice setting, and I'm digging the steam-punk looking weapons, but I'd like to see if it's third or first person and if there's any multiplayer before getting too interested. My friend remarked that he will buy Second Son since it is set in Seattle, which we live very close to. Later there was a video showing the gameplay of Second Son, and it looked pretty fun. I wish they would have shown some of that during their conference. Another extremely pretty game they showed was Dark Sorcerer. It had a funny trailer, but again, I want to see what kind of game it is before caring too much.
They did show some in-game footage from Final Fantasy Versus 13, now renamed Final Fantasy 15. Yes, I'm too lazy to use roman numerals. Anyway, it looked too action oriented. Yeah, I might end up checking it out, but I'm not holding out too much hope. After Final Fantasy 10, the series really fell again for me. I kind of enjoyed 13-2 so far, but the rest were not that fun to me (even though I completed 13). Also their second MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14, is coming to consoles at some point. Yay? I might try it if it were a free to play game, but I don't think it is. The races of that game and FF 11 were not appealing at all to me, quickly turning me off.
Playstation Plus will continue being a great value by adding PS4 to its family. There will still be the current benefits (yay free games!), but now will be required to play games online, similar to Xbox Live. I'm fine with this, since Plus was a great purchase for me, even just for the free games. I don't play online games very often, but I understand that it will be a deterrent to some. Let's hope their network improves since it will no longer be free.
Just like the Xbox One, I'm hoping some of these will be playable at PAX Prime. At the very least, I'd like to use the controller to see how it feels compared to the PS3 one.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
E3 2013: Microsoft Conference Impressions
E3 is happening this week, and sadly I won't be there. I didn't really expect to be, but I figured I would give my impressions of what I saw from the streams and whatnot. If you've read my reviews or heard any of the XGR podcasts, you may know that my opinions are a bit different from the 'norm'. Don't get offended if I don't agree with other people or if I'm not excited about the 16th Call of Duty game. Anyway, first up: Microsoft.
Let's just start with everybody's favorite hot button issue with the Xbox One: the always on and the DRM stuff (I know this more from the reveal, but it's important so I'll just talk about it here). Honestly, the always on isn't that big of a thing for me personally. I'm OCD about having dates on my achievements (I realize this isn't actual OCD), so I only play my 360 when it's connected to the internet. The only reason my PS3 isn't always connected is because it bumps me offline a lot. It's not my ISP that does it, just the system. I don't really play the PS3 online, so maybe that might be why. Regardless, I try to keep it connected anyway, so that's not a deal killer to me. I have had times when my internet is crapping out and I can't connect for an hour or a day or so, and completely understand why some people have issues with that. I do think a lot of people are overreacting, though.
The DRM (digital rights management) sounds just like PC games' DRM (like Steam). I'm not really happy with it, but again, I feel most people are overreacting. I've honestly seen people comment that they don't like having to be online to play and not being able to resell, so they will just play PC games...*shakes head*. Anyway, since the game disc just installs on the system, I understand why they have the check-in every 24 hours. Is it the best solution? Not to me. I try to buy new games anyway, since I want to support the industry of my main hobby, but it doesn't seem like the best move on Microsoft's part. I feel that they check-in is to combat people modding their systems, since those people won't connect to Xbox Live so they don't get the system/ account banned. The silver lining is that you can designate people as "family" and they can also play the games you paid for. I'll need this as my children get older and begin to play more games. That was my biggest concern with the DRM.
The price for the Xbox One is $500. High? Yes. Fair? Yes. For a new system that includes the Kinect, five hundred seems like it's an appropriate price. I believe the 360 was a similar price at launch, so it's not unexpected. It's still too expensive for my budget and I won't likely get one unless there is a sale or a price drop. If there's a game that I really want, I'll get that cheap even if I don't have the system, as I've done with other games.
Microsoft is also doing away with Microsoft Points, or MSP for short. I know people have wanted that for awhile, but I didn't. The conversion isn't too hard (points # is 20% less than the dollar value), and you could find good deals on the point cards. It's much harder to find deals on the PSN and Wii/3DS cards, which use real currency. Everyone knew they would change it one day, but I don't think it's a good thing.
Now that all of that is out of the way, let's go to what matters the most on a games console: the games. Minecraft will be ported over. One of my fellow Xpound members remarked that it didn't look different from the 360 version, and we tried to explain that is what the game always looks like and it shouldn't look different. Anyway, I'm looking forward to that since the massive memory upgrade will benefit Minecraft. I doubt it, but it would be nice if they didn't charge owners of the 360 edition to get the Xbox One edition. Either way, I'm sure I have to get that game for my son alone.
Unlike the reveal event, they actually showed some games. Most of them were just CG trailers that contained little to no gameplay (this is a theme from every company every year at E3 it seems). Halo and Forza were shown, but I have little interest in those franchises. They showed some of the next Battlefield, which will make a few of my friends very happy. A trailer for World of Tanks for the 360 was shown...again, not that interesting to me. The trailer for Titanfall had me somewhat interested, since riding around in mecha is definitely something I like. It will probably be just another competitive FPS game that I won't play, but I'll at least look into it closer to launch. Quantum Break at least showed something this time, unlike the lackluster trailer at the reveal. I still don't know much about the game, and wish that they would show how it plays instead of "look how pretty it is", but we'll have to wait and see. Sunset Overdrive looked interesting (Dead Rising meets Borderlands?), but again, I wanted to see actual gameplay.
Now on to a few games that I have some interest in. Crimson Dragon looked kind of fun. I played a little bit of Panzer Dragoon Orta, which this is the spiritual successor to I believe. That game was ok, so I will probably at least try Crimson Dragon. Capcom's Dead Rising 3 is exclusive to the Xbox One. That surprised me. Again, they switch protagonists (I still prefer Frank West, no matter how many times they try to ditch him), but the rest of the game looks fun. Honestly, the demo of State of Decay seems more like what I want the Dead Rising games to play like, so maybe I'll stick with that once it goes on sale.
Killer Instinct?! Wow, that I did not see coming. So much nostalgia thinking about watching my friend play that game, with his team of all TJ Combos. Good times. Well, this game looks nice and has flashy effects, but almost looks to fast. The Jago redesign isn't the best, but I really like Glacius' look and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the cast. It is also coming out as a free to play game, where only Jago is unlocked. You will have to buy any other characters you want to use. You can apparently fight any of the other characters, so there will still be some fun to be had in the free version. It's a pretty interesting idea for a fighting game, so we will see how that (and the new Tekken game) do in sales.
Another game at the conference was Ryse: Son of Rome. Besides the obvious inspiration from God of War, I looks like and is presented like Gears of War. So, I guess it's double "GoW". It actually looked pretty interesting, so I look forward to trying it at some point. The quick timer events look shorter than the God of War ones, which is a plus. There were also ones where the hero would kill two targets in the same QTE. That looked pretty cool and gives it at least something different from Kratos' adventures. While it looks interesting, I don't think it will be a system seller.
Project Spark was a game that showed actual gameplay. It looks like a third person action adventure version of Little Big Planet, and it looked fun. You could design a world as quickly and easily as you design a track in Modnation Racers, but could set enemy and pet/helper AI like the LBP games. It was one of the few things showed that I was really interested in trying out as soon as I can. Too bad I don't have a tablet (or smart phone) that can likely integrate with it.
In an effort to compete with Playstation Plus, Microsoft will give out 1 or 2 free games to download for XBox Live Gold members. In theory it's pretty cool, since free games are always nice. The first game is Fable III, which isn't that good of a game. The other two games mentioned are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2. Not bad, but they are pretty old. I also own all three so there's no need for me to download them. They are only giving away games for the next 5-6 months, so it's a pretty short time frame. Available immediately, they also announced a new Xbox 360 design that looks similar to the Xbox One. I guess it looks fine, but I already have a 360 and the only other design I want is the Star Wars R2D2 bundle.
I'm hoping that the system and some of the games shown will be playable at PAX Prime so I get a chance to check them out first hand. If they are, you know where I'll post my updated impressions!
Let's just start with everybody's favorite hot button issue with the Xbox One: the always on and the DRM stuff (I know this more from the reveal, but it's important so I'll just talk about it here). Honestly, the always on isn't that big of a thing for me personally. I'm OCD about having dates on my achievements (I realize this isn't actual OCD), so I only play my 360 when it's connected to the internet. The only reason my PS3 isn't always connected is because it bumps me offline a lot. It's not my ISP that does it, just the system. I don't really play the PS3 online, so maybe that might be why. Regardless, I try to keep it connected anyway, so that's not a deal killer to me. I have had times when my internet is crapping out and I can't connect for an hour or a day or so, and completely understand why some people have issues with that. I do think a lot of people are overreacting, though.
The DRM (digital rights management) sounds just like PC games' DRM (like Steam). I'm not really happy with it, but again, I feel most people are overreacting. I've honestly seen people comment that they don't like having to be online to play and not being able to resell, so they will just play PC games...*shakes head*. Anyway, since the game disc just installs on the system, I understand why they have the check-in every 24 hours. Is it the best solution? Not to me. I try to buy new games anyway, since I want to support the industry of my main hobby, but it doesn't seem like the best move on Microsoft's part. I feel that they check-in is to combat people modding their systems, since those people won't connect to Xbox Live so they don't get the system/ account banned. The silver lining is that you can designate people as "family" and they can also play the games you paid for. I'll need this as my children get older and begin to play more games. That was my biggest concern with the DRM.
The price for the Xbox One is $500. High? Yes. Fair? Yes. For a new system that includes the Kinect, five hundred seems like it's an appropriate price. I believe the 360 was a similar price at launch, so it's not unexpected. It's still too expensive for my budget and I won't likely get one unless there is a sale or a price drop. If there's a game that I really want, I'll get that cheap even if I don't have the system, as I've done with other games.
Microsoft is also doing away with Microsoft Points, or MSP for short. I know people have wanted that for awhile, but I didn't. The conversion isn't too hard (points # is 20% less than the dollar value), and you could find good deals on the point cards. It's much harder to find deals on the PSN and Wii/3DS cards, which use real currency. Everyone knew they would change it one day, but I don't think it's a good thing.
Now that all of that is out of the way, let's go to what matters the most on a games console: the games. Minecraft will be ported over. One of my fellow Xpound members remarked that it didn't look different from the 360 version, and we tried to explain that is what the game always looks like and it shouldn't look different. Anyway, I'm looking forward to that since the massive memory upgrade will benefit Minecraft. I doubt it, but it would be nice if they didn't charge owners of the 360 edition to get the Xbox One edition. Either way, I'm sure I have to get that game for my son alone.
Unlike the reveal event, they actually showed some games. Most of them were just CG trailers that contained little to no gameplay (this is a theme from every company every year at E3 it seems). Halo and Forza were shown, but I have little interest in those franchises. They showed some of the next Battlefield, which will make a few of my friends very happy. A trailer for World of Tanks for the 360 was shown...again, not that interesting to me. The trailer for Titanfall had me somewhat interested, since riding around in mecha is definitely something I like. It will probably be just another competitive FPS game that I won't play, but I'll at least look into it closer to launch. Quantum Break at least showed something this time, unlike the lackluster trailer at the reveal. I still don't know much about the game, and wish that they would show how it plays instead of "look how pretty it is", but we'll have to wait and see. Sunset Overdrive looked interesting (Dead Rising meets Borderlands?), but again, I wanted to see actual gameplay.
Now on to a few games that I have some interest in. Crimson Dragon looked kind of fun. I played a little bit of Panzer Dragoon Orta, which this is the spiritual successor to I believe. That game was ok, so I will probably at least try Crimson Dragon. Capcom's Dead Rising 3 is exclusive to the Xbox One. That surprised me. Again, they switch protagonists (I still prefer Frank West, no matter how many times they try to ditch him), but the rest of the game looks fun. Honestly, the demo of State of Decay seems more like what I want the Dead Rising games to play like, so maybe I'll stick with that once it goes on sale.
Killer Instinct?! Wow, that I did not see coming. So much nostalgia thinking about watching my friend play that game, with his team of all TJ Combos. Good times. Well, this game looks nice and has flashy effects, but almost looks to fast. The Jago redesign isn't the best, but I really like Glacius' look and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the cast. It is also coming out as a free to play game, where only Jago is unlocked. You will have to buy any other characters you want to use. You can apparently fight any of the other characters, so there will still be some fun to be had in the free version. It's a pretty interesting idea for a fighting game, so we will see how that (and the new Tekken game) do in sales.
Another game at the conference was Ryse: Son of Rome. Besides the obvious inspiration from God of War, I looks like and is presented like Gears of War. So, I guess it's double "GoW". It actually looked pretty interesting, so I look forward to trying it at some point. The quick timer events look shorter than the God of War ones, which is a plus. There were also ones where the hero would kill two targets in the same QTE. That looked pretty cool and gives it at least something different from Kratos' adventures. While it looks interesting, I don't think it will be a system seller.
Project Spark was a game that showed actual gameplay. It looks like a third person action adventure version of Little Big Planet, and it looked fun. You could design a world as quickly and easily as you design a track in Modnation Racers, but could set enemy and pet/helper AI like the LBP games. It was one of the few things showed that I was really interested in trying out as soon as I can. Too bad I don't have a tablet (or smart phone) that can likely integrate with it.
In an effort to compete with Playstation Plus, Microsoft will give out 1 or 2 free games to download for XBox Live Gold members. In theory it's pretty cool, since free games are always nice. The first game is Fable III, which isn't that good of a game. The other two games mentioned are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2. Not bad, but they are pretty old. I also own all three so there's no need for me to download them. They are only giving away games for the next 5-6 months, so it's a pretty short time frame. Available immediately, they also announced a new Xbox 360 design that looks similar to the Xbox One. I guess it looks fine, but I already have a 360 and the only other design I want is the Star Wars R2D2 bundle.
I'm hoping that the system and some of the games shown will be playable at PAX Prime so I get a chance to check them out first hand. If they are, you know where I'll post my updated impressions!
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