I would so play an Adventure Time game... so mathematical.
I don’t really care for E3 but since I work in the business, it’s always keen to check up on things. Here are some things that caught my eye the past few days.
Last of Us
I’ll be honest, the Uncharted series fell flat on its face with its repetitive combat mechanics. I may be biased since I don’t like first-person shooters on consoles (KB + mouse any day) but not only was it hard for me but the interaction was meaningless. Its reward cycles non-existant. Oh, here come a wave of a billion dudes. Woohoo. Yay. Uhuh. Yawn.
With that said, Last of Us looks like it uses the same engine as Uncharted 3. Looks beautiful, as is expected with a game from Naughty Dog, and the acting and animations were also top-notch. Surprisingly, it also seemed like it had the same mechanics too. Shooting, platforming. However, I was on the edge of my seat for the end part of the trailer. Why? Was it the narrative skinning that is now giving meaning to shooting people? Is it because there’s a little girl with you (the violence she witnesses, does she take damage)? Maybe it’s the fact there are fewer enemies? It’s hard to tell but I think a lot of the AI reactions—animation, voice, and actions—were more in-depth. It could be a really good version of Uncharted’s hand-to-hand system.
If they can carve this story out, it may just save a tired mechanic.
PS Vita
I already wanted to get this thing when it launched, but never got around to it. It’s also just expensive. With the need for a new phone and tablet in the coming months, will I ever get the Vita? Is handheld even alive to matter? It just might happen with all the new game announcements for the system. I’m already waiting for Gravity Rush but the fact that there are so many that I can’t even remember them all is a good sign. I really want to see those controls put to good use.
Assassin’s Creed 3
Just the fact that it’s not in Italy interests me. I have the 2nd lying around somewhere but never played it. Again, will skinning really help? Also the Vita version has a female protagonist too. Native American male, African American female. Interesting.
Zombi U
I’m very skeptical of the WiiU gamepad thing. It’s seems very gimmicky. While watching the ZombiU gameplay trailer, I was surprised because some of the interactions were kind of interesting. Maybe there’s some potential. Although most of it I still felt they were trying really hard and it still looked a little gimmicky. Nintendo, I won’t be tricked again like I was with the Wii. I’m watching you.
Beyond
I’ll admit it, I enjoyed Heavy Rain despite all of its flaws. How many times did I hard reset my machine (probably the reason why my HDD crashed lol)? And even though David Cage seriously pissed me off with this talk at GDC 2010, I can’t help but be interested in whatever Quantic Dream is up to. They have interesting ideas with stories and set them up decently. Will it be full of inconsistencies like Heavy Rain? We’ll have to wait and see.
Watch Dogs
I guess this is a trend nowadays with the hacking and big brother kind of stuff. While the interaction and mechanics may not be new ideas, they way that Watch Dogs seems to pull all these things together is really slick. The story seems to be compelling too.
Papa y Yo
I’d play this for the architecture but the puzzling and the story seem to be interesting as well. I hope the gameplay lives up to my standards otherwise it’ll just be another pretty looking thing.
Sleeping Dogs
Not exactly new but I did play the demo they had at E3 during PAX East (at least I think it was the same). The voice acting is sharp and extremely humorous for me since I grew up in Hong Kong. The locale and the research that went into the game is also impressive. HK underworld is a different kind of hard-boiled than it is in the US, let alone anywhere else in the world. The old John Woo movies like A Better Tomorrow with Chow Yun Fat and the Young and Dangerous series are great examples of how this stuff should feel.
I hope the combat gets tightened up a bit more. Even if it’s really similar to the Batman Arkham series, I don’t care.
Ubisoft Porting WiiU Games Elsewhere
Ubisoft is betting big with developing WiiU launch titles. However, they mentioned they want to port these games to other devices like tablets and whatnot in order to recoup revenue. What’s really going on here? Did Nintendo give them a lumpsum to make hardcore launch titles or something? Does Ubisoft really believe in the console?
Xbox SmartGlass
While the WiiU has its dedicated piece of hardware, the idea that Microsoft can and will expand the console experience to a mulitude of devices is very interesting. I wonder how well this will play into using SmartGlass devices in games. It can’t be tightly integrated because not everyone will have the right kind of device to support the features necesssary like the WiiU. We get into the fragmentation problem. Still, interested with the idea. The PS Vita is basically Sony’s answer to the WiiU.
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