ilomilo, My PAX 2010 Game of the Show

Yeah, it's only half way through Saturday but I'm calling it in early. There's still a few things I need to see first. For example, I'm in line for Duke Nukem Forever as I'm writing this. I just saw Portal 2's Co-Op Demonstration and I still need to take a look at Outland and Bastion.

Even so I feel I can predict with confidence that ilomilo is my PAX 2010 Game of Show. From what I was shown it's got the gameplay, music, and style to be right up my alley.

I mean seriously who makes a Co-op Turn Taking Puzzle Game these days. It's a little difficult to describe the types of puzzles the game provides but it looks like there is enough variety with it's enemy design and block types to keep the formula from staying too simple, a trend I've seen with a lot of recent puzzlers.

My only concerns are with the ways players will be presented with the more challenging levels. Many times objectives and abilities are not clearly explained, which is something I experienced during the demo. There were obstacles in which I had no idea how they would react to me or how I could interact with but I'm almost completely positive that is due to it being a quick demo experience and I do not expect that to be a problem when it releases later this winter.

I did feel though that the controls were a little rough. Movement didn't seem as smooth as I would have wanted and character switching may be something I just need to get used to.

Other than that, I'm extremely excited about getting my hands on this title and playing through it with a friend.

David