Hello again and welcome back to the third and final instalment of my Eurogamer Expo experience. If you’ve missed the first parts please take a look – PART 1 and PART 2. This will be short and sweet featuring the last 4 games I got my hands on. A mix of shooter and racing so there should be something for most to enjoy.
Gears of War: Judgement
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Developer: Epic Games/People Can Fly
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Yes another game that is a new iteration in an already successful franchise. Gears of War: Judgement is a prequel to the other games in the franchise, and feature Damon Baird and Augustus Cole as the protagonists. While I didn’t get any hand on time with any of the new campaign, on offer at Eurogamer was a new multiplayer mode – Overrun.
The concept is fairly simple, as the COG you defend an objective, and as the locust you protect it. A new introduction to Judgment is the more refined class based system. While certain character more likely held certain guns before, this time round it’s accompanied by abilities. For example, Cole can drop ammo for you and others to replenish their weapons. The engineer class can deploy turrets etc. It is something that has been seen before, but is new to the Gears games and slots in well overall. The locust also have their own abilities depending on class.
The game feels and plays the same as the previous Gears games, which is by no means a bad thing. It is quite nice picking up a new Gears title and feeling instantly familiar with what was going on. Overrun is a 5v5 game mode, and while sometime it may feel that one side is more overpowered than the other, it’s not quite the case here. While the Locust won both times and successfully destroyed the generator that the COG had to defend, my team managed to hold out a long while with the COG characters, and due to the length of time we held the position, and how quickly we destroyed the objective in the first round controlling the Locust we won the game.
I can’t see Gears rewriting or being a new groundbreaking game, but it will be true to the series. And if you are a fan of previous games, you will very much enjoy this one too.
Grid 2
Genre: Racing
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
I’m not a big racing fan, and as anyone who knows or has played with me will tell you, if you put me in a vehicle on any game (from Racing simulators to GTA and Borderlands) I am a terrible driver on a game. And for that reason, the majority of the time I stay well clear for straight up racing games.
But after hearing good things about the first GRID game I decided to give it a bash. And I was very impressed. It’s a weird mashup of simulator and arcade racer that I managed to get to grips with quite quickly. I was very conscious of my driving with people watching, so I was a bit more careful than I would have been in the comfort of my own home, but it made for a better race.
The graphics are lovely on the cars aswell as the tracks and the surrounding areas. Grid 2 is probably a game that I still won’t pick up, but I’ll be more than happy to play with a friend if they have it, or maybe even rent at some point. This is a breakthrough for me, when normally I’d ignore any racing game (bar some arcade racers) on a shelf.
Doom 3: BFG edition
Genre: FPS
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda
Now I’m sure we’ve all heard and made jokes about Roal Dahl’s connection to the game. But I’ll nip that in the bud right now. This is a remake of the classic Doom 3, featuring enhanced graphics, the ‘Resurrection of Evil’ expansion and a new single player expansion pack called ‘The Lost Mission’. The game with also include the original Doom and Doom 2 so everyone can see the origins of this series.
I had a quick go on Doom 3 at the expo, and once I was hooked up with the 3D glasses I was immersed in the new 3D world. For a game originally released 8 years ago for PC it fits in well with modern FPS’. It takes a while to get used to playing in 3D, as anyone who will have tried it will probably tell you, but it does look very impressive. I didn’t get to see the game running without the 3D turned on, but I can tell you what I did see was a good looking remake.
Doom 3 fans will no doubt enjoy having this package in their collection, and people who have yet to savour the series have the full catalogue of games to get stuck into, for a bit of a history lesson on First Person Shooters.
F1 Race Stars
Genre: Kart Racing
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
I take back what I said about not liking racing games, I bloody love Mario Kart, umm… I mean….Oh, you can’t hide the fact that Mario Kart is the first game you think about when playing a kart racing game, especially one that so blatantly leans heavily on it for ‘inspiration’. While I didn’t play it myself I watched a few races. And despite the cartoony likenesses of F1 drivers thanks to the licence that Codemasters have, this has all the makings of a Mario Kart ripoff.
Now, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, not at all. I love zipping around tracks in a mini kart, picking up power ups to use against my fellow karters to get the glory of the gold medal podium, and it looks like it controls as it should. I do question, however, the need for Codemasters to use the F1 licence in a game like this. But I just come to the conclusion that they will ship more games by just using the F1 brand.
Anyone wanting a new karting game on the Xbox 360 should pick this up, it’ll be fun at social gatherings, but anyone expecting an F1 experience should think again, unless you have a thing for bobble headed cartoon versions of your favourite driver.
That’s me and my great few days at Eurogamer Expo done. I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure to the foreign land of London and would definitely return next year, so keep your eyes peeled for that!