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.

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.

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.

Still Alive and Kicking

Sorry I've been inactive the last week or so.  My son brought home a cold and we all shared it, so I haven't finished my PAX write-ups yet.  Don't worry, they will be coming soon.

There's also two new games I am working on for review, so more of those are coming too.  I'm also helping to edit my wife's next book, which is taking a long time because we are both so busy.  I suggested a fairly big revision, so she changed some things and called it the "review copy".  I jokingly told her she called it that so I would put lots of effort into it, since I usually do my review stuff before working on her next book.

Oh, checking my inbox, it seems there is now a third.  I am to be kept busy while recovering it seems.