Third person action shooters are always a good time, and Bethesda’s new star-studded WET looks to be no exception. I got to play through a sizable demo of the game at E3 the day before Eliza Dushku showed up to pimp the game. Had I been there near her, I probably wouldn’t have paid as much attention to the game. Since she wasn’t in my airspace, I got to focus a bit without diverted blood flow.
I used to love playing Tony Hawk games back on the PS1 and PS2. The first couple games of the series were amazing, but things dropped off quite a bit afterward. Even the current-gen versions haven’t wow’d me. Skate came along and revolutionized skateboarding games and now Activision is responding with Tony Hawk: Ride. Go put away your controllers because they won’t work with this game.
Mario games were plentiful at E3 this year and first on the block was New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Nintendo took the proven DS game and made some tweaks to drop the game on their uber successful home console. This time around, you get four player co-op as you progress through any level. I spent some time with the game at Nintendo’s booth and had mixed emotions.
Most PSP Go units were bolted down like no one’s business at E3. Us crazy game writers and developers might swipe that shit (people were taking the Rock Band Beatles drum sticks). I got to play around a bit both with a tied down unit and one freed from its shackles. If it was $250, I’d buy one.
I’ve been a Gran Turismo fan since the early days of the PS1. While I played the first one a good deal, it was Gran Turismo 2 that really got me hooked. I can remember spending a few days freshman year of college doing nothing but playing the game with my roommate. From that point on, I’ve always enjoyed the series. While Sony has teased the PSP version since the handheld’s inception, Gran Turismo will finally reach the PSP this October. I spent some time with the game on the show floor at E3 and loved every second.
I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Lost Planet. The gameplay mechanics just doesn’t suit my playing style all that well. When Capcom announced the sequel, I didn’t get very excited, even though I’m a huge fan of co-op gameplay. After getting some hands on time with the game at Capcom’s booth, my mind has been changed on the series.
This isn’t the first time I’ve played the upcoming Wolverine game, but this go around at GDC showed off one of the game’s boss battles and a few new elements that weren’t finalized back to NY Comic Con. While early reports are coming in of the movie not being too hot, the game looks to be damn good.
One of the features being shown off at GDC was the damage modeling on Wolverine. With 4 separate layers of damage (clothing, skin, muscle, and bone), Logan can take a beating, but regenerate his way back to life. Clothing only returns at checkpoints, which is somewhat understandable seeing as cloth can’t regenerate like he can.
I’m not ashamed to admit I was very late to the party with checking out Dexter on Showtime. I missed the first season and caught on somewhere in the middle of season 2 and am still in the process of catching up on all the episodes from the beginning of the series. I knew enough to hold my own while checking out the Dexter game coming to the iPhone from Marc Ecko Entertainment and Icarus Studios this week at GDC.
The game is still very early in development with a planned Summer 2009 release (most likely after the upcoming v3.0 update, since it takes advantage of the new accelerometer APIs), but it already looks amazing for the platform. You’ll very easily be able to recognize all the characters from the show. While not in the build I saw, almost all of the original actors will be lending their voice talent to the game, so the authenticity level will certainly be there.
One of my all time favorite games is the original Punch Out on the NES (the Mike Tyson version is the best, by the way). From my early days of gaming through today, I always have gone back to the game. I think I’ve beaten the Virtual Console version about 20 times already. When Nintendo introduced the Wii version, I was both skeptical and excited. I think after getting my hands on the game on the GDC show floor, those sentiments still remain.
First off, the game looks terrific. There is a semi cell shaded look to everything that works great on the Wii. The crowd is jubilant, the ring is done well, and the fighters look and move nicely. I was sad to see an actual referee and not Mario there to count out a knocked down fighter, though. I can’t say much about how it sounds since the show floor is loud as hell.
I saw a few opponents that took their cues from their earlier counterparts, which is very nostalgic. Where the nostalgia broke for me was the new motion controls. While they worked fairly well, it just didn’t give the same feeling as the original Punch Out games. Switching to the classic control setting felt better, but at that point, it was like playing a prettier version of the original. While the visceral feeling of throwing punches works great for Wii Sports Boxing, I don’t feel that it works exactly the same way in Punch Out.
I’m going to reserve final judgment until I can get some more time with the game without hundreds of people walking around and watching. As for now, I’ll be happy with my original Punch Out from the Virtual Console.
I spent some time this morning playing around with the OnLive service and talking to a few representatives at their booth on the GDC show floor. By now, we’ve all heard about the service that is supposed to revolutionize gaming. It certainly has the potential, and based on what I saw, I would get in day 1 (depending on cost of course).
There weren’t too many games available to play as of yet, since the service was just announced. I got a bit of hands on time with Burnout Paradise and Bioshock; both looked and played great at 720p. I’m sure Burnout Paradise was chosen as a showpiece due to its extremely fast paced gameplay where any slowdown would be easily noticeable. According to the reps, everything was running from their server farm off site. With some not-so-fast internet connections here at the Moscone Center, I find that a bit hard to believe. Either way, I noticed absolutely no slowdown or any indication that the game was not running locally, which is the biggest thing that needs to be right about the service.
Coming Soon!
Recent Comments