Welcome to part 2 of my Eurogamer Expo Impressions. If you missed part 1 (or found it such an enjoyable read that you’d like another gander) then you can check it out HERE. Today I have another 6 games for you to have a read through. With some surprises and disappointments it was quite the rollercoaster ride.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
Genre: Sports (Football)
Developer: PES Productions
Publisher: Konami
Easily the biggest surprised of the expo for me. After playing FIFA for the last 4-5 years since PES 6, I haven’t returned to the series. I have dabbled in a few different version, but none have been anywhere near the standard I wanted.
This makes it unbelievable that I found myself returning to PES 2013, over and over again with fellow AbosluteGamer Wayne and Kaz for 1 v 1 matches (the lure of a free T-shirt was the original reason we went). I really think that this year, PES Productions have made a game that can compete at the top of the ladder again. It’s a much slower game than FIFA, but it plays a lot more like a game of football, and it was refreshing to see. There is added emphasis on dribbling and beating a player here too. A few niggling issues with the shooting, but overall gameplay wise it is very enjoyable, with some great facial likenesses. I’m hoping to get some more PES 2013 in my life, and soon.
Hitman: Absolution
Genre: Stealth/Third Person
Developer: IO Interaction
Publisher: Square Enix
As previously mentioned in my summary of Dishonored, stealth is no my strong suit. And it has never been truer than in a Hitman game. I’ve always struggled through the previous games I’ve played, and fluked through some levels. And after playing the demo level of Hitman: Absolution demo, based in Chinatown, I can see the same scenario playing out.
It is a very well presented game, with strong visuals throughout the level I played. I found myself in a situation where I my target was in the middle of a very crowded public area, and for the life of me I couldn’t complete the level in the couple of tries I had. I tried a few different routes, attempted to throw a police officer in a boot of a car and steal his uniform, but I always got caught. I’ve always admired the Hitman games for what they are, I just wish I could be good at them! I can report that it does control very nicely, and Agent 47 seems as silent and deadly as ever. For those stealth game fans out there this won’t disappoint.
Check out the 17 minute playthrough from E3 below:
Assassins Creed 3
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
This was probably the disappointment of the weekend for me. After enjoying the adventures of Ezio in the last 3 games, I was looking forward to seeing where Ubisoft were going to take the game next. I didn’t have long with the game, and the demo I played was of the new naval battles. To me (with no context to go on), they seem like an unnecessary addition to the game. I was slightly confused as to what was going on, and probably took far longer to sink the other ships than I should have, and spent a lot more time needlessly circling around the ocean. Control wise it was fairly simple, but I couldn’t help but think there was no room for this type of side quest in Assassins Creed. There was another demo level available that I caught a glimpse of, that looked a lot more like the AC that we all know, which decreased my disappointment levels. And had I played that demo, this summary may have made for much happier reading.
I hope the rest of the game can make up for the naval battle interludes, and going by most of what I’ve seen it no doubt will. I admire Ubisoft for trying new things within a game that has been so successful for them, and maybe on full release, when I have more of a context to base these new quests on, it may make more sense. But until then, I can only take with me the impressions that it has made.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Genre: Tactical Role Playing, Strategy
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2k Games
XCOM, was a booth that I walked past, that happened to have a free console to play on. I had no idea what the game was about, but I thought ‘I’m here to play games, let’s give it a go’, and I’m very glad that I did. It isn’t a game that I would consider would be suited to me, and one that I usually wouldn’t give a second look. But there was something about it that I really liked. I only sat down to play it for 5-10 minutes before I left on Thursday, so for the game to get my attention that much, means it’s a game I will be keeping my eye on.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn based strategy game, with focus on moving from cover to cover until you reach your objective, or can attack a target. The demo I played was a tutorial level, introducing me to the controls. I began with 4 team members, each have a ‘turn’ each. A turn consisted to 2 movements/actions, or 1 long movement across the level. Once they were done it was the next persons go. All seemed fairly simple, and continued to be so on introduction of enemies. I quite liked the cutscenes that broke up the play to tell the story. I can tell that XCOM is going to require a lot of thinking once it gets going through the levels, and one wrong move could leave you wide open to attack (as you can’t move the character until it is their turn).
With slightly cartoony art style XCOM is easy on the eyes and the voice over’s that I heard fit well with the characters they were portraying. I left the booth wanting to play more, but my day had come to an end. I’m interested in XCOM, and am always keen to try something new when it comes to gaming. And I think this could be a surprise favourite for me this year.
Crysis 3
Genre: FPS
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: EA
Multiplayer was on the cards for Crysis 3 at Eurogamer Expo, more specifically their ‘Hunter’ mode, which plays like Halo’s Infection mode. 2 people start off as Hunters, with the rest starting off as marines. A Hunter is cloaked, agile and has a great jumping ability. They are equipped with a bow and arrow to take down the marines. The objective as a marine is simply to survive the hunt by any means possible. I found that working as a team yielded the best outcomes, but still failed to survive a full round. Once a marine gets killed by a Hunter they too are turned into the invisible killing machines. It makes for an edgy and exciting game mode, not knowing where the foe is coming from unless you catch a shimmer in the light of their cloaks. And playing as a Hunter is great fun leaping across the map.
It’s a shame that Crysis will no doubt be overshadowed by Call of Duty and Halo, and won’t get the attention it deserves. As usual from a Crytek game the game pushes the graphical capabilities of the Xbox 360 to the max, with fantastic results.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Genre: FPS
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
This probably comes as no surprise, but Call of Duty wins the award for the biggest floor space taken up at the expo. And it was justified judging by the constant flow of people going through, and the spiralling Disney style queues. It also wins the award for the coolest gaming table in the world ever. Not sure this picture does it justice, but it was a massive round command centre style tables, with flat screens all the way around, with all players on said table involved in the same game:
I even got excited as I went in to play Black Ops 2, as I thought I was about to play on the table of tables, only to have my hopes dashed at the last second as I was shown to a standard booth, along with the rest of the ‘common people’.
And that table, was the most exciting this about Black Ops 2. I played two team death match games, and yes they have introduced new concepts to the multiplayer class system, and have created a bit of a storm by axing killstreaks in favour of ‘scorestreaks’, but in the end it’s the same old COD that we have had for the last few years. I quite like the new class system being based around 10 point slots, allowing you to chop and change as you will. If you want to run around with just a pistol, and a load of perks you can, just the way you can stick to a normal load out of 2 guns, a few attachments and a couple of perks as long as you stick within the 10 slots limit (each guns, attachment, perk etc counts towards one slot). And I do like the idea of being rewarded with streaks by completing tasks aswell as kills, I really do. But it just isn’t enough for me to get excited about anymore. And if opening the summary of the game talking about a table isn’t enough to show I’ve grown tired of Call of Duty games, I don’t know what will. But, being the strange person that I am, I will buy the game for the single player at least, and zombie mode will no doubt prove enjoyable and maybe, just maybe the multiplayer will eventually win me around (but I better not hold my breath). Here’s a generic Call of Duty video where the developers are getting far too excited:
Check back again soon for the third and final installment! PART 3