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As a first timer at E3 it’s safe to say that I was rather overwhelmed by the amount of information that was thrown at me. It’s been a week since then and I’ve had time to put together what truly stuck out to me. So here's my game of the show, some honorable mentions, and my greatest disappointment.
Game of the Show - Vanquish
When I first watched the Vanquish reveal trailer I was with the majority’s sentiment. “It’s a shiny Gears of War clone”. Well, that’ll be the last time I ever doubt Platinum Games. After playing mere minutes of the floor demo I can safely say it’s anything but your average cover based shooter. I was struck by the incredible speed of the game. Boosting, which is a key element in combat, is jarringly fast. So fast in fact that cover no longer becomes a necessity, but an option. I found that boosting straight through enemy lines yielded more results than cowering behind cover. Sliding past bullets, missiles, and other futuristic ordnance provides a thrill that you don’t get from the slow plodding of other shooters in the genre.
Bolstering the gameplay is an aesthetic that I had unfortunately missed out on in the flurry of bullets and robots. Luckily, in a behind closed doors look I played witness to an amazing scene. The player was atop a high speed tram defending it from pursuing enemy craft. The demonstrator turned his camera and presented me with a jaw dropping sight. The tram was actually racing along the interior of a circular space station. In the distance the curvature of the structure became apparent. The sprawling city in its interior zoomed by as the tram sped passed. I think I actually vocalized my amazement. Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed and it solidified Vanquish as my game of the show.
Honorable Mentions:
Metroid: Other M - Besides some issues with the first person controls I’m impressed by the overall look of the game. I’m still interested in seeing what they will be doing with exploration since the floor demo only demonstrated combat in some rather linear pathways. Here’s to hoping that Team Ninja pulls this off.
Hard Corps -At a glance this 2d shooter doesn’t deviate far from its Contra roots. However it hides quite a bit of depth. The implementations of dashing, character upgrades, and a parry system expand on the simple run and gun gameplay that’s expected from this genre.
Hydrophobia - The water physics are handled in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s hard to believe it’s a downloadable title and I have quite a bit to say about it so hang tight for my impressions sometime within the week.
Biggest Disappointment - Konami’s Press Conference
In the wake of white ponchos, canned acting, motion malfunctions, and "Skittles" I thought there could be nothing worse. How wrong I was. Konami seemed to blend all of the above into a disgusting slurry that they called a conference. Luchadores slapped each other for some reason. Some chorus was dragged on stage to sing Glee songs. Tak Fujii struggled with the English language while trying to get the crowd excited for Ninety Nine Nights. It was a horrifying experience that I doubt I will ever forget.
Comments
13 years, 10 months ago
The e3 awards seem to follow a trend that vanquish is really looking different and exciting and that whole motion control is a dying trend that i would like to see gone away our actually developed instead of silly mini games
nice job Ben and the rest of the guys
13 years, 10 months ago
Uhh Vanquish, IDK Im not really for the Cover to Cover, Id root for Dead Space 2 But I think its going to be less scary with the inclusion of a prominent character for Isac
13 years, 10 months ago
Excited? Ninety Nine Nights? Those are two things that should never be in the same sentence.
13 years, 10 months ago
I dunno, Vanquished seemed really jumbled and seemed kinda chaotic to me. I always had a hard time following it when I saw footage of it.
13 years, 10 months ago
Since I'm a huge fan of game physics Hydrophobia sounds pretty cool
13 years, 10 months ago
Hmmm Gears of War improvment? I wish I could say if this is true or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see...
13 years, 10 months ago
Here's a comment to satisfy brad's bitching. Just kidding. I love your shows. Keep up the good work guys.
13 years, 10 months ago
Well, actually I think that Vanquish is WAY too fast, I still prefer the shooters where you have to cover and plan things ^^
13 years, 10 months ago
Not surprised to see Vanquish as the game of show. You seemed to be really positive on it during the E3 podcasting. From what I've seen the game is really impressive. I can't imagine this game failing. Hopefully it doesn't follow the traditional Platinum Games pattern of being a critical and public success but underperformng on the sales charts.
Hard Corps and Hydrophobia are two games that I have heard little about. Hard Corps sounds really cool. I like sidescrollers, but its rare to find one with any kind of depth beyond "Look at my stronger weaponz! Yay!" I'm glad to see those secondary abilities in there, and I hope that they have more up their sleeves. I always appreciate some good water effects so hurry up with that Hydrophobia post.
I had heard the Konami conference was bad, but I thought people were simply overreacting. I was wrong. I have seen clips and I was honestly scared for my life. I expected the phone to ring and hear a raspy voice tell me my demise was imminent. I didn't think anything was as bad as Ubisof and Joel McHale's laser tag flailing, and I am sad to say I was wrong.
13 years, 10 months ago
I'm still skeptical about Vanquish since gameplay mechanics are kinda blurry for me. But you guys had hands on it at E3. I will trust you guys...for now.
13 years, 10 months ago
Vanquish sorta reminds me of Shadow Complex with the suit and boosting ability. I think the game might have way too much going on at a time for me but I guess I can't judge the game until I actually try it out. I'll probably rent it to see what its like. You guys did a terrific job at E3 and I'm looking forward to seeing you at more of these events.
13 years, 10 months ago
I had the same impressions from the Vanquished Trailer as you did, but now I'm rethinking them, after hearing the very positive impressions you and the other guys have given this game. I do hope they release a demo of it, so I can know for sure.
13 years, 10 months ago
Oh yeah, that water game looks kick ass as well. I think that's gonna be a really big DL game. It looks beautiful to boot.
13 years, 10 months ago
nice to know i wasnt the only one who thought konami's press conference was bad, but considering i couldnt even watch the stream due to their site at the time i cant say much.
as for vanquish, it seems really interesting. I might have to keep my eye on it.
13 years, 10 months ago
I thought the same thing about Vanquish when i first saw it, but now that I've read this I'm kind of excited to try it out. Thanks for the update
13 years, 10 months ago
Ugh sounds like fun! *Laughs sarcastically and pukes in corner* konami never really did have good conferences at past e3's. It's not likely that they'll step up their game in one year..(Ok maybe 3)
13 years, 10 months ago
Im really looking forward to gettin my hands on Hydro. Im impressed of the quality of downloadable titles that are coming up this year. The water looks so impressive!.
The Suit in Vanquish is also making my blood boil!
13 years, 10 months ago
I'll have to keep an eye on vanquish. didn't really peek my interest when I first saw it.