Daryl Teo's Blog

eGames Expo 2009: Day 1

Oct 31, 2009 Articles

Yes, a rare post from me today, as I took the day off to head on down to the first day of the iDEF eGames Expo 2009 held at the Royal Exhibition Building. There was a severe lack of exhibits which was rather disappointing, but it was not without some blockbusters. Major groups consisted mainly of Ubisoft, 2K Games and Microsoft. The rest were all small development houses and publishers, most of which failed to make any considerable impressions on me.

Ubisoft – Various

Ubisoft took center stage with a 360 degrees exhibit right in the middle of the building, with only the Microsoft Xbox360 caravan taking up the rest of the attention (whatever little attention there could possibly be on a Friday). With the exception of the new Splinter Cell, I got a bit of hands on with upcoming games Avatar and Assassin’s Creed 2.

Avatar

Ubisoft had two different setups for people to try; a normal setup with an Xbox360, and a more private setup with an Xbox360, and a pile of 3D Glasses! There’s no question which kiosk I had to try out.

The immediate impression I had when playing the game was “Wow. It sure is pretty”. If there’s any reason why you should get this game, its definitely the graphics. Vivid vibrant colours, combined with gorgeously designed monsters were only made more enthralling when they jumped right at me through the screen. I wouldn’t be surprised if “4D gaming” becomes more popular as the technology advances in the future. Just keep a bucket handy, for people prone to motion sickness; after 10 minutes I began to feel lightheaded and put down the controller.

Put aside the pretty graphics, however, and I couldn’t help finding it all but familiar. In fact, I couldn’t help but draw similarities between Avatar and Lost Planet 2:

• 3rd person view? Check.
• Squad based action? Check.
• Huge mechas? Check.
• Even bigger indigenous monsters? Check.
• Control Points? Check.
• Gungho marines type characters? Check.

I feel that Lost Planet had a much more interesting game. Its “Shadow of the Colossus” level encounters were much more interesting compared to what was essentially a “point, shoot, reload” game in Avatar. There was nearly no need for any of the “skills” available (such as the call airstrike skill), since I could accomplish the same thing with just a rifle. Of course, there could be alot more of Avatar that I have not seen.

Conclusion: Its pretty. But its going to be as revolutionary to gaming as Avatar is to Movies. No harm picking this up for a quick playthrough, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for anything Bioshock epic.

Assassin’s Creed 2

Before I go on, I must stress that the build Ubisoft are displaying at the eGames Expo is apparently the same as the build at TGS 2009, so there isn’t much more I can add to that. I do regret playing it, however. Experiencing numerous bugs and issues put a dent in my enthusiasm for the game, but I’ll try to keep that in mind as I write about it below (while trying to ignore the times Ezio fell through the floor, or crashed the demo)

The thing that I was most concerned about was the combat system; the first Assassin’s Creed suffered from an incredibly simple combat system that resulted in what was basically a “wait, counter, kill” routine. Assassin’s Creed 2 tries to remedy this by introducing a few new features such as Multiple Weapons (from swords and hidden blades to halberds) and multiple enemy types (light, and heavy guards). You also have the ability to disarm opponents, or grab them for physical attacks (to their weak points for massive damage). I quickly developed a modus operandi, involving me grabbing rooftop archers, directing them to the nearest ledge and throwing them off.

Unfortunately, other than the points above, the combat still suffers from the same problem its predecessor had. Most of the time was spent countering opponents attacks for a quick kill, while for the Heavy Guards I could simply sheathe my weapon (with the “realtime weapon change” feature)  to get the option to disarm your opponent. A guard fully clad in armour is still defenseless without a weapon, which makes for an easy kill, although sometimes it was also possible to perform a fatal counter attack accompanied by the extremely gratifying kill sequence.

Conclusion: since the build was too buggy to really judge on, I’ll have to hold out for more opportunities to try the game. I’ll probably still get it when the time comes, though.

Microsoft – Forza Motorsport 2

Microsoft decided to set up multiple kiosks all demoing Forza Motorsport 2. I spent a good deal of time trying to beat the daily record (1:45 on Laguna Seca) before ultimately giving up, but that gave me a lot of time to get some impressions on the game. Unfortunately, Gran Turismo 5 did not make an appearance, and the closest I have to it is Gran Turismo 5 for the PSP, so without a real reference any proper comparisons will simply have to wait. That, and it made me feel like a really inferior driver.

2K Games – Borderlands

The booth had a sign, warning people of violence within its confines. Inside were a couple of kiosks dedicated to Borderlands, while there was a single kiosk for NBA2k10 (which I appropriately ignored).

At this point, the only little information I had heard about Borderlands was:

• a mash of FPS and RPG.
• apparently, a censored version (ala Left 4 Dead) was distributed to Australian Gamers by accident.

The game felt alot more like an RPG compared to a first person shooter. Or, to put it bluntly, Borderlands is what Hellgate:London would have been if it had been set in a post-apocalyptic desert, rather than a post-apocalyptic London (and, actually finished). A bullet hit results in a small number indicating the amount of damage you’d done, while a little damage indicator appears over whatever is within your cross hairs.

In the end, it didn’t feel like my type of game, and as a result I didn’t spend very long with it.

Closing

A few games were sadly missed today. Considering that the eGames Expo is being billed as the “Biggest Video Games Expo in Australia”, it is an extremely good indication of the state of the gaming industry in Australia. In fact, if you disregard the numerous education institutions setting up camp at the expo, there was only 1 (that’s right, ONE) Australia based games-house (Imperial League’s Primary Clarity) that I could find. De Blob’s Blue Tongue was not present, and neither was last year’s participant Infinite Interactive (who make the Puzzle Quest series).

Sadly, other blockbuster publishers did not set up exhibits, despite their participation in 2008. There were no Activision booths (absolutely dumbfounded, especially considering the local launch of DJ Hero). EA also did not make an appearance, apparently seeing no additional need to promote Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Another staggeringly bad decision was from Sony; from a 8 kiosk exhibit in 2008 to quite literally not being there at all, allowing the Xbox360 to attract all the limelight.

Here’s hoping I see them on the weekend.

That is all for me. More when I get back from Day 2!

Tags: assassin, assassin's, avatar, creed, egames, electronics, exhibition, expo, forza, Games, gaming, IDEF, Microsoft, ubisoft, xbo360, xbox