I'm back for another day of Gamescom, and this one will have more gameplay impressions since IGN will now have a livestream for games. Since I have the day off I will be doing two parts, with the first part being more focused on gameplay impressions of the demos I watch, and the second part will be later today and will focus more on the news of the day. Let's start off with some news, and the opinions on the games will come right after.
News
Sony Is Going To Announce New PS4 Games At TGS 2014
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/08/14/sony-to-unveil-new-ps4-games-at-tgs-2014-says-boss
Sony didn't have enough time during their Gamescom press conference to unveil all the games that they wanted, so they teased more games for the Tokyo Game Show that takes place in September.
The highlight of the article for me was actually in the comments, where one guy posted a gif of The Last Guardian and another said, "Stop. Its like watching a funeral." Well played ConsoleHighElf, well played.
The Last Guardian Isn't Cancelled
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-guardian-making-great-progress-but-we-pro/1100-6421717/
Sony once again told us that The Last Guardian isn't cancelled, but we won't be seeing it at TGS. This is hardly news at this point, but I guess it helps ease the fears of fans who think that the game may not be in development anymore.
Really, Ubisoft? Microtransactions In A Full-Priced, AAA Title? Assassin's Creed Unity Has 'Em
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/assassins-creed-unity-has-microtransactions-but-ub/1100-6421724/
In frustrating news that secretly makes a person want to rage quit games, Ubisoft announced that there are microtransactions in Assassin's Creed Unity, though they stress that you can unlock everything in-game. It's still ridiculously stupid to have this kind of thing in a game that is going to retail at full-price. This is okay in a free-to-play, but this is terrible.
Video Game Impressions
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- I have never played a Witcher game but I'm still really excited to get into the series with this one. Months ago I said on a Podcast that a great RPG is more exciting and better than any genre. You can throw your best shooters, platformers, etc at me and the best RPGs will almost always win... unless you're Metal Gear. Metal Gear always wins. Anyway, because The Witcher 3 is a huge RPG, I'm genuinely excited to get lost in the world. I've only heard great things.
This demo mostly shows the main character walking through the woods, but you can already tell the care that was put into crafting this Fantasy world. It looks wonderfully realized. The combat looks fluid and exciting even though we didn't see a whole lot of it.
There's a feature called The Witcher Sense and it will allow you to track enemies and it "opens up a new layer to explore the open-world." It's important with quests and monster hunting. You will be able to ask around the cities for information on it, such as asking if there has been any weird disappearances lately. There's also a day-and-night cycle which basically amounts to day = easier and bad = holy crap the monsters are tougher! You can also fast-forward through the days or nights.
There is also sea combat, but they couldn't talk about it now.
Assassin's Creed Rogue -- I don't care about Assassin's Creed. I only care about Unity because of the co-op mechanics. I don't know why I've never been able to get into the series because there are things about it that I dig.
In this demo we get naval gameplay. Not to be confused with natal. Okay, that was cheesy. Wait, come back!
We got to see combat on the sea, which included ramming other ships, shooting cannon balls and then inevitably boarding a rival ship. After you conquer the ship you can use it for a few different things, such as adding it to your fleet or using it to repair your ship.
More importantly, we saw a polar bear as our character was traversing the landscape after he left his ship.
Then we saw him walking around a village in a second demo, and the gameplay here should be familiar to any fan of the series. Jumping around, platforming like a boss, taking people out with a combination of stealth and melee combat using all your little gadgets. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell, but again, I'm not an expert when it comes to this series.
I mean, the game looks alright. Hell, it looks good, but I don't really have any desire to play it.
Assassin's Creed Unity -- We get to see the first assassination mission. Paris as a 1:1 scale and you can go in one building for every four. Climbing has been improved and it's quicker to get down to ground level.
In this demo they are focusing on stealth, and we see him killing people and walking off. Why not just leave a dead body laying there after you've slit his throat? Good work assassin!
You can do murder mystery jobs. You investigate, find clues, follow characters, interrogate said characters, and once you have suspects you can accuse people. Whoever you accuse gets put in jail which is very democratic.
The gameplay looks very Assassin's Creed, and that won't be a bad things for the fan. Seeing it jump to the current-gen will allow them to do much more, such as co-op. I wanted to see a co-op demo, and while they discussed it a little, they didn't show it.
Basically it's about character progression. You get skill points and whatnot to advance your character while you're playing with your friends. I really hope the co-op is killer because I admittedly got pretty excited when I first saw it.
Alien: Isolation -- You can take my gamer card away but until today I hadn't actually ever seen footage of the game. It sounded really cool, but I never watched anything.
We got to see Ridley's daughter walk through the dark on a ship while avoiding Alien. The gameplay doesn't appear complex, as it's mostly a cat-and-mouse type of experience but that's what the first movie basically was, and that's why this game should be great. We've seen a bunch of horror games like this in the last few years. In the demo we got to see a few different ways to get away from Alien.
We also saw human enemies, and in the demo they used Alien as a way to get rid of them. It was actually really cool. The player used something to bring Alien into the room and Alien then dismantled some of the humans... but in this game something like that is risky because now Alien is in the room.
The idea of blurring the rest of the screen when you're using the motion sensor is such a simple but effective one. You also can't use the same strategies over and over in order to survive because Alien will learn and adapt to that.
Use your senses and the limited technology that you have to survive when Alien: Isolation drops in the coming months.
Far Cry 4 -- In this demo we're in the Himalayas, watching the main character kill people with knives, crossbows, shotguns, etc. We also saw him shoot at some animals and use a wind suit and fly through the air. It is a gorgeous game.
After the short Himalays demo, we get to see their interpretation of Shangri-La. We got to see a lot of the area and a little bit of gameplay as it's explained that Shangri-La is more linear than the rest of the game. As to be expected, it is also beautiful. They mentioned how the environment is the main character when you really get down to it, and I think it's very true. I also think it'll be fun to have this different feel to the game, even if it only lasts a little while.
They mentioned Hexen briefly, and why not have a new Hexen? I'd buy a new Hexen. Hexen Hexen Hexen.
Far Cry 4 looks like it's going to be a few interesting things narratively that the third did not, but from what I've seen it doesn't really redefine the experience. On the same note, does it have to? People like Far Cry for what it is (myself included).
Super Time Force Ultra -- And now time for a true AAA experience; Super Time Force Ultra. Super Time Force was a game I didn't have the option of playing until recently and I have yet to pick it up. This version (STFU) is coming to PC so I may as well just wait and get it on there.
They added fifty new levels called the Hellideck (I think that's the spelling) that is basically a set of challenges that you have to use your abilities to manipulate time to solve.
I still want to play this. Pick Ultra up on PC on August 25th.
Somehow I'm still not sick of the Dead Island 2 commercial even though it plays before every demo. I think that's a testament to how good the song -- The Bomb by Pigeon John -- is.
Below -- The demo is the beginning of the game. You sail up to an island and you instantly feel very, very tiny. The world is a massive, scary place, and you are only a miniscule fraction of it.
Since it's a Roguelike, death is permanent, but you can loot your own body and get stuff back. You will die, of course, and in death you are expected to learn what everything is, such as traps and whatnot.
I missed a bunch of the rest of the demo, unfortunately so that's all I got.
Toy Soldiers -- This is the first new game I've seen today, but I've never invested any time in the first two Toy Soldiers games. The demo starts with a guy on a turret laying waste to hordes of enemies in a mixture of Tower Defense and action, where you can take control of any part of the battlefield.
It also has destructible environments so you can change the path of the enemies.We saw that in action when the player shot a bridge and it collapsed, forcing the enemies to go a different route.
For some lighthearted, action packed Tower Defense, make sure to check out Toy Soldier when it launches in 2015 on multiple platforms.
Steamworld Digg Wii U -- The acclaimed "platform mining adventure" is coming to Wii U, and I ignored it when it came out for 3DS.
You dig for minerals, upgrade your equipment by talking to people on the surface. Eventually, in this randomly generated world, you will find upgrades underground, such as speed boost or "really funky" upgrades. Of course, there are enemies underground as well. The game has elements of Metroidvanias.
In the Wii U version we will have better graphics, new animations, an expanded soundtrack and secret areas that are going to remain a secret for now... but they're apparently a tribute to Nintendo. My whole existence is a tribute to Nintendo so I'm okay with that.
Dying Light -- We get to see co-op and PvP for the first time in this zombie game that I'm really excited for. The demo starts with a couple people smashing zombies and then going down an elevator.
There appear to be challenges that pop on the screen that make you abandon your teamwork briefly, such as being the first person to escape a place or putting a bounty on a zombie head. The challenges hare split into different branches like strength and agility so if you win the agility challenge then you will get bonsues in agility.
Then we see, for the first time, a player comes into the game as a zombie. Whenever night time comes, it's possible for a player to invade your game. In the demo the player played as a night time zombie and he was sensitive to light. You have to destroy hives in combat, and if you do that, you win the match. When you win, you get extra experience and access to different crafting materials. The zombie player has his or her own skill tree for unlocking stuff.
I think that the PvP is interesting but I'm not sure if this is the type of game that I want people invading. And I don't like not being able to create certain things if I don't get involved in it. Regardless, I'm still excited for Dying Light because I'm a fan of the Dead Island games -- despite the flaws -- and love just playing co-op in a big zombie open-world.
Star Wars: The Old Republic -- This demo is about the new expansion that is coming next Tuesday where players can have individual strongholds and conquer the galaxy in their flagships. You can conquer a planet and own it for a while, getting bonuses while you rule with an iron fist. Or nicely, I don't know what kind of person you are.
I like the idea of adding houses and galactic combat to the MMO. Players can spend hours Simsing their Star Wars game. I mean, I don't play it so I don't know what it looks like these days but I did play it a little bit back when it first went free-to-play and I don't think I gave it a fair shake.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare -- They showed off some Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer. It was one match and was meant to showcase the most important part of the CoD experience.
I like that they're trying something a little new with the series. It still looks and feels the same (from what I gather, though ultimately I won't know until I get my hands on it), but has more emphasis on verticality. There are dynamic events that happen in matches, such as a whole new room being dropped in, as we saw in the demo.
They seemed to make a lot of the CoD experience bigger, with more customization, and tweaking perks and other existing features, but I'm still only mildly excited for this. When the game was first revealed I was pretty pumped because it seemed fresh and new, but now I think about it and I don't know if I need it. Titanfall is different, and has giant mechs, but the game handles the same as CoD and though Titanfall has fewer features, they're similar enough that I've lost a little bit of interest in Advanced Warfare.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor -- The final demo on IGN for today is a game I'm ridiculously excited for despite not being a Tolkien fan at all.
After watching the demo: wow. The game just keeps getting better and better. The demo basically showcased how character and enemy progression happens, and how your relationships with the enemies and the world evolve. Any enemy can gain experience and they will remember you. Everything is connected, and there are a bunch of options on how to complete your goals. For example, you could take over a War Chief bodyguard and have him betray his master. Not only that, but after he betrays the War Chief and kills him, he will become a War Chief. It's an incredibly fascinating dynamic.
Not only that, but when you die, the world continues and relationships change while you're reviving. So you could die and a bunch of things would change, thus changing your own tactics.
The combat looks fluid and exciting, and it seems to have some depth and a bunch of different possibilities.
The demo was really awesome. If this isn't one of the best games of the year it will be a tragedy.
