Osaka Games Festa
This year wasn't as good as last year. More games I think, but less excitement. And the booth babes weren't as cute. I didn't even take any of their pictures. That was probably a mistake.
Last year, the main draw was the DS, this year it was the 360. That's probably a big reason why I liked last year better. Nintendo's presence was much smaller than last year. They showed off the latest Mario Party, Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing(Forrest here in Japan). That's it. 3 titles. No mention or footage or anything about Revolution. Other publishers had DS and 'Cube games on display, so no worries. But the 360 had a whole big area all to themselves. Not that the Festa is all that big. I takes place in one big room. Not a whole convention centre, not a whole floor, just a big room.
But yeah, lots of 360 games. 99 Nights looked great, but I didn't get a chance to play it. Basically Kessen but moreso. There was also a 360 Kessen, that I didn't play. 99 Nights looked better. So what the hell did I play?
I played a lot of Perfect Dark Zero. Just the multiplayer. The problem with playing FPSs in such a situation is that you don't get to set up the controls the way you like. So the looking was reverse and MUCH slower than I would have liked (So slow as to make sniping useless) . Still a lot of fun. Very easy to pick up and play. The graphics were quite nice. I really enjoyed the shiny guns and the way they caught the light when you reloaded. But there were some problems too. A lot of the shadows looked pretty crap. Jaggy and... crap. And the death animations were sometimes weird, the bodies looked and acted too stiff. Bodies would fall to the ground, but the arms would stick out stiffly, stuff like that. No deal breakers by any means, the game is pretty and fast and fun and shooting things is fun.
One touch I really like is that when you pick up armor, your character model wears armor. And when you shoot someone wearing armor, vests and helmets and such, their protection breaks off. It's a nice touch and a great visual aid, letting you know what you are up against. Nice. I'm still not sure I like the character design tho.
I also played Rare's other game on offer: Kameo. It also looked great. Very Rare. Especially the animation. But some of the enemy models looked low poly, and the shadows had the same problem sometimes. And the camera could use some work. Considering how many platformers Rare puts out, you'd think they could get the hang of crafting a good camera. There were plenty of instances where the camera would spin to exactly the wrong place. Especially when fighting enemies. If an enemy hit you whilst you were the spikey roll-y monster, the camera would spin around 180 degrees so you would loose sight of whoever just hit you. That was a whole lot of suck. Other than that, though, the game played pretty tight. Switching between characters is quick and simple, the strengths and weaknesses of each is obvious and your mind (or mine at least) immediately starts formulating plans of attack that best utilize each character's pluses and shields their weak points.
Plus, just messing around, exploring the environments is rewarding. I'm not sure how rewarding, because I couldn't read what was on the screen. But whenever I thought to myself, "Can I kill that dragon in the distance?" or whatever, it turns out I could and a little happy message popped up on the screen.
And, this is a touch that I REALLY appreciate, you don't need to fight the end of level boss. I watched a guy get slaughtered by the boss, but when it was my turn to play through the level I just dropped a chandelier on it's head. From a distance, before it even got to have it's entrance cinema. That's cool.
I didn't get to play much else on the 360. Unless it's Mario Kart or Burnout, racing games just don't do much for me. Need for Speed and Ridge Racer looked nice but I didn't feel compelled to play them. Dead Rising looked good, but it played stiff and there was a lot of loading. The loads were quick, but numerous.
The Yukes developed wrestling game looked fantastic, but I didn't get to play it so I have no idea how it controlled. It looked a little stiff. And no blood. Dang.
Oddly, even tho I could always play a game of Perfect Dark Zero whenever I wanted, there was always a long line for Call of Duty 2. It looked odd. Well, it looked great, but too arcadey. I thought these things were supposed to be more realistic. But watching the skill-less players absorb bullet after bullet made me wonder what the point was.
I'm going to stop now. More tomorrow.
Last year, the main draw was the DS, this year it was the 360. That's probably a big reason why I liked last year better. Nintendo's presence was much smaller than last year. They showed off the latest Mario Party, Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing(Forrest here in Japan). That's it. 3 titles. No mention or footage or anything about Revolution. Other publishers had DS and 'Cube games on display, so no worries. But the 360 had a whole big area all to themselves. Not that the Festa is all that big. I takes place in one big room. Not a whole convention centre, not a whole floor, just a big room.
But yeah, lots of 360 games. 99 Nights looked great, but I didn't get a chance to play it. Basically Kessen but moreso. There was also a 360 Kessen, that I didn't play. 99 Nights looked better. So what the hell did I play?
I played a lot of Perfect Dark Zero. Just the multiplayer. The problem with playing FPSs in such a situation is that you don't get to set up the controls the way you like. So the looking was reverse and MUCH slower than I would have liked (So slow as to make sniping useless) . Still a lot of fun. Very easy to pick up and play. The graphics were quite nice. I really enjoyed the shiny guns and the way they caught the light when you reloaded. But there were some problems too. A lot of the shadows looked pretty crap. Jaggy and... crap. And the death animations were sometimes weird, the bodies looked and acted too stiff. Bodies would fall to the ground, but the arms would stick out stiffly, stuff like that. No deal breakers by any means, the game is pretty and fast and fun and shooting things is fun.
One touch I really like is that when you pick up armor, your character model wears armor. And when you shoot someone wearing armor, vests and helmets and such, their protection breaks off. It's a nice touch and a great visual aid, letting you know what you are up against. Nice. I'm still not sure I like the character design tho.
I also played Rare's other game on offer: Kameo. It also looked great. Very Rare. Especially the animation. But some of the enemy models looked low poly, and the shadows had the same problem sometimes. And the camera could use some work. Considering how many platformers Rare puts out, you'd think they could get the hang of crafting a good camera. There were plenty of instances where the camera would spin to exactly the wrong place. Especially when fighting enemies. If an enemy hit you whilst you were the spikey roll-y monster, the camera would spin around 180 degrees so you would loose sight of whoever just hit you. That was a whole lot of suck. Other than that, though, the game played pretty tight. Switching between characters is quick and simple, the strengths and weaknesses of each is obvious and your mind (or mine at least) immediately starts formulating plans of attack that best utilize each character's pluses and shields their weak points.
Plus, just messing around, exploring the environments is rewarding. I'm not sure how rewarding, because I couldn't read what was on the screen. But whenever I thought to myself, "Can I kill that dragon in the distance?" or whatever, it turns out I could and a little happy message popped up on the screen.
And, this is a touch that I REALLY appreciate, you don't need to fight the end of level boss. I watched a guy get slaughtered by the boss, but when it was my turn to play through the level I just dropped a chandelier on it's head. From a distance, before it even got to have it's entrance cinema. That's cool.
I didn't get to play much else on the 360. Unless it's Mario Kart or Burnout, racing games just don't do much for me. Need for Speed and Ridge Racer looked nice but I didn't feel compelled to play them. Dead Rising looked good, but it played stiff and there was a lot of loading. The loads were quick, but numerous.
The Yukes developed wrestling game looked fantastic, but I didn't get to play it so I have no idea how it controlled. It looked a little stiff. And no blood. Dang.
Oddly, even tho I could always play a game of Perfect Dark Zero whenever I wanted, there was always a long line for Call of Duty 2. It looked odd. Well, it looked great, but too arcadey. I thought these things were supposed to be more realistic. But watching the skill-less players absorb bullet after bullet made me wonder what the point was.
I'm going to stop now. More tomorrow.
posted by Tyler at 6:31 AM
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