Gamescom is a cool event and I'm glad I attended it this year as well.
I really enjoyed the games, I really hated the Razer and Roccat booths that make such a deafening noise you can't hear what you're playing.
I missed Tony Hawk's show, but watched a very cool one of acrobatic bicycles!
Well, let's talk about the games, then:
SONY:
first of all what’s always cool about Sony’s zone at Gamescom, is that there’s a large space and you can always find something to play almost immediately, even the ones that are 18+ don’t usually require staying in queue for too long.
God of War: Ascension (multiplayer)
It’s God of War so it looks and feels as we’re used to: awesomely!
The 4-players multiplayer looks very promising and interesting: it’s basically team against team (4 vs 4), battling for chests, areas and bonus to gather points (while, of course, killing each other as rudely as possible). Meanwhile special items, weapons and armor pieces, will spawn on the field and one can grab them for advantages, there are also traps that can be activated to eliminate enemies in a very gory way. Once the weapon sent by the gods spawns, players have to run to grab it and kill the map “boss”.
As far as your character is concerned you can choose the kind of armor (lighter or tougher), the weapon, etc. to customize him depending on the gameplay style you prefer.
I’m a God-of-War super-fan so I just can’t wait for this new chapter to play as Kratos again and be challenged by the game!
Dust 514:
The Gamescom build has just been made available to those that pre-purchased the game. A definite improvement over the one we have been playing so far, especially as far as the character movement and weapons are concerned. The graphics have improved as well.
More improvements seems to be on the way, although they mentioned they’re struggling a bit with the memory available on PS3 given the large world of play, but I'm sure they'll manage.
Looks really like a huge game and I'm so curious to see how it will interact with Eve online.
Little Big Planet Karting (campaign & online)
There are some differences between the campaign and the online races as far as buttons are concerned, but not much. Regardless, they both play very smoothly and driving the karts is really fun, some of the weapons are really hilarious!
Since this has been developed by the Modnation Racers guys we can certainly have great expectations as far as the racing experience and quality of tracks are concerned. I hope for a party system though and being able to play with friends online smoothly.
It definitely looks stunning, with the awesome LBP styles we’re used to and I can’t wait to spend lots of hours driving the funniest karts ever!
Little Big Planet PS Vita:
Beautiful to look at and to play. Your usual LBP, with a new storyline and levels and additional features/commands that take advantage of the PSVita two touchscreens. They’re nicely implemented and let you play the game smoothly and more interactively.
A definitely MUST-BUY for PSVita users.
All Stars Battle Royal (Cole, Radec, Nate, Kratos, Jack&Daxter, Dante, Big daddy):
I have to confess I wasn’t really convinced about this one when they presented it, but after playing a few games I completely changed my mind. Lots of nice characters that play in a completely different way.
Very smooth to play, good controls and enough buttons to do some funny things but not too many to need a manual to play it.
It’s one of those games you can keep playing forever for a quick and fun match online: excellent!
Sly Cooper:
Never playing a Sly Coolper game before, but I really liked the funny mood and characters, the toony environment and smooth play. It’s a nice platform that reminds of Ratchet and Clank, perhaps with more plat-forming and less weapons, but I didn’t play enough to really tell.
A very nice game, I’m looking forward to it.
Ratchet and Clank Q-Force:
Played just a bit but felt as the “usual” Ratchet and Clank, which I really like! I think this goes back to the traditional style of R&C games, after the All for One multiplayer.
Ratchet & Clank: a Crack in Time is one of my favourite games of ever, so I’m looking forward to this one, and hope they implemented some nice and new gameplay to keep an awesome classic fresh :)!
CAPCOM:
Devil May Cry:
very dynamic, excellent graphics and nice mood. It doesn’t really feel like the “usual” Devil May Cry, because of the new Dante, but I like him, to be honest. Very dreamy mood and setting, smooth and responsive commands. Couldn’t really hear anything of the dialogues thanks to the deafening music from the Razer booth (Grrrr) but it’s certainly a game to look forward to.
To me, the fact that is a Ninja Theory game is a big plus and I’m really curious to see the story they have developed!
Resident Evil 6:
Honestly, after a while the camera was making me nauseous. Didn’t like the controls one bit, I basically just pushed buttons to understand whether the zombies where in range or not… perhaps I’m just not used to this kind of controls. I’ll give it another try if they release a trial version on PSN, I was too focused to play it, to even appreciate what was going on (while still being plagued by the Razer disco music).
Lost Planet 3 (single):
It’s difficult to say much, after playing just a little. I can say everything looked interesting and seemed like the start of a nice story: nothing too impressive but definitely worth your while. I really liked some of the character designs of Lost Planet 2, so I wonder whether LP3 will also feature some kick-ass design!
UBISOFT:
Splinter Cell Blacklist:
We were shown the game played live, just the very sequence shown at E3 anyway. Not much to say then, just that Sam Fisher could make a very cool Robin, lol!
EA:
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
My favourite shooter of the fair. I really like how they took the first Medal of Honor and really honed it, excellent work! The destructibility is similar to that of Battlefield 3 and the graphics also look very good: excellent depth, great effects.
What I especially liked is that now, the squads are divided into 4 2-persons teams. Think “link” to another players gives several advantages: you can spawn on him/her, get points for revenge kills, see enemies they spotted and so on. After playing it online I really feel it’s a great new feature of the game. The map we played also looked very nice, different levels and no way to let snipers dominate the fields and kill people that spawn: thumbs up!
Crysis 3 (new hunter mode):
The new hunter mode looked pretty cool. Basically two out of 12 players (16 on PC) will spawn with nano-suits, the bow weapon and the cloak always engaged.
They are hunted by all other players in “standard” armor. The “standard” soldiers have to survive a given time and make it to the extraction, while the nano-suited ones have to eliminate them. Once a soldier is killed, he re-spawns as a nano-suited one. Matches are quite quick and it’s nice to play both the hunter and the hunted, definitely a fresh and interesting mode. Of course, excellent graphics and an awesome audio that also helps set the mood.
ACTIVISION:
Call of Duty Black Ops II (multi)
We played both team deathmatch and the new “king of the hill”-like mode. As everyone probably knows at this point, the player has 10 points to spend on his/her character (largest number of girl players at the COD booth!). It’s a nice system because one can customize the character more by focusing on the weapons rather than the accessories or abilities. It’s not a real overhaul, however, the core is still the same: same abilities, same rewards (not based on kill-streaks though, but on points, to incite team and mission-based play -> I like this move).
Graphically speaking the game looked much better than any previous ones, certainly a bit more next-gen. The map looked interesting too, nice layout but it’s hard to say whether it is really less Gruyer-like than the previous one though it seemed so.
It’s a new COD, but a bit different ;).
WB:
Injustice:
I like the idea and I think they picked the right developer, or the developer chose the right idea, anyway: cool! I tried to play a few different characters and really liked the very different styles and weapons. I enjoy the fighting style of Mortal Combat, where you don’t need to tangle up your fingers to make a cool move.
If you like the DC characters and the Mortal Combat fighting style, this is one fighting-game not to miss!
SQUARE ENIX
Tomb Raider:
I’m really perplexed at this point. I really liked everything, the game immediately looked engaging, with a nice story developing and that surviving mood… however, when you get to play it, you hardly do anything. It feels like you just have to push Lara forward, most of the cool actions just play on their own (although in a smooth and good way) and you’re really just required to do something when you have to shoot.
Still very interested as everything looked and felt great but I’ve got some reserve now.
TRION WORLDS
Defiance:
Played it almost by chance. We played team against team, shooting each other with cool weapons but I’m not sure what else the game has to offer. There was a cool video airing and talking about the game and the tie-in TV series, an interesting concept and probably worth a second glance later on, since it will release in April 2013.
- What I missed was to play with the WiiU! They were only showing a video of Zombie U and I didn’t manage to play Rayman Legends (which looks really awesome, anyway). I wanted to check out Rabbits Land but while the characters are absolutely hilarious and crazy the game looked like a series of mini-games…
- To watch closely: Remember Me (I’ve seen the video over and over while waiting within the Capcom booth and looks very intriguing), Puppeteer (sheer beauty),Tearaway (a new Media Molecule IP!!!!).
Ivy
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Sounds awesome. To bad Puppeteer couldn't be played. I would have liked to hear about that. It does look beautiful
I totally enjoy your recap, simple but also intriguing !
Compliments :)