Eurogamer Expo 09.
OK, I'll admit now, I didn't take any photos/footage of the games. But it was a good day out. It was pretty packed inside and I didn't get to play as many games as I'd like to. Here's a few thoughts on what I saw.
Bayonetta:
Did actually get my hands on this one. From what I had heard of it I knew it was going to be a tad bonkers and it didn't fail to prove that in the demo levels they had playable. First level I tried was staged on a face of a clock tower that had exploded and was plummeting through space. I was fighting against angels although serpent looking flying dragons also turned up during the brawling.
The second level was in a courtyard, like something similar you'd see in Devil May Cry 4 but more lush and colourful. More of these mutated looking angel beasts turned up to receive a good kicking. At the end I was faced with a boss who was wielding a axe that was nearly the size of the entire part of that map. Needless to say I slapped him around with a few good combos, which led to a super attack where I summoned a dragon from my hair which bit the boss into many meaty chunks (wtf?).
I really enjoyed what I played of this game. The graphics were gorgeous, the sound and music was intense and the action and controls were smooth, responsive and flowing. Even the loading screen let you practice combos from the move list. I suspect there'll be achievements attached to just that aspect of the game. The only gripe I had was the camera could've been a bit tidier. When you are playing a game as intense as this, where its hard enough to keep track of you actions due to effects going off, you need the camera to be spot on. It wasn't bad enough to put me off the game, but did result in a few hits received from the enemies.
I think this'll more than likely go on my rental list rather than a purchase for now.
Dragon Age:
Now, I've seen a lot of people jabbering on about this game recently, but I never was that bothered about it. I hadn't read much about it, or bothered looking at screenshots, It wasn't on my "must buy" list at all. But having looked at it and getting to play it for 5-10 minutes I'm impressed. Its probably done enough to tweak the part of my brain that tells me to play games where I can level up and loot stuff.
The graphics weren't worth writing home about, but I think I could have some fun in that game. Won't be buying it until I've finished Borderlands at least once though!
MAG
Got about 5mins on this. I didn't no what to expect here either really. All I knew was this was a first person shooter with the option for disgustingly large teams. But for what I did play, it moved smoothly and intuitively, and looked pretty tasty. My teams spawn point was in a building that was on top of a hill. Looking down from that viewpoint the lush wooded/jungle scattered with tents and camps, looked really nice. Someone had chucked a few smoke grenades around which also looked great. Overall it had a sense of atmosphere, as much as you can really get from a FPS.
God Of War 3 and Dante's Inferno
Grouped these together because they pretty damn similar. Graphics were pleasing and the action gore-filled with some imaginative deaths. Not much more to say about them. Will play them in the future if I get the chance, though I don't own a PS3 or have a friend that would buy GOD OF WAR 3 so that might be doubtful.
Left 4 Dead 2 & AVP
Possibly a couple of the busiest stalls/gaming stations at the events so didn't get hands-on, merely got a over the shoulder view. These are 2 games that I was quite interested in, but unfortunately the people that were playing them as I was watching were clueless and just ran around aimlessly pretty the whole time. I really don't claim to be a great FPS player but I can just about hold my own. These guys actually did nothing to show off the potential of these games, so I'm really none the wiser for seeing them at the show.
Uncharted 2
Now this did look really nice, but as I said I don't own a PS3 so tried to not like the look of it too much, haha. Not in a console wars xbox360 snobbery way, more of a if it looks that good I'm gonna want to play it and I can't!
Other notable games were
Heavy Rain. Very Intriguing. Nicely implemented QTE (if you have to do them, at least do them well and make them interesting). The way options were presented to you was interesting. For example part of the game I was watching someone play, they were interrogating a criminal, the options for the approach to take floated around the playable character and reminded me of the subtitles from the film, NightWatch. Whether this is a flashy way to present very linear gameplay we shall have to see, but I think I may be renting this sleuth-em-up in the future.
Saw. What? I didn't even realise they were making a Saw game! Anyway, the people that were playing it were doing it wrong. They were completing the tasks given to them, and therefore NO DEATHSCENES. Surely that's the whole point of the Saw franchise? I kept wishing they'd do something wrong
Oh and expect lots of walking around barefoot in glass, and putting you arm down toilets full of hypodermic needles.
Saturday nights plan was to watch Dead Snow but when that fell through GreatEarthBeard kindly invited us all round to his place where we watched Dead Set which I am ashamed to say I had never seen before! Zombie fun + you get to see Big Brother contestants die horribly, what more could you want?
More pics from Friday.
Spot of sight-seeing. Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast.
Fishy weathervane on top of the Eurogamer Expo building.
My scrumptious girlfriend, Amy.