|
The PSE was split up into several ‘zones’.
Network Gaming
Resident Evil Outbreak (Capcom) shocked everyone by offering analogue control. That’s right – analogue control. I didn’t get to play it. As it offered only a controlled, 4-player experience, the waits were long (particularly at one point were one of the 8 systems broke completely). I wish I had. It actually looks good, and with the new movement, playable for once. Looked far more fun with 4 players and 4 TVs than it would ever be across a network, though. The limited ability to talk to other players in game seems like it would be more restrictive than clever.
Gran Turismo 4 (SCEJ) failed to shock anyone by being GT3, but SHINY. Really, really shiny. Since getting a network game working relied on co-ordinating another 3 people at any point in time, I can only speak for the single player game. It looks… Nice. Shiny. It plays like GT3. I heard that they’d totally upgraded the handling system. Perhaps that’s obvious on a wheel, but with the Dual Shock, it seems pretty much the same. Not disappointing, because I wasn’t expecting anything. But… You know.
My Street (SCEA) What was this? I couldn’t tell. It seemed to be a networked Mario Party with a dash of Animal Crossing, if Animal Crossing had no animals and horrible ‘Jimmy Neutron’ character design which made you want to die. Little kids seemed to like it. Are little kids really going to consider broadband a required part of their life? Will they be able to co-ordinate games? Is asking too many questions a sign of bad writing?
18+ Boudoir
Great name, huh? They had some Krays style bouncers on the door to restrict access. Therefore, the place was more or less empty most of the time. I didn’t play a single thing here. As an example of the kind of ‘adult theme’ video games on show, they included Backyard Wrestling (Eidos) Buckets of unrealistic blood and your basic wrestling game controls conspired to make something clearly mediocre. Still, it did have the Insane Clown Posse in it. Juggaloz represent, y'all.
The best thing about the 18+ boudoir had to be just how… Pointless it was. Other than the fact that there may have been lap dancers there at some points of the day (though when I was there, all there was were two large DJs sitting, not working, glaring at passers by. Oh, the adult situations!) It didn’t seem any worse than the rest of the show. This was made patently clear by our visit to -
Quest
The first game we tested here was Dredd vs. Death (Rebellion). I watched a father play one machine, and the son play the other. The father could not work out that he had to use the second analogue stick to rotate. He slid his way over to the nearest perp and slapped him. The perp exploded in a shower of blood.
I have never been so disturbed by a man’s reaction to violence.
“HEHEHEHEHEHEHE”, he laughed. A machine gun fire laugh. He was actually, literally, getting off on the violence, despite not being able to play it properly. Mercifully, the game chose to freeze completely moments later. He gave up, and dragged his son away.
Would you let your kids play a game in which claret could be spilled with sickening regularity? I don’t think I would. I found this situation… Odd. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what was in the game. He saw it, and he liked it.
But to test the game as if it was meant for adults… I’ve got to say I wasn’t impressed. The world is bright and nice looking, faithful to the original source (Rebellion do own 2000ad, after all) but… The first level was dull, linear, and there seemed to be only about 15 different types of civilian. The source material would clearly lend itself to ‘Grand Dredd Auto’ rather than a traditional FPS feel. It’ll be fun, and it’ll be enjoyed by fans of the source material (of which I am one) but it’s not going to do anything spectacular. Maybe the sequel will be great.
True Crime: Streets of LA (Activision) What the hell? I had to wait in line behind a seven year old boy and his mum. She wanted him to stop playing, and he’d whine “I only have to kill the drug barons” and she’d let him try again.
I ONLY HAVE TO KILL THE DRUG BARONS?
Is this something you would want your SEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD saying?
No. I wouldn’t want him saying that. Eventually, with an “aww…” He was dragged away. That poor, unfit mother, paid good money to be dragged around a hall by her child and watch him murder swathes of criminals using “hip” bullet time.
At least they were criminals, right?
The game itself… Well. It appears to be a super episodic GTA. As in… Each episode is about a minute long. “Drive to the bar”. “Fight Kang” “Kill the Drug Barons”. Each episode allowed the player to get a feel for the different styles in the game – driving, fighting, and shooting. Driving is a carbon copy of GTA, except you LOSE POINTS for running people over. That’s some good moral conscience, Activision. Fighting – hell, it’s really good. It’s like a less sophisticated Shenmue, but it’s got some really great animation and ‘feels’ right. It relies on a ‘Finishing Move’ system to win, but, actually, that’s probably kind of realistic. I mean, it’s not like you ever win a real fight by wearing down the opponent’s “energy bar” and then performing a light kick to his elbow.
The shooting… I couldn’t really get my head around. Might be something to do with all the confusing targeting and bullet time and stuff, but I died repeatedly. I think if the game retains some freeform elements, it’ll be pretty cool, though. Not groundbreaking, but… Playable.
Jak II (Naughty Dog) By the time I played this I’d already “enjoyed” a lecture from Jason Rubin, which I’ll discuss in the GDC article. But lets just say… If this guy is the revolutionary he says he is, he isn’t showing it with this. The first area that you can really play is literally a copy of Grand Theft Auto with flying cars. REALLY. Gee, that’s innovative, Jay. What next? I know, how about the fact I can kill pedestrians without any repercussions? That’s not cool, that’s literally morally dangerous, man!
It does have one great thing, though. You can pause the (awful) cut scenes. Yeah, no more trying to hold in a piss while waiting for the story to progress. Not that it matters. I’d rather be pissed on than watch the horrifically badly acted, badly written story progress.
Broken Sword (Revolution) This fails the ‘Time to Crate Test’ in such a hilariously severe way, by having the very first puzzle in the game revolve around pushing a crate. Yeah… Well done. Still, it does seem that the game might take the graphic adventure genre forward. If the main character didn’t walk like he was on a leisurely stroll – while in a plane, teetering on the side of a cliff. When he stands beside the dead pilot, he doesn’t even look at him. Show a little emotion!
Wallace and Gromit: Project Zoo (Frontier) Ah, Wallace and Gromit. What a wonderful example of northern humour and life tied to wonderful animation. I seriously love them. If you haven’t seen them, go pick up the BBC DVDs. Great.
This however… I seriously wish now I’d went to see the GDC lecture from David Braben – “Cracking Game, Gromit!: Using Someone Else's License in a Game”. I really want to see how he explained Gromit, rather than wandering around a northern mining town with his crazy inventor owner, was now running around a jungle, pushing crates and firing guns.
“I think it’s meant to be ironic”, claimed Alex. “Plus, it controls really nice.”
I’m sure it is, and I’m sure it does. But if they don’t allow you to wander around a northern mining town at least once, then that’s one HELL of a missed opportunity.
Horror
Gregory Horror Show (Capcom) This game is crazy looking, and I’m kind of sad I missed a demo/interview with the creator to go to a GDC lecture, in some ways. It’s seems to be a humorous homage to Resident Evil with a little Monkey Island thrown in. It controls very much like Resident Evil, and the puzzles seem kind of… Annoying, actually. One to watch.
Throttle
Plenty of GT4 machines here, including a ridiculous looking simulator that was queued out all day. Nothing else of interest, though.
Fight Alley
Many Soul Calibur II (Namco) machines here. I fear that with EA handling the distribution of SCII for the X-Box and PS2, people are going to forget the Link equipped GC version. The PS2 version is horrible, actually. Jet Li vehicle Rise to Honor (SCEA) had better hope to be bought by many people expecting “Metal of Honor: Rising Sun”, because as it is, it’s a horrific third person fighter with dire animation. Jet Li appears to have shat his pants. That is an old joke about run animations, but we only make it because it’s so often true.
Cartoon
This section actually contained a ball pit. Crazy! The first game I saw appeared to be about controlling a dog. I knew straight away what it was going to be called. ‘Dog’s Life’, right? Right. Not that I played it. It’s by SCEE, if you care...
We finally found the Sonic Heroes machines. All 2 of them. Whoo! That’s some push from Sega, there. I stood behind the tiniest little guy and his mother. I was at least pleased he wasn’t playing Wife Stabber 2 (not on show this year) but… He was no older than 5. He didn’t understand how to use the (incredibly glitchy) cannons. He ran around the same area for ages. But he did get 10 minutes of fun out of it, at least.
I didn’t. I really want to like Sonic Heroes, but, it’s all wrong on PS2. It’s glitchy to the point of being unplayable. The Dual Shock does not lend itself to the experience at all. I’m dreaming of the GC’s sausage buttons, here. So it wasn’t a fun experience, as much as I can say I WILL like this game. It keeps the grinding from SA2, for one. The formation running and flying just feels so right. But it’s not ready yet.
But from there, I walked past the Asterix XXL (Atari) machine. What the HELL, people. It was some kind of damn skateboarding game?
Of course it wasn’t, but I actually feared the worst. Seamus Blackley loves to make a joke about “Power Puff Girls Extreme Skateboarding” to make the point that licensed IP sucks. I’ll agree, and it seemed a shame to waste Asterix on a skateboard license. But I was actually quite wrong. The screen was labelled wrongly and it was actually one of 4 screens all playing Disney Skateboarding (Konami). Hmm. That’s a great use of the IP. Seriously. Look at the image. If that doesn’t look forced and ridiculous to you, well, enjoy, then. I don’t think I’ll join you.
Rhythm
Amplitude 2 (SCEA) I’m fairly certain this is out in the US. If you don’t have it or the original, you should really give it a shot. It’s nice to think that Rez had some influence in games design, and while this isn’t the greatest game ever, it’s cool. Try it.
Karaoke Stage (Konami) Oh man! This is seriously hard. I was looking forward to see how they would deal with the fact that, unlike Dance Dance Revolution, in which you can ‘win’ by simply being really good at stomping on the ground unnaturally, if you’re a bad singer, you’re a bad singer. I don’t think this deals with the issue at all. The screen feels like Beatmania at a 90-degree angle, where you have to use your voice to hit the note it requires. This is not easy. I’ll admit I didn’t put too much effort in, but on ‘Wind Beneath my Wings’ I managed to hold the note it was asking for twice. That was enough for the audience to not kill me, but any real audience would. I don’t think this would be a good party game AT ALL unless your friends are professional singers or professional sadists.
Despite this, I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. I think it might actually be pretty helpful in training your ear for musical notes and for learning how to sing. There’s still the possibility that you can complete it by simply reciting the notes pitch perfect and not ‘singing’ but even that would be hard to do.
Play
This was a surprisingly huge section dedicated to the Eye Toy (SCEE) and it’s expansion pack, Eye Toy: Groove. I didn’t actually play it, as after embarrassing myself belting out a Bette Midler track, I didn’t fancy waving my arms like a prat in front of a monitor for minutes. It’s a great party game, everyone can play it, even your gran, etcetera, but… The games are just too simple. A nice attempt to do something different, though.
| 
