Crimes And Punishments: Sherlock Holmes
To begin with when we first got their we start by first exploring the huge arena. There was so much their and I definitely wanted to make the most of it as me and Stuart, who came with me, were only their for 2 of the 4 days. We started by going around the ground floor and then making our way upstairs, we didn't have a lot of time to do much first off as our first developer talk I wanted to see started in 20 minutes.
The first thing I found when we went upstairs was the new Sherlock Holmes game which didn't seem like it would take too much time to see as there was no one using the computers. We settled down and played the demo and I really enjoyed it. At first the controls where very difficult to get to grips with as you were plunged into a level and didn't get a tutorial but from what I could see from it their was some interesting game play which allowed you to fully investigate a crime scene and using the clues provided for you allowed you to make deductions and help solve the crime. There was a sort of Batman-esc vision mode which allowed you to see clues that normal people wouldn't notice but it did very much like the newer Sherlock BBC series touch to it where you can see all of his thoughts on the item or subject. Due to the fact that you were just dropped in, and continuing from somebody elses failed attempt to solve the crime, you didn't even start from the beginning of the level which did make the demo hard to judge whether or not it would be a worth while game to purchase but it did have pretty graphics and the whole game atmosphere did feel very classic Sherlock Holmes.
Dead Island 2 Talk
At 12:00am there was a talk about the making of Dead Island 2, which I thought was going to be more about the the meaning behind the game but it was more just this was what we did, look at the prettiness and now watch this gameplay. Having said that I found that it was based around the L.A area, which I probably could have guessed, by the big Hollywood sign in the background, and its also very over the top and a pretty big open world. I wasn't too impressed with the overall look to it, but it maybe isn't my kind of game. I enjoy zombie games, but this just seemed to be destroy as many as you can with whatever you want and try not to die. Much like the previous two games that have come before it, but with added classes and unique abilities to each one. This probably won't be a game that I will be going out and buying when it comes out of pre alpha but I can see the aesthetic value in it and the sunny Californian environment has been well designed and looks very nice.
Dragon Age Inquisition Talk
this talk at 1:00pm was definitely more insightful and makes me really want to go out and buy the game when it comes out in November this year. The talk was by Neil Thompson who is the director of art and animation, so I knew at once that it was going to include more about the background and what the game is based around, but again he did seem to be in a hurry to get to the game play demo, which is probably why most people where there.
The direction behind Dragon Age: Inquisition was to create a dangerous world that is rich in culture as an environment. The main theme is definitely medieval throughout and this can be seen in every environment that is explored. What I really enjoyed about the talk was the fact that this game art derived from two main primary resources, ones being an oil painting of Thomas Moor and the other Erasmus. The world of Dragon Age is a threatening one but they still wanted to ensure that bring in that aspect of colour to make the environment lush and vibrant and the shifts of time ticking away during game play creates pastel and ambient worlds to explore.
They also used the same technique on the characters to create them. They wanted their faces to reflect life living in this harsh world and give them personalities to show how they have reacted to it. They want them to look like they live in that world and also include a background to each character to make them feel more real and so the player has something to relate to. A nice way that Neil Thompson said about creating this world is that you need to build and promote your primary aesthetic direction first and gather contextual relevant references first, remembering that art should support the experience and compliment the narrative; not be apposed to either. Art is of value, stands up to scrutiny and interpretation, which is a lovely way to describe what he has made. The game does look gorgeous though and I definitely believe I will be getting it when it is released, and has so much detail to the world that we saw in just a small game play trailer.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
We then went back to exploring the floor when we saw that their was only a very small queue for Lego Batman 2: Beyond Gotham, so obvious we jumped on the machines to get playing. To which, I guess I was a little bit disappointed and have been with these games for a while now. In the beginning they were brilliant and I enjoyed them up to the release of the Lord of The Rings game, but after that they just haven't been enjoyable. This game features a lot of great playable characters in the DC universe but the series is getting a bit boring now that we have played as pretty much the same characters for 2 games already. The gameplay wasn't terrible but it just lacked originality and it made me see just how much I hate it when the camera pans into a mini cut scene to show you were you have to go next even though I would have figured it out 2 seconds later if the game had let me.
I know it is based towards a children's audience but even they aren't that stupid and could work it out easily. What they probably would find difficult is which of Batman's suits to wear to do one simple task. I did find it difficult to remember that this suit can blow up silver objects and the lazer on on another suit can slice through gold objects. It became unnecessarily confusing. I do like the art style of the Lego games and this is something that always pulls be back to playing some of the older ones, like Pirates of the Caribbean for example, as this is probably the best in my opinion, as the style is so bright and colourful even on a darka nd dingy level. Its a very inviting game that is enjoyable to play, especially with the nice local co op system which many games do not have anymore, but sadly this game just didn't live up to its predecessors for me personally.
Calvino Noir
The next game we went on was Calvino Noir and it was actually Stuart who played this one, and I just watched him. It seemed like a very interesting little Indie Game that takes most of its inspiration from classic noir films and its pretty much black and white, which a few shades in between present as well. From the small amount of game play that I watched it did look interesting and very much revolved around stealth in which you had to avoid police and people who were looking for you by hiding in behind objects and in the shadows to be able to get to the next area. It did look nice but was fairly slow going which was something that did put me off it slightly, but the hiding in the shadows and noir elements were very interesting and appealing and the art style of the whole game was beautiful.
Far Cry 4
So, Far Cry 4, The wait in the queue for nearly an hour was definitely worth seeing! I thought this game looks fantastic and I cannot wait for the release of it in November. They has kept the same fantastic features that Far Cry 3 had and made them even better from the small demo that we made. Ride-able elephants where just the start of this demo and it kept getting better, the difficulty was ramped up and it was challenging but thoroughly enjoying to play as the world is so beautiful and the new location set in the Himalayas is stunning to look around.
There are new things to play with in this game, which are obviously the elephants that you can ride but them also take them into the enemy camp so that they can kill everyone for you and you can stand back and take a few pop shots when necessary. This is just one of the ways that makes it so interesting. The graphics of course are beautiful and will definitely be a PS4 buy not any previous console could do it justice. The world is wonderfully designed to suit the theme of the game and it really becomes immersible as you drive around the environments and become involved in the life of the crazy characters, much like Vas was in the 3rd game. This is definitely one that I cannot wait to get my hands on and sink into as I believe it will be incredible.
Assassins Creed: Rogue
After the spectacular demo of Far Cry 4, I didn't know what else could compare with that but across the way from it was Assassins Creed: Rogue and I knew that this was going to be good as well. When I started playing it had pretty much all of the elements from Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag, and this being my favourite one in the series so far I knew this one was going to be brilliant as well. As I didn't like the element of going in the water in the Caribbean game for an irrational fear of sharks that I have, I was overjoyed to find that this game actually didn't like you going in the water because of the fact that its so icy cold, as the game is set in the Northern America, Canada border and is part of the American story line that Assassins Creed 3 followed, as that also was set in America, but central.
I really enjoyed the game play, Shay's ship The Morrigan handled pretty much the same as Kenway's Jackdaw but was a lot faster and turned better as it wasn't as bulky and had to be upgraded to have the ram on the front pretty early so that you can break through the thin sheets of ice that form on the surface of the water. This was a really nice new feature to the sailing because in other ways its the same, but why change something that was working so well and was so popular. Then we moved off the ship, in the demo, to an icy area that had the same symbol on the map as AC4 with the diving-esc look. This had me worried but when I got their there was no diving needed, thankfully! We stayed above the surface looking at the icy planes of this beautiful landscape and this showed off the famous climbing and parkour like experience that you get from every AC game without fail. It was brilliant and the new creatures that you see were very nice, including narwhals, penguins and polar bears to name a few, along with the majestic Northern Lights in the sky, I can see this being one of my favourite AC games yet, but it will certainly have to compete with AC4 and that will be difficult! My only disappointment is that it isn't going to look as good as Unity due to the consoles limitations...
Assassins Creed: Unity Theatre
From one AC game to another, we jumped straight into the Unity Theatre straight after to see a sneak peak into the new next gen console game, and I am definitely excited for it. What I wasn't excited for was this sneak peak. I'd already seen it. During one of my many trawls through YouTube I found the new demo trailer for Assassins Creed Unity which was featured at EGX a couple of months later, it was kind of disappointing as I didn't get to see anything new and I'm sure it was the same guy commentating, but... nevertheless, it was still very exciting and has got me excited for November... I don't think I can wait, there is so much coming out then that I'll need a second job to fund the purchases!
I can't deny that the game looks beautiful, and with the new parkour experience you get it plays even better than previous games, which I find hard to believe as the others were so immersive even without this added experience! The game has all new game play experiences including indoor areas that are built right into the outside world, and you can interact perfectly with no loading times, which is incredible to see as I can imagine loading up this world will take a hundred years already. But it is definitely one of my most anticipated games of this year and it will hopefully bring about a new era of AC set during the French Revolution!
Little Big Planet 3
Finally, the last thing that we did on day 1 was play two levels of the new Little Big Planet game, and boy was this an exciting way to finish off the first day. This game looks incredible. We played the first level as one of the new characters, the dog like character Oddsock, which was just brilliant. I cannot wait for this game to come out. The character has such a personality and the customisation of the characters is still there to play around with, I think my dog ended up being some crocodile-robot hybrid which was such good fun!
We then also played a second level which looked at another new character, Toggle, the large sack boy that could also become really small, and this introduced some really nice new physics that looked at weight and how to change size at the right time to gain more height. It was really nice to play, and will definitely be a purchase as soon as it comes out. Everything about this game is just superb, as the previous ones have been as well and the environments looks fantastic. They are just as good as they have always been and I'm looking forward to the level customiser that was featured in the other too games as well. This is just one game that can appeal to everyone in so many ways and is so fun to complete, and once finished you can still play the custom levels people have created, meaning that it never has to end, and the fact that we got our photo taken and put onto the cover of the PS4 game for when we buy it just makes it even better!
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