PAX 2010: Games I played and my thoughts

After a last minute one day visit last year, I was hooked on PAX. I looked forward to all year, and finally, last weekend, PAX 2010 rolled around.

There were so many highlights, such as the EPIC Saturday night concert, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about the games, all the games I played for the first time and my thoughts on them. Let me tell you, I missed a lot of the big name titles. I avoided most long lines, so I didn't see the Duke or get to test Star Wars: The Old Republic. I never even got a chance to try out the Move or the Kinect, and there was not a single Spoony sighting!

I still managed to get in a lot of games and fun times with friends, so that's good enough for me. This is nowhere near all the games I played, and I might continue updating it as I remember other games, but let's get started!

LittleBigPlanet 2: After arriving early (But not early enough) to the first day of PAX, a couple of my friends and I wandered aimlessly for a bit just taking in the sights. Eventually, we walked into the main expo hall and saw a large LBP2 sign in the corner. We'd all played the original, and it was a good multiplayer game, so we checked it out.

For anyone that loved or even just liked the original, this is for you. If you like your platformers, love level creators, then I don't know why you would even question not getting this game. (If, of course, you have a PS3.) It takes all the great things from the original and just throws TONS of new things into the mix. Jump pads, grappling hooks, just great new features that add to the overall experience. I can't wait to pick it up.

Dragon Quest 9: Not a new game, but I'm trying to chronicle all the games I played for the first time at PAX. So, Dragon Quest 9. Didn't play it much, but it struck me as a fairly good turn-based RPG. I've had a big thing for turn-based RPG's, so I'm really considering getting this.

Kirby's Epic Yarn: One of the first areas I checked out was the Nintendo area, because a) I am a long time fan, and b) Short lines! As I mentioned above, I also am a large fan of platformers, so I was right at home here. Kirby's Epic Yarn has struck the wrong chord with many gamers when they realized that many of Kirby's trademark gameplay mechanics would be missing. However, I'd say the game still works.

You don't puff and you don't swallow enemies: Instead, you lasso enemies with your yarn and use your yarn-y shape to transform into different objects. You can slowly parachute down, ground pound, turn into a car and rush forward... If anything, the art style and the way it is used in this game is great. There is a lot of great thought going into levels, such as an area where you turn into a giant tank, and either shoot missiles or use a giant fist to plow through enemies. Oh wait, did I forget to mention? Drop in/drop out co-op. Kirby is joined by a blue Kirby with a small crown and angry eyebrows, and you work together to plow through the levels. It has a very NSMB Wii feel to it, such as when one person falls behind, they are dragged towards the other player, like NSMB Wii bubbles. Teamwork is big, since if you aren't a good team you will constantly lasso each other. Take a good friend along with you for this one, and definitely not some shirtless guy who was waiting in line next to you.

However, as much as I like the art style/co-op, I have the same problem with this game as I have with many previous entries: TOO EASY. I can forgive certain things, like the platforming being easy, but there is a huge no-no: ENEMIES. DON'T. HURT YOU. You can stand on a Waddle Dee. Unless they have a spear, which can hurt you, but getting hit doesn't do anything except make you lose some jewels, a la Sonic and rings. Overall, it seems like a game that wouldn't be difficult unless you were trying to perfect it. Seems decent right now, but I'm crossing my fingers for more to be revealed. Only two levels and a boss were playable, so the game length/difficulty later on could make it more worthwhile. For now, skip it.

Donkey Kong Country Returns: Going from too easy to the opposite level of the scale, we have DKCR. Once again, a NSMB Wii feel with the multiplayer. (If it's not broken, why fix it?) The game is a legitimate challenge, which really pleased me. Two hits, you're out. If both characters die, back to the beginning, unless you were lucky enough to pass the checkpoint. We started out with 12 lives when we played co-op, but those went away fast. I played two levels on this demo: A boss, and an actual level. The boss was the charging one you might have seen in the trailers, but it was a lot more difficult then it should have been. While playing, some people from G4 came to film! So, if you see some DKCR footage on G4, that might just be me sucking as Diddy Kong.

After getting thrashed, I returned later to play an actual level. Thankfully, the fun, challenging gameplay was still there. There are quite a few interesting features, such as what one exhibitor called "little brother" mode. Basically, Diddy gets on DK's back, and the first player carries the second around while they shoot peanuts. A nice feature to use when playing with little kids or your not-gaming girlfriend. (PSH, yeah, cause you have a girlfriend. :D ) It was also pleasantly surprising to see how many secrets there are in each level. There are puzzle pieces, KONG letters, and more. There's definitely some replayability, cause you are not getting everything the first try. My only major complaint is that using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk felt odd. I asked about a sideways Wii Remote control style, and the exhibitor said he didn't know, so I can only keep my fingers crossed. Don't want  a good game to get ruined by the controls. If I had to sum it up? Awesome. If you liked the old games, this will be great. If you like platformers, this will be great. If you like co-op games, THIS WILL BE GREAT!!! Get it.


Fluidity (WiiWare): A small part on the Nintendo floor, Fluidity is basically a platformer where you guide a puddle of water through a level. You try and keep as much of the water together as you can while moving through the level. Overall, interesting concept and execution. Depending on price and length, this could be a really good game.


Power Gig: Plastic instrument music games have been struggling to stay fresh, innovative, and relevant. They have been not so slowly sinking through the surface, and need someone to pull them out, While the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises fight the ever dreadful sequelitis, Power Gig comes out of nowhere to try and claim it's share in music games. The gimmick for Power Gig is the instruments: Instead of having actual drums, it has motion sensors you hit the drumsticks over. The guitar is unique because it has strings instead of buttons! (Note: Not unique. Look at Guitar Hero 5) I played this amazing stringed guitar, and... It works in theory, but in execution... Eh.

I am a guitarist myself, and it just feels awkward. There are some key mistakes in execution, I say.  The guitar is played by pressing down a fret on any string and strumming. The 2nd fret is the green button, 3rd is red, so on and so on. It just feels wrong. Why is the first button on the second fret?!? I was always looking at the screen when playing the game, and when I tried to readjust my hand on the fret, I would drop to the first, not the second. It seems like an elementary design flaw. Second, playing chords. You know, when you play 2/3 notes at the same time? Yeah, it just feels wrong. You never hold down a string on two frets at once when playing real guitar. If you want to play this game, it will take a lot of adjusting to. You probably won't even want to play, since the tracklist seems average at best. Me? I'll stick to the buttons. Hell, I won't even stick to that! Get over the fad of plastic instruments, companies, or you will be dragged down with them.

Sonic Colors: Oh god. A 3D Sonic game. This is going to... Hey. Wait. This is good??!? Well, damn! I haven't played many Sonic games, and I'm not a Sonic fan. I've briefly played some of the classics, and then a few GBA games, Heroes, and Sonic Adventure 2. That's it. I did love me some Adventure 2, but I've avoided the rest of the 3D series. From hearsay, I have assumed that the rest of the games are horrid. However, Colors seems to be the game that turns this trend around. Branching paths, interesting power-ups, 2D sections, and just good gameplay. Have some hope for this one. I am. The Sonic franchise is looking up!


Sonic 4: He he... Aw, damn it. OK, you might have guessed by my oh so subtle intro, but I don't think Sonic 4 is good. The engine feels off. The level design does seem to be there, but I just didn't enjoy it. And it's episodic, too! Hooray for ripping off fans for money by pretending to give them what they want when it's really kinda half assed? It just bugs me that this game will probably be more successful than Colors, because it is "returning to its roots." I say don't get lured in. If you trust this nobody on the internet, then please, get Colors, not Sonic 4.


Drumskulls: This is an interesting indie game I found on the edge of the expo hall. It's a zombie rail shooter, but with some quirky controls, as you might have guessed from the title. When you see a zombie, it will have an aura surrounding it that is either red, green, yellow, or blue. To kill said zombie, you just hit the drum with the same color. A simple concept that ended up being really fun, but sadly it might not end up anywhere. Being an indie game, it had simplistic graphics, and not much to show gameplay wise. I would love to see the concept expanded on, or see the game improved upon. I would just say awesome concept, needs some polish, but would love to hear about it more in the future.


Settlers of Catan: OK, OK, you got me. Settlers of Catan? That's a board game! Yes, it is, but it's an AWESOME board game. There was an entire room at the convention center where people could get together and play Settlers games. It is just so... Wait, what? Is that... yes!!! As you might have seen in one of Spoony's PAX videos, there is a touch screen computer version of Settlers of Catan. YES. I had a chance to sit down and play it, and it works really well. It's a smaller version of the game in that you only play to six points, but every other aspect of the game is intact, and the 6 point cap might have just been a demo so more people could play. It was extremely fun to use the touch screen interface for everything, and it meant no difficult setup/cleanup. If you are an avid Settlers of Catan player and have 15 grand burning a hole in your pocket, you should consider getting one of these computers. And then invite me over to kick your ass at Catan.


NBA Jam: Let's give some background: I hate sports games. Uncreative, bland, boring, and repetitive releases every year. Ugh. I had never played NBA Jam until now, and I avoided it at first because of my sport game hatred. However, while I was waiting for other friends to finish waiting for something else, (There was a lot of waiting) the short line beckoned me. And I loved it. So much. NBA Jam is over the top fun, with friends or complete strangers. I returned many times over the weekend to Jam with some random strangers and have a blast. The motion controls don't feel annoying, they work well, it's great. And it's available on all 3 major consoles, so there is no excuse. Pick this one up.


Epic Mickey:I love the whole idea and story behind Epic Mickey. Having all these old characters and locales is really interesting, and I'd love to see what they do with it. Still, that doesn't seem to cover up the fact that the gameplay is just average platforming at best. It's not difficult, it can actually be insultingly easy, and it doesn't seem like it will hold my interest. If it's more your cup of tea, power to you, but I'm going to pass this one up.


Marvel VS Capcom 3: OK, this is probably kind of cheating since I did not play MvC3. Mainly because of some lines and the little fact that I suck royally at fighting games. Still, after playing MvC2 and watching some gameplay, I can safely say that if you enjoyed other games in the series, then you will like this installment. Seems like it'd be obvious, but still. It is probably going to be the best fighting game in the next year.


Bomberman Battlefest (XBLA): Bomberman has undoubtedly had some rough times recently, but this game looks to turn that around. It's just a little XBLA game, but it does everything right: Tons of arenas, new power-ups, character customization, 8 player online multiplayer... It's good. Should be a worthwhile entry in the series.


Infamous 2: Though I never owned Infamous, I got the demo and played the actual game for short periods of time and loved it. I'm not a sandbox gamer, either, so that's rather impressive. So, when I got the chance, I beelined over to the Infamous 2 booth to see if I should pick up the sequel. And once again, yes. The demo only had three missions, which were basically: Kill enemies, chase car, wreck shit up. And it was fun. First off, melee combat seems much improved. The city is being attacked by stereotypical alien/mutant people, so we can't stop them, right? No! Our protagonist has pronged staff weapon which he channels electricity through and swings like a club, which is entertaining to use. The melee boils down to pressing a single button, but it doesn't matter because it looks cool. The camera will change to dynamic angles and close-ups when fighting, and it really works. It gives it a cinematic feel, especially when you use one of your finishing move like stabbing the enemy in the chest and then throwing them to the ground.


One of the main concerns I had with Infamous was the sticky platforming. You would hone in on edges like a magnet, and the stickiness could get annoying sometimes. However, they seemed to have gotten a much better balance between sticking and not. It just works. We got a slight glimpse at the story, because after you chase a limo for a bit, you jump on top of it and threaten an apathetic old man through his sun roof. He warns you to watch your head, and right as you turn around, you get clotheslined by a helicopter. Yep, you read that. CLOTHESLINED by a HELICOPTER. BAD. ASS! After that, you basically go on a rampage destroying the city a bit, which is rather impressive. I loved how decks on buildings would crumble into rubble, which has me hoping for some interesting destructive environments. Also, some of the new powers seem like they will be... Well, interesting/entertaining/awesome, all those words I keep using. The one I loved using was the Ionic Vortex where you would launch a TORNADO MADE OF LIGHTNING.All I can say is I'm looking forward to it.


Portal 2: And now, Portal 2. Possibly one of the biggest things at PAX, I was lucky enough to get in one of the first sessions to see some gameplay on Saturday. Wait lucky? Bullshit, nevermind! We got there at 6 in the morning and were in the first 35 people there to get priority seating and to see one game that has a really long line before anyone else got there. Seriously, mere seconds after we got near the front of the Portal 2 line, an hour and a half wait had built up behind us. After receiving free t-shirts and watching a trailer loop over and over, we entered the enclosed area to see some co-op gameplay.


Really, the game is looking awesome. Everything that made Portal awesome is there, but with tons of extra features. First off, game time. We were promised that both the single player and co-op campaigns would be twice as long as the original Portal. So, 4 times the content. Already bad ass. Then, of course, there is the co-op itself, which seems to work really well. I can't wait to try it out! Finally there are all the new factors that have been thrown in to make puzzles even more interesting. There are the red lazers you have probably seen in the trailers, which you can manipulate using glass cubes to activate thermal switches. There are the goos, which mess with physics: The blue repels you, bouncing you around and making things like wall jumps possible, and the orange, which will slide you on the ground and make you go incredible speeds. Finally, there are the WTF physics things. These include a vortex area where there is no gravity, and a bridge consisting of a beam of light. So many new features, such great level design... Portal 2 WILL be one of the great games of the next year.


So yeah, PAX 2010. Tons of amazing games that you will need to get, so be prepared to become broke. It will totally be worth it.